CREATIVE WRITING WITHIN THE GENRE OF THE SHORT STORY:
INVESTIGATING THE PERSUASIVE POTENTIAL OF RHETORIC WITHIN
THE CONFINES OF PATHETIC APPEAL
SARAH BETTY MUPA MWENDAR WALLACE
JANUARY, 2021 ii
DECLARATION
iii
DEDICATION
IN MEMORIUM
To
Elizabeth Wughanga Chaghu and
Morris More Mwendar
Who nourished in me an inquiring mind.
And grandchildren:
Sarah, Maya and William
Love Always.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Scaling the heights allows the eagle to soar.
Unfettered thanks to my Chief Supervisor Professor Yakobo Mutiti whose fastidious attention to semantic detail kept my thinking clear and concise. Grateful acknowledgement to Professor Rocha Chimerah who constantly and patiently led me through the myriad pathways that newcomers to the doctorate degree need to follow.
Deepest gratitude to my children Chaghu, Dzame and Mghesho; and to my husband
Billy; and to the memory of my beloved late sister Alyce Dzame; and to my brothers
Stanley, Alban and Willie; and my late sister Mary Seleyian.
I acknowledge with utmost humility and deference the help of the Almighty Living
God in this work of Art: the inspiration and clarity of thought and the dexterity and unencumbered linguistic acumen that rendered purpose to this study.
The eagle has flown.
FUNDING
This study was financially supported by a grant from Pwani University (Kenya) (50%) and by the researcher SM Wallace (50%).
v
ABSTRACT What distinguishes the human being from other living animals is the singular ability to write. Recording on paper some of the myriad idiosyncrasies that govern our lives calls for a certain linguistic dexterity; one that allows the communication to be logically profound, ethically agreeable and persuasively emotive. Creative writing affords this opportunity. Where figurative language enriches the narrative, it is the rhet rical tools and devices that relay the message intended to lead to persuasion. Persuasion is one of the four classified modes of discourse that qualify creative writing; the others being description, exposition and narration. All the modes function together. The general focus of the study is on the rhetorical tools and devices that advance the art of persuasion. Concurrently, Aristotle’s rhetorical theory is applied as the theory of reference. This is a theory that maintains that any narrative must of necessity uphold the writer’s credibility (ethos), follow a logical sequence (logos) and offer psychological coercion (pathos). These literary proofs are conventionally referred to as ethical, logical and pathetic appeals. The study focuses on the significance of contemporary pathos in a particularized cultural environment in which the story is set. To achieve this, the study is informed by some social theories (to underscore how fiction portrays recognizable behavioral tendencies among the protagonists); by the classical theory (to highlight the progressive partitions of creative practice in this genre); and by a portion of Toulmin’s model of argumentation for the sake of brevity as well as for more obvious reasons, argumentation being an integral part of persuasion. This is a mixed practices research study. It qualifies as practice-based research where a creative artefact (in this case the main study’s storyline) is the basis of the contribution to knowledge. (Candy L., 2006). Concurrently it is also a practice-led research since the research leads primarily to new understanding about the nature of being linguistically selective in order to intentionally give primacy to pathetic appeal (see the annexed anthology). In this case, knowledge is advanced not just about this creative practice but within it as well. It’s a study which falls in the general area of active research. The research design comprised of questions that are descriptive and qualitative, where non-numerical elements like feelings and emotions are interpreted. The methodology is flexible and investigative. Findings in the study have highlighted that deliberate use of certain rhetorical tools and devices can be utilized by the writer, not just to create an emotive impact but to do so in varying degrees. The one graphic story within the study brought out comparative deductions between the genders as well as those who read short stories in English with native speaker and non-native speaker competencies. Generally, native speakers are capable of indifference when reading where second- language speakers are more apt to be affected by the graphic nature of the storyline. Additionally maintaining interest in a storyline is paramount to achieving a constant level of persuasion; this is a proof surrogate.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ...... ii DEDICATION ...... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...... iv ABSTRACT ...... v KEY TERMS ...... x CHAPTER ONE ...... 1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1 1.1 Introductory background ...... 1 1.2 Statement of the problem ...... 13 1.3 Objectives of the research ...... 16 1.4 Research questions ...... 19 1.5 Significance and Justification of the study ...... 22 1.6 Scope and limitations of the study ...... 24 1.7 Conceptual framework ...... 28 1.8 Theoretical Framework ...... 29 Summary of chapter one: Introduction...... 31 CHAPTER TWO ...... 33 LITERATURE REVIEW...... 33 2.1 Introduction ...... 33 2.2 Social theories and their inclusion within the draft anthology ...... 34 2.3 Research studies and perspectives ...... 39 2.3.1 The Perspectives espoused by other creative writers ...... 39 2.3.2 The perspective of self-research ...... 49 2.3.3 Research studies on pathetic appeal ...... 51 2.3.4 The perspective of writing as a form of therapy ...... 53 2.3.5 Studies of the short story as a genre ...... 55 2.3.6 The Creative Writing Doctorate ...... 57 Summary of chapter two: Literature review...... 64 CHAPTER THREE: ...... 67 MATERIALS AND METHODS ...... 67 3.0 Introduction ...... 67 3.1 Research design ...... 79 vii
3.2 Location ...... 80 3.3 Target population ...... 81 3.4 Sample population and sampling procedures ...... 82 3.5 Data collection ...... 86 3.6 Data processing and analysis ...... 86 3.7 Steps taken to develop the Likert Scale ...... 88 Summary of Chapter three: Materials and Methods...... 92 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS...... 98 4.0 Introduction ...... 98 4.1 Data ...... 98 4.2 Application of the Likert Scale (LS) on the answers of the main research study questions ...... 125 4.3 Conclusion ...... 203 Summary of Chapter four: Results...... 206 CHAPTER FIVE: ...... 209 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 209 5.0 Introduction ...... 209 5.1 The ethnology of communication and speaking ...... 209 5.2 Communication ...... 210 5.3 Writing ...... 213 5.4 Fiction ...... 217 5.5 Understanding the genre of the short story ...... 222 5.6 Classicism and its literary invention: rhetoric ...... 230 5.7 Reading rhetorically as an adjunct to rhetorical analysis...... 232 5.8 Conclusion ...... 234 5.9 Recommendations ...... 241 Summary of Chapter five: Discussion, conclusion & recommendations...... 243 REFERENCES ...... 249 APPENDICES ...... 264 APPENDIX 1. Brief anthology of short stories ...... 264 1.1 Story 1...... 267 1.1.1 Annotation ...... 272 1.1.2 Synopsis ...... 274 1.1.3 Rhetorical tools of persuasion...... 275 viii
1.2 Story 2...... 278 1.2.1 Annotation ...... 284 1.2.2 Synopsis ...... 286 1.2.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion ...... 287 1.3 Story 3...... 290 1.3.1 Annotation...... 296 1.3.2 Synopsis ...... 297 1.3.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion ...... 299 1.4 Story 4...... 301 1.4.1 Annotation...... 312 1.4.2 Synopsis ...... 315 1.4.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion ...... 316 1.5 Story 5...... 319 1.5.1 Annotation ...... 325 1.5.2 Synopsis ...... 327 1.5.3The rhetorical tools of persuasion ...... 329 1.6 Story 6 ...... 332 1.6.1 Annotation ...... 337 1.6.2 Synopsis ...... 339 1.6.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion ...... 340 1.7 Story 7 ...... 343 1.7.1 Annotation ...... 348 1.7.2 Synopsis ...... 350 1.7.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion ...... 351 1.8 Story 8...... 354 1.8.1 Annotation ...... 360 1.8.2 Synopsis ...... 361 1.8.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion ...... 363 1.9 Story 9 ...... 366 1.9.1 Annotation ...... 377 1.9.2 Synopsis ...... 381 1.9.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion ...... 383 1.10 Story 10...... 387 1.10.1 Annotation ...... 392 ix
1.10.2 Synopsis ...... 395 1.10.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion ...... 396 APPENDIX 2. Interpretative commentary of the short stories (anthology) ...... 400 APPENDIX 3. Thematic interpretation of the short stories...... 403 APPENDIX 4. Glossary ...... 415 APPENDIX 5. Figures: photographs...... 477 APPENDIX 6. Tables...... 478 APPENDIX 7. Charts...... 479 APPENDIX 8. The pilot study...... 480 APPENDIX 9. Questions used in the main study ...... 491 APPENDIX 10. Respondents: ...... 493
x
KEY TERMS Discourse: any aspect of language use; extract of an instantiation of language use in an identifiable context. Focalizer: the agent whose point of view orients the narrative text. Heterodiegetic narrative: narrative told in the third person. Homodiegetic narrative: narrative told in the first person. Implicature: an additional conveyed meaning; meaning beyond what is literally encoded in an utterance. Narrative situation: aspect of discourse that examines how a narrative is told. Narrative: textual writing, performance, picture, or a combination of these to tell a story. Narrative voice: it emanates from the story’s narrator and is conveyed to the reader. Narrator: the voice of the narrative discourse; the agent who establishes communicative discourse with the other interlocutor. Persuasion: an attribute of fundamental import in narratology and explication. Pragmatics: the study of the use of context to make inferences about meaning. Storyline: sequence of events that produce certain consequences for the characters. Speech event: conversation, debate, interview; various types of discussions. Speech acts: an important theme in the study of linguistic pragmatics: sentences or utterances that involve doing something more than just saying something. Any errors committed within this research study are entirely of my own doing. 1
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION Life is really about so many activities happening around us. Some activities are artificial or man-made whereas others take their provenance from nature. As people we may benefit from these human acts of creation or circumstantial natural occurrences.
Conversely we may be negatively affected by them. There is a sturdy thread that runs between life’s options, life’s choices, life’s reward, its retribution and poetic justice…that thread is life itself. Writing about life’s dynamism to show the interplay between people and their idiosyncrasies requires a certain amount of rhetorical dexterity in narration. This is in order to be effective within the exposition of that explication. The sequences of style and organised presentation in creative practice also play a significant role in the realm of persuasion. Finally, the choice of words and their disposition within the narration of a story sheds some significance to the overall storyline. This is what characterises the short story. This study is a confirmation of what earlier theoreticians have said about rhetors; it is also a practical exploration of the limitless boundaries of linguistic and communicational techniques that can be employed by a writer whose sole intent is to persuade his or her readership towards the writer’s convictions. This is why the title is: creative writing wqithin the genre of the short story. Life’s dynamism depends upon the persuasive potential of rhetoric in order to create and sustain sentimentality within the readership.
1.1 Introductory background
Expressing displeasure about any form of human suffering can best be done by means of using creative writing (Anonymous. in Bissell et al 2001) within the genre of fiction because this allows for the boundaries of creativity to become limitless. Literary giants like Honoré de Balzac did precisely this with his vast collection of scenes from private 2 life and Parisian life. In a study of French mores from the 19th Century, he wrote La
Comédie Humaine, a humongous conglomeration of all of these experiences, during the age of ‘Le Romantisme’ in 1846. This was the period where rhetorical tools of persuasion were utilized to the hilt within the aegis of creative writing. Honoré de
Balzac found fame and notoriety in his attempt to serve his purpose of affecting his readership, well beyond the realms of the newfound world of romanticism. The current study has been partially influenced by the triumphs of this great French author whose collection of short stories continues to entertain current generations.
The dichotomy between persuasion and communication is akin to peas in a pod.
Attempts to change the opinions of others, which is precisely what persuasion involves
“are older than recorded history and originated with the development of speech.”
(Brown, & Yule 1983). The power to manipulate or persuade people without necessarily resorting to physical force comes through speech. Additionally, Brown qualifies this by saying that thoughts are created and modified primarily by the spoken or written word so that, although in so-called ‘brain-washing’ words may be supplemented by unpleasant physical treatment, and in commercial advertising by pleasing pictures or music, it is obvious that even in these cases the essential weapons are verbal or at any rate symbolic, and the results aimed at psychological. He goes on to say that as people become more literate and, overtly at least, more civilized, the written word comes to play an increasingly important part in the spread of opinions and the creation of emotional attitudes.
Therefore, when it comes to the question of who is being persuaded by the stories within this anthology, the answer that comes to mind is: the reader who enjoys practical creativity within the genre of the short story. This could be the typical traveler in a train, or bus, or plane; the individual lounging on a park bench; the lunch-break reader; 3 the sundown or sunrise reader; in short, anyone who enjoys travelling with a writer beyond the realms of common-place imagination and does so out of a need for distraction – not necessarily out of a thirst for knowledge. It should be remembered that communication in itself is composed of speech situations, speech events, and speech acts (Fasold, 1990). Rhetorical devices that influence communicative intentions are also explored within this study both in narrative and in speech.
Persuasion is aptly understood as bringing about attitudinal change, being the act of influencing someone towards a certain belief. Aristotle came up with a rhetorical triangle of three basic types of persuasion: ethos, which is linked to morality and ethics or the goodwill of the writer as well as his sense of being trustworthy (so that the readers need to understand his intentions and his strong understanding of the subject on hand); logos, where logic, reasoning and rationality are used by the writer for the purposes of convincing the readership towards their perspectives; pathos, which invokes and appeals to the emotions of the readership. In other words, persuasion is the art of effective speaking and writing in which writers make their opinions believable to the readership through logic, by invoking emotions and by proving their own credibility.
Persuasion as an integral part of literary creativity as a practice, in this case fiction, has led some scholars to consider issues of literature and philosophy; like Sophie Ward, whose doctoral thesis specialized in thought experiments in philosophy of mind and uses of narrative in philosophy examining issues of consciousness and AI, and the meeting point between literature and philosophy. Another scholar is Benjamin Woolley
(2018) whose thesis, which supports creative writing and the short story, is entitled
“What’s History Doing in Fiction?” in an effort to explore the influences of historical events upon current literary creativity. His thesis is based on a historical novel to 4 demonstrate his persuasive acumen, set in Renaissance Italy whereby the critical commentary draws upon his experience as a biographer to examine the connection between historical research and fiction.
However, although persuasion as a notion is implied in most works of creativity, accomplished professors of English like Cydney Alexis (2017) produced a dissertation about banishing the term
(from news media, popular culture, writers, in books written by writers on writing, students and friends). This was her main observation. She was particularly keen to point out that distinguishing ‘Creative Writing’ from ‘Writing Studies’ only instills the impression that certain kinds of writing enjoyed a more privileged status. According to her, Writing Studies is a discipline dedicated to the academic study of writing of all kinds: college, digital, workplace writing. Additionally, she offered that Creative
Writing can be replaced by Writing Studies, Writing, or Writing Arts to give it recognition devoid of nuances; where students learn to be journalists, technical writers, mailers, texters, medical record writers, memo writers, proposal writers and list writers
– all of which are as valuable as fiction and poetry if they enjoy this work.
In short, fundamental ideas about what it means to be creative can be expanded in these other ways in order to avoid sounding pernicious about it. The persuasive component inherent in the appellation ‘creative writing’ was not as evident in her intentions as was the subject of the kinds of writing. The emphasis of her research was upon the kinds of writing required for the varied situations that the writers found themselves in. I find that her choice of the word
Paul Darwin is the author of Creative Writing and The New Humanities (2005) and his doctoral thesis on creative writing stipulated that it has increasingly become a subject of research interest as academics examine the role of creative writing in the contemporary humanities by drawing upon current literary and current theory to develop new pedagogical methods. . He advocates approaching creative writing not as a practice (creativity) or as a synonym for literature, but as a discipline: a body of knowledge and a set of educational techniques for imparting this knowledge. Further, he locates the disciplinary development of creative writing within a history of crisis between English Studies and the Art of Writing (Darwin P., 2012).This study is endeared towards the latter of the above-mentioned scholars of writing. I totally agree with Paul Darwin and his contentions. However, this particular study approaches creative writing as a practice and focalizes on the art of persuasion to achieve the artistic proof of pathetic appeal.
I have chosen to combine fiction with research into the genre of short story writing not only in order to gain insight into its history and development but also to engage in relevant contemporary debates, such as I have already done in two separate articles:
The Art Of Persuasion: Pathetic appeal Vis-à-vis Ethical And Logical Considerations
(Wallace S. et al 2019) and The Role of Rhetoric: Its Effectiveness In Propagating
Persuasion Within A Particularized Socio-Cultural Dispensation (Wallace S. et al
2020). This study therefore relates to post-modernist fiction; a work which draws attention to the interrelationship between narrative, persuasion and the creative process. 6
There are four modes of discourse employed in creative writing: exposition, description, narration and persuasion. Exposition is concerned with the layout, style and organization of events and the actors within them. It is the immediate revelation to the audience of the setting and other background information that is necessary for understanding the plot; it is also explanation. Description employs the picturing in words of something or someone through detailed observation of colour, motion, sound, taste, smell, and touch. (Wallace, 2017). Narration is the telling of a story in fiction, non-fiction, poetry or drama. Persuasion is a form of argumentation where the language employed is intended to convince principally through appeals to reason or to emotion.
This study focalizes on the mode of persuasion where the rhetorical means of persuasion are investigated. Persuasion is the mode of discourse that this study focalizes upon. These popular truisms about persuasion qualify persuasion in a particularly erudite manner, one that allows for interesting perspectives to be drawn about this notion.
The etymology of this word emanates from the Latin meaning “to persuade” and here are some examples and observations about this notion:
"Character [ethos] may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion."
(Aristotle, Rhetoric)
"Oral delivery aims at persuasion and making the listener believe he has been converted. Few persons are capable of being convinced; the majority allow themselves to be persuaded."
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
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"When we try to persuade, we use the arguments, images, and emotions most likely to appeal to the particular audience in front of us. Rhetoricians who teach the art of persuasion have always instructed their students to treat different audiences differently, to study their distinctive and peculiar commitments, sentiments, and beliefs."
(Bryan Garsten, Saving Persuasion: A Defense of Rhetoric and Judgment. Harvard
Univ. Press, 2006)
"[F]or the purposes of persuasion the art of speaking relies wholly on three things: the proof of our allegations, the winning of our hearers' favours, and the rousing of their feelings to whatever impulse our case may require.”
(Cicero, De Oratore)
"[I]n a republican nation, whose citizens are to be led by reason and persuasion, and not by force, the art of reasoning becomes of first importance."
(Thomas Jefferson, 1824. Quoted by James L. Golden and Alan L. Golden in Thomas
Jefferson and the Rhetoric of Virtue. Rowman & Littlefield, 2002)
"There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus and upset the convictions and debauch the emotions of an audience not practiced in the tricks and delusions of oratory."
(Mark Twain, "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg." Harper's Monthly, Dec. 1899)
"Men are not governed by justice, but by law or persuasion. When they refuse to be governed by law or persuasion, they have to be governed by force of fraud, or both."
(Lord Summerhays in Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw, 1910) 8
"He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense."
(Joseph Conrad, "A Familiar Preface." The Collected Works of Joseph Conrad)
"The real persuaders are our appetites, our fears and above all our vanity. The skilful propagandist stirs and coaches these internal persuaders."
(attributed to Eric Hoffer)
"If you're trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language they use every day, the language in which they think. We try to write in the vernacular."
(David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man, 1963)
"The best way to persuade people is with your ears--by listening to them."
(attributed to Dean Rusk)
According to Aristotle, rhetoric is a way to discover the available means of persuasion
(Crowley & Hawhee, 2009). He made this contention more than a millenium ago but he didn’t define persuasion. In the broadest sense therefore, persuasion is the communicative process through which a message prompts a change in an individual or group’s beliefs, attitudes or behaviours. Not only does this study explore the persuasive possibilities that abound in prose fiction, it’s a study that also addresses creative writers and the genre of short story writing as an art. As has already been mentioned, communication is therefore inherent in this exploration, and the history of communication is entwined with the history of persuasion as a mode of discourse since 9 both of them trace their genesis to the ancient Greeks. During the era of Plato, the
Sophists embraced persuasion arguing for its practical foundations and pervasive presence in daily life; whereas Plato abhorred the dark unsavory part of persuasion ; like the grossly exaggerated statements that are found in marketing and politics that blur the ethical line. Aristotle came a generation after Plato and the Sophists. He saw merit in both Schools of thought and envisioned rhetoric as a tool in understanding the power of persuasion. Indeed Aristotle’s delineation of artistic proofs (ethos, logos and pathos) governed much of the study of persuasion for a millenium after him and these proofs are still utilized today (Crowley & Hawhee, 2009). It is for these reasons that the researcher opted to explore persuasion as opposed to the other modes of discourse.
Additionally, it is the intention of the researcher that this thesis be utilized as a practical tool of instruction (as opposed to a theoretical one) for students of both creative writing and communication.
The theory of reference in this study is the rhetorical theory. Rhetoric is the art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse. Rhetoric focuses on the interrelationship of invention, arrangement and style, in order to create felicitous and appropriate discourse. The great philosopher Aristotle upheld the view that narration, whose essential purpose is to become persuasive, could only enjoy viability if it possessed the following three literary proofs: ethos, logos and pathos.
Ethos is ethical appeal, when a writer attempts to influence, convince or persuade the audience through presentation of image of self through the text. Reputation is sometimes a factor in this type of appeal, but in all cases the aim is to gain the audience’s confidence. It is an appeal to the veracity of the narrator. Logos is logical appeal where logic is quite simply the process of reasoning; it is an appeal to reason.
Pathos is pathetic appeal: an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking 10 pity or compassion. Over-emotionalism can be the result of an excess of pathos. It is an appeal to the sentimental disposition of the audience or reader. The study focalizes on the role of pathetic appeal in an attempt to discover the extent of primacy that pathos may or may not enjoy vis-à-vis the other two appeals.
The communicational techniques mentioned within the introduction are the rhetorical tools and devices that are indispensable when it comes to persuasion, as well as figurative language. The tools can loosely be described as the “what” which is used by the writer to describe an image or bring about a descriptive occurrence. Examples of these are numerous but by far the most popular tools of rhetoric, particularly with reference to the anthology within this study, are:
- Personification :where human qualities are attributed to non-human or
inanimate objects
- Oictos : where there is some show of pity or compassion
- Hyperbole : which is deliberate exaggeration in order to create humor or
emphasis; for example stating that ‘he was so hungry he could have eaten a
horse’.
- Onomatopoeia : where words sound like what they mean such as ‘hiss’, ‘buzz’,
‘slam’, ‘boom’.
- Understatement: the opposite of exaggeration; it is a technique for developing
irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended.
- Flashback: where a sudden switch to the past is referred to in order to portray
that past’s influence upon a current event.
- Irony: a situation or statement in which the actual outcome or meaning is
opposite to what was expected. 11
Not to be left out are the literary and rhetorical devices that also contribute towards persuasion. These can loosely be described as the “how” which is used by the writer to create rhythm, to influence thought or even to bias the reader towards a particular direction. Popular devices often used by rhetors and featuring prominently in the anthology within this study are:
- Asyndeton: where only commas are used (with no conjunction) to separate a
series of words. The parts are emphasized equally when the conjunction is
omitted. (In addition, the use of commas with no intervening conjunction speeds
up the flow of the sentence whereby the tool is then transformed into a device
when regarded from this point of view). A good example of this is the former
American president John F. Kennedy who was very fond of asyndeton and who
once famously said: “We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any
hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success
of liberty”.
- Erotema: the so-called ‘rhetorical question’ where a question is asked to which
an answer is not expected
- Isocolon: a string of phrases of corresponding structure and equal length (not
dissimilar to parisosis, when clauses have very similar lengths as measured by
syllables). This is a device that serves to hasten the delivery. The difference
between Isocolon and Asyndeton is that Asyndeton has less emphasis on the
number of syllables and more emphasis on the lack of conjunctions coupled
with the constant use of commas, whereas Isocolon has more syllabic import
- Ecphonesis: a sentence consisting of a single word or short phrase and ending
with an exclamation point. 12
- Epistrophe: a succession of clauses, phrases or sentences that all end with the
same word or group of words.
- Euphony : a succession of harmonious sounds, the opposite of which is
cacophony
Ultimately figurative language also features in persuasive narrative and popular examples of figurative language are:
- Metaphor: a figure of speech in which one thing is referred to as another; for
example by stating “my love is a fragile flower”.
- Satire: a work that reveals a critical attitude towards some element of human
behaviour by portraying it in an extreme way. It doesn’t simply abuse (as in
invective) or get personal (as in sarcasm). It targets groups or large concepts
rather than individuals. George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a brilliant work of
satire.
- Hyperbole: a figure of speech where emphasis is achieved through
exaggeration, independently or through comparison. For example by stating ‘his
body was as white as snow, his face burned like fire’.
- Analogy: the use of a similar or parallel case or example so as to reason or
argue a point.
- Euphemism: an innocuous inoffensive or circumlocutory term or phrase for
something unpleasant or obscene for example by stating that ‘the body was laid
to rest’ instead of saying that ‘the body was buried’.
- Epanalepsis: a figure of speech in which the same word or phrase appears both
at the beginning and at the end of a clause. Elsewhere within this study for
instance, the entire storyline titled International Conference is epanalepsistical. 13
Therefore in modern rhetorical practice, researchers have employed interesting and divergent means to convey their convictions and to do so creatively. In Africa just as throughout the modern world, the tendency has been to produce literary creativity from familiar surroundings, such as is to be found among Francophone West African writers
Wole Soyinka (the poem Telephone Conversation set in London where he lived for some time; Ferdinand Oyono (the novels Le Vieux Nègre et La Médaille; Une Vie de
Boy both set in his motherland Cameroun) and Sembene Ousmane (the novel Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu a story that is set in his homeland Senegal).
I opted to reproduce my own separate anthology in order to examine the preponderance of pathetic appeal. Although there are instances where the settings were familiar, in many more instances the storyline coursed over unfamiliar settings that were purely a figment of the imagination. The storylines depart from the customary narration and readership by being rhetorically annotated; and by being preceded and concluded pictorially in order to lend fodder to the readers’ powers of imagination in the annexed section. This was not the case (pictorial support and annotation) for the two storylines that were selected for both the pilot study and the main research study, both of which emanated from this anthology. All the settings and characters were purely fictional.
1.2 Statement of the problem
The comparative role of pathetic appeal has not been investigated in classical and modern rhetorical practice particularly within the aegis of differentiated socio-cultural backgrounds as in the annexed anthology, and most particularly when it relates to individual creative practice. This explains what the problem is and where it is to be found. Why it is a problem is because most writers of necessity prefer to confine themselves to one familiar socio-economic and socio-cultural background when creating narrative. A lot of creative energy is then dispensed with heavier emphasis on a 14 logical outcome and on ethical considerations especially of a moral nature. This study departs from that dispensation. Confining creativity to just one socio-cultural background is limiting to both the writer and the reader alike. Creativity wants to be as broad and expansive as the imagination can allow. This is a problem that is on-going and has always been prevalent in Africa. The researcher is attempting to own the problem not just by breaking out of the monotony of a familiar background as a creative short story writer, but also by indulging in graphic description so that the literary proofs (of ethos, logos and pathos) are comparatively brought to light. This problem can best be solved by introducing diversity in the socio-cultural setting of the storyline, in order to reshape current understanding of pathetic appeal; and also by exploring apolitical idiosyncrasies that are not necessarily confined to the writer’s
African origins and historical tendencies.
Contemporary pathetic appeal both as a concept and practice within rhetoric, needs to be interrogated especially vis-à-vis ethics and argumentation which happen to represent the other corners of the rhetorical triangle. Its primacy in the domain of persuasion can be definitively established by careful manipulation of a rhetorical kind. As has been mentioned before, it becomes instructive to retain, at this point, that: logos is the literary proof where focus is on the content of the message; ethos is the literary proof whose focus is on the goodwill of the writer and willing acceptance by the readership, of what he or she portends; and where pathos is concerned, focus is pure and squarely on the sentimental disposition of the readership both during and after the exercise of reading. This is what represents the rhetorical triangle. The deliberate preponderance of contemporary pathetic appeal within a storyline and its influence upon the readership
(its persuasiveness), by careful selection of certain rhetorical tools and devices, this is the gap being filled; a gap whose focalizer is short story writing where the implicature 15 is within the practical creativity of the narrator; where primacy is intentionally bestowed upon one of the artistic proofs and that intention is achieved.
Graeme Harper contributed a chapter entitled “Creative Writing Doctorates” in The
Handbook of Creative Writing by Rosina Qureshi (2007). According to him, a Creative
Writing doctorate begins with a desire to create and it depends on a desire to investigate what underpins the creation. There is no obligatory starting point for such a doctorate and most but not all candidates begin with a creative project. Many have a relatively unformed idea of the understanding that underpins their creative work. But creative practice generates critical understanding. As a researcher I can identify with this contention. He goes on to say that this critical understanding is a natural process that various persons throughout time have commented upon (for example Sigmund Freud linked it to the ‘unconscious’, Henry Bergson linked it to his notion of ‘intuition’). It can best be defined simply as ‘response’; where responsive understanding is generated by a process, event, action or object and it produces an attached event, action or object.
Responsive understanding is not necessarily self-reflective (Bergson H., 1998).
Therefore, this thesis adds to the body of knowledge by being demonstrative of the indulgence bestowed on short written stories (sketches that are intertwined with tales to qualify them as short stories); where the attempt is within an original anthology whose one contributing writer did not necessarily have prior physical exposure to the particular “setting” of the story. A striking example of the afore-said is the storyline An
Almost True Story which was utilized within the main research study. This story was set in Saudi Arabia which is only geographically known to the writer in theory; whereas the inspiration for the plot came from an old BBC commentary which itself was inspired by a real-life incident that happened in Canada. This story took place in an imaginary setting, one that is realistic enough for the real-life locals to identify with it - 16 just because of certain rhetorical tools and devices – and to empathize with the characters and their interrelationships.
1.3 Objectives of the research
As has already been stated, this thesis is a foray into modern fiction that depicts the interrelationship between narrative, persuasion and the creative process, in an endeavor to explore the boundaries of contemporary pathetic appeal within the genre of the short story. The importance of this exercise lies in the fact that it provokes attention to linguistic detail and produces repercussions that are experienced not just by writers of the short story but also by speech writers and motivational speakers and even academic scholars, within the sphere of the humanities and social sciences. Creativity in the form of writing is the preferred resource of choice for me as the researcher, specifically under the guise of an anthology that amplifies the range of possibilities that are available to the writer; possibilities that underscore pathetic appeal which in turn
(deliberately) give it primacy over the other two literary appeals in the rhetorical triangle: ethics and reasoning.
However there is an exception: I decided to opt for just one of the storylines within the anthology to be utilized in the main research study. (Prior attempts at using three diverse stories in order to entice the readership and persuade them to discern certain sentiments that would supersede ethical and logical considerations ended in dismal failure; this has been discussed elsewhere in this thesis.) One storyline was also decided upon as a final decision given the constraint of finances (one sample group played the role of a captive audience who the researcher remunerated for their gracious acquiescence, which came as a pleasant surprise to them). 17
It is the researcher’s honest opinion that contemporary pathetic appeal still has not been adequately interrogated so that lack of familiarity with the tenets that motivate it and sustain it, renders the creative production mundane (if it’s a short story) or lukewarm ( if it’s a speech). This thesis is therefore a very worthwhile exercise particularly to learners of creative writing within the genre of the short story, for whom it is highly intended. The current socio-economic environment is crying out to be reminded about the socio-economic wars against ignorance that can be conquered by the mighty pen – as opposed to the gun! The time is ripe and the time is now; to begin to be aware of the value of sentiment, the importance of pathetic appeal, in writing as in speech, if nothing else, to bring about understanding and engender tolerance among people. The focalizer in this study is not persuasion; rather it is pathetic appeal that can only be accomplished by means of persuasion.
Therefore, if these objectives are to be magnified under the mnemonic acronym of
SMART objectives (those that are specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and time- bound), they would be the following:
- To explore the uses of selected rhetorical tools
- To explore the uses of selected rhetorical devices
- To measure the levels of persuasion engendered by these rhetorical tools
- To measure the levels of persuasion engendered by these rhetorical devices
- To demonstrate the comparative role of pathetic appeal within the rhetorical
triangle of literary proofs; where the other two are the logical and ethical
appeals
- To give primacy to pathetic appeal as an intentional endeavor by the writer
towards the readership 18
The above-mentioned objectives are well in tandem with title of thesis: Creative
Writing Within The Genre Of The Short Story: Investigating The Persuasive
Potential Of Rhetoric Within The Confines Of Pathetic Appeal.
With this in mind, abbreviating the objectives to a limit of just 2 SMART objectives, they become:
1. To explore the uses of certain rhetorical tools and devices in an effort to bring
about persuasion
2. To demonstrate the comparative role of pathetic appeal within the rhetorical
triangle of literary proofs
An anthology of nine short stories is included in this study within the Annexed section so that the objectives are proved to be applicable in socially differentiated environments. Inclusive of the two which were used for the Pilot and Main studies, they are:
- The Painting: a storyline set in Francophone West Africa
- Go! A storyline set in Eritrea
- Fighting Fire with Fire: a storyline set in Nevada USA
- Unseen.: a storyline set in the serene Ngong’ Road area of Nairobi
- Once Upon a Time: a storyline set in suburban Kenya
- Nature Plays a Role: a storyline that takes place on busy Mbagathi Way in Nairobi
- A True Story: a storyline set in rural Yemen 19
- An Almost True Story: a storyline set in Saudi Arabia (used in the main research study)
- International Conference: a storyline set in Shanzu Kilifi in the Kenyan coastal area
- The Dream: a storyline set in central Kampala
- Of Bus Rides and Bottles of Water: a storyline set in motion on Mombasa Road between Nairobi and Mombasa (used in the pilot study)
1.4 Research questions
The research questions emanating from the objectives are two:
1.) How do certain rhetorical tools and devices succeed in persuading the reader
and to what extent?
2.) From among the literary proofs of pathetic appeal (pathos), ethical appeal
(ethos) and logical appeal (logos), can primacy be selectively and definitively
established for pathos?
Consequently the questions posed within the study and drawn from the two objectives were based on: the writer’s perceived intentions; the reaction of the readership to the storyline; and whether a logical sequence of events encouraged or discouraged the reading progression. This basis is what is known as the rhetorical triangle. With reference to the storyline An Almost True Story the second of the two objectives based upon the interaction between the three appeals in practical rhetorical exercise, was accomplished by posing open-ended questions like the following: My motivation whilst reading the story was: 20
a.) It made me emotional. Choosing this option establishes that the reader is
vulnerable and can be emotionally manipulated; pathetic appeal has had a
stronger influence upon him or her than logical and ethical considerations.
b.) It caused me to question the writer’s intentions. Choosing this option
demonstrates that the reader has surpassed the level of sentiment and caused the
reader to attain a level of indignation that affords him or her to question the
source of this intellectual discomfort, overriding all other considerations.
c.) It progressed logically from start to finish. This is a very analytical reaction to
any creative piece of writing; as such, primacy is demonstrated upon the
sequential order of events (logic) and less upon the characters (pathos), even
less upon the provenance of the ideology within the plot (ethos).
Therefore, in all the three instances the rhetorical tools and devices attained their goal.
Again, the second of the two objectives, based upon the extent to which sentimental appeal is premier to logical and ethical considerations, was accomplished by posing questions like the following: How did you feel when you read the story? This is a question that pointedly seeks to establish the level of influence of pathetic appeal upon the reader. It was a question followed by a choice of options: Happy? Sad? Surprised?
Disgusted? Indifferent? None of the above? With reference to the storyline An Almost
True Story, the inference to the researcher for a reader that opts for any of the following choices could be interpreted as:
- Happiness: this reader enjoys a good ending in short story writing: the
characters, sequence of events, the whole intrigue has left this reader satisfied
with the final outcome. Pathetic appeal has scored very highly in this instance. 21
- Sadness: the reader inadvertently succumbs to pathetic appeal if this factor
overrides the considerations of a writer who would write such a story or the
sequence of events that led to the particular ending. This reader would probably
have preferred harsh revenge as opposed to complete forgiveness and therefore,
the disappointment of having one’s expectations falling short renders this reader
sad; a plus for pathetic appeal
- Surprise: this element is less sentimental and more logical as the result of
reading this story. The reader expected a certain outcome but was instead
presented with another. Logical appeal displays primacy over the other two
appeals when a reader chooses this option. However this is only the case when
the surprise is gradual. Sudden surprise tends to allow logos and pathos to be at
par.
- Disgust: this element is interpreted by the researcher as a triumph of pathetic
appeal over the other two appeals; to a lesser degree it can be argued that the
expertise of the writer causes the disgust; the reader’s ability to empathize with
a character produces this inference.Ethos comes a close second to pathos.
- Indifference: this element directly alludes to the writer of the storyline and
brings ethical considerations right to the fore. Indifference is such a powerful
element that only lack of conviction on the part of the writer towards the reader
can be squarely responsible for such a response.
- None of the above: like the above-mentioned response this is an indictment
upon the writer. Concurrently it reveals a sense of confusion on the part of the
reader since, it portrays his or her inability to identify with any of the epithets
on offer, which can’t be too difficult to do under these circumstances. 22
Therefore, the observable reactions to the storyline used in the research component of this study are further elucidated within the sections 4.1.2 (Interpretation of the answers) and 4.1.3 (Observations accruing from the interpretation of the answers). Ultimately these results were interpreted by using a home-grown Likert Scale in order to have a percentile representation of them.
1.5 Significance and Justification of the study
The significance of this study was to explore the levels or degrees of persuasion required by the narrator to become convincing; to employ the rhetorical tools and devices of the narrative voice within vastly different and varied cultural settings that are ultimately a product of individual creative practice; the line of argument being that between the narrative Voice (read writer) and the Audience (read readers), it is the former that is responsible for influencing the receptiveness of the latter and it often resorts to pathetic appeal to achieve these ends. What is new about this study is examining the implications of using specific narrative and rhetorical devices in order to persuade one’s convictions upon the audience, as the narrative Voice - no matter what the cultural setting may be like and within the narrative paradigm. The new dimension of varied socio-cultural settings emanating from the same writer allowed for the writer to become imaginative and to do so convincingly since there was no prior exposure to these far-flung and diverse places. This was one of the main factors that I considered as the researcher: fiction at the most realistic level.
The intention of the study is to show how the narrative Voice and the Readership both enjoy equal reciprocity when it comes to pertinence; even if the onus is upon the Voice to influence the Readership (ethos), the Readership nevertheless demands of the Voice a certain subjectivity in order for communication that is (or is not) reciprocated to be achieved (logos) – and an appreciation of the subject to be established (pathos). The 23
Readership will therefore be operationalized in the proposed study by using stylistic comparison of their mixed reactions to one particular storyline as well as by application of a homegrown Likert Scale.
This makes it a study that is multidisciplinary in nature. In other words, the gap being filled by this study is to establish, through the case study of an anthology of stories from one individual writer but fictionally set in different parts of the world, exactly how persuasion thrives in vastly different communicational situations, depending on the perceived social identities of the interlocutors and the figurative language that they use in their communication with each other. This is where the speech situation, speech event and speech act will all be seen to play a vital role, in the varied and vastly differentiated cultural settings of each story.
The research study places one of the storylines, a short story, under a magnifying glass in order to establish the preponderance of contemporary pathetic appeal and its persuasiveness upon the readership, one that is brought out by careful selection of certain rhetorical tools and devices. The storyline utilized in the main research study, is one with approximately equal measures of pathos, ethos and logos and precisely for the purposes of eliciting proof of primacy for one of these literary proofs (pathos) from the rhetorical triangle.
The study contributes to an understanding of the possibilities available to rhetors who have the sole intention of being persuasive in their convictions, by examining the impact of the rhetorical devices utilized; knowledge that should be of particular interest to scholars and practitioners of the art of communication as well as to linguists. Such knowledge will enhance their critical listening and reading skills, as well as those of the general readership, since all of them will be made aware of how they can become of influence to other interlocutors both in writing and in speech. 24
Additionally, this is a study that also draws attention to figurative language which is just as imperative in the art of persuasion as rhetorical tools and devices. Linguistically it demonstrates the importance of semantics in contexts that are of a particularized nature. The study foregrounds a rhetorical approach to modern fiction, one that emanates from individual creative practice, and thus is encouraging to future creative writers in the field of short story writing (speech writers too) and it can identify further areas of research. The knowledge it generates is useful in the development of future attempts at individual creativity, particularly from those who enjoy academic scholarship within the sphere of the humanities and social sciences.
1.6 Scope and limitations of the study
As concerns its scope, the study is essentially sociolinguistic. It demonstrates how social and cultural values influence communication; it also demonstrates the role played by the narrative voice when addressing its audience in the fictional paradigm of short story writing by emphasizing the art of persuasion; particularly the appeal of contemporary ‘pathos’ in comparison to ‘ethos’ and ‘logos’. These three notions are the creations of the great philosopher Aristotle. According to him, a broad definition of rhetoric is “the art of observing, in any given case, the available means of persuasion.”
When rhetors desire to communicate with their listeners, they take into account:
- Their understanding of their listeners ( an approximation towards ethos)
- Their understanding of the subject being explored (pathos is implied here)
- Their own reasons for wishing to communicate ( logos, where reasoning
involves argumentation)
The same procedure applies to writers and their readership. The linguistic importance of this study lies in the uses of tools and devices that are rhetorical by nature. 25
The English philosopher Steven Toulmin devoted a substantial amount of time in analyzing rhetorical arguments, particularly the elements involved in persuasion. His model of argumentation recognizes six levels: the Claim (the conclusion or argument being made); the Grounds (data and facts offered to support the claim); the Warrant
(which logically connects the grounds to the claim); the Backing (which supports the warrant); the Qualifiers (which make a statement about the strength of the claim); the
Rebuttal (exception to the claim) (Wallace, 2017). Because of the reasoning required within the domain of logical argumentation, I chose to include a portion of the toulmin model within the research study and during discussion of the anthology within the annex, as a theory that would be complementary to the rhetorical and classical theories.
Therefore, I limited toulmin’s model to only three of the levels of argumentation; quite appropriately: the Claim, Grounds and Warrant. Only the first 3 levels have been applied for reasons of expediency.
Concurrently, a few literary theoretic perspectives and social and communicational theories lend credence to the actual creative aspects of a storyline. An anthology of ten stories is included within the annex to this study where each one is annotated to highlight figurative language that influences emotion; ten having been considered a number that would be adequately representative of the differentiated geographical, environmental and socio-cultural settings of the main plot chosen for each storyline.
The researcher deduced that as a teaching tool, the anthology that annexes the thesis would serve to reappropriate the results of the main research study. Creative writing and the genre of the short story can both be emphasized in a satisfactory manner when an anthology, particularly an original one, is included alongside the formal exigencies of a doctoral thesis; this is my contention as the researcher. 26
Therefore, this is a study that is limited to Aristotle’s rhetorical theory with emphasis on contemporary pathos. According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, rhetoric is: the study and practice of good effective expression; it focuses on the goals of the speech or piece of writing that attempts to sway the mind of the audience or reader. In discourse, rhetoric focuses on the interrelationship of invention, arrangement and style in order to create felicitous and appropriate discourse. Rhetoric is not the judicious application of a good vocabulary, nor is it grammatical per se; since it is the nuances created by a grammar that is used in a particular way, that renders a text rhetorical by nature.
Rhetorical theory, which is the theory of reference throughout this study, represents the organized presentation of the art of rhetoric, descriptions of the various functions of rhetoric, and clarifications of how rhetoric achieves its goals. Each story in the annexed anthology is discussed according to style and arrangement and within the confines of the classical theory. Classical theory accommodates six parts to a text: exordium (which clarifies the text’s purpose); narratio (which outlines the context of the subject being addressed in order to facilitate understanding); partitio (where the purpose of the text is clarified with matters that are accepted and those that are disputed); confirmatio ( where techniques used by the rhetor support what he is saying); refutatio ( where the rhetor’s techniques in that portion of the text are used by the rhetor to respond to variant advocacy); peroratio (where the rhetor concludes his contentions in the text and where his closing is largely dependent on pathetic proof).
Since argumentation cannot be left out altogether, a portion of Steven Toulmin’s model of argumentation merely complements the classical theory within this study.
Within the research study one (1) story is distributed within a readership of twelve (12) individuals, all representing the units of study. These units were stratified to native speakers of the English language and non-native speakers of the English language, in 27 order to explore the boundaries of pathetic appeal within each stratum. Further, they were equally divided between male and female because gender appears to play a significant role within an opinionated dimension; men and women are ‘wired’ differently (Fasold, 2000).
These strata were developed from a general population of readers of short story writing in the English language. One limitation of the study was to confine it to a readership of twelve (12) participants. Another limitation was to maintain the geographical distribution to Jersey (UK) and Kilifi (Kenya). These limitations were supposed to keep the costs of the research to a minimum (initial contact before the data collection exercise was expensive to undertake). The significance of the study was derived from the results of the investigative component: impetus of the rhetorical means of persuasion and eventual primacy of one of the appeals in the rhetorical triangle, an appeal that was highly intended by the writer of the storyline.
28
1.7 Conceptual framework
THEORY OF RHETORICAL WRITING
Creative Communication Reader of
Writer Pathetic Appeal The Story
Pathos
Logos Ethos
Source: the researcher
29
1.8 Theoretical Framework
Therefore with reference to the theories discussed above, the selected theory of reference throughout the study is Rhetoric. The study discusses both the research study and occasionally the anthology from a rhetorical perspective. The researcher examines the various components that make up the art of persuasion. This study will utilize elements of selected Aristotelian and modern rhetorical theories. Classical theory is used to discuss the stories within the anthology for the purposes of clarification for the learner of creative writing; this theory sums up the comparative synopsis of each storyline.
According to Aristotle (Crowley & Hawhee, 2009)), in comparison to the other two ethical and pathetic appeals, logic is preponderant as the backbone that supports an entire exposition in any narrative. Whereas I as the researcher do not in any way dispute this, it is nevertheless instructive to take note of the extent to which the influence of pathetic appeal depends upon a logical dispensation of the storyline that unfolds. The philosopher contends that logic being an appeal to the audience’s intellect, presupposes that a rhetor that provides arguments stands a better chance of persuading their audience than one that does not (Aristotle, 1926). It is in the format of the argumentation vis-à-vis the presentation style of a storyline that persuasion as an objective may or may not succeed.
