The Rhetoric in practice project is a challenging yet an exciting task. In the project, a student gets the opportunity to be a creator of content and the freedom to use any medium, diction, and figures of speech. This essay reflects on my written rhetoric in practice, explaining the content and justifying my use of particular discourse choices.
In my rhetoric in practice project, I opted to write a personal letter to a mother who has been central to the holistic development of her daughter. In the letter, the daughter feels that while the mother has done so much to her, she has not particularly made her feel special. The letter begins by setting the mother apart and noting that the rhetor will not use the things any woman can achieve by the grace of life and the opportunity of pregnancy.
While I opted for a personal letter genre, my letter divulges from the contemporary letter writing norms by taking some rhetoric practice typically reserved for narratives and short stories. For instance, to make a succinct ethos, I use dialogues and quote real conversation that I feel would add depth to the letter. I chose to write a personal letter because it does not only give a feeling of intimacy but also targets a single audience in a manner that personalizes the message. As Auer, Schreier, and Watts (23) assert, “Personal letters are the best ways to pass emotionally packed, positive personal messages.” Moreover, compared to other options of message conveyance like emails and text messages, a letter creates a readily available reference (especially to a busy mother) and creates a feeling that more time and thought had been put in the construction of the message. The precedence of more time and thought further adds to the appreciation of individualism. Additionally, a letter provides the space to be verbose and emotional, allowing the writer to delve into details whose articulation could have been curtailed through the other medium.
The rhetor of the letter is a young adult girl named Shyleen who is struggling to sufficiently appreciate a mother who has been way too pivotal in her life. Shyleen wishes that when she grows to be a mother, she could find as much true appreciation as she offers her mom. Her message is of appreciation and acknowledgment that while she is a victim of the dictatorships of life, she still misses her mom and would wish to be close to her. She travels the memory line to remind the mother of the particular occasions that she proved she was unique and inculcated characters that still guide the girl’s life. The lady uses rhetorical practice and diction to express her emotions especially when she talks of tears and a nostalgic feeling as well as when she wishes that she would be there to avail her nonverbal cues as evidence to deep emotions. Central to the message of appreciation and thanksgiving, the lady expresses her love for the mother in a way that is both direct and rhetoric using a broad range of befitting diction.
The primary audience of the letter is Shyleen’s mother. Shyleen expresses her gratitude to a single audience who disserve this confidentiality of the message. However, the letter could also have a secondary audience in other mothers and other children. These would obviously be subject to the rhetoric analysis of the content of the message. The letter could be used to pass the unspoken feelings of many children about their mothers. To reassure the mothers that while some kids do not have the time and opportunity to visit them often, write letters and even afford gifts, deep inside them they emotionally appreciated them. It could also be used to challenge the sons and daughters of the mothers to appreciate their mothers even in the least ways possible.
The primary purpose of the letter is to not only to inform but also to influence. While the rhetor concentrates on informing the mother of her appreciations and love, she focuses more on persuading her to buy the rhetors ethos. She tries to convince the reader to shun any thought of being neglected and take the new idea of being appreciated and thought of each passing day. At a closer review, it can be argued that the rhetor had realized that the audience has begun having feelings of loneliness and emptiness despite getting frequent calls from her daughter. These are perceptions that the rhetor commits to overcoming. Research shows that personal letters are one of the best and most direct ways to influence people-born perceptions (Bjoroy, Madigan and Nylund 205). They argue that a personal letter is easily taken as an honest confession and thus quickly convicts the reader of a rhetor’s honesty. As such, the use of a personal letter as a medium to achieve the purpose of influence was not only apt but timely. Coming from a daughter and passing a positive message and impact would make the choice of a personal letter even more appropriate.
The ethos of the story is presented in a passionate, intimate tone. The writer is committed to identify with the audience and to make her audience feel as close as possible. Reading through the letter, it seems that as the audience reads along, a rare closeness ensues. The inclusion of such genres as; narration, the use of contrast and vivid description of situations that happened in the past’ further build this closeness. The tone is well thought and sustained throughout the letter. In fact, the choice of the salutation and the complimentary close further adds to the tone and ethos. While using “dear” as an opening salutation is considered not intimate, using “dearest” establishes a sense of intimacy (Barton and Nigel 81). This term goes beyond the informal to represent the very revered in a manner conspicuously visible. Moreover, using the closing complimentary phrase, “Yours affectionately,” further creates the sense of closeness and makes the letter too closely involving than many average letters. It is also important to note that I shunned calling the mother with her name or referring to her with such official titles as “Miss” or “Mrs.” These attempts were all geared towards maintaining an intimately passionate tone throughout the whole letter (“Personal Letters” par 3). I wanted to present the rhetor as presenting the love and gratitude message with deep emotions and a rare conviction and in my judgment, this was achieved.
The completion of this report brought with it a few challenges. Firstly, I had a problem choosing the genre to use in presenting my rhetoric in practice. While I was sure that I would write something about a mother, I wasn’t sure whether to submit it as a blog, letter or a short, ambiguous story. Even when I had settled on personal letter writing, I was not sure of the style to use. I thought of either taking an overly straight presentation as in most letters or be creatively unique. It is, however, critical to note that the paper expanded my rhetoric analysis of situations. Before the writing, I could hardly analyze a communication situation and break it down into the various rhetoric element, something that has significantly changed. Moreover, through this project, I have reviewed a myriad of writing, expanded my diction and vocabulary and grown my creative skills to a high new level. The challenges that this project presented at the beginning and throughout the process of its completion provided a rare opportunity for me to grow. It is, nevertheless, imperative upon me to note that the whole process was intriguing. Writing and analyzing my work was the greatest thing I enjoyed. I realized that any communication could provide a great source of rhetoric analysis. Since I completed the project, I find myself subconsciously rhetorically analyzing any piece of communication presented to me – be it verbal, visual or written.
In a nutshell, my rhetoric in practice project was a personal letter written by Shyleen to her mother who was probably feeling lonely and neglected. In deep emotions, shyleen expresses her love and gratitude to the mother highlighting some of the pivotal occasions of her growth. I use a passionate and intimate tone to convey her message to the mother while using a myriad of rhetoric genres. While the primary audience of the letter is the mother, it can be presented as containing a rhetoric message for both mothers and children across the world; a message that is compelling and authentic. The diction and tone of the letter are both geared towards expressing deep feelings and persuading the mother to buy the daughter’s perception of their relationship amid the many stumbling blocks.
Works Cited
“Personal Letters.” OWL Purdue English. 7 Mar, 2017. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/992/01/.
Auer, Anita, Daniel Schreier, and Richard J. Watts, eds. Letter writing and language change. Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Barton, David, and Nigel Hall, eds. Letter writing as a social practice. Vol. 9. John Benjamins Publishing, 2000.
Bjoroy, A., Stephen Madigan, and David Nylund. “The practice of therapeutic letter writing in narrative therapy.” The handbook of counselling psychology. London, England: Sage Publications Ltd (2016).
