Ch' 10: Contemporary Rhetoric II The Rhetoric of Situation, Drama, and Narration

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Ch. 10 Contemporary Rhetoric IIThe Rhetoric of
Situation, Drama, and Narration

• Kenneth Burke- A Grammar of Motives
• Uses his dramatistic pentad
• Contains five elements
• Act- what is done
• Scene- the location of the act
• Agent- person performing the act
• Agency- what the agent does to perform the act
• Purpose- reason for the act, the intended goal

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Wayne Booth

• The Rhetoric of Fiction
• Examines the relationship between the author and
  the narrator
• Some works of fiction pretend to not have the
  authors voice present
• Booth maintains the authors judgment is always
  present
• Booth says it is impossible for a writer to adopt
  a value-neutral stance

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Lloyd Bitzer

• The Rhetorical Situation
• Contains 3 elements-
• Exigence- An imperfection waiting to be fixed,
  an obstacle to be overcome
• but not all exigencies create a rhetorical
  situation
• The exigence MUST be able to be modified or
  solved by discourse and the use of rhetoric

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The 2nd element

• The audience
• An audience is only rhetorical if it can be
  influenced by discourse
• and then only if the audience can impart and
  mediate change

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The 3rd element

• Constraints
• Persons, events or objects which are parts of the
  situation
• that have the power to constrain decision and
  action needed to modify the exigence
• Constraints must be overcome by the rhetorician
  (like Aristotles proofs)

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Ernest Bormann and Symbolic Convergence

• Bormann applied the public sphere of rhetoric
  to the concept of fantasy development
•  
• Looked at the types of rhetorical narratives that
  create human communities and cultures
•  
• He observed small groups interact and develop
  shared narratives

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• He included
•  
• Jokes
• Stories
• tales
• Rituals
• Rites
•  
• And other communication as being rhetorically
  significant

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• These structured forms of communication created
  agreements of social reality
•  
• Elements of a social reality?
•  
• Emotions
• Attitudes
• Beliefs
• Heroes
• Villains

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• Bormann said the result of this rhetorical
  interaction was the creation of social
  identities
• the creation of a sense of community
•  
• This rhetorical interaction persuades people to
  act within the framework of the community

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Symbolic convergence-

• the way two or more private symbolic worlds
  overlap
•  
• Communication not only creates culture,
  communication is culture

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Fantasy Theme

• a story line that involves people who identify
  themselves or others with a character developed
  in the telling of narratives
• these people are members of a group or
  organization

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Example

• You know you are part of the group when you know
  the inside joke
•  
• Other examples?

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• Fantasy types (or different themes of fantasies)
•  
• Example
• The Great Person (the company founder and CEO) is
  also a Decent Human Being