Rhetorical Analysis Free Essays

Sharmil Whyatt March 6, 2012 English Rhetorical Analysis of Song Lyrics My song of choice is, Wale. â€Å"Bad†. Folarin. We will write a custom essay sample on Rhetorical Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Maybach Music, 2012. Mixtape. This song since hitting the mixtape scene is being played all of the time and is being sung by people all over the world. A rhetorical analysis is when you break down a text and try to understand the deeper meaning that you think it might mean. This is helpful because it allows you to do two things, further understand the text and also make sure that you understand what you are learning about. I choose this song for a couple of reasons, one it was stuck in my head the day the assignment was announced, two I really do like the song and I think that people can relate to it, and finally a friend of mine said that this song defines me. I took this opportunity to get to better understand what Wale might be trying to say in this song. I think that this song as excellent example of logos, ethos, and pathos that many people can relate to. The word logos is used to appeal to the readers common sense, also their beliefs and values. I think that Wale is trying to say that if you believe in love then you should also be able to believe in fucking. The beginning hook of the song speaks for its self â€Å"Is it bad that I never made love, no I never did I, but I sure know how to fuck†( Tiara Thomas Hook). If you ask anyone they will tell you there is a complete difference between making love and fucking. When I asked my roommate about the two she defines making love and I quote â€Å"Something that is passionate and soft with nothing but love and care in each other’s eyes†. She defined fucking as â€Å"Two people who only care for each other in that moment, you only need them to please and then they can leave†. At the end of the day everybody is looking for love, he even says at the beginning of the song that â€Å"Monogamy or whatever you call it†¦ain’t for everybody† (Wale Intro) but if you’re not making love then your fucking. Yea you might have those little emotions that you think it might be real but when you find out it’s not you go out and look to find what we call in this generation as a rebound or a fuck buddy. The word ethos is when you use the words or reputation of the artist or writer to support your ideas. Wale is a very smart individual, even though he didn’t graduate from college he was a student athlete. I think that this song is more like him putting his emotions out about himself. That he has never actually made love that he has only fucked women. I think that he telling it all to us in this one line â€Å"Most of us rushing into it anyways, you know what I’m saying†. I also think that he is throwing a curve ball when he says that â€Å"You ain’t rushing for love, and I ain’t up here to judge†. That maybe he once was in love but he and this woman never had their love go to an intimacy level. I have been in love before but when me and my partner where together it was never we were making love it was we were fucking. You can call it what you want but at the end of the day when you are no longer with them you look back on it, you realize that it wasn’t love. The word pathos is when you use your feelings, emotions, and inner thought to influence people. I think that Wale might be trying to tell us of his inner emotions. I am not completely sure if he is trying to tell us that he is ready to make love or if he wants to continue down his path of just fucking women. In the lines â€Å"I don’t need emotions to open your deep sea, I can see the ocean by going between legs†. In this line I think that he has made up his mind that he will just get this emotion that he seeks from in between a woman legs. It’s almost as though he is having a relationship and the vagina (in between legs) is that thing that you don’t want to lose. It’s just like that relationship where you are with someone and they tell you that if you don’t do things there way you risk them leaving you. Wale is using his desire of vagina to keep the girls coming back, it’s possible that the females that he has been choosing all want to make love but he will not let it get to that level. Wale or the female of his choice just take what they need and then leave. In conclusion I have learned the difference between ethos, pathos, and logos. I had learned about it every year of English but with doing this assignment I have a better knowledge of it because I had to actually do something with what I learned. This song might be more important than we actually think because it makes you think. It makes you think about your past and you future and where you might want to go with it. The song gives you an in-depth look into the soul of Wale and how he feels about certain things. I you now my generation we don’t really listen to music anymore. An when I say that I mean the lyrics what the artist is actually trying to say. The only thing we hear is a catchy hook and base line that can make you shake your head and shake your butt. I think that Drake said it best though â€Å"When you are happy you hear the music, but when you are sad you hear the lyrics†. Works Cited Thomas , Kelson , Tiara Thomas , and Wale . â€Å"Wale