Style addresses precisely how the content is presented in a storyline; it demonstrates how ideas are embodied in language and contextually customized. Steven Toulmin
(2003) is a modern rhetorical theorist who maintains that arguments are composed of six distinct portions, three of which are more pertinent than the others: claim, grounds
(or data) and warrant; whereby the claim is the assertive component of the storyline that the rhetor wants the audience to accept; grounds being all that information that is 30 supportive of the claim that the rhetor presents like reasons, observations, facts, details, examples and explanations both literal and statistical; warrants being the assumptions that underlie any given argument (Toulmin, 2003). The common thread running through the anthology in this study is the comparative presentation of all three appeals and how pathetic appeal appears to be in strong correlation with logical appeal in order to affect the creativity and its appreciation in varying degrees.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Contemporary Pathetic Appeal
Theory of Reference: Rhetoric
(the art of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion)
Toulmin’s model of argumentation: claim, grounds, warrant (backing, qualifiers, rebuttal not utilized) Synopses of short stories within the anthology
Classical theory: exordium, narration, partition, confirmation, refutation, Literature review peroration
Social theories that demonstrate the role of communication as a domain of interest within this study
Source: the researcher 31
Summary of chapter one: Introduction.
A close look at the genre of short story writing reveals that a successful work of art focalizes on an aspect of life and then builds this up in narrative. The credibility of this creation is what is recognized as its ethical value, where the reader questions the believability of the writer. The way in which this creation is presented in order for it to be understood is recognized as the logical sequence. The effect of this artistic creation is none other than the sentiment (or pathetic appeal) that it provokes within the readership. There are four modes of discourse: exposition, description, narration and persuasion. This researcher examines the role of persuasion with rhetoric being the main theory of reference.
As the researcher I confirm the view upheld by Aristotle that narration, whose essential purpose is to become persuasive, only succeeds when ethical, logical and pathetic appeals are employed. However the success of these three levels of appeal likewise depends upon a judicial use of rhetorical tools and devices as well as figurative language. Of the three appeals, contemporary pathetic appeal both as a concept and practice within rhetoric needs to be interrogated especially vis-à-vis ethics and argumentation.
The objectives of the study therefore are: to examine the uses of rhetoric in persuading the reader; to examine the comparative role of emotive appeal vis-à-vis ethics and argumentation. An annexed anthology of ten short stories offers differentiated socio- cultural settings so as to bring out these objectives. The research questions are: 1.) How do certain tools and devices succeed in persuading the reader and to what extent? 2.)
From among the three appeals, can supremacy be intentionally established and definitively for one of them, pathetic appeal? What is new about this study is examining the implications of using specific narrative and rhetorical devices in order to persuade 32 the readership. The gap being filled is to establish exactly how persuasion thrives but within very differentiated circumstances; circumstances that may appear within an anthology or within a graphically fictional short story and in any or both cases emanating from the self-same writer. Therefore communicational and linguistic scholars will learn about the degree of conviction that is possible with rhetorical tools and devices; about the profound importance of semantics in general; and they will appreciate the impetus created by this study towards their own individual creativity, whether it appertains to short story writing, speech-writing, poetry, song or any other genre of composition.
The scope of the study is limited to contemporary pathetic appeal and the way in which it is used within current theories of communication. The anthology that is used to depict this is discussed within the tenets of classical theory and presented as an annex to this study. Additionally, synopses included in the anthology are demonstrative of the interdependence between Aristotle’s theory and Toulmin’s model of argumentation as a form of clarification of what creative writing actually portends. The story within the research study provides a microcosmic environment in which I will proceed to eventually respond to the research questions.
33
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction
There are very many and diverse social theories that explain human behavior in explicit terms. Their prevalence in these storylines goes to prove their inevitability. No fictional creativity can subsist in isolation without the influences of a certain social theory
(usually a behavioral one) within the storyline. Some of these theoretical standpoints have been highlighted here to increase the believability of the particular storyline and give it some credence. However it is not the intention of the researcher to make the readership aware of these theories as a learning tool. What is intended is to recognize them within the various storylines in order to realize how they reflect the quotidian idiosyncrasies and by so doing, allow oneself to become persuaded by the writer.
This study is informed by some theories of communication, theories of discourse, theories that explore the functions of narrative, meanings to rhetoric and artistic proofs; all of which become pertinent when applying the tenets of their theorists to prose fiction. Structural and functional theories uphold that social structures are real and function in ways that can be observed objectively. The social setting in a narrative needs to reflect this theory. Cognitive and behavioral theories tend to focus on the psychology of individuals; pathetic appeal emanates from the writer’s translation and understanding of this theory and its portrayal. Interactionist theories view social life as a process of interaction. These are theories worth noting during the creative process of narration and care was exercised to quote the particular storyline that demonstrates any of these social theories and the extent to which the particular theory becomes effective.
Such theories are very interesting to learners of creative writing because they act as a 34 guide towards the creative production. Only a few have been selected here by the researcher, those that can be recognized within the anthology.
2.2 Social theories and their inclusion within the draft anthology
Theories of communication abound in number and the few mentioned here are by no means exhaustive. What is important in this study is to be able to recognize them within the storylines and deduce what may or may not have an impact on the reader because of the deployment of figurative language. The importance of these social theories lies in the fact that they influence the environment that the reader enjoys and therefore allow that reader to derive a certain interpretation of what he or she reads. This therefore means that apart from the rhetorical tools of figurative language in creative writing, the environment of the reader or one that the reader can have no difficulty in imagining also plays an interpretive role in his or her understanding of the storyline.
The Cognitive Dissonance Theory argues that the experience of dissonance (or incompatible beliefs and actions) is aversive and people are highly motivated to avoid it. Therefore in an effort to avoid feelings of dissonance, people will change their beliefs to match their actions, avoid hearing views that oppose their own and seek reassurance after making a difficult decision.16(McLeod, 2008)) This theory is suggestively used in the storyline A True Story within the anthology.
The theoretical perspective of the Communication Accommodation Theory examines the underlying motivations and consequences of what happens when two speakers shift their communication styles. Theorists that uphold it argue that during communication, people will try to accommodate or adjust their style of speaking to others17. (Dumova &
Fiordo, 2010)).This is done in two ways: divergence or convergence. This is why groups with strong ethnic or racial pride often use divergence to highlight their group 35 identity. Convergence occurs when there is a strong need for social approval, frequently from socially powerless individuals. Within the anthology, The Dream is a heterodiegetic story that explores this theory in a completely unconventional way and even the conclusion is unforeseen.
The theory of Dramatism compares life to a drama. Real life requires an actor, an act, a scene, some means for the action to take place, and a purpose – just as in dramatic action.. A rhetorical critic can understand a speaker’s motives by analyzing these elements. Further, Dramatism argues that purging guilt is the ultimate motive, and rhetors can be successful when they provide their audiences or readers both with a sense of identification with the rhetor as with a means of purging their guilt. (Pearce,
1994). The storyline Unseen is a highly dramatic (and rather graphic) narrative tale within the anthology that thoroughly explores this theory.
The Social Penetration Theory maintains that interpersonal relationships evolve in some gradual and predictable fashion. Penetration theorists believe that self-disclosure is the primary way that superficial relationships progress towards more intimate relationships. Although self-disclosure can lead to more intimate relationships, it can also leave one or more persons vulnerable21 (Altman & Taylor 1973). This theory is applied to the extreme and leads to a contradictory conclusion in the story titled Nature
Plays a Role within the anthology. A measure of intersubjectivity, description of a scene and a point of view within that scene between two interlocutors, these aspects are taken into account within this theory.
This is in fact better expressed in French by Victorri and Fuchs (1996, 2000): ‘ Le concept d’intersubjectivité au cours de l’activité de parole, se produit un processus cognitif très particulier, qui consiste pour le locuteur à essayer de construire un espace 36 extérieur à lui-même, partageable par ses interlocuteurs, et dans lequel il donne à voir ce dont il parle comme une scène projetée devant eux. L’acte d’énonciation de base serait donc constitué d’au moins deux éléments: la description d’une scène et la donnée d’un point de vue sur cette scène, ce deuxième élément étant essential pour permettre le partage de la “vision”.’22 (translation: during the speech act, the idea of intersubjectivity becomes a very particular cognitive process, which for the speaker consists of trying to build up a space that is outside his own personal space, one that can be shared by his fellow speakers, and one in which he allows everything that he is saying to be observed like a scene being projected in front of them. The basic act of enunciation therefore would be constituted of at least two elements: the description of a scene and the offer of a point of view on that scene, the latter element being essential in permitting a sharing of the “vision”).
The Standpoint Theory posits that people are situated in specific social standpoints – they occupy different places in the social hierarchy. Because of this it is from particular vantage points that individuals view the particular social situation. By necessity each vantage point provides only a partial understanding of the social whole. Yet, those who occupy the lower rungs of the hierarchy tend to understand the social situation more fully than those at the top23 (Griffin 2009). Once Upon a Time is a storyline within the anthology that dabbles with this theory in a melodramatic way.
Sometimes the Standpoint Theory is referred to as the Feminist Standpoint Theory because of its application to how the standpoints of women and men differ. The storyline Go alludes to the Feminist Standpoint Theory per se.
The Symbolic Interaction Theory suggests that people are motivated to act based on the meanings they assign to other people, things and events. Further, meaning is created 37 in the language that people use both with others and in private thought. Language allows people to develop a sense of self and to interact with others in the community24
(Stryker 1990). International Conference in the anthology is a storyline that entertains this theory mainly within the internal monologues of the characters as opposed to when they are in open conversation with each other.
Uncertainty Reduction Theory suggests that when strangers meet, their primary focus is on reducing their levels of uncertainty in the situation. Their levels of uncertainty are located in both the behavioural and cognitive realms. That is, they may be unsure of how to behave (or how the other person will behave), and they may also be unsure of what they think of the other and what the other person thinks of them. Further, peoples’ uncertainty is at both the individual level and the relational level. People are highly motivated to use communication to reduce their uncertainty according to this theory25
(Griffin 2012). Closely related to this theory is the cooperative principle26 (Grice 1975); it simply means that people engaged in conversation will endeavor to say something suitable at that point in the development of the talk. Grice makes it more explicit by dividing it into a set of conversational maxims and submaxims (Grice 1975:45 – 7;
Fasold p.127) by means of which conversational implicatures can be created in context which go beyond the literal meaning of sentences. The Dream explores this theory even though it utterly destroys some conventional expectations.
Such theories among others (like those that explore the functions of narrative and the meanings to rhetoric and artistic proof), allow us to understand the whole notion of communication and in all its different domains of use. They clarify narrower fields of communication like semantic inferences and they also refine our understanding about certain communicative perspectives that are imperative during communication and linguistically important. As a preamble to the various considerations in creative writing, 38 these social theories are indispensable. Because of the way their members utilize their structures structuration theorists posit that groups and organizations achieve a life of their own. Contemporary pathos relies upon the tenets upheld by most of these social theories because they broaden one’s thinking before that individual can become creative. The theories are just a few that qualify the communicational and behavioral interactions between two or more people and with reference to the annexed anthology.
Recognizing them within a storyline or working them into one enhances the creative acumen of the learner of creative writing, towards whom this thesis is intended. Social theories and the perspectives they engender need to be considered in this study because of the varied socio-cultural settings of the storylines included in the anthology within the annex. Only 5 social theories have been mentioned with reference to the research questions for reasons of brevity
There is a social theory that holds that in any particular community, the speakers of a particular language allow for that language to organize their social relationships. ‘The approach to the sociolinguistics of language in which the use of language in general is related to social and cultural values is called … the ethnography of communication’.
(Fasold 1990). This anthology, though written and read in English, requires the understanding that the protagonists involved are in fact communicating in their common cultural language. The study reinforces the vital role of speech situations and the way they propagate pathetic appeal. It must be remembered that all of these social theories, given the varied objectives that they represent, allow for a vast selection of rhetorical tools and devices in order to bring those objective to fruition. This is precisely how the few social theories mentioned here answer to the research questions. 39
2.3 Research studies and perspectives
2.3.1 The Perspectives espoused by other creative writers
Quite apart from the standpoints of various social theories that dictate the flow of creativity within the plots of short story writing, some novelists of Francophone and
Anglophone extraction that the researcher has had occasion to analyze rhetorically elsewhere, together with their translators, were also found to be polite with pathetic appeal by laying heavy emphasis on ethical considerations. These were Ferdinand
Oyono (Le Vieux Nègre et La Médaille) and his translator John Reed (The Old Man and
The Medal); Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Weep Not Child) and his translator Yves Rivière
(Enfant Ne Pleure Pas). Their dalliance with ethical appeal was evident to the researcher whether the narrator was displaying despondency about the racial divide
(novelist Sembene Ousmane: Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu),or whether the narrator took recourse to superstition and surrealism in order for the characters to escape from reality
(novelist Wole Soyinka: Forest of a Thousand Daemons: A Hunter’s Saga), or whether the narrator simply decried neo-colonialism and the historical injustices that engendered it (Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ferdinand Oyono in practically all of their earlier works).
That the literature review touches upon perceptions emanating from novelists does not render it skewed; the differences between the novelist and the short story writer are predominantly limited to length of creativity. The East African novelist Meja Mwangi authored Going Down River Road and the tools and devices that he employed seemed to favor comic relief within a sketch whose setting was rather dour. One of his favorite tools was personification: …the sun glared down on the building (p.11);…the frying pans were already in their perpetual futile battle with the stink from the toilet (p.21);
…nearby the sewage river trickles ghostly along hesitant in the rejected waste, 40 subdued by death and decomposition (p.161); …the door screams shut on its own; an engineering genius achieved by using old tyre bands for hinges (p.162); …a lonely, cold, 20-watt bulb tries in vain to brighten the drab walls (p.188). Another of his favorite tools was sarcasm: …that pair of panties will find an easy market among
Max’s admirers. It may fetch a handsome price – a price which is very unlikely to be in any legal tender (p.69); …There is something malignant about shanty huts. They go up in the smoke at dawn, spring to life again by twilight. (p.179).
When considering the aspect of pathos, Mwangi makes use of several devices such as:
- Brachylogia (brevity of diction): … the landlord…does not do the dirty work.
He has class. He pays to have it done (p.136); …they are all expert players. The
game is survival. The whole family just play (sic) a role (p.177).
- Euphony (a succession of harmonious sounds): a haggard hand from Bondeni
stands up on a point of order (p.54).
- Repetition: Wini. Wini. Wini where, Wini what, Wini why, Wini…(p.100). (for
emphasis)
I was of the opinion that apart from the occasional comic relief and fleeting instances of sexual attraction, the writer was more preoccupied in show-casing a logical sequence of events, inclusive of a surprise factor when murder was surreptitiously committed.
Pathetic appeal was somehow played down in this novel.
The author Ama Ata Aidoo created an anthology that she titled The Girl Who Can And
Other Stories. Within the storyline Her Hair Politics, the main tool she employs is satire (the humorous or critical treatment of a subject in order to expose the subject’s vices and follies): a mop of silky hair: lovingly grown, diligently fed, nursed, and pampered to yield its best in brilliant black sheen that breathes and glows like a sated 41 mamba, then cut, and sold? For just feelgood (sic) resource for shoes and hats and jewelry? Or most likely because there must be rice, clothes for mother’s back, something to hide in case of sickness or death? (p.2) Within this satire she also deploys the devices of asyndeton (constant use of commas) and polysyndeton (constant use of conjunctions like ‘and’) together; not to mention the use of simile (glows like a sated mamba); in fact she’s very liberal with similes right from the beginning and throughout her anthology: the words rolled off her tongue like pips from oranges or cherries…(p.1).
In another storyline entitled Choosing she revels in the tool of sarcasm (caustic personal remarks that are less subtle than irony, designed to hurt by ridiculing or criticizing):
After two days, The Writer-Turned-Teacher-Turning-into-a-Trader went back to the bank, and sure enough, the loan was ready (p.12). The popular device here, as in many instances in her anthology, was aposiopesis (an abrupt stop in the middle of a sentence as if to portray inability to complete a thought): She was out there mingling and struggling with life. Real life…(p.14).
The Girl Who Can is a short story where her tool of choice as a writer was logical fallacy (misconception resulting from faulty reasoning): The only naked female legs I have ever really seen are those of other little girls like me. Or older girls in the school.
And those of my mother and Nana: two pairs of legs which must surely belong to the approved kind; because Nana gave birth to my mother, and my mother gave birth to me
(p.30). Once again, aposiopesis is a device that she favors in this storyline: I could always marry later and maybe …(p.31).
In her short story Heavy Moments, the writer takes recourse in Localism as her rhetorical tool for emphasis: Now she knew that those planes flew at over thirty 42 thousand feet high. But clearly that had not stopped her and her friends from rushing out if it was during the day and screaming their usual chorus:
Aeroplane e! Dear plane, dear plane
Ekor aa to paano (on your return journey)
Brem oo buy some bread and bring to me oo (p.66)
Once again the device of choice for this writer is polysyndeton: after Akuba was born, her mother, who had been hurt and hurt and hurt by all these goings-on, decided to take her child back with her into town (p.69).
Lice is another storyline by this writer where her tool of preference, one that is rather popular with African writers because of the legacy of the oral tradition of storytelling, is lyrical effect; where she offers a partial quotation of a renowned song: …something to the effect that
‘Count your blessings
Name them one by one…’ (p.98)
Personification (a figure of speech that gives human characteristics or attributes human qualities to inanimate objects and adds freshness to description) is the device of preference: There were always two queues at the clinic. One was pregnant: women with just missed periods…women at mid-term…women at full-term…The other queue, which was always twice as long or longer was infertile or completely barren: - young working girls…women who were actively looking for pregnancy…women who had lost all hope…(ps. 95 – 96). The writer’s orthography here describes the notion of a queue as if the queue was a single living organism. 43
Nowhere Cool is another storyline in her anthology where her tool of preference was the epigraph (a quotation at the beginning of a work that hints at its theme) which consisted of a conversation between a mother and her child.
Kinna (of five years old) Mama, Mama, why do you look so quiet?
AAA Hmm… I am thinking
Kinna Are you thinking again?
AAA Yes
Kinna Mama, do people have to think all the time?
AAA Yes, child, it looks like we have to. All the time! (p.136)
This tool prepares the reader to travel in the same journey as the young mother and wife who has to go abroad and leave her husband and children behind, fighting with her conscience about the youngest being less than one year, examining the fear of possibly losing her husband to another woman, tribulations about the flight itself, about her arrival in a new place, and the anxiety goes on. But the device that she employs more than any other is erotema (the so-called rhetorical question that doesn’t really seek to be answered): ‘A penny for your thoughts Sarah.’ That was the voice of Miss Jones… ‘a penny for my thoughts?’ I have always wondered why. Why would anyone want another person’s thoughts for a penny? Surely there can never be moderately-priced thoughts? Since our thoughts are either so useless they aren’t worth anyone else’s dime, or they are so precious, we wouldn’t want to sell them for anything at all? (p.136).
As a writer then, Aidoo uses a variety of tools and devices but the researcher no sooner read the narratives than they were forgotten, as if some kind of impactfulness was 44 lacking; the kind of impactfulness that is only enjoyed by biographies and autobiographies. This is the contention of the researcher: why can’t the short story writer leave the same impression as the biographer? A lasting memory? An unforgettable or life-changing impact? The ultimate emotive appeal that could influence thinking or bring about a change of attitude in the reader because of the way in which the message is conveyed, this seems to be the unfulfilled expectation in
African prose in general.
As was the case with Ousmane, her fourteen short stories are all set in Africa (read
Ghana) where the writer is preoccupied with analyzing the struggles faced by African women in finding their rightful place in society. She “expertly shifts the focus of both the characters and the audience-reader’s attention and perspectives through a range of emotional, intellectual and social registers…” (Vincent O. Odamtten in The Art of Ama
Ata Aidoo). Here too, all the stories appear to be set in Ghana with one exception, where the chief protagonist (an African lady) interacted with an American lady in the
States – a story whose pathetic appeal emanated from the theme of cross-cultural relationships.
In no way does the researcher fault this; the sameness of the setting for all the stories prompts the researcher to observe that the creativity, as with a majority of other African writers, is again profound within the plot of every storyline. However since the setting barely changes, this appears to limit the occasions when the writer can explore the contrastive powers of pathetic appeal that would be manifest had the settings been diverse. What is evident is that there is a preponderance of logical appeal in the short stories, where detail serves to inform rather than emotionally affect the reader. 45
Voltaïque (Tribal Scars) by Sembene Ousmane is an anthology of twelve short stories where the one writer confines himself to the theme of social conscience, to the idiosyncrasies of ordinary people in Senegal and France; and particularly to the plight of women among the polygamous Muslims of Mali. He liberally utilizes the rhetorical tools of irony and humour which produce anxiety and comic relief to the reader. His
“tenderness and a sense of realism” allow the reader to become empathetic as well. All the stories are set in France and Francophone West Africa where he spent most of his life.
The rhetorical tool of preference for this writer is often the flashback: She saw Diouana telling the Alsatian to stop barking…It all began out there in Africa (The Promised
Land p.87). Another popular rhetorical tool of his is sarcasm: There can always be doubt as to who is the father of the child. But never as to who is the mother (The Bilal’s
Fourth Wife p.17). The rhetorical devices he uses are also not dissimilar to Aidoo’s choices. He numerously uses apesiopesis: “All those who attack the feet of sleeping people…” and “as for the Community…” (The Community p.80); I was caught in a plot which was chiefly the work of my father, my own father…(Letters From France p.59);
He loved his wife and children, went to the cinema once a week to see Arab films, liked his snuff…All that did not make a revolutionary of him (Chaiba The Algerian p.83).
Among the rhetorical devices that this writer favors is Localism: I’m not an illiterate fatou (In The Face of History p.20); he sat outside his workshop and gave interminable salamalecs to everyone coming out into the lane (Love in Sandy Lane p.23); then she began to reckon up the score…against the veudieux, the other wives. One washed his boubous when it was another wife’s turn (Her Three Days p.41). Lyrical expression is another immensely popular device with this writer: ‘There’s the Negress, There’s the
Negress, Black as the darkest night’ (The Promised Land p.95). Elsewhere the writer 46 included a long rhymeless poem titled Longing, of three unequally-lined stanzas, where the final stanza was written almost entirely by using the device of brevitas – a stanza which is concurrently an allegory (also a rhetorical device) to the continent of Africa.
(The Promised Land pps.99 – 101).
With the exception of The Promised Land where the chief protagonist travelled to foreign shores and suffered there enough to end up committing suicide, once again the other stories appear to be narrating events that shed light on the writer’s personal disposition, as well as his disposition towards females in the Muslim world, and thereby emphasizing the literary proof of ethical appeal; rather more than pathetic appeal. This is because the theme of social morals is focalized to engender pathetic appeal; what concerns the researcher is the consistency of the same setting for the plots throughout the anthology. Limiting the geographic creativity appeared to diminish the ability of the readership to achieve higher levels of pathos that such a wider fictional domain could provide.
Another anthology that interested the researcher is Whispering Land: An Anthology of
Stories Written by Different African Women; printed and published under the auspices of the Swedish International Development Authority in Stockholm in 1985.
Its compilation of seventeen short stories is thanks to east and southern African women creative writers whose stories were prompted by a competition that was set up by the
Swedish International Development Authority for African women writers; a competition in which the researcher participated as a writer and was a first runner-up.
The storyline titled The Portrait within the annexed anthology of this thesis is a rehash of the original creative writing that earned this accolade. The writers who contributed to 47 the Swedish anthology came from the African National Congress (ANC), Botswana,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
All of the stories were each set in the writer’s familiar background. Therefore, compiled as an anthology, the emotive impact to the readership was varied and highly satisfactory. The five winning entries and twelve of the thirty-two finalists make up this particular anthology. Apparently the SIDA jury was looking for stories about the problems faced by the African woman in general. They were nevertheless impressed by the storyline The Portrait, written by a Kenyan (the researcher), which was set instead in the Central African Republic and where its main protagonist was a dog; a story which additionally carried the sub-themes of the tribulations of a female head of the household and the dire life of a prostitute whose personality clashed with her profession, thus achieving from this contribution the status of first runner-up. A re-hash of this story has been included in the annexed anthology.
As may be expected, there was a wide variety of rhetorical tools and devices utilized by these winners and runners-up that rendered the reading memorable. Beginning with some examples of the tools that were used, there was Euphemism: After the first encounter, Mxolisi shed his tortoise shell and started dropping in at odd hours…(The
Lady-in-Waiting by Nonqaba Msimang (Lesotho) p.130); Aphorism: ‘All children have fathers but not all fathers have children’ -concurrently a device known as scesis or onomaton due to the interchange of the words (same storyline p.147). Personification:
Outside the wind raged furiously. The shack’s loose tin sheets rattled madly at this vicious assault (I Won’t Be Moved by Ponkie Khazamula (ANC) p.160);…you cheat yourself and not time because time is such an unfeeling brute it will catch up with you and make you pay if you cheat it…(with the intended device of aposiopesis for emphasis) (Oh What Milestones These? By Wambui Njoroge (Kenya) ps. 190 – 191); 48
Apostrophe: Look at me, silly, stupid, foolish me, finding time to think of other people
(same storyline p.185).
The devices used by the different writers were also many and varied. There was
Erotema:…why is a female’s position always auxiliary, when by the nature she is the better of the two? One may well ask (The Head of The Family by Sharfun Rajabah
(Kenya) p.26); Parallelism: How could we survive? The food. The water. The soap. The tattered clothes. The firewood. (The Will to Live by Jane Were (Kenya) ps. 72 – 73);
Ecphonesis( ending with an exclamation mark): My God! So I accepted in disbelief
(Letter to My Sisters by Fatmata A Conteth (Ethiopia) p.91); Polysyndeton: Can’t see the pictures for the crowd, all jabbering and pushing and greeting each other (Obsession by Jean Stuart (Zimbabwe) p.102); Epiphora (a succession of phrases ending with the same word): My mother cried and I cried. We cried. (Dear Child, Please Don’t Cry by
Julia Majaha-Jartby (Botswana) p.146; Brachylogia: He was sickly (same story p. 149) and yet another good instance of Brachylogia: In a fury, she tried to knock him down.
She couldn’t! (The Fateful Baobab Tree by Elda Makoye,(Tanzania) p.220);
Alliteration: the dog ducked…( I Won’t Be Moved by Ponkie Khazamula (ANC) p.152); Euphony: “Pump the primus stove Pule” (same story and page); Brevitas:
Before her were men and women whose eyes were here soft, there hard. Fire and water.
Light. (Terrorist 21776 by Susan Lamu (ANC) p.199); Colloquialism: “Our children…abantwana bethu…” (same story p.202); Onomatopoeia (words that sound the way they are written):”Tip!” A pause. “Tip!” A longer pause. Then a quick succession of drips, “Tip-tip-tip”… (My Sister My Agony by Maria Okong’o Kenya);
Epanaphora (the same word at the beginning of successive phrases): Years of hard luck, hard drink, hard living had finally killed her (same story p.210); Lyrical expression: Oh hear my cry – I moan, I moan, Oh hear me. A-a-a-a-men! (same story p. 215). 49
It is this anthology, in the opinion of the researcher, which gave rise to the realization that there is a gap in practical creative writing in general, where the creativity of a writer (particularly in the African context) rarely crosses geographical boundaries in a fictional way, and is confined within the familiar setting of the writer.
Currently and from time immemorial, the trend has been for several writers to pool their stories collectively into one collection and as a usual pattern, emphasize ethical appeal where the style of writing has usually been mid-level style: where a sequence of events is played out without necessarily having a happy or conclusive ending; whereby the reader has merely been subjected to the sequence but hasn’t particularly been emotively affected; and where the moral conscience has almost always been the focalized factor. Not that this is a bad thing, but herein lies the challenge of stepping out of the mundane and heading off into the untested waters of ultra modern fiction where the events and the characters affect the soul of the readership.
2.3.2 The perspective of self-research
Breaking away from the recent past is the tendency to ‘self-research’ for the simple reasons of clarity of thought and convenience. The researcher saw no reason to resort to analytic discussion of creative writing produced by someone else, when she herself was a budding creative writer. Conversely it can also be argued that the researcher in this study was using material from a younger intellect (most of the stories) one that was unschooled in rhetorical discussion; this as an individual who is now exposed to the world of rhetoric and all its attendant tools and devices several years later. That the two levels of thinking are housed in the same physical body should bear no import in this time and age. 50
This perspective of self-research is not alien. The Magic Circle: A Novel is a thesis presented to the Creative Writing Program and the Graduate School of the University of
Oregon in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts, in June 2009, by Jennifer A. Kepka; where the writer discussed numerous conversations she had as a child growing up with various members of her immediate family. This was a testament to self-research in that institution of learning.
The Government of David by David Christian Baird (2018) is a homogenous reproduction of constant and unending ramblings where the writer talks directly to the reader; another angle of self-research known as Ultra-fictional Philosophy (UFP). This particular researcher went further to create a YouTube acoustic accompaniment to his thesis entitled The Unspoken Yes.com – thus culminating in a thesis on creative writing to be read in conjunction with acoustic effects (theunspokenyes.com Pittsburg 2014 with 48 chapter titles). Therefore this was another instance of self-research that earned the researcher his doctoral degree.
Less dramatic and convoluted was another American researcher who wrote a brief poem and produced a thirteen-page doctoral thesis based entirely upon this original poem. Closer to home a Kenyan researcher went away to live in an African village with its villagers for one month, before producing a work of fiction that was reflective of his experiences with them for his own doctoral thesis in creative writing.
New paradigms have emerged from psychology, neuroeconomics, embodied cognition and social neuroscience that provide objective measures of the self. For instance, a study has been done about a neural model of the self as an emerging property of interactions between a core self-network (e.g. medical prefrontal cortex; in PFC), a cognitive control network (e.g. dorsolateral (dl) PFC) and a salience network (e.g. 51 insula). This framework not only represents a step forward in self-research, but also has important clinical significance, resonating recent efforts in computational psychiatry.
Therefore the choice of commentary about one’s own anthology and research on a story emanating from this same anthology, should not be viewed as departure from the norm but rather as an acceptable and contemporary means of inquiry. My own objectivity was well-assured given that the writer of most of this anthology was over ten years younger and having had no prior exposure to materials of a rhetorical nature.
2.3.3 Research studies on pathetic appeal
Many are the studies that have been undertaken about contemporary pathetic appeal.
One was keen to focalize upon scientific research and the role played by persuasion in this domain. She isolated similitude and deference as the tools of rhetoric that were imperative for ethical appeal; by outlining how similitude created a sense of mutual identification since it appeals to similarities between the writer and the reader; by qualifying deference as a demonstration of personal humility, one that signals respect for others. Deference doesn’t denigrate the research done by others, rather it acknowledges the quality of their research and a willingness to build upon the foundation provided by their findings. This was the gap in knowledge that she intended to fill: how similitude and deference in unison can accomplish persuasion within the domain of scientific research. (Varpio L, 2018). Her study also makes references to
Kenneth Burke’s ‘Rhetoric of Motives’ and discusses the rhetorical triangle with reference to scientific research. I preferred to deal with several tools of rhetoric in tandem with certain rhetorical devises in order to amplify the importance of pathetic appeal and give it primacy to the other two appeals.( see lists of annotation after each storyine) 52
There was also a study in the Columbia Law Review entitled Pathetic Argument in
Constitutional Law by Jamal Greene. In it he contended that whereas pathetic argument is common in constitutional law as in other practical discourse, “existing accounts of constitutional practice do not provide resources for understanding the place of and limitations upon (pathetic arguments) when they appear in judicial opinions.” ( Greene
J., 2013) This is the gap he fills in the study. I opted to focalize on practical creativity, the kind that is remonstrated by modern fiction in short story writing; where the knowledge gap is endeavoring to intentionally establish preponderance to contemporary pathetic appeal within a storyline, as opposed to the other two literary appeals of ethos and logos.
In another study entitled Ethos, Logos, Pathos: Strategies of Persuasion in Social /
Environmental Reports (Higgins C., 2012) the researcher studied social / environmental reports produced by three New Zealand companies. In his Article, he identifies the persuasive language used in early social / environmental reports, where logic, firm credibility, and emotion are used to describe social responsibility. He contends that business-friendly discourses spread because of language strategies. Therefore the knowledge gap being filled here is one where all the literary appeals are lauded as particularly applicable to social / environmental reports.
While I concur with Higgins, my focus is squarely on persuasive language where pathos is given prominence over the other two appeals in the rhetorical triangle; where my focalization is likewise within the genre of short story writing.
There was also a study in which the researchers demonstrate how pathos relies heavily on emotional appeal and largely give tips for incorporating rhetorical appeals in one’s writing with the uses of pictorial support. They advocate using the appeals in unison where the appeals are blended together to achieve a multi-layered effect. According to 53 these researchers, too much of a certain appeal like pathos may reproduce a less sympathetic response where “the audience …may feel manipulated”. I endeavored to restrict the desire of over-emphasis upon pathos by depending rather more on careful manipulation of rhetorical devices (the style of telling the story) than on the tools of rhetoric (like the figures of speech).
Influence. The Psychology of Persuasion (Cialdini, RB,., 2007) is a book about persuasive speech where ‘a speech, no matter what the subject, requires a speaker, an audience and a purpose. The author stipulates that speakers rely on rhetorical structures and devices to make their remarks memorable and persuasive’; such as Franklin
Roosevelt relying on the three appeals, parallel structure and repetition in his Pearl
Harbor address after being bombed by the Japanese navy. As a researcher in creative writing, I’m inclined to observe that this is not limited to speeches only but to discourse within any storyline as well.
2.3.4 The perspective of writing as a form of therapy
There is the perspective of writing as a form of therapy and not necessarily for academic purposes. Fiona Sampson wrote a chapter entitled Writing as Therapy in The
Handbook of Creative Writing by Rosina Qureshi (2007). In it she discusses both writing in health and social care and the wider significance of writing as a form of resistance; of individuation of approach and voice rather than necessarily through exploration of the writer’s own physical and mental health. ‘Writing as therapy’, may be seen here to refer to what John Keats calls its ‘salubrious’ effects within the shared world of the reading and writing community rather than simply to ‘privatized’ benefits experienced by writing individuals (Keats 1973:781). She goes on to mention John
Kinsella, an Australian poet and strong believer in writing that refuses to let the reader be lulled and therefore be accepting, conservative (Kinsella, 2006); since reading is a 54 form of thought just like writing, this means challenging the reader to think in a way that isn’t conservative; to read the world as well as the text in new, questioning ways.
What Kinsella contends is that the text can affect the experience of an individual reader.
Sampson further contends that what we study, which is to say read, can inform our thoughts to such an extent it might be said to form them. ‘Creative writing’ – that literary, inventive practice of which poetry is a useful paradigm – has been sighted quite regularly by its exponents as a way of thinking which offers methodological insights. Further on when commenting about any words that are written on a page, she is of the opinion that writers may explore dark, emotional material in order to produce a more interesting text; that much writing plainly draws on unconscious and emotional experience.
In order to shape a text, the writer actively engages with their material. Instead of repeating an emotional experience already achieved, the writer is conducting a process of discovering its resources and dimensions. This is not to say that writing is simply
‘going on a journey’, that famously ‘therapeutic’ phrase, towards the destination of conclusive insight. Creative writing, as opposed to diary-keeping or email flirtation – is explicitly concerned with making as much as with preparing to make; with product as much as with process. Writing is shared thinking according to Sampson because the mental experience is shaped and developed through a series of thoughts which aare
8initially had by the writer and subsequently by the reader; ergo that writing is shared thinking. Writing is socially beneficial – ‘salubrious’ – not only because it gives individuals in a society skills but because it is in itself a social, collective practice.
Therefore writing in healthcare (in contrast to academe) which has developed since the late 1980s, has always carried with it an understanding of the importance of writing 55 from a specific experience or social viewpoint (Hunt and Sampson 1998). To write is to articulate and develop the thinking self. It is to claim agency in the teeth of whatever educational, social, emotional or physical context we write from. It may even be said that we write against the grain of the pressures, both internal and external, associated with the ill health we experience; as perhaps to some extent we must always write against the grain of the limits and discomforts of embodiment. Writing records our individuality, the move into form of our thinking; just as it teaches us about our rights and responsibilities as thinking agents.
The researcher agrees with Sampson (2007) that without these things, we cannot achieve insights and changes which we might call therapeutic. However, writing itself is not therapy; she continues that writing achieves what it does because it is built out of both process and product, in continual dialectic. Writing is a process leading towards and led by text, and whose outcomes are defined in textual terms. According to her, participating in the practice as reader or writer is beneficial because it helps shape the way we think.
2.3.5 Studies of the short story as a genre
Theories of the short story as a genre abound among scholars, most of who attempt to elucidate one aspect or another as they reflect upon the renewal and development of the short story. One collection that was edited by Viorica Patea is particularly poignant:
Short Story Theories: A Twenty-First Century Perspective. Within this collection of articles, she herself wrote about An Overview of the History and Evolution of the
Genre. Another theorist, Pilar Alonso, who has produced articles on the semantic, pragmatic and cognitive aspects of literary works by North American and British authors, wrote about A Cognitive Approach to Short Story Writing. Lauro Zavala whose research interests lay in short story theory, contributed a piece titled The Boundaries of 56
Serial Narrative; and Charles May, The American Short Story in the Twenty-First
Century; Rebecca Hernandez contributed Short Narrations in a Letter Frame: Cases of
Genre Hybridity in Post-Colonial Literature in Portuguese. What these writers all have in common is a historical and pedagogical stance in their approaches. Others within this collection preferred to offer critique upon the work of someone else. Edgar Allan Poe being one of the ‘heralded fathers’ of Short Story Writing, the theoretician Peter Gibian produced Anticipating Aestheticism: The Dynamics of Reading and Reception in Poe; where another contributor Erik Van Achter wrote Revising Theory: Poe’s Legacy in
Short Story Criticism.
Feminist literary articles were not to be left out in this volume of collections from theoreticians of the short story as a genre. The article of Luisa Maria Gonzalez was titled Intertextuality and Collage in Barthelme’s Short Fiction – again commentary on the work of another; as was Body Politics: Female Dynamics in Isabel Allende’s The
Stories of Eva Luna by Farhat Iftekharrudin and Margaret Attwood’s Art of Brevity:
Metaphorical Conceptualization and Short Story Writing by Maria Teresa Gibert. Not to be left out in this category is Joanna Yoo, author of the article ‘Writing out on a limb: integrating the creative and academic writing identity’, which speaks for itself concerning the content. Another scholar, Sophie Masson, produced a thesis titled:
Imagination’s afterlife: infuences on and transformations of literary creative process within a creative practice Ph.D.(a fantasy and childrens’ author currently).
Eugen Bacon, a non-feminist author, decided to dabble in some kind of plurality involving the short story. He published an article entitled ‘Creative Research: mixing methods in practice-led research to explore a model of stories-within-a-story to build a novel’ – very similar to the novelty pursued by Balzac who ultimately came up with a humongous volume of creative work. 57
In this study the researcher had no desire to build upon the contributions of a third party. The short story within the main research study allows for creativity to be original and as in this case, practical rather than judgmental. Creative writing in this study is being seen as a practice rather than a discipline where the onus is on the writer about what to create, what to write about. It departs from theorizations and commentary about the writers within this genre who actually write to propagate different climates of opinion. This study is a confirmation about what Aristotle upheld concerning the coexistence of the artistic proofs within the rhetorical triangle; and it is a deliberate attempt to give primacy to pathetic appeal as a direct consequence of the creativity involved (where rhetorical tools and devices are selectively utilized).
At this point it is instructive to note the definition and genesis of the short story per se; in length it is anything between 7500 and 10,000 words. Higher word counts are typically called novelettes and short novels called novellas.
(https://bookriot.com>2018/03/2020). The short story is a brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters. It is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant episodes or scenes. The form encourages the economies of setting, concise narrative, and the omission of a complex plot. Character is disclosed in action and dramatic encounter but is seldom fully developed. Despite its relatively limited scope, though, a short story is often judged by its ability to provide a “complete” or satisfying treatment of its characters and subject (https://jerz.setonhill.edu>creative1).
2.3.6 The Creative Writing Doctorate
Creative writing has always existed in some form in and around universities and colleges. Its modes of investigating the world have been in tune with the concepts of higher learning that resulted in the formation of universities. The success of creative 58 writing’s long-term partnership with higher education, has been guaranteed by its open attitude to communication with other subjects found in universities. This is the contention of Graeme Harper who discussed creative evolution within The Handbook of
Creative Writing by Rosina Qureshi (2007) (see Harper 2005). He continues by saying that if general opinion equates much of academe with ‘the intellectual’, this would place creative writing at odds with it – at least using the description of the intellect coined by philosopher and Nobel Laurete Henri Bergson.
In Creative Evolution (1998), one of his most well-known books, Bergson talks about the intellect as starting ‘from immobility, as if it were the ultimate reality’ so that ‘when it tries to form an idea of movement, it does so by constructing movement out of immobilities put together’ (Bergson 1998:155). In its atempts to analyse and classify the world, Bergson says, the intellect spatialises thought, creates discrete units and compartmentalises. Because of this, the intellect ultimately is ‘characterised by a natural inability to comprehend life’ (165).
On the other hand, ‘intelligence’, as Bergson describes it, is connected with what he called ‘intuition’. By intuition, Bergson means ‘instinct that has become disinterested, self-conscious, (and) capable of reflecting upon its object and of enlarging it indefinitely’ (176). This is a definition well worth recalling when considering the responsive understanding that forms the basis of creative writing Doctoral study. The intellect, in Bergson’s analysis, displays methods of engagement with the world that show sympathy with its actual events and structures. The modes of engagement of the intelligence are fluid and dynamic, and are said by Bergson to be better able than the intellect to approach a true sense of the physical and the metaphysical with which we associate life. The work of Bergson relates to his consideration of the true composition 59 and constitution of time, and he relates the modes of engagement of the intelligence to an investigation of the nature of knowledge.
Creative writing tends to emphasize, particularly at Masters and Doctoral level, a close investigation and employment of individual human intentions and dispositions; and at least builds upon, if not exclusively, a very individual approach to emotions, behavior patterns and personal acts. It is hardly surprising that the history of post graduate work in creative writing has reflected this emphasis. This is the case in the UK, the USA and elsewhere. According to Harper, the idea of a doctoral degree seemed immediately to suggest an academic career and, at the time of the introduction of these degrees into the
UK and Australia, the vast majority of creative writers working in academe had not arrived there via formal study.
Harper ( Qureshi R., 2007) goes on to establish the formal distinctions of creative writing at tertiary level, as a way of elucidating the evolutionary differences between
Masters and Doctorate. In North America, the primary organization representing creative writers who work in academe is the Association of Writers and Writing
Programs (AWP – www.awpwriter.org). The AWP has favored as the ‘terminal degree’ for creative writers who want to work in academe the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree. The MFA in Creative Writing is not an MA. It is fundamentally not about a developed and articulated critical response to creative output in the way that a creative writing Doctorate in Britain (and Australia, for that matter) promotes. The MFA differentiates itself from Doctoral study by de-emphasizing a formalized critical response, emphasizing that it is a degree focused on creative activity.
The Doctoral degree in Britain has tended to combine both creative and critical work, the creative most often being the far greater proportion, and the critical component 60
(most often referred to as the thesis, the critical response, the dissertation or, in
Australasia, as the exegesis) responding and further articulating the nature of the explorations undertaken in the creative work. The accuracy of the distinction between the MFA and the Doctorate is open to debate, given the substantial development of
Doctoral study in creative writing. Regardless, it is Harper’s contention that any creative writing degree that includes little formal critical response stirs opposing thoughts. On the positive side it could be said to focus attention on the primary outputs of creative writers; while on the negative side, it might be said to be largely superfluous to a writer simply aiming to write creatively, whether within or outside of academe.
I am of the view that this particular thesis is doctoral not only because of the synopses that elucidate each storyline within the anthology in terms of the literary appeals brought about rhetorically, but also because of the research study that measured response from the readership by use of a Likert Scale. This is in tandem with what
Harper (Qureshi R.,2007)goes on to profess; that: the historical and national profiles of
Doctoral work in creative writing relate directly to how the research / practice-based- research that is undertaken within the context of Doctoral study in creative writing is orchestrated. Harper (Qureshi R., 2007) continues that a Doctoral degree in creative writing has a more detailed and university ‘site-specific’ purpose, or set of purposes, and specific intentions.
In Australia the range of ‘inter-disciplinary’ influences is pretty wide, whereas creative writing doctorates in the UK are more strongly drawn on the discourses of research in
English literature.. World-wide, ‘length-of-submission’ is one of the ongoing creative writing debates, particularly for those institutions and directors of studies involved in creative writing Doctorates. When assessing for an award of a degree, it might legitimately be asked how anyone can compare the submission of a short collection of 61 poetry with the submission of an epic historical novel? This is the question Harper posed in his chapter on Creative Writing Doctorates (Qureshi R., 2007), one which he goes on to respond to initially by showing the reasons for producing creativity in the first place.
He says that issues of the size and shape of submitted work put momentarily to one side, a Doctorate in creative writing might be undertaken for a variety of reasons.
While among these is most certainly some link of thoughts to academic employment this is frequently not the sole reason. Included among the reasons - some of which are entirely anecdotal evidence – are a desire by an experienced writer to explore new forms and styles, not necessarily leading to publication; an interest in critical and theoretical investigation of writing product and process; setting in motion an investigation of the learning and teaching connected with creative writing; developing for publication a project involving considerable empirical research in the fields of history and psychology; applying philosophic, cultural and political ideas of various kinds to the production of fiction (which is what this particular study focalizes upon); among other reasons.
According to Harper (2007), the number of potential reference points is even greater than the examples above suggest. This is logical because, as noted, creative writing
Doctorates tend to be more person-specific and project-specific than those in many other subjects. Likewise, creative writing is not an intellectual enterprise; rather, noting
Bergson’s definition (1998), creative writing is an intelligent enterprise, not bound by compartments of thought or, indeed, by the maintenance of discrete units of investigation. Creative writing is fundamentally dynamic, fluid, based on process and a sense of sympathy with the world in that manner Bergson once described as ‘intuition’.
He goes on to add that there is reason to believe that everyone creative writer’s 62 response to creative writing will be generated by a set of actions, events, processes, personal histories, personal psychology/physiology, contemporary circumstances, social wholes, structures and functions, and cultural influences. Defining ‘action’ and
‘reaction’ – that is ‘creative practice’ and ‘the mode of display of responsive understanding’ – is a key element of creative writing Doctoral study. Harper (2007) cannot be faulted by the researcher when one considers that the graphic storyline in this research study took well into account the elements mentioned above, where the use of the Likert Scale underscored the responsive understanding within the mode of display in the form of percentile graphs.
