Rhetoric In A Modest Proposal

Rhetoric, in the 21st century, is becoming a lost art. Before beginning my first rhetoric course, the only real interaction I had with the word rhetoric was in the term rhetorical question, which it turns out I didn’t even know the real meaning to. It would not surprise me if this were also the case for many other individuals. Upon becoming familiar with rhetoric, I have realized how underappreciated it is. The “classic” secondary school essay makes a joke of the art of constructing a well thought out argument. Just the other day I was told in my university level English class to write an essay that contained an introduction with a thesis, a body that contained three separate points, and a conclusion. It seemed almost ridiculous that at a …show more content…
It does not encourage narratio, the statement of fact, or refutatio, the argument of your opponent; it only contains three of the five points of disposition. Fred Stenson wrote an essay expressing his frustrations with Alberta’s Language Arts curriculum and makes references to Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”. This “modest proposal” is the essay’s thesis statement. When I examined the essay with the Alberta Language Arts curriculum in mind, I was disturbed to find that swift does not actually state his thesis until he has expended well over 1,000 words! (p.342)
In a piece of rhetoric, having the thesis that far into a piece of writing is completely acceptable, but we are brainwashing students into think that it is unacceptable. Rhetoric in today’s classroom is little more than a poorly explained syllogism that often leaves students more confused about the idea of validity and truth. I remember being taught the classic syllogism, “ John is mortal. Humans are mortal. Therefore, John is human.” We were told that the first statement was true and the second statement was true therefore, the conclusion had to be true and the statement is valid. That was how syllogisms were explained to one of my university classes. Now that I have actually taken a rhetoric class I am appalled that it would be taught that way. A syllogism deals with the validity of the argument by breaking it down and looking at its …show more content…
It is easier to appreciate a great speech or argument now, people always know when they hear a good speech or argument but do they know why? Think of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream,” speech. What makes that speech so powerful? It had amazing kairos, it is hard to think of another speech that was so timely with the power that King’s had. In my opinion, it is the elocutio and pronuntiatio that really put this speech over the top. I really think that is why so many people remember it, because it was so powerfully written with the repetition of the phrase, “I have a dream,” and not to mention the amazing delivery that King had. We have rhetoric to thank for these history making speeches and arguments. But, sadly we have moved away from such amazing uses of rhetoric and people are entertained by the babble of Donald Trump. If we had such great speakers at one time though, then it can happen