My junior year English class was rooted in rhetorical analysis of British literature, which really interested me. I was exposed to rhetoric for the first time and it was presented to me in a way that was easy to understand. I read books like The Canterbury Tales, Beauwolf, Emma, and Paradise Lost. All books that were persuading the audience of a point or lesson.
After reading "The Rhetorical Situation" I found that it didn’t further my understanding as to what rhetoric is but it did provide some new ways for me to think about it. I had to read the passage several times however because I had a difficult time understanding what Bitzer was saying because of the writing style and tone of the passage.
It was helpful to me that I already had an understanding as to what rhetoric was so I was able to focus more on the different ways rhetoric was being presented instead of the fundamentals of what rhetoric is. Although I had a difficult time connecting with the article, there were several things through the passage that I appreciated. Bitzer’s assertion that rhetoric is a course of action and not of a mode of reflection really resonated with me. The idea that rhetoric is almost like a rally cry was something that stuck with me because I never thought of it as an action despite my prior knowledge of it but as a way to teach a lesson. His example of the leader of the fishermen was a great example of what he was talking about. He addressed the audience (fishermen) in a way they would understand. It was the role of the leader to step up and talk to the other fishermen. “[He was] obligated to speak at a given moment- to command, to supply information, to praise or to blame- to respond appropriately to the situation”. The leader understood his audience and he knew that he had to use rhetoric to get a desired result whether is be to continue what the fishermen were already doing, or to start over on a new plan until they achieved their desired goal.
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