Hello, everyone!
Looking back at one of my assignments for English 225, my rhetorical analysis, I wrote about rhetorical strategies of Mark Hemingway, a reputable conservative journalist. Some of the lines I wrote include:
“After establishing this polarizing mindset in his audience, Hemingway again uses emotional appeals to establish commonalities between himself and his audience and suggest that his argument for freedom of speech is pertinent to their collective understanding of the purpose of life from a Christian perspective. Because of this, Hemingway’s use of emotional appeals is effective because it creates a consensus of anger and a feeling of purpose in the audience of students.”
While these sentences are certainly a rhetorical analysis, I wonder if they’re too vague? And I also often wonder if what I’m writing is insultingly simple for readers or going over their heads. It’s sometimes difficult to know when all your ideas have been cemented in your mind for awhile.
This reminds me of when Ray asked us to make our mentions of “society” etc. less vague and more targeted. But is there ever an appropriate time for being fairly broad? I’m not sure..
Lauren,
This is an interesting question you bring up. I think that vague writing sometimes can come more naturally to us, but I understand Ray’s point. Targeted, more specific writing is usually more legitimate and more meaningful. I think something to think about is: what is the opposite of targeted, specific writing? I don’t necessarily think that the answer is vague; I think the answer is simple and clear writing: words that you don’t have to decipher. No tricks, no fancy language. I feel like in my own writing and in my own capstone project, it feels refreshing to insert this kind of variation. I don’t think that all sentences have to be direct, specific, and intellectually stimulating. I like to change it up by using shorter sentences, one paragraph sentences, and even sentences that start “I feel…” or “I think…” While I wouldn’t recommend writing most of you prose (or even an entire paragraph) like this, it’s useful for me to throw these clearer, more simple sentences in there once in a while. Hope this helps!
It does help, Josh! Thanks! I feel that sometimes it’s just too easy to get sucked into imitating the tone and style of the authors I’m reading as resources. So if I’m dealing with more philosophical writing, it’s easy to be more vague in my own writing because it can only get so specific. Thanks for grounding me again!