Graeme Harper (2007) posits that the conceptual thrust of creative writing Doctorates is such that they encourage a writer to delve more widely and deeply into knowledge of their field, and to show this clearly. Their intention is to contribute both to the development of the individual writer and to the holistic site of knowledge and engagement with the world that is defined by the term ‘creative writing’. The primary word here is ‘understanding’, and the primary intention is both creation and articulation. That the knowledge created can be, and often is, the result of creative practice does not alter this key fact. Creative writing Doctorates are by nature more investigative than MA or even MFA study, and relatively ‘surface level’ considerations such as ‘length of submission’ shouldn’t detract from this fact. He continues that simply put creative writing research / research-through-practice can be judged according to a sense of ‘equivalence’. This is not solely defined by length; nor, indeed, is length unimportant.
However, it is possible, to evaluate and compare the submission of a collection of poetry with the submission of a novel, or the submission of a screen play with the submission of a collection of short stories. This assessment of equivalent standard is 63 doubly confirmed if, as is the case in a vast number of programs, the creative writer submits a ‘package’ of material including, most importantly, a responsive critical component that assists in defining and confirming their understanding and their contribution to the site of knowledge in their field.
I wholly agree with Harper (2007) when he contends that prior to the birth of the modern book market in the nineteenth century, published creative writing had value not in itself but for what it could do. In other words, its ability to elicit a reaction or to do something was what created its value; whereas its material worth was very limited.
Further on he comments that someone studying for a Doctorate in creative writing is seeking to accomplish a level and display of understanding in relation to creative writing process, practice and product that can be seen by experts in the field to be equivalent to the performance of doctoral candidates in other fields (see Harper 2005).
Again I agree with Harper when he says that in creative writing Doctorates the aim is to assist and heighten the responsive capabilities of the writer; that is, to assist the writer to develop, and to display, a considerable understanding of their subject. In the subject of creative writing this is what is recognized as higher learning, and creative writing
Doctorates are, most importantly, evidence of higher learning.
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Summary of chapter two: Literature review.
Social theories explain human behavior in explicit terms. Understanding them in context brings out some realism in this creative writing and persuades the reader of this thesis to believe in the fictional story. Social theories of communication, of discourse and of narrative, are therefore briefly related to particular storylines with the sole intention of depicting realism within the story; and in so doing, becoming persuasive.
The tenets upheld by their theorists are also discussed with a view to better understanding the storyline to which each of these theories relates. Their inclusion is important in clarifying the varied socio-cultural settings of the stories. They also serve as an additional tactic to the persuasive powers of rhetorical tools and devices, when they are correlated to the storylines within the study.
African creative writers have also displayed some partiality to contemporary pathetic appeal. Their rhetorical tools and devices to underline this literary appeal are nothing short of ample. The knowledge gap that I recognized as an African creative writer was to select some of these rhetorical structures that were impactful (from a glossary)
(Wallace S., 2017) and deploy them in totally fictional settings within my own creative practice (anthology). This aspect of self-research is not entirely new either; creative writing students in the US at both Masters and Doctoral levels, as well as new paradigms in psychology, neuroeconomics and social neuroscience, currently embrace the neural model of the self in cognitive research studies; a fact that has produced important clinical significance.
In the USA Creative Writing is now recognized as a stand-alone discipline and where it is not, it belongs to the Department of Fine Art. Therefore the tendency appears to be individuals who have evolved towards self-research (Jennifer Kepka; David Christian
Baird and his Ultra-Fictional Philosophy). In Africa and the Caribbean, the tendency is 65 still: griping about historical injustices and the evils engendered by neo-colonialism, to a large extent.
Across to the European continent and Australia, poets and narrators have even explored creative writing for therapeutic reasons; because text can affect the experience of an individual reader, which means challenging the reader to think in a way that isn’t conservative (Kinsella, 2006). So writing in healthcare (in contrast to academe) which has developed since the 1980s, has always carried with it an understanding of the importance of writing from a specific experience or social viewpoint (Hunt and
Sampson, 1998). This means that therapeutic writing which is qualified as “shared thinking” (Sampson F., 2007) is also highlighted as a form of healing through the use of pathetic appeal.
The short story has been studied as a genre by countless theorists who were concerned with its history and evolution, its aestheticism of dynamics, feminist idiosyncrasies; even to the point of plurality involving the short story exploration of “a model of stories-within-a-story to build a story”. Not only has it been studied as a genre by theorists but the short story has also featured as an exigency in Creative Writing
Doctorates particularly those from the UK. At this level of academe the creative component has been qualified as ‘intuition’ rather more than ‘intelligence’, since – quite apart from the rules and regulations the intelligence requires of Doctoral studies
(which amounts to methods of engagement with the world) – intuition which he refers to elsewhere as instinct, is the modes of engagement of intelligence “ that are fluid and dynamic and better able than the intellect, to approach a sense of the physical and the metaphysical with which we associate life”.( Harper G., 2007) 66
I am of the view that this particular thesis is doctoral because of the anthology elucidated in theoretically comparative terms in the form of synopses; because of the same anthology being apportioned one or two or all of the literary appeals; because of the dynamic productions of all the storylines being brought about rhetorically within the creativity; and because of the application of a Likert Scale to rate the responses, during the exploration of the levels of pathetic appeal that affected the readership within the main research study. As long as all of the above encourages the writer to delve more widely and deeply into knowledge of their field (in this case (crime) fiction) and to show this clearly, Graeme Harper posits that this ‘understanding’ is the primary intention of the Doctorate; where both creation and articulation are of paramount importance to the holistic site of knowledge and engagement with the world, and with the development of the individual writer (Harper, 2005).
This particular socio-linguistic study fiercely departs from the dispensation of historical injustices and neo-colonialism: here, the African writer indulges in crime fiction (for half of the stories at least) and produces narrative that takes place in an imagined world across three continents and under the guise of a brief anthology. Modern rhetorical theory is the theory of reference throughout the study. Elements of Aristotle’s classical theory, the appeals to the writer’s good will, to reason and to sentiment, are also entwined in the theoretical framework. This is not just with a view to confirming the predominance of logical appeal (Aristotle’s contention) but also to demonstrate the profound influence of emotive appeal in differentiated social settings and as the holistic creation of individual endeavor. There is a strong narrative and pictorial correlation between logic and pathos within this study and the main purpose of THIS is to interrogate which of these two appeals enjoys some primacy over the other and whether this primacy can even be intentionally established for pathetic appeal. 67
CHAPTER THREE
MATERIALS AND METHODS 3.0 Introduction
The research method is applied and qualitative in nature where the researcher implements a forecasting approach, the research units being a general readership.
Qualitative research is based on words, feelings, emotions, sounds and other non- numerical elements (Sapsford R., 2006). The research method is likewise descriptive in nature where the study aims to identify the facts. Inclusion of the annexed anthology within this study which was limited to ten short stories, was intended as a fair selection when it comes to underlining the tenets of Aristotle’s contentions, as well as representing a clear demonstration of the emotive socio-cultural appeal used by the narrative Voice ( the writer) in its persuasion of the Audience (the readership). The ten different scenarios also represent different and varied socio-cultural settings, since the setting of each storyline is within three different continents and half a dozen different countries; all of them purely fictional settings. Findings that were elicited in a narrative way were then subjected to a rating scale for the purpose of percentile representation during discussion of the results.
A pilot study preceded the main research study for the purpose of determining the appropriateness of interrogation required. (See appendix 8). What will be mentioned at this point is the justification behind the interrogation that was utilized in this pilot study as well as the modifications proposed for future use in the main research study.
Aristotle stated that three means of persuasion are employed together in narrative, which influence the adherence of the audience to the narrative voice; ethos, logos and pathos. 68
Ethos refers to the personality of the writer and brings out his/her image as it emerges in the text (Aristotle, 1926). Appearing knowledgeable and experienced with regard to the subject matter being addressed is demonstrated by incorporating testimony; thus good character which is a measure of one’s virtue can only be demonstrated by calling attention to virtues that are valued by the audience, according to Aristotle. What is valued by the audience therefore has to be shared in common with the narrator; images, attitudes, beliefs, background, among others.
Logos is an appeal to the collective intellect of the audience. According to Aristotle, the audience is better persuaded by a rhetor who provides arguments than by one who does not. According to Stephen Toulmin, an argument has several parts that can be narrowed down to basically three: claim, data and warrant. A claim is an assertion that a rhetor wants the audience to accept. Data is the information that the rhetor presents to support a claim such as facts and reasons, observations, explanations, examples, statistics, details and testimony; where warrants are the assumptions that underlie a given argument (Toulmin 1958). Because arguments are inevitably incorporated in all the storylines, Toulmin’s theory is entertained in order to be supportive to Aristotle’s logical appeal to reason.
Pathos is quite simply emotive appeal. It involves everything which contributes to producing an emotional state and one which is conducive to accepting the writer’s views. The most influential emotions in decision-making are fear, compassion, anger, love, hate, joy, sorrow and hope (Aristotle, 1926). These emotions can be evoked by using both emotive language and rhetorical devices.
Within the genre of fiction and specifically creative writing in the form of short stories, which is the core line of interest in this study, pathos plays a pivotal role and the story’s 69 impact is diminished as the pathos is diminished, augmented as the appeal of pathos is increased; and this is what the study sets out to demonstrate. Therefore the questions in the pilot study were cognisant of the three appeals to reason, but deliberately focused on the emotional appeal.
PART 1. Background information
1.) This was an open-ended question which was inadvertent. In the main research it
is modified to multiple choices where 2 age-groups will be omitted: 0 – 14 years
who the researcher views as minors; 66 + years who the researcher views as
senior citizens whose opinions though valid, would be rather hard to obtain.
Likewise, the second part of the same question will be modified to: male or
female? In order to establish the gender of the respondent. The Gender of the
respondent answers to the second objective: to demonstrate the comparative role
of pathetic appeal within the rhetorical triangle. It therefore establishes the
thinking processes that may be open to bias by the writer. According to Fasold
(1990) men and women are wired differently. Their reactions as male or female
participants becoming persuaded within this particular genre is expected to
produce interesting repercussions.
2.) This question attempts to establish the level of literacy in the English language
and its form was found to be sufficient. This question is important not only
because it influences an appreciation of the story, but also expression of that
personal opinion emanating from reading the story. In the main research
therefore, this question will have the addition: A= excellent; B= very good; C=
good; D=basic; E= elementary; F= poor; as another measure of how that
personal opinion can be expressed after careful reflection. Additionally,
demographic information answers the objective of homogeneity between the 70
strata. Foreigners to any language cannot normally be expected to undergo the
same reaction as that which is manifested by a native speaker. The researcher is
of the opinion that culturality within the language affects reaction of the reader
in varying degrees.
3.) The question about profession is a good indicator of social status and prejudicial
judgement; it was found to be sufficient in its current form.
4.) Social status in itself points towards individual attitudes and self-worth which
definitely influences these attitudes; also found to be sufficient.
PART TWO. Information about reaction to the story.
All these questions were found to be sufficient and required no further modifications at the time. Questions 7 and 8 were not posed in the pilot study; they became an addition during the main research study in order to elicit certain precisions that involved all three appeals to reason.
1.) Questioning the title sets the mood (for reflection) so it can add to or deduct
from the overall appreciation of the story. (logos)
2.) The effect that the story has on the reader determines whether or not the
narrative voice has succeeded. (ethos)
3.) The way the writer’s language is viewed is instrumental in how they achieve
their purpose for telling the story. (pathos)
4.) Conviction about the intentions of the writer greatly influences appreciation in
one form or another, positively or negatively. (ethos and pathos)
5.) Any element of surprise can only enrich the initial intended results. (logos and
pathos) 71
6.) A one-word description of the story serves to illustrate the ultimate effect of the
narrative voice upon its intended or unintended audience. (ethos and logos and
pathos)
7.) Motivation has to be a factor that contributes to reading the story at all ( all
three appeals are relevant here; the predominant one being pathos)
8.) The overall perception of the story is again because of the influences of the
three appeals to reason; once again, it is pathos that is proved to predominate
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RESULTS OF THE PILOT STUDY FOLLOWED BY INTERPRETATION
Story: Of Bus Rides And Bottles Of Water
The unit of research was a readership of 6 participants and all from Kenya. The following are the results per question posed, followed by an interpretation of what these results imply.
Part 1. GENERAL INFORMATION.
Q.1 Interrogation about gender and age
Male Female
Ages 15 - 25 - 1 (23)
Ages 26 - 35 -
Ages 36 - 45 1 (31) 1 (42)
Ages 46 - 55 - 1 (46)
Ages 56 - 65 1 (57) / (63)
Chart 1.
This question merely establishes the number of participants who took part in the pilot study. It gives an idea of the differences in age and the equal proportions of gender. No criterion was used to choose the participants except the considerations of age disparity, geography and profession.
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Q. 2 Interrogation about level of literacy in English
Levels of formal instruction Male Female
Ph.D 1 1
Masters 1
Degree 1
Diploma
A-level secondary
O-level secondary 1 1
Chart 2.
This was another question which clearly shows once again the disparity in educational levels and therefore proves the levels of competence in understanding a storyline written in the English language. The importance of establishing this lies in understanding the kind of reactions that will follow as well as the effect of the different appeals on the general readership.
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Q. 3 Interrogation about profession
Male Female
Student - -
Academic 1 (professor) 2 (lecturers)
Retired - -
Other 1 (ICT technician) 1 (Events Organiser)
1 (IT Manager)
Chart 3.
Profession predisposes the reader to a certain amount of prejudice so an attempt was made to make them different and varied.
Q. 4 Interrogation about economic disposition
Male Female
Well-off / high income - -
Middle income earner 2 2
Low income earner - 1
Non- committal 1 -
Chart 4
The economic disposition of a participant also bears some relevance in the kind of choices that this individual will make when they read the story. Bias may or may not be 75 brought about. The study will bring out some truth about the effects of financial stability or lack of it, when it comes to relating with a character in a story.
PART 2. REACTION TO THE STORY
Q.1A logical interrogation about the appropriateness of the title to the story.
Gender Very appropriate Inappropriate No connection
Male 1 2 -
Female 2 1 -
Chart 5
These results actually show that the females in the study were more receptive to the appropriateness of the title to the story than their male counterparts.
Q.2 An ethical interrogation about the story’s effect on the reader.
Gender Happy Sad Shocked Surprised Indifferent Disgusted None of
the
above
Male - 1 - 2 - - -
Female - - - 1 - 2 -
Chart 6
The above results show that where the men in the study reacted rationally towards the writer the women’s reactions were generally more extreme. 76
Q.3 Ethical and emotive interrogation as it involves both the writer’s perceived intentions and the influence of these intentions on the reader.
Gender Strong Vague Threatening Don’t know
Male 3 - - -
Female 3 - - -
Chart 7
All the readers concerned regarded this story as having been written using particularly strong language and this mutual opinion was irrespective of gender.
Q.4 Logical and emotive interrogation since it demands judgment of the writer after being influenced by the rhetorical devices in use as well as the logical sequence of the storyline.
Gender Selfish Honest Guilty Temperamental All of the
above
Male 2 1
Female 3
Chart 8
The overriding perception demonstrated in the above chart is one of honesty on the part of the writer.
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Q.5 Emotive interrogation as it attempts to elicit the element of surprise.
Gender Yes No
Male 3
Female 3
Chart 9
Pathos was proved well beyond the shadow of a doubt in this story irrespective of gender.
Q.6 Ethical and logical interrogation about both the narrative voice and its audience.
Gender Incredible Believable Interesting Uneventful Boring
Male 2 1
Female 2 1
Chart 10
The narrative voice seems to have achieved its ends since it remained interesting to its audience to the point of making the writer believable. This translates to logical argumentation where the actual point being made by the writer was not just understood but also believed by the readership.
As an adjunct therefore to all of the above, this story was one whose setting was in fact in motion since it took place during a long-distance bus journey between the cities of
Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya. Being confined for hours at a time within a small space and having to share that with total strangers, sometimes gives rise to 78 inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour and irrational thought. The purpose of the text is to demonstrate how stressful this state of affairs can become as well as the possibilities of what can ensue due to this stress. Therefore the intended audience is strictly adult because of the venomous articulation from the main protagonist; children do not descend to such levels of procrastination, not normally if ever.
The genre is a homodiegetic short story, written in 2015 and now published. It’s a story that poses the question: why do differences among people always generate negative dynamism? The story goes on to answer this question as: this being the consequences of misinterpretation of actions, misunderstanding, bias, and unnecessary psychological complexes. This is supported by the constant use of tools like sarcasm and facetiae, which are the dominant strategies that are used as an analytical lens; caricature within the main textual evidence supports these analytical points. The perspective of misplaced anger being detrimental to human relationships is also allegorically insinuated; the allegory being that the traveller’s request for a bottle of water was rhetorically speaking a “red herring” (an irrelevant issue). The real issue that avoided elucidation here is that the traveller sat in a chair that he did not pay for by using his guile and a good measure of downright impunity. That no-one noticed this except the writer is instructive; and this is the deeper inference.
Looking at the storyline from the precepts of the classical theory, the exordium is introductory where the rhetorical devices of asyndeton and tricolon abound. The rest of the narratio is heavily dependent on description and imagery; so that the partitio is: the bus conditions, rules observed, the said rules being infracted, and finally consequences of this infraction to the rules as concerns each of the two protagonists. The rhetorical devices erotema and facetiae bring out what is acceptable in society: confirmatio.
Frequent use of the rhetorical device ecphonesis underscores refutatio in classical 79 theory. Logic undoubtedly dominates the peroratio in the last conclusive paragraph, where the general readership is left to prevaricate about what just happened on that journey.
No Likert Scale was applied to the pilot study because the researcher wanted to hasten the process of creating the necessary interrogative expressions and translating only what was inferred from the responses.
3.1 Research design
There are three types of research questions that are employed currently in modern-day research: descriptive and qualitative types, comparative questions and finally causal types of research questions (Weimer J., 1995). I opted to utilize questions that were descriptive and qualitative in order to bring out the differences in perception from reading one storyline as a dependent variable; and the strata of native and non-native speakers of the English language who read short stories as two distinct groups; further stratified to male and female. Therefore, a question like ‘how does rhetoric persuade the reader…and to what extent?’ – between these two distinct groups, this type of questioning is both descriptive and qualitative; the variables being: the factors that affect their choices – dependent variables; males and females being the independent variables, the group itself being one of the above-mentioned strata.
As the researcher, I also opted to utilize questions that were causal in nature. When a research is aimed at finding out whether a variable causes one or more outcome variables, it is called a causal or relationship research. It is the study of cause and effect.
The research questions try to identify the relationship between different variables upon one or more groups. For example, reminiscing about the relationship between males and females towards sentimental occurrences within a storyline brings out the variables 80 of: sentimental occurrences as a dependent variable and males and females as the independent variable, and native and non-native speakers of the English language as the independent variable and readers of short stories as the group. A comparative type of questioning was left out for fairly obvious reasons: a confirmation of facts bore more import to the researcher than a comparative analysis of the same facts even though both aspects of the study were borne out.
In recapitulation, the research questions were:
1. How do certain rhetorical tools and devices succeed in persuading the reader
and to what extent?
2. From among the literary proofs of pathetic appeal (pathos), ethical appeal
(ethos) and logical appeal (logos), can primacy be selectively and definitively
established for pathos?
The research design is thus exploratory whereby final and conclusive answers to the research questions are generally interpreted by the researcher. The research is loosely- structured in design since its methodology is flexible and investigative; offering findings that are topic-specific within the interrelated narrative, linguistic and communicational domains of the researcher. Results that emanated from this design were demonstrated in both literary and statistical forms; the latter was arrived at after judicial application of a Likert Scale after the responses had been received and interpreted.
3.2 Location
Native speakers of English living in the UK and Kenya as well as second language speakers of English living in Kenya represent the study units opted for by the researcher. In statistics, a sampling frame is the source material or device from which a 81 sample is drawn (Bernstein PL., 1998). It is a list of all those within a specific population who can be sampled; the population in question was readers of the short story (read creative writing) and speakers of the English language whose specific locations were Kilifi Kenya and Jersey UK. The choice of geographical area of study was precisely because of the general population envisaged: readers of creative writing in the English language.
3.3 Target population
The general population was determined by the researcher to be: readers of creative writing and fiction in the English language within the genre of the short story. In the main research component of this study, the readership or target population was therefore representative of both sexes so that any discrepancies between the men and the women because of gender bias would become apparent. The participants in the research study (a total of 12 participants) were from different social dispensations in order to obtain a good measure of societal differences in the responses received. They were all of varying biological age because this has a major influence on chronological age; such a qualitative element is very revealing of the degree of persuasion that can be achieved by the writer. Exactly half of the readership (6 participants) was native speakers of the English language while the other half (6 participants) was non-native speakers of the English language, in order to refine the quality of the responses achieved by the writer’s persuasive techniques.
They were likewise of varying biological and chronological age in order to explore whether young adult, mid-life and senior citizenry, have any influence upon the receiver of a coded message. The fact that half of them were native speakers of the
English language (6 participants) and half of them were non-native speakers of the 82
English language (6 participants) was for the purpose of establishing a generalization of the empirical effects upon each of the two groups.
3.4 Sample population and sampling procedures
Sampling is a data collection method that includes only part of the total population and has advantages such as cost and time (Turner AG., 2012).Sampling methods are a variety of factors taken into account when individuals are picked to participate in research activities (Hunt N., 2001). This study uses a one stage cluster sampling plan.
This is a sampling plan used when mutually homogenous (readers of creative writing in
English) yet internally heterogeneous groupings (male and female; native language speakers and non-native speakers of the English language) are evident in a statistical population (readers of creative writing in English living in such disparate locations as in Jersey UK and in Kilifi County Kenya). In this sampling plan, the total afore- mentioned specific population is divided into these groups (known as clusters) and a simple random sample of the groups was selected.
A simple random sample is a subset of individuals (a sample) chosen from a larger set
(Hunt N., 2001); readers of creative writing in English being the larger set. These groups, or clusters, were each subjected to a simple random sample where the elements in each cluster were sampled. In fact all the elements in each cluster were sampled which is precisely what makes this a one-stage cluster sampling plan (Hunt N., 2001)
No sub-sample of elements was intentionally selected within each of these groups to make it a two-stage cluster sampling plan.
I was motivated towards cluster sampling to reduce attendant costs in travel and interviews whilst increasing sampling efficiency. For a fixed sample size, the expected random error is smaller when most of the variation in the population is present 83 internally within the groups, and not between the groups ( Särndall C-E., 2003)
Concurrently, snowball sampling (also known as referral sampling ) was also employed
(Särndall C-E, 2003). This is a non-probability sampling technique as has already been mentioned, where existing study subjects recruit future subjects (two of the units recruited another two in this particular study) from among their acquaintances. The sample group is under these circumstances seen to be growing like a rolling snowball
(Särndall C-E., 2003). Sample members are not selected from a sampling frame so snowball samples are subject to numerous biases. Respondent-driven sampling has been shown to allow researchers to make….unbiased estimates from snowball samples under certain conditions8. Snowball sampling and respondent-driven sampling also allows researchers to make estimates about the social network connecting the hidden population. When virtual social networks are sampled then this technique is called virtual snowball sampling (Särndall C-E., 2003) ; but this was not the case here.
Stratified sampling was used in this research study. Stratified sampling divides the population into groups called strata (Hunt N., 2001). In this case, the stratification was native speakers of the English language and readers of creative writing in the form of short stories; which was further stratified to males and females. Samples were taken from each of these strata. Concurrently there was Typical Case sampling, which is a type of Purposive sampling useful when a researcher wants to study a phenomenon or trend as it relates to what are considered “typical” or “average” members of the effected population (Särndall C-E., 2003). Therefore, since I as the researcher wanted to find out how reading a short story in English affects the average reader of creative writing and speaker of the English language, I chose to focus on precisely those participants who met that qualification. The diverse range of cases relevant to these readers of creative 84 writing in the form of age disparity, social class distinction and professionalism, rendered the sample somewhat heterogeneous at the same time.
In research, there are normally two major types of sampling: probability and non- probability. The researcher opted for the non-probability type, where each member of the population does not have known probability of being selected in the sample. In this type of sampling, each member of the population does not get an equal chance of being selected in the sample. Non-probability sampling is adopted when each member of the population cannot be selected for participation; or the researcher deliberately wants to choose members of the listed population by using her own judgment and doing so selectively ( Särndall C-E., 2003). Members cannot be selected randomly. This was the case in this study.
Researchers often believe that they can obtain a representative sample by using a sound judgment, which will result in saving time and money (Weller S., 1988). Purposive sampling is also known as judgmental, selective or subjective sampling. Alternatively, the purposive sampling method may prove to be effective when only limited numbers of people can serve as primary data sources due to the nature of the research design and the aims and objectives. Ultimately in purposive sampling, personal judgment needs to be used to choose cases that help to answer the research questions or to achieve the research objectives (Särndall C-E., 2003). Among the varied cases which shall not be discussed herein for the purposes of brevity, I opted for heterogeneous or maximum variation sampling which relies on the researcher’s judgment to select participants with diverse characteristics. This was done in order to ensure the presence of maximum variability within the primary data. 85
The individuals who participated in the study were representative of the male and female sexes in equal measure so that the results are not skewed because of numerical dissonance between the sexes. Two groups was a number found to be sufficient, further stratified to six individuals in each group; 3 females and 3 males. The total number of participants was 12. This brevity of numbers was also deliberate in order to achieve some respect for an early deadline; as well as to expedite collection of data, having lost some precious time in a previous attempt where the researcher had given out 3 stories to be read among 15 participants which ended in dismal failure.
Therefore the population was defined as speakers of the English language and readers of creative writing in the English language. The relevant cluster stratification was males and females; the listed population (Turner AG., 2012) was native speakers of the
English language and non-native speakers of the English language. The population according to the chosen stratification was: six male and six female native speakers as well as six male and six female non-native speakers of the English language. This means that the sample size was twelve units. Proportions were determined before starting the process of sampling, so that the researcher opted to sample them all, as opposed to sampling just ten out of twelve of the units. In all, six male/female native/non-native speakers of English from a population of readers of creative writing in the English language were sampled. Unfortunately it was not possible to compile lists and sub-lists of the population in order to compile a final list from which to select the sample (Weimer J., 1995); the reasons being lack of time, inadequate funds to cover expenses and vast geographical distribution. Concurrently, purposeful sampling was also entertained. 86
3.5 Data collection
Data collection is any process of preparing and collecting data and its purpose in this study was to collect information regarding the persuasion achieved by pathetic appeal in short story writing.
The one story being read was taken from the anthology, An Almost True Story, a story with almost equal emphasis on each of the appeals upheld by Aristotle. Because of that equivalence in emphasis, it was hoped that the findings would clarify whether or not pathetic appeal surpasses the logical and ethical appeals all of which to some extent, retain and encourage motivation in reading modern narrative. What must be understood here is that the researcher wanted to create a sample with the intention of making generalizations from the sample population. The stratified sampling then intended to focus on specific characteristics of interest, those that best enable the researcher’s questions to be answered.
Participants were given ten days in which to read the short story entitled An Almost
True Story. For those in the UK the questionnaire was distributed and received by email. For those in Kenya, some of the responses were in email whereas others were in hard copy. All the participants kept to the time limit with no coercion from the researcher.
3.6 Data processing and analysis
At this juncture it should be known that what distinguishes a short story from a novel is in fact its length; where the novel can be read over several days, the short story can be read within an hour or two. Information was thus collected from these participants:
- via email, which proved to be timely, inexpensive and accurate; especially since this allowed for interaction between the researcher and the participants whenever there was 87 ambiguity in comprehending the questions or answers on offer. Most responses were received in less than two weeks. Accuracy was achieved even in cases where recalcitrance was demonstrated or expressed. Given the geographical provenance of all the native speakers of the English language, it became far cheaper to undertake internet communication, even though the purposeful sampling during the recruitment of the participants was initially done by the researcher in the form of physical contact – just to confirm viability.
- via face-to-face negotiation particularly for the non-native speakers of the English language. They were a captive audience who were requested and rewarded for their valuable time, after being sequestered in a comfortable and quiet room, at a given time, for the sole purpose of responding to the questionnaire.
The procedure was to collate all the answers according to the way in which the research units were stratified. Then the answers were interpreted. After these two levels the next significant level was to transform the questions into a Likert Scale of rating which rendered the data more scientific in nature. It also refined the interpretation of the answers.
As the researcher I utilized a questionnaire to elicit reaction from the readership that represented the research units to be processed. The actual analysis of the data received and subsequent interpretation of this data was henceforth analyzed within the aegis of a
Likert Scale. A Likert Scale is a type of rating scale which is used to measure attitudes or opinions (Bertram, 2016). As a method of data analysis it is particularly compatible with socio-linguistic research studies. With this scale, respondents are asked to rate items on a thematic level whereby each response is rated with a number:
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- agreement : strongly agree to strongly disagree: 5 to 1
- frequency: often to never : 5 to 1
- quality: very good to very bad: 5 to 1
- likelihood: definitely to never: 5 to 1
- importance: definitely to never: 5 to 1
Five to seven items are usually used in the scale. It doesn’t have to state “agree” or
“disagree”; using the item agreement as an example, the following would serve as an adequate scale:
Strongly agree 5
Agree 4
Neutral 3
Disagree 2
Strongly disagree 1
3.7 Steps taken to develop the Likert Scale
As the researcher I opted to apply the Likert Scale as an interpretation of the responses
(and separate reactions) received from the research units. This resulted in the answers being interpreted by the researcher using this rating system; less cumbersome for the readership given the semantic proximity of having to rate certain ones of these items. It was an effort on my part as the researcher to minimize interpretive errors; and to eventually arrive at graphic / linear depiction of the results.
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The steps taken to develop the Likert Scale for this study were the following:
1. Defining the focus
The focus defined was in line with those of the questions to which the Likert Scale (LS) could be applied. The LS requires that the presentation of the particular focalisation should be one-dimensional. This is how the focus was defined per question in Part 2 only:
Question 1: title and story correlation
Question 2: reading emotion
Question 3: writer’s language
Question 4: writer’s persona
Question 5: surprise factor
Questions 6 and 7 could not be converted into the LS
Question 8: reading motivation
Question 9: overriding perception
Question 10: perorative emotion
2. Generating the Likert Scale items and rating them
With the exceptions of questions 6 and 7, the following items were generated:
Q1. Title and story correleation
Quite appropriate 5; relatively appropriate 4; neither appropriate nor inappropriate 3; relatively inappropriate 2; quite inappropriate 1. 90
Q2. Reading emotion
Quite happy 5; relatively happy 4; neither happy nor sad 3; relatively sad 2; quite sad 1.
Q3. Writer’s language
Quite strong and assertive 5; relatively strong and assertive 4; indistinct and vague 3; relatively passive 2; quite passive 1.
Q4. Writer’s persona
Quite practical, honest and selfless 5; relatively practical, honest and selfless 4; neither practical nor impractical in approach 3; relatively impractical and selfish 2; quite impractical and selfish 1.
Q5. Surprise factor
Quite evidently so 5; relatively so 4; neither nor obviously so 3; apparently not quite so
2; quite on the contrary 1
Q8. Reading motivation
Quite exciting 5; relatively exciting 4; neither exciting nor dull 3; relatively dull 2; quite dull 1.
Q9. Overriding perception
A level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short story 5 (pathos); a level of sentimentality is relatively a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short story 4; a level of sentimentality, or lack of it, may or may not be a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short story 3 (ethos); a level of sentimentality is relatively not a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short story 91
2; a level of sentimentality is obviously not a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short story 1 (logos).
Q10. Perorative emotion
Quite happy 5; relatively happy 4; neither happy nor sad 3; relatively sad 2; quite sad 1.
The measure of association therefore was to explore whether one group of people had a different response to a certain Likert Scale item or response anchor, from another group of people; within the domain of persuasion; and its intended outcome: pathetic appeal.
The steps to developing a Likert Scale were however construed to be used by the researcher after the return of the instrument used for data collection. This was done for the purposes of expediency of accuracy within the pictorial depiction of the data.
3. Statistic choices
The statistical choices opted for by the researcher were the following:
- The mode: the most common response
- The median: the “middle” response when all the items are placed in order
- The range and interquartile range: to show variability
- A bar chart or frequency table: to show a table of results
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Summary of Chapter three: Materials and Methods.
The methodology utilized in this study is applied and qualitative where non-numerical and unquantifiable elements – in this case emotive reaction – were considered. It leans heavily towards a descriptive research since it involves the humanities; the socio- cultural dispensation of the actors at play. The research is loosely structured in design and exploratory, given the investigative nature of the methodology. The target population was: speakers of the English language and readers of creative writing in the
English language. The listed population was native and non-native speakers of the
English language, further stratified into male and female. Therefore the research units were a general readership (of 6 in the pilot study, equally male and female; of 12 in the main study, equally male and female, but further stratified to native speakers and non- native speakers of the English language). The population considered was English speaking readers of creative writing living in Kilifi, Kenya and in Jersey, United
Kingdom.
Several sampling techniques were utilized. There was cluster random sampling in order to allow the researcher to draw externally valid conclusions about the population of people who read creative writing in English, based on the sample. Purposive sampling also known as judgmental or selective sampling was inevitable due to the multifaceted nature of the study given its narrative, linguistic and communicational domains. Male and female participants were further stratified to native and non-native speakers of
English; to create a sample size of twelve units. Data collection relied on a questionnaire; an additional tool was freely-offered information in addition to the questionnaire and in written form. However this additional tool was never respected by any of the participants; those who had something to add pointedly preferred to voice their concerns and this was noted down by the researcher and taken into consideration. 93
Remarkably, this only occurred with two members of the native-speaker group, one male and one female. The exercise was deemed worthy of eliciting unforeseen information to the researcher regarding the persuasion achieved by pathetic appeal in short story writing.
Suffice it to say that this number of participants was a disproportionate sample to the exact number of people recorded in the national population census of those who indulge in creative writing, for both countries; if such a census of those who indulge in creative writing exists at all. Lack of time was the main reason for this, as well as to save on the expenses involved in sourcing out government census details from Kenya and the UK; which is from where, geographically, the participants were sourced. The participants were either personally known to the researcher or friends of friends. All were approached and requested to participate individually and the research tool was distributed and received back both physically and electronically. All the participants were encouraged to inform the researcher about any problems faced during the filling in of their responses. They appear to have had no difficulty whatsoever in doing so.
An anthology of eleven short stories is included in this study within the Annexed section so that the objectives are proved to be applicable in socially differentiated environments. Inclusive of the two which were used for the Pilot and Main studies, they are:
- The Painting: a storyline set in Francophone West Africa
- Go! A storyline set in Eritrea
- Fighting Fire with Fire: a storyline set in Nevada USA
- Unseen.: a storyline set in the serene Ngong’ Road area of Nairobi 94
- Once Upon a Time: a storyline set in suburban Kenya
- Nature Plays a Role: a storyline that takes place on busy Mbagathi Way in Nairobi
- A True Story: a storyline set in rural Yemen
- An Almost True Story: a storyline set in Saudi Arabia (used in the main research study)
- International Conference: a storyline set in Shanzu Kilifi in the Kenyan coastal area
- The Dream: a storyline set in central Kampala
- Of Bus Rides and Bottles of Water: a storyline set in motion on Mombasa Road between Nairobi and Mombasa (used in the pilot study)
The storyline that was used in the main study was entitled: An Almost True Story
(Wallace S., 2017). The main research study dealt with only 1 of the stories within the anthology, where all three appeals that encourage persuasion of the reader by the writer appear to share equal importance. The reason for this was because in a previous attempt at distributing 3 stories from the anthology, each being emphatic of one of the appeals in the rhetorical triangle, the response was simply not forthcoming. It was near to impossible for the researcher to find participants who were willing enough to read 3 short stories at one or several sittings and within a particular deadline. One participant was so moved by a graphic story, she opted to be excluded from the research because of her sensitivity towards the chief protagonist, even though it was pure fiction. The researcher by no means translated this into an indictment of her prowess; rather, it was quite the contrary. 95
As in the pilot study, there were no annotations after the storyline. The time-frame was likewise just 10 days but where only 8 respondents respected the deadline, the rest varied and sent in their responses within 3 months. Six men and six ladies read the storyline so that there was a total of 12 participants within the general readership.
Intentionally also, 3 men and 3 ladies were native speakers of English from the UK and
Kenya, while 3 men and 3 ladies were second-language or non-native speakers of
English from Kenya. This number of participants was deemed to be sufficient by the researcher.
However within the main research study, Part 1 revealed the following challenges:
- Who qualifies as a native speaker of the English language: individuals with
bi-lingual native language competencies had not been foreseen by the
researcher; ultimately only those where English had supplanted the other
language were allowed to participate.
- Apparently social class, age and gender were not particularly influential
factors in the elicitation of emotive appeal.
- Income levels, class distinction and professionalism turned out to be very
closely related and therefore produced similar results.
In Part 2 the various strata produced more distinct results where the general inferences drawn by the researcher were more clear-cut:
- Generally-speaking females are more accepting of an outcome than males
- Native speakers of English are capable of remaining detached where non-
native speakers are deeply influenced by the protagonists and their actions.
- Ethical appeal drew a wide and varied spectrum of epithets which was
highly intended by the researcher right from the onset however, the fact that 96
some would turn out to be complete opposites of each other was not entirely
foreseen; for instance ominous language is totally different from language
that is indistinct.
- Maintaining interest in a storyline is paramount to achieving a constant level
of persuasion.
- Curiosity is similar to interest and both these sentiments attest to a respectful
level of reasoning rather more than to emotive appeal.
- Logical appeal appears to have been more enticing to the male native
speakers of English, at a slightly higher percentage than their female
counterparts.
- Pathetic appeal was dominant as an overriding perception of the storyline
but only among all of the non-native speakers of the English language.
Challenges confronted by the readership within the main research study were accommodated in a separate cover as additional personal commentary that the participants were encouraged to provide. None of the non-native speakers of English offered additional observations. But some of the native speakers were happy to profit from this liberty where:
- Native speaker competency had to be thrashed out during the recruitment of
participants
- Answer choices on offer were found to be insubstantial
- Chagrin towards the question about title appropriateness drew opposing
responses: where one was in consternation about the question being asked at
all, another was overjoyed at the parallelism of the logical sequence of
events with an incident in real life that had been embellished by literary
creativity 97
The results (from what was inferred) of the research study therefore were the following:
- Non-native (or second-language speakers) of English are prone to heavy
emotive influence when rhetorical tools and devices are used to persuade
them.
- Native speakers of English, irrespective of age and gender are simply not
affected in the same way as non-native speakers of English, no matter what
rhetorical tools and devices are utilized.
- Where pathetic appeal is vital in persuading the readership and even often
surpasses ethical appeal, it nevertheless takes second place to logical appeal
when the readership professes to appreciate the latter as the driving force
behind maintenance of curiosity, interest and any surprise factor within the
peroration of the storyline.
- In practical rhetorical exercise, the appeals of pathos, ethos and logos are
complimentary to each other; if primacy has to be established, then logos
appears to enjoy dominance over the other two narrative appeals because
without it the other appeals would be far harder to discern or to have any
effect at all upon the readership.
- No matter what the socio-cultural disposition within the storyline, a logical
sequence of events and the actors in those events are what determines the
levels of ethical consideration and sentimental value.
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CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS 4.0 Introduction
Before the main research study was carried out, a pilot study was done in order to guide the researcher towards a careful invention of interrogative processes and in order to gage whether the responses obtained were going to be appropriate or not. The main study therefore was the second of two, the first having aborted for reasons that have been mentioned elsewhere in this study. The pilot study is in the annexed section.
4.1 Data
The main research study dealt with only 1 of the stories within the anthology, where all three appeals that encourage persuasion of the reader by the writer appear to share equal importance. Therefore the instrument utilized was a questionnaire. The reason for reading 1 story was because in a previous attempt at distributing 3 stories from the anthology, each being emphatic of one of the appeals in the rhetorical triangle, the response was simply not forthcoming. It was near to impossible for the researcher to find participants who were willing enough to read 3 short stories at one or several sittings and within a particular deadline. One participant was so moved by a graphic story, she opted to be excluded from the research because of her sensitivity towards the chief protagonist, even though it was pure fiction. The researcher by no means translated this into an indictment of her prowess; rather, it was quite the contrary.
As in the pilot study, there were no annotations after the storyline. The time-frame was likewise just 10 days but where only 8 respondents respected the deadline, the rest varied and sent in their responses within 3 months. Six men and six ladies read the storyline so that there was a total of 12 participants within the general readership.
Intentionally also, 3 men and 3 ladies were native speakers of English from the UK and
Kenya, while 3 men and 3 ladies were second-language or non-native speakers of 99
English from Kenya. This number of participants was deemed to be sufficient by the researcher.
4.1.1 Participant qualification
This was a disproportionate sample to the exact number of people recorded in the national population census of those who indulge in creative writing for both countries; if such a census for those who enjoy creative writing exists at all. Lack of time was the main reason for this, as well as to save on the expenses involved in sourcing out government census details from Kenya and the UK; which is from where, geographically, the participants were sourced. The participants were either personally known to the researcher or friends of friends. All were approached and requested to participate individually and the research tool was distributed and received back both physically and electronically. Individuals were approached who had:
- A good mastery of the English language, whether or not they were native or non-
native speakers of English
- An average or above-average enthusiasm to take the time to read through a short
story
These were the main two criteria chosen by me as the researcher. A good mastery of the
English language ensures that the reader will understand the rhetorical effects utilized in the storyline and recognise the tools and devices that influence their reading and understanding. An enthusiasm to take the time to read the short story is the precursor towards enjoyment or consternation as a product of the enthusiasm that was either sustained or curtailed. Either way, the art of persuasion will be seen to have been redeemed or arrested or even just partially achieved.
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4.1.2 Storyline
An Almost True Story (Wallace S., 2017)
The following storyline therefore was carefully selected from the anthology for the study: An Almost True Story. It has to be pointed out that no preamble or any pictorial support accompanied it either but again, for purposes of identifying with the rest of the anthology within the annex, pictorial support and underlined annotation are included here.
Fig.15
An Almost True Story
As he stood in front of that simple wooden door, a warm feeling of anger started rising up from his chest and engulfing the base of his neck. Then it began slowly to choke then strangle him. Feelings of resentment and low self-esteem swirled around in his head. Why was every man looking lustfully at his fiancée?1She was meant as a future wife for him, not for them. Was he imagining or had she returned a coy look at his macho bearded cousin-brother Ahmed?2 No, something had to be done. Something had to be done3about the prevailing state of affairs. He had to take steps and make sure 101 that no man ever looked upon her in desire again. He would ensure that she herself never saw another man in her life after setting her eyes on him today4…..
So he knocked on the door. Her mother opened it, and it was all he could do to contain the pent-up rage that was giving him indigestion. 5After the usual salutations he made for the bedroom door just as she herself opened it. His hand darted into his pocket and he pulled out the little jar within it. As soon as she raised her face to look at him and greet her husband-to-be with respect, and some of the love she felt towards him lately, he opened the jar and tossed its contents squarely onto her face. Acid.6She screamed! She screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed. 7She screamed until she was hoarse. Never in her whole life had she felt such pain. Her screams shattered the silence in the house; they pierced the hearts of every living person within hearing; her pain was felt by each human soul in that vicinity.8Then she collapsed in a small heap on the floor – mercifully it seemed.
He on the other hand turned and fled. He ran and ran….away from that scene, that
9house where he had carried out his cowardly, dastardly deed10; he ran away from the imprinted memory of a pain and suffering he simply could not fathom or understand properly. Justice had been served thought he.11 She would survive he consoled himself.
Acid does not kill. But she would survive as his wife, for him alone, not for other men to ogle at but, for him, just him, for him to admire, his own wife, his personal possession, his alone – his!!
And survive she did13. Her mother and other women in the house picked her up and rushed her to the nearest dispensary. This case would be reported to the Chief Kadhi.
Her fiancé would not go unpunished. Vengeance would be retributed14. Not long after that incident they were told how. The general consensus among the village elders and 102 the Chief Kadhi was that Islamic Law in this case advised ‘an eye for an eye’15 since the two were only betrothed and not yet married to one another. The perpetrator was found guilty of grievously harming someone who had done no active harm to him; his assault had been based on supposition and imagined passive aggression according to them; none of his allegations could be proved and many were the witnesses who saw or heard what had transpired that day. So they surmised that he deserved to suffer the same pain as she – not by her own hand but by the hand of the village executioner, whose normal duties included lashing, stoning, mutilation and beheading. The only way the convict could escape the price he had now to pay was if the victim chose to forgive him, according to Islamic Law. As for the victim, she acquiesced that she could in fact find it in her heart to forgive him but only if he asked for her forgiveness.
No. No16. No, this was not going to happen. Did women rule the world now he wondered? He, a full-grown man ripe for marriage, was he now going to feebly apologize to a woman who had, perhaps inadvertently, hurt his deepest feelings, one who had aroused his worst and most powerful feelings of profound jealousy?
Noooooooo. He was way too proud to apologize to her.17 This religion, whilst putting him on a masculine pedestal was now striping him of that very virtue (just being born a man was a virtue to him) by offering him an effeminate alternative that was giving him nausea, nausea18. He would never apologize to a member of the weaker sex about something that he as a man had decided – never!19
Even the prospect of being blind for the rest of his life – like his now blind fiancée
– did not make him think otherwise. No he was not sorry, she deserved it! He would not bend, he could not bend his will. He would remain steadfast to his convictions. 103
Then the day for sentencing dawned on that little Muslim village. The poor newly- blind victim was escorted by her female counterparts to the executioner’s house – a house in a compound that was rightly feared by all who ventured there whether guilty or not; a sad, simplistic, squalid little house 20surrounded by yellowing grass, that was enclosed by a wooden fence – the other side of which lay the village cemetery. The belligerent perpetrator was also escorted there – by armed guards and a large crowd of boys and men who were all drawn to this place by reason of entertainment, curiosity also having got the better of them.
