Okay so this is going to be a post about a book/movie/real life/soap opera. I am a huge fan of Greg Behrendt and his book and soap opera's deal with men not being able to man-up and tell a girl he's just not that into her. What better way to talk about rhetorical analysis then to relate it to something we ALL struggle with. Relationships, whether you are in one or not, are a constant struggle. Too many, an easy way to describe rhetorical analysis is to describe it as "reading in between the lines." The book "He's just not that into you" is geared toward explaining to women why men do the classic cop outs like dissappearing after a perfect date, or telling you they really like you but don't want to be your boyfriend/husband, or only wanting to see you when they are drunk or high. It's because they are just not that into you. Now this deals with rhetorical analysis because some men will use every tactic they can to make you THINK they still want to hang around you. Its our job to read between the lines. For example, the book gives a scenario where two people that work for the same firm meet at a business meeting and hit it off really well. The man was just about to ask for the womans phone number when all the power went out in the building and it was complete and utter chaos. Was this man still interested in getting her number? Did the power also go out in his head? No. They work for the same firm, meaning her phone number must be in a data base somewhere. Did he think to look for it? No. Here is this womans problem. She needed to read between the lines. If this guy left the building without even thinking to see if she was okay, how on earth did she think he was going to ask her for her number before leaving? Reading between the lines would have saved this girl alot of heart ache. Another example is when your man only comes around at 2 in the morning when he's wasted. He'll say the typical, "I love you baby." Or "I missed you I wish you would have been at that bar with me tonight," even though he never even told you he was going to the bar? Alot of men will make you think you are on their radar but when he is only coming around when he's shit-faced or higher than a freakin kite, how can that be true love? Its not. He's just not that into you. Anyway, we can use this in every day life because rhetorical analysis is all around us. We just need to learn to pick up on it and read between the lines!
p.s. great book if anyone is interested in reading it.
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Dana,
ReplyDeleteYou write, "Now this deals with rhetorical analysis because some men will use every tactic they can to make you THINK they still want to hang around you."
I think you're on the right track here -- if I'm following correctly,you're suggesting that women are the "audience" and men are the "rhetors", and thus women will have a firmer understanding of the man and his motives (the rhetoric, or text), by analyzing the rhetorical moves he makes. And/or that a man needs to tailor his rhetoric in order to effectively capture his audience (women). Am I right?