aâ‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Bad Lyrics | Rap Genius. † Discover the Meaning of Rap Lyrics | Rap Genius. N. p. , 30 Dec. 2012. Web. 7 Mar. 2013. . MLA formatting by BibMe. org. How to cite Rhetorical Analysis, Papers Rhetorical Analysis Free Essays Sometimes life gets tough and gives us obstacles and challenges just to see how we overcome them. It only takes one mistake for someone’s life to be turned upside down. Watching people go through hardships and life challenges helps us get on the right path and succeed. We will write a custom essay sample on Rhetorical Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now The book The Other Wes Moore written by Wes Moore himself, is based on real life challenges that two boys ironically with the same name and hometown were faced with and how their decisions on overcoming them lead them to two completely different places. One living free and being able to experience things and the other living unfortunately behind bars. Wes Moore uses the rhetorical appeals ethos, logos, and pathos to engage the readers attention on how two boys with so many similarities can grow up and live two completely opposite lives. Wes Moore is a talented and educated man and accomplished an enormous amount of things while growing up. He was a Rhodes Scholar and was recognized in the Hall of Fame, but that never fazed him it just made him want to achieve bigger and better things. He looked past that and reached out to someone whose life didn’t go as planned. By doing this he gave the other Wes Moore something to live for, something that would help him forget his past and make him feel like he was a good person again. Wes Moore wrote this book to inspire people and let them learn from other people’s mistakes. He clearly found a wide range of audiences since his book became a New York Times Best seller. This book was made for anyone going through a tough time, struggling for hope, or just an excellent book to read. Wes Moore’s intentions for this book was to show people not to give up on themselves and anythings possible. People choose their own destiny, that you can be what you want to be, so don’t give up even if you hit a pump in the road. Wes Moore studied at two distinguished universities, first John Hopkins then Oxford University where he received a full scholarship. He strongly shows his intelligence by his language and his choice of vocabulary which helps the book appeal to all ages. Moore makes it clear, in the introduction, that this book was written to â€Å"use our two lives as a way of thinking about choices and accountability† (xiv) and not a way to supply excuses for the tragedy that happened on February 7, 2000. This quote and the whole last paragraph in the introduction demonstrates ethos right from the beginning. The way Wes Moore doesn’t judge the other Moore for what he has done and the way Wes Moore interacts with the audience to make sure they do the same shows his credibility. He knows what the other Moore did was a terrible and hurtful thing and tore many family and friends apart, but he wanted his audience to learn from this tragedy and from Moore’s mistakes. In the end, he wanted to show his audience that you can come from hardships in life and still better yourself, but you just need to get up and try. Since the author decided to make his appeal to logos more deeper and complex it was difficult to identify it through the text. Wes Moore can make an argument that the two boys grew up with similar home lives by looking at different relationships within the families. Since Wes Moore, the author, was a little boy he was making decisions on his own and being the man of the house. His father passed away when Moore was at a young age so he never had a male role model. He only had his mother to look up to who was still growing up herself. On the other hand the other Wes Moore had a loving mother who cared dearly about him but at the same time was very young and still trying to figure out her own life. Overall both Wes Moore’s had to overcome tough challenges and make the best of it. This comparison of their relationships with their families helped with the appeal to logos because it showed how two people with similar childhoods can handle almost identical situations differently and end up in complete opposite places. Anyone could read this book and feel emotionally touched by the stories that are told. The author has a strong appeal to pathos throughout the whole book. The audience can either feel shocked by how their lives went in such opposite directions or sorry for the obstacles these boys had to go through growing up. The author decides to start the book with a lot of affection to show the audience that both of these boy’s childhoods were similar and that their lives could of easily been flipped. Wes Moore caught the readers attention at the beginning by trying to get them to figure out how their two lives went in two different directions. Having a strong appeal to pathos is a good benefit because reaching out to the audience through emotion is so much more affective then logic or credibility. People are more connected on how people feel then their knowledge or trustworthiness. For example, when the author said â€Å"HIs body was sprawled and withering at the foot of the stairs† (13), no reader is going to just close