The procedure was that the executioner would first secure him on a bed using strong ropes. Then he would ask the convict three times whether or not he was remorseful about his actions and wanted forgiveness. Should he ask her for forgiveness and the victim choose not to grant it, he would suffer the consequences , just as he would should he maintain his belligerence.21
The women were herded22out into the main hall. The only occupants in the execution room were the Chief Kadhi and a few octogenarian elders, the cocky, young perpetrator and the apathetic blind victim of his actions.23She sat alone and apart from the men, now relying on her sense of hearing more than ever before since she could no longer see.
“ Do you request for forgiveness for your actions24?”asked the burly executioner with the bulbous nose and watery eyes. “ No I do not!” said the young man. The executioner’s big thick fingers of one hand stretched out to grab a big jar full of acid.“
Do you request for forgiveness for your actions?” he asked again, his big tongue darting about to lick the thick lips25 in an attempt to keep them moist. “ NO!!” – shouted the young man although this time round his voice inflection betrayed a wavering in the 104 whining, as he contemplated his impending doom. The thick fingers of the other hand belonging to the executioner now joined the first set of fingers in removing the lid from the big jar of acid. “Do you request for forgiveness for your actions?” asked the monolith with finality, at which the young man audibly whispered “No” - and broke into tears; for now the fear was all too real, the fear of becoming blind and unable to see.
“Wait!” said the young blind woman “ I want to say something if I may”. The Chief
Kadhi lifted his soft, supple, plump, gold ring-adorned hand as a gesture to stop the executioner, then turned to her and allowed her to speak. “ I want to ask you my husband-to-be, why do you cry?”
Even the crowds milling outside, heard her soft, gentle little voice wafting through the loud-speaker atop the roof of the executioner’s dour house. Amidst plaintive sobs the young man spluttered out “It’s not the actual sentence of blindness by acid, it’s not even the lifetime of not being able to see that awaits me…..I just can’t forget the scream of pain that pierced my ears, my whole being, my26 very soul. I fear that pain that I caused you – a pain that haunts me day and night ever since you expressed it so fearfully; a sound so shrill, a pain so excruciatingly shrieked out Oh God…” – “
Stop27!” she shouted “I have forgiven him!”
Away in another foreign country in Europe, the television correspondent carrying out an interview with a woman clad in Muslim attire with nothing revealed save the eyes covered in black sunglasses wondered aloud in her interrogation of the victim; why she forgave her fiancé after what he had done to her and with no show of remorse.
“The fact that he realized the extent of the pain he had caused me, the physical and psychological pain that he had inflicted upon me….that was enough for me to forgive 105 him” she explained. The realization then, more than mere words of apology, convinced the suffering woman that her attacker was himself in a far worse pain than acid could inflict: the very real pain of apprehensive anticipation…..
The Chief Kadhi was visibly relieved, as were his peers. The executioner felt robbed ….of a pleasure he might have enjoyed – the pleasure of retribution which normally leaves a bitter-sweet taste in the mouth ( as opposed to plain cruelty which leaves his mouth completely dry). The crowd outside were hooting and booing28simultaneously. A heavy curtain of guilt and humility and sheer and utter gratefulness29 engulfed the young culprit, with the reality that he had been spared a fate that was perhaps worse than death itself. And she …was finally at peace with her fate
… in that village in30 the desert, the back of beyond … finally at peace31.
Fig.16
4.1.3 Interpretation of the answers by inference
PART 1.
This section comprised of questions that were personal in nature. I learned long after the data collection exercise that this was in fact an anomaly in scientific research; such questions are asked at the end of the questionnaire tool in order to avoid inhibition and minimize despondency. However there were no regrets at having done this on my part 106 as the researcher because this doesn’t appear to have impeded the desired results of the whole exercise.
Questions one and two.
Statements: I am X number of years old or older; of a certain nationality and gender.
As has been mentioned before, age and gender establish the thinking processes that may be open to bias with relation to the writer. Men and women are wired differently
(Fasold, 1990) so their reactions as male or female participants being persuaded within this particular genre was expected to produce some interesting repercussions.
The questions on age, nationality and gender were straightforward and uncontested. No children participated and issues of being transsexual, transgender or hermaphrodite thankfully did not arise (given the international nature of this study and the various points of argument that would have arisen). All the native speakers were ultimately from the United Kingdom; even those who professed original provenance as Wales and
New Zealand; and those who declared current Kenyan nationality. All the second language speakers of English came from Kenya.
Question three.
Inquiry about the level of literacy in the English language.
The pertinence of this question derives from the fact that not only does it influence an appreciation of the story but also gives a clear direction by way of expression of the personal opinion emanating from reading the story.
Establishing the level of literacy in the English language was, unexpectedly for the researcher, contentious when it came to the native speaker label. This is because there were participants who were Welsh, or originally from New Zealand with native language competencies in languages other than English, and this was pointed out to the 107 researcher. All however graciously acquiesced that English had over the years supplanted the other language so that they did in fact qualify to participate as native language speakers of English.
Question four.
This question elicited profession with scant room for diversity.
This question was an indicator of social status since this is normally expected to prejudice one’s judgment in various life situations.
As the researcher I heavily relied on students and newfound academics; a lesson learned from the first of two pilot studies which became a dismal failure because the common man or woman is either too subjective (one woman couldn’t read one of three stories further than a few lines because she abhors violence especially towards women and politely declined to participate) or simply not serious about accomplishing the task in time or at all (e.g. a businessman, an expectant mother…people whose priorities simply didn’t allow them the time to read and respond). Newfound acquaintances other than close friends were deemed to be less biased by virtue of not knowing the researcher intimately. (That the storyline was one instead of three was another attempt at correcting a past mistake; its simply easier and less time-consuming to go through one storyline than have to labour through three, no matter what degree of enthusiasm displayed).
108
Question five.
A generalized declaration of financial status.
Social status in itself points towards self-worth and this in turn influences individual attitudes. Common sense dictates that persuasion thrives if the attitudes allow for it to thrive.
One third of the non-native speaker female participants were non-committal about finances as was the same percentage for native speaker male participants. The rest cried poverty with the exception of 33% middle income non-native speaker male.
This only proved a small disparity in income levels of this stratum, where the native speaker females all declared a mid-level income capacity with an equal distribution among the male native speakers of mid-level and high income capacities. The researcher was of the opinion that income levels play the same role as class distinction and professionalism; what the researcher wanted to accomplish was a dissimilar variety and this was attained.
The reason that this question was posed was in order to determine whether one’s social class did in fact influence one’s perceptions in life. In this study the answer was 100% negative for both native and non-native speakers, and for both genders.
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PART TWO
Question one.
How appropriate was the title to the story? (most appropriate / inappropriate / no connection whatsoever)
One native speaker male found the title inappropriate. This leads the researcher to determine that for him there simply was no correlation between the storyline and its title. He however would not opt for “no connection whatsoever”. The deduction here then is that this reader found the relationship between story and title to be ambiguous rather than non-existent. One female native speaker of English considered the title to be most appropriate but the other two female native speakers of English, like their male counterparts, saw no connection between the title and the story. The researcher has come to the conclusion that finding the title appropriate to the story is proof of possessing a vivid imagination that allows for believability whilst nonetheless appreciating this as a work of fiction.
Of the non-native speakers of English, two of the males found the title inappropriate where only one saw that there was no connection at all. The same deductions arrived at for the male native speakers of English were drawn for this group by the researcher.
Where only one female non-native speaker of English saw no connection between the title and the story, it came as a complete surprise to the researcher that two of the female participants in the group found the title to be most appropriate to the story. The researcher has opted to deduce that either their imagination was fertile enough to discount only very minor things, or incidents, or actors as being fictional or, the choice of “most appropriate” was only chosen at random.
110
Question two.
How did you feel as you read the story? Amused / entertained / disturbed / all of the above / none of the above
Two each of the male and female participants who were the native speakers of English, chose the option disturbed. This was the whole intention of the writer: to bring about various sentiments throughout the storyline, sentiments that would affect the readership. These were sentiments like the perpetrator’s jealousy, his vindictive attack, the victim’s pain, the Kadhi’s indifference, the crowd’s thirst for retribution and the hangman’s mental instability, resulting in his misplaced disappointment. All of these inherent sentiments among others, were highly intended by the writer to be disturbing.
For the one male and one female native speakers of English who both opted to choose
“none of the above”, the researcher can only conclude that the readers are individuals who are significantly indifferent to pain and suffering; stoic individuals who must possibly out habit and personal conviction disallow the preponderance of pathetic appeal (read pathos) from interfering with the logical unfolding of events.
When it comes to the non-native speakers of English, one male participant found the story entertaining. This infers the following to the researcher: that this particular individual was highly conscious of the fact that what he was reading was purely fiction; which was why the sequence of events was simply entertaining; that the events held more significance for him than the (pathetic) dialogue. Another male reader from this group found the story rather disturbing which translated to ethical achievement. The third male participant opted for: all of the above. The researcher deduced that the latter was quite simply being brutally honest. 111
The female counterparts in this group were not dissimilar about how they felt as they read the story. One female participant felt entertained; as concerns the researcher, the same conclusions drawn for her male counterpart of the same choice of opinion, were deduced. Just as had happened with the majority of the native speakers of the English language, the other two female participant non-native speakers of the English language were thoroughly disturbed by the storyline. According to the researcher, the interpretation is that these two allowed for their sensibilities to be affected.
Question three.
In your opinion, how was the language of the writer of the story? Strong / vague / ominous / sarcastic / indistinct
Two each of the male and female speakers of the English language found the writer’s language strong. The graphic description was highly intended to bring about ‘pathos’ within the readership. The intentions of the researcher were therefore justified. One of the male native speakers of the English language opted for ominous language. For the researcher, pathetic appeal far outstripped the appeals to reason and believability (read logic and ethics); instilling foreboding was obviously highly intended by the writer of the story, given the rhetorical devices put into place. One of the female native speakers of the English language found that the language of the writer was indistinct. According to the researcher logical misunderstanding is the main phenomenon that is responsible for this outcome.
Most surprisingly for the non-native speakers of English, there may as well not have been any stratification between male and female; exactly one member of each gender opted for strong language use, ominous language and a sarcastic use of the language.
The rhetorical tool of sarcasm was used in very small measure within the personified 112 caricature of the hangman. The researcher can only deduce that it must have been particularly poignant to the readers who opted for this choice; the sarcasm simply rendered all the other sentiments superfluous. The other two coincidental options were deduced by the researcher in the same way as was the case for the native speakers of the English language who opted for the same choices.
Question four.
How would you describe the writer? Selfish / honest / judgmental / sentimental / all of the above
Among the male native speakers of the English language one participant found the writer honest. As the researcher I understand this to mean a good measure of appreciation of the writer. Another male participant in the same group found the writer sentimental. The researcher prefers not to translate this as an indictment; rather it portrays this particular reader as empathetic towards the characters in the story. Yet another male participant in this same group opted to choose ‘all of the above’. This implies that the reader underwent various emotions during the reading of the story, emotions that all focalize on each of the above-mentioned epithets that are descriptive of the writer as an individual. This is what the researcher understands.
Two of the female native speakers of the English language participants also chose the option ‘honest’ in answer to this question. The researcher deduced that females in this stratum are more sensitive than their male counterparts. Only one female participant chose ‘none of the above’. This smacks of a certain wilful independence on the part of this reader, one that clearly shows her dissatisfaction with the options of offer. The researcher deduced that it is not all native speakers of the English language who allow themselves to be coerced into thinking in a certain way; sometimes an obstinate 113 intellectual streak can rear its head up and manifest itself. ‘None of the above’ was deliberately not an option on offer, but this participant was clearly insistent in not being manipulated.
Two males and two females of the non-native speakers of the English language all agreed that the writer of the story appeared to be sentimental. However, one of the male participants from this group regarded the writer as being honest. This was of no surprise to the researcher. Meanwhile one of the female participants in this group opted to choose: all of the above. According to the researcher, this manifests indecision, since the four different epithets are very distinct from each other; that a writer can be judged as being all of these things after reading a fictional short story is quite unbelievable, though not altogether impossible.
Question five.
Was there an element of surprise in the story? Yes / no.
All the male native speakers of the English language and all the female non-native speakers of the English language unanimously agreed that there was an element of surprise in this story. Only two female participants in the native speaker of the English language category supported the element of surprise - just as only two males in the non- native speaker of the English language category recognised an element of surprise. Just one female native speaker of the English language and one male non-native speaker of the English language felt no element of surprise was evident when they read the story.
What is clearly evident to the researcher in this instance is that gender distinction has nothing whatsoever to do with surprise as an emotion. It also proves that men and women particularly within this context of appreciating creative writing, can (in certain circumstances) think alike. 114
Question six.
Describe this story in one word. Incredible / believable / interesting / laborious.
Two of the three male native speakers of the English language opted for ‘believable’; this was the overriding factor for them even if the others also rang true. The third male participant in this group found the story interesting more than anything else. Each of their female counterparts opted for : believable, interesting and incredible. These three sentiments are juxtaposed to ‘laborious’ with ‘incredible’ being the most ambiguous of them all. This is because the reader was either pathetically affected to an astonishing level of acceptance, or, because it was unbelievable that the events in the storyline took place in the way that they did. This incredibility appears to attest to the writer’s intentions and that either way, these intentions were definitely achieved.
Among the non-native speakers of the English language, only one male participant found the story believable where the other two considered it interesting. In the opinion of the researcher, the ethical appeal was more appreciated as being an interesting story by the writer, totally overriding its believability. Each of the female non-native speakers of the English language opted for: incredible, interesting and laborious. Since two of them reflected the same reactions as two of the female native speakers of the
English language, similar reasons deduced from the latter can be applied to them too.
However, the third respondent in this category who found the story laborious only allows the researcher to discern the following: that she was too tired to read this short story at all; or that she was indifferent to the plot and intrigue that followed; or that something intangible nevertheless inhibited her ability to appreciate the story at all.
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Question seven.
What motivated you to read the story from the beginning to the end? A sense of pity / comic relief / curiosity / a sense of distaste
Pity was the choice of two male participants within the group of native speakers of the
English language. To the researcher, this translates to succumbing to the pathetic ploys intended by the writer. The third participant stated that curiosity was compelled him to read the story from start to finish – a choice that was replicated by all the male and female non-native speakers of the English language; and just two of the female native speakers of the English language. The third female in this group of native speakers of the English language did not make any choice at all. In an unwritten statement to the researcher she expressed a certain frustration in not finding the appropriate epithet in expressing her motivation. She seemed at a loss of words to propose something original from her own point of view. Therefore the researcher put it down to belligerence on her part; although considering she was not an adolescent ambivalence might have been more apt. The preponderance of curiosity attests to the triumphs of both the pathetic and logical appeals that were engendered by the judicious use of appropriate rhetorical tools and devise by the writer. This is what was deciphered by the researcher in these results.
Question eight.
What was your motivation while reading the story? (pathos / ethos / logos)
One each of the male native speakers of the English language opted for each of the above choices. According to the researcher, this merely infers diversity among the units which fall within this stratum; diversity in what motivates them to read a short story.
Two of the three females in this group were motivated to read the story to the end 116 because it affected them emotionally. The third female had her motivation sustained because the storyline progressed logically.
Of the non-native speakers of the English language, all three male participants read the story to the end because of emotional reasons. Their female counterparts were split between two who read it because of its logical progression and one who questioned the writer’s intentions as she read the story. Where the researcher was amazed at the obviously profound effects of sentimentality (pathos) upon the male readers generally speaking, it was nevertheless noteworthy that the ladies in general leaned entirely towards the writer’s goodwill (ethics) and the logical progression of events (logos).
Question nine.
What is your overriding perception of this story? (pathetic / ethical / logical)
Just one male native speaker of the English language felt that a level of sentimentality was crucial towards appreciating that story (pathos). The other two male participants in this group supported the contention that argumentation influences the final outcome at the end of the story (logos). On the contrary, two of the female native speakers of the
English language supported pathetic appeal as overriding the other appeals in this story; whilst only one of them opted for the prevalence of logical appeal as being an overriding perspective in this story.
On the other hand all three male non-native speakers of the English language contended that sentimentality overrode all else (pathos). Two of their female counterparts echoed similar sentiments but one of them opted for ethical considerations by opining that ‘the author is a fiendishly vengeful individual’. 117
In all of these results and for just this particular question, the researcher has deduced that pathos enjoys supremacy across the board and by a wide margin, followed closely by logos and lastly by ethos, as the overall perceptive view of the story by the readers.
Question ten.
How did you feel by the end of the story? Fulfilment / resentment / profound respect / unresolved anger / downright consternation
Of the male native speakers of the English language, one professed a feeling of fulfilment by the end of the story. This shows the researcher that the reader appreciated the high style of writing employed by the writer, where the story culminates in satisfaction. Another male participant in the same group felt profound respect, either for the writer or for a protagonist (most likely the victim in the story).This kind of appreciation can also be as a consequence of the high narrative style of the writer. The last male reader in this group offered no answer although this in itself was not an option offered by the researcher. Unexplained reticence was blamed for this because this was not the first time that the researcher was being presented with non-compliance and from the self-same group. The rhetorical question posed here would be: another case of belligerence / ambivalence?
Their female counterparts were also diverse. One female native speaker of the English language cited fulfilment where one other of her colleagues chose the exact opposite: resentment. The researcher alludes the two opposing extremes to successful use of rhetorical devices to achieve both reactions, on the part of the writer. Evidence of diversity within this stratum of this particular population (readers of creative writing in the English language), is also implied. The third female reader in this group 118 experienced ‘downright consternation’ by the end of the story, which also attests to the above.
The same diversity was manifested within the stratum of non-native speakers of the
English language. Two of the male participants experienced resentment where the third felt some kind of profound respect for someone (the writer? The victim in the story?) by the end of the story.
Their female counterparts each felt resentment, unresolved anger, and downright consternation by the end of the story. According to the researcher this means varying degrees of empathy were experienced, especially by the female non-native speakers of the English language. Having included degrees (as plus or minus) of these varying symptoms, may have brought forth further elucidation. However the general conclusion can be drawn that the females in this stratum displayed feelings that were not dissimilar and rather profound.
4.1.4 Observations accruing from the interpretation of the answers
Part 1.
Nothing changes in this part of the research study from what was stated in Part 1 during the level of Interpretation of the Answers (bullet 4.1.3).
In Part 2, however, the researcher was more interested in inferences. Using percentile explanations (see annex) for those who understand the notions better in numbers, the rest is what was deciphered by the researcher.
Part 2.
Since the questions answer to the two objectives of the study, it becomes necessary to reiterate what they were: 119
Objective one: How do certain rhetorical tools and devices succeed in persuading the reader and to what extent?
Objective two: From among the appeals within the rhetorical triangle can the primacy of pathos be intentionally and definitively established over the other two appeals?
Question one. Appropriateness of the title to the story.
This question answers to the second objective. It is in determining the emergence of pathos as being predominant to the other two appeals, that appreciation of a correlation between title and story can be established or not – especially if the real-life precursor of this fictional work is recognized or not, as the case may be.
Two thirds of the native speakers of English gave no comment about the appropriateness of the title to the story. Indeed, there was consternation that it should be asked at all, consternation that was expressed both tacitly and in writing. The results were the exact opposite with the non-native speakers of the English language both male and female.66% of the males found it inappropriate whereas the same percentage of females passively accepted it as being most appropriate. It is the researcher’s observation therefore that male and female stratification within this specific group brings to the fore passive acceptance that’s traditionally inherited by females, where the males are more predisposed to question the facts.
Question two. How the reader felt as they read the story.
This question unequivocally answers to the first objective. Only the tools and devices utilized can evoke feelings and levels of sentiment during the process of reading the story. 120
Two thirds each of the male and female native speaker readers were personally disturbed by the story. Concurrently exactly one third of each group was not moved in any way by the storyline. This proves to the researcher that native speakers of English can in fact read a story and remain detached, a feat that would appear difficult under normal circumstances. The converse was displayed by the non-native speaker camp, all of whom experienced one or all of the emotions suggested by the researcher when reading the story; high level of gullibility.
Question three. Questioning the language of the writer of the story.
This question directly answers to the first objective since the writer had to depend upon a judicial use of the tools and devices selected, in order to influence any opinion in the first place.
Judgement about the degree of influence the writer’s language displayed was equally dissimilar between the native speakers of English and the non-native speakers of
English. The former found it to be strong with only 33% ladies and 33% gents opting for ominous or indistinct. The non-native speakers of English in the readership had equal reactions to the story between the sexes of being strong, ominous or sarcastic.
This leads the researcher to deduce that whilst accomplishing the objective of highlighting graphic detail using the appropriate rhetorical tools, sentimental values can actually be overshadowed, which came as an unforeseen surprise.
Question four. How the reader would describe the writer.
This question answers to the second objective since the ability to bring about persuasion and intentionally give it primacy to the other two appeals is highly indicative of the creative writer’s prowess and therefore his or her personality. This is precisely what renders it a highly ethical question. 121
While judging the writer, most of the possibilities were chosen by the native speakers of English. Within the same group, there was a dissenting voice about the impossibility of judging the writer without seeing the correlation between title and story; as if it was illogical for both questions 1 and 4 to have been posed. The pattern of all the possibilities on offer having been chosen is almost the same with the non-native speakers of English. Nobody in either group judged the writer as selfish or judgmental.
That the latter was not opted for at all also came as a surprise to the researcher.
Question five. Whether there was an element of surprise in the story.
This is a question that answers to both the first and second objectives of the research study. Development of the plot and characters by means of appropriate rhetorical tools and devices, as well as the eventual persuasive outcome, again as a result of these rhetorical means, are both aspects that are responded to when answering this question.
The element of surprise in the storyline was resoundingly accepted by the native speaker male readers and the non-native speaker female readers (100% for both groups). The researcher can only infer chance coincidence here; no connection is evident as to why.
Question six. Describing the story in one word.
This statement encourages recourse towards the second objective since it summarizes the overall result of the primacy of pathetic appeal.
Once again the whole range of possibilities was opted for by all participants in the different groups. What came to the fore is that just over half of the readership found the story interesting. This shows the researcher that the rhetorical tools and devices intended to arouse interest evidently bore some fruit. 122
Question seven. This question inquired about the motivation behind reading the story from start to finish.
The first objective is being interrogated by this question. It is a question that demonstrates unequivocally that certain tools and devices did in fact succeed in persuading the reader to the writer’s convictions, to the extent that motivation was maintained from the beginning to the end.
Motivation to read the story all the way to the end was purely out of curiosity for 100% of the non-native speakers of English both male and female. Where more ladies than gents among the native speakers of English read the story out of curiosity, a small percentage opted for pity and just as equally, for no sentiment experienced whatsoever
– which was not an option (unintentionally) but was nevertheless pointed out. This attests to the free-spirited disposition of the native speakers and the converse for the non-native speakers of English who unbeknownst to them appear to portray some sort of herd mentality.
Question eight. This open-ended question built upon the preceding one by being more precise; the precision in question fell squarely in the camp of one of the narrative appeals of logos, ethos and pathos.
It was a statement rather more than a question that serves to underline the successful uses of the rhetorical tools and devices mentioned within the first objective.
The feeling that englobed the reader during the actual reading was in total variance for the males and females in the group of native speakers of English. Conversely, all the males in the group of non-native speakers professed emotionality (at 100%), with a small percentage of the females questioning the intentions of the writer. Non-native speaker females represented the combined percentage of male and female native 123 speakers in lauding the logical progression of the storyline as their motivating factor whilst they read it. For the researcher this primarily kills any racial theory that was beginning to rear its ugly head; secondarily, this translates to a newfound respect on the part of the researcher, respect for the role of logical appeal within the storyline.
Question nine. The overriding perception of the storyline was being sought at this stage.
This was a statement that seeks to establish which of the appeals in the rhetorical triangle left a perceptive effect upon the reader. This is therefore a statement that answers to the second objective of the research study.
The male native speakers of English were predominantly concerned with logic as an overriding perception of the storyline where their female counterparts were more emotional about their appreciation (66%). The male non-native speaker readers were
100% sentimental about the story and their female counterparts were close behind. It was not lost on the researcher that not a single non-native speaker of English mentioned anything to do with argumentation. The significant implication here is that pathetic appeal outweighed the appeal to reason that logic represents – where this group is concerned. Additionally, one challenge faced by the researcher was the fact that one dissenting voice among the female native speakers of English actually felt coerced to opt for logical considerations whereas in truth, she’d have preferred none of the choices on offer.
Question ten. This question inquired how the reader felt by the end of the story.
This question answers to the second objective of the research study because it interrogates the final sentiment of the reader. 124
The afore-mentioned challenge was repeated in this last very subjective consideration.
Again there was dissention within the native speaker group where indifference should perhaps have been included by the researcher; the option of consternation appears to have been chosen because of this particular omission. Needless to say, all the options were variously picked by all the participants in the native speaker group. The same could be said for the non-native speaker group with resentment enjoying slightly more popularity among the gents in this group at 66% of them. The researcher interpreted these results as a readership that was affected in variously different ways, none of which enjoyed predominance over the other as sentiments.
It is instructive to note that the stratification between native speakers and non-native speakers of the English language was not only necessary but deemed appropriate by the researcher. Rhetorical tools and devices whose main objective is to be persuasive appear to have a far greater influence on non-native speakers; who in turn appear to be predisposed to this influence anyway. This having been said, it’s just as instructive to note that the native speakers of English were not always affected in the same way as the non-native speakers of English. Neither can it be argued that age, or gender or even race, had anything to do with the differences in reaction to the questions (inadvertently all the native speakers of English were Caucasian and all the non-native speakers of
English, African).
The researcher pins it down to environmental factors as being responsible for the options picked out. Native speakers of English may have shared the same environment in upbringing as the non-native speakers of English however, their uses of the language were poles apart for the two groups – to the extent that occasional refusal to accept a presented option, could in fact be interpreted as plain arrogance; an innate stubbornness, insistence not to be confined to a situation that is predetermined but to 125 break out, to remonstrate against this and to prefer one’s own originality. This was the stark reality between the two groups and evidence of this reared its head up time and again.
Stratification between the genders was also significant since ladies and gents tend to be wired differently (Fasold,1990) not just physically, but mentally and socially as well.
This has been discussed at greater length elsewhere in this study.
4.2 Application of the Likert Scale (LS) on the answers of the main research study questions
Part 2.
A Likert Scale is a type of rating scale used to measure attitudes or opinions (Bertram,
2016). With this scale respondents are asked to rate items on a level of agreement where between five and seven items are used in the scale. The researcher opted to apply the Likert Scale to the generalized interpretations in Part 2 so that the responses are reflected as percentiles in order to allow for clearer comparison. The researcher opted to have a standardized format of five items for eight of the ten questions in Part 2; the reason for five items being adequacy; the reason for refinement of only eight out of ten questions being the impossibility of transforming questions six and seven into the
Likert Scale. The pertinence of these questions emanates from the fact that close attention was being paid towards the objectives of the study; these questions therefore:
- Directly allude to the influence of the rhetorical tools and devices;
- All solicit what influence pathetic appeal has had upon the reader.
Therefore the themes of variation dwelt upon agreement, quality and importance:
- Where agreement questioned appropriateness (question 1) or evidence of a
certain element (question5) 126
- Where quality emphasized sentiment (questions 2 and 10), assertiveness
(question 3) and character analysis (question 4)
- Where importance was portrayed by reasons for motivation to read
(question 8) and an overall perception of the story (question 9)
Numbers are assigned to the responses which in this study were five-tiered for the reasons already mentioned before: in order of importance. As an example for the item of agreement, for instance, there would be:
Strongly agree: 5
Agree: 4
Neutral: 3
Disagree: 2
Strongly disagree: 1
This is what enabled the researcher to assign meaning to the responses; whereby 4 to 5 on average is a good response and 1 to 2 on average is a poor one; and where neutrality translates to indecision. Such results simply leave no room for personal bias.
Therefore the research design was intended to be exploratory and as such, the instrument had questions that were descriptive and qualitative and causal in nature. (See
3.1. Research design)
4.2.1 Results and interpretation of the LS test administered
The researcher opted to show the findings within percentile bar charts. The questions in
Part 2 of the research study elicited responses which will be interpreted by using the 127 one-dimensional presentation favored by the Likert Scale (instead of the original question) in conjunction with the tables. The following abbreviations stand for:
LS: Likert Scale
NS: Native Speakers of the English language and readers of short story writing
NNS: Non-native Speakers of the English language and readers of short story writing
M: male
F: female
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4.2.1.1 Title and story correlation
Table 1.1 NS (m)
5 0
4 0
LS 3 0
2 33.3
1 66.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 %ge
Likert Items
5. Quite appropriate
4. Relatively appropriate
3. Neither appropriate nor inappropriate
2. Relatively inappropriate
1. Quite inappropriate
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6% in the bottom range.
As in the case of the broad interpretation where the choices of epithet differed somewhat, although the question was pointedly geared towards logic, the LS responses had to be emotive to translate that understanding. These participants saw no correlation whatsoever. 129
Table 1.2 NS (f)
%ge
5 33.3
4 0
3 0
2 0
1 66.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite appropriate
4. Relatively appropriate
3. Neither appropriate nor inappropriate
2. Relatively inappropriate
1. Quite inappropriate
This Table shows that the interquartile range is vastly dissimilar where the mode is
66.6%.
However, the results here were not dissimilar to the preceding Table, with only a slight discrepancy.
130
Table 1.3 NS (m f)
5 16.6
4 0
3 0
2 16.6
1 66.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite appropriate
4. Relatively appropriate
3. Neither appropriate nor inappropriate
2. Relatively inappropriate
1. Quite inappropriate
This Table shows wide variability within the interquartile range; median: 16.6% & mode: 66.6%.
The majority of the participants found the title either relatively or quite inappropriate.
131
Table 1.4 NNS (m)
5 0
4 0
3 0
2 66.6
1 33.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite appropriate
4. Relatively appropriate
3. Neither appropriate nor inappropriate
2. Relatively inappropriate
1. Quite inappropriate
In this Table the mode was 66.6%.
Not much different from the Native Speaker male stratum.
132
Table 1.5 NNS (f)
5 66.6
4 0
3 0
2 0
1 33.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite appropriate
4. Relatively appropriate
3. Neither appropriate nor inappropriate
2. Relatively inappropriate
1. Quite inappropriate
This Table depicts a vast difference within the interquartile range, with a mode of
66.6%
Surprisingly to the researcher, this big percentage found the title most appropriate. This can be put down to prior knowledge of a similar occurrence in real life, which is from where the writer sought her inspiration in the first place.
133
Table 1.6 NNS (m f)
5 33.3
4 0
3 0
2 33.3
1 33.3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite appropriate
4. Relatively appropriate
3. Neither appropriate nor inappropriate
2. Relatively inappropriate
1. Quite inappropriate
This Table depicts a median of 33% within the interquartile range.
Inappropriateness of the correlation between the title and the story appears to have won the day.
134
Table 1.7 All Male participants
5
4
3
2 50
1 50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite appropriate
4. Relatively appropriate
3. Neither appropriate nor inappropriate
2. Relatively inappropriate
1. Quite inappropriate
This Table shows a clear mode of 50% for the males in both strata.
The male participants as a stratum, found this correlation either relatively or quite inappropriate in equal measure.
135
Table 1.8 All Female participants
5 50
4
3
2
1 50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite appropriate
4. Relatively appropriate
3. Neither appropriate nor inappropriate
2. Relatively inappropriate
1. Quite inappropriate
This Table depicts a mode of 50% within the interquartile range.
Where the equal measure of judgement was identical for the female participants, there was concurrently a high level of discrepancy in their opinions.
136
Table 1.9 NS NNS (m f)
5 25
4
3
2 25
1 50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite appropriate
4. Relatively appropriate
3. Neither appropriate nor inappropriate
2. Relatively inappropriate
1. Quite inappropriate
The mode was once again 50% for the item of inappropriateness in this Table with a median of 25% in the interquartile range.
Seventy-five percent (75%) of the participants found the correlation between the title and the content inappropriate to some degree. With reference to the objectives of the research study, the tools and devices of rhetoric do not appear to have had any impact upon the pathetic correlation between title and content if any. Additionally and in relation to the second objective of this study, the LS proved a feeling of 137 inappropriateness among the readership (at 75%) which emphasized the logical endeavour of surmising, as being the precursor to the pathetic appeal of consternation that the researcher initially deduced during the phase of general observation.
4.2.1.2 Reading emotion
Table 2.1 NS (m)
5
4
3 33.3
2
1 66.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6% for the bottom range.
A feeling of sadness was the dominant emotion among these participants. 138
Table 2.2 NS (f)
5
4
3 33.3
2
1 66.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
Again this is a Table that depicts a mode of 66.6% for the bottom range. The results of this Table were a replica of the preceding Table; the participants felt quite sad.
139
Table 2.3NS (m f)
5
4 33.3
3
2
1 66.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
Once again, this Table depicts a mode of 66.6% for the bottom interquartile range.
Where approximately 30% of the participants were neither happy nor sad, the rest were quite sad as they read the storyline.
140
Table 2.4 NNS (m)
5
4 33.3
3 33.3
2
1 33.3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table depicts a median of 33.3%.
The participants showed equal representation of being relatively happy, neither happy nor sad as well as feeling quite sad as they read the story.
141
Table 2.5 NNS (f)
5
4 33.3
3
2
1 66.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
The interquartile range showed a disparate level but again the mode was 66.6%.
The overwhelming reaction among these participants was to feel sad.
142
Table 2.6 NNS (m f)
5
4 33.3
3 16.6
2
1 50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
The interquartile range was highly disparate but the mode was 50%.
Altogether, exactly half of this cohort was rendered quite sad as they read the story.
143
Table 2.7 All Male participants
5
4 16.6
3 33.3
2
1 50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
Again the Table depicts a disparate interquartile range of a mode of 50% & a median of
33.3%.
What is significant is that half of all the male participants felt quite sad as their reading progressed.
144
Table 2.8 All Female participants
5
4 16.6
3 16.6
2
1 66.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6% with a median of 16.6% in the interquartile range.
The majority of the female participants (over 60% of them) felt quite sad as their reading progressed.
145
Table 2.9 NS NNS (m f)
5
4 16.6
3 25
2
1 58.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table depicts a highly disparate interquartile range but the mode is 58.3% with a median of 25%.
Where 58.3% of the readership felt quite sad as they read the story, 25% of them were neither sad nor happy as their reading progressed. Quite clearly therefore, the rhetorical tools and devices utilized succeeded in their conviction and pathetic appeal became more prominent than the other two literary appeals.
146
4.2.1.3 Writer’s language
Table 3.1 NS (m)
5 66.6
4
3
2
1 33.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6%.
The majority of the male participants found the writer’s language strong and assertive.
Where there was a contrary opinion, it was found to be quite passive – the exact opposite.
147
Table 3.2 NS (f)
5 66.6
4
3 33.3
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table once again depicts a mode of 66.6% in a differentiated interquartile range.
The female cohort felt the same way but, where there was dissention, the language was found to be indistinct and vague.
148
Table 3.3 NS (m f)
5 66.6
4
3 16.6
2
1 16.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
Despite big differences in the interquartile range, this Table has a mode of 66.6% for the topmost tier.
The overriding feeling was that the language of the writer was strong and assertive.
149
Table 3.4 NNS (m)
5 33.3
4
3
2 33.3
1 33.3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table has a median range of 33.3%.
The language of the writer appeared to be predominantly rather passive to this stratum of reading participants.
150
Table 3.5 NNS (f)
5 33.3
4
3
2 33.3
1 33.3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table also has a median range of 33.3%.
This stratum of reading participants, the female counterparts of the preceding cohort, produced identical results.
151
Table 3.6 NNS (m f)
5 33.3
4
3
2 33.3
1 33.3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table shows an interquartile range of 33.3%.
All the results were identical for the non-native speakers of the English language and readers of this particular short story.
152
Table 3.7 All male participants
5 50
4 16.6
3
2
1 33.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts a mode of 50% in the topmost range & a median of 33.3%.
S0 uffice it to say that 50% of the male readership found the language of the writer strong and assertive.
153
Table 3.8 All female participants
5 50
4 16.6
3
2 16.6
1 16.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts a mode of 50% in the topmost range and a median of 16.6% across the interquartile range.
Half of the female readership also found the writer’s language strong and assertive.
154
Table 3.9 NS NNS (m f)
5 50
4 16.6
3
2 8.3
1 25
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts a mode of 50% and a median of 25%
Half the readership found the writer’s language strong and assertive (50%) and conversely, a quarter of them (25%) found it passive. This strongly alludes to the successful employment of rhetorical tools and devices as mentioned in the first objective. Since the overriding judgement is strong and assertive, the second objective that interrogates supremacy between the appeals appears to allow logos and pathos to share equal importance in their quest to become persuasive. 155
4.2.1.4 Writer’s persona
Table 4.1 NS (m)
5 33.3
4 33.3
3 33.3
2
1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite practical, honest and selfless
4. Relatively practical, honest and selfless
3. Neither practical nor impractical in approach
2. Relatively impractical and selfish
1. Quite impractical and selfish
This Table depicts a median range of 33.3%; no variability.
All the participants who fall within this category are moreorless in agreement that the writer is practical, honest and selfless to varying degrees.
156
Table 4.2 NS (f)
5 66.6
4
3 33.3
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6%.
The writer is quite practical, honest and selfless for the female cohort rather more than was the case for their male counterparts.
157
Table 4.3 NS (m f)
5 50
4 16.6
3 33.3
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts a mode of 50% & a median of 33.3% in the interquartile range.
50% of the native speakers of English and readers of this short story, considered the writer of the story to be practical, honest and selfless.
158
Table 4.4 NNS (m)
5 33.3
4 66.6
3
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6%.
The majority of readers in this category considered the writer to be relatively practical, honest and selfless.
159
Table 4.5 NNS (f)
5
4 66.6
3 33.3
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6%.
Readers in this category also produced similar results to the preceding one: the writer appeared to be practical, honest and selfless.
160
Table 4.6 NNS (m f)
5 16.6
4 66.6
3 16.6
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6% once again with a median of 16.6%.
A writer, who is relatively practical, honest and selfless, appears to be the general conviction espoused by this stratum of participants at 66.6%.
161
Table 4.7 All Male participants
5 33.3
4 50
3 16.6
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts a mode of 50% and a median of 33.3%.
Exactly half of the male readership (50%) described the writer as being relatively practical, honest and selfless.
162
Table 4.8 All Female participants
5 33.3
4 33.3
3 33.3
2
1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts an interquartile median range of 33.3%.
A range of sentiments was expressed by the female participants in this study; from neither practical nor impractical in approach, to quite practical, honest, and selfless as a writer.
163
Table 4.9 NS NNS (m f)
5 33.3
4 41.6
3 25
2
1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Likert Items
5. Quite strong and assertive
4. Relatively strong and assertive
3. Indistinct and vague
2. Relatively passive
1. Quite passive
This Table depicts a mode of 41.6% with a median of 33.3%.
41.6% of the readership judged the writer as relatively practical, honest and selfless.
Where the first objective of the influence of rhetorical tools and devices upon the story is concerned, they appear to have served their purpose. Going by the second objective of primacy among the appeals, this was a highly ethical question which renders the responses ethical in nature. 164
4.2.1.5 Surprise factor
Table 5.1 NS (m)
5 100
4
3
2
1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Likert Items
5. Quite evidently so
4. Relatively so
3. Neither nor obviously so
2. Apparently not quite so
1. Quite on the contrary
This Table depicts a mode or 100% in one range only: the topmost range.
All the male participants (100%) agreed that an element of surprise was quite evident in the storyline. 165
Table 5.2 NS (f)
5 66.6
4
3
2
1 33.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite evidently so
4. Relatively so
3. Neither nor obviously so
2. Apparently not quite so
1. Quite on the contrary
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6% in the topmost range.
Almost all the female participants in this category (66.6 %) also agreed that there was quite evidently an element of surprise in the story.
166
Table 5.3 NS (m f)
5 33.3
4
3
2
1 16.6
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite evidently so
4. Relatively so
3. Neither nor obviously so
2. Apparently not quite so
1. Quite on the contrary
This Table depicts a mode of 83.3% in the topmost range.
83.3% of the native speakers of English who read this short story found an element of surprise in it.
167
Table 5.4 NNS (m)
5 66.6
4
3
2
1 33.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite evidently so
4. Relatively so
3. Neither nor obviously so
2. Apparently not quite so
1. Quite on the contrary
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6% in the topmost range.
Almost all the male participants in this stratum (66.6%) recognized an element of surprise in the story.
168
Table 5.5 NNS (f)
5 100
4
3
2
1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Likert Items
5. Quite evidently so
4. Relatively so
3. Neither nor obviously so
2. Apparently not quite so
1. Quite on the contrary
This Table depicts a mode of 100% in the topmost range.
All the female non-native speakers of English who read this short story (100%) declared that an element of surprise in the story was quite evidently so.
169
Table 5.6 NNS (m f)
5 83.3
4
3
2
1 16.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Likert Items
5. Quite evidently so
4. Relatively so
3. Neither nor obviously so
2. Apparently not quite so
1. Quite on the contrary
This Table depicts the mode of 83.3% in the uppermost range.
The exact same result as the one obtained by the native speakers of English male and female readers, was obtained (83.3%)
170
Table 5.7 All Male participants
5 83.3
4
3
2
1 16.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Likert Items
5. Quite evidently so
4. Relatively so
3. Neither nor obviously so
2. Apparently not quite so
1. Quite on the contrary
This Table depicts a mode of 83.3% in the uppermost range as well.
83.3% of all the male participants found that there was definitely an element of surprise in the story.
171
Table 5.8 All Female participants
5 83.3
4
3
2
1 16.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Likert Items
5. Quite evidently so
4. Relatively so
3. Neither nor obviously so
2. Apparently not quite so
1. Quite on the contrary
This Table also depicts a mode of 83.3% in a highly disparate interquartile range.
An identical result to the preceding stratum was obtained in this one: 83.3% of all the female participants found that there was definitely an element of surprise in the story.
172
Table 5.9 NS NNS (m f)
5 83.3
4
3
2
1 16.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Likert Items
5. Quite evidently so
4. Relatively so
3. Neither nor obviously so
2. Apparently not quite so
1. Quite on the contrary
This Table is once again one that depicts a mode of 83.3% in the uppermost range.
Identical results to the preceding 3 strata. Given some exceptions, 16.6%, the readership overwhelmingly declared having experienced an element of surprise within the short story. It is the opinion of the researcher that rhetoric’s importance here lies within the logical sequence of events that created and nurtured that element of surprise; the appeal to reason. However, when it comes to consideration about the predominant appeal that may even fractionally tip the scales, it is the appeal to the senses which is 173 underscored by the sentiment of surprise. Logical appeal comes a very close second since so many perspectives have to be weighed up subconsciously in order for the reader to ultimately decide that they were in fact surprised in some way; for instance by the outcome of events (like the perpetrator’s cowardice in the face of being blinded in pursuit of justice being served), or by the psychological makeup of the victim who chose forgiveness over vengefulness.
4.2.1.6 Describe the story in one word
Among the research study questions, number six could not be applied to the Likert
Scale. The question was: “Describe this story in one word” where the epithets on offer were totally different from each other and even contradictory (incredible / believable / interesting / laborious).
4.2.1.7 What was your motivation for reading the story from the beginning to the end?
Among the research study questions, number seven could also not be applied to the
Likert Scale. The question was: “What motivated you to read the story from the beginning to the end?” The choices of response on offer were: a sense of pity / comic relief / curiosity / a sense of distaste. Therefore, since the ongoing discussion is about results that were clarified after application of the LS, the generalized interpretation of responses for these two questions before application of the LS are what will be retained as conclusive observations.
174
4.2.1.8 Reading motivation
Table 8.1 NS (m)
5 33.3
4 33.3
3 33.3
2
1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite exciting
4. Relatively exciting
3. Neither exciting nor dull
2. Relatively dull
1. Quite dull
This Table depicts a median of 33.3% within the upper quartile ranges.
The range of emotions experienced by the participants went from neither exciting nor dull to quite exciting.
175
Table 8.2 NS (f)
5 66.6
4 33.3
3
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite exciting
4. Relatively exciting
3. Neither exciting nor dull
2. Relatively dull
1. Quite dull
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6%.
A majority of these participants were excited to read the story.
176
Table 8.3 NS (m + f)
5 50
4 33.3
3 16.6
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite exciting
4. Relatively exciting
3. Neither exciting nor dull
2. Relatively dull
1. Quite dull
This Table depicts a mode of 50% with a median of 33.3%.
Half of the native speakers of English (50%) who read this story, found it exciting to read as they read it.
177
Table 8.4 NNS (m)
5 100
4
3
2
1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Likert Items
5. Quite exciting
4. Relatively exciting
3. Neither exciting nor dull
2. Relatively dull
1. Quite dull
This Table depicts a mode of 100% in the topmost range.
All of the male participants in this category found the story exciting to read (100%)
178
Table 8.5 NNS (f)
5 66.6
4 33.3
3
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite exciting
4. Relatively exciting
3. Neither exciting nor dull
2. Relatively dull
1. Quite dull
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6% in the topmost range.
66.6% of the female participants in this category were relatively excited to read it.
179
Table 8.6 NNS (m + f)
5 50
4 33.3
3 16.6
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite exciting
4. Relatively exciting
3. Neither exciting nor dull
2. Relatively dull
1. Quite dull
This Table depicts a mode of 50% with a median of 33.3% in the uppermost ranges.
Half of all the non-native speakers of English (50%) who read the story did so out of an excited conviction to do so.
180
Table 8.7 All Male participants
5 66.6
4 16.6
3 16.6
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite exciting
4. Relatively exciting
3. Neither exciting nor dull
2. Relatively dull
1. Quite dull
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6% with a median interquartile range of 16%.
Two thirds (66.6%) of the male participants in this study read the story with excitement.
181
Table 8.8 All Female participants
5 33.3
4 50
3 16.6
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite exciting
4. Relatively exciting
3. Neither exciting nor dull
2. Relatively dull
1. Quite dull
This Table depicts a mode of 50% with a median interquartile range of 33.3%.
Exactly half of the female participants who read the story (50%) found it relatively exciting to read.
182
Table 8.9 NS NNS (m f)
5 50
4 33.3
3 16.6
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite exciting
4. Relatively exciting
3. Neither exciting nor dull
2. Relatively dull
1. Quite dull
This Table also depicts a mode of 50% although the interquartile range is totally different from the preceding Table, with the median of 33.3%.
