Proposal Argument's Audience Illustration

A Proposal argument is a "call to action" for a particular audience and then calls the particular audience to take action (Ramage 311). Proposal arguments hinge around the identification and tailoring the message to a particular audience.  And the message must address certain questions in order to be appropriate to the audience (Ramage 325). Who is the audience? What information do you need to give in order to get them to be motivated to care? What view do you want them to gain after reading the proposal argument? What change in behavior do you want them to exhibit? What is the personal cost to acting on the proposal argument? What alternative solutions do you need to give to objections raised? (Ramage 325).

            John Henry Newman's fable illustrates the importance of an intended audience to the proposal audience:

                                    The Man once invited the Lion to be his guest, and received him with                     princely hospitality. The Lion had the run of a magnificent palace, in which there were a vast many things to admire. There were large saloons and long corridors, richly furnished and decorated, and filled with a profusion of fine specimens of  sculpture and painting, the works of the first masters in either art. The subjects  represented were various; but the most prominent of them had an especial interest for the noble animal who stalked by them. It was that of the Lion himself; and as the owner of the mansion led him from one apartment into another, he did not fail  to direct his attention to the indirect homage which these various groups and         tableaux paid to the importance of the lion tribe.

                                    There was, however, one remarkable feature in all of them, to which the host, silent as he was from politeness, seemed not at all insensible; that diverse as were these representations, in one point they all agreed, that the man was always victorious, and the lion was always overcome. (Cahill 7-8).

            Who did the Man think his audience was? Was the Lion the intended audience? Obviously, the Man viewed the Lion as his audience in his tour and as a guest in his palace.  The Man did not view the importance of how the depictions of lions in the artwork would be viewed by the Lion.  In fact when quizzed by the Man about his views of the artwork, the Lion replied, "Lions would have fared better, had lions been the artists" (Cahill 8).

             The Man did not keep the perception of the Lion in mind when he invited the Lion to the tour and to be a guest in his palace.  Therefore, any good perceptions and motivations would not be shared by the Lion. Keeping this illustration in mind is essential in understanding the importance of the intended audience in the drafting of a proposal argument.

Cahill, Thomas. How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the 

             Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe. New York: Doubleday, 1995. Print.

Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson. Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings.             8th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. Print.

Response to Myron Oliver's It's Alive

As I read Myron Oliver's blog dated April 13, 2011, I receive a vivid description of the Rhetorical Triangle's three main components of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Logos is represented by a lumberjack imposing and steady.  Ethos is depicted by Barack the owner of a hardware store building ideas out of nowhere. Pathos is illustrated by Paula, a widow running a general store, whose message is followed by others.  These characters illustrate the rhetorical triangle in a personified form.  I was interested and intrigued by his descriptions. I felt the triangle coming alive. I envy his descriptive, energetic writing.  I will work to make my writing more creative like his.

References

Oliver, Myron. "It's Alive!!!". n.v. Myronslog.blogspot.com. Blogspot.com. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.              http://myronslog.blogspot.com/

Rhetorical Triangle as the Deathly Hallows

                        I began reading the Harry Potter book series to my son when he was in the first grade.  As he grew older, we would buy a copy of the book the day it debuted and would fight over who would read it first. I would win, of course, being older and bigger- let alone his father.  I would relish in the adventures and would discuss and debate the tales with my son. I know that to compare the rhetorical triangle to the last book in the Harry Potter series would seem absurd.  The Deathly Hallows is a symbol representing the three Peverell brothers, Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus,  who fought with death (Rowling 2007). The symbol is a equilateral triangle with a vertical line bisecting a circle (Rowling, 2007).  The triangle is representative of the Cloak of Invisibility which allows the wearer to be attuned to his logical reactions and feelings to remain quiet until he would throw off the cloak and announce his presence (Rowling, 2007). The Cloak of Invisibility is represented by logos. Logos is the "clarity" and "consistency" of the argument's logical message (Ramage, 2010).  The circle in the Deathly Hallows illustrates the Resurrection Stone (Rowling, 2007).  The Resurrection Stone when used would revive the dead as a ghost like being to have contact with the living (Rowling, 2007). The Resurrection Stone is like pathos appealing to the emotions of the user. Pathos captivates the emotions of the audience to speaker's message (Ramage, 2010).  The vertical line in the Deathly Hallows depicts the Elder Wand (Rowling, 2007).  The Elder Wand is an all powerful wand that delivers ethical justice in Harry's hand (Rowling, 2007).  Therefore the Elder Wand is the ethos or the ethical appeal which projects the speaker's character to the audience (Ramage, 2007).

            As we go through life the appeals of logos, pathos, and ethos accompany us as the Cloak of Invisibility, the Resurrection Stone, and Elder Wand accompanied Harry Potter on his journey.  It is essential that we use them carefully and judicially whenever we use rhetorical arguments in our daily lives.

References

Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson. Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with    Readings. 8th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. Print.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007.             Print.