Bitzer's Rhetorical Analysis

The rhetorical situation refers to “a situation in which people’s understanding can be changed through messages.” (Zarefsky, 12). The rhetorical situation analysis consists of four elements: audience, occasion, speaker and speech, each assessing the quality of speech. In this essay, I will analyze the rhetorical situation of the historical speech “The Challenger Address” delivered by the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan.

The rhetorical situation refers to “a situation in which people’s understanding can be changed through messages.” (Zarefsky, 12). The rhetorical situation analysis consists of four elements: audience, occasion, speaker and speech, each assessing the quality of speech. In this essay, I will analyze the rhetorical situation of the historical speech “The Challenger Address” delivered by the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan.

Christianity over the course of history has a vast influence on individuals, society and the way believers conduct themselves. It provides morals, practices and ethics that every Christian attempts to live by. Throughout the many denominations in the Christian church, Paul of Tarsus had a significant influence on the faith. His contribution to the development and expression of Christianity is immense and can be seen to stem from his writing and missionary journeys which have implemented his ideas and interpretations onto the development of Christianity. After Jesus, Paul was arguably the most significant figure in Christianity as his teachings form a significant part of the New Testament. Like may other Pharisees of that time in history, Paul sought to suppress the early Christian movement. He accused early Christians of blaspheming against God and breaking Mosaic Law. However, Paul had a life-changing experience when he had a vision of Jesus, and he spent the remainder of his life as a missionary for the early church. Centuries after his ministry, his teachings still influence Christian theology.

A rhetorical situation arises whenever a rhetor (either a speaker or a writer) sees a need to communicate with an audience in order to accomplish a goal. The rhetorical situation is the set of related factors whose interaction creates and influences a discourse—which may take the form of a speech or a piece of writing. The rhetorical situation is the environment in which the discourse will exist and

Rhetoric situation is a fundamental aspect of the rhetorical theory, which no person has ever attempted to explain or analyze before Bitzer (2). Bitzer defines a rhetorical situation as a mix of people, events, objects, and relations that present an exigence, which can be fixed if discourse can, “constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence” (6). He also argues that the situation comes first, which then brings the discourse into existence. In other words, a rhetorical situation always calls for some sort of verbalization and it always controls discourse (2). A rhetorical situation has three crucial components: exigence, audience, and constraints, which is demonstrated clearly at Charleston Shoe Company. Exigence is defined as a flaw that can be fixed through discourse. Not all exigences are rhetorical, though. According to Bitzer, “exigence is rhetorical when it is capable of positive modifications and when positive modifications requires discourse” (6). As seen at Charleston Shoe, the exigence is that the employees want to sell the shoes, and they must use discourse in order to do so. In addition, Bitzer defines a rhetorical audience as “those persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and of being mediators of change” (7). The audience of the company are the customers, whom can solve the exigence by buying the shoes. Lastly, Bitzer says that constraints limit the audience’s ability to solve the exigence

Writers and speakers appeal to logos for logic and reason. Logos is very rational with a clear, main idea

Effective orators are able to influence the thinking of their audience through the use of rhetoric language. In the speeches of Doris Lessing, ‘On Not Winning the Nobel Prize’ (2007), and Anwar Sadat’s ‘Speech to the Israeli Knesset’ (1997), both orators are able to challenge their respective audiences to abandon the traditional ways of thinking in order to create societal change. The messages conveyed by Lessing and Sadat in their speeches about justice and equality seek to challenge their audience.

     The meaning of the passage to Paul is to strengthen his brothers in the faith. Paul wrote this to show them that things will not always be perfect and that some times they will face trials but with Jesus all things are possible. Paul also encourages himself through the encouragement of the church of Colosse. I think that when Paul writes to the church’s and tell them what he thinks, encourages them , prays for them, or even just telling them what he face for the gospel, that it gives him a sense of accomplishment or even a sense of why he is doing what he is doing.