There was nothing negative expressed about the motivation to read. Almost all the participants who read this short story found it either relatively exciting or quite exciting to read. This can only attest to the successful employment of the rhetorical tools and devices mentioned in the first objective. That they found the story exciting at all means 183 that the second objective of primacy from among the artistic proofs has also been demonstrated for pathetic appeal.
4.2.1.9 Overriding perception
Table 9.1 NS (m)
5 33.3
4
3
2
1 66.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. A level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
4. A level of sentimentality is relatively a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
3. A level of sentimentality, or lack of it, may or may not be a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
2. A level of sentimentality is relatively not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
1. A level of sentimentality is obviously not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story 184
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6%.
Only one third of the male participants (33.3%) were of the opinion that a level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short story.
Table 9.2 NS (f)
5 66.6
4
3
2
1 33.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. A level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
4. A level of sentimentality is relatively a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
3. A level of sentimentality, or lack of it, may or may not be a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
2. A level of sentimentality is relatively not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
1. A level of sentimentality is obviously not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story 185
This Table also depicts a mode of 66.6% where the interquartile range is identical to that of the preceding Table.
Double the number of those in the preceding Table, of the female participants in this category (66.6%) felt the same way as those mentioned in the preceding Table.
Table 9.3 NS (m f)
5 50
4
3
2
1 50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. A level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
4. A level of sentimentality is relatively a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
3. A level of sentimentality, or lack of it, may or may not be a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
2. A level of sentimentality is relatively not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
1. A level of sentimentality is obviously not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story 186
This Table depicts the median of 50% for each of the topmost and bottom ranges of the scale.
50% of all the native speakers of the English language, who read this story, felt that a level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short story.
Exactly 50% of the same native speakers of the English language were also of the converse opinion that sentimentality was obviously not a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short story. According to the researcher, uniformity is not a natural human attribute; such a discrepancy, though probably unexpected, can still be sustained; it’s understandable that individuals do differ.
187
Table 9.4 NNS (m)
5 100
4
3
2
1
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Likert Items
5. A level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
4. A level of sentimentality is relatively a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
3. A level of sentimentality, or lack of it, may or may not be a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
2. A level of sentimentality is relatively not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
1. A level of sentimentality is obviously not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
The Table depicts a mode of 100% for the topmost range in the scale.
100% of the participants in this category supported the view that a level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short story. 188
Table 9.5 NNS (f)
5 66.6
4
3 33.3
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. A level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
4. A level of sentimentality is relatively a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
3. A level of sentimentality, or lack of it, may or may not be a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
2. A level of sentimentality is relatively not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
1. A level of sentimentality is obviously not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
The Table depicts a mode of 66.6% in the topmost range.
Two thirds (66.6%) of the non-native speakers of the English language female readers, supported the view of their male counterparts in the preceding Table. 189
Table 9.6 NNS (m f)
5 83.3
4
3 16.6
2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Likert Items
5. A level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
4. A level of sentimentality is relatively a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
3. A level of sentimentality, or lack of it, may or may not be a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
2. A level of sentimentality is relatively not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
1. A level of sentimentality is obviously not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
The Table depicts a mode of 83.3% in the topmost range of the scale. 190
83.3% of all the non-native speakers of the English language supported the view expressed in the preceding Tables: that a level of sentimentality is quit a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story.
Table 9.7 All Male participants
5 66.6
4
3
2
1 33.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. A level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
4. A level of sentimentality is relatively a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
3. A level of sentimentality, or lack of it, may or may not be a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
2. A level of sentimentality is relatively not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
1. A level of sentimentality is obviously not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story 191
The Table depicts a mode of 66.6%.
Two thirds (66.6%) of all the male participants in this study supported the view that sentimentality is a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short story.
Table 9.8 All Female participants
5 66.6
4
3 16.6
2
1 16.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. A level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
4. A level of sentimentality is relatively a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
3. A level of sentimentality, or lack of it, may or may not be a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
2. A level of sentimentality is relatively not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
1. A level of sentimentality is obviously not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story 192
The Table depicts a mode of 66.6% for the topmost range and a median of 16.6% for the interquartile range.
The same percentage of females as of males in the preceding Table (66.6%) held similar views as an overriding perception of the story.
Table 9.9 NS NNS (m f)
5 66.6
4
3 8.3
2
1 25
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. A level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
4. A level of sentimentality is relatively a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
3. A level of sentimentality, or lack of it, may or may not be a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
2. A level of sentimentality is relatively not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story 193
1. A level of sentimentality is obviously not a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short story
The Table depicts a mode of 66.6% with a highly disparate interquartile range where the median was 25%.
Two thirds of the readership for this story (66.6%) supported the view that a level of sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short story. This is a view that implies that the rhetorical tools and devices need to be appropriate and substantial, in order to achieve this appreciation; a view which is directly related to the preponderance of the artistic proof of pathetic appeal within the story.
194
4.2.1.10 Perorative emotion
Table 10.1 NS (m)
5 33.3
4 33.3
3 33.3
2
1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table depicts a median of 33.3% within the uppermost ranges of the scale.
The male participants opted for being neither happy nor sad, relatively happy or quite happy, in equal measure, as the way they felt by the end of the story.
195
Table 10.2 NS (f)
5 33.3
4
3
2 33.3
1 33.3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table depicts a median of 33.3% within the interquartile range.
The female participants were either relatively sad or quite sad by the conclusion of the story, with only one exception where the participant felt quite happy at the end.
196
Table 10.3 NS (m f)
5 33.3
4 16.6
3 16.6
2 16.6
1 16.6
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table depicts a median of 16.6% within 4 of its interquartile ranges & a mode of
33.3%.
Altogether, the male and female native speakers of the English language who read this story underwent the whole range of emotive response; from feeling quite happy (the highest percentage at 33.3%) to feeling quite sad.
197
Table 10.4 NNS (m)
5
4 33.3
3
2 66.6
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table depicts a mode of 66.6%.
The male non-native speakers of the English language, who read this story, were overwhelmingly relatively sad by the end of it.
198
Table 10.5 NNS (f)
5
4
3 33.3
2 33.3
1 33.3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table depicts a median of 33.3% within the bottom 3 interquartile ranges.
The range of emotions for the female non-native speakers of the English language, who read this short story, progressed from neither happy nor sad to have read it, to quite sad.
199
Table 10.6 NNS (m f)
5
4 16.6
3 16.6
2 50
1 16.6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table depicts a mode of 50%, with a median of 16.6% in the interquartile range.
50% or half of all the non-native speakers of the English language who read this story were relatively sad about it at the end.
200
Table 10.7 All Male participants
5 16.6
4 33.3
3 16.6
2 33.3
1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table has 2 median results: one for 16.6% and another for 33.3% within its interquartile range.
There was an equal measure of male participants who were either relatively happy or relatively sad by the end of the story (33.3%); and an equal measure of a smaller percentage (16.6%) who were either quite happy or, neither happy nor sad by the end of reading the short story. 201
Table 10.8 All Female participants
5 16.6
4
3 16.6
2 33.3
1 33.3
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table also has 2 median responses within its interquartile range; of 16.6% and
33.3% respectively.
33.3% of the female participants were either relatively sad or quite sad. Comparatively, the females were more emotionally affected than their male counterparts.
202
Table 10.9 NS NNS (m f)
5 16.6
4 16.6
3 16.6
2 33.3
1 16.6
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Likert Items
5. Quite happy
4. Relatively happy
3. Neither happy nor sad
2. Relatively sad
1. Quite sad
This Table depicts a median of 16.6% within the interquartile range, and a mode of
33.3%.
Most of the readers (33.3%) fell within the range of feeling relatively sad by the end of the short story. The feelings of happiness, relative happiness, sadness and indecision, were all experienced in equal measure at 16.6% of the readership. Once again, it becomes evident that the judicious use of rhetorical tools and devices must have engendered these feelings. The feelings themselves were all experienced in equal 203 measure. As a direct consequence to this, it is the artistic proof of pathetic appeal that triumphs over the other two appeals of reasoning and ethical considerations.
4.3 Conclusion
Within the main research study, Part 1 revealed the following challenges:
- Who qualifies as a native speaker of the English language: individuals with
bi-lingual native language competencies had not been foreseen by the
researcher; ultimately only those where English had supplanted the other
language were allowed to participate.
- Apparently social class, age and gender were not particularly influential
factors in the elicitation of emotive appeal.
- Income levels, class distinction and professionalism turned out to be very
closely related and therefore produced similar results.
In Part 2 the various strata produced more distinct results where the general inferences drawn by the researcher were more clear-cut:
- Generally-speaking females are more accepting of an outcome than males
- Native speakers of English are capable of remaining detached where non-
native speakers are deeply influenced by the protagonists and their actions.
- Ethical appeal drew a wide and varied spectrum of epithets which was
highly intended by the researcher right from the onset however, the fact that
some would turn out to be complete opposites of each other was not entirely
foreseen; for instance ominous language is totally different from language
that is indistinct.
- Maintaining interest in a storyline is paramount to achieving a constant level
of persuasion. 204
- Curiosity is similar to interest and both these sentiments attest to a respectful
level of reasoning rather more than to emotive appeal.
- Logical appeal appears to have been more enticing to the male native
speakers of English, at a slightly higher percentage than their female
counterparts.
- Pathetic appeal was dominant as an overriding perception of the storyline
but only among all of the non-native speakers of the English language.
Challenges confronted by the readership within the main research study were accommodated in a separate cover as additional personal commentary that the participants were encouraged to provide. None of the non-native speakers of English offered additional observations. But some of the native speakers were happy to profit from this liberty where:
- Native speaker competency had to be thrashed out during the recruitment of
participants
- Answer choices on offer were found to be insubstantial
- Chagrin towards the question about title appropriateness drew opposing
responses: where one was in consternation about the question being asked at
all, another was overjoyed at the parallelism of the logical sequence of
events with an incident in real life that had been embellished by literary
creativity
The results (from what was inferred) of the research study therefore were:
- Non-native (or second-language speakers) of English are prone to heavy
emotive influence when rhetorical tools and devices are used to persuade
them. 205
- Native speakers of English, irrespective of age and gender are simply not
affected in the same way as non-native speakers of English, no matter what
rhetorical tools and devices are utilized.
- Where pathetic appeal is vital in persuading the readership and even often
surpasses ethical appeal, it nevertheless takes second place to logical appeal
when the readership professes to appreciate the latter as the driving force
behind maintenance of curiosity, interest and any surprise factor within the
peroration of the storyline.
- In practical rhetorical exercise, the appeals of pathos, ethos and logos are
complimentary to each other; if primacy has to be established, then logos
appears to enjoy dominance over the other two narrative appeals because
without it the other appeals would be far harder to discern or to have any
effect at all upon the readership.
- No matter what the socio-cultural disposition within the storyline, a logical
sequence of events and the actors in those events are what determines the
levels of ethical consideration and sentimental value.
206
Summary of Chapter four: Results.
In culminating the above remarks (where the results had been inferred) therefore, what is noteworthy is that when the literary appeal of pathos is the predilection of the writer, rhetorical tools and devices that are specifically selected in order to engender the graphic nature of any storyline needs to be particularly impactful or striking. This contention is with regards to the title of this thesis: investigating the persuasive potential of rhetoric. This rhetorical selection of words and expressions need not be confined to the short story alone, but liberally used in speech writing as well. This study therefore brought out that potential and proved that it is feasible for a committed rhetor to influence their readership (and in speech, to influence their audience) and went on to show the extent of that potential to become persuasive with each successive result.
After the results by inference, a Likert Scale was conceived and applied by the researcher to these inferred results. This was necessary in order to refine the results by using percentile representation. The themes of variation dwelt upon agreement, quality and importance. The focus was defined only for questions in Part 2. This was because the questions in Part 1 were of a personal nature whereas those in Part 2 related to the reading experience involved. Unfortunately questions 6 and 7 could not be converted into the Likert Scale and this anomaly was inadvertent. Additionally they still portrayed a level of significance to me and this is why they were retained nonetheless.
Once again bar charts were considered by the researcher to be most appropriate in depicting the results. These results were in relation to the objectives of the study:
- Rhetorical tools and devices do not appear to have had any impact upon the
correlation between title and content if any; in relation to the second 207
objective of the study, consternation was felt by 50% of the readership:
pathos prevailed.
- The rhetorical tools and devices served their purpose of conviction since the
readership experienced remorse as they read the story, with the rating ‘quite
sad’ at 58.3%; pathos prevailed again.
- Rhetoric rendered the writer’s language as quite strong and assertive (50%),
thus giving room to logos and pathos to share the podium.
- The writer’s persona was appreciated as relatively practical, honest and
selfless; a tribute to the rhetorical tools and devices used. The question and
the responses were ethical in nature.
- An overwhelming 83.3% of the readership professed surprise during the turn
of events. This may or may not be attributed to the level of rhetoric
employed in the storyline; an appeal to the senses (pathos) appears to be
responsible for this outcome.
- The motivation to read the story was highly positive: ‘quite exciting’ at
50%. Therefore the rhetorical tools and devices weren’t just effective but
they also engendered pathos throughout.
- The overriding perception of the storyline which interrogated the level of
sentimentality (pathetic appeal) produced the following result: a level of
sentimentality is quite a crucial proponent towards appreciation of a short
story at 66.6% or two thirds of the readership.
- As a conclusive emotion about how each reader felt after reading the story,
most of them fell within the range of feeling relatively sad (33.3%).
Therefore the rhetorical tools and devices managed to achieve their purpose
and pathetic appeal triumphed over the other two literary appeals. 208
My initial intention was the need to establish the extent to which modes of thought are influenced by structure in the storyline, and whether the thought patterns will be inconsistent or not. That inconsistency or the contrary was established because of certain modes of stratification was clearly brought out. The role played by identity also stood out. Researchers have discovered that a person’s willingness to change her mind as a reader depends on two things: the emotional intensity with which she clings to an opinion; and the degree to which her identity – her sense of herself as an integrated person – is wrapped up with that opinion. People who are intensely invested in a position are less likely to change their minds than those who are not. Therefore identities and belief systems clearly play a major role of acceptance of whatever a rhetorician is trying to disseminate (Qureshi R., 2007); they are closely wrapped up with the hawkish or dovish positions of the readership, concerning a war situation for instance or any other similar instance of pathetic appeal.
209
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS 5.0 Introduction
The discussion in this chapter is devoted to the learner of creative writing and provides the learner with a more holistic appreciation of the origins of writing per se and the correlation it shares with communication. History always guides the present and offers the creative thinker new and exciting perspectives to consider; a lack of it diminishes the creative potential of a writer and this is solely my contention as the researcher.
Apart from the general distinction that this is a socio-linguistic study, I wanted to involve some discussion about communication which happens to be an inevitable component of rhetorical perspectives that are included in this study. What follows are the various facets of communication that have an evolution to be understood and appreciated, in order to correlate these developments and see where rhetoric in all its glory fits in. I wanted to include a historical overview of writing per se, just to provide the learner of creative writing with a more holistic appreciation of the origins of writing.
5.1 The ethnology of communication and speaking
The fictional anthology with all its varied and interesting figures of speech brings to the fore a particularly pertinent subject: the noteworthy ethnology of communication and particularly the ethnology of speech. For Dell Hymes, a speech act gets its status from the social context as well as grammatical form and intonation. As he puts it ‘ the level of speech acts mediates immediately between the usual levels of grammar and the rest of a speech event or situation in that it implicates both linguistic form and social norms.’(Hymes D., 1964). I want to include this here in recapitulation of the fiction because in any society, whatever appears to be out-of-the-ordinary ends up being the 210 persuasive factor in any given communicational situation. This is precisely what makes any one of these stories memorable to a reader. We want to understand that a speech community is the grammar to which a particular ethnographic description applies
(Fasold, 1990) and must at least share rules for speaking (Saville-Troike, 1977). The ethnography of speaking therefore is concerned with the situation and uses, the patterns and functions of speaking as an activity in its own right (Hymes 1962/1968:101).
Saville-Troike’s insight is that it’s not necessary for each speaker to belong to only one speech community, or even to two or more completely separate communities. People can be and normally are members of several speaking communities at the same time, just as you can be in the kitchen on the ground floor in the house all at the same time.
People alter their norms for speech behaviour to conform to the appropriate speech community, by adding, subtracting and substituting the rules of communicative behaviour. So the goal of work in the ethnography of speaking, and other anthropological studies, is to gain a global understanding of the viewpoints and values of a community as a way of explaining the attitudes and behaviour of its members.(
Saville-Troika, 1977). This is borne out in the storylines each of which happens to deal with variously different communities and backgrounds. This is also the reason the researcher referred to several theories of sociology and communication and demonstrated their uses within particular storylines in the anthology.
5.2 Communication
Communication is the sharing of information and people communicate mainly by speaking and writing. Individuals communicate by means of gestures, facial expressions and even positions of the body (The World Book Encyclopaedia, 2006).
Most of our daily communication is personal where we share information with one or perhaps a few people; likewise we receive much information through mass 211 communication where a communications medium is used for sharing information.
Books are one of the oldest media of mass communication. Television and computerisation are among the newest media. Newspapers, magazines and radio are other major media. Then there are artists who communicate with large numbers of people in ways that do not involve words. These artists communicate through paintings, musical compositions and dance performances. Where we communicate with one another is just as important to know as this also has an influence on our communication with each other; we communicate at home, at school, in business and industry and in world affairs.
Communication did not begin yesterday either; language scholars think language began as an imitation of sound in nature, such as the barking of certain animals and the howling of wind. Other scholars believe that prehistorically language began in the sounds made by early humans as they worked or hunted together. This evolved into long-distance runners who memorised the spoken message that they had to convey; after which instrumentalization was deployed like the use of drumbeats, and eventually smoke signals to effect communication between those to whom the codes were familiar
(The WBE, 2006). After this, the initial steps towards written communication were represented by drawings and paintings. Egyptology’s hieroglyphics were the precursor to pictographic writing.
In the ancient world, writing was the median employed to cover great distances of communication. A system of visual telegraphy was invented around 500BC by the ancient Greeks using brick walls with indentations along the top, representative of the alphabet as we know it today. In order to convey a message, walls that were built in close proximity to each other had fires built on top of them in such a way as to convey meaning. The daily events of Roman life were recorded in handwriting on a sheet of 212 paper known as the Acta Diurna (The WBE, 2006). Every day just a few copies would be made available after which slaves and scribes would reproduce it to convey information to the rest of the readers in the Roman Empire. The span of a thousand years known as the Middle Ages (from circa AD 400) spawned world religions like
Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism; their scribes hand-copied entire books with the artistic addition of designs and pictures in attractive earth colours, silver and gold.
It was the era of the Renaissance in Europe, a time of great intellectual activity, when printing became a European innovation whose popularity was enjoyed between the
1300s and the 1600s. Copying scripts by hand however could not fulfil the intellectual awakening of the period where books began to be in big demand; thus the impetus to go the Asian way (they already had print for centuries before then) where (in the 1400s) printing was eventually mastered by the Europeans. Since then, many and varied are the inventions that have served to facilitate communication globally between mankind (The
WBE, 2006).
From the invention of paper by the Chinese by AD 1 and Pi Sheng a Chinese printer in
1045, the German metal smith Johannes Gutenberg reinvented movable type in the mid-1400s; the English made the first pencils of graphite in the mid-1500s; the French engineer Claude Chappe developed a visual telegraph in the late 1700s; in 1811
Friedrich König, a German printer, invented a steam-powered printing press; Joseph
Nicéphore Niépce, a French physicist, made the first permanent photograph; the
American painter Samuel F.B. Morse patented his electric telegraph in 1840 and developed the Morse code , a system of sending messages by dots and dashes; in 1864 the British physicist James Clerk Maxwell reported his theory of electromagnetism, which led to radio; the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable linked Europe and 213
North America in 1866; ten years later in 1876 Alexander Graham Bell patented a type of telephone and the following year in 1877 Thomas A. Edison developed the first practical phonograph; in 1929 Vladimir K. Zworykin, a Russian-born physicist demonstrated the first all-electronic TV system and the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) made the world’s first TV broadcasts in 1936.Ultimately, computerisation was born in the mid-twentieth century and gave rise to the current smart machines and quantum products of the twenty-first century (The WBE, 2001).
All these inventions give a historical overview of the evolution of communicational media in all its varied forms and allows us to appreciate where the narrative paradigm of fiction fits in when we discuss creative writing; this is because when we write creatively we’re communicating with others, mostly for entertainment purposes but sometimes also for the purpose of instruction and knowledge. Over the years the evolution of communicative trends has set the guidelines of all kinds of creative writing up to present day. I recommend that one ought to be cognisant of this evolution in order to fully appreciate the milestones covered in communication – and those yet to be met; like the quantum leap in AI and drones; new inventions that are continuously being realized to compensate for communicational gaps. Creative writing heavily relies on the art of communication, particularly at the level of discourse.
5.3 Writing
When people communicate by means of signs and symbols, this is what the system of writing is all about; a system that dates from the dawn of humanity. The areas of Egypt and ancient Mesopotamia depict writing systems that date from about 5500 years ago.
Minoan Crete developed a writing system approximately 5000 years ago and the
Hittites of ancient Turkey (Anatolia) about 4000 years ago. Written inscriptions on bones in China dated from 3500 years ago (The World Book Encyclopaedia, 2006). It 214 is important therefore to take cognisance of this fact because communication as a general concept preceded the human endeavour to become creative in writing and more expressive within that same communication; what was primordial was to be able to communicate at all and creative writing came about well after that was firmly established.
What matters profoundly during the exercise of writing is that the context in which anything is written down can only be meaningfully conveyed when one is able to mentally reconstruct the situation described – where the question of metalinguistics comes in (Vinay J-P, 1977 Notions de Base p.28). Just as important is the particular level of the language being used in writing where perspectives like tonality, good and vulgar usage of language, esthetical and functional preoccupations are also taken into account (Vinay, 1977, p.33). Within the confines of the anthology, these perspectives were variously taken into consideration for maximum effect. I recommend that future writers take cognisance of these facts in order to become relevant and to generate interest. This is what Nietzsche commented about reading and writing in his work titled
Thus Spoke Zarathustra ( 1969) where his rhetorical prowess reaches the realms of semantics: “…we love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving. There is always certain madness in love. But also there is always a certain method in madness.” (Nietsche, 1969).
This transitional kind of translation (Vinay JP, 1977) is not just the choice of his translator; I believe that it was Nietzsche’s intention to enjoy this morphological interplay of words in an effort to display how reading and writing force us to contemplate the weight of words in general, and that of certain words specifically.
Contemplating the weight of words is highly recommended at this point; this is what 215 renders the creativity in the art of writing. This is also what brings about any measure of persuasion.
The persuasiveness of any standpoint that writing adopts during creative practice is only effective within the domain of literary terms; and the context in which reading and writing take place is social by definition (Hunt and Sampson 2006). This is why the
Victorian plebeians lived their lives in vivid detail to the middle class readership of
Charles Dickens, where the emphasis was based upon loss or belonging. Likewise,
Gordon Comstock was a character in George Orwell’s Keep The Aspidistra Flying
(1935) whose daily struggles, minutely explained in narration, were as a result of rebellion against the exigencies of contemporary society in his quest to lead an anti- materialistic life. (Orwell 2000). When indulging in contemporary fiction, the point of view takes on an importance that is distinctive within the aegis of communication within the storyline. In his chapter on Crime Fiction in The Handbook of Creative
Writing by Rosina Qureshi (2007), John Dale elucidates how writing in the first person is the traditional method followed for fiction that is detective in nature; how the sub world of the mental institution, gaol or borstal, is where the second person point of view works best; how refraining from getting into the character’s mind renders the third person objective inappropriate in crime fiction. The manner in which a story is effectively told needs to be consistent in order to sustain the point of view.
Further, that the notion of Voice refers to both the author’s voice and that of the character. Free indirect discourse (FID) is a technique considered as most versatile for representing narrative voices. It is also known as '‘coloured narration’ of ‘double- voiced discourse’ because o0f its ability to incorporate the voice of a character within the narration. The ‘colouring’ of the prose comes about when speech or thoughts are 216 not explicitly expressed inclusive of their attributions, but are instead expressed by this voice of the character.(Rimmon-Kenan 1983:114).
Fiona Sampson, in her chapter titled Writing as Therapy, contends that as we write, the consequences of income generation and opportunity influence the context of the content or subject in discussion; a personal life that is either privileged or the contrary in a distracting way; the remunerative facets of profession and career path; as well as general physical and mental well-being (Qureshi R., 2007) It is some of these contextual elements that ultimately contribute to the textual standpoint of the author.
Because they are points that are consciously adopted by the writer into the text, they concurrently become representative of an unconscious prehistory of it as an authorial concern. Most of the stories within the appended anthology in this study lean towards crime fiction as viewed from various standpoints like suicide and murder, sometimes as a story within a story like International Conference (Wallace S., 2017). The writer of the anthology can identify with the contentions upheld by Fiona Sampson.
Sampson further posits that when the writer speaks from their own standpoint, they actually bear witness to events that emanate from their own experience and from the space that is provided to explore thoughts and images that relate to this experience. She adds that the French philosopher Michel Foucault argued that society constructs
‘madness’ (and indeed sexuality) by both defining and confining it (Foucault, 1967).
Therefore when the writer wants to convey meaning, there exists some connection between that meaning and the decision to write: the choice belongs to the writer when opting for the moral in the storyline; so are the choices of what to record and what to explore. In other words, the agency of the writer is celebrated and recorded through their ability to write (creatively). When the provenance of such a writer is a hospital or prison situation, this becomes even more evident. 217
5.4 Fiction
It is from the imagination of the author that a story can be qualified as fiction and it may take the form of prose or verse. Literary fiction recognises short stories and novels as the forms that are the most popular. Narrative poems and drama are also works of fiction. When histories and biographies are built up from facts they are qualified as non-fiction (Stegner W., 2014). According to Stegner (2014) any life will provide the material for writing, if it is attended to. This is due to life’s reality having some pertinence on the writer, pertinence that compels the writer to extract the materials of object, placement, location and especially people, from that real-life situation. Fiction written without the ‘provisio’ of the people factor amounts to nothing. On the Teaching of Creative Writing is a treatise from Wallace Stegner
(www.theresahuppauthor.com/blog/2014/04/21/wallace-stegner-on-the-teaching-of- creative-writing). He posits that when looking for writing students “ what one looks for is sensibility…One looks for evidence that eyes and ears are acuter and active, and that there is some capacity to find words for conveying what the senses perceive and what sense perceptions do to the mind that perceives them…What one looks for is accuracy, rightness, vividness. And beyond that of course, some notion, however rudimentary, of the seriousness of good writing, some sense that literature should enhance life”.
Stegner quotes Robert Frost as stipulating that (still within the aegis of fiction) “the creative writer is compulsively concrete – that is, he is bound to the things of experience…He does not deal in concepts…he is concerned with people, actions, feelings, sensations…because ideas in their conceptual state are simply not dramatic.
They have to be put into the form of people and actions to achieve their proper force.
One Macbeth on stage is worth a thousand essays on ambition”. 218
John Dale in his chapter about Crime Fiction in The Handbook of Creative Writing by
Rosina Qureshi (2007) says that the writer has to portray a sense of movement within their storyline and that without it , the story slows down in momentum. Not only that, lack of some kind of digression renders the storyline unsatisfying to the readership, particularly as it alludes to character, to something revealing in their past. The plot involves incidents that are going on and there is correlation between plot and narrative drive. In the past, murder was retrieved from the drawing rooms of English aristocracy and flung into the streets by Hammett and Chandler. In this contemporary era therefore, the relevance of crime writing about current affairs cannot be emphasized enough.
Almost all the appended storylines in the anthology deal specifically with crime fiction with the exception of ‘A Painting,’ ‘Nature Plays a Role’ and ‘International
Conference’ which all represent literary fiction of a different kind; and the crimes in question are relevant to today’s current affairs.
John Dale continues that content, tone and subject matter are there right from the beginning. A good beginning circumvents the need for preliminaries or introductions. It moves poste haste, achieving many things at once like determining character and situations, raising questions, attracting and sustaining the reader’s interest through suspense, ambiance and a promise of things to come .Employment of a dual narrative appears to be popular within a majority of crime novels where the writer switches between the action that is external and the personal emotional story; where emotive aspects of the novel which is what really counts, persuaded the readership through dialogue and description. Dialogue also does several things at the same time like revealing character and establishing relationships between them. Not only that, it is also responsible for building up tension , guiding the narrative logically, rarely offering a direct response to interrogation , never being predictable and, dialogue is in fact the 219 hardest thing in creative writing.(John Dale: Crime Fiction, in A Handbook of Creative
Writing by Rosina Qureshi, 2007).
According to Dale, there are those writers who commence the storyline from a plot, an idea, and those who prefer to look at a situation and commence from a character within that situation: a lonely woman searching for love; the jailbird who is finally released from prison. Dale qualifies that the overall design of any fiction is what is commonly referred to as structure. Therefore if the writer’s intention is to alternate varied points of view between their characters then this is what is viewed as part of the structure of the story. Chronological time has a direct relationship to the plot such as the time spent in discussing a particular incident. Within the writing of the story, rhythm is mainly established by the scene and a summary of the events (Dale J., 2007). By scenes, Dale implies the uses of dialogue, any reference to the senses and physical reaction to situations, as the factors that partially contribute towards emotional highpoints; summary sufficing as an additional contributing factor. Then he contends that it is difficult to think of many crime endings that have resonance and offers one memorable exception from Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely where Marlowe rides the lift down and walks out onto the steps of City Hall: ‘It was a cold day and very clear. You could see a long way – but not as far as Velma had gone’ (Chandler 1949:253).
He adds that one can never be too certain of the outcome with (the techniques of creating) suspense. Suspense, however, is unpredictable according to Dale. It’s a technique whereby after presenting the situation the writer does not advance directly to its possible solution; instead the writer teasingly offers various possibilities and thereby delays gratification to the readership. The process becomes more thrilling due to this delay, even within minor scenes. Dale quotes John Gardner when he adds that the highest kind of suspense involves the Sartrean anguish of choice: where the suspenseful 220 concern is just as much to do with the moral implications of the action as with what will ultimately happen.(Gardner 1991:162). In the main research study, this ‘Sartrean anguish of choice’ is portrayed by the perpetrator of the acid attack.
Ultimately, suspense can also be created by deploying the important technique of foreshadowing. Crime fiction ideally presupposes something to happen in each episode, and that there is a consequential retribution from every action performed. By withholding the revelation of what is to come, foreshadowing creates suspense.
Therefore devising two scenes whereby the realisation scene is preceded by a foreshadowing scene, ultimately creates some form of suspense without a doubt.
As you may or may not have noticed about this study, I only briefly referred to Africa in the narrative paradigm of this study. This is because it has generally been African tradition to memorise events and then pass them on from generation to generation as oral literature; where Europe has relied on the written word for thousands of years – thus the birth of rhetoric in all its glory; Africa appears like the proverbial baby in the bathtub, rhetorically-speaking. Another limitation was the (African) tendency to generally gripe about neo-colonialism, the fast-ebbing past, or the imported decadence of the Western world and its imagined influence on future prospects on this continent; where content, plot and characterisation seem to have enjoyed much wider attention from the author in the forms of argumentation and explication, than the importance that rhetoric lays on ethos, pathos and logos at the various levels of exordium, narration, partition, confirmation, refutation and peroration. Since it is this latter phenomenon which directly interests me, I have allowed my energies to be expended in this direction within this study. 221
In 2011 a research group was formed in Pwani University in Kenya to participate in the never-ending debate about the language of African literature in Africa currently. This researcher was fortunate to be in the group and specifically studied some of the works of an Anglophone author (Ngugi wa Thiong’o and his French translator Yves Rivière), and a Francophone author (Ferdinand Oyono and his English translator John Reed).
This is because Ngugi now prefers to write in his mother tongue Gikuyu whereas
Oyono continues to write in his assimilated language - French. Whereas the other members researched non-fictional speeches by African authors in the English language, fiction written in the Kiswahili language and fiction written in the Gikuyu language of
Kenya, the intention of this researcher was not just to examine the rhetorical tools at play in the fictional stories of Ngugi and Oyono but also the effects of translation on the original works of the two authors.
Members of the social research group had their own reservations about the true language of African literature, particularly basing their argumentation on the geopolitical dispensation of the speakers of Kiswahili and French and English on the continent. However, judging from her own personal conclusions after three years of studied research in the rhetorical analyses of certain African authors, it is the opinion of this researcher that the language of any continent, leave alone Africa, need not be based on stereotypically racial or ethnic linguistic considerations. Neither should it be argued along geographical borders which in reality remain artificial. This, to the researcher, defeats the purpose of universality in literary expression and appreciation. This researcher contends that we live in a modern world which is fast becoming a global village and distinctions of this nature belong to the annals of imbedded ignorance; further, we need to celebrate the differences between us in order to annihilate the evil forces of division and kill xenophobic tendencies. 222
That the group disintegrated without coming to an official culmination of their work was nothing short of disappointing but, it didn’t detract from the tremendous interest the study had engendered in the analyses of those two authors (Ngugi wa Thiong’o and
Ferdinand Oyono). Therefore I use this paragraph as an important apostrophe at this point in the study, in order to establish prior rhetorical exercise in interrogating persuasion within the narrative genre.
The language of African literature ought to be and in actual fact is already evolving to become, the language of the heart; it is only the heart that can dictate what the hand is to write down on paper through the mind. If that heart and mind is founded on French assimilation policies then that is the appropriate language in which it should express its sentiments; if on the other hand Gikuyu, Swahili or English has been its deepest foundation, then that is armour that must shield it and profess any story for it. In fact the language of any human being on earth should not be determined by any theoretical boundaries but by the dictates of the soul that are manifested by the heart and mind of the individual. This is my firm and personal belief. My recommendation to future writers whether they write novels or short stories, is to set their imagination free and write as they feel. They needn’t follow any rules and regulations; these can come later when they analyse what they wrote and wish to refine their ideas. This was my recommendation to the Chief Investigator of the research group at the time and still remains so.
5.5 Understanding the genre of the short story
Most short stories can be read at one sitting where the short story can be defined as a work of fiction that is not as long as a novel or novelette. As has been mentioned elsewhere in this thesis, the short story is distinguished as one of the oldest forms of literature whereby evidence has it that fictional tales existed in Egypt way back in 3000 223
BC. The Decameron (about 1349 – 1353) is a collection of 100 tales by Giovanni
Boccaccio, an Italian writer. The Canterbury Tales (about 1385-1400) is a book of 24 stories by Geoffrey Chaucer, an English poet. (The World Book Encyclopaedia, 2006).
It was not until the 1800s that the short story began to be considered as a separate form of literature and Edgar Allan Poe, an American author and literary critic, was perhaps the first important writer to analyse short stories as a distinct literary form. In some of his writings Poe discussed the dramatic effects, such as fear and surprise that could be achieved in a short story; his ideas were widely used by the American critic Brander
Matthews in the first book written about short-story writing: The Philosophy of the
Short Story (1901). Wallace Stegner says about writing in general: “Some writers write, and some readers read, not to confront or examine their lives but to escape from them into a world where men are nobler and sexier, and women more beautiful, than in our nine-to-five world, and where male or female adventures, rape and murder, gang bangs and gang killings and space journeys, enliven with their fantasy our otherwise dull days.” (Stegner W., 2014)
A number of literary techniques have been developed by short story writers, including the surprise ending and the epiphany. Most surprise endings involve a surprising event or a revealing explanation; the specialty of O. Henry an American short story writer who wrote The Furnished Room (1904), The Gift of the Magi (1905) and many other tales. Epiphany is a sudden comment, incident or symbol that can be used at any point in the story to explain the meaning of a complex event. James Joyce, an Irish author of the early 1900s created this technique; he included it in a collection of short stories called Dubliners (1914).(The WBE, 2006) 224
Some writers of short stories concentrate on the events of ordinary life instead of emphasizing dramatic action. (The World Book Encyclopaedia 2006). Anton Chekov, a
Russian writer, used such an approach in many of his stories, including The Party
(1888) and The Lady and the Lapdog (1899).His style was followed by (the American authors) John Cheever and John Updike. American short story writers Ann Beattie,
Raymond Carver and Joyce Carol Oates have used the form to record breakdowns in modern life. A majority of African writers like Aidoo, Oyono and Thiong’o also favour this style; where ordinary life enjoys more descriptive narrative than the emphasis that can be deployed to become dramatic within the narrative.
I tend to believe that my brief anthology reflects similar happenings in ordinary life and the resultant breakdowns in some of the stories; but where ordinary life is disrupted by something untoward to the extent that it makes us think about the consequences and question the eventual outcome and then become emotively affected by it. I would recommend short story writing to anyone who immediately feels the need to get something off the chest in an imaginative and interesting way. It is a form of relaxation and is highly rewarding when stressful situations occur and the need to get away from the situation is to do so mentally. Likewise it is an antidote to physical weariness and mental boredom. When the tools of rhetorical understanding are well internalised, the joy of writing the short story are like receiving manna from heaven because the literary flow doesn’t ebb until it is well and truly wrenched out of the cognitive system and put down on paper.
EA Markham contributed a chapter in The Handbook of Creative Writing by Rosina
Qureshi entitled Reading, Writing and Teaching the Short Story where a number of observations bear a close correlation to some aspects of this study. In his discussion about the correlation between the world of the story and the story itself, he rightly 225 stipulates that the story is set in a world whose dimensions are far wider; and that merely suggesting that larger world, is to produce a story with some resonance to it and without much difficulty. He continues by saying that the narrative achieves its shape or direction from a quest that occurs either within the story or external to the story. So that the gist of the narrative becomes the wonderment of whether or not this quest is accomplished by the character as well as whether or not and why, the entire exercise will become either facilitated or frustrated. (Markham EA., 2007)
Markham continues by saying that a mechanical precision of detail is the exact opposite of what a writer attempts to achieve in his art; an art that “excites interest in its aliveness” because of the marriage between content and form which engenders this sophistication. Aristotle devised the form beginning-middle-end which traditionally works very well. However, this is an order of form where modern writers have gone against that tradition by reshuffling it; or even by selectively doing away with some element of it (and he quotes Borges, Calvino, Barthelme, Boyle, etc). These are writers who delight in creating new and unfamiliar structures ( Markham EA., 2007). Further, he is of the opinion that fictional space in short story writing can be widened by the dynamic interaction between all the characters as opposed to an essay for instance; and this contributes to what he calls ‘social depth’ (when new characters bring with them a new storyline). This is due to the fact that each character has a story of her own to tell, with a history to it, a current experience, a futuristic hope or fantasy; some of whose aspects are more than likely to conflict with the rest of the characters. This of course renders the fictional world more socially complex. I am acutely aware of these social complexities and because I’m highlighting them through means of selective rhetoric, this is where the socio-linguistic label for the study becomes justified. 226
When it comes to assessing the short story, Markham offers in the way of a guideline, the following three rules: linguistic vitality, formal innovation, and emotional truth.
CEMA, the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, which was created to encourage an appreciation of the arts in Britain, was established in London after
WW2. It is responsible for initially formulating these guidelines for the assessment of literature in general.
He goes on to elucidate that where freshness of language and an absence of cliché enrich the text, the text’s effectiveness does not solely depend upon the grammatical choices of the writer and that this is precisely what he means by linguistic vitality (
Markham EA., 2007). To say ‘She goes quickly’ to the door, or ‘She goes slowly’ to the door does, of course, communicate something of the sense of anticipation or reluctance with which the person in question goes to the door. But it might be useful to ask oneself whether ‘quickly’ or ‘slowly’ communicates enough of the ‘colour’ or
‘buried drama’ contained in those particular actions. Quite similarly, an emotion being successfully conveyed to the readership by the writer’s personal ability or competence is precisely what creates convincing fiction – and not the idea of the emotion itself.
This same linguistic vitality is what is required to be proven in a thesis of doctoral level and I have attempted to reproduce it in variation within the annexed anthology.
Familiarity with the genre in which one is working is what Markham refers to as
‘formal innovation’. This is an innovation of form that the readership may already have come across elsewhere from the creative productions of other writers or even from prior exposure to television, film and reading. The bottom line is for the writer to avoid appearing less sophisticated than their reader (Markham EA., 2007). 227
Markham advices sincerity when it comes to ‘emotional truth’. Using clichés in thought, in language or in form is akin to cheating about one’s feelings or emotions according to him. He advocates that sensibility and sentimentality should not be conflagrated. Empathy (which he encourages) and sentimentality (which he discourages as to be avoided at all costs) actually determines the relationship between writer and fictional character; one that can become unequal between them if greater currency is devoted towards sentimentality. According to Markham, the exercise of writing bears the primary objective of appearing to be convincingly true to the readership, and precisely because of highly effective presentation. That the writer is showing off or demonstrating the extent to which they are clever , bears no import whatsoever.
Likewise, Markham adds that care must be taken to ensure that the character’s actions stem from their personality; and that these same actions are in response to their particular situation since they are after all, entitled to their human rights just like anyone else.
His commentary on characters in the fictional short story alludes to the fact that one should always give the impression that the character is living a life which the story just happens to shed light on (to break into), and that this life will continue to be lived well after the story has ended, unless the person dies in the story. Therefore without necessarily telling the readership, the writer should decide well beforehand what the fictional character was doing prior to their introduction into the storyline – whether that timeline is in minutes, days, months, or any other chronological reference (Markham
EA.,2007) Additionally, it must be appreciated that the application of dialogue must be to characterise so that information is not necessarily conveyed through dialogue. Tone is thereafter mentioned where Markham is of the opinion that the author must not get in the way of her characters. If the child narrating has been given the experience – the 228 sensibility and vocabulary – of the adult author, then that violates the tone. This is because it’s worth remembering that the author is at the service of her characters and not the other way around. Within the annexed anthology, the researcher has maintained this distinction as a writer in the storyline A True Story. Likewise in the storyline The
Portrait, the same distinction is sustained between a local dog and a pedigree dog by the writer attributing human linguistic qualities to the two canines. (As an adlib this storyline is an internationally award-winning example of practical creative writing with some modifications.)
Before the 19th Century, the short story was not generally regarded as a distinct literary form. But although in this sense it may seem to be a uniquely modern genre, the fact is that short prose fiction is nearly as old as language itself. These are examples of various types of brief narratives: jests, anecdotes, studied digressions, short allegorical romances, moralizing fairy tales, short myths and abbreviated historical legends.
(www.britannica.com) Scholars of practical creative writing draw from this repertoire, as has already been seen, and the modern short story everywhere has strains of the idiosyncrasies that emerge from this milieu.
As a genre the short story received little critical attention through the middle of the 20th
Century and the most valuable studies of the form were often limited by region or era.
The Irish short story writer Frank O’Connor (The Lonely Voices, 1963) attempted to account for the genre by suggesting that stories are a means for “submerged population groups” to address a dominating community. Most other theoretical discussions however were predicated in one way or another on Edgar Allan Poe’s thesis that stories must have a compact unified effect. The prevalence of the words “sketch” and “tale” affords one way of looking at the genre. Virtually hundreds of books claiming to be collections of sketches are to be found in the US alone: The Sketch Book by 229
Washington Irving, Suburban Sketches by William Dean Howells; or collections of tales: Poe’s Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, Herman Melville’s The Piazza
Tales. These two terms establish the polarities of the milieu out of which the modern short story grew.
The Tale is much older than the sketch; it’s a manifestation of a culture’s un-aging desire to name and conceptualize its place in the cosmos. They are frequently fully understood only by members of the particular culture to which they belong. Tales are intracultural. A tale is a medium through which a culture speaks to itself and thus perpetuates its own values and stabilizes its own identity. In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, the old speak to the young through tales; thus the existence of oral literature in that continent for literally hundreds of years.
The Sketch by contrast is intercultural, depicting some phenomenon of one culture for the benefit or pleasure of a second culture. In essence it is generally more analytic or descriptive and less narrative or dramatic than the tale. Moreover, the Sketch by nature is suggestive, incomplete; the Tale is often hyperbolic, overstated. The primary mode of the sketch is written, that of the tale, spoken. This difference alone accounts for their strikingly different effects. The tale-teller is an agent of time, bringing together a culture’s past and its present. The sketch writer is more an agent of space, bringing an aspect of one culture to the attention of a second (The WBE, 2006).
In the 19th Century, certain writers combined elements of the tale with elements of the sketch: Nikolai Gogol, Hawthorne, ETA Hoffman, Heinrich von Kleist, Prosper
Mérimée, Poe: the “fathers” of the modern short story. Each writer worked in his own way but the general effect was to mitigate some of the fantasy and stultifying conventionality of the tale, and at the same time, to liberate the sketch from its bondage to strict factuality. The modern short story ranges between the highly imaginative tale 230 and the photographic sketch and in some ways draws on both. This is highly evident within the annexed anthology.
The short story encapsulates the essence of literary modernism, and has an enduring ability to capture the episodic nature of 20th Century experience. LP Hartley noted how readers in the 1960s were apt to ‘devour them singly on a news sheet’ but would be disinclined to read them in collections. The reason for this was (and is) the ‘unusual concentration’ that the genre demands, a concentration that permits no respite in a series of short stories; because starting and stopping exhausts the reader’s attention, just as starting and stopping uses up the petrol in a car(Hartley LP., 2002)
According to one Dominic Head, there are now new ways of representing the social world displayed in modernist fiction (which is what the anthology in this study portrays) and in defining the role of fiction-making in the 20th Century. The new short story is concurrent with the emergence of literary modernism; a concurrence that is more than circumstantial since there are various connections between the formal properties and capacities of the short story, and new ways of representing the social world displayed in modernist fiction(Head D., 2010).
5.6 Classicism and its literary invention: rhetoric
Classicism is a philosophy of art and life that emphasizes order, balance and simplicity
(The WBE, 2006)). The ancient Greeks were the first great classicists (in Europe); later the Romans, French, English and others produced classical movements. Each group developed its own unique characteristics, but all reflected certain common ideals of art, humanity and the world. The qualities of classicism are clear in that it contrasts with the philosophy of art and life called romanticism. Classicism stresses reason and analysis while romanticism stresses imagination and the emotions. Classicism seeks what is universally true, good and beautiful; romanticism seeks what is exceptional and the 231 unconventional. Where romanticism is often sympathetic to revolutions in society and art, classical artists follow formal rules of composition more closely than romantic artists do.
