Moves are Tropes!

One of the astonishing findings that I had learned in the beginning of this course is that theories are not formed from refreshingly original idea that no one has ever thought. In other words, diverse perspectives of ideas and concepts shaped by others in the past come together in a particular way in an individual's unique mind in order for theories to be made. This does not only apply to theories, but opinions in general as well. When one states that 'in my personal opinion,' it does not mean that individual has some refreshingly original ideas. They may have interesting approaches and methods of putting ideas together, but the building blocks are often opinions that have existed for a long time. This notion struck me with a new perspective to approach this entire course about discourse. Professor Graban has described the acts of discourse as;

"products of back-and forth negotiation, i.e. negotiated as a result of some relationship formed between reader, writer, reader's probable assumptions, writer's assumptions, text, context, background knowledge, space, time"

The relationship between these various factors are all about presenting the existing ideas and interpreting them. By using the term 'interpreting,' it refers to taking thoughts and ideas and processing them through a metaphorical tube that is your own unique mind, the thinking computer and pushing them out on the other end of that tube. It is a simple concept to think about. In fact, everyone unconsciously does this in every sentence they write, type, or speak. But by learning and investigating about this process, it created a whole different meaning within my mind to explain anything.

Throughout this course, Joe Harris' Rewriting has been helpful in learning to use other authors' words in various ways such as 'Coming to Terms,' 'Forwarding,' and 'Countering.' Theories by diverse authors from the coursepack have helped me learn about discourse. It has been challenging to have many theories mixed together, but some of the ideas have started to link together, and having the opportunity to attend Joe Harris' lecture contributed to a deeper understanding of Rewriting and relating it to particularly the theory of tropes by Killingsworth.

In Appeals in Modern Rhetoric...An Ordinary-Language Approach, Killingsworth describes different types of tropes. He notes that they "tend to connect the abstract to the concrete." By using tropes, people have historically been able to make sense of puzzling things such as ideas and opinions, and natural phenomena. Tropes are methods, and approaches that man have used for as long as language existed in order to have previously uncomfortable or confusing thoughts turn into their own assets to effectively use in discourse. In his lecture, Harris was using a writing called Speak Softly anc Carry a Lipstick by Adrienne Niederriter as examples for the audience to identify some 'moves' that she was using. I interprted the portion that the audience read as Niederriter explaining that red lipstick during war efforts not only indicated government support system but also empowerment for women (8). She was 'Arguing the Other Side' of what red lip stick had originally represented which was just to support the war efforts of the American government. Killingsworth's explanations of tropes can also break down this sentence. It is a metaphor in a way she identifies red lipstick as a sign of both government support and women empowerment, because according to Killingsworth, metaphor is "identifying one position with another," "by bringing together seemingly unlike things."(123) It is not as simple as "love is a rose," but red lip sticks are definitely represented through the use of dissimilar ideas than just a cosmetic tool.

Tropes are used very frequently in language, but by re-investigating how they are used and applied to convey a message can open up a different perspective and connection in discourse. All Harris' 'Moves' are complex use of tropes. In 'Coming to Terms,' one defines a writer's project by identifying, associating, or representing one position with another (Killingsworth 121). The term 'Extending' within 'Forwarding' refers to spinning the term. For example, in one of the examples Harris used in his lecture, he first defines wrestling and refers it to sitcom as a similar concept. This method can also be seen as metaphor because he uses wrestling to further define sitcom.

We are always engaging in discourse, forming relationships with assumptions, contexts, background knowledge, space, and time (Graban). Learning and applying theories in this course have supported and helped me understand this essential act of human beings. As they make more linkages, they become more and more beneficial to all fields and areas of studies and occupations that I will encounter in my life.


