A Rhetorical Analysis Paper
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Thesis Statement
In the ‘That’s Not Funny’ essay Caitlin Flanagan Argues that creating a comic for a university student is a challenging task. The students are from different diverse background, and therefore they hold different beliefs. The comic created should not be biased and boring that would make students go back to their rooms, wishing they had not turned up for the event. She uses rhetoric to move or persuade the audiences in specific situations. Rhetoric is defined as the art of controlling people’s minds. Caitlin Flanagan uses demonstrative rhetoric in the essay. It is evident when she blames the undergraduates’ students for being hard to persuade due to their diverse background.
Rhetorical Situations
First, Caitlin identifies the rhetoric situation that comedians were taking part in the college circuit encounter. The students had different entertainment preferences. Comedians had to provide a comic that was entirely risk-free, that is a comedy that would not upset or contradict the students set of beliefs. To prevent students from wandering away to some other place that is more entertaining, comedians should import enough bards and jesters (“What Is A Rhetorical Analysis Essay? (With Pictures)”). Use bards and jesters that can handle the difficulties; that is, one that does not offend the student keeps them amused. From Catlin’s essay, Keith dressed like a clown for a strategic purpose; he wanted to gain identity with the audience. He did not want them to forget him or book the wrong show. Various factors affect both the speaker and the audience; these are education, past experiences, social and economic status, location and age. Various questions run through the comedian’s mind; for instance, what reserves will the audience have on the performance? What are their expectations? And what should he/she conform to? Other important aspects are the topic and setting, that is, where the event will take place. With regards to the comedians’ audience, what should he include or exclude from the argument?
Models used for developing a persuasive argument
Invention-the comedians need to choose effective content and examine everything that one could say. It helps to create a balance of what is to be said and what the audience expects to hear. Once the comedians have determined the content, they should arrange their speech in an orderly manner. It helps in planning the time to be taken for the respective areas. Then the comedian chooses the style to use to represent his/her arguments. The style should be best suited for the audience (“The ‘S Not Funny By Caitlin Flanagan – 1191 Words | Bartleby”). He/she then memorize the speech or argument.
Lastly, delivering the speech. It includes the use of both verbal and non-verbal clause such as the use of gestures and eye contact.
Modes of persuasion (Appeals)
There are three modes of persuasion; these are logos, pathos, and ethos. Catlin argued that one could not use logic on the students. Logic is attained depending on the intelligence of the audience and giving evidence to harmonize the argument. Logos gives rise to ethos since the details enable the speaker to look knowledgeable. The audience does not dismiss logical argument easily. For the student, they did not require an argument that would upset them or question their beliefs even if the speaker had facts or evidence to show. Such kind of jokes had some grievous consequences. For the comedian to ensure that his/her argument makes sense, he/she needs to involve the audience in the argument. It can be done by asking them questions. Catlin argued that most of the student had internalized the belief that they should not laugh to the incorrect argument, especially political. Keith could not tell some jokes to the students, since he knows it could not be appropriate according to the guidelines of NACA. The student was very strict on the topic that was to be used for comic. Another topic, such as race and rape, were considered very serious and so could not be used in a comic.
Pathos refers to as convincing using the audience’s emotions. Understanding the audience expectations was key. The use of metaphors and analogies can improve pathos. It is done by connecting your idea with events or people whom the audience is familiar with. It helps them to understand the argument better.
Ethics are a good character. Ethos tends to convince the audience that the speaker has good morals. For the college circuit, some ethics guided the comedians on the content to share to the student (“Essay About Thats Not Funny – 312 Words”). Ethos is usually covered during the introduction of the argument. Comedians can either use inductive or deductive arguments or both. An inductive argument, the speaker forms generalizations from the proof while in deductive argument conclusions are generated from the generations.
Various tools can be used in persuasions; these tools include dynatron, that is, extreme exaggeration, Anaphora, allusions and antimetabolite. Including all these aspects in an argument makes it very persuasive to the audience.
References
“Essay About Thats Not Funny – 312 Words”. Studymode, 2020, https://www.studymode.com/essays/Thats-Not-Funny-1373298.html. Accessed 9 Sept 2020.
“What Is A Rhetorical Analysis Essay? (With Pictures)”. Wisegeek, 2020, https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-rhetorical-analysis-essay.htm.
“The ‘S Not Funny By Caitlin Flanagan – 1191 Words | Bartleby”. Bartleby.Com, 2020, https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-s-Not-Funny-By-Caitlin-Flanagan-P3HNYC6V3RZKW.