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Draft Rhetoric is the study and practice of how we shape knowledge, which is complicated by the multiple ways we can interpret a text. Is used to study the purpose of a text and can be viewed as performance art where writers persuade readers to take action. Rhetoric is viewed as a form of communication that is situated, motivated, international and epistemic. This form of discourse known as rhetoric is both the art of human interaction (including persuasion) through language and other symbols, as well as the duty of that interaction. The major elements of rhetorical theory are the rhetorical situation, the audience, the pigsties or “proofs” (and their subdivisions), and the five canons of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery’. (Covina and Joliet, p. 332). Moreover, according to Bitter, a situation is rhetorical when three elements are present: an exigency, an audience, and rhetorical constraints. An exigency is a need, a gap, something wanting that can be met, filled in, or supplied only by a spoken or written text (Covina and Jollied, p. 32), it is considered as the heart of the heterocyclic situation. The purpose of this essay is to analyze two rhetorical situations to determine if they are effective or not according to the criteria of rhetoric. The rhetorical situations are President Franklin D. Roosevelt speech “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation” and Coca-Cola’s famous polar bear commercial: “Say Thank you with a Coke”. Rhetorical situations are defined by the kinds of appeals that may affect an audience, the epistles.
There are three types: the rhetoric credibility (ethos), the emotions (pathos), and the systems of reasoning (logos). While both rhetorical situations rely on all three types of epistles, President Franklin D. Roosevelt speech relies more heavily on the “ethos”, whereas Coca-Cola’s relies more heavily on the “pathos”. The rhetoric of President Franklin D. Roosevelt guided a nation to come together under an ideology of patriotism during a time of a great tragedy. Furthermore, will explore how his use of ideographs assisted in his success of uniting the people of this country.
I will analyze his speech known as the “Day of Infamy Speech”, also the rhetorical characteristics used by Roosevelt thin the speech. One of the reasons why his speech was so convincing was because he had the support and confidence of the American people. At the time of his speech, he was already in his third-time period as president. President Roosevelt ethos relied on people’s trust because he was reelected as president. Up until this time, the Ignited States of America had maintained a position of neutrality during World War II.
However, this suddenly changed due to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The president did what the nation wanted him to do in response to being the victim of a deliberate attack, retaliate. His response to the Empire of Japan was a collective response of the nation as a whole; it was America more as a unit, as we can see in this part of the speech when he says: “(Add citation referring)”. In my opinion, I think his speech was extremely effective in uniting the nation to come and collectively channel their response.
The importance of this speech relies on how the nation was immeasurable. If Roosevelt had decided to deliver his speech in an alternative manner, the nation would have been unified to the response in the same way. The people needed to hear the hitherto that President Roosevelt delivered to them in his speech and truly comprehend how significant this event had been in their nation’s history. (Add citation) Many Americans considered Roosevelt as a friend; they viewed Franklin D.
Roosevelt as a credible person, someone that they could truly trust in the way he decided to handle their nation’s decisions. He made them believe the tragedy of Pearl Harbor has been the most significant event for the Un tied States, and that the only solution was to join the war. (WWW because of the tragedy of the Pearl Harbor attack being the most significant vent for the United States, as it was the main factor for them to joining the war). He intended to transform the nation’s worst times into good ones. (Add citation direct and sincere with his emotions).
He communicated his feelings in a manner that imparted directness and sincerity to his listeners. (Add citation direct and sincere with his emotions). This urged the nation to maintain their faith during tough economic times. Roosevelt felt it was important that these messages to the people were clear and simple. Roosevelt was easy to understand and opened in language; he was very persuasive in his speech. Add citation, persuasive and easy to understand, shows bonding). In doing that, Roosevelt makes his listeners feel a sense of bonding with him.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to successfully reel in his listeners through his change of language and a precise use of words. He would begin with subtle language. (Add citation subtle language). Then he would strongly use more specific language. (Add citation strongly and specific language). These speeches gave the people the hope they were searching for and encouraged them to have faith and stay positive in the nations worst’s situations. Unity was something in which Roosevelt found to be of the utmost importance.
He thought of the nation as having many members united into one organism, the health of each member being dependent on the health of every other member and of the nation as a whole. A day after what was at the time arguably the most destructive, traumatic event their country had seen, president Roosevelt addressed the nation. Apparent that everyone had been blindsided with disaster, the president had the responsibility to address the situation. “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 , a date which will live in infamy. (Roosevelt 1941).
Those were the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt regarding of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The purpose of Roosevelt speech “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation” Was to educate the nation on what had happened that morning and to justify his reasons for declaring war upon the Japanese Empire. Each word in his memorable speech touched the heart of the American people, because of his emotional and passionate appeal about his duty as President and former commander and chief was showed while he was delivering this speech.
I think President Roosevelt persuasion in his beech succeeds because of its context and the rhetorical appeals it contains. The second thing that am going to illustrate is the way in which Coca cola uses rhetorical situations in this famous commercial: Say Thank you with a Coke. Everyone loves the Coca-Cola commercials with the Polar Bears, they think the are really cute. These celebrated commercials are simply sweet on the surface and incredibly clever in their delivery. Appealing to both their audiences’ logic of the situations they offer, and the appealing to the audiences’ happiness based upon their products.
The unfailing smile that the broadcasting of these timeless commercials faithfully deliver to their viewers is sure to guarantee an increased amount of Coke drinkers. These commercials present a perfect example of a rhetorical situation, with definite exigency, rhetoric, audience, and context within the commercial itself. Awe, yes. That rare moment when a polar bear cub first encounters what he will soon recognize as lunch in the eyes of a baby seal. But, for now, predator-meets- prey is not our exigency. Our exigency is the simple dilemma of a drifting ball and a land-bound polar bear cub.
The cub is our “rhetoric” for he creates the exigency, the problem that need be solved. But the problem doesn’t last for long when our “audience” in the form of a baby seal shows up unannounced and returns the floating ball to its rightful owner, the cub, who then, being the author and therefore the creator of the context as well as the exigency, acts in friendship the same way a particular baby penguin once did to him, and thanks the baby seal with what? Yes, you guessed it, an ice-cold, classic bottle of Coca-Cola.
Happiness and smiles once again ensue and the viewers of this immemorial are once again in a state of “zoo’s” and “saw’s” as they make their way to return balls to their enemies and buy cases of Coke to give away as “Thank yoga’s” and simple gifts at the holidays. Once again, convincing. Once again, persuasive. Boy, do I ever want to break the ice by sharing a Coke with someone (if you excuse the pun), and what a great gift idea! Coca-Cola was sure smart to place that classy bottle-top sign wishing everyone a “Happy Holidays. ” So Polar bears, penguins, and baby seals, how sweet.
What a clever way to enter into your viewers’ hearts but through the sharing of your rink. The world is truly a better place now, and it’s all because humankind saw those fanciful commercials that encouraged us to “Open Happiness” in the form of a Classic Coca-Cola. On a serious note though, these are very endearing commercials, and Coca-Cola I’m sure is very proud to have thought of it first. Not only have they increased their revenue of just their drinks, they also have a new source of revenue that stems from the manufacturing of stuffed Polar Bears holding Coke bottles, Polar Bear mugs, snow globes and other gift shop items.