Rhetorical Analysis #11 - Speech

"Because of Your Faith"
-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
October 2010

Argument: Elder Holland’s argument is that every church member is loved by God and known as an individual. They are also the center of this church.
Audience: The audience is all church members around the world.
Goal: The main goal of Elder Holland’s talk was to reiderate the fact that the members are what is central to our church and the gospel. All members are individuals and Heavenly Father loves each the same.
How: Ethos – Elder Holland is in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. For all church members world-wide, there is a specific love and respect for the apostles and because of this, during conference, the member listen to what they have to say. Elder Holland is well-respected so the members are more willing to listen to what he says.
Pathos – overall, Elder Holland uses pathos by appealing to the audience’s emotions. He targets their sense of importance and need to feel loved. Every person wants to feel important, especially in a big organization. He is aware of this desire and targets his message to meet this.
Typical – The words and message Elder Holland gives is typical and acceptable to the audience. It is a message that every person knows deep down, but needs to hear every once in a while to be reassured of their importance.
Relevant – The message of Elder Holland’s talk is one that connects to the audience and is relevant to their daily lives and what they need to hear. He knows how to reach each member and make his talk relevant to them.
Is It Effective: Overall, his talk is very effective and touched a lot of members. It was a great talk to open up conference with and create a sense of warmth and love between everyone.
Word Count: 296

Rhetorical Analysis #10 - Visual Art

Visual Art - mannequin at Nordstrom's Women's section

Argument: The main argument of the mannequin and the store in general is that I should buy their pair of jeans because they will look better than any other jean and be the best investment.
Audience: I was specifically the audience, but they are trying to sell to all females that wear jeans.
Goal: The main goal is for me and the other women to purchase these pair of jeans.
How: Pathos - Nordstrom's appeals to their audience and customers by targeting the specific emotion of wanting to look good. Every person desires to look good, but especially women. By advertising a certain pair of jeans in a certain way, it appeals to me because I want to look fashionable and great just like the mannequin.
Ethos - Nordstrom's has a reputation of being a high quality store with high quality products. The fact that I am shopping in that store means I respect their clothes and customer service. In a sense, I trust whatever products they put out to sell because of the name of the store.
Typical - The pair of jeans they used on display is typical and appeals to the audience because if we are looking at the jeans, it means we are interested in buying a new pair of jeans. The audience knows jeans and are in the search for a new pair.
Relevant - Nordstrom's connects to the audience by putting the jeans in the front of the Women's section of the store. They have it front and center so that is the first thing anyone sees when walking into that section. It is a fashionable mannequin that is relevant to what the audience wants to look like.
Is It Effective: In this case, it was effective because I bought a new pair of jeans, the ones the mannequin was wearing. I tried them on and they fit and looked great so I bought them!
Word Count: 321

Rhetorical Analysis #9 - Paper A

Paper A - Comprehensive Sexuality Education

Argument: The argument of my Paper A is that comprehensive sex education is the only proper way to teach sexuality education.
Audience: My audience is LDS parents of high school aged teenagers in Utah.
Goal: The goal of the paper is to persuade the parents to support comprehensive sex education and help them understand the importance and benefits of it.
How: Ethos – In my paper, I try to personally establish ethos by creating a sense of authority and respect. I inform them of all the details before I try to persuade them one way or the other. I also use a quote from President Joseph F. Smith to appeal to my audience and the religion aspect of my paper.
Logos – The paper gives a lot of statistics in favor of sexuality education. It provides sources that show the success rates and how comprehensive sex education benefits teens and in no way promotes sex.
Sufficient – My paper uses a sufficient amount of evidence, both in hard cold facts and also personal stories and quotes from people my audience knows and resects.
Accurate – Although my paper mentions the audience’s counterarguments, I could definitely focus on those more and bring those more into my paper. I need to better appeal to my audience by understanding their point of view more.
Is It Effective: Overall, I think my paper would be effective if the parents had an open mind about their teen’s sexuality education. However, many of the parents do not and only think their way is the best. This being the case, no matter how good my paper is, it may never persuade those with closed minds.
World Count: 276