Graban, Tarez Samra. "lecture." English W350. Indiana University. Bloomington, 7 Septermber 2010

Harris, Joe. "Teaching the moves of the Critical Essay." Indiana University. Bloomington, 29 November 2010

Killingsworth, M. Jimmie. "Appeal Through Tropes." In Appeals in Modern Rhetoric: An Ordinary Language Approach. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois U P, 2005. 121-135

Niederriter, Adrienne. "Speak Softly and Carry a Lipstick" : Government Influence on Female Sexuality through Cosmetics During WWII. Writing 20, Fall 2009.

Richard Lieber Conservation Discourse

The experience at the Lilly Library in learning about Richard Lieber was extraordinary. It is always meaningful to encounter the works of an individual with such significant contributions to society. I had the opportunity to read several of his remaining works, but one of them particularly stood out in the sense of discourse because I was able to identify a concept from our course that he seemed to be applying.

The document was the "Nature's Balances," the Address of Richard Lieber, Director of Indiana Department of Conservation, Before 22nd Annual Session of the National Drainage, Conservation And Flood Control Congress, Columbus Ohio, Wednesday Evening, Februrary 15, 1933. In this document, he states the importance of our surrounding environment and natural resources and that human society has been unsustainably exploiting them to the level that we must be warned. In stating his points, he reilliterates that man must reassess his actions and the essense of the balance in nature that must be preserved.

The concept of stasis was seen at work in this document. It seems that he worked from the higher stasis to lower stasis. In the beginning to the middle of the document, he describes his passion and value about nature, its important contribution that directly supports the lives of human beings. He also proposes that we must reasess our actions and acknowledge nature and raise awareness for conservation. Then toward the end, he starts providing information and statistical proof that the environment in Indiana in fact is getting degradated. Therefore questions of values are presented first, then facts and causes are presented. The stase are sometimes the arrangement of arguments that "describe the logic inherent in the development of an issue." (Fahnestock, Secor 429) In Lieber's document, his logic is that rather than saying that nature is being destroyed and talking about its importance, Lieber emphasizes on the importance of nature first, then gives his audience the feel of urgency by stating its degradation later.

I was under the impression that the format of constructing the argument from the lower stasis to higher stasis is the general and popular method. Therefore I was astonished, to encounter a work by an individual who had lived over a century ago arranginging the aspects and organization of his argument in order to make his persuasion more effective.

SA #4 Part Two

Recycling is an important and very easy way to protect the environment. It can easily be done with the awareness and the urgency that one must recycle. However, I see all types of garbage thrown into one Hefty bag and into dumpsters through out on and off campus housings, and even school buildings. There is no law or regulations on recycling to my knowledge, although I believe it is strongly encouraged. After watching the 11th Hour and having taken several SPEA courses, I cannot help but to consider the matter of environmental degradation a directly related urgency to all mankind. Yet people are not willing to contribute by doing as little as separating the types of trash. I would like to determine and investigate the willingness and awareness among people toward recycling, perhaps at a particular area on or off campus.

Historically determining the time recycling was first introduced, and doing a comparative research of people's feelings toward it over time would be an important aspect to this project. A genre could be Political Rhetoric and Public Policy. By analyzing the existing documents on the issue and determining the issue such as miscommunication and the conflict levels is needed. The intended audience would be broad, but especially for those making decisions for regulation.

The genre form will need to be able to achieve the right information and knowledge of recycling to the audience in terms the scientific process of recycling and how it actually protects the environment, and raises the awareness to do so. The genre must contain the reasons and the trend that allow and make people less willingly to recycle.

SA #4 Part One

Ida B. Wells-Barnett's "Lynch Law in America" functions as sustainable public discourse through its symbol-using. Strong discrimination and negative stereotypes toward African Americans by the white population highlighted the American society the time this article was written. She notes that the African Americans were brutally killed for unreasonably in a fashion that "A new name was given to the kilings and a new excuse was invented for so doing." (Wells- Barnett) This essay contributes significantly toward the reassessment of the American society as a whole and the Civil Rights Movement.