the book and stop reading. He or she is going to want to continue reading to figure out why the father died and how the little boy is going to overcome this obstacle. Pathos has a much more affect on the readers then ethos or logos. By reading just the introduction and understanding the lives of these two boys the reader can feel the great amount of emotion put into this book. From the beginning the reader is trapped and doesn’t want to put down the book with the help of the authors use of rhetorical appeals. The differences that lie in their future of these two similar men leaves the audience hanging on what caused so much change in their two lives. How to cite Rhetorical Analysis, Essay examples Rhetorical analysis Free Essays In a letter to the author, analyze an opinionated source that addresses an aspect of pop culture that interests you (see â€Å"Guidelines for Choosing an Appropriate Text† posted under Additional Resources on Model for more information about sources). You will identify the source’s purpose, audience, and context, then evaluate how well the source achieved its purpose by analyzing its rhetorical strategies (such as, but not limited to, appeals, tropes, style and tone, word choice, use of evidence). Why: Strategies of persuasion and argument permeate our culture in advertisements, politics, and even casual conversations among friends about what to do this weekend. We will write a custom essay sample on Rhetorical analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now The ability to recognize and evaluate this rhetorical overload builds critical thinking skills that identify manipulations and foster informed decision making. Additionally, identifying claims and reasoning, as well as the ability to summarize and paraphrase, is an essential skill in any class that requires responses to reading assignments. This project is designed to address the following course outcomes: monster ability in written analysis, undertake writing as a recursive process that develops and transforms thought, respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations, adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality. Physical Requirements: Your analysis must be 1200-1500 words in a 12 apt font, double spaced, in a business letter format. Your final folder should include all invention work and rough drafts. Evaluation Criteria: For this assignment, A papers will: meet the physical requirements listed include a clear and precise thesis statement (an analytical claim with reasons about owe the text works) describe the rhetorical context clearly and fairly summarize the main claim explain and analyze how the author builds and presents his/her argument explain and analyze how the author connects with (or fails to connect with) the audience demonstrate audience awareness engage and move the reader be generally free of grammatical errors B papers will mostly meet these criteria; C papers will somewhat meet these criteria; D and F papers will fall short of these criteria Due Dates: Rough drafts will be due in increments as announced in class and posted on Model. How to cite Rhetorical analysis, Papers Rhetorical Analysis Free Essays string(117) " by Hari that he tends to use in or throughout his writing to get an emotion grasp from his audience to his writing\." October 16, 2012 Rhetorical Analysis: â€Å"You are being lied to about pirates† In Johann Hari’s article â€Å"You are being lied to about pirates† (published Monday January 5, 2009 by the Independent) he uncovers for his audience/readers the truth behind piracy and how it is reflected in the ways that the government â€Å"tries† to inform the public. The article shows that his audience is the people he recognizes to be the real villains in destroying the pirate â€Å"organization† as well as the uneducated readers on the topic that are looking to grasp a new understanding of pirates and where it all started. Johann Hari is trying to prove to us that there is definitely more than one side to these Somali pirates, but people just have to be willing to listen to see the truth behind their story. We will write a custom essay sample on Rhetorical Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Johann Hari captured the truth behind piracy in so many ways in his article. In the first paragraph of his essay he states that the British Navy were taking on â€Å"villains† but when reading this you have to sit back and think who really are the villains in this whole situation. Many may believe that the pirates are the villains simply because during the 1650’s through 1730s pirates were portrayed as savages. So it’s easy to agree that the pirates are the evil and corrupt ones, while the British navies are the heroes; but in reality the roles are reversed. In the fourth paragraph in the article, Hari explains that Somalian pirates were the first people in the world to rebel against unjust treatment. Being that Somalia is located on the tip of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, this country takes up two bodies of water which gives them plentiful reliable resources of seafood. It’s said in the article that one of the reasons the pirates do what they do, is because of the disappearing of the fish as a result of the Europeans overfishing as well as the deadly outbreak of sickness