Flattery came with false motives to cover up any greed. Instead, Paul came with authentic material and because of this there was no conviction of unoriginality1. There was no need to be disingenuous because his professionalism was directed by the Holy Spirit. If Paul used flattery it would ruin his perception and the abilities of God. Furthermore, flattery seems neither reputable nor honorable even when practiced gaining distinction.3 Paul came with encouragement while greeting the Thessalonians and Corinthians. Paul told the Thessalonian church he was not there for financial gain or in vain. There was no attempt being made to deceive, or flatter (1 Th 2:1-5).4 Orators came promising to benefit their hearers culturally with public declarations, benefactions, and advice.1 When Paul returns to Thessalonica he continues to address them with thanksgiving and not seeking glory for himself or out of his work, but the glory of the Lord because they needed the reassurance that Jesus is still coming. Paul had to clear up the confusion after the deceit of other orators which misled the

Paul decided to state on the Truth of the gospel. He gave everything to preaching the truth of who was and who is Jesus. Paul is a passionate man, and is quite prepared to be a part of the costly business of building God’s kingdom on earth, building Christian communities that will grow and flourish. However, when the Galatians have gone astray, they did not notice that their faith is compromised. After all that Paul has put into building, encouraging and nurturing their faith, they have started to dabble in things that are not holy. Paul’s anger is expressed in the language that he uses; it is not the language of marital betrayal, but of military desertion. Paul isn’t simply upset because he feels that he has been let down by his ‘children’,

Paul relates to some opponents as “superlative apostles” who invaded the congregation with accusations about Paul’s teaching, as they quickly gained influence over the church in Corinth. Specifically, the apostles worked to sabotage the Corinthian’s belief in Paul’s teachings and trust in his personal righteousness. The deceitful acts were performed by the apostles because Paul refused to be compensated for his apostolic services, and they disputed his qualifications as a Christian leader (Harris, 2014, p.349). As a result, Paul writes an emotional and somewhat heartless defense of his apostolic supremacy. Boldly, Paul responds by conveying that his apostolic qualifications are attributed to him being known as the mystic and to his mystical

In this letter Apostle Paul showed how great his love was for the church of Philippi, showing his gratitude for their financial support to further the work of the ministry and to express his concern about their spiritual walk. His only thought was about advancing the cause of Christ and building the Philippians’ faith to continue their mission in spite of the persecution they were facing. Within their church many of the people were at odds and some were trying to hinder the spread of the Gospel. Because of this, Paul encourages the church of Philippi to "stand fast, be of the same mind, rejoice in the Lord always but by prayer let your request be made known and the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:1-7).

Paul was neither obnoxious nor cowardly. He was filled with holy loving jealousy. We are not. We are either to afraid to open our mouths, too cowardly, or when we do we are obnoxious. How do we overcome that? The answer is this, Paul told the Corinthians that when he first came to them, he was filled with fear and trembling, and he resolved to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified when he was among them . Anybody who says they are a Christian but are harsh or condemning, the problem is not that they are too fanatical about the gospel, it’s that they are not fanatical enough... because the real gospel, is the only place where we see a God who is not more fundamentally holy than loving. Anybody that understands the real gospel, is turned into someone who is both thundering and tender.

Paul wrote of how some people preach out of envy and rivalry. They have selfish ambitions and are not pure. They do not want to stir up trouble so light is not shed on their motives. I would think that this would trouble Paul because some people were preaching without considering the true meaning of the message. Surprisingly, Paul did not see this as a problem. He was more concerned with the message than the messenger. He felt that although these men may be corrupt, the cause of Christ was still being voiced to those who would otherwise never have heard it.

In this letter Apostle Paul showed how great his love was for the church of Philippi, showing his gratitude for their financial support to further the work of the ministry and to express his concern about their spiritual walk. His only thought was about advancing the cause of Christ and building the Philippians’ faith to continue their mission in spite of the persecution they were facing. Within their church many of the people were at odds and some were trying to hinder the spread of the Gospel. Because of this, Paul encourages the church of Philippi to "stand fast, be of the same mind, rejoice in the Lord always but by prayer let your request be made known and the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (4:1-7).