RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ESSAY PROPOSAL AND REFLECTIVE WRITING
Rhetoric refers to the study and appropriate use of visual, spoken written language. Rhetoric refers to the use of language in an attempt to organize and maintain a social group in a way that it coordinate their behavior, construct meaning and identities, controls power, creates knowledge and produces change (Dahl, 2016). As a way of approaching writing, rhetoric and language shape one another and as such, are mutually related. Rhetoric does not exist in isolation. It operates in a way that it borders other territory aspects. It connects closely with the mental activities of a person and integrates perfectly with psychological, sociological, and cognitive identity if the user and as such a very important aspect of professional, civic, and academic achievements (Dahl, 2016).
These aspects of rhetoric are important as they give humans the ability to persuade one another to achieve what we want in a dialogic and amicable way not only to acquire material things but to live in harmony with one another with the sole purpose of development (Dahl, 2016). Rhetoric brings friends and enemies together alike so that they can work together for a common goal like building cities, caring for the environment, and sharing important ideas. I have personally used rhetoric to persuade members of the entire student body in our collage to calm down and to stop violent acts like the destruction of property, use of dehumanizing rhetoric, and to stay in their rooms. This occurred at the point when the students were dissatisfied with the way they were handled by the collage during examinations (Dahl, 2016).
In the future, I may be compelled to passionately apply the same principles and skills found in rhetoric to persuade my employees or colleagues among the working fraternity to see the sense that sometimes, dialogue can work better than violence in a try to find a solution to any chaotic situation. What many don’t get to do is to listen to the other person’s body language in a way that gives feedback. Rhetoric skills require the application of verbal and non-verbal communication. The reason for this is that people are always in a hurry to listen and make conclusions on verbal communication not knowing that actions speak louder than words (Dahl, 2016).
Why bother?
In his publication “why bother,” the writer, Michael Pollan struggles with several questions that sound more rhetorically symbolic than literal to communicate his major points and ideas about the question of green environment. He is justified to persuade his audience to embrace the green economy as a way of saving the environment from extremely harsh climatic conditions. He uses symbolic artifacts, verbal phrases, gestures, and images to express his deep-felt empathy for the planet earth, which has already started experiencing calamitous catastrophes as a result of detrimental human activities (Pollan, 2008).
The greatest symbol used here is the “other evil brother” whom Pollan describes as living on the other half of the earth (Pollan, 2008). This simply refers to the people who don’t observe the principles of minimizing carbon emission for climate change. Some artifacts like “composed manure” and “zucchini” in a botanical garden refer to his quest for the people to make natural vegetarian foods and avoid the unnecessary killing of animals for food, which apart from being healthy for human consumption, are also friendly for the environment as the propeller for carbon cycle (Pollan, 2008).
The writer uses several metaphoric applications in a way that several times, he is wrongly perceived to have given up hope of restoring climatic conditions when he sarcastically persuades the readers that doing so is vanity as long as no other person is willing to join hands. In a twist of events, the writer concludes in a more firm tone saying that law and money cannot suffice except with individual choice and doing in a way that changes lifestyle and general perception (Pollan, 2008).
References
Dahl, M. (2016). Analyzing novels and short stories. University writing center: academic affairs. Pollan, M. (2008) Why Bother? The New York Times Magazine, April 20, 2008.