According to Bitzer, a rhetorical situation is one that features three 'constituents': exigence, audience, and constraints.
In this thread, briefly describe one rhetorical situation that you have encountered (outside of our class) during the first week of the semester. Incorporate Bitzer's terminology and analytical framework in your description, paying special attention to the three constituents.
Megan Tilley
ReplyDeleteDuring this week, I have experienced a rhetorical situation in my Religion in America class. The lecturer in that class engaged in a discourse challenging the audience to think about their definition of religion. Seeing as the course centers around religion, exigence was present – there was a need for change of perception involving the audience’s previous ideas on what religion meant. The constraints of the rhetoric were similarly apparent – the audiences own personal faiths, traditions, opinions, etc. Within the constraints, however, the audience was challenged to come up with a definition of religion that wasn’t specific to their own faith, but rather one that encompassed all religions. The audience came out of the rhetorical situation with more open minds about what religion was, a sign that exigence was successfully carried out in that there was a positive modification of the audiences understanding of religion.
My first day of French class, the professor was lecturing about why French is the most important language to learn. She was listing all these reasons why French is more important to learn over other languages, like that is the second most commonly spoken language in the world, for example. The exigence of the situation though is that even though it is the second most commonly spoken language in the world, there are still a vast majority of people who can't speak it which is an obstacle that could be changed through the better through speaking and urging the importance of learning french. The audience would then be everyone in the world who does not know how to speak french and trying to persuade them to learn. The constraints would be that the there are some people who do not have access to education and in some cultures, it is seen as sinful to be taught and educated like women in some areas of the world.
ReplyDeleteKelli Gemmer
Six days ago, I read numerous news articles (from Engadget, Wired, Thisismynext, The Washington post, etc) reporting about Steve Jobs resigning from Apple. In fact, the people from Thisismynext posted an "emergency podcast" discussing about his resignation's impact on the company and how new CEO Tim Cook will take over. There was exigence as Apple commands a 20% command in the smartphone market share, and had a 75% market share in tablets. With such a demand, such a huge leadership change can have an impact on current consumer buying power. The audience was focused towards the average consumer, but more specifically towards people who had brand loyalty with Apple. On the constraint side, people who bought Apple products in the past or will plan to purchase them have an opportunity to explore other brand platforms (especially Android) and possibly undermine Apple's stronghold on the mobile market. Even though Cook could follow Jobs' legacy (http://engt.co/oivnDV), and Jobs remaining as Chairman, there seems to be cautious optimism ahead.
ReplyDeleteEdward Kang
This week, a rhetorical situation arose when my French professor gave us instructions (in French) for an upcoming assignment. Though the class is for “intermediate” speakers, a large amount of the students did not understand exactly what was due, and when. As a result, my professor sent out an e-mail, in English, explaining the requirements of the assignment. In this situation, the exigence is the misunderstanding of the assignment, seeing as it gave cause for the e-mail. Clearly, the audience is the students, particularly those who did not understand the instructions the first time. Like Bitzer states, the rhetorical audience is necessary. Without the confused students, there would be no need for the e-mail. Lastly, the constraints remain in the fact that because she is addressing her students, the e-mail must be written in a somewhat formal tone. It would be odd if the e-mail were written in slang, or internet shorthand, for example.
ReplyDeleteA rhetorical situation occurred earlier this week in one of my lecture classes. This specific class is very large and is at 9:30 in the morning so the professor was explaining that although attendance will not be taken every class, she was stressing the fact that showing up to class would still be very important and beneficial this semester even though the class is early in the morning. Exigence played a role in this particular situation because the professor was having to change the tone of her voice in trying to convince a large room full of college students to wake up early for an early morning class, even though they would not get credit for attending. Constraints were also perceptible at the time because of all of the different students that make up such a large class who don't want to attend a class that isn't mandatory. Each student not only has a different class schedule for the rest of the day, but they all have different sleep schedules as well; some people have an easier time waking up than others. In addition, the audience, or the students, left the class with more of an acceptance and open mind for possibly attending this class.
ReplyDeleteMally Espaillat
ReplyDeleteI found myself in a rhetorical situation a few days ago with one of my roommates. This roommate in particular was stressing how healthy Asian foods were in comparison to all other types of cuisine, and how important it was to her to avoid anything else. No matter how many times the other two roommates and I attempted to get a word in edgewise, she would immediately discredit the contradiction. As I sat there listening to her discourse, I realized I was experiencing a pompous Fish-like rhetorical argument. In this case, the audience included not only the other roommates and myself, but the entire population of those who didn't eat much Asian food or credit it's health as highly as well. The exigence prevalent were the particular roommate's prior experiences with Asian foods, as well as her own culture, being that she's from China. Finally, the constraints evident could be the emphasis put on the health of these foods by her family and culture, as well as America's own popular culture bringing to light the unhealthy status of the country, with documentaries like "Supersize Me." Overall, this situation can put her own health at risk by refusing to eat anything else, inevitably getting sick, and also lead to others falling to the same fate, as she can mislead them into assuming only one kind of food is nutritious and healthful.