The first classical period in the West arose in ancient Greece and reached its height between 400 and 300 BC. The Greeks praised reason and denounced emotionalism and exaggeration. They tried to see all reality within a unified system that gave it meaning and direction. Greek artists showed the beauty of the human form. Where the sculptures of Phidias and Praxiteles are magnificent examples of proportioned human figures,
Aeschylus, Sophocles and Eurypides wrote tragedies about the power of fate and the danger of excessive pride. This is what gave rise to the art of oration and the performance of orators and subsequently, attention to rhetoric as a means of persuasion intended towards the listeners. Roman classicism followed that of the Greeks, ardently adopting Greek classical values and adding a unique emphasis on civilization as an organized cooperative undertaking; one where under the influence of the statesman and orator Cicero, civic responsibility gained a new importance. (Fetzer N., 2015).)
The French classical movement of the 1600s developed the most diverse expression of classical values ever seen in the Western world. French classicists placed especially strong emphasis on reason and the intellect in analysing ideas and human actions. The most important people in the intellectual and literary history of the French classical period include the mathematician philosophers Blaise Pascal and René Descartes; the moralist writer Duc de la Rochefoucauld; the writer of fables for a precautious audience
Jean de la Fontaine; and the dramatists Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine. The English classical period followed French classicism. It arose in the late 1600s and peaked in mid-1700; they modelled their movement on the classicism of France, Greece and
Rome. The English strove for good taste and truth to nature. The uses of rhetoric 232 became more defined and it became especially popular among political leaders and army generals instilling their armies to warfare (Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle).
It is instructive that several of the rhetorical devices that made their speeches memorable have been employed within the anthology of this thesis.
In Germany and German-speaking Austria, music rather than literature best expressed classical ideals. Among the great classical composers are Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig Van Beethoven. In the late 1700s in Germany, a classical literature flourished beside romantic literature. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe is often regarded as the finest classical as well as the finest romantic German writer.(Fetzer,
1996)Rhetorical expression in German creative writing was at par with musical compositions that became world renowned masterpieces par excellence(The WBE,
2006)
In the 30 years between 461 to 431 BC in Athens, the centre of Greek culture became known as the Golden Age. Drama flourished, particularly tragedy. Turning to philosophical literature, about 450 BC a group of philosophers called Sophists became prominent and they were scholars to teachers of theories of knowledge. Their great literary invention was rhetoric, the art of composing and delivering persuasive speeches. The sophist movement contributed to the rise of prose, especially oration, over poetry in Athens. Isocrates and Demosthenes were important political figures who were also famous writers of orations. (Fetzer, 1996). These were the early beginnings of rhetoric as an art.
5.7 Reading rhetorically as an adjunct to rhetorical analysis.
The concept of rhetorical reading is attending “both to what authors say and how they say it” (Wallace S., 2017). Reading this way fosters analytical awareness that “enables 233
(you as a reader) to discern how well your purposes for reading match the author’s purposes for writing.” In high school students use reading and writing to demonstrate that they have learned something. To be successful college students however, they must learn to use reading and writing as activities through which they not only gather information and gain expertise but also make arguments, create new knowledge, and get things done in the world (Chappell, 2002).
This study takes into account the goal of helping students appreciate what rhetorical readers gain not only from weighing their purposes against an author but, from discerning and scrutinizing the larger conversation in which a given text seeks to participate. Effective rhetorical readers can analyse how a text works to fit itself into a context and can judge how well it accomplishes its purpose there. Effective rhetorical readers can also respond to a text constructively, perhaps resisting its argument, perhaps extending its argument, to accommodate their own understanding of the subject. Effective rhetorical readers can incorporate key elements of their reading into their own writing, writing that in turn accomplishes their purposes in school, on the job, or in the community(Chappell, 2002).
Reading is a purposeful activity; that purpose (why) is related to method (how) for both readers and writers. Reading is a vital part of daily life and entails reading for a wide range of purposes (Chappell, 2002). The notion of reading includes “invisible” types that are done on a daily basis: bill-boards, bus signs, advertisements, etc.
Academic reading and writing are best understood as ongoing conversations. Reading rhetorically enables one to meet the special demands of academic reading. The purposes of academic reading are to learn both conceptual knowledge (the course’s subject matter) and procedural knowledge (the discipline’s way of making knowledge); 234 successful readers must attend to both what texts are saying and how they are saying it.
Reading rhetorically means reading with this double focus. There are two pieces of background knowledge that inform the concept of rhetorical reading: 1.) reading is an act of composing and 2.) skilled writers make rhetorical choices based on context; experienced readers build a context for reading and match their strategies with the text’s genre and their own purposes for reading (Chappell, 2002). It is therefore highly recommended that if the anthology includedb in this study was read leisurely, it needs to be re-read rhetorically in order to be fully-appreciated, in order to not just impart but embed the pearls of rhetorical wisdom that make up the basis of this study.
As for defining the concept of rhetorical analysis, suffice it to say that rhetorical analysis is a form of criticism (or close reading) that employs the principles of rhetoric to examine the interactions between a text, an author, and an audience; also called rhetorical criticism or pragmatic criticism (Corbett EPJ., 1985). Rhetorical analysis may be applied to virtually any text or image, a speech, an essay, an advertisement, a poem, a photograph, a web page, even a bumper sticker. When applied to a literary work, rhetorical analysis regards the work not as an aesthetic object but as an artistically structured instrument for communication. As Edward P.J. Corbett has observed, rhetorical analysis "is more interested in a literary work for what it does than for what it is."
5.8 Conclusion
The researcher set out to examine certain rhetorical tools and devices that advanced the art of persuasion. The normal exigencies of a doctoral thesis in creative writing, especially at tertiary level in the UK, compelled me as the researcher to make use of an original anthology and base most of the research on authentic work as a writer. What 235 was central to the study was to demonstrate how the emotive component of literary creativity is indispensable, especially within the genre of short story writing. Findings in the study not only highlighted this possibility but, coupled with the use of a home- grown Likert Scale, these findings also demonstrated the degrees to which a reader could be persuaded by the writer who uses the literary proof of pathos with deliberate intent. What the findings brought to the fore was the inherent domain of linguistic competence of any narrator who wishes to achieve some influence upon their readership; competence that would make a poem tragic, make a song hilarious, make a speech memorable, make a text about food edible, make a narrative about making love erotic, make any graphic storyline unforgettable; just because of a commendably judicial appropriation of selected tools and relevant devices of rhetorical impetus in the domain of literary creativity (as opposed to script writing and play writing whose depiction and impetus of these tools and devices of rhetoric would heavily depend upon the actor for instance).
Throughout the study the objective has been to employ the tripartite pertinence of the literary proofs of ethos, logos and pathos that were well established by Aristotle as being inevitable in the pursuit of persuasion. What was new was exploring the different facets of emotive behavior in vastly different and fictional settings as practical creativity from the same narrator; and concurrently giving pathetic appeal a primacy that is normally enjoyed by one of the other two literary proofs; to the extent that in this particular study, the readership was generally influenced to a larger degree by pathos as opposed to logos or ethos. This was in spite of the contention by the great philosopher himself that logic being an appeal to the readers’ collective intellect, presupposes that a rhetor (as within the medium of writing) that provides arguments, stands a better chance of persuading his readers than one who does not. The participating readers were 236 persuaded by the story used in the research study, to a point where almost all of them professed to have been somewhat affected by it. This was highly intended by the researcher. In other words, within this study, the logic that appealed to the intellect of the readership went further to appeal to their sense of humanity and allowed them to become affected rather more than to become analytical – because of the tools and devices that were deliberately used to accomplish just such a result.
In answer to the research questions posed in this study therefore, the following can be said:
1. How do certain rhetorical tools and devices succeed in persuading the reader and to what extent?
Rhetorical tools are predominantly figures of speech that the reader can relate to very well. Where a tool like personification literally personifies inanimate objects around the scene or within the event, this results in emphasis and succeeds in drawing out the empathy of the reader. Where a tool like euphemism causes indirect suggestions about an otherwise dire situation, this results in the reader being cushioned from shock or undue discomfort. Where a tool like irony juxtaposes two opposing enigmas for the purposes of clarity, this results in opinionating the readership. Where a tool like satire draws upon a parallelism that is often very stark, the results are always a profound understanding of the issues at hand, sometimes to the point of eliciting comic relief.
Where a tool like metaphor consists of euphemistic connotations in order to become more descriptive, this may even produce the extreme result of physical tears from the readership in the writer’s effort to engender grief. 237
Where a tool like flashback allows the reader to live in a space in time that immediately precedes the events that are currently on hand, the result is a clearer understanding of the said events. Where a tool like foreshadowing subtly prepares the reader for something to come, the result becomes a moment of “déjà vu” for the reader, an experience that comes as no surprise for the reader. Where a tool like caricature which is descriptive writing that greatly exaggerates a specific feature of a person’s appearance or a facet of personality, usually for the purpose of comic relief and sometimes in order to create curiosity, and also to build expectation in the reader, the result then varies from outright laughter, to a simmer, to a smile, to curiosity that ends in some measure of happy satisfaction.
Most of the rhetorical devices used were those where one didn’t require logical understanding prior to deciphering the prevalence of any particular sentiment.
Therefore similar results to those mentioned above were created by the judicial use of devices that:
- Hastened or slowed down the pace of reading: anaphora (a succession of
sentences beginning with the same word or group of words); asyndeton (the
deliberate omission of conjunctions that would normally be used, where
commas are used to separate a series of words); epanaphora (repeating the
same word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses); epiphora (the
repetition of a phrase or word at the end of several sentences or clauses);
aposiopesis (an abrupt stop in the middle of a sentence, used by the writer to
convey unwillingness or inability to complete a thought or statement);
apostrophe (a sudden turn in a text towards an exclamatory address to an 238
imaginary person or thing); isocolon (a string of phrases of corresponding
structure and equal length).
- Caused fear or anxiety: anadiplosis (repeating the last word of one clause or
phrase to begin the next); erotema (the proverbial rhetorical question where
a question is asked to which an answer is not expected); hyperbole ( a figure
of speech where emphasis is achieved through exaggeration, independently,
or through comparison); hyperbaton ( a figure of speech where words that
naturally belong together are separated from each other for emphasis or for
effect); maxim (a saying drawn from life, which shows concisely either what
happens or ought to happen in life); ominacio ( a prophecy of evil).
- Amused or made the reader laugh: raw humor (anything that causes laughter
or amusement); alliteration (repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning
of words that are close to one another); insultatio (abusing a person to his or
her face by using irony and derisive language); colloquialism ( a word or
phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or
familiar conversation); facetiae ( humor or wit); localism ( a word, phrase or
custom particular to one’s location).
- Made the reader curious: motif ( a repeated pattern or idea; main theme or
subject of a work that is elaborated on in the development of the piece);
charisma ( an attribute that allows the speaker’s words (in a narrative) to
become powerful); epigraph ( the use of a quotation at the beginning of a
work that hints at its theme); epistrophy ( a succession of clauses, phrases or
sentences that all end with the same word or group of words); metonymy ( a
figure of speech which substitutes one word or phrase for another with
which it is closely associated). 239
- Developed a sense of pity or compassion: figures of speech (expressions
such as similes, metaphors and personifications, that make imaginative
rather than literal comparisons or associations); freight-train ( a sentence
consisting of three or more very short independent clauses joined by
conjunctions); euphony (a succession of harmonious sounds); causal
analysis (a form of writing that examines causes and effects of events or
conditions as they relate to a specific subject); lyrical (songlike;
characterized by emotions, subjectivity and imagination).
- Surprised the reader: non-sequitur (a statement bearing no relationship to
the preceding context); invective (a verbally abusive attack); brachylogia
(brevity of diction); noema (speech that is deliberately subtle or obscure);
oictos (to show pity or compassion).
- Left the reader at a loss or in doubt: cacophony (harsh, awkward or
dissonant sounds that are used deliberately in poetry or prose); interior
monologue (writing that records the conversation that occurs inside a
character’s head); antistrophe (repeating the last word in successive
phrases); dissonance (harsh or grating sounds that do not go together);
prolepsis ( a literary device in which a future state is spoken of in the
present); red herring ( when a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw
attention away from the real issue).
- Caused anger or distaste to the reader: coherence ( a quality in effective
writing that results from the careful ordering of each sentence in a
paragraph, and each paragraph in the essay); dissoi logoi ( contradictory
arguments); epanalepsis (a figure of speech in which the same word or
phrase appears both at the beginning and at the end of a clause); 240
polysyndeton ( the repeated use of conjunctions within a sentence,
particularly where they do not necessarily have to be used); brevitas ( a
concise expression); ecphonesis ( a sentence consisting of a single word or
short phrase ending with an exclamation point).
All these rhetorical devices brought about persuasion in varying degrees.
2. From among the literary proofs of pathos, ethos and logos, can primacy be selectively and definitively established for pathos?
Yes. Primacy was most definitively established for pathetic appeal. The writer of the storyline used in the research study had every intention to show how evil it is to harm someone else just because of mere speculation. That the harm was so grievous as to merit reciprocal punishment to the perpetrator according to the sacrosanct religious laws of the day meant that the readership would be drawn into the action and attendant anticipation of what would befall the woeful miscreant; that, instead, this belligerence was rewarded with forgiveness, further persuaded the readership to either flow with the wave of forgiveness or suffer the utter disappointment of non-retribution. This emotive stream of expectancy, then eventual forgiveness and probable disappointment, ebbs and flows like a river within the psyche of the reader; which is why it is this appeal to sentiment (pathos) that supersedes the appeal to reason (logos), precisely because emotion doesn’t allow for one to become analytical – especially not when the writer has been poignantly graphic throughout her narration. Pathetic appeal deserves stronger recognition than it has hitherto enjoyed.
241
5.9 Recommendations
The researcher sees a lot of room for expansion within the domain of further research.
Future scholars can make use of any of the storylines annexed here to explore other dimensions of contemporary pathos. Where this study elicited sadness and pity for instance, another can focalize on anger or the converse joy, love or the converse hate, guilt and remorse, curiosity, gratification and even indifference.
Apart from contemporary pathos, logos or ethos can be willfully explored in order to give one or the other primacy within a storyline that has been tried and tested in a similar way to the one in this study. Likewise, various other selections of rhetorical tools and devices can be given prominence in order to produce a laudable work of creativity; one that adequately and appropriately dabbles with persuasion towards a readership of creative writing and in any language. Future studies of this nature can dwell upon the style of writing, a field that is closely related to techniques of persuasion and which is still open to further interrogation. Good rhetoric starts with good word choice, with straightforward sentences and well-structured paragraphs and eventual improvement of the rhetoric of a whole argument (https://literaryterms.net>when-and- how-to-improve-your-rhetoric). Therefore a researcher who wishes to use rhetoric as a theory of reference needs to be cognizant of this good practice.
Since the aim of rhetoric is to inform, educate, persuade or motivate specific audiences in specific situations, any one of these purposes can be expounded upon within the aegis of a research study based on creative writing. According to Aristotle, emotional change came about through changes in the level of intensity with which the emotions are felt (Rhetoric II ii 1377b – 1378a). Emotional intensity alters in accordance with the spatial and temporal proximity of the people or situations that arouse them. The relation 242 of spatial proximity to emotional intensity depends upon social hierarchy as much as it depends upon being close to one another either physically or relationally (Crowley,
2008). In this study, emotional intensity was discussed as generalized interpretations.
Further studies can avoid initial inferences of the data collected and directly involve the readership (units) in a well-defined Likert Scale; to collect responses which wouldn’t require further analysis.
Some authorities think that Aristotle followed Plato’s advice in Book II chapters 12 –
17 of the Rhetoric where he developed some general guidelines for evaluating the emotional states of audiences (or readers) (Crowley, 2009). This was because the philosopher Plato had expounded upon the importance of the characters of audiences who listened to discourse by eminent rhetors. Future studies based on persuasion in creative writing can adapt this teaching to the written word; where once again the tripartite assembly of literary proofs will jostle for prominence or have their pertinence selectively augmented or diminished in a research study whose tools and devices will also be carefully selected.
It is also recommended that scholars of communication use this thesis as a way of discovering some of the facets of communication that are brought about and sustained by popular rhetorical tools. The same scholars can benefit from reappropriation of the rhetorical devices that can meet their purpose of persuading the other party in any given case. The social and behavioral theories that are a point of reference within the anthology can also serve as a guide for future research studies at doctoral level, since this is a level that demands original creative writing as a practice as being an important exigency; whether it’s in the form of an anthology, a short story, a poem, a speech, a script or a screen play. 243
Ultimately as the researcher I cannot leave out the other great philosophers who have ingeniously influenced productive creativity in the genre of the short story over the millennia: the teacher of Aristotle, Plato, and the teacher of Plato, Socrates. Their invaluable contribution to creative writing in general and to persuasion in particular, can also engender future studies in ultra-modern prose fiction such as this study; whether the setting is in Africa or elsewhere in the world.
Summary of Chapter five: Discussion, conclusion & recommendations.
There are salient issues that any learner of creative writing would want to delve into as a catalyst to their own creative productions. Therefore respecting some of the rules and regulations that govern for example the ethnology of communication and speaking mainly serves to enrich their creative output. How writing evolved and what authors say about the basic notions of writing like tonality, aesthetical and functional preoccupations as well as the role played by metalinguistics (Vinay J-P, 1977) is in fact very important to know for the learner of literary creativity to whom this study is destined. Fiction too has to be discussed particularly because literary fiction recognizes short stories and novels as the forms that are the most popular.
Within the discussion it’s not just the demeanor of the creative writer which is taken into account but also the perspectives of content, tone and subject matter. Techniques of creative suspense for instance, or any other emotive notions are at par with the above perspectives; particularly that of tone. This is why I mentioned that in an attempt to qualify the language of African literature, it was my proven conviction as a member of that research group, to arrive at the conclusion that the language of African literature comes directly from the heart of the creative writer. This language from the heart is transformed in the mind and ultimately rhetorically conveyed in order to be shared; a 244 short story that can be expressed in Kiswahili, Arabic, English or French – the language of the heart. This kind of understanding of the genre of the short story is actually highly imperative.
Classicism is a movement that has to be understood in discussions about any literary endeavor. This is because as a philosophy it emphasized order, balance and simplicity within the annals of governmental evolution in the Western World. Rhetoric is a literary invention of classicism; one where oral delivery was expected to be explicit, felicitous and persuasive. It was no different in written form. In either of the cases it was the audience or the reader who was being targeted influentially by the rhetor and this rhetor always resorted to rhetoric in order to achieve their ends. Effective rhetorical readers (such as those who practice rhetorical analysis) can incorporate key elements of their reading into their own writing (Chappell, 2002). Reading rhetorically also enables one to meet the special demands of academic reading. Successful readers must attend to both what a text is saying and how the text is saying it. Reading rhetorically means reading with this double focus. As for rhetorical analysis, when applied to a literary work, it regards the work not as an aesthetic object but as an artistically structured instrument for communication (Corbett, 1985).
The researcher set out to examine certain rhetorical tools and devices that advanced the art of persuasion. The normal exigencies of a doctoral thesis in creative writing, especially at tertiary level in the UK, compelled me as the researcher to make use of an original anthology and base most of the research on authentic work as a writer. What was central to the study was to demonstrate how the emotive component of literary creativity is indispensable, especially within the genre of short story writing. Findings in the study not only highlighted this possibility but, coupled with the use of a home- 245 grown Likert Scale, these findings also demonstrated the degrees to which a reader could be persuaded by the writer who uses the literary proof of pathos with deliberate intent.
What the findings brought to the fore was the inherent domain of linguistic competence of any narrator who wishes to achieve some influence upon their readership; competence that would make a poem tragic, make a song hilarious, make a speech memorable, make a narrative about food edible, make a storyline unforgettable; just because of a commendably judicial appropriation of selected tools and relevant devices of rhetorical impetus in the domain of literary creativity (as opposed to script writing and play writing whose demand for them is far less for instance).
Therefore in answer to the research questions posed in this study, the following has been ascertained:
Q1. How do certain rhetorical tools and devices succeed in persuading the reader and to what extent?
The italicized tools that were specifically selected in this study achieved their measurable and realistic objectives both by inference and more scientifically, through the use of a rating scale. The italicized rhetorical devices that were also specifically selected in this study produced identical results to the aforementioned tools since they were also deployed for the same reasons. The extent to which these rhetorical devices succeeded becomes obvious within the answer to the second of the research questions.
Q2. From among the literary proofs of pathos, ethos and logos, can primacy be selectively and definitively established for pathos? 246
The emotions of surprise (at the acid attack) followed by anguish (at the pain that this attack caused to its victim) followed by judgement (the reader’s moral and personal convictions) followed by either dismay (that the attacker was forgiven instead of being punished) or relief (that the accused would not suffer physically after all)…these are all emotive instances that elevate the importance of pathos. The resounding answer to this question is beyond the shadow of a doubt affirmative.
The recommendations involve, but are not limited to:
- Liberal use of the stories within the anthology for literary, communicational
and linguistic research
- Focalizing on different other rhetorical tools and devices in creative
practice, in order to explore possibilities that are offered by the other literary
appeals
- Exploring style in all its different facets
- Switching the focus to the characters of the readers (their psychological
dispensations) rather than just to their reactions
- Write creatively in order to give pre-eminence to logic (a detective story for
instance)
- Select social and behavioural theories from this study (as well as from
elsewhere) that can act as a point of reference for future endeavours of
creative writing as a practice at tertiary level.
- Borrowing ideas other than the tripartite proofs within the rhetorical
triangle, from the three greatest masters of all literary endeavours: Aristotle,
his teacher Plato, and his teacher Socrates
- Focalising on the environmental settings to replenish gaps that are related to
culturalism and its influence upon the protagonists 247
RECAPITULATIVE POEM:
THERE’S MEANING IN EVERY MOMENT – Amanda Bradley
The following poem by Amanda Bradley brilliantly encapsulates everything that I have expounded upon in this doctoral thesis about the narrative paradigm in creative writing
(read fiction) and the art of persuasion. It is used here as a peroration to the study – inclusive of the pictorial support that accompanies it.
248
Fig.21
There’s meaning to be found in every moment,
In everything we think and see and do…
There’s purpose to be found in every challenge
And joy in every dream that we pursue.
There’s warmth in every kindness that we’re given,
And every kindness we ourselves may give…
There’s meaning to be found in every moment,
In every hour of EVERY DAY WE LIVE.
Fig. 22
249
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Zarefsky D (2001).“ Argumentation” Encyclopaedia of Rhetoric. Oxford Univ. Press. http://mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/westturner/student_resources/theories.htm http://www.peoi.org/Courses/Coursesen/mass/mass2.htm http://www.lacheret.co./Xinhua/UPLOAD/ prosodie-cours1.pdf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/016763939290056D http://www.shutterstock.com https://www.literarydevices.net>persuasion 263 httpa://www.books.google.co.ke https://bookriot.com>2018/03/20 www.britannica.comhttpa://jerz.setonhill.edu>creative1 https://people.richland.edu>ch01-not https://m.youtube.com/watch (Fetzer, Nancy.2015(?) Narrative Writing with Figurative
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264
APPENDICES APPENDIX 1. Brief anthology of short stories
Nine original annotated storylines will now be narrated with a heavy bias towards women and girls and the issues that plague them; not in all but most of the stories, at different stages in a lifetime and in different places on this planet.
After a thematic interpretation of the story in line with two of the five canons of rhetoric – arrangement and style - a rhetorical analysis will follow in the form of a synopsis within a table designed after the Classical (Aristotelian) and Toulmin theories.
The synopses are not an explication of the narrative text; they are a close reading in the
New Criticism style of narrative analysis where Toulmin’s model and the classical theory are merged.
This academic exercise is preceded by the story itself and a sampling of some of the rhetorical tools utilized within it annotated at the end of the story. This means that each story will be annotated with certain tools of rhetoric that render it memorable. Then each story will be followed by a synopsis which will collate Aristotle’s artistic proofs with Toulmin’s system in an effort to understand the invention and keep pace with the delivery.
The details of Toulmin’s model have been outlined within the aegis of argumentation in fiction. Therefore at this point it is important to understand Aristotle’s artistic proofs which are defined as ethos (ethical proof), pathos (emotional proof) and logos (logical proof). In classical rhetoric, proofs (or means of persuasion) are created by a speaker, in this case the writer. In Greek, any of these means of persuasion are referred to as entechnoipisteis. 265
The Five Canons of Rhetoric, as defined by the Roman philosopher Cicero and the unknown author of Rhetorica ad Herennium, the canons of rhetoric are these five overlapping divisions of the rhetorical process: Invention, Arrangement, Style,
Memory, and Delivery. Thematic interpretation of each story is useful in guiding one to appreciate even more, the depth of the three appeals or means of persuasion.
My thematic interpretation of each storyline will respect only two of the five canons of rhetoric: arrangement and style; bearing in mind Cicero and Quintilian’s 6 identified parts of arrangement: exordium, narrative, partition or division, confirmation, refutation, and peroration or conclusion; as well as Quintilian’s 3 identified levels of style: plain style (for instructing an audience), middle style (for moving an audience) and high style (for pleasing an audience). This is purely for reasons of brevity and avoidance of appearing to be pedantic.
The following steps therefore (Chappell, 202) are very important in the process of rhetorical analysis:
1 Identify a significant effect the text had on you as a reader: positive-negative
response; tension; contradiction; confusion; surprise for example the mismatch
between the blurb, the title and the actual content of the text; decide what
reasons there are for making the claim.
2 Re-read the text to select rhetorical strategies and the key terms that help to
answer the question; they will serve as an analytical lens for examining the text
(like the author’s reasoning or use of logos).
3 Find specific examples of use of the strategy, taking notes on how this strategy
contributes to the effect you have identified. 266
4 Review notes and compose a working thesis that offers a new perspective or
insight on the text’s meaning and methods or that offers you evaluation of the
text’s effectiveness based on your rhetorical analysis.
5 Write a draft that has the following elements:
An introduction that includes (a) a brief summary of the text, (b) contextual
information about the text’s audience, purpose, genre and so on and (c) your
thesis or conclusions about the text’s significant rhetorical effect.
A series of body paragraphs that develop the thesis by discussing specific
rhetorical strategies that produce the rhetorical effect and by citing specific
textual evidence to back up your analytical points.
A conclusion that makes it clear why this effect is significant and why the
insights gleaned from your analysis are significant to other readers. What
new understanding results from your analysis? Why is this understanding
important? How does your analysis lead to a particular assessment of a
text’s effectiveness or ineffectiveness? For example: the annotations after
all the storylines in this anthology point out all the above elements.
6 Revise your draft after you have received peer feedback. Here are some
questions that your peers can use as a guide in responding to your draft:
Does the writer offer a brief, accurate, and fair summary of the text to be
analyzed?
Does the writer provide information about the text’s context – that is, its
apparent purpose, intended audience, genre, date and place of publication?
Does the writer state a thesis drawn from her or his rhetorical analysis or
pose a question that can be addressed through rhetorical analysis? 267
Does the writer offer a clear purpose for her/his rhetorical analysis? That is,
does she or he offer a reason why other readers should be interested in her or
his analysis?
Has the writer clearly identified the rhetorical strategies she/he is using as an
analytical lens? Are these strategies appropriate to the writer’s purpose? Is it
clear that the writer understands these strategies and is applying them with
insight?
Does the writer use textual evidence to support her/his analytical points?
Does the writer’s rhetorical analysis offer a new perspective that enables
readers to understand the text more deeply or differently?
This is the process of rhetorical analysis one needs to draw upon as they enjoy this anthology. It makes an important learning tool for students of rhetoric and rhetorical analysis.
1.1 Story 1.
The following story is about a Caucasian senior citizen in a foreign country (Eritrea).
She is in depression after losing her husband – very much younger than her - one of a long line of husbands. Understanding her state of mind given this tremendous sense of loss is what the storyline is all about. This is a story intended for an adult middle-aged audience who may want to identify with her. The title is reflective of the nature of making quick decisions without deep reflection beforehand. The story is heterodiegetic, circa 1989 and published (2018); it poses the question whether money is really the source of unfettered happiness and content and goes on to imply that the rich also cry just like the not-so-rich. Therefore it relies heavily on flashbacks, euphony and consonance and erotema where rhetorical questions go unanswered, as its main 268 rhetorical strategies. The effectiveness of the story is not just in the pictures, it is also in the imagery employed and the final ‘ reductio ad absurdum’.
Fig.1
GO!
There it was staring her in the face; here was her chance at last. She knew it instinctively. It had to be now or never….
For years and years she’d waited and planned, and dreamed and hoped and hoped and hoped1 until that had dwindled and changed to bitter regret, hate of others, fear of herself and finally – nothing. Nothing at all2. She could see her whole life flash past in the sort of magic way that memories are made of; all flashing past in those few, fleeting3 seconds before she was to make the most important decision in her life.
Oh she remembered the world of giants – giant animals, giant people, giant4chairs; only the little harmless insects were her friends, everyone else had seemed too remote and 269 unreal5. Then, when the years of opinion, prejudice and self-importance descended upon her, she’d had to play the role of motherless child, a runaway, searching for those corners of the world that were farthest from the reach of her cruel stepmother. Her father’s immense wealth had permitted that escapade, but at what cost to the young girl…
India had been an about-turn for this New Yorker. A meaningless relationship with a planless6Italian Gypsy who suffered from religious delusions of grandeur, only emphasized the flies, sickness and natural calamities that India had to offer.
Then she’d gone to more comfortable Italy, where the very air the Italians breathed was said to be scented with romance. Alas history was to repeat itself in another meaningless relationship which stretched on for months – this time with a guitar fanatic whose music few people understood and fewer still recognized; the man lost job after job because of his love of and total devotion to that instrument7. She’d known almost as soon as they’d started to live together that his guitar took up more space in his heart and mind, than anyone or anything else in the world.
But Spain8 had offered a glimmer of hope for an otherwise wasted life: a husband.
Ricardo Raoul was half Italian and half Spanish and he’d chosen to leave his drunken
Italian father for good and settle down in Spain, where his maternal relatives doted on him and ceaselessly impressed upon him the utter folly of ever changing that wise decision. How unfortunate then that he was to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a drunk himself so that, after an eight-year childless marriage the holy union had ended up in divorce.
Nor was it the only one. Starting afresh in posh Paris, now with a thriving art business of her own, who should chance to visit her first-ever exhibition than the charming 270
Arnold Perrier whose father was a wine baron in his own right. The good-looking young man wasted no time either and after a brief fairy tale romance, they were wed in a small country church near Lille (his parents were very religious). Yet happiness was not to be everlasting. Too many women were wont to be seen9 with the rich and good- looking Arnold Perrier; so many were they that he soon started to confuse his priorities to his wedded wife with those he gave to his mistresses.
So she’d fled from Europe; heading for Africa10, somewhere remote, little-known, a dot on the map. That’s how she came to be in this dusty little town. She knew every corner of it, every building, the market place, the beach, the two churches, the main mosque – all of them almost intimately; and why shouldn’t she, after having lived here with her late husband for the last eight years? And they had been the best years of her life really.
Ahmed had only been a simple fisherman, religious but not a zealot. His own wife had died giving birth to unidentical twins Rahma and Ali. Then they had deserted him with the help of relatives, and gone back to her people. So when she came into his life it was as if both of them had needed such a break.
Should she take her chance then11? What did she have to lose? A middle-aged woman with no children; no family here nor in America. She’d lost touch with her father after
‘making it big’ in Paris; he’d long stopped caring about her anyway. She’d never really had a future to look forward to: two long useless relationships, two divorces and finally outliving the third but only husband to reciprocate her love12 – all these had drained her of any more hope for the future. Yes13. She’d take her chance. It was now or never. Not everyone was presented with such a choice and she knew she was lucky to have had this choice at this point in time. So she took her chance and just at the right moment…
She stepped onto the road14. 271
The frantic screech of tyres, the utterly desperate swerve to avoid the lady in the road were all to no avail. There was such a mighty crash that the whole world that witnessed the nasty, bloody, and nauseating accident, shuddered15. What a shame16! A woman?
Not a woman, a foreigner in this land? Why did she do it17? They all asked this question and more. Oh she was that fisherman’s wife…this was the old foreigner who was married to the late Ahmed many years her junior, eight years ago…; the barren one who couldn’t have children? Yes. They said that she was a millionaire’s daughter from
America or something; oh I also heard that she was mentally unstable; yes, me too – that she went to mental institutions18 in Asia and Europe, then escaped from one and fled here to Africa where no-one could trace her; hey, I also heard it said19…
They had heard it said, they were saying, others were saying, everyone was saying20and talking and thinking21 and crying and shouting and screaming22 – around the big red
Mercedes and the mangled corpse of what ought to have been a lovely middle-aged woman. What everyone knew was that whoever she was, the ‘accident’ had well and truly been a successful suicide23.
The shaken driver had thus been spared rough jungle justice and as the confused babbling continued around his ears, he opened the little white book that he found inside her handbag: I Clara Raoul Perrier née Rosenthal, wish to leave all my estate to the homeless children of Eritrea – and the driver cried for the first time in all his seventy years of being a bachelor. 272
Fig.2
1.1.1 Annotation
1. Polysyndeton
2. Brachylogia
3. Consonance
4. Anaphoric hyperbole to emphasize youth
5. Flashback
6. Meiosis
7. Paradiastole
8. Regionalism
9. Colloquialism
10. Regionalism
11. Erotema
12. Exposition
13. Brevitas
14. Brachylogia
15. Metonymous imagery
16. Ecphonesis 273
17. Erotema
18. Anacoluthon
19. Aposiopesis
20. Polyptoton said, were saying, was saying
21. Euphonic and epiphoric consonance and assonance in asyndeton; also an
epistrophe
22. Polysyndeton
23. Euphonic reductio ad absurdum
274
1.1.2 Synopsis
INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLES VARIABLES 1, 2, 3 a, b, c
ETHOS (a) PATHOS (b) LOGOS (c)
1. CLAIM The author It’s a fruitless& India, Italy, appears to endless search Spain, France, Life has been decry marital for satisfaction Eritrea. long & incompatibility, that is never Cultural unrewarding, with equal achieved; thus compatibility even in the face blame towards the frustration can bring about of money, her & the men experienced by happiness, the travel & lack of in her life. the audience contrary, need. incompatibility, can only engender woe.
2. DATA This is a story We sympathize The physical about an with the search search is Husband after American which simply concurrently husband has let millionaire’s won’t yield any mental anguish. her down; even daughter in fruit: no life partners. search of partner, barren; Eventually herself. It takes only at the very even her sanity her a lifetime end, a husband comes into and it ends in many times her question. bitter regret. junior – but also dead in the last eight years… 275
3. WARRANT Crying for her We empathize We are pushed loss may as with her drastic to forgive the Suicide appears well be decision & feel suicide to be the only justified; she forgiving willingly. way out. seems to have towards the We’ve judged deserved some driver, since all her life as tears after her the flashbacks being one of smart suicide. about her life dissatisfaction have endeared & deception. us to her to the There simply is extent that we no other way know that it is out. She’s not the driver’s outlived several fault. men in an attempt to begin anew; it has now reached a point where it is no longer emotionally viable.
Table 1. Synopsis
1.1.3 Rhetorical tools of persuasion.
The rhetorical tools that persuade us in the particular direction of the storyline are:
1.a.) flashbacks like: the anaphoric metabole to emphasize youth (giant animals, giant people, giant chairs); meiosis – a planless Italian gypsy (partner); erotema: what did she have to lose?
1.b.)vivid exposition that comes with the erotema: should she take her chance then? 276
1.c.)colloquialism: too many women were wont to be seen with him….
2.a.) …She went to a mental institution… an anacoluthon that twists the subject from being a normal millionaire’s daughter to becoming a person of unsound mind.
2.b.)erotema: …and why shouldn’t she, after having lived here with her late husband for the last eight years?
2.c.)brevitas ‘Yes. She’d take her chance.’
3.a.) Vivid description: …the old foreigner who was married to the late Ahmed many years her junior eight years ago….
3.b.) Imagery throughout the story, enlivened by constant flashbacks
3.c.) Euphonic reductio ad absurdum: …the accident had well and truly been a successful suicide.
The persuasive tools of euphony and consonance are predominant in their use within this storyline; or they serve as being the most hard-hitting; the most appropriate strategies to the writer’s purpose. The purpose of this story is to examine one of the main reasons for wanting to commit suicide: a series of emotional knockouts. So the intended audience is adult, particularly those who have gone through middle age and can relate to the main protagonist. Rhetorical analysis of this story answers the questions: what is the use of wealth when it doesn’t ensure happiness? What are the consequences of lack of a biological mother and maternal love? Is suicide the natural indictment of mental instability?
An analysis of this story highlights the ‘pathos’ of living up to middle age (and beyond) without the satisfaction of having enjoyed neither maternal nor spousal love 277 and dedication. A new perspective that deepens the understanding of this profound
‘lack’ is the various reactions from the pedestrians; their reactions to the suicide where the writer uses devices like assonance in asyndeton, euphonic and epiphoric consonance, and metonymy in imagery.
Application of The Classical Theory
The classical theory accommodates six parts to a text:
- Exordium which clarifies the purpose of the text
- Narratio which outlines the context of the subject being addressed in order
to facilitate understanding
- Partitio where the purpose of the text is clarified with matters that are
accepted and those that are disputed
- Confirmatio where techniques used by the rhetor support what (s)he is
saying
- Refutatio where the rhetor’s techniques in that portion of the text are used by
the rhetor to respond to variant advocacy
- Peroratio where the rhetor concludes his contentions in the text and where
his closing is largely dependent on pathetic proof
This storyline is heavily dependent on flashbacks in its efforts to be faithful to the classical design. Its exordium is heavy with foreboding because there are no explanations before this scenario to give it some weight. Neither is it lengthy; it is quite simply a brief introductory paragraph of three short sentences. The narratio that follows is entirely made up of flashbacks; from the anaphoric hyperbole “giant” depictive of her earlier more youthful years, to five separate paragraphs of five different failed or unfortunate relationships that the chief protagonist experienced. In this 278 storyline however, it is each of the five paragraphs that are divided into confirmatio and refutatio. The partitio then develops into real time from the flashbacks and the trepidations of a would-be suicide; so that the peroratio is dramatically introduced by a one-line paragraph, one that enjoys the rhetorical device ‘brachylogia’.
1.2 Story 2.
The following story is about a middle-aged man who was molested by his uncle and never forgave him for the ensuing trauma that he suffered, not to mention a long time of living in fear of the man. The title is therefore suggestive of the kind of revenge in store for the miscreant. The purpose of the text is therefore to highlight the predatory nature of an unforgiving mind and the dangerous levels to which it can rise. Dissonance and apophasis are strategies that bring this out just as are foreshadowing and brachylogia.
The intended audience is from young adults to the older generation in this story which is both heterodiegetic and homodiegetic, published and written circa 1990. The text’s effectiveness is in its ability to maintain suspense through the rhetorical tools of inference and antithetical juxtaposition. The setting of the story is in Nevada, United
States of America.
Fig. 3
279
FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE
The log-fire is burning beautifully tonight. Nothing like good dry logs to get a fire burning. I’m so terribly fond of watching fires, especially log-fires in my living room such as I’m doing now. Just watching those avaricious flames leap up into the air – innocent yellow at the very tip, a red-orange for most of the length, and a dangerously vague blue hue somewhere down there where the flame is hottest. Oh yes, I love flames, I love1 fire, wood fires. When I sit here watching my log-fire every night, I enjoy looking back over my forty-five years….whilst I listen to my docile , loving wife2tinkering away in the kitchen.
Sometimes I go back to age ten; that’s when I stepped out of my childhood suddenly and dramatically. A fight broke out in the house and the big gentle woman I’d always looked up to as my mother was told to pack up her things and leave – never to return again. During that fight I came to learn that I’d been orphaned at the tender age of three years and these people were in fact my father’s only brother and his wife. That night was horrific3! I was whipped with a leather belt for having been an unwilling witness to a near-rape of my aunt by my drunken uncle4. Then no sooner was she thrown out of the house than the brute5 turned on me with his belt. As if that wasn’t enough, he even attempted to sodomise me! I was seriously injured although he didn’t quite succeed in this brutal endeavor. Old pa, I called him, always so mean-tempered. His drunkenness having always been an impediment to him became a blessing to me that night. I managed to escape from the house, flee after my aunt down the road and together we fled for our lives from old pa. That’s when I swore that I’d kill him one day6…
“Greg” he’d say “you’re a no-good son-of-a-bitch7 and therefore I’m the last person in the world who’d spend money sending you to school; you learn to use your hands and 280 you’ll survive…” He never had any children; perhaps that’s why they took me in.
Unfortunately by the time that happened he was a confirmed alcoholic and poor aunt
Debbie, whom I referred to as ma-Debbie the way her husband called her, a long- suffering often silent woman….
After that fateful night, she cared for me until I was sixteen; that’s when she succumbed to cancer and the world8 became my home. But not before she did two things for me: one was that she left enough money for me to finish my apprenticeship in a carpenter’s business and the other was: she taught me how to use my brain. “You’ll go a long way
Gregory” she said to me “yes you use your hands but use your brain too; plan your life, have ambitions, scheme, calculate and plot out your future before you reach it.”
And that’s precisely what I’ve done. Before I was seventeen years old I had my own little workshop and had started to make a name for myself. America encourages private enterprise; I’ve always been proud of that birthright; and my wife Martha, tinkering away in the next room, is an exact copy of ma-Debbie as luck would have it. We got married when I was eighteen and she three years younger than me. Let me throw in another log. I don’t want you to feel cold on your first visit here9…..
You must be wondering ‘why the hell has Greg invited me here for a story? When’s he going to get to the point?” Alright I’m getting there. As you might have guessed I’m a very wealthy man now. I have carpenter’s workshops all over Philadelphia. Martha and
I only choose to live simply. Ever since last month, I’ve branched out to prefabricated houses made in pinewood. Did I tell you that our son Jeff is one of the best electricians around? Well he’s shown me a few wiring tricks and guess what? I’ve decided to build old pa a prefab pine house just within the woods at the top of the hill before you get here. 281
Oh yes, we’ve been in touch, ever since Jeff was born twenty years ago. Just a card every Christmas, a visit on his birthday … and every time I’ve visited him he’s blasted me to hell and back with verbal diarrhea – he’s a nasty old brute, bad through and through and, would you believe it, as strong as an ox! Nevertheless I’m in the process of building for him a big prefabricated pinewood house10 – with my very professional hands!11 Its going to be ready one week from today and I’d like you reporters to be on hand during the opening ceremony12, which I intend to be a big affair.
The reporter left Greg’s house mildly disappointed. He’d expected a hot story for his paper and all he’d got were childhood reminiscences that hadn’t even sounded very exciting at all. What a waste of an evening13. Or was it? Old Greg appeared to be cool and relaxed but his tone had sounded extremely bitter throughout the press briefing.
Still, wasn’t he well-known for minding his own business and getting orders done on time? This wasn’t like him at all to call a reporter to his house. No, there might have been something in that briefing after all14. Better not throw away those notes. And why had Greg insisted that he take pictures of an old log-fire? Oh well, some reporters weren’t cut out to be detectives as well.
One week later the edge of the wood on top of the hill was a hive of activity. Old Greg and his wife Martha were on hand to receive the guests at a garden party outside the beautiful prefab pinewood house that looked distinctly like a doll-house15. Greg’s old pa was also there, arrogant and deceitful if not downright ill-mannered; dressed in his best suit, ready to cut the tape to open his new house after Jeff’s arrival. Jeff and his fiancée were the guests of honor but old pa had insisted upon cutting the tape to open his house himself. Well Jeff arrived with a lady who looked like she was cut out of a magazine – perfect curves, dimples, curls and legs – most of the men found themselves staring. Pa cut the tape and the party was on; toast after toast, fun, laughter, and 282 merrymaking. The reporter and his buddies were not to be left out; cameras clicked, prominent people were asked to make comments about the occasion, beautiful ladies had their say16.
It was a wonderful, normal, house-warming party; yet the reporter wondered why he kept expecting something to happen, something extraordinary. Greg looked content, happier than he’d been in years in fact. The reporter wondered why Greg had paid him so much money just to cover a normal event, and one that didn’t seem deserving for a bad-tempered old alcoholic who clearly lived for his bottle17. Anyway everything ended happily with nothing newsworthy really and only a small paragraph in the daily newspaper next morning sufficed.
A couple of days went by18.
Then the reporter was called out to the woods on the hill. When he got there he saw the biggest raging fire he’d ever seen in his life. Immediately he started taking pictures.
The ambulance was there and the fire brigade, but the way that fire burned 2was nothing short of incredible. Not only did the prefab house burn down to cinders but for more than two hundred meters all round the house, the trees in the woods burned down too. Nothing was salvaged. (He was later to see a striking resemblance between Greg’s log-fire pictures and the pictures of the vicious inferno…) The old man who was believed to have been within the building must have been burned beyond recognition – to the point where it was impossible to distinguish his remains from the debris. The reporter thought of Greg. Neither he nor his wife Martha was anywhere to be seen.
He rushed over to their house. The whole house was shuttered down. Next he thought of going to Greg’s place f work. To his surprise he was informed that straight after the house-opening garden party, Greg, Martha and some of his employees and close friends 283 took a two-week vacation to a campsite some three hundred kilometers away…so they wouldn’t have heard of today’s tragedy19….
The reporter arrived at the campsite shortly after midnight. It was full to capacity; the whole world had come here on vacation. From the record of arrivals he soon located
Greg’s group. Half of them were already asleep but the other half were having a pork ribs barbeque. Greg was stretched out in a low-slung hammock-like chair staring into a small wood fire that burned and crackled near his outstretched feet. He didn’t seem surprised at all when the reporter approached him; indeed he seemed to be expecting to see him there that night. Nor did he seem even remotely surprised to hear about the tragedy that had befallen old pa just up the road from his own house.
“Aren’t you at least disappointed that your new prefab venture burned down to the ground?” asked the baffled reporter. “Oh no20” said Greg without the least hesitation
“No, none of the future houses will be so intricately and ingeniously wired so that at the flick of a switch two little crossed wires – mistakenly crossed shall we say21 – would cause a massive bonfire” – and he allowed himself a small contented chuckle and sigh.
“ No Ted my boy; the rest of our prefab pinewood houses will be ordinary well-made pieces of art; perhaps this time I’ll let Jeff take entire charge of the electrical wiring involved and not interfere myself in his work22….”
Ted the reporter’s face turned white as a sheet23 as the truth slowly dawned on him.
