Books Away: Rhetoric and The Rhetorical Triangle

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the "art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing," as defined by Oxford Dictionaries. It involves the use of different tools, both good and bad, to persuade an audience toward the desired idea. However, rhetoric has become a more negative term throughout the years as seen through the definition from Merriam-Webster, "language that is intended to influence people and that may not be honest or reasonable." Although rhetoric can involve the use of negative tools, there is a positive side as well. Rhetoric uses three main tools in its language: ethos (appealing to values and credibility), pathos (appealing to emotions), and logos (appealing to logic). Rhetoric involves the rhetor, or the individual attempting to be persuasive, and the audience, or the people the rhetor is attempting to convince/ is speaking to. Rhetoric is commonly used in general conversation as well as in debate and politics.

Examples
Rhetoric is used more than many people think. A child uses rhetoric to persuade his mom or dad to give him a cookie. Advertisers and merchants use rhetoric to convince consumers to purchase their products. Everyone uses rhetoric to persuade their audience into their desired event/goal. Politicians, of course, use rhetoric to persuade voters and achieve their ultimate goal of having a place in office. If a situation makes use of rhetoric, it is known as a rhetorical situation. For example, if a cashier were to advise a customer to give five dollars toward helping a hungry child in need, he/she would be using rhetoric by playing on the emotions of the customer. A small price to help a hungry child is usually convincing to customers due to sympathy.

From the book Packing For Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, Mary Roach persuades the reader to believe that Japanese people are better fit for space than Americans. She lists all of their qualities that facilitate their space travel through the line, "They're a lighter, more compact payload than the average American. Perhaps most important, they're raised to be polite and to keep their emotions in check." Mary Roach uses rhetoric to convince the audience that the Japanese are best suited for space exploration due to their many qualities.

Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle

Aristotle once said, "Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion." He believed that by observing how communication happens, speakers could develop sound and convincing arguments. He developed the rhetorical triangle in order to represent the three elements required in an effective speech: Speaker (Ethos), Audience (Pathos), and Subject (Logos).

>The subject part of an argument involves the speaker understanding the topic at hand. The speaker must research and investigate the subject thoroughly, producing and providing evidence and support for claims. When students are assigned an essay in class they must research the topic being discussed and support their claims with evidence (as they were taught).

>The audience portion involves the rhetor's knowledge of the reader's expectations, understandings, and mentality in regards to the subject. For students, this part is facilitated by the teacher when a rubric is given. The rubric lists the guidelines of the project/assignment and provides the student with an understanding of what is expected.

>Finally, the speaker point of the triangle incorporates the writer's/ rhetor's attitudes toward a particular subject based upon "who they are, what they know and feel, and what they've seen and done," as stated from AP Junior English Class Wiki. Aristotle referred to this portion as the persona, or character created by the speaker as he/she writes/speaks.

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