caused by toxic waste dumping. This nuclear waste dumping began to cause the population to become very sick and they began dying off. This point about the toxic waste shows that when they had enough of the sufferings, and they began to stand together just as our democracy stands as one. The only difference between us and them is the fact that they are doing what they have to do to help the rest of their population survive and are acting in the best interest of their fellow Somalian’s. Hari continues on to explain in the rest of this paragraph that just because they are rebels, does not mean that they can’t behave and live right amongst other cultures and populations. But we must also take a minute to question if high jacking, ransom, kidnapping and murder the right way of living. One thing that really stood out in this article and proved that the pirates are no different than anyone else who are barely hanging on to survive, is in the last paragraph of the article when Hari inputs the conversation between Alexander the Great and a captured pirate. Alexander the Great questioned the pirate why did he have the audacity to rob others, and the pirate smiles and asks him how could he (Alexander the Great) do it? He explained that the only difference between them is the fact that Alexander the Great, this so called emperor, does it in greater numbers but he only does it to small ships. The pirate challenged this great emperor on what is the difference between them. This to me proves that pirates are no different than you or me. Except they actually do something about the problems that are occurring in their lives and they won’t stop until their point is proven. One may say that Johann Hari’s article â€Å"You are being lied to about pirates† is a wake-up call about the truths of piracy and how our government can and withhold information from its citizens. An example of this would be withholding the information on just how the piracy came about, as well as the reasoning behind it. They may also lean towards his article as exploitation on how the government can and will use â€Å"strategic tactics† to sugar-coat or even hide the truth of something from the public. Hari’s main reason for writing this article was to show or in some sense prove that there are always 2 sides to a story (nonsense and the truth) but also there could be two â€Å"truths† in this situation as well. Johann Hari’s cause in writing this article is to try to dispel this â€Å"myth† about how the media stops at nothing to put out a good story, even if that means bending the truth. He explains this in the beginning of his article by sharing the information about the government along with real background history of the Somali pirates. Although he takes this stance in his article we must still remember that Hari falls into the category of a mainstream media personnel, which he sees as the ones who cover up the truth. Being that this is the formal background of who this author is, we must look in depth on just who we are basing our point of views or ideas off of. His credibility falls a little bit shy of the standard of truth, because the author is in fact a reporter and apart of this media machine of sugar-coating things. Because he is a reporter, any and every reporter knows that you sometimes have to twist the truth a little bit to get a good story. Hari is a British journalist who’s been writing for multiple news columns, as well as other side contributions. Over the years he collected numerous awards for being Journalist of the Year, starting back in his college years at Kings College in Cambridge, England. It’s been shown countless of times in articles written by Hari that he tends to use in or throughout his writing to get an emotion grasp from his audience to his writing. You read "Rhetorical Analysis" in category "Papers" The audience of this writer may find it a bit confusing on as to why an author who is making a stand towards the truth of how we are being blinded about Somali pirates has been questioned about his writing credibility. For months now rumors have been circulating about Johann’s reliability as a writer and have been said numerous times that Hari is a plagiarist and has even harassed his rival journalist. On September 15th, 2011 he proved these rumors and accusations to be true, by giving a formal public apology for his actions as well as surrendering his awards for journalist of the year. It’s hard to say whether or not author is knowledgeable about the topic simply because of what he has been accused of and this leaves the audience confused on if what was stated was his truth or his own ingredients to compose this article. In Hari’s defense there is a strong possibility that what was stated in this article was indeed his own work, because he includes a lot of his own emotion and opinion throughout the writing of this article. When interviewing Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah (UN envoy to Somalia) he included the â€Å"grief† that Abdallah was extending when saying that people were constantly dumping nuclear material in his country. Hari felt as though it was his duty to lean more towards an appeal to pathos in order for his audience to get a sense of what he and this envoy were feeling. He was looking for sympathy, disappointment, and a sign of relief in