He’d watched a man plan the cold-blooded murder of another. He’d been told why it would happen, had been there when it had happened, and now he even knew exactly how it had been done24 and yet what confounded him most of all, was that there was no way anyone else in the whole wide world could point a finger at Greg as the mastermind behind it all! 284
“Sit down before you fall down” said Greg after a while. “You look as if you’ve got yourself a very good story but don’t know how to get it together” 25– and he chuckled contentedly again. Ted the reporter asked him “does anyone else know about this murder?” Greg turned squarely to face him, dangerously steady, steely green eyes looking at him directly in the eye: “Hey” he said “Who said anything about murder?”26
Fig. 4
1.2.1 Annotation
1. Epanaphora with consonance
2. Caricature
3. Ecphoneticbrachylogia
4. Cacophony
5. Euphemism
6. Foreshadowing
7. Invective; bdeligmia
8. Metonymy
9. Noema
10. Inference
11. Ecphonetic sarcasm 285
12. Noema
13. Apophesis
14. Deduction
15. Description with simile
16. Asyndeton
17. Metaphor
18. Apostrophic brachylogia
19. Interior monologue
20. Antithetical juxtaposition
21. Apostrophe
22. Transition
23. Hyperbolic simile
24. Anaphorical dramatic irony
25. Persuasion using ‘logos’
26. Apophesis in the form of erotema
286
1.2.2 Synopsis
INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLES VARIABLES
1, 2, 3 A, b, c
ETHOS (a) PATHOS (b) LOGOS (c)
1. CLAIM The author This claim The appears to take makes us interchange Unnecessary sides with the sympathize between suffering in the chief with the main flashback and hands of an protagonist character current uncle, resulting dialogue with in a childhood the journalist, of difficulty acts as a foreshadowing & we become apprehensive
2. DATA The author The reader Something is builds up the tends to be bound to A lifetime of tension, the worried & happen but we struggling & expectation apprehensive can’t quite succeeding is throughout the figure out what set out before narrative it is us. Then a big fire razes down the house of the infamous uncle
3. WARRANT The author We are The journalist seems to be wondering character The house’s indifferent to whether to feel influences us to occupant is 287
killed in it. No the loss of life some remorse agree with him remorse is felt or guilt that this is a by the possible protagonist murder who even appears to be gloating about what is in fact a tragic event
Table 2.
1.2.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion
The pertinent rhetorical tools that persuade us in the particular direction of the storyline are among many others, the following:
1a) foreshadowing: …that’s when I swore that I’d kill him one day….(also seen as ethos)
1b)invective, bdeligmia “you’re a no-good son-of-a-bitch…” where bdeligmia is outright contempt (which also qualifies as downright pathetic – pathos)
1c) noema“ I don’t want you to feel cold on your first visit here” where the subtleness of the remark tends to lull the reader into a false sense of security
2a) the inference “I’m in the process of building for him a big prefabricated pinewood house”; what is inferred is ‘how unusual for someone who doesn’t like him’ and begs the question why
2b) there is sarcasm in the statement “with my professional hands” because of what will come to pass later
2c) the deduction that ‘there might be something in that briefing after all’ 288
3a) metaphor: a bad-tempered old alcoholic who clearly ‘lived for his bottle’
3b) the interior monologue ‘…so they wouldn’t have heard of today’s tragedy’
3c) the anaphoric dramatic irony: ‘ … he’d been told why it would happen had been there when it had happened and now he even knew exactly how it had been done…’
The predominant tools of persuasion within this storyline, or the most hard-hitting are dissonance and apophasis, which are appropriate to the writer’s purpose. An adult and discerning audience is intended here where the purpose of the story is to examine the devious mind and realize the extent to which the limits of revenge can be stretched.
Questions that have been answered by a rhetorical analysis of this story are: is it possible to nurse a grudge for as long as one’s lifetime? Was this possibly a well- planned-out murder?
Its rhetorical analysis underlines the importance of ‘logos’ where careful scheming over many years can bring about the eventual annihilation of a perpetrator of evil. Dramatic irony and erotema bring out the perspective that if this was straightforward murder, then it was well-executed. ‘Pathos’ takes a back seat here but not to the detriment of the storyline.
Application of The Classical Theory
The classical theory accommodates six parts to a text:
- Exordium which clarifies the purpose of the text
- Narratio which outlines the context of the subject being addressed in order
to facilitate understanding
- Partitio where the purpose of the text is clarified with matters that are
accepted and those that are disputed 289
- Confirmatio where techniques used by the rhetor support what (s)he is
saying
- Refutatio where the rhetor’s techniques in that portion of the text are used by
the rhetor to respond to variant advocacy
- Peroratio where the rhetor concludes his contentions in the text and where
his closing is largely dependent on pathetic proof
In this storyline the exordium is slow and gradual. This is deliberate. The intention is to begin at a slow pace in order for the purpose of the text to unfold gradually. This builds up anticipation. It also reinforces a measure of danger and subtly creates fear. The camaraderie within the first five paragraphs enriches the narratio. Within the sixth to ninth paragraphs, confirmatio and refutatio are intertwined: where the chief protagonist enthuses about himself, he nevertheless decries the ill-will of another character to the point where he renders the atmosphere thick with foreboding. Interior monologue becomes the icing on the cake for the partitio. The dramatic irony that appears anaphorically in the second-last paragraph and the erotema with apophasis at the end are the gist of the peroratio of the storyline.
The following story is plainly one of vengefulness on the part of a scorned woman, one who has never enjoyed anything but total disrespect from of her husband. The title can be misleading but the tempo elicits foreboding and the title becomes very appropriate towards the end of the story. Invective and bdeligmia, ethopoeia and erotema, these are all strategies that build on the analytical lens that is focused on the story. Frequent use of brachylogia also evaluates the text’s effectiveness. This published story was penned circa 1990 and is set in suburban Nairobi, Kenya. 290
1.3 Story 3.
Fig.5
UNSEEN
Desmond was driving home. This was one of those dull evenings when he wouldn’t be seeing young Sally; she had exams in two days’ time so rather than fool around with him1 the way they always did when he’d pick her up from day school, she’d opted to go straight home and do some serious study. For the last two days he’d been going home as drunk as a skunk2 and whenever Mildred his wife said the slightest thing he’d box her down3! But lately this sort of performance was starting to become routinely boring.
Tonight he’d just eat and go straight to bed, have a long, deep sleep. Mildred could talk all she wanted, the barren woman! He had no interest whatsoever in her; five years of a lousy childless marriage was more than he could bear, more than she deserved.
He slowed the car down. Pedestrian crossings always got on his nerves! People crossing the road as if they were couples at a wedding4 – look at that ‘vache’5waddling along6 barely able to support her own weight on her six-inchers; and look at the fellow behind her – face like a lunatic!!7 291
He screeched off past two old ladies who couldn’t quite make up their minds whether to cross first or wait for him; he made their minds up for them alright – passed them by a hair’s breadth!
Yes, Desmond never was interested in the opposite sex – unless they were young and school-going….no matter what the looks. At 45 years of age and slowly balding, a bank manager like him with no children to speak of had a lot to worry about – not least a faltering ego to bolster. Why, Mildred was his fourth wife.
The first had been Samantha, a rich young American kid he’d met whilst abroad undergoing further studies. She’d never wanted to come back home with him. So he’d divorced her within months; no children, nothing to lose8.
Then along came beautiful Purity but alas a tragic car accident had robbed him of her within weeks of their married life together.
Then he’d stayed a long time before getting married again, this time to gorgeous
Jacqueline. Things went wrong when he’d found out beyond the shadow of a doubt that their 2-year-old son was in fact the child of her ex-lover, with whom she’d continued to have a steady affair even after getting married to Desmond! Women!!9 It was with
Jacqueline that he’d discovered the inherent violence he’d never been aware of before.
The divorce took far much longer than the American one too. So Mildred’s was just a marriage on the rebound – poor sod10….
He slowed down at the corner kiosk to get himself a pack of cigarettes; ten pm and it was still open – a pack of ciggies…what would people not do for a bit of money11, he wondered … 292
When dusk approached Mildred decided that today had been a day well-spent. She had shopped to her heart’s satisfaction today and she just couldn’t feel happier. Her best friend and neighbor Lucie had gone away for a few days and Mildred had had the tact to borrow Lucie’s kitchen keys from her on the pretext that she needed to store some food in the cold compartment of her freezer since her fridge purportedly wasn’t functioning properly. Lucie had readily agreed. Lucie lived alone and Mildred had just dismissed the gardener due to gross neglect of his duties; so in fact Mildred had been in and out of the two houses intermittently for most of the afternoon. One last look around the house satisfied her that all was well.
She’d started cooking at six today so the house was absolutely filled with the delicious aroma of spicy chicken curry. She strategically placed a card on top of the big fridge: your food is in the oven; I’ll be back shortly. As she closed the door behind her, she saw cars passing by, cars with men in them, each driving back home to his dear wife, to his family, to eat, share and socialize, and to retire to bed to love12 one another…
On the corner of the street within sight of the house there was an all-night bar13.
Mildred had asked some of her friends to meet her there around seven-thirty: Beatrice and Thelma. She’d known Beatrice ever since their childhood days; now she, like
Mildred, was also married to a banker and the two were still happily together with three young children. Thelma had been her best friend in Technical School where Mildred had studied electrical engineering14. Thelma was married and divorced now with two teenage boys that she was bringing up all on her own. Well, Mildred thought to herself contentedly, she hadn’t been an electrical engineer for nothing after all15 – even if she 293 had been jobless ever since she’d graduated; she’d prove to Desmond tonight that it hadn’t all been in vain, he’d see.
When she entered the bar it was already half full16. Her two friends were there already. And her hairdresser Marianne; even the old butcher was there with his stocky wife; and the three young girls who lived across from Lucie’s house. Gorgeous George the budding musician was already half drunk. Oh she couldn’t wait to begin the night with her regular friends; tonight all the people who mattered to her were there. This was exactly what she had hoped for. Thelma raised an eyebrow and signaled to Mildred to join them as soon as she had arrived. Gracefully she made her way towards them.
Desmond parked his beautiful Mercedes beast17 carefully in the garage and couldn’t help wondering if his young Sally was already in bed or not. Well he’s see her tomorrow anyway; just seeing her and talking to her made him feel good. It was almost
10.15 now and he wasn’t in the mood for any nonsense from Mildred. He entered the quiet house, appreciating the dim lights and the savoury smell of chicken…. He’d eat well tonight18. And Mildred so much as said hello he’d give her the beating of her life because he just wasn’t feeling social tonight19. Remotely it occurred to him that they were actually better off having separate bedrooms.
He slammed the door and stomped noisily upstairs. How dare she goes on sleeping when he’s arrived! Who did she think she was? But one glance at the empty unruffled bed told him that she wasn’t even there! Out was she? Wait until she got back, he’d give her the thrashing of a lifetime20 – coming into the house after him!! How many men had wives who went off drinking almost every night?!?21 Mildred had become very stupid22 of late. If she didn’t watch her drinking she’d become an alcoholic – and she’d better not dream that he’s be around to care for her then!! How he wished young 294
Sally had been here with him now. Just as soon as Sally finished her exams he’d ditch
Mildred and marry the young girl, the angel of his dreams.
He went downstairs and poured himself a stiff scotch on the rocks. Just wait until she got back (he was sure she wasn’t in the bathroom23); they’d both see who was more offended than the other. Drinking was she? Behaving more like a whore than drunkard!! If she wasn’t in by 11.00 p.m. he’d go for her at the bar and beat her down in front of all her stupid drunken friends!!24 He flung the glass down and marched off to the kitchen. There on top of the cooker he saw Mildred’s note written in a distinctive feminine scrawl: she’d be back … - Where was she at this hour? He glanced at Lucie’s but the house next door was totally dark. What the hell!!25So he had to fetch his own food now?26 In a furious rage he flung open the oven door…
Just as the bar patrons were getting very rowdy, very drunk, very27 happy – there was a terrific BANG!!! It was so loud that everyone instinctively dived for cover under the tables and behind the counter. After that there were two to three more very loud bangs, even louder than the first. Then there was the distinctly familiar sound of crackling fire28. Slowly, cautiously, life came back to the bar. No-one was firing a gun after all. But whatever could it have been? As everyone started to continue where they’d left off, Beatrice glanced out of a window and saw that one of the maisonettes was on fire.
“Hey!29 There’s a fire out there!” she screamed, and so there was; slowly those who were not too drunk filed out of the bar to stare aghast. So did Mildred30. “It looks like our house!” she screamed. Pandemonium and excitement broke loose everywhere.
Suddenly someone ran over to the ‘phone booth and put through a call to the fire brigade. Mildred stood transfixed in the pose of one who is shocked. Thelma reacted 295 instinctively; she hugged Mildred and bundled her out to the car park where she insisted that Mildred remain until the fire brigade arrived. They took about half an hour to come.
By the time they’d arrived most of the house had burned down to the ground. Fire and water, chaos and screaming31, babbling, drunken faces32, big bellies, ample backsides, too many feet and flailing arms33 – confusion reigned…Mildred stepped out of her friend’s car and went to join the noisy onlookers. Someone said that the cooker had exploded and that the subsequent explosions were due to the electrical wiring system catching fire. No-one had been seen within the vicinity of the house either…although there was a car in the garage…intact….and Mildred knew….she knew she had planned it right…who would have guessed that her superb training had at last paid off?34....She even had hundreds of alibis35; and in the dark, in front of that blazing inferno, she even permitted herself a smile …unseen….
Fig.6
296
1.3.1 Annotation.
1. Euphemism
2. Simile
3. Phallogocetrism
4. Ethopoeia
5. Meiosis
6. Bdeligmia
7. Ecphonesis
8. Ethopoeia
9. Ecphonesis
10. Ethopoeia
11. Anacoluthon
12. Consonance in asyndeton
13. Transition
14. Amplification
15. Foreshadowing
16. Transition
17. Oxymoron
18. Brachylogia
19. Amplification
20. Aetologia
21. Erotema
22. Tapinosis
23. Apostrophe
24. Phallogocentric hubris 297
25. Ecphonesis
26. Phallogocentrism
27. Anaphora
28. Onomatopoeia
29. Ecphonesis
30. Brachylogia
31. Polysyndeton
32. Dissonance
33. Consonance
34. Metaphorical erotema
35. Persuasion using ‘ethos’.
1.3.2 Synopsis
INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLES VARIABLES
1, 2, 3 a, b, c
ETHOS (a) PATHOS (b) LOGOS (c)
1. CLAIM The author The reader The reader is outlines the bears no tempted to feel Being married man’s sympathy that the to a man who ignorance in a towards the antagonism won’t cold & husband& the towards the reciprocate calculating reader is man is your love: the way pushed to somehow trials & empathize justified. tribulations with the wife. ensue. Paradoxically male readers 298
may even envy him.
2. DATA There is We find We begin to intentional ourselves wonder how A litany of foreboding on pitying the the end of the abuse, sexual the part of the wife & tribulations of & physical. author because disliking the the wife will The plotting & as readers we husband come about scheming: begin to feel foreshadowing that the which in turn husband will creates a lot of come to a bad foreboding end
3. WARRANT The author We feel The reasoning appears to be happy that here is that he The hapless in favor of the justice has deserved what man is killed just been served; he got & the by his recompense in other wife deserved scheming received by the words we can a pat on the wife. Since man. Her tolerate the back. The he’s not alive explication is tragic end ending may not to her wants & rather clinical. because of be a happy one desires, his the but it’s a own ignorance justification satisfactory is really what implied one. ends up killing throughout him the narrative
Table 3.
299
1.3.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion
The pertinent rhetorical tools that persuade us in the particular direction of the storyline are among many others, the following:
1a) Phallogocentrism‘he’d box her down’ where we’re persuaded that this character is unassuming and heartless and uncaring
1b) Bdeligmia “…that ‘vache’waddling along…”
1c) Anacoluthon which is an abrupt change of syntax within a sentence ‘what would people not do for a bit of money?’
2a) Amplification, a tool that builds the story for us: ‘Thelma had been her best friend in Technical School where Mildred had studied electrical engineering.’
2b) Foreshadowing: she hadn’t been an electrical engineer for nothing after all
2c) Aetiologia: “Out was she? Wait until she got back. He’d give her the thrashing of a lifetime” where the importance of this tool is where a cause or a reason is given
3a) Tapinosis: “Mildred had been very stupid of late.” Bear in mind that this is an epithet that is debasing and it is synonymous with meiosis.
3b) The onomaetopia ‘crackling fire’ gives us a particularly clear image of the fire itself.
3c) The metaphorical erotema “who would have guessed that her superb training had at last paid off?”
The predominant tools of persuasion within this storyline, or the most hard-hitting, are erotema, bdeligmia and onomatopoeia; all three of which are appropriate to the writer’s 300 purpose. The purpose of this story is quite evident: how to get rid of the person responsible for your pain, as a woman who suffers from unrequited love. The audience intended is the young adult of middle-income level, schooled and living in the urban sections of a vibrant African city. One question can be asked which is answered rhetorically: how can I get rid of this nuisance in my life? Another subordinate question linked to this is: how can I do so in total secrecy – unseen by anyone?
What is interesting about the analysis of this story is the choice and progression of rhetorical devices like ethopoeia, bdeligmia and amplification; pure pathos – since emotions run high constantly. Foreshadowing is a device that causes apprehension; when the results of this are achieved, a new perspective comes to light: did the husband really deserve to be killed because of non-appreciation of his wife? Why should punishment or retribution be the recourse of those whose love is unrequited? The new perspective lies within the answer to these questions.
Application of The Classical Theory
The classical theory accommodates six parts to a text:
- Exordium which clarifies the purpose of the text
- Narratio which outlines the context of the subject being addressed in order
to facilitate understanding
- Partitio where the purpose of the text is clarified with matters that are
accepted and those that are disputed
- Confirmatio where techniques used by the rhetor support what (s)he is
saying
- Refutatio where the rhetor’s techniques in that portion of the text are used by
the rhetor to respond to variant advocacy 301
- Peroratio where the rhetor concludes his contentions in the text and where
his closing is largely dependent on pathetic proof
This storyline has two chief protagonists and the exordium incorporates their negative relationship as it highlights the gains and losses of this relationship: confirmatio and refutatio. The narratio also involves interior monologue and flashbacks to clarify understanding. Therefore the partitio first visits one protagonist then passes onto the next in two very clear-cut halves of the storyline. The drama that is witnessed in the peroratio becomes significant when the reader realizes that a woman murdered her husband and was likely to get away with it – a conclusion to which the rhetorical
‘erotema’ lends credence.
1.4 Story 4.
The following story is a comparative one where three girls from three different races and backgrounds in suburban Nairobi, Kenya, find each other at the same point in their lives and dissatisfied with life in itself. This story demonstrates that human feelings are colour-blind and that their similarities lie within the boundaries of physical and biological age. As an age-group the girls were similar but as an African, Asian and
Caucasian – with the resultant cultural baggage – they were as dissimilar as the eye could see. The question posed is: are we really so different as people? The preponderant strategy used here is the interior monologue as well as frequent resort to euphemisms.
The text’s effectiveness can only be measured by the melodramatic ending. It was penned circa 1995. 302
Fig.7
ONCE UPON A TIME.
Once upon a time a young girl was born in a slum area in one notorious part of town where rodents and people fought for food, water was scarce and electricity was non-existent. She was the second daughter and seventh child in a family that crowded into two roomsbuilt of cardboard that stood no higher than five feet from the murky ground ( for there was no floor1). Not that the whole family was always there since someone was always locked up in jail or simply chose to spend the night on the streets, when it came to her older brothers. Her father was a tough old man with sinewy arms and unkempt hair and a rasp in his voice caused mainly by continuously imbibing local brew. His main past-times were to drink, smoke grass, defecate everywhere, swear and spit2, and talk bitterly about everyone and everything. As for her mother, she seemed to have an annoying habit of constantly disappearing into other people’s hovels or just vanishing altogether; but whenever she was home at all, there would be some food to eat that day… 303
So then this little girl who was given the careless, meaningless and weird name of
Tete, grew up amidst the vice and filth of slum life and many were the incidents3 that robbed her of her childhood – like the time when she was five years old and playing on the rubbish dump with one of her brothers; a young thief came rushing past them and no sooner had he disappeared than an armed policeman came round in hot pursuit.
Having lost his quarry4 he turned in anger and humiliation at her brother, pointed his gun and fired! It all happened so fast that the little boy never knew what hit him. As for
Tete, no-one listened to what she had to say – little slum girls make up so many lies5, especially about the government’s6 effective and efficient police force.
Then there was the time when she was eleven and her older sister came out of the hovel crying, with blood trailing her steps. When Tete was told what had transpired she hysterically began to scream at the top of her voice. Curious and angry neighbors surrounded the two girls and when her sister blurted out the vicious assault on her that her father had just made, the mob rushed into the hovel and kicked the old man in the head and in the ribs with vicious intent. Any excuse for savagery was welcome here.
Then they dragged him out, held him down and someone broke that nasty offensive and disgusting weapon7 he had used to injure his own kin with, into three separate pieces with his bare hands. Of course the father died an agonizing death four days later – and all this in the absence of his wife.
But the most dramatic thing that happened to Tete was when she turned fourteen and her mother turned her over to the care of a nun from England who worked for a church organization. Here she learned some English and was promised some sort of a job should she work hard and be of good behavior.8 304
Another little girl in the same town and not so far away was also growing up in an
Asian family of adequate means. Sheila was the last-born girl after her two older brothers and a favorite of her mother. Her’s was what you and I would call an insulated way of life. She wore clothes that constantly covered her from head to toe and was never in the company of the males in her family without her mother.9Even her skin was pale because she rarely went out into the sunshine. She wasn’t even allowed to attend public schools or private ones for that matter as these days, children were considered to be very dangerous friends to have – where her parents were concerned: they smoked, fornicated and stole from each other10 – vices that her parents did not want to expose her to. Her life was confined to her bedroom and the family living-room where all her private tuition took place.
New meaning came into her life when at twelve years old she was allowed to start learning how to cook in the kitchen, as preparation for her not-so-distant-in-the-future role as wife and mother to someone. Sheila thoroughly enjoyed the cooking forays into the world of spices and sweets, breads and vegetables and scents and tastes11 that she could now identify with ingredients. She was determined that one day she’d become the best cook in the world.
To her shock and surprise, only two years later she was betrothed to a young man some five years older than her. He first came to visit at a special dinner mostly prepared by Sheila under the strict supervision of her mother. Several weeks and several dinners later, the talk of marriage was in the air. A substantial amount of dowry was to be paid to the boy’s family by Sheila’s parents. So she was instructed that under no circumstances was she to disobey or displease him, especially as once she was exposed to the outside world it would be very difficult indeed to take her back. Sheila herself 305 had no choice or say in the matter, but the young man seemed reasonably polite and more than reasonably wealthy and -did he have a dimple on his chin?12
The Ellingworth-Sparrowdale family lived in an enormous bungalow in a very posh part of the same town that you and I have mentioned. Their lives were practically dripping13 with luxury – from the seven limousines that they owned (two of which were vintage) to the lush carpets – wall to wall everywhere – vast Persians on walls away from the sun, and antique, dustless furniture that graced every room. Lord Denis
Ellingsworth-Sparrowdale had hundreds of acres of farmland in his home-country. He had come to this third world country on an exotic holiday and had immediately fallen in love with it. Instead of selling off his vast wheat and barley fields, he kept them and got his son, the older of the two children, to administer them on his behalf. In this country he’d dabbled in real estate and found that it paid quite well indeed, so he’d stayed on with his wife Helena and their daughter Mirabelle – and their pedigree Chihuahua cubs.
As for the young Mirabelle, she couldn’t have started off in life in a better way. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth14. Her youthful years were spent in swimming, bowling, horse-riding, playing tenniquoit, doing ballet and even honing her skills in playing chess and the cello. After the age of ten ballet was substituted by ballroom dancing, tenniquoit was abandoned for badminton15– and bad habits like smoking cigarettes and excessive drinking of liqueur set in. By the time she was sixteen years old these pastimes were either dropped or modified16: swimming and horse-riding still featured prominently in her life in an eminent boarding school exclusively for girls; disco-dancing replaced the ballroom variety, badminton was dropped altogether; cigarettes were replaced by first soft then hard drugs, and liqueur drinking took the 306 form of anything with more than 30% alcohol content. However, just before the vices took a strong hold on her, Mirabelle was called to University17.
This became a turning point in her life. She had always worked hard at school and it was no secret that she was multilingual and fluent in her international languages – not to mention she’d never felt any need for the use of a calculator for doing calculations18… Now she’d have a chance to pursue her life’s first love – literature!
And learn it she did, with fervor. When Christmas came around she had no desire to fly out with her parents to distant other parts of the world; she made it plainly clear that she would have a quiet Christmas right where she was and put in some extra hours at the university library.
So it was that on New Year’s Day having nothing better to do, Mirabelle went by the varsity library and to her surprise found the door ajar. “We’re not open but if you’re alone you may as well come in” said the librarian. Mirabelle entered and went to the literature section where she knew she could peruse some old classics. Time went by19.
There was something else she’d meant to look up … could it still be there? (She was vaguely aware of a cleaner sweeping about). Time went on by …no, no sign of the book… oh well over to the counter to register these three.
The Asian lady looked up as Mirabelle approached the counter. She was small and mouse-like20, just the way a librarian should look like thought Mirabelle – complete with round black thick-rimmed glasses. “I haven’t seen you here before” said Mirabelle
“Are you new then?” The librarian smiled shyly and nodded her assent. Mirabelle thought she detected some measure of inhibition and prompted “I’m
Mirabelle…Ellingsworth-Sparrowdale; what’s your name?” The librarian was obviously happy to make her acquaintance21 and blurted out “I’m called Sheila Nanji.” 307
“Do you like it here? I mean, a big library like this must mean a lot of work for you…”
Sheila looked hard at the smart and beautiful and intelligent22 lady on the other side of the counter. She looked worldly, had a fresh complexion and spoke eloquently; it wouldn’t be bad to try and get to know her better. “Oh yes I like it here,” she sat down;
“This is my first job since getting married last week. It pays well and the hours are comfortable.” Mirabelle watched her with a smile as the books were stamped. “Do you enjoy married life so far then? Congratulations23!” After closing the books shut Sheila clasped her hands under her chin in a conspiratorial way and with a coy smile said “So far so good, let’s wait and see.”
Just then the cleaner who had been doing a vigorous sweeping exercise came out of a door from behind Sheila, carrying a bucket and a mop. The noise she made caused both Mirabelle and Sheila to be distracted and turn to look at her. Poor waif thought
Mirabelle; a young girl like that should be in a school, not wasting her life sweeping and mopping after other people24. Why, she was barely fifteen years old. Sheila’s thoughts were not too different from Mirabelle’s: the poor child should stop working so hard, when did she ever rest?25” “Sorry about the noise” said the young cleaner, spindly legs just shuffling about, suddenly aware that she must have interrupted some sort of conversation. “Maybe you can leave out the mopping for now” said Sheila “– bring us a pot of tea instead.” “- And you can include a cup for yourself too!” said Mirabelle good-naturedly. Both Sheila and the young cleaner wondered if she meant that remark.
In a third world country like this, where illiterates and semi-literates suffered from a perennial colonial hangover that ‘what the white man26 said was gospel truth and law, what the Asian said was always to be treated with suspicion,’ we are left with no doubt in our minds as to the state of mind of that young cleaner when she went back through 308 the same door to fetch the pot of tea27: confusion. Sheila and Mirabelle smiled at each other. Mirabelle knew that she was being condescending and remotely hoped that she wasn’t in fact overdoing it. She so badly needed to make friends sometimes, especially with those she considered to be normal people with no hang-ups, no attitudes and not under the influences of either alcohol or drugs. Sheila felt a fountain of joy spurting28forth29 from somewhere deep inside her chest. She was already starting to make friends in her new job – something she had lacked during her entire childhood.
Not only was she now a married woman but she was free, free at last30. This lady borrowing literature books was so kind and considerate…
But the poor little cleaning girl watched the pot as it began to boil. No benign thoughts were going through her mind. Were they making fun of her or what31? These
Asians were so bossy32sometimes – do this do that! And the European, cracking jokes at her expense! She’d poison their tea the dogs33. Who did they take her for34?
Complexes and sheer deep-rooted ignorance taking the better of her, she looked around the small room until she spotted the rat poison. One of her brothers in the slum had eaten some of this blue creamy stuff and it had done the job. She knew its potency.
Meanwhile Mirabelle and Sheila had started to get to know each other better. It turned out that they didn’t live too far from each other either. Mirabelle was only two years older than Sheila too. In came the trolley of tea35. Behind it came a dour-faced skinny little cleaning-girl-cum-tea-maker. Upon the trolley was a pot of tea, a milk36 of jug, a sugar of bowl37 – and two cups and saucers. “Now where’s your cup and saucer?” asked Mirabelle, genuinely concerned and mildly surprised to find that it wasn’t there. “Please bring a cup and join us” said Sheila in a very friendly mood now since she wasn’t actually doing overtime, but engaging in the pleasant pursuit38 of 309 making friends. “Really. Don’t worry about what people will say or think when they see you taking tea with us,” she continued “You Africans are so self-conscious sometimes; anyway, since we’ll both be working together in this library and I’m the
Chief Librarian, I don’t see why we shouldn’t get to know each other” she finished with what looked like and was, a genuinely warm smile. “And what better day than New
Year’s Day!” chirped39 Mirabelle who was starting to get high on all the friendly banter. “Before you bring your cup, tell us what your name is” said Mirabelle. The two- syllabic word that came from the bewildered girl was “Tete” – and she vanished once more behind the door.
So they were genuine…what had she been thinking? Why the hell was she so averse to kindness? Had she been so starved of love and affection that she constantly had to be so hateful? What had she done40?...
She hurried back to them with a mug. No-one had started service of the tea. Both were waiting for her to return, eager with more questions about her background and upbringing. With short staccato answers Tete found herself slowly warming up to them as they too began to say some particularly revealing things about themselves. Mirabelle went as far as confiding in them about how her drug addiction was brought on by wanting to experiment with her body and exploring the full potential of her brain’s capacity to reason, experimentation that boredom provided sufficiently and money made possible. For Sheila, lack of friends and constant confinement had turned her into a movie-buff of sorts; too much secretive watching of pornographic movies that her brothers procured and that she stole to watch in the middle of the night, had turned her into a raving nymphomaniac – something that up until now her husband was the only human-being to realize when he married her. When it came to Tete, she could only 310 astonish the other two with the sordid and vicious details of her life and times in the slums, including those of the other members of her family, because her mind had been fixated for years into dwelling on these things with disgust.
The tea was getting cold declared someone after a while. It was Sheila, and she dutifully turned the cup up while Mirabelle made a detour to come and join them behind the counter. How many sugars everyone? “I’ll take one” said Mirabelle “I need to lose weight”. “Three for me” said Tete, who’d always had a sweet tooth. “And two for me” said Sheila as she started to stir her’s merrily. All three took tea with milk and while they were pouring this in and stirring the sugar, all privately reflected upon what sort of future to look forward to and the discussions that had just transpired.
Mirabelle was thinking of her next ‘drag’ at crack41 because Tete’s stories had depressed her somewhat; whilst she had everything one could dream of that poor girl had suffered so – it just wasn’t fair! Sheila for her part was embarrassed about her revealing outburst and her inferiority complex had come back with a bang! Did she really have to reveal such a deep secret42 to these people she’d just met for the first time? How on earth would she continue to work here43? She’d have to look for another job now or hide her face in shame. As for Tete, there really was nothing at all to live for. Not only had her contribution to this brief discussion profoundly depressed her, but it had also revived all the bitterness that had hitherto been buried away in the mists of her sub consciousness. She had nothing more to hope for44 – not a better job, not a husband like Sheila, nor wealth like Mirabelle. Nothing45. She couldn’t even speak
English properly and had never got over her stammering. She might just as well commit suicide as live another day as Tete.
Misgivings all around46…….. 311
“Wait a minute!” Tete announced to the others, “Let me show you how we take tea in the slums,” and with that she took two enormous gulps of tea which completely emptied her big mug. “Now my dear friends” she continued in a lone and quiet voice full of intent, heavy with depression, “I doubted your sincerity when I went to prepare this cup of tea” – the other two paused; they had brought their cups right up to their lips and the tone of their new-found friend had mildly surprised them and the more she talked, the more she seemed to disturb their consciences. “Don’t drink that tea” she continued in a voice that sounded forlorn and resigned47 “ It’s spiked with rat- poison…I’m sorry …so sorry …” Having said that, Tete hurriedly poured herself another mug – and proceeded to gulp it down just as rapidly as the first.
Sheila’s immediate response was deep mistrust such as her upbringing had ingrained in her personality. Then in the fleeting seconds that followed she classified herself as no better than her friend Tete who was now committing suicide right in front of them. Her own life had been wasted in a way more decadent and awful than the poverty of the slum from whence48Tete had come; she had nothing really to lose if she too were to take her life – and she quickly downed her cup of tea.
Mirabelle didn’t believe what Tete said at first; but when she quickly drained her second mug with solemn intent, this made Mirabelle think of her own empty life: a life of opulence, dangerous experimentation and profound self-hate; this latter was the real reason behind her drug-taking and alcoholism; why not make it all that much easier by swigging the spiked tea and wishing the whole wide world a damned49 Happy New
Year?!
Three bodies in the library were discovered the next day. The facial expressions plainly showed how the victims (of their own accord) had painfully writhed to death. 312
So contorted were they. Who knows what the future may have held for them had they remained … three very different people… firm friends at the very end. Sad50.
Fig.8
1.4.1 Annotation.
1. Apostrophe
2. Consonance
3. Enallage
4. Euphemism for losing sight of the guilty thief
5. Sarcasm
6. Metonymy
7. Euphemism
8. Facetiae
9. Phallogocentrism
10. Pragmatism
11. Polysyndeton
12. Red herring
13. Trope designating wealth 313
14. Allegory
15. Parallelism
16. Satire
17. Transition
18. Inference
19. Brachylogia
20. Caricature
21. 21.Euphemism for being friendly
22. Polysyndeton
23. Ecphonesis
24. 24.Interior monologue
25. Metonymy
26. Apostrophe
27. Onomatopoeia
28. Enallage
29. Dramatic enallge
30. Ignoratioelenchi
31. Ethopoeia
32. Bdeligmia
33. Personification in reversal
34. Synchisistictricolon
35. Hypallage
36. Consonance
37. Trope depicting a happy voice
38. Erotema 314
39. Colloquialism
40. Interior monologue
41. Slang
42. Brevitas
43. Adjunctive brachylogia
44. Persuasion using ‘pathos’
45. Oxymoronic sarcasm
46. Brachylogia
47. Pathetic appeal
48. Colloquialism
49. Bdeligmia
50. Brevitas
315
1.4.2 Synopsis
INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLES VARIABLES a, b, c 1, 2, 3
ETHOS (a) PATHOS (b) LOGOS (c)
1. CLAIM It appears as if We are coerced to The result is the author identify with each that the reader Racial wants to make girl and her becomes discrepancies a statement specific subconsciously that render a about culture background judgemental life wealthy, vis-à-vis mediocre or material poor wealth according to social stratification in Kenya
2. DATA The author We feel the pain of Being leaves no poverty, experience judgmental The data is stone unturned luxury & live with creates a form about the in the vivid cultural of curiosity as class factor in description of stigmatization…not to the outcome Kenyan each girl’s necessarily in that of all these society; the upbringing order separate life racial experiences dispensation; the phenomenon of affordability juxtaposed 316
with cultural traits
3. WARRANT The author We feel a sense of The reader condones the unity between the either feels How the collective girls; they are that the means wrong values suicide pact unified in a death justify the ends in society can by excusing it pact and we don’t or sees this bring about repeatedly feel any remorse; narrative as deception & not because they somewhat eventual deserve their fate melodramatic resentment but because we & exaggerated empathize with their tragedy
Table 4.
1.4.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion
The pertinent rhetorical tools that persuade us in the particular direction of the storyline are among many others, the following:
1a) Enallage for emphasis: “…many were the incidents that robbed her of her childhood.”
1b) Euphonic metonymy: ‘the government’s effective and efficient police force’ which engenders concurrently some sarcasm.
1c) Facetiaie: …should she work hard and be of good behavior; the inversion ‘should she’ implies that the author is being facetious (the ethos is brought out). 317
2a) Polysyndeton : ‘the world of spices and sweets, breads and vegetables and scents and tastes….’ – not only does this hasten the pace but the imagery created is also enhanced.
2b) Euphemism: she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth; the euphemism
‘silver spoon’ amplifies the sheer wealth enjoyed by this individual.
2c) Satire: ‘these pastimes were either dropped or modified…’; this kind of language is critical of the character’s actions.
3a) Ethopoeia: she had nothing more to hope for. (ethopoeia being the act of putting oneself into the character of another to convey that person’s feelings and thoughts more vividly).
3b) Oxymoronic sarcasm: …and wishing the whole wide world a damned happy new year…
3c) colloquialism: ‘…the slum from whence Tete had come’ – particularly effective when desirous of sounding emphatic about that provenance.
The predominant tools of persuasion within this storyline, or the most hard-hitting, are enallage and interior monologue; and they appear to be appropriate to the writer’s purpose. The intended audiences here are the adolescent and young adult, particularly those who live in university; which is where many find themselves living an integrated life for the first time, where people from all walks of life are put together in a cross- cultural melting pot that offers independent liberty as a ‘slap in the face’ so to speak.
The purpose then is to underscore the importance of coexistence in a world of diversity. 318
The main question posed which can be addressed through rhetorical analysis is: how do early beginnings affect one’s choices in life? Other readers can be interested in this story because it talks about three totally different girls of roughly the same age entering into a suicide pact, each of them for totally different reasons. The tools of erotema and interior monologue offer the additional perspective: ignorance is not bliss, its suffering.
Whereas ‘pathos’ prevails throughout the storyline, ‘ethos’ is the more predominant.
Application of The Classical Theory
The classical theory accommodates six parts to a text:
- Exordium which clarifies the purpose of the text
- Narratio which outlines the context of the subject being addressed in order
to facilitate understanding
- Partitio where the purpose of the text is clarified with matters that are
accepted and those that are disputed
- Confirmatio where techniques used by the rhetor support what (s)he is
saying
- Refutatio where the rhetor’s techniques in that portion of the text are used by
the rhetor to respond to variant advocacy
- Peroratio where the rhetor concludes his contentions in the text and where
his closing is largely dependent on pathetic proof
This storyline is heavily dependent on partitio to open the window on its three main protagonists. The narratio underlines their socio-economic and racial and socio-cultural differences. The partitio incorporates the confirmatio as well as the refutatio for each of the protagonists and in sequential order, by specifying how they were brought up and the events that negatively influenced their lives. For instance, where decadence spoilt 319 one of them, cultural mediocrity held another one back whilst downright ignorance became the bane of the third. The peroratio is once again introduced by the rhetorical device ‘brachylogia’ which appears as an open-ended sentence, all by itself and concurrently also, as a paragraph. ‘Bdeligmia’ spices the conclusion dramatically.
1.5 Story 5.
The following story is not told from the perspective of a human being; therefore it can be mistaken to sound rather simplistic as if the intended audience is below the age of ten. Not so. This is a story of the unnecessary suffering that a dog may endure in the
Central African Republic where little has changed over the many years with respect to human dignity and basic needs. The original story was penned circa 1984 and this author was a 2nd Runner-up in the competition sponsored by the Swedish International
Development Agency (SIDA); its publication must quite likely have taken place however this version has been rewritten with some modifications. This particular version is an approximated rewrite with the least change possible in style. The audience intended is wide-ranging and includes all people who regard dogs as man’s best friend
(as opposed to those who regard them as food). The strategies that make the most impact within the storyline are polysyndeton, imagery, irony and caricature. New perspectives question the discretionary role of religious people (the Imam) juxtaposed against the controversial image given off by people of small virtue (Ladat). 320
Fig.9
THE PAINTING
This is the time of morning that I most enjoy. I spread my legs out evenly in a half- squatting position and then comfortably and just as contentedly pass motion.
Sometimes I pause and defecate maybe two or three large mounds; other times I just squeeze and let all the boggy mess out in one heave. Of course I vary the location from one day to the next, but I almost always make sure that I’m in the shade of the giant baobab even though the sun is not yet scorching everything at this time of the day. Then after my toilet I usually waddle across the big road to Dimana and stretch myself out under the little thorn tree; this is surrounded by many little thickets upon which I’ve had the pleasure to urinate from time to time. Fortunately or not, the rest of my day is usually spent under this tree where I reminisce about the past, or gripe about the present, or even nurture certain hopes about my future.1
And that is about all that a dog in Idache village can do to while the time away. It used to be different when I was a puppy. All I remember of that time was growing up in a huge house on the other side of Idache village. It was a house that was absolutely full of children who seemed to me to be growing up like grass and trees. They were of all 321 sizes and shapes and constantly ran about shouting and screaming and fighting2. They were wild. I was saved from an early death at the hands of these ruffians by their mother Delossy: a great big hulk of a woman, tall like a tree and with a girth the size of three ordinary people. Everyone in Idache called her Mama Delossy. She loved me perhaps more than her own children and I’m sure I always got a lion’s share of all her meaty dishes.
Mama Delossy is a very successful market-woman whose vegetables come from the capital by lorry every day. In this semi-desert place no-one grows anything. Other market-women congregate at her house every morning at dawn and haggle and squawk3 at each other over the prices and quality and amounts of food that is available but in the end, everything is carted away and Mama Delossy is left with pockets full of money.
She pays off the lorry driver who always has a cigarette in his large droopy mouth, then dashes off to the kitchen to cook the choicest of the vegetables that she kept for herself.
However, the exact opposite of this good-natured woman was Rungu her husband.
Idache village could certainly do without that lazy insolent braggart. It was because of him that I had to leave Mama Delossy’s house. He just couldn’t stand the sight of a mangy, four-leggéd animal in his house – especially during meals. He went out of his way to give me an explosive kick4 on my hind quarters or knock me on the head with a fist or a boot; even the three tom-cats in the house fared no better with this bully around. He seemed to spend the better part of his life slapping5 the children around, creating confusion and noise that was directed at no-one in particular – and this when he wasn’t out imbibing something illicit. The only time his presence was appreciated was when he returned from hunting wild deer in the scrublands; then that would mean meat was to be eaten that day! Otherwise he was just a lay-about and when he and 322
Mama Delossy fought, you’d be forgiven to think that giants ruled the house6; even the children’s cries were muted; furniture was destroyed and there would be pandemonium, snot, tears and abuse everywhere.
So I chose to stray off and away from there, and wander from house to house rather than live in peril of my life in such a confused household of mad people7. Yes, I’ve spent many nights under this sky just waking and sleeping, moving with the shade of the tree by day, eating this and that, sweating, stinking and defecating.
Now that its noon I look forward to seeing Ladat. She is the only other person I know in Idache who cares about my well-being, especially after I left Mama Delossy’s house. Every day at noon she totters past, always drunk, always skimpily dressed, always8 tired or dazed or sick; one hand always has a cigarette, the other hand a big black bag. It is into this bag that she dips when she sees me and invariably produces a tasty morcel for me to consume. She always watched me lovingly when I ate. She would stand there long enough to see me swallow the last of whatever she gave me, then pat my head and walk away in a swaying fashion as if she was dizzy. Beautiful, kind Ladat9. If she had possessed a home I would surely have lived with her there. But unfortunately every man’s home was her home10 and I believe that all her worldly belongings were contained in that big black bag of her’s. And here she comes; I wish she wouldn’t call me by that stupid name that Mama Delossy also used to say:” Doggy!
Hello Doggy. How are you today then? Doggy, oh Doggy11, eat up then…”
Apart from Ladat, one other person always acknowledged my presence but in totally different way. This was the Imam of Idache village. Soon after Ladat’s departure he would pass by, smelling of pickles, incense and coffee. He always threw a nasty glance at me , spat in my direction and then muttered and chanted to himself as he 323 walked away12 with a huge cloud of superstition hanging over his head – as if I was an abominable sight in his clear view. But I was never hurt by his actions (read religious hypocrisy) and either I’d pretend to be oblivious or snarl back to scre him a little. Some of these people have such bigoted ideas about themselves. Egomaniacs!13
Don’t get me wrong though; I’ve often had canine friends too right here in Idache.
Only they’ve had the misfortune of straying in from the bush to escape starvation and been treated with contempt by the human race. I’ve known dogs like me and bitches that have been sickly, thin, underweight, unfed, beaten maimed14…even killed for food!
I was lucky, though even that luck occasionally seems to be running out for me….nevertheless I’ll continue to struggle in the science of survival15 (its more of a science here than an art). The struggle for me is made easier by dogs like King here. He is the only dog in Idache village who comes from overseas. He lives with the white government official in the biggest house in Idache. Wooof!! King always brings me scraps to eat too. His master and Ladat are good friends as well so sometimes he comes with her. But other times he comes alone, like now, and if you could just see the juicy bone he’s brought to me you’d know for sure that King is a true friend. Wooof!
Wooof!. He removes the ticks from my fur with fervor too….Ouch16! Take care17.
Really, it fills me with remorse quite often when I look at myself, a healthy homeless hound18 living off other people like a beggar. From Mama Delossy’s place I went from house to house to hotel to butchery to rubbish-heap19 and finally out here to the lonely thorn tree on the road to Dimana. Dimana is a big camel-selling oasis; only the rich people in Idache village made trips to Dimana. King himself had communicated to me that there were many dogs there. Perhaps one day I’ll follow the road to Dimana20, venture out into the wild and seek to find this great town; maybe then 324
I’ll find a home, a warm place with plenty of food and loving care21. Of course I’d miss my friends Ladat and King but who knows, maybe they’d come to Dimana to look for me and ensure that I was alright…
Whenever dusk falls I like to edge towards Idache village so that I can find a quiet doorstep upon which to spend the lonely night. I wag my mangy tail from left to right to left again and trot along merrily as if I’m going to a house where I will be welcomed with loving arms22. But its all wishful thinking in a place like Idache. All the men are to me a replica of Rungu, cruel and over-energetic23; always out to use what excess they have of their energy to be unkind to others.