Yes I was in a rhetorical situation when my roommate and I got hungry. I had to convince him that I would order delivery food. The exigences were our hunger and the lack of food in the apartment. The audience was my roommate. The constraints were which places I could order from, and the amount of money I had. In the end, I ordered pizza and our hunger was eventually satisfied.
ReplyDeleteShari Roach
ReplyDeleteI found myself in a rhetorical situation this week while passing out Campus Special coupon books to students around campus. The audience was the students walking around campus, and I was trying to convince them to take the free coupon books. An exigence could be that many students are low on cash and would really like the good deals that exist inside the coupon book. So, as the person handing them out, I was trying to help them by giving them discounts and helping relieve some of their financial worries. By doing this, hopefully some change took place and a solution to the problem was given. Some constraints that I realized existed were some students completely ignored me and the coupon books because of preconceived ideas; they thought I was conducting some sort of scam or by accepting the book, there was some catch. The audience had these ideas in their mind already because many times free things do in fact come with a catch. Also, many students just said they would lose the coupon book and never use it, or they simply didn't want to carry it.
This week, I found myself in a serious rhetorical situation... maybe other students felt this too. I needed to order books, but I only wanted to order them off of Amazon. com because they're so much cheaper. However I was dead broke for about a week and financial had not [and still hasn't] come in. Unfortunately I haven't been able to order the books yet.
ReplyDeleteThe exigence of this situation is that many college students are dependent on financial aid in many aspects. The audience of my current dilemma is obviously myself, but it could also branch out to a majority of students. Finally, the constraint of this situation is that I could always implement the textbook deferment that the FSU Bookstore and Bill's Bookstore offers, but I find their prices on books to be outrageous.
Alyxandra Buhler
ReplyDeleteThis week I experienced a rhetorical situation in my Media Techniques class. Exigence was present during this lecture when the teacher persuaded us to look at a picture in a different light than we usually would. She wanted us to look past just the art and look for a deeper meaning. The constraint was that the audience, which was the students, was used to only seeing what was visible and obvious. We were not used to looking at other elements in a normal picture for symbolism and representation. The audience all had different opinions of what they thought the picture meant, but it was apparent that when we did what our teacher said and looked for symbolism we saw the picture was actually conveying the issue of race. Our perceptions of artwork were changed due to the rhetorical situation in class.
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ReplyDeleteThis past week I found myself in a rhetorical situation which I hope to never get in again. I received a speeding ticket on my way back to Tallahassee before the semester started. I was going 79 (apparently) on a 70 mph highway. I have never gotten a ticket before so my parents want me to try and go to court to repeal it, as to take the points off of my license and to potentially keep my insurance from going thru the roof.
ReplyDeleteThe exigence of the situation is, as I've stated above, to try and take the points off of my license that would have resulted because of the ticket, as well as to try and keep my insurance from getting more expensive (for my parents' sake). The audience to the rhetorical situation has been myself as well as my parents. Some restraints would include the phone calls and effort that will have to be made to make the court date, having to drive all the way to Sarasota to appear in court, and spending time away from Tallahassee (school, friends, responsibilities etc.) in general.
Katherine (Katie) Skrabonja
On the first day of class my teacher for World Religion focused, and shall continue to focus, on the audience,us the students. Brad, the teacher, wants us to be able to open our minds, no matter what religion we may have entered the class with, and begin to look at religions around the world with an open mind. A mind that can understand all sides of religion and be able to discuss, what ever religion (Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.) without a personal block. Without the influence of our own beliefs, and Brad as well must use an unartistic constraint and not persuade us with information, but give it to us as facts; so we may grow from there.
ReplyDeleteDrea Fetchik
I realize that it is almost four in the morning and it seems seriously sketchy to be writing a blog post at this time of night (or morning), but because I don't have classes tomorrow, I decided to finish the assignment before going to bed in order to sleep in.
ReplyDeleteThursdays at Florida State are one of the most hectic nights of the week, especially with the new crop of freshman stumbling their way to Potbelly's in hopes that their fake ID's will convince the bouncer that they are of legal drinking age. As a junior it is both annoying and gross to try and clear a path among hundreds of sweaty bodies grinding on each other. After only an hour or two, my best friend and I were fed up with the situation and explained to the rest of our group that we were ready to leave, yet we had no way home. Screaming over the loud techno/rap remixes radiating throughout the speakers, we all realized that not only did we not have a ride, we also failed to notice that our pockets had all been emptied thanks to the large amount of cups scattered across our table. The exigence of our situation was our search to find a way home, and our constraints were obviously the lack of money and poor planning. Eventually we decided to wake up a friend and promise an I.O.U. in return.