the hopes that through the situations that the Somalian’s were experience they would pull through and overcome this hard and devastating time. Although Hari is taking a stance in siding with the pirates and what they are about he doesn’t shy from including the fact that in the history of piracy, pirates were the first to rebel in the world and shows that rebels can lean towards doing things that the world may see as unjust or cruel, when in reality rebels are people who are tired of taking less than what hey deserve and begin to rise or stand up for what they feel they deserve and that is the point that Hari was trying to make in this article. Johann Hari reached out to his audience about the Somalian piracy and expressed his view on the situation. Hari may have been accused for plagiarism and harassing rival journalist, but when it comes down to it he is a reporter. He’s a reporter who is a par t of this media machine that does whatever it takes to get there point across to their audience. He overcame this obstacle in this article by pushing his emotional appeal (pathos) on his audience giving them an option to choose how to feel about what was being said. The bottom line of this essay is to prove that you can’t always believe what you hear; sometimes you have to do research to get the real truths in a story. Johann Hari tries to elaborate in this article that his audiences are the mislead population who is looking to seek a conformational standpoint on these terrorizing pirates. He also points out to us that his audiences are the ones who have been degrading the name of the Somali pirates. Hari mainly points these types of people out to be the government as well as the corrupted media. He establishes that he is against or does not favor the negative image of the pirates. Hari tries to institute an emotional relationship with his readers by including the â€Å"actual† background of these pirates and gives sympathetic reasoning on why they do the things that they do. Hari incorporates this appeal to pathos in his article because he’s going off the instinct that his readers are looking for some sort of understanding on why they ARE pirates. He maximizes his creative intuition in this article by incorporating his audience by asking us rhetorical questions and giving us reasons where we in a way have to search for the answers ourselves. He brings them to life and expresses to the reader just how they should really be viewing these â€Å"media machines† who’ve been belittling the Somali pirates. He assumes that the readers are on his side in a way because, he feels that he is including the actual and/or good reasoning behind the Somali pirate tactics. This all goes back to the â€Å"there’s always two sides to every story† quote. He sees his readers as merely looking for the good since they already heard or know about the bad in this situation. Johann Hari includes more of a formal informative type of language towards his audience in this article. The way that he writes his article is towards an audience of a higher education i. e. high school students and up. Because of this he leans on the art of persuasion towards his readers to see the brighter or better side of the story. By doing this he is sort of sugar coating this situation but he expresses it as exposing the truth. When Hari speaks about how â€Å"European ships have been looting Somalia’s seas of their greatest resource: seafood,† he demonstrates a tone of liveliness. This is appropriate for this article because it gives the reader some sort of excitement or thrill to keep them wanting more information on what is going on in this country. His choice of words shows that he puts more of his own emotion in this article than actual evidence that he is trying to elaborate on. This tactic of inputting his emotion in his work was for the sole purpose to show his audience that not everyone who ends up being the â€Å"bad guys† start off that way. Hari tackles the obstacle of repetition of the same information throughout this article. He incorporates new and interesting facts that stick together with the rest of his work in almost every paragraph. An example of this would be when Hari started to indicate the UN’s envoy to Somalia’s stand on what has been occurring in his country. He continues on in the following paragraphs to explain when and where the problems all started. By doing this he is giving his readers a little background information, and this gives the reader some sort of stability when trying to figure out exactly how they feel about what is going on in Somalia. My overall feeling about Johann Hari’s â€Å"You have been lied to about pirates,† is that he accomplishes his goal of persuading his audience to take a different approach in judging the Somali pirates. He made his message clear straight from the title and stuck by that until the end of his article. Yes Hari may have been accused for plagiarism, but when you think about it, what journalist would spend that much time including this much of someone else’s emotion or opinion in his work. This article leaves you thinking no matter how bad things may look for you, there is always someone or something that makes you see the brighter side of things to help you realize the two sides to your story. How to cite Rhetorical Analysis, Papers Rhetorical Analysis