Her approach in doing so with this text resonates Enoch's notion of becoming symbol-wise. Enoch interprets Kenneth Burke's concept of being symbol wisdom as an understanding that human language is a "characteristic that unites all human beings," (Enoch 287) and by doing so, people become patient and flexible toward less aggressively convincing ways with a "'frame of reference common to all'." (Enoch 287) Rather than looking through the scope of differences between the whites and blacks, Wells-Barnett questions the integrity of the country of the United States as a whole, to its core foundation such a freedom and bravery. Although she does blame the white population for the killings, her reasoning carefully convinces them in a less combative manner. When she states that "Brave men do not gather by thousands to torture and murder a single individual," one of the most basic and well known American symbol of bravery "'a frame of reference common to all'" (Enoch 287) is used in the texut to say that lynching is unjust.

The concept of dramatistic attitude also seems to be applied in this essay. This terms refers to "'a critical or essayistic analysis of language, and thence of human relations generally.'" (Enoch 281) By forming a dramatistic attitude, Enoch suggests that people can become patient and tentative, and when they are in these states, people are bes at critical reflection and effective in writing. (Enoch 281) Ida closely looks at the building blocks of this country of history, foundation, and economics to say that lynching and discrimination is contradictory to what the country is prodly built on.

Therefore Wells-Barnett's speech seems consistent with symbol-using that she sees human society filled with symbols and by becoming symbol-wise, using language as a tool, she is able to be patient with her text and let it achieve its goals.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett, "Lynch Law in America," The Arena 23.1 (January 1900): 15-24

Enoch, Jessica. "Becoming Symbol-Wise: Kenneth Burke's Pedagogy of Critical Reflection." College Composition and Communication 56.2 (2004): 279-296

SA #3 "The Future of Reading"

I chose "The Future of Reading" by Jonah Lehrer on his blog "The Frontal Cortex" on Wired.com. The text raises the argument of whether the fact that reading is becoming easier and simpler due to technological advancement necessarily is a positive phenomenon for human intelligence. His blog post can be justified as acting scientific using the ideas of Fahnestock and Secor of stases. Stases have higher and lower levels, but they can both be used effectively in order to establish a stance, message, and to raise an argument.

Fahenstock and Secor suggest that "all arguments begins in agreement, in shared assumption of value, the literary canon offers such a value and even a general exigence for continuing argument." (Fahenstock, Sector 435) Using this method, Lehrer first states the pre-existing argument in order to bring the audience into the topic on which he is going to talk about. In the first four paragraphs, he shares his passion for books with the audience while defending the technological advancement which has been shifting the culture of books to digital. In other words, he has unconditional love for books but cannot deny the rapidly increasing convenience being created by moving the act of reading into to digital medium. Technological advancement has been the most significant achievement of mankind in our recent history, therefore it would sound rather foolish to completely deny its progress. However there are things that people worry and criticize about our progress in technology as well.

Lehrer really states his position in the fifth paragraph for the first time. He does "have a nagging problem" with reading sentences on a screen (Lehrer). It worries him that everything in reading becoming easier will eventually diminish people's understanding for perception. This is his value, and the message in this argument. He then defines the concept of reading from a neurological perspective to defend his point.

The general questions that constitute the concept of stases are facts, definitions, causes, values, and proposals. The arrangement of these components is important. Lehrer shuffles the order of these questions in an interesting way. His order goes from value, definition, value, then to proposal. He defines the act of reading by saying that ventral route and dorsal stream in brain are the two pathways for making sense of words. Ventral route is used to grasp readings semantically described as simple digital readings, while dorsal stream is used to pay conscious attention to a sentence, for more complex and difficult readings that shapes perception and intelligence. He could have engaged the audience into creating value that digitization of books is not such a good idea just by this brain anatomical definition of reading. The audience also could have made assumptions that Lehrer is opposed to digital books, since "we often read arguments in the lower stases by pushing at their implications for action." (Fahnestock, Sector 431) However, he puts the definition in between the two paragraphs stating his value.

