The Basics of Rhetorical Analysis AP English Language

AP* English Language
and Composition
The Basics of Rhetorical
Analysis
Dr. King and Mr. Twain
Teacher Overview
AP* is a trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board. The College Entrance Examination Board was not
involved in the production of this material.
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The Basics of Rhetorical Analysis
Dr. King and Mr. Twain
Teacher Overview
Skill Focus
Remember
Understand
Close Reading
Critical Thinking
Apply
Analyze
Grammar
Evaluate
Create
Composition
Types (modes)
Mechanics
Reading Strategies
Expository
Punctuation
Annotation
analytical
Determining Audience
Syntax Techniques
Persuasive (argumentative)
Antithesis
Determining Author’s Purpose
deductive/inductive
Juxtaposition
Generalization
reasoning
Parallelism
Inference
defend
Repetition
Literary Elements
persuasive appeals
anaphora
Detail
emotional
Rhetorical Fragment
Diction
ethical
Imagery
Analysis of a Text
logical
Meaning and Effect
Style
qualify
Related to parts of speech,
Tone
phrases, clauses, sentences,
The Process of Composition
Figures of Speech
and syntax
Structural Elements
Sound Devices
Introduction
Rhetorical Analysis
Literary Techniques
Body
focused on syntax
Antithesis
Conclusion
Argumentation
deductive/inductive
Organization
reasoning
emotional appeals
ethical appeals
logical appeals
Literary Forms
Nonfiction
Sources used: Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, Edward P.J. Corbett, Robert J. Connors, 4th ed.
Oxford University Press 1999.
Materials and Resources
Past free response questions can be downloaded from College Board’s AP* Central
website at http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/Controller.jpf. Below is a table that
references some recent rhetorical analysis prompts. Pre-twentieth century texts are noted.
Test Year
2008
2008, Form B
2007
2007, Form B
Question #
Question 2
Question 2
Question 2
Question 3
2006
2006
2006, Form B
2005
2005, Form B
Question 1
Question 2
Question 2
Question 2
Question 1
Prompt
How author characterizes topic
How author develops argument
How author develops argument (19th)
How author praises subject and moves
audience
How author crafts text to reveal view
How author develops argument (19th)
How author develops argument
How author satirizes
How author conveys position (19th)
AP* is a trademark of the College Entrance Examination Board. The College Entrance Examination Board was not
involved in the production of this material.
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Copyright © 2008 Laying the Foundation , Inc., Dallas, TX. All rights reserved. Visit: www.layingthefoundation.org
1
Teacher Overview—Basics of Rhetorical Analysis
2005, Form B
2004
2004
Question 2
Question 1
Question 3
2004, Form B
2003
2003
Question 2
Question 2
Question 3
2003, Form B
Question 1
How author communicates position
How author reveals values/position (18th)
How author uses contrast to develop
position
How author constructs argument
How author persuades (19th)
Compare and contrast how authors
convey positions (19th)
How author persuades (19th)
Sometimes students are confused by the term rhetoric. They may think of it as “flowery
speech” or as empty, bombastic language, as in the familiar phrase “mere rhetoric.”
Maybe they also think of rhetoric as the use of language for persuasive purposes—if so,
they are on the right track. Rhetoric has to do with the use or manipulation of words,
written or spoken. In this definition, all forms of literature would fall under the heading
of rhetoric—poetry, drama, novels, short stories, as well as all nonfiction, including that
most ubiquitous form of rhetoric, the ad. In all these genres, an author is manipulating
language to create a certain effect. In a very real sense, the author is trying to persuade
the audience. Emily Dickinson’s poem “I’m Nobody” persuades the reader that
ironically, we’re better off being “nobody” rather than “somebody.”
Dickinson uses such devices as rhythm, meter, diction, and syntax to persuade us.