Free Essays A Beautiful Piece Of Chalk Analogy, contradiction, and irony are some of the important rhetorical methods that many authors use to portray their ideas. In â€Å"A Piece of Chalk† (1905), G. K. We will write a custom essay sample on Rhetorical Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now Chesterton demonstrates his adept writing ability in using those methods as a means of appeal to convey that everything is beautiful and valuable in its own way. His piece of writing not only exemplifies the use of contradiction, humor, analogy and metaphor, but also succeeds in using relevant support and evidence. Initially, the first rhetorical technique that Chesterton uses is contradiction. We sometimes hold prejudiced views, along with implicitly wrong definitions, towards the world. The author first states the falsifications, and then contradicts them by describing the simple, pure, yet undeniable beauty of those notions. Chesterton says about the white color, â€Å"It is not a mere absence of color; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black† (133). In the process, the author is able to make his points emphasized. Moreover, he notes in his essay that, â€Å"[v]irtue is not the absence of vices or the avoidance of moral dangers; virtue is a vivid and separate thing, like pain or a particular smell. Mercy does not mean not being cruel, or sparing people revenge or punishment; it means a plain and positive thing like the sun, which one has either seen or not seen† (Chesterton, 133). He continuously talks about the notion that people usually evasively understand as trivial and trite, affirming their grace and charm. Beside contradiction, humor also effectively contributes to his narration. In the first paragraph, Chesterton talks about the conversation between the narrator and the old woman. He came up to look for brown paper for his drawing, but the woman insisted on thinking that he wanted to wrap up parcels. Even when she realized his primary purpose, this kitchen owner still could not capture the value of brown paper to the painter (Chesterton 132). The author also uses humorous phrases such as â€Å"rationale of the existence of brown paper,† â€Å"beyond my mental capacity,† and â€Å"she offered to overwhelm me with note-paper† (Chesterton 132). He dwells on the misunderstanding of the woman, as well as the misconception that many people hold about the little but useful materials around them. In addition, Chesterton says in the last paragraph that, â€Å"Imagine a man in the Sahara regretting that he had no sand for his hour-glass. Imagine a gentleman in mid-ocean wishing that he had brought some salt water with him for his chemical experiments† (134). The narrator states two examples, where people hilariously trick themselves in two simple and obvious situations, to ridicule himself of something that he has just realized to be similar. Added to an effective use of contradiction and humor, Chesterton’s â€Å"A Piece of Chalk† is an exemplary use of analogy and metaphor. He talks about his attitude towards brown paper, â€Å"I then tried to explain the rather delicate logical shade, that I not only liked brown paper, but liked the quality of brownness in paper, just as I like the quality of brownness in October woods, or in beer† (Chesterton, 132). One cannot judge things by their mere look or use, but has to really look into them. Their essences, which were deliberately brought by their creators, are just unique as the passion and devotion of their creators. Similarly, the author says about the old poets, â€Å"They preferred writing about great men to writing about great hills; but they sat on the great hills to write it. They gave out much less about Nature, but they drank in, perhaps, much more. They painted the white robes of their holy virgins with the blinding snow, at which they had stared all day† (133). The old poets not only care and appreciate nature, but also capture it successfully in their own works. In addition, according to his last paragraph, â€Å"[a]nd yet, without any white, my absurd little pictures would be as pointless as the world would be if there were no good people in it† (134), he compares white chalks with good people. And as he talks about using white chalks in painting, the readers understand the values and importance of the existence of good people in this world. In the last sentences of the essay, he says, â€Å"I was sitting on an immense warehouse of white chalk. The landscape was made entirely of white chalk. White chalk was piled more miles until it met the sky† (134). The use of metaphor here enhances his point. By emphasizing how much white chalk is around him, Chesterton skillfully introduces to the readers a seemingly obvious fact that good people are easy to find in the Southern England. Ultimately, with â€Å"A Piece of Chalk,† Chesterton has proven that he is a master of rhetorical techniques. He develops his paper by using different rhetorical methods alternatively and altogether. The story flows peacefully and naturally, yet does not turn boring, because every sentence is a joy to read. Work Cited Chesterton, G. K. â€Å"A Piece of Chalk. † 75 Readings across the Curriculum. Ed. Chris Anson. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006: 132-4. Print. How to cite Rhetorical Analysis, Papers