A Rhetorical Analysis Essay Example
A possibly useless resource for anyone who needs it
For many students, the school year of 2019–2020 felt so turbulent. As a Junior in high school, I probably lucked out quite a bit when it came to the AP tests. However, I do believe that the tests I took were no walk in the park. So I want to provide some material for those in the future who want to study up for the rhetorical analysis portion of the AP Language and Composition test. I would like to warn anyone that comes across this article that the work done in this essay took place in a whole class walkthrough of the prosses and does not reflect what I am capable of in 45 minutes. I wish all of those who are hoping to do well on the AP Lang test next year the best of luck and I hope the class is worthwhile, even if it is not in person ( :( ).
The wok that I dissected was Clare Boothe Luce’s speech (pg 15).
In Clare Boothe Luce’s speech to the Women’s National Press Club (1960), she attempts to convince the journalists of America to consider the current climate of journalism. Her critical approach comes with some criticism parred with a bevy of reasoning and factual complements. Luce claims journalism has lost its sense of truth — its moral compass; however, she makes her claim tactically, as to not affect the professionals but to open their minds. In this essay, I will explore her methods of crafting this message in which she walks the line so delicately.
The way that Mrs. Luce uses Aristotelian appeals in her speech is delicate and refined. The speech, covering a sensitive and critical topic, employs these strategies often in order to not offend her audience. On the topic of ethos, it is the most frequently used in this discussion because of its nature. Her use of her credibility is a tactic that is wise for someone who wishes to open others’ minds and expose them to the possibilities of what the “rest of the world” thinks of them. As a professional journalist who has been noted for her criticism of her own community, she reminds her audience that they were the ones who deemed her important and credible. She states “You have asked me to tell you what’s wrong with you — the American press”(lines 6–7). This shifts the way the audience can receive criticism and alters her credibility to suit more of what the audience would deem worthy.
Mrs. Luce also implores the logical fallacy Argumentum ad populum, or the appeal to popular belief. She asks her audience to remember the basic principles that they are to follow by. That they must inform the world of “the lives of men — and women — big and small, close at hand or thousands of miles away, familiar in their behavior or unfamiliar in their idiosyncrasies”(lines 36–39). By stating what she believes are common values among reporters she uses this logical fallacy to support her argument that the American press has lost its touch.
She uses charged, widely used diction with a heavy connotation and passively voiced syntax to increase the presence of her speech and persuasion power. For example, lines 44 through 45 states “No audience knows better than an audience of journalists that the pursuit of the truth, and the articulation of it, is the most delicate, hazardous, exacting. and inexact of tasks”. Her word is controlled and her syntax is highly persuasive because she uses heavy contrasts such as delicate too hazardous. Her use of a passive voice continues to help her appeal to popular belief and adds to her control over the audience.
Mrs. Luce also makes comedic allusions such as, “the delicate art of giving an audience hell is always one best left to the Billy Grahams and the Bishop Sheens”(lines 15–17). And she employs dreamy imagery when she describes the processes of journalism with the vision of an enlarging moon. These tactics draw her closer to her audience of highly educated and well-cultured journalists and make her harsh message more personable.
Luce’s speech introduction makes good on its promise to persuade her audience into neutrality so the rest of her speech can be received with an open mind. The methods that she uses may be typical, however, the way she uses them is spectacular. As her message is meticulously crafted to butter up her audience without giving them an inkling of any foul play she indicates points of interest and improvement. Refind words, persuasive sentences and her appeal to popular belief makes her oreo method work smooth. By the end of her introduction, her audience is right where she wants it to be — ready to listen.
