The Art of Rhetoric: Deciding How to Best Present Ourselves

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First week of my Freshman year of college? Check. My first lecture of the day was with Dr. Mary Bell at the University of Arizona, and in her class we discussed the all too commonly misunderstood concept of rhetoric. 

Many people have come to know the term "rhetoric" to be linked with propaganda and political persuasion. Moreover, it is apparent that many politicians will often use deceptive forms of rhetoric, which lead to a general distrust of the concept of rhetoric in general.

It must be said that rhetoric in fact is used by individuals everyday, whether they realize it or not. Rhetoric is simply a way of being aware of one's audience, context and purpose, so that a person may communicate effectively. That's it. No hidden meanings. No evil intents behind it. That being said, people must begin to understand how to analyze a rhetorical situation, which is what our class activity was about.

Dr. Bell gave us this task: separate a paper into three separate sheets and on each one write five words to describe yourself to an employer, date, and roommate. Once we wrote them down, we got into groups of four to five and mixed our papers so that we could separate them again by analyzing the rhetorical situation of the audience, context, and purpose.

When one is describing themselves to an employer, they typically tend to present themselves as responsible, hard-working, and compatible. They want to show how they can be trusted and will work to help improve their company. When one is describing themselves to a date, they want to show them a less formal side, and show their personal qualities, such as being intimate, loyal, and loving- as a date is about being romantic. Lastly, our group was able to distinguish the roommate category by noticing words like helpful, social, and trustworthy. When living with someone, people hope that they can trust the person, and hope that they can help them or be kind to them in times of need.

Analyzing a rhetorical situation was actually not new to me, as both my AP Language and Lit classes focused most of the courses on rhetoric. This in fact helped me to analyze the rhetorical situation that affected my personal life. As many are aware, the costs of education are rising; it was my job to persuade the Honors College to help me reduce the cost of my education. My audience was the scholarship committee, and they were looking for the best candidates to lend financial support to. My purpose was to gain additional grants, and I would say that it was quite effective as I actually received some supplementary financial aid. I presented myself in an academic and positive way, while also stressing that I am deserving of the funds they would present me with.

In other words, understanding rhetoric and how to effectively present it is key to persuasion, and it is important to understand that rhetoric is actually beneficial to society, and not at all as evil as the media will sometimes present it.