Comparative Rhetorical Analysis
In unit 2 of our course, we have read 5 argumentative texts. For your second essay, your job will be to perform a compare/contrast rhetorical analysis in which you choose two thematically related texts and illustrate their differing rhetorical approaches.
The thematic pairs of texts are as follows:
Mary Wollstonecraft and Michael Kimmel writing about the need to rethink gender norms/roles
James Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr. writing about the need to address Americas racial inequalities
Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. writing about the necessity of disobeying unjust laws.
Prompt:
Perform a rhetorical analysis of your two selected texts, explicating and illustrating each authors rhetorical approach and emphasizing the similarities and differences between them.
Organization:
Introduction Paragraph
Begin by introducing your two selected authors and their texts and indicating the rhetorical situation surrounding each text. Give very brief context for each author/text, at least locating them historically in relation to one another and indicating the historical context in which they were written. Who is each authors intended audience? What, in brief, are they writing about? End your introduction with a thesis statement in which you concisely indicate the significant differences between the rhetorical approaches of each author. Your thesis should include an evaluation, but it does not need to choose a “winner.” See the examples below
Example Thesis statements
Sample thesis statement without a “winner”: While both authors make compelling arguments against racial segregation, Baldwin does so primarily through emotional appeal, while King appeals logically and with his credibility.
Sample thesis statement with a “winner”: Even though Wollstonecraft’s logical approach makes her argument compelling, she does not make the appropriate emotional appeals to her audience, shaming them in a way that is unlikely to help her cause. Kimmel, on the other hand, through subtle appeals to fear and pity, along with a strong inductive approach, makes a more persuasive case.
Body of Essay
Develop the body of your essay with several paragraphs illustrating your thesis. Your body should follow a subject-by-subject or a point-by-point organization, or a hybrid of the two. The body of your essay should contain at least 4 quotations, two from each author, and analysis that clearly indicates the similarities and differences between the authors strategies. Whether you use a subject-by-subject or a point-by-point organization, your essay will most likely have 6 body paragraphs. This number is not a requirement, but a recommendation based on the two ways of organizing this essay that we covered in this module.Preview the document If you are using a hybrid organization, you may have a different number of paragraphs.
Conclusion
Conclude with a brief summary, followed by a so what statement. Tell your audience why a rhetorical analysis of your chosen authors should matter to them. How can this exercise help us to be more attentive/responsive to issues of gender/race/injustice? Again, we have not spent much time talking about conclusions, so don’t worry too much about them. Just take a stab at it.
Requirements
1000 words minimum
Minimum of 4 quotations, 2 from each text
MLA format, including a works cited page and proper in-text citations
Submit using the submit button on the assignment page. Upload as a .docx or a .pdf file.
