Rhetoric???

To be honest, prior to reading Herrick’s introduction, I had a very limited idea as to how to define rhetoric. I was intimidated after reading the title for this course and found myself not even knowing exactly what it meant. I must admit I am still not quite sure what to expect. Before reading this excerpt, I would have described rhetoric as being closely related to the art of persuasion. Moreover, that it focuses not only on the content of what is being communicated, but also on the fashion in which it is presented. Unfortunately, that was the extent of my knowledge of rhetoric and I looked forward to reading Herrick’s "An Overview of Rhetoric" in order to become more acquainted with the subject matter we would be discussing for most of the semester.

After reading Herrick’s introduction, I felt much more informed as to what exactly rhetoric is. I was partially right in my original definition that rhetoric is related to persuasion, but I feel that I missed the big picture of what rhetoric actually is. Rhetoric is present everywhere and is essential to our everyday lives. Herrick’s reference to George Kennedy when he describes rhetoric as, “when we express emotions and thoughts to other people with the goal of influencing (persuading) them,” really helped to give me an understanding of rhetoric. This quote leads into the other parts of the reading that I found most interesting, which are the many forms in which rhetoric can be used. Kennedy says rhetoric is when we “express” (not write or speak about) our emotions and thoughts. Originally, I only thought of the use of rhetoric as being confined to writing and speaking. In actuality, rhetoric can be seen in music, dance, acting, painting, and even architecture. This really opened my eyes to how much rhetoric exists in our everyday lives. People use all kinds of symbols and art in order to persuade or convince someone on any given issue. This reading also describes rhetorical discourse and the social functions of the art of rhetoric. These two sections were organized extremely well and provided me with an understanding of the characteristics of a rhetorical discourse and how rhetoric applies to different aspects of our lives and communities. When the author was discussing rhetorical discourse, he mentioned that rhetoric is usually directed towards a specific audience, and is often adapted by the rhetor to accommodate for the beliefs of that audience. One thing I found interesting is that the "audience" can, in fact, be yourself. For example, if you are debating the pros and cons of a situation, you are, in a way, persuading yourself act in a certain way or not. It is true that rhetoric has had a bad reputation in that past, but after reading this article I feel that, perhaps, it only got that reputation because the people using the word rhetoric did not completely understand its definition entirely. Anther possibility is that the general definition of rhetoric has changed over time yet the negative associations still linger today.

Overall, my definition of rhetoric has expanded dramatically. I can say that it is not only persuasion, but the study or practice of symbolic expression. Rhetoric has a role in almost all human interactions. In so many things we do, we are trying to convince one another of our thoughts or opinions, and these can all be considered forms of rhetoric. Although there is still criticism of rhetoric existent today, I think rhetoric is definitely worth studying and analyzing.