Eric Thomas Rhetorical Devices

The four texts that I have read seem to all use a variety of rhetorical appeals. After analyzing them, I noticed each had a speaker, an occasion, an audience, a purpose and a subject. Not only did they use “SOAPS” but they also used ethos, logos, and pathos to strengthen their speeches and to really connect with the audience. They proved that they’re credible, then they used sources and quotations and eventually they hit the audience with emotions.

The first thing most people think of when they hear the name Tom Hanks is a toy cowboy, but there is so much more to him. He has a lot more to tell the listeners then just how to get beyond infinity; he can tell listeners how anyone can change the world. Hanks gave a commencement speech at Yale University in 2011 to the graduating class. Hanks talks about how, even through fear, anyone can change the world for the better. He emphasizes that people should work to make the world better instead of posting and tweeting everything people do in the hopes to become famous. Hanks uses a little bit of ethos and pathos when he used his credibility as a famous person to make the graduates listen, an example of ethos, and uses pathos to not only make

Rhetorical strategies are ways in which authors craft language so as to have an effect on readers. Charles Murray, in his essay “Are Too Many People Going to College?” uses various forms of persuasion to convince readers that attending college is not and should not be a stereotypical norm for all millennials capable of obtaining a degree. The synopsis of his claims essentially lies in these three statements: college should not be a place where core knowledge is learned, college does not benefit everyone’s career path, college should not be required to achieve a higher educational understanding of a vast variety of interests. Murray peeks readers curiosity to his claims by making critical, emotional, and logical appeals. By appealing to all forms of persuasion, Murray’s opinions on this topic might just change the way reader’s view college.

Rhetorical devices are devices that are used to convey a meaning to the reader and create emotions through different types of language. Elie Wiesel uses rhetorical devices such as personification, metaphors, and rhetorical questions to emphasize and establish the theme of losing faith.

The first chapter introduced the reader to the art of rhetoric. He describes how rhetoric works through real life examples. He demonstrates ways that rhetoric persuades us like, argument from strength, and seduction. He tells the reader that the sole purpose of arguing is to persuade the audience. He showed that the chief purpose of arguing is to also achieve consensus, a shared faith in a choice.

For my rhetorical analysis, I chose the movie "Rocky Balboa". This speech gave me a lot of insight on how to take care of things and to deal with the consequences afterwards. Rocky's speech to his son “Rocky Balboa Jr.” was very inspirational and motivational. The purpose of this speech was to encourage you to fight for what you want no matter how many times you get pushed down. It taught me to be myself regardless of what other people will say and think. The speech was informative and persuasive. It was informative because Rocky informed his son with factual advice knowing that he has endured the something growing up. It was persuasive because he persuaded his son to be the best possible version of himself. The context/meaning of the

How do writers and speakers keep their audiences interested? Many speakers today use a method, which consists of ethos, logos, and pathos. Two popular men, Martin Luther King and Sam Berns, both utilize ethos, logos, and pathos in a way to build their speeches, “The Street Sweeper” and “My Philosophy for a Happy Life.” Even though they both portray those, they don’t always do it in the same manner. When watching speeches, the speaker always needs to be trusted by the audience, which is another way of saying, displaying ethos. They do this in order to hook the reader’s attention. Along with that, they also want to hear logical words and phrases, logos, from the speaker. Putting an emotional twist on things helps others stay interested in what they are discussing as well. Despite the many ways that King and Berns favor each other, there are many ways in which they differ throughout their speeches.

Rhetoric is the study of how writers and speakers use words to influence an audience. Pathos, Logos, and Ethos are examples of rhetorical devices, where the rhetorician would appeal to an audience to prove a point. In both the Declaration of Independence and The American Crisis #1, the authors use several examples of rhetoric to persuade their audience in the 1700s, to separate themselves from England.

Keith Grant-Davie's essay on rhetorical situations is an in depth explanation of rhetorical situations. A rhetorical situation is when a rhetorician or writer wants to change the way an audience see's or understands something by using discourse. Grant-Davie describes the four main parts of a rhetorical situation as being the rhetor, an audience, exigence, and constraints. The rhetor, is the speaker or producer that is trying to get an idea into the audiences head. The audience is anyone who is taking in the material that the rhetor is advertising. Exigence is the "problem" that the rhetor is addressing; the whole reason discourse was brought to light. Finally constraints are the boundaries the rhetor follows to butter up the audience. They

My rhetorical analysis is about a free African-American almanac writer, naturalist, and farmer who fought against slavery and who earned the recognition of many high officials of the time, including Thomas Jefferson. As D.L. Chandler pointed out, Benjamin Banneker, wrote to Thomas Jefferson, on August 19, 1791, to condemn the practice of slavery in the United States. Banneker attempted to persuade Thomas Jefferson of his forbearance of slave practices and the fact that he owned slaves yet pronounced himself morally correct in society. (Chandler, 2017) By changing his choice of words and phrases and suggesting a call to attention using history and the Bible as reference, Banneker adopted a respectful yet critical respectability to move

We use rhetoric every day without even realizing it. Correctly using rhetoric on a specific group of people can drastically increase an arguments’ strength. Benjamin R. Barber wrote an article conveying his research on the failing school systems in the U.S titled America Skips School published in Harper’s Magazine. Barber uses rhetorical elements like ethos, pathos, and logos to build his argument. He establishes his credibility and then emotionally connects with his audience and explains who and what is to blame for the lack of quality education in America. Once he establishes a solid connection using these

If a writer wanted to appeal to the audience, what would he have to do? He is going to have to utilize some rhetorical devices of course! Rhetorical devices are key in writing persuasion papers and just any paper that is meant to be read to an audience. In the Inauguration Speech of 1961 given by President John F. Kennedy, he was able to really connect with his audience that day by using lots of different rhetorical devices. By using chiasmus, anaphoras, and metaphors, JFK was able to effectively reach and persuade people to have faith in him despite his age and religion.

Rhetoric gives you an avenue to tell a story from your perspective in a way that connects with the intended audience without having to be one hundred percent substantiated. This writing style is evident in almost everything we read from billboards to Internet ads and even political speeches.

Brent Staples, in his literary essay “Just Walk On By”, uses a variety of rhetorical strategies. The devices he uses throughout his essay effectively engage the audience in a series of his own personal anecdotes and thoughts. He specifically shifts the reader's perspective towards the unvoiced and the judged. Within the essay, Staples manipulates several rhetorical strategies, such as perspective and metaphor, in order to emphasize the damage stereotypes have caused against the mindsets and perceptions of society as a whole.

Rhetorical analysis is a way to break down non-fiction texts by an effective use of words to persuade. The development of the adolescent brain is continuing to mature to a fully developed brain. It is known that teenagers’ decisions can be easily influenced; usually by their peers. Therefore, decisions made as an adolescent differs from the decisions and behavior from an adult. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the article, Can Teenage Defiance Be Manipulated for Good? By New York Times author, Amanda Ripley's, ideas to persuade people how teenagers make wiser choices when they are being encouraged to make positive decisions. In this persuasive article, Ripley uses ethos, logos, and diction in order to explain how teenagers beliefs can be influenced.