Real Life - A, D, E

It is true.  These "sisters" do truly follow you; the knowledge you gain from this class follows you.

Just this past week, I attended Girls' State where girls from across Massachusetts gathered at Stonehill College to learn more about law, politics and the questions facing our generation today.  With this program came a surplus of speeches, speeches I was able to see right through because of what I learned about rhetorical analysis.  The speeches that were especially easy to dissect were the speeches from girls running for office.  Being able to see through the appeals and strategies in one's speech made my decisions on who to vote for that much easier and informed.  I didn't even mean to focus on the rhetoric in their speeches, it just kind of happened and I couldn't help it.  This is probably due to the fact that I was doing a rhetorical analysis essay every night for a chunk of this school year and now those skills are embedded in  my brain forever.




Because I did put my all into those rhetorical analysis essays at the beginning of the year, I was rewarded in several ways.

The most obvious reward was the higher grades that I kept getting back.  I realized that having a strong intro meant having a strong map to follow for the rest of the essay.

Although grades seem like the most important aspect of the class in the moment, the second reward is the gift that quite literally keeps on giving - knowledge.  My grades for this class do have their use, but eventually, my use for them fades.  What I can keep on using, however, is the skills that I learned.

There will always be an ad, essay, book, magazine, etc. that I can rhetorically analyze.  Doing so makes me, the reader, that much more powerful because I know what the writer of the text is up to.  There is much confidence gained upon having this skill.  That's why, when I was in the audience listening to a candidate talk about "flossing" our lives, I was smirking to myself.  Jane from Orange, I knew that you were using this extended metaphor to try and sound relatable to the audience who also gets yelled at for not flossing every six months.  I saw this was your attempt for pathos as well as ethos.  I also saw that you never said how you're actually going to "floss" our imaginary problems in our imaginary towns, but rather continued to talk about the need to "floss."  Jane, you did not get my vote and you can thank my knowledge on rhetorical appeals for that. 

There will now be plenty of Jane's in the world now that I can see right through.  The only downside to this is that I will be aware of much more phonies in the world.