Similarly, Shakespeare’s purpose is to persuade in his play Hamlet. He uses his
considerable skill in language to persuade us that sanity is sometimes a tenuous quality,
that people can be treacherous, that life is downright complicated. We are being
persuaded, too, in reading Hamlet, that language in itself can be hauntingly, achingly
beautiful. In all these ways and in many more, the play Hamlet persuades us when we
read it and interact with it.
The original meaning of rhetoric, however, deals with using, as Aristotle said, “all the
available means of persuasion” to change someone’s mind. A rhetor in Aristotle’s day
(around 300 B.C.) attempted to persuade his audience through the spoken word.
Classical rhetoric was associated primarily with persuasive discourse. For long periods
in its history, the study of rhetoric was the central discipline in education. Rhetoric was
important because mastering it ensured preference in the courts, the forum, and the
church. But modern students have probably not received much formal training in the art
of rhetoric. Whenever there is a “resurgence of rhetoric during periods of social and
political upheaval,” then a call comes forth for the “services of the person skilled in the
use of spoken or written words” (Corbett 16). One reason students should study rhetoric
is because “in times of change or upheaval, we rely heavily on the services of those
equipped with persuasively eloquent tongues or pens” (Corbett 17).
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Teacher Overview—Basics of Rhetorical Analysis
Rhetorical analysis involves terms and skills which may be unfamiliar to students:
appeals:logos—logical
data
claim
bias
exigence
relevance of data
unspoken assumptions
ethos—ethical
concession
persona
refutation
enthymeme
counterargument
pathos—emotional
historical context
omitted/quoted material
inductive/deductive reasoning
intended effect on audience
consideration of audience
statements of definition
This lesson is based on paragraphs from Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham
Jail” not included in the three appeals lessons in the LTF guides (two appeals lessons in
grades 6-7). Since style is one of the five canons of rhetoric (invention, arrangement,
style, memory, delivery), this lesson will not focus on this element with which most
students are familiar. The lesson will not, therefore, focus on those elements of style
which King used to create this effective and moving piece—elements such as diction,
figurative language, sound devices, syntax, etc. Instead, this lesson will focus more on
the appeals and the way they overlap and work together to persuade the audience. The
lesson also includes a satiric piece by Mark Twain. Students should understand that
rhetorical analysis can deal with any genre in literature (but if it’s imaginative literature,
we’re more likely to call it “stylistic analysis”). But since the AP Language Exam deals
with nonfiction only, this lesson involves one classical persuasive piece and one not
persuasive in the sense that Aristotle meant.
A “rhetorical analysis” is really a critical reading of the text put in written form. Students
are being asked to use their critical reading skills (noting inferences, unspoken
assumptions, patterns of language, etc.) to break down the whole of a text into the sum of
its parts. They are trying to determine what the writer or speaker is trying to achieve and
how the author uses rhetorical strategies to achieve it. Reading critically means just this:
analyzing and understanding how the work has achieved its effect. And when this
analysis is created in a written form, this is rhetorical analysis. For King’s speech below,
look at how he uses the appeals (logical, ethical, emotional) to persuade his audience and
how his style of writing contributes to the speech’s effectiveness. Writing this analysis in
an essay form constitutes a rhetorical analysis.
Rhetorical Analysis of King’s Speech—his use of the appeals
A writer or speaker’s exigence is the force or reason which impels that person to write or
speak. King had been jailed for his involvement in nonviolent demonstrations in
Birmingham, Alabama, and as a fellow minister, he was writing to ministers of that city
to justify his actions. King may have realized that his audience would be much wider
than these few ministers; therefore, his exigence would also be to continue his fight to
destroy segregation and allow all men to receive and practice their God-given rights.
