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Rhetoric relates to communication and the way an individual portrays a specific message to an audience through the utilization of a variety of strategies. We have learned about rhetoric in a variety of ways throughout this semester, and I have come to understand it in a new light.
For Artifact 1, we were told to compose a persuasive narrative about our journey on choosing to attend Fairfield University and attempt to convince a prospective student to make that same choice. Throughout this story, we also chose an object that represents this decision and our story. This was a form of rhetoric I had never seen before - and to be honest, I was skeptical at first. How would an object relate to rhetoric? In my high school English classes, we mostly focused on the rhetorical situation and rhetorical appeals.
The first object I thought of was the keychain my mom gave me for my 16th birthday that I transferred to my backpack the night before I moved to Fairfield. When beginning this paper, I was confused as to how this could relate to rhetoric. However, as I continued my work, and as the semester progressed, I realized rhetoric is not just reading and writing - it is so much more than that.
One day in class, we wandered around campus looking for examples of rhetoric in the real world. My partner and I found so many examples: the chairs arranged in a circle in the quad showing the relationships people form here, the arena where students and faculty gather to cheer on their friends and families, the dining hall where students all gather to eat together, and so on. This activity really demonstrated to me just how important rhetoric is and how prevalent it is without many of us even realizing or seeing it.
My Artifact 1 keychain.
Photo Credit: Hannah Salsbury
December 2023
The Stage Statue in the midle of campus represents school pride.
Photo Credit: Hannah Salsbury
September 2023
My zip code pillow conveys where I am from and how that means a lot to me.
Photo Credit: Hannah Salsbury
October 2023
The mobile petting zoo allowed students to come together and it was a way to raise money for other nations, showing the univeristy's care for others.
Photo Credit: Hannah Salsbury
November 2023
Furthermore, we learned what it means to think rhetorically. When in September I was asked what I thought this meant in relation to Fairfield University, I believed “thinking rhetorically means taking into consideration the situation in which you are speaking before you communicate your own thoughts; specifically, keeping in mind the history of the topic, the people with whom you are speaking, any personal knowledge you may have on the topic, and the views on the topic that may differ from yours but are still important to acknowledge… thinking rhetorically about Fairfield University means keeping in mind the people who have been here before, recognizing that the people you are forming new connections with may be from different backgrounds and have different experiences than you” (Reflection 2). I would still agree with this today, and throughout the semester I was able to solidify that idea even further and learn how to continue to think rhetorically in all situations.
Copy of Copy of Lunsford Ch. 2The reading “Thinking Rhetorically” by Lunsford really gave me a lot of insight into this topic and was most helpful in allowing me to understand what exactly rhetoric is and how we use it every day.
2023
2023
Hannah Salsbury, Fairfield University
Hannah Salsbury, Fairfield University
hannah.salsbury@student.fairfield.edu
hannah.salsbury@student.fairfield.edu
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