ARCS Ch. 1; RT General intro.

The subject of rhetoric became much clearer to me after reading from "Ancient Rhetorics of Contemporary Students" by Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee. In more ancient times rhetoric was used as a way of evaluating whichever arguments were the most "accurate, useful, or valuable" (2). Rhetoric is begin able to look at, analyze and gather all the parts of an argument and compare each opposing view for the best outcome. While reading I found it interesting when comparisons and differences were made between rhetoric today and back in ancient times. Opinions were valued in communities back then, and "facts" and "testimonies" are valued much higher today in a common argument. Discrepancies are the whole and only reason rhetoric exists. Inventing new arguments and analyzing which angles at which to approach an argument is the main function of rhetorical analysis. I now understand much more than I did before this reading about the true purpose of rhetoric and the ways it can be applied. I appreciate the text which paints argument as friendly and necessary for argumentative evaluation instead of just a social taboo. I learned that rhetoric requires the exploration of many avenues before any are ready to be heard as finished arguments.

While reading from "The Rhetorical Tradition" by Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg, I found one statement particularly interesting when read, "Speeches required arguments that would convince and stories that would move" (2). I found this interesting because it highlights the point that rhetoricians seek to convince and persuade with rhetorical strategies meticulously planned and worked on, but also that a good rhetorician requires a type of dramatic charisma that convinces audiences in a human and touching argument when spoken aloud. This quote points out that rhetoricians need more than a flawless argument when reciting a speech, they need to perform it. I learned from this historical overview of rhetoric 5 steps for preparing a persuasive speech which I hop dot find useful in preparing our own essays soon. I was pleased to read that Aristotle viewed logos - logic, as the most widely valuable of the three appeals (logos, ethos, pathos). I view logical arguments as the most valuable and powerful in convincing an audience in my personal opinion and was interested to see more about how these arguments are applied to persuasive speech. One other particular part I found interesting is in the end of the General Introduction where Virginia Woolf notes that, "a sister to Shakespeare…has not yet been published" (14). This observation draws attention to the facts that modern language is giving opportunities to women (and others as well of course) that they hadn't been able to achieve before more modern times.