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Teacher Overview—Basics of Rhetorical Analysis
Suggested responses for King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” last paragraph, page 6:
The appeal most prevalent is the ethical appeal. King once again appeals to the ministers
to listen to him, as is their Christian duty. He knows that the ministers do not want him
involved in Birmingham race relations; he has written them a very long letter basically
disagreeing with their advice to him to leave Birmingham and “wait” for civil rights. He
appeals to these men as fellow ministers of the gospel and assumes that they share what
to him are basic Christian values: that the “clouds of racial prejudice” will lift; that the
“deep fog of misunderstanding” will dissipate; that “love and brotherhood” will soon
reign supreme. This kind of appeal—showing mercy, patience, and kindness to those
who disagree with him—is most effective to a letter to ministers.
King uses metaphors of the natural world such as “dark clouds of racial prejudice,” “deep
fog of misunderstanding,” and “radiant stars of love and brotherhood…with all their
scintillating beauty” to remind the ministers of their natural connection to God and to
unite them in common belief.
Suggested responses for questions following Twain’s essay:
Purpose, Persona, Audience: Students need to perceive that essentially Twain is not
serious but writing a satire. If they miss this and read this article according to its surface
meaning, they will be in trouble on the AP Language Exam where the passages will be
nuanced and complex. Twain’s purpose is to satirize how politicians do their best to
cover up their faults and present themselves to the public as perfect candidates. Twain
also satirizes the American public in that they actually expect Presidential candidates to
be perfect and hold candidates to a higher standard than they themselves may meet.
Twain’s persona is a humorous person, a sort of Jon Stewart “Daily Show” commentator
on the state of society. He exposes hypocrisy by pretending to be perfectly honest and
aboveboard himself. He assumes that his audience is savvy and knows how to read tone.
He assumes his audience will not take him seriously and write his name in on the ballot
in the next Presidential election.
Twain’s Style: Twain’s diction is both colloquial and learned. In the first paragraph, he
uses colloquial diction to bond with his audience: “pretty much made up my mind,”
“every attempt to spring things on him will be checkmated,” “own up in advance,” “let it
prowl.” In the second paragraph, he uses precise diction to show that he is an educated
man, one you could feel proud voting for. Instead of writing that his grandfather was a
bad tree climber, he writes that he was “old and inexpert in climbing trees.” But in other
places in this paragraph, he uses colloquial language: “bowl up a maple tree,” “I did this
because he snored.” His understatement “I will do it again if I ever have another
grandfather” shows Twain’s dry wit. Twain uses hyperbole in the third paragraph in
writing about striking “out in a straight line for the Tropic of Cancer” during the battle at
Gettysburg. He humorously lessens his own cowardice and unpatriotic attitude in his
allusion to “Napoleonic…grandeur.” In the fourth paragraph, he again assumes a kind of
high literacy in the words “advocates of inflation” and “special supremacy of rag money
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Teacher Overview—Basics of Rhetorical Analysis
or hard money” so that we’re not sure what his financial position is until he tells us
blandly: “The great fundamental principle of my life is to take any kind [of money] I can
get.” In the fifth paragraph, Twain pokes fun at how politicians pretend to be logical but
sometimes avoid logic completely. If someone does not vote for him because he buried
his already-dead aunt under his grapevine, he becomes a “victim of an absurd prejudice.”
In the sixth paragraph, Twain proposes a Jonathan Swift “Modest Proposal” position in
recommending that poor people be used to “fatten the natives of the cannibal islands and
to improve our export trade.” Every politician professes to care for the poor, but Twain
comes right out and says what you suspect a lot of politicians really feel. In the last
paragraph, Twain aligns himself with the common man by his ungrammatical “If my
country don’t want me.”
Twain uses varied syntactical patterns. He alternates short, direct sentences containing
simple diction with longer, more complicated sentences containing more complex
diction. Possibly he does this to show that he is not only a common man at heart, like
those who potentially would vote for him (look at his ungrammatical “if my country
don’t want me”) but also a logical and learned man. Look at some sentences Twain
writes that are short and straightforward:
ƒ “I have pretty much made up my mind to run for President.”
ƒ “In the first place, I admit that I treed a rheumatic grandfather of mine in the
winter of 1850.”
