Making Sense of Messages: A Critical Apprenticeship in Rhetorical Criticism

I. Introduction

1. What Are Rhetorical Messages?

Characteristics of Rhetoric

Definition of Rhetoric

Rhetorical Terminology

Why Study Rhetorical Messages?

2. Criticism: What Critics Do with Rhetorical Messages

Reaction versus Critique

Characteristics of Critics

A Critical Stance: In the Balcony

How This Book Can Help

Message Analysis Matters!

II. Process to Product

3. Four Kinds of Critical Thinking

Creative and Critical Thinking

The Process of Critical Analysis of Messages

Notes

4. The Process of Description

Approaches to Describing a Text

Recording Your Thinking

Approaches to Describing Context

Conducting Relevant Research

Text-Context Interaction

Applications of Text-Context Interactions

Notes

5. The Process of Analysis

Naming the Parts of the Message

Looking for Rhetorical Patterns

Sample Analysis

Deriving Questions from the Analysis

Notes

6. The Process of Interpretation

Characteristics of Interpretation

How Does a Critic Develop an Interpretation?

7. The Process of Evaluation

Types of Judgments

Selecting a Type of Judgment

Sample Evaluation

8. Writing Your Ideas

Effectively Arguing Your Claims about Messages

Documenting Your Sources

Notes

III. Analytical Tools

Classical Approaches

9. Classical Approaches: Ancient Rhetoric

Some Classical Rhetorical Concepts

The Classical Model Applied

Notes

Suggested Readings

10. Classical Approaches: New Rhetoric

Toulmin and Everyday Argument

Perelman and the New Rhetoric

The New Rhetoric Applied

Notes

Suggested Readings

Dramatistic Approaches

11. The Narrative Paradigm

Some Vocabulary of the Narrative Paradigm

Narrative Paradigm Applied

Two Concepts--Four Concerns

Narrative Applied to WWF Smackdown!

Suggested Readings

12. Fantasy Theme Analysis

Fantasy Theme Analysis Contrasted with Narrative

Some Basic Concepts of Fantasy Theme Analysis

The Process of Fantasy Theme Analysis

Fantasy Theme Applied: Gettysburg Address

The Fantasy Themes of WWF Smackdown!

Notes

Suggested Readings

13. Burkeian Analysis

The Negative and Human Speech

The Pentad

Two Examples of the Pentad Applied

Using Pentadic Ratios

Discovering Motives

Burkeian Concepts Applied to WWF Smackdown!

Notes

Suggested Readings

Sociopolitical Approaches

14. Ideological Approaches

Critical Theory

Hegemony and Marginalization

Legitimation

Naturalization

Ideological Concepts Applied to Beauty and the Beast and Shrek

Notes

Suggested Readings

15. Feminist Approaches

Liberal Feminism

Cultural Feminism

Postmodern Feminism

Feminist Concepts Applied to Beauty and the Beast and Shrek

Notes

Suggested Readings

16. Postmodern Approaches

Deconstruction

Ideographs

Discursive Formations

Using the Postmodern Approaches

Postmodern Concepts Applied to "America"

Notes

Suggested Readings

Visual Approaches

17. Visual Communication

Visual Messages and Argument

The Nature of Visual Messages

Semantics and Visual Communication

Functions of Visuals in Persuasion

An Application

Expanding the Analysis

Notes

Suggested Readings

Appendices

1. Sample Analysis of "She's Leaving Home"

2. Sample Student Paper: Barbara Jordan's Keynote Address at the 1992 Democratic National Convention: A Neutral Approach to a Partisan Task

3. Sample Student Paper: A Response to the Death of a Princess: The Form and Function of a Eulogy