There is certainly a reason for his decision to have done so. It is simply because Wired.com has a huge variety of audience. He wanted to make clear points to guide the audience to their assumptions as close as possible to what he really wants to address. Some people could have had different assumptions than what he has originally intended. It is impossible to entirely control and expect the outcome of a text, but he wanted to have as much control as possible. He allows his audience to progressively shape their values as they read. The audience can have opinions about the topic after he mentions his value initially. Then after the anatomical definition of reading, the audience is opened up with another choice to form their opinion, and the same for the next paragraph. Therefore, the audience goes through stages on which they are more and more engaging into the argument. As Fahnestock and Sector says, "what we are really after is what it takes to convince an audience to endow the stasis and hence the topic of an argument with significance." (Fahenstock and Sector 433)

He then politely proposes his idea to "include a feature that allows us to undo their ease, to make the act of reading just a little bit more difficult." (Lehrer) This proposal is within his stases of value. The potential downgrading of minds and intelligence that digital books pose is mentioned as he finishes up the blog.

The bonus point and the bonus bonus point stood out regardless of their names. The implication almost seemed as they were not some extra thoughts at the end of a blog. Both paragraphs are his personal experience that backs up his point that digital books pose danger in lowering intelligence. Intriguingly, he makes his claims in a very open, friendly manner. He defends digital books as he cannot refuse to acknowledge their convenience. The reason for this is to make not only his value, but the argument itself significant, and also appreciate the forward steps in technology that mankind has been taking. He reminds his audience of the importance of reading as well as technological advancements, as Fahnestock and Sector suggests that "there is value in reminding an audience of its values." (Fahnestock and Sector 441)

SA #2 on "Letter to President Clinton in Iraq"

This entry looks at the letter which was published by the Project for the New American Century. The letter warns that current American policy toward Iraq is failing and urgent actions are required to avoid a soon to come devastation. It was signed by influential political figures such as Elliot Abrams who is a lawyer and a political analyst, and Richard L. Armitage who later served as the U.S Deputy Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. The chief aim of this letter is to persuade President Clinton and his surroundings that may influence him on making decisions to address the committed plan for the U.S to disarm Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

The PNAC's mission statement, the final goal is to promote American global leadership. The means to obtain global leadership is diverse, but by looking at the immediate historical context, this particular letter was written for a reason. Iraq and Saddam Hussein's regime and the debate of their possession of weapons of mass destruction were the most controversial and hottest topic which also was a danger and a concern to the world at that time. Therefore encouraging the U.S to take charge and coming up with drastic and determined actions to disarm Hussein seemed to be the most effective approach to promote American global leadership. In other words, the principal aim of this text is to convince Clinton, the individual with the most decision making powers to address and act toward a strategy that will remove Saddam's regime solely by the American power.

Kinneavy's principal of division was introduced in 1969. With the rapid technological advancements, mediums which written texts are presented have changed and increased in number. Internet is the biggest example. This letter's most essential and main targeted audience is the President of the U.S. This text seems to belong to the Decoder genre in Kinneavy's divisions, because it is trying to achieve a specific reaction from the audience, Clinton in this particular text. The encoder, the members of the PNAC are attempting to direct Clinton to lead the U.S by itself in solving the problem in Iraq, as the important step toward American global leadership. This would be the case if it was really a letter that only President Clinton was the reader. However, the fact that it is posted on a website open to everyone in the entire world with the most basic internet connection must indicate that the authors constructed the audience to assume that this letter was written for the President of America. There is information about the situation that anybody can read and obtain, which may influence them with their opinions about the matter as well. Hence the text fits within the decoder aspect of Kinneavy's division, but because the audience is too diverse, the authors cannot possibly expect and attempt to achieve certain reactions from all of them. There lies the limitation to this concept. This letter carries such different messages for politicians, for American citizens, and the members of the UN.