ƒ “I will do it again if I ever have another grandfather.”
ƒ “The rumor that I buried a dead aunt under my grapevine was correct.”
ƒ “I admit also that I am not a friend of the poor man.”
Now look at some of Twain’s longer, more complicated sentences:
ƒ “What the country wants is a candidate who cannot be injured by investigation of
his past history, so that the enemies of the party will be unable to rake up anything
against him that nobody ever heard of before.”
ƒ “He was old and inexpert in climbing trees, but with the heartless brutality that is
characteristic of me I ran him out of the front door in his nightshirt at the point of
a shotgun, and caused him to bowl up a maple tree, where he remained all night,
while I emptied shot into his legs.”
ƒ “My friends have tried to smooth over this fact by asserting that I did so for the
purpose of imitating Washington, who went into the woods at Valley Forge for
the purpose of saying his prayers.”
ƒ “No other citizen was ever considered unworthy of this office because he enriched
his grapevines with his dead relatives.”
Twain uses details to provide authenticity to his argument and to develop humor:
ƒ The grandfather is “rheumatic” and in his “nightshirt” “in a maple tree.”
ƒ The “dead aunt” was buried under a “grapevine.”
ƒ The poor should be “stuff[ed]…into sausages.”
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Teacher Overview—Basics of Rhetorical Analysis
Organization: In Twain’s introduction (his first paragraph), he states his claim that he
is going to confess all his faults now so that no one can reveal any “dark and deadly
deed” he has committed. His main points are organized in separate paragraphs, each one
cataloguing a major fault. He concludes the essay by stating that he has shown the public
“the worst parts” of his record and “recommend[s]” himself as a “safe man” who “starts
from the basis of total depravity and proposes to be fiendish to the last.”
Thinking Outside the Box (page 9):
“unpatriotic and cowardly”—politicians are known for trotting out their military records
and running on their experience in war
“money-hungry”—politicians always assert that they know how to work, and when they
have money, they are not quick to advertise that fact
“illogical”—many politicians are lawyers, and they want to be perceived as logical and
intelligent
“inhumane”—most politicians claim that they have the welfare of the “common man” in
mind and care deeply about the working man or woman and the poor.
Introduction
ƒ Identify and analyze the author’s intended audience(s). (This is especially
important in this speech. You may want to have students carefully read the
ministers’ letter to King.) You are basically evaluating King’s persuasiveness to
his intended audience.
ƒ Identify and analyze the rhetorical situation. What is the exigence surrounding
the argument? In what social context does the argument arise? What prompted
the author to make this argument at this particular time?
ƒ Identify the elements of style you will focus on in the body of your essay and
refer to the author’s use of the appeals.
Body:
ƒ Identify, analyze, and evaluate the logical appeals in the work. This will be the
gist of the argument. Discuss the author’s main claim(s), the major arguments of
the essay, and the data used to support those claims. The logical appeal includes
how an author qualifies his/her claims; how an author uses concession, refutation,
and counterargument; and how the author’s unspoken assumptions help create the
argument. Write at least one paragraph.
ƒ Identify, analyze, and evaluate the ethical appeals in the work. How does the
author establish his/her credibility? How does the author’s character contribute to
the persuasiveness of the argument? What persona does the author develop?
Write at least one paragraph.
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Teacher Overview—Basics of Rhetorical Analysis
ƒ Identify, analyze, and evaluate the emotional appeals in the work. How does the
author appeal to the intended audience’s emotions and core values? What
language, images, examples, etc. does the author use to tap into the intended
audience’s emotions and values? Write at least one paragraph.
ƒ Identify, analyze, and evaluate how the author’s style contributes to the
persuasiveness of the work. Look at elements such as diction, details, imagery,
sound devices, figurative language, and syntax. You need not discuss each of
these elements.
Conclusion:
Take your analysis of the appeals and the author’s style into account and evaluate the
persuasiveness of the work. Is the work ultimately persuasive to the intended
audience?
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