Maybe I have these misgivings about people, because I know and am very conscious of the fact, that King has gone to a very warm and comfortable home and therefore I feel jealous towards him. It’s a dog’s life24 as they say. Those big lights coming towards me in the road must belong to a truck. It must be loaded with camels, on its way to Dimana. No, I’m mistaken. Its not a truck it’s a bus. It seems to be full of people… and its headed straight for me… oh what a stupid way25 for a dog to die…
The big green bus screeched to a creaky26halt. The driver climbed out of his seat, cursing like a madman27. He fingered the old newly-dented bumper, then fingered his nose, then picked a few lice in his hair, then scratched his arse, then28 looked at the motionless body of a dog by the roadside, then spat, then still spitting and cursing he climbed into the driver’s seat and the bus heaved, sighed and clanked away29.
However, it went away with one passenger less: ‘Doggy, oh no not Doggy…’ she cried. Out of the big black bag came a black spotted handkerchief and all the snot and tears and sadness30 that went into that handkerchief, were a fitting dirge to the animal that had no place in a world of people. Too bad then that the artist who painted the 325 picture of the girl and the dog once he had returned overseas with his dog King, too bad that he only made three pounds ten for something he had captured in the girl’s crying eyes – something that should have been priceless.
Fig. 10
1.5.1 Annotation
1. Isocolon
2. Polysyndeton
3. Onomatopoeia
4. Hyperbole
5. Consonance
6. Denotation of serious violence, fear, acrimony and anarchy
7. Cacophonic diction
8. Repetitive assonance to outline a caricature of Ladat
9. Brachylogia
10. Euphemism for prostitution
11. Epizeuxis
12. Irony; religious men in authority ought to be loving towards mankind
and creatures alike 326
13. Brevitas
14. Asyndeton
15. Consonance
16. Ecphonesis
17. Brevitas
18. Euphony
19. Polysyndeton
20. Ironical foreshadowing
21. Imagery
22. Satirical imagery
23. Portrayal
24. Maxim
25. Understatement with bdeligmia
26. Onomatopoeia
27. Simile
28. Stereotypical caricature of bus drivers in general using the anaphoric’
then’ and graphic language
29. Personification using onomatopoeic words
30. Polysyndeton
327
1.5.2 Synopsis
INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLES VARIABLES
1, 2, 3 a, b, c
ETHOS (a) PATHOS (b) LOGOS (c)
1. CLAIM The author What is We are offers no pathetic is the prompted to A dog in Africa excuses for the way the pious question the has no life mistreatment of are hypocritical way we treat when the the dog by man & the low-lifes animals & ask owner has a are caring ourselves if it disjointed towards the is justified for family & the animal us to mistreat household is them for run by the nothing woman more than by the man
2. DATA Each incident We begin to Inadvertently that takes place share the same perhaps, we The daily in the dog’s life hope as the look forward to affairs or augments his dog, to one day a brighter pastimes of a destitution. The escape from future for the dog in a poor author this hopeless dog village in the progressively situation semi-desert. builds up an His fellow dog aura of is in better foreboding circumstances so this dog’s hope for a 328
better life emphasizes his destitution
3. WARRANT The author The sudden Even though goes from demise of the immortality is An accident being hound is the kills the dog heterodiegetic shocking & we compensation where even the to being regret it that the fallen death (just like homodiegetic because he was dog receives, it the life) is building our still leaves a highly hopes with bitter taste in regrettable to him; that he the mouth; this the animal was euphemism is a immortalized testimony that in a painting most of what barely consoles happened to us the dog is a true reflection of our general intolerance towards animals – with a very few exceptions
Table 5.
329
1.5.3The rhetorical tools of persuasion
The pertinent rhetorical tools that persuade us in the particular direction of the storyline are among many others, the following:
1a) Polysyndeton: …ran about shouting and screaming and fighting…; this tool actually hastens the pace of the narrative and in this particular instance emphasizes the cacophonic environment
1b) Hyperbole: Delosy’s husband Rungu “… went out of his way to give me a kick on my behind…” where this figure of speech emphasizes his cruelty through exaggeration.
1c) Cacophonic diction: …rather than live in peril of my life in such a confused household of mad people…
2a) Irony: …he always threw a nasty glance at me, spat in my direction… the Imam of
Idache village…; the irony is that an Imam is supposed to be tolerant of both men and creatures alike.
2b) Asyndeton: this is a tool where commas are used with no conjunction whatsoever to separate a series of words; the use of commas with no intervening conjunction speeds up the flow of the sentence: ‘ …dogs and bitches that have been sickly, thin, underweight, unfed, beaten, maimed and even killed for food…’
2c) Ecphonesis: “ouch!” – an effort by the author to elicit sympathy from the audience.
3a) Ironical foreshadowing: perhaps one day I’ll follow the road to Dimana; what is ironical is that this will definitely not happen; it is a forlorn hope and as such introduces an element of foreboding. 330
3b) Understatement with bdeligmia: what a stupid way for a dog to die. The bdeligmia rules out any room for sympathy and should not be misunderstood as a reason for comic relief because it is not funny; it is self-effacing contempt.
3c) Personification using onomatopoeic words: …and the bus heaved, sighed and clanked away.
The predominant tools of persuasion within this storyline, or the most hard-hitting, are polysyndeton, imagery and caricature; and all of them are appropriate to the writer’s purpose. The intended audience here is a general readership and this story is written to raise awareness to the plight of dogs that grow up in a hostile human environment. It’s a story which begs the question: are animals really a reflection of their owners or do they just look like them? The purpose of the story is to highlight the life of a mangy dog, even juxtaposed against that of another more privileged dog.
The analysis of this story is interesting because it exploits the tools of onomatopoeia and caricature in order to persuade us to be sympathetic to the dog’s plight. Pathos. The chief protagonist is in very pathetic circumstances, his environment is pathetic and even his untimely death is extremely pathetic – if death can be qualified. New perspectives that enable the reader to understand the text differently are: the hypocrisy of religious titles; life’s paradox where the most deprived is often the best person at heart. There is also the perspective of the influence of a female breadwinner in a developing African country.
Application of The Classical Theory
The classical theory accommodates six parts to a text:
- Exordium which clarifies the purpose of the text 331
- Narratio which outlines the context of the subject being addressed in order
to facilitate understanding
- Partitio where the purpose of the text is clarified with matters that are
accepted and those that are disputed
- Confirmatio where techniques used by the rhetor support what (s)he is
saying
- Refutatio where the rhetor’s techniques in that portion of the text are used by
the rhetor to respond to variant advocacy
- Peroratio where the rhetor concludes his contentions in the text and where
his closing is largely dependent on pathetic proof
The exordium in this storyline introduces the reader to the world of a four-legged canine in the first five paragraphs and this subconsciously prepares the reader for some kind of tribulation. The narration builds up this tribulation, giving the storyline a steady pace that increases in rapidity as the full picture of misery and lethargy unfolds. The partition isolates those who interact with the chief protagonist, both man and beast, as a way of helping the reader to distinguish between good and bad characters. The portion of confirmation clearly categorizes the main characters who have a positive influence on the chief protagonist; whilst the refutation offers the irony of the kindest one of them all, leading the life of a prostitute, something that
Society looks down upon; the holiest of them all, displaying bad manners and a body language that jarrs with his vocation. The polysyndeton which is emphatic of the caricature of the bus driver foregrounds the last paragraph and renders it highly dramatic, as a peroration to the life of this poor unlucky creature. 332
1.6 Story 6
The following story is about a man who is living an extremely stressful life, one that is brought about by his own doing. He has no focus in life and because of this he suffers all kinds of repercussions. The intended audience is adult and mature and the unpublished story was written circa 2009. The title is meant to keep the reader guessing and erotema, euphemism and facetiae keep the reader entertained; so do vivid description and stereotypical caricature, all applied with insight and purposefulness.
Time is not just money, time is a part of one’s life; new perspective: why do some men waste so much time in useless pursuits? The story is set in the outskirts of Kampala,
Uganda.
Fig.11
333
NATURE PLAYS A ROLE. (2009)
A middle-aged man was knocked down by a truck near some market stalls. He had just visited his wife’s stall where she sold fruits and vegetables quite successfully. But he’d had to quarrel with her and finally loudly abuse her in front of all and sundry; calling her a hideous cow and reminding her that if it was looks alone, she’d need to consider herself lucky that once he’d even deigned to look at her twice1. In the end he’d grabbed what money she had made before noon and slapped her in the face for – symbolically – spitting in his direction. It was while he was in this frame of mind that he crossed the road, without seeing the fast old blue truck2 with a cocky young man behind the wheel…..
Well, the accident didn’t appear to have been a bad one. The young man hopped off from the driver’s seat, cursing and swearing and3generally pulling his hair out4. The victim was momentarily stunned, then slowly and painfully got up and started to dust himself carefully. After an appropriate bit of time during which a sizeable crowd of onlookers were baying for the young driver’s blood, he cleared his throat and then proceeded to bellow at the hapless truck driver. Needless to say, the free drama ended with the latter being forced by the crowd to drive the victim round to the nearest hospital for a check-up.
The victim’s wife had been informed about the incident, which had occurred just around the corner from where she was, but the bitterness within her prevailed and she just sat at her stall, stunned. How many times had her husband demeaned and disrespected her in front of strangers, extorted money from her and gone to spend it with his mistress Carola? 5She’d had to really struggle to bring up their only child
Yasmin, who’d eventually married an imbecile who also treated her like dirt. So when 334 they told her that he’d been whisked off to hospital, she decided to carry on with the affairs of the rest of the day, seemingly oblivious, indifferent even.6
The outpatient doctor examined the victim and cautiously decided to admit him for a couple of days just to rule out concussion. The victim, George, had a parting shot for the young driver-turned-good Samaritan who likewise retorted with some venom of his own. Tests were performed on George until late that evening. Come night time and he slept like a baby. Sunrise the next day made him rue the day he’d walked in front of the truck. He felt the way he usually felt when he’d spent a whole night of drinking and cavorting with Carola. Then he was casually informed that this being a clinic there were no visiting hours, so he needed to be prepared to accept not just his own visitors, but those of the others in the same ward as himself……
So it was with this kind of cacophony around him that certain individuals did indeed come round to see him. The first was his buddy Phillip from the garage where they worked together. His baleful look said it all: business was bad. Phillip was no longer able to feed his two wives and seven offspring adequately. He and George would have to think of another venture or move elsewhere. The competition was too much.
Phillip looked at George. George looked at Phillip. Instead of empathizing with his friend, he told him off: what was he doing coming round to whine like a dog7 and cause him more grief? Couldn’t he make his wives more financially productive and ponce off them the way he did with his wife Joyce? He promptly effedhim off8and …9.Phillip was left wondering why he’d gone to see George at all….
An hour of sleep was barely over when another visitor came to see George. It was his mother. She was not pleased to see him lying there, with a permanent scowl on his face. She had given birth to real chimp she thought as she looked at him; a chimp who 335 walked in his chimp father’s footsteps10 – angry with the world and making no apology about it. Why were men so vile nowadays11? The scowl crinkled and George opened his eyes and looked at the tired face of the woman who was his mother12. The myriad lines and wrinkles did nothing to pacify his troubled mind: what did the old hag want now?
Who had told her that he was admitted? Why oh why was she here?13 Reading his mind she distastefully informed him that she wasn’t there to ask him for money, just to assess his injuries like a responsible mother….; midway through her last sentence the bulk in the bed14 had turned its back towards her. She heard her own shrill voice yelling and cursing at the man who was actually her son in that bed, telling the bulk about all the pain he had perpetuated towards her15 – from the nine months in the womb to the more recent incidents with the infamous Carola, a mere mistress who had no respect for her as his mother. Of course she tired of her tirade when it eventually dawned on her that every bitter thing she said simply fell on deaf ears. Spent, she slowly slouched off, leaving the bulk to continue hibernating in its bed16; the scowl now etched more deeply as it pondered the next arrival.
She was right on cue after the mother- with the attendant stares. She sauntered in, hideously dressed in trousers and a flannel top that were both tight enough to exaggerate her bulky thighs, fleshy rolls in the midriff area, her huge behind and her ample bosom.17 This was the now infamous Carola. She looked at the other patients with disdain, at their guests with contempt, and made a beeline18 for the bed where
George lay.
How dare he stand her up for the whole night! Now what could’ve happened for him to be laid out in a hospital bed? And this when he owed her money! The money he’d inveigled from his wife Joyce the day before was destined for her and she had no 336 intention of letting it become lost on clinic bills. George for his part was pleasantly surprised that the love of his life was there to see him. But why was she furious about a wasted night, lack of money, no communication? He told her to rifle through his pockets for the money he’d wrenched off Joyce…. It was all there - intact.19 Her features glowed as she pawed20 the money and she allowed herself an unnatural calmness, even wagging a finger at George … lying there … contemplating her….But her visit was brief.21 The air of sickness here was overwhelming and she had to get away. She only cared about two things in this world: sex and money – not in that order necessarily but, usually both, not just one. Now since the former was unavailable, she was after the latter, the money, and nothing would get in the way to stop her.
So she straightened up her bulky and misshapen frame and stood up. George knew that she was just (mis)using him but her ample body bolstered his floundering ego22 whenever he was in the public eye and, she was doing that now. What a big mistake to have married silly Joyce, a stick of a woman23, full of homilies, boring and mundane.
He leered at Carola and she stuck her thick tongue out at him, then sauntered off.
Lunch was uneventful and then the doctor walked in looking grave. “The concussion is there alright but you need to be transferred to a hospital facility” he said.
“Though urgent, we can’t do this until the early evening hours. What I must ask you to do is to avoid all stressful situations and try to get some sleep.”
George was vexed; knocked down by an old truck, confined to a bed for the whole day and now his: a “mild” concussion. He blamed everyone for his predicament: Joyce, for the life of abject misery that she had liberally shared with him; Yasmin for marrying a mirror-image of himself – a constant reminder of his failures in life; Carola for downright misusing him; even Phillip for burdening him with his incessant woes; and 337 that flippant young man in the old blue truck – can’t watch the road?!? He felt his temperature rise,24 his temple throbbing.
In came Yasmin to see him. “Dad, I’m pregnant with twins…oh and two weeks ago
I caught my husband in bed with a big hefty woman called Carola.25 Heh? She even abused me – in my own house and bedroom – and swore to God that she could remove me from here ( read earth) to a better place six feet under.26 Can you imagine?! Last of all she said that she had used and finished with some George, that he had now become vulture food27 ( read carcass) and she preferred to change once and for all to younger
“meat” …” “ …….”
Lights out28!!
Fig. 12
1.6.1 Annotation
1. Phallogocentrism
2. Exposition
3. Polysyndeton
4. Euphemism for anger 338
5. Erotema
6. Hypallage
7. Euphemism for discontent with simile
8. Invective
9. Aposiopesis
10. Interior monologue
11. Erotema
12. Sarcasm
13. Erotema in tricolon
14. Humoristic euphemism
15. Caustic trope
16. Allegory (allegorical to the behavior of a bear)
17. Description: caricature that is stereotypical of “gold-diggers” and prostitutes
18. Euphemism for going somewhere directly
19. Brachylogia
20. Trope depicting avarice
21. Brachylogia
22. Aetologia
23. Meiosis
24. Hubris
25. Dissoilogoi
26. Syntactic permutation of impending death
27. Facetiae
28. Euphemistic ecphonesis 339
1.6.2 Synopsis
INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLES VARIABLES
1, 2, 3 a, b, c
ETHOS (a) PATHOS (b) LOGOS (c)
1. CLAIM There is no We are moved This litany of sympathy to thoroughly anger verges on Disrespect whatsoever for dislike the the towards those the main main character melodramatic who matter in protagonist. as it gets your life, leads The author progressively to usury & never condones absurd abuse from his actions or those others utterances who also don’t care about you but simply want to misuse you
2. DATA The author How pathetic is We are pushed clearly decries it that his only to condemn the Everything the source of actions of about this man irresponsibility happiness is his George. We is wrong. He’s of the chief mistress? What sense a committing protagonist a travesty that foreboding that adultery with a this distinction he’ll suffer a prostitute, is given to bad end & we insults his wife, someone who want to think shuns work, for several that he disrespects his reasons simply deserves it mother & doesn’t deserve 340
generally turns it his back on his social responsibilities
3. WARRANT The author The reader is It is makes us want inclined to feel questionable The constant to feel that no pity at his whether any stresses of a George got his demise because lessons are crazy life just reward of the learnt by eventually kill progressive wrong-doers him build-up of when they end irresponsibility up dead. It begs & lack of the question: is caring death a penalty or an escape from idiocy & ignorance?
Table 6.
1.6.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion
The pertinent rhetorical tools that persuade us in the particular direction of the storyline are among many others, the following:
1a) Hypallage: where the wife ‘ …decided to carry on with the rest of the day seemingly oblivious, indifferent even…’ – a literary device that reverses the syntactic relation of two words.
1b) Invective: …he promptly effed him of and … 341
1c) Aposiopesis: …and …; aposiopesis is where there is an abrupt stop in the middle of the sentence. In this case it portrays unwillingness on the part of the author to complete the statement that was in the process of peroration.
2a) Interior monologue: … a chimp who walked in his chimp father’s footsteps…; this part of the exposition provides comic relief.
2b) Sarcasm: …and looked at the tired face of the woman who was his mother…; the audience is persuaded to either share his regret or sympathize with his mother.
2c) Allegory: ‘…leaving the bulk to continue hibernating in its bed…’ the allegory here is to a bear which hibernates in winter for months after having adequately fed its huge bulk of a body.
3a) Aetologia: ‘…her ample body bolstered his floundering ego’ – certain reasons are given to explain the circumstances at hand.
3b) Hubris: He felt his temperature rise. The chief protagonist can have this luxury because unbeknown to him it is this precisely which will bring about his downfall.
3c) Dissoilogoi. These are contradictory arguments: … dad I’m pregnant with twins … two weeks ago I caught my husband in bed with a big hefty woman…
The predominant tools of persuasion within this storyline, the most hard-hitting, are erotema, euphemism and facetiae which are also appropriate to the writer’s purpose.
The audience intended is a young one: urban, middle-class, fastidious, somewhat exposed to Western decadence. A possible question being asked here is: what happened to common decency? Another is: why do men still treat women like appendages.
Additionally, why is it that in some countries women simply have no rights? This story 342 is replete with pathos because we empathize with the women in the various roles they play. The strategies of euphemism, aposiopesis, allegory and meiosis sustain interest and render the events humorous. A different understanding of the text can prompt the reader to question the rights of prostitutes in general and wonder whether they deserve pity or contempt, given the reasons for indulging in this profession in the first place.
Application of The Classical Theory
The classical theory accommodates six parts to a text:
- Exordium which clarifies the purpose of the text
- Narratio which outlines the context of the subject being addressed in order
to facilitate understanding
- Partitio where the purpose of the text is clarified with matters that are
accepted and those that are disputed
- Confirmatio where techniques used by the rhetor support what (s)he is
saying
- Refutatio where the rhetor’s techniques in that portion of the text are used by
the rhetor to respond to variant advocacy
- Peroratio where the rhetor concludes his contentions in the text and where
his closing is largely dependent on pathetic proof
The victim in the car accident is the chief protagonist in this storyline. The accident itself is the exordium that shocks us into paying attention to the narration that ensues. It is from this narratio that the partitio outlines the various characters that feature in the life of the victim; and the flaws and virtues (read refutation and confirmation) of each one of them. Facetiae is the climax of the peroratio where careless speech ultimately 343 gives the victim cardiac arrest. The body of the classical theory( partitio, confirmatio and refutatio) is therefore intertwined with the actual thesis of the storyline.
1.7 Story 7
The following story is depicted from the point of view of a young girl living in the
Middle East. The reader lives with her and shares her tribulation and apprehensions.
Erotema, the famous rhetorical question to which there is no answer, is a powerful device in the writer’s endeavour to be both graphic and persuasive.
Fig.13
A TRUE STORY
It had been a long wait in the sun. Every week she had to come to this small town to purchase vegetables for the whole family, a chore from which she could not escape.
The scorching sun did not make it any easier in this hot Middle Eastern country. Her black garb and scarf absorbed the heat in a gluttonous fashion and then embraced her with it.1 Being young enough allowed her to expose her face from the eyebrows to the chin,2where any slight breeze was welcome. But the enduring engulfing heat continued 344 to choke her whole being; until it was sheer relief to see the old bus at a distance, approaching her like a slow old bug3.
As she waited for it to arrive where she stood, she reflected how worried her mother must be at home about her long absence. Without the vegetables meals would be incomplete and ye the two of them depended on each other for the cooking, the sweeping, the washing of clothes, patching of the tents and even herding out the younger of the small flock of sheep. The men and boys in the family could not be expected4to participate in any of these activities, they had better things to do5… Then the political situation in the country was becoming worse than ever before: people were being abducted – big grown men; young boys were using arms against each other.
Many grown-ups were clamoring for change6; too many things were now becoming so risky to do. She pondered about the men and boys7.
The bus came to a standstill very close to where she stood, chugging and coughing and shuddering and coughing again8. It was all she could do to haul up this enormous bag of veggies after her little frame had nimbly hopped on9. A couple of elderly women assisted her to get right in but once inside, she noticed that practically all the seats were full of people. She nervously edged along the length of the bus, dragging behind her the heavy haul of vegetables, hoping against hope that there would be somewhere to sit down.10
Then she saw it; a small space next to the side of the bus near the exit door. A big man was seated there, but he hadn’t quite taken up the whole seat. What luck! Instead of him moving over though, he preferred to let her through and barely had she sat down, than the bus started moving again, having waited just long enough to deposit11 two or three of the few standing passengers. Some of the passengers looked familiar to 345 her, she had been on this trip often enough; like the owl-faced man behind the driver’s seat, even the old women who had helped her to board the bus. She knew that the few standing passengers would get off at the next stop. Then after that it would be another stop and then she’d get off at the one after that12– with enough vegetables and supplies for a week! The thought brought a smile to her young and weary face.
The bus heaved13 and came to an abrupt stop. The big fat man next to her eased himself away, stood up and labored off14 the bus. The remaining standing passengers also stepped off. She looked behind her and noticed that all the seats were full of people: young girls in black scarves like her, old women in big black smocks with only their eyes exposed, modern little girls with pretty brightly-colored dresses. But these were few; there were many, many boys and men15 in the bus. Some looked alike, some were travelling alone. When she turned back to face forward, she was surprised to see a very angry-looking young man defiantly enter the bus through the exit door in front of her – and sit down beside her.
The anger etched on his face made her little heart miss a beat. She knew that grown up men could become very angry for nothing, even violent, even dangerous, even
16downright mad; but the look on this one’s face made her feel very cold indeed in the stomach despite the searing heat. The bus jerked forward and began to move at what seemed like an alarming speed to the young girl. “What are you doing here?” – the young man beside her asked in a low menacing. She was tongue-tied, terrified at the tone 17of his voice, the bristly beard18, dark eyes, disheveled hair, rough appearance, gruff, mean demeanor19, mean, mean, haggard and mean20. She just froze in her seat.
No-one had ever talked to her like that in her life, not during her trips to the market, not21 anywhere…. 346
She just couldn’t bring herself to look at him, and preferred instead to stare at her intertwined fingers, sweating and trembling with fear. “ Get ………off……..the bus”
22he said in a low, steady, unfaltering, deeply threatening voice – “ Get off the bus23
NOW” – and he stood up and strode to the back of the bus where he squeezed himself between two hapless men.
The old bus was chugging24 to a stop again and although this was not her stop and she had no idea who that angry man was, she hurriedly and obediently came off the bus, first pulling her heavy bag of vegetables behind her, sweating and shaking and trembling with fear, hardly able to keep her balance, dizzy, her heart pounding against her ribs, the pumping of blood loud and urgent in her ears.25 It was with immense relief that she noticed no-one else got off there at the lonely bus-stop26 – especially not the angry, nasty-looking, horrifying individual27. She had no idea how she’d get home or when, but as she stared at the old bus chugging away from her, leaving her at a distance, she saw the bad man stand up from the last seat, turn and look through the back window at her ……..and explode!!
There was a tremendous explosion which threw the young girl off her feet even at that distance. It blew away her big bag of vegetables, decimating and scattering them everywhere. When she recovered her breath, she sat up on the roadside and dared to look in the direction of (what had been) the bus. Nothing was left of it28; it29 had turned into a big ball of cold blue30 fire. Only two or three seriously injured people survived on the tarmac road, moaning and writhing in pain. The rest of all those people in the bus were charred beyond recognition. A few objects were scattered too, away from the blaze; like a shoe, a brightly-colored scarf, a hat. 347
Then it dawned on her with a profound sense of reality: she had just escaped a suicide bombing!31
The angry young man was a bomber and he must have taken pity on her for some reason: youth? Naïvety?Innocence? Whatever the reason was, he had given her a chance to save herself.32 Instilling abject fear in her was his way of saving her; and becoming a martyr without punishing this poor child for something of which she had no knowledge.33 Maybe he knew her or maybe he didn’t but whatever the case, he’d reasoned that martyrdom did not have to be gained at the expense of the purity of youthful innocence34. Whereas no qualms were felt about the lives of the other passengers, he somehow needed to leave the legacy that at least one life was spared35… left intact.
She was safe …for now ….for36God knows how long; Inshallah37. Politics was so confusing to her young mind …and religion even more … He had become a martyr … and she38…39
And she40 …?
Fig. 14 348
1.7.1 Annotation
1. Personification
2. Phallogocentrism
3. Simile
4. Phallogocentric sarcasm
5. Satire
6. Interior monologue
7. Phallogocentrism
8. Polysyndeton
9. Caricature
10. Tautologia
11. Personification
12. Alloisis
13. Personification
14. Portrayal
15. Phallogocentrism
16. Inductive parallelism
17. Consonance
18. Alliteration
19. Dissonance
20. Freight-train
21. Epanaphora
22. Hyperbaton
23. Epanaphoric inference
24. Onomatopoeia 349
25. Asyndeton
26. Foreshadowing
27. Caricature
28. Brachylogia
29. Anadiplosis
30. Oxymoron
31. Concrete language
32. Hypophora
33. Abstract
34. Argumentum ad hominem
35. Logical fallacy; the above two rhetorical devices (34 & 35) are also dissoilogoi
36. Colloquialism
37. Anadiplosis
38. Epanalepsis
39. Aposiopesis
40. Symploce
350
1.7.2 Synopsis
INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLES VARIABLES
1,2,3 a,b,c
ETHOS (a) PATHOS (b) LOGOS (c)
1. CLAIM The author is We feel sorry We might emphatic about for her way of question why A young hard- the childish life: the chores, women were so working girl innocence of her political down-trodden was scared the main fears… in some right out of her protagonist & societies wits, terrified her simple by an older world young man; paradoxically his apparent reason for doing so was chivalrous
2. DATA The bus The anxiety we We wonder journey feel for the why this angry She dislikes the develops into a young girl as young man is fact that men & tedious affair the journey so disagreeable boys have such whose unfolds & how long the a violent commonality becomes a young girl will disposition. develops into heavy emotion suffer the The man anxiety as the to bear anguish of talking to her is poor young girl being sent off gruff & looks becomes the bus before very mean frightened of her usual stop 351
this passenger
3. WARRANT The author The reader is The doesn’t shocked that heterodiegetic he is a suicide encourage tragedy brings stance of the bomber who excuses for the such finality to author isn’t explodes bomber, the journey entirely himself in the everything is convincing bus once she explained in a about why the has safely matter-of-fact suicide took alighted way – even the place after extreme she’d alighted. tragedy But it shows up a glimmer of humanity in the perpetrator’s mind
Table 7.
1.7.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion
The pertinent rhetorical tools that persuade us in the particular direction of the storyline are among many others, the following:
1a) Satire: ‘…the men and boys in the family had better things to do…’; where human behavior is portrayed in an extreme way and the author desires to sound critical towards this state of affairs.
1b) Caricature: …after her little frame had nimbly hopped on…; this caricature creates the image of a character who is young, puny and small in size.
1c) Tautologia: …hoping against hope that there’d be somewhere to sit down…(the same idea is repeated in different words). 352
2a) Alloisis is the breaking down of a subject into its alternatives:…then after that it would be another stop and then she’d get off at the one after that…
2b) Portrayal: ‘the big fat man next to her eased himself away …and labored off’ – the audience can almost recognize the individual in question. There is also some phallogocentrism : …little girls with pretty …dresses…many, many boys and men…; where what is masculine is accepted as the central point of reference of validity and authority in this part of the world.
2c) Epanaphoric inference: “Get off the bus!” Epanaphora in rhetoric, is repeating the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases for emphasis. What is inferred is that something not very nice may happen to her if she didn’t get off the bus.
3a) Concrete language; it dawned on her with a profound sense of relief that she had just escaped a suicide bombing. This is language that has described a specific and horrific event.
3b) Argumentum ad hominem: he’d reasoned that martyrdom did not have to be gained at the expense of the purity of youthful innocence.
3c) Epanalepsis: …she … (the same word appears both at the beginning and at the end of a clause).
The predominant tools of persuasion within this storyline, the most hard-hitting, are phallogocentrism and foreshadowing; both of which are appropriate to this writer’s purpose. Because the chief protagonist is a young girl, one can be forgiven for assuming that the readership is largely youthful; this story is for a general readership.
The reason for writing it is to prove that no matter how low humanity can descend into evil, there is always a spark of goodness somewhere, however small. The main question 353 posed is: what can abject fear achieve? Another pertinent question is: how many faces does heroism have (and is it heroic or cowardly or hypocritical to kill many people while saving one soul)? Ethos and pathos are both concurrently predominant (we see the direction the writer is leading to and we feel the fear of the child); where personification and simile clarify the writer’s opinion, phallogocentric tautologia brings out the apathy surrounding the chief protagonist. Concrete language engenders a deeper understanding of the text; so does abstract reasoning where the writer departs from the text to address the reader directly without being interrogative (a display of ethos).
Application of The Classical Theory
The classical theory accommodates six parts to a text:
- Exordium which clarifies the purpose of the text
- Narratio which outlines the context of the subject being addressed in order
to facilitate understanding
- Partitio where the purpose of the text is clarified with matters that are
accepted and those that are disputed
- Confirmatio where techniques used by the rhetor support what (s)he is
saying
- Refutatio where the rhetor’s techniques in that portion of the text are used by
the rhetor to respond to variant advocacy
- Peroratio where the rhetor concludes his contentions in the text and where
his closing is largely dependent on pathetic proof
In this storyline, the exordium introduces the reader to the chief protagonist: a young
Muslim girl. Not only that, the reader is then enabled to enter her mind and to think like her, feel like her and react like her. Rhetorical phallogocentrism dominates the 354 narration and very little if any of the roles of confirmation and refutation is experienced; both of them are generally subliminal. This is intentional within the partition in order to introduce a strong sense of foreboding. That way the peroration enjoys a dramatic entry to the final scene, where the peaceful setting of the story is interrupted by a tremendous explosion. Colloquialisms pepper the story to lend some veracity to it.
1.8 Story 8.
The following story exploits the act of forgiveness in the face of immense cruelty. It is graphic. Additionally it zeros in on the tenets upheld by Islam when it comes to the woman who has been wronged. Both of these factors are what is absolutely true about the story, the rest is fiction. Therefore the strategies of inference and vivified description play a major role; inversion to emphasize naïveté, inversion to emphasize courage and simplistic personification are also appropriate to the writer’s purpose. The rhetorical tool of caricature offers the new perspective of the role played by religious men in authority, especially when they have to side with a wife against her husband, which is very rare in this highly patriarchal society whose setting is in Saudi Arabia.
Fig.15 355
An Almost True Story
As he stood in front of that simple wooden door, a warm feeling of anger started rising up from his chest and engulfing the base of his neck. Then it began slowly to choke then strangle him. Feelings of resentment and low self-esteem swirled around in his head. Why was every man looking lustfully at his fiancée?1She was meant as a future wife for him, not for them. Was he imagining or had she returned a coy look at his macho bearded cousin-brother Ahmed?2 No, something had to be done. Something had to be done3about the prevailing state of affairs. He had to take steps and make sure that no man ever looked upon her in desire again. He would ensure that she herself never saw another man in her life after setting her eyes on him today4…..
So he knocked on the door. Her mother opened it, and it was all he could do to contain the pent-up rage that was giving him indigestion. 5After the usual salutations he made for the bedroom door just as she herself opened it. His hand darted into his pocket and he pulled out the little jar within it. As soon as she raised her face to look at him and greet her husband-to-be with respect, and some of the love she felt towards him lately, he opened the jar and tossed its contents squarely onto her face. Acid.6She screamed! She screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed. 7She screamed until she was hoarse. Never in her whole life had she felt such pain. Her screams shattered the silence in the house; they pierced the hearts of every living person within hearing; her pain was felt by each human soul in that vicinity.8Then she collapsed in a small heap on the floor – mercifully it seemed.
He on the other hand turned and fled. He ran and ran….away from that scene, that
9house where he had carried out his cowardly, dastardly deed10; he ran away from the imprinted memory of a pain and suffering he simply could not fathom or understand 356 properly. Justice had been served thought he.11 She would survive he consoled himself.
Acid does not kill. But she would survive as his wife, for him alone, not for other men to ogle at but, for him, just him, for him to admire, his own wife, his personal possession, his alone – his!!
And survive she did13. Her mother and other women in the house picked her up and rushed her to the nearest dispensary. This case would be reported to the Chief Kadhi.
Her fiancé would not go unpunished. Vengeance would be retributed14. Not long after that incident they were told how. The general consensus among the village elders and the Chief Kadhi was that Islamic Law in this case advised ‘an eye for an eye’15 since the two were only betrothed and not yet married to one another. The perpetrator was found guilty of grievously harming someone who had done no active harm to him; his assault had been based on supposition and imagined passive aggression according to them; none of his allegations could be proved and many were the witnesses who saw or heard what had transpired that day. So they surmised that he deserved to suffer the same pain as she – not by her own hand but by the hand of the village executioner, whose normal duties included lashing, stoning, mutilation and beheading. The only way the convict could escape the price he had now to pay was if the victim chose to forgive him, according to Islamic Law. As for the victim, she acquiesced that she could in fact find it in her heart to forgive him but only if he asked for her forgiveness.
No. No16. No, this was not going to happen. Did women rule the world now he wondered? He, a full-grown man ripe for marriage, was he now going to feebly apologize to a woman who had, perhaps inadvertently, hurt his deepest feelings, one who had aroused his worst and most powerful feelings of profound jealousy?
Noooooooo. He was way too proud to apologize to her.17 This religion, whilst putting 357 him on a masculine pedestal was now striping him of that very virtue (just being born a man was a virtue to him) by offering him an effeminate alternative that was giving him nausea, nausea18. He would never apologize to a member of the weaker sex about something that he as a man had decided – never!19
Even the prospect of being blind for the rest of his life – like his now blind fiancée
– did not make him think otherwise. No he was not sorry, she deserved it! He would not bend, he could not bend his will. He would remain steadfast to his convictions.
Then the day for sentencing dawned on that little Muslim village. The poor newly- blind victim was escorted by her female counterparts to the executioner’s house – a house in a compound that was rightly feared by all who ventured there whether guilty or not; a sad, simplistic, squalid little house 20surrounded by yellowing grass, that was enclosed by a wooden fence – the other side of which lay the village cemetery. The belligerent perpetrator was also escorted there – by armed guards and a large crowd of boys and men who were all drawn to this place by reason of entertainment, curiosity also having got the better of them.
The procedure was that the executioner would first secure him on a bed using strong ropes. Then he would ask the convict three times whether or not he was remorseful about his actions and wanted forgiveness. Should he ask her for forgiveness and the victim choose not to grant it, he would suffer the consequences , just as he would should he maintain his belligerence.21
The women were herded22out into the main hall. The only occupants in the execution room were the Chief Kadhi and a few octogenarian elders, the cocky, young perpetrator and the apathetic blind victim of his actions.23She sat alone and apart from 358 the men, now relying on her sense of hearing more than ever before since she could no longer see.
“ Do you request for forgiveness for your actions24?”asked the burly executioner with the bulbous nose and watery eyes. “ No I do not!” said the young man. The executioner’s big thick fingers of one handstretched out to grab a big jar full of acid.“
Do you request for forgiveness for your actions?” he asked again, his big tongue darting about to lick the thick lips25 in an attempt to keep them moist. “ NO!!” – shouted the young man although this time round his voice inflection betrayed a wavering in the whining, as he contemplated his impending doom. The thick fingers of the other hand belonging to the executioner now joined the first set of fingers in removing the lid from the big jar of acid. “Do you request for forgiveness for your actions?” asked the monolith with finality, at which the young man audibly whispered “No” - and broke into tears; for now the fear was all too real, the fear of becoming blind and unable to see.
“Wait!” said the young blind woman “ I want to say something if I may”. The Chief
Kadhi lifted his soft, supple, plump, gold ring-adorned hand as a gesture to stop the executioner, then turned to her and allowed her to speak. “ I want to ask you my husband-to-be, why do you cry?”
Even the crowds milling outside, heard her soft, gentle little voice wafting through the loud-speaker atop the roof of the executioner’s dour house. Amidst plaintive sobs the young man spluttered out “It’s not the actual sentence of blindness by acid, it’s not even the lifetime of not being able to see that awaits me…..I just can’t forget the scream of pain that pierced my ears, my whole being, my26 very soul. I fear that pain that I caused you – a pain that haunts me day and night ever since you expressed it so 359 fearfully; a sound so shrill, a pain so excruciatingly shrieked out Oh God…” – “
Stop27!” she shouted “I have forgiven him!”
Away in another foreign country in Europe, the television correspondent carrying out an interview with a woman clad in Muslim attire with nothing revealed save the eyes covered in black sunglasses, wondered aloud in her interrogation of the victim; why she forgave her fiancé after what he had done to her and with no show of remorse.
“The fact that he realized the extent of the pain he had caused me, the physical and psychological pain that he had inflicted upon me….that was enough for me to forgive him” she explained. The realization then, more than mere words of apology, convinced the suffering woman that her attacker was himself in a far worse pain than acid could inflict: the very real pain of apprehensive anticipation…..
The Chief Kadhi was visibly relieved, as were his peers. The executioner felt robbed ….of a pleasure he might have enjoyed – the pleasure of retribution which normally leaves a bitter-sweet taste in the mouth ( as opposed to plain cruelty which leaves his mouth completely dry). The crowd outside were hooting and booing28simultaneously. A heavy curtain of guilt and humility and sheer and utter gratefulness29 engulfed the young culprit, with the reality that he had been spared a fate that was perhaps worse than death itself. And she …was finally at peace with her fate
… in that village in30 the desert, the back of beyond … finally at peace31.
360
Fig.16
1.8.1 Annotation
1. Erotema
2. Interior monologue
3. Epistrophe
4. Inference of something that is foreboding
5. Hyperbole
6. Brevitas
7. Polysyndeton
8. Persuasion using ‘pathos’.
9. Anaphora
10. Alliteration
11. Inversion to emphasise his naïveté
12. Argumentation
13. Inversion to emphasise her courage
14. Isocolon
15. Maxim
16. Epizeuxis
17. Hubris 361
18. Repetition
19. Ecphonesis
20. Simplistic personification with consonance
21. Explication
22. Trope
23. Vivified description
24. Epideictic
25. Caricature
26. Epanaphora
27. Climax capped with ecphonesis
28. Assonance
29. Polysyndeton
30. Anaphora
31. Epanalepsis
1.8.2 Synopsis
INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLES VARIABLES
1,2,3 a,b,c
ETHOS (a) PATHOS (b) LOGOS (c)
1. CLAIM The author is The reader The reader keen to show sincerely tends to agree Sometimes the aggressor suffers the pain or disagree fiancées have up as a selfish that the victim with the logic to be punished man; to show conveys & contained for their the victim up bays for the within the transgressions as innocent & blood of the claim, with 362
so that when undeserving of aggressor what the they become what befalls aggressor wives they do her views as a just not wander. recompense for However, the what he accuser has to imagines may be justified in have been a meting out any transgression punishment
2. DATA The author The reader The reader appears to becomes grapples with The aggressor support the impatient to see the very blinds his view that that retribution essence of the fiancée in a fit justice must towards the meaning of of fury. He prevail & pays aggressor takes forgiveness & likewise should a lot of place. The pace wonders if be blinded attention to this of the narrative revenge is according to sub-theme is breathless retribution the tenets of his with tools like enough – even religious epistrophe & under the guise beliefs polysyndeton of religion
3. WARRANT The author The outcome Sometimes seems satisfied can satisfy the forgiveness can The same that although lust for blood be a very religious the aggressor which the difficult beliefs ordain was not rightly reader feels phenomenon to that the punished, he towards the accept & aggressor be nevertheless aggressor. He remorse must punished by psychologically needs to suffer be felt beyond the victim that suffered the & he does – a certain limit he had consequences though not as before that wronged of his would have forgiveness can 363
because of misdemeanor been expected become taking the law afforded into his own hands. He can however be forgiven if the victim so chooses - & she does
Table 8.
1.8.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion
The pertinent rhetorical tools that persuade us in the particular direction of the storyline are among many others, the following:
1a) Epistrophe: something had to be done. Something had to be done. This literary device emphasizes the urgency in the action or situation.
1b) Anaphora: …he ran and ran…away from that scene …that house…
1c) Alliteration: dastardly deed.
2a) Argumentation: …his wife, for him alone, not for other men to ogle at but, for him, just him, for him to admire, his own wife… his alone …
2b) Maxim: an eye for an eye.
2c)Epizeuxis: No. No. Epizeuxis emphasizes an idea using one-word repetition.
3a) Explication: …should he ask her for forgiveness and the victim choose not to grant it he would suffer the consequences. 364
3b) Epideictic: ‘Do you request for forgiveness for your actions?’ – epideictic being ceremonial rhetoric; in this case being the kind of rhetoric required before facing punishment for a criminal offense.
3c) Climax capped with ecphonesis:” …a sound so shrill, a pain so excruciatingly shrieked out oh God…” “ Stop!”
The predominant tools of persuasion within this storyline, or the most hard-hitting, are inference, inversion and ecphonesis; all are also appropriate to this writer’s purpose.
Epanalepsis underlines the profound message within the text to make it effective. The purpose of this story is to underscore the power of forgiveness, especially in the light of extreme suffering. The audience intended is mature adults. Rhetorical analysis addresses the question: is forgiveness always deserved? Can religion be said to be selectively empowering and if so, why this selectivity? The rhetorical tools of persuasion that respond appropriately to these questions are: anaphora, polysyndeton and epanaphoric argumentation. They combine to form feelings of empathy within the reader’s psyche – pathos! The analysis brings out fresh perspectives encapsulated in the maxims: look before you leap; actions have consequences; what goes around comes around. These adages are not the only perspectives; the very central role played by religion is another important predominant and interesting perspective, which goes to prove how humanity is of necessity not totally devoid of spiritualism.
Application of The Classical Theory
The classical theory accommodates six parts to a text:
- Exordium which clarifies the purpose of the text 365
- Narratio which outlines the context of the subject being addressed in order
to facilitate understanding
- Partitio where the purpose of the text is clarified with matters that are
accepted and those that are disputed
- Confirmatio where techniques used by the rhetor support what (s)he is
saying
- Refutatio where the rhetor’s techniques in that portion of the text are used by
the rhetor to respond to variant advocacy
- Peroratio where the rhetor concludes his contentions in the text and where
his closing is largely dependent on pathetic proof
This is yet another graphic storyline that has to depend on a heavy sense of foreboding in order to make its exordium memorable. The pace of the narratio is fast and steady where hubris and imagery hasten that pace. This time it is within the exordium that cofirmatio and refutatio play a role; where the chief protagonist argues the pros and cons of why he’s planning to carry out an acid attack. The role of interior monologue here is not only predominant but indispensable. The partitio of the storyline appears in the following sequence: justification for an attack, the attack itself, imminent consequences and finally unforeseen circumstances. The peroration is introduced by the rhetorical device ‘amplification’ where the reader is momentarily transported to a futuristic distant land, one where the victim is interviewed in a broadcasting station about her forgiveness; before being transported back to the present to experience the results of these extenuating circumstances.
366
1.9 Story 9
The following story is mainly about the general lackadaisical attitude of conference participants. It is unpublished and was written in 2013 for a general audience. Its main aim is to bring out the disparity between the well-paid participants and interpretors on the one hand, and the suffering people who they’re supposed to be helping by means of concerted consultation on the other hand. It becomes a farce. The farce is played out using numerous rhetorical tools, the main strategies being parallelism, personification, irony, paradox, metaphor, allegory and sarcasm. The setting is in the beautiful coastal town of Shanzu in Kenya.
Fig.17
International Conference
Her elegant manicured hand stretched out over the dressing table1 full of designer perfumes and scented lotions; then it hovered over a designer liner. The brown designer lip-liner was lifted up, up, up towards a set of full lips; then it hovered an instant before it lightly landed on the inner edge and went round slowly, languidly, carefully, sensually, all around that inner edge before it stopped. Abruptly. The beautiful hand then placed it back in the velvet pouch. Then came the deep pink matte lipstick – designer of course; lavishly applied on the plump full curvature of both lips. Finally the 367 dub of Vaseline gloss where the lips met, strawberry flavor of course2. Her make-up was done; two hours of painstaking application that involved, but was not limited to: toner-moisturizer with UV filters, foundation mousse to hide the pretty freckles in order to achieve a matte complexion, electric eye-brow shaver to maintain a tidy brow, smoky eye-lids, blush and rouge on cheekbones, Indian hemp for scalp hygiene and pink lotion – also with UV filters – to pamper the silky hair.3
This was another day. This was4 one of those days when the trip towards the five- star hotel seemed to have some kind of foreboding. Along the road on the forty kilometers journey she didn’t fail to notice the usual signs of resignation around her that few people noticed when not chauffeured like her: women and children slowly carrying bright yellow jerry cans of water, perilously fetched in nearby crocodile- infested rivers and precariously perched5 on their heads, sometimes even laboriously strapped onto their backs; other littler girls herding flocks of sheep and herds of goat
(with some of the animals standing taller than their herders) over in the bean fields – the boys having gone to school; young and older women pounding maize with heavy pestles in mortars carved out of ebony logs; old women grounding sorghum between two large circular flat-stones to produce flour. Once in a while chickens fluttered about within the small compounds of crowded homesteads, the sighting of a hawk plunging down to snatch off one of the chicks and sending the villagers into a flurry “Mwewe!
Mwewe!”6; small bazaars of old men and hapless village lads sipping illicit brew as they idled the hours away; palm trