Arrangement

I’ll admit, I am little lost in the details of this chapter. This has to do with my inexperience with much of the terminology in this chapter, but more to do (I think) with my regular use and instruction of arrangement.

In one sense, the arrangement on my day is prescribed. I know what I’ll be doing at most hours of the work day, and I know the students that I’ll be teaching. As far as what I’m teaching, most of that is prescribed and passed down from curriculum writers of years before. On the other hand, I do have control of how I arrange my lessons, and I felt that the authors’ discussion on arrangement. Similar to Jeanne’s response, I also base my arrangement on the group that is in front of me and am constantly considering what my students already know, what they need to know, what their interests are, and what they struggle with.

I unconsciously consider the author’s “Topics for Making Audiences Attentive and Receptive” with every class. If I don’t explain it, I’m usually aware of why a particular issue/lesson is important. And while I don’t always succeed, I attempt to explore how the concepts I’m teaching affects my students and people in general. That’s one of the vital components to the study of literature. As teachers of literature (and other subject areas) we discover and explore the human experience. We compare our lives and experiences to the experiences and lives of the characters we read about in hope of coming to a greater understanding of human nature and each other.

In terms making audiences receptive, I think that topic number two is important: weaken ethos of those who oppose rhetor. The langue the authors use here comes across as being harsh, but I don’t see it playing out that way. The authors suggest that a rhetor can bring those who oppose his or her view “into hatred, unpopularity, or contempt…by showing that they have misused any extrinsic advantages they enjoy” (301). Under no circumstances do I feel a teacher should evoke hatred or contempt from his or her students, but I do think they need to expose students’ weaknesses. By first strengthening his or her own ethos, a teacher can help students to understand that they still have things to learn and that they still need guidance and mentorship by exposing their weaknesses. If weaken others’ ethos isn’t paired with showing them respect, a rhetor will lose credibility, trustworthiness, and effectiveness.

The section on Enhancing Ethos (pg 313), which provides a detailed look at the sixteen topics for peroration – and those designed to arouse the pity of the audience. Why does this work so well, and why does it often feel impossible to achieve success in the final part of discourse? I think about how certain commercial and ad campaigns are so effective because they are willing to “stoop” to such low levels of emotional appeals. By no means am I saying I’m above that, but I just can’t bring myself to do it in the eye of the public. I’m sure I’ve resorted to this in personal affairs, but it seems too desperate to do in public. I think we’ve all seen those commercials that are disturbing and difficult to watch. By feeling that way, we are confirming the rhetor’s appeal. I don’t know of many people who go unaffected by graphic images of poverty, suffering, and unethical activity, so it seems like “cheap” argument. At the end of the day, I guess it’s the same thing as showing happy, beautiful, and successful people using certain products and wearing a particular brand. They are both making emotional appeals to illicit action (charity or consumption), but the former seems to be using unfair means to do so.

I should probably include examples:

Calvin Klein One - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmcDpsX4FpQ

ASPCA Commercial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idCwzy7vNRQ

The conclusions these two commercials use the same device, but in a much different way.

I hoped to explore the second half of this chapter a little more, but my response seems winded at this point and is losing focus. As I mentioned at the start, the amount of terms presented in this chapter overwhelmed me a bit, but I am hopeful that we will get to the topic of Imitation in class tonight.