Kelly Kunzman
Two days ago i decided to switch out of my oceanography class and into an online version of the class. To do this i first had to convince my mother this was a good idea for my academic career. To convince her i read her the syllabus of the class over the phone as it was an online document and could not be emailed. The exigence was trying to convince her this class would be easier. The constraint was not being able to send her the syllabus. And the audience was my mother.
ReplyDeleteChris Kellison
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ReplyDeleteA few months ago, my bestfriend and employee at the same restaurant as me, was comtimplating taking a different job that offered more pay, but was obviously going to be less fun and interesting for him. The audience is my friend, the exigence was trying to convince him to stay at a job that was less pay, but a lot more fun and comfortable. The constraint though on the situation is that I was not able to do anything about the pull he was getting from the other job offer, i.e. more money and stabality.
ReplyDeleteJordan Spina
A couple of weeks ago, my friend and I were discussing the possibilities of joining the Marching Chiefs. For me, I had no doubts that auditioning for this group was what I desired. My friend, however, required some convincing. Her argument was that joining Chiefs would limit her available time to do homework and could possibly be a costly activity. The exigent of the situation was trying to convince her that being a Marching Chief would prove itself to be very rewarding and fun. My friend was the audience. The constraints were time and money.
ReplyDeleteLaura Hawkins
Earlier in the week I was contemplating going home for the upcoming long weekend. I was discussing whether I should or not with my roommates so they were the audience. I didn't want to drive home by myself so I was trying to convince one roommate to go home too since were from the same city. The was the exigent of the situation because had she said yes then that would have made up my mind to go. The constraints were the factors keeping me from going home which were driving alone and spending extra money on gas.
ReplyDeleteDuring the week, I experienced a rhetorical situation when my suitemate confronted us about who should be responsible for taking out which trash cans. She believes she should only be responsible for her trash can. The exigency of the situation is the trash can(s) that are getting full and that my suite mate wants them to be taken out; the full trash cans prompted my suitemate to confront us. One constraint of the situation is the fact that we have shared trash cans and recycle bins that we are all responsible for, and therefore deciding who should take them out is not easily decided and cannot just be decided by her as we are all affected. Another constraint is the difficulty to determine who is adding the most or the least waste to the trash cans. The audience, who she wants to convince of her argument, is of course me, my roommate, and my other suitemate. Unlike in a scientific audience, which Bitzer would say are people simply receiving knowledge, or in a poetic audience which is simply present to participate an experience, the audience in this situation (me, my roommate, and my other suitemate) is a rhetorical audience because we can change the system (or lack thereof) that we use to take out the trash.
ReplyDeleteRachel Cushanick
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletewake her up for class, yet when I did, she would not get out of bed. My roommate was my audience and the exigence was her need to go to class. One constraint was that since she goes to bed late she was tired and wold be difficult to get her out of bed. Another constraint I had to face was to be forceful in waking her up but not to the point that I was annoying or rude. In the end, I bribed her with hot coffee and she went to class.
ReplyDelete- Jeanette Horowitz
One rhetorical situation that I encountered was getting my friends to go the the football game with me this weekend. The exigence was getting my friends to go to the game. The constraints are that some of them have a birthday party to go to, its hot outside, and they need to register for tickets. In the end, I convinced them to go, because it is the opening game.
ReplyDeleteOne rhetorical situation that I encountered was getting my friends to go the the football game with me this weekend. The exigence was getting my friends to go to the game. The constraints are that some of them have a birthday party to go to, its hot outside, and they need to register for tickets. In the end, I convinced them to go, because it is the opening game.
ReplyDeleteCatherine Silver
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ReplyDeleteThe rhetorical situation that I encountered was getting to our class in Williams. I live on the West side of campus and have a cast on my leg. I had to convince people on the bus to let me on even though it was full. Getting to class on time was my exigence. My cast, the lack of reliability of other buses, my lack of knowledge over buses and campus, the heat, and many other people taking the buses were my constraints. In the end, a really nice man let me have his seat so I barely got to class on time. (Also, broken internet connection has made it so this post is 80 minutes late)
ReplyDeleteRachel Cohen
The rhetorical situation I encountered this week was at the V89 Cattle Call. They were looking for new DJs to take over the 2 - 6 am shifts so that there would be no dead air in the coming up weeks. The audience, although mainly V89 veterans had to be convinced since pulling all nighters once a week is not an appealing idea. However, they eventually convinced most of the room to apply since the benefits outweighed the negative aspects. Even though class schedules and jobs can get in the way, and people generally like to sleep they got enough people to take the shifts.
ReplyDeleteKristina Bison