Rhetorical Cartoons!

In chapter one of Envision: Writing and Researching Arguments, the author discusses Analyzing Text. In this chapter we learn how to understand text in a rhetorical manner. “To approach text rhetorically means to ask questions about how the text conveys a persuasive message or argument, how the text addresses a specific audience, and how the writer operates within a specific context or rhetorical situation.” Rhetoric is the ability to discern the available means of persuasion in any given situation.

We encounter rhetoric in many forms every day. While walking down the street or down a hallway, we encounter many things which has a rhetoric meaning if it is a poster or drawing on the wall. In writing there is a rhetorical situation, a dynamic relationship of communications between the writer, text, and audience. An example used in the book is in a personal argument when you want to persuade your couch to let practice out early, you would state your case face to face instead of through a letter.

Rhetorical persuasion is not only displayed by writing, visual means is also included. The way a person makes eye contact with the audience, the way he/she stands, or formats a professional document. Design posters to advertise an organization or adding pictures to an essay are examples of visual persuasion. This strategy for analyzing rhetorical text is called visual rhetoric. Some examples of visual rhetoric includes: a documentary produced to suggest a point of view, illustration in children’s books to shape meaning of a story, and cartoons of a comic strip offer commentary on society.

In analyzing works such as comic strips notice key elements in the works such as: images, words, characters, layout, and actions. It is also good to observe facial expressions, body postures, and changes between the panels. Some questions you might want to keep in mind and try to answer is: Who is the audience of this cartoon? What is the message of the cartoon? What persuasive statement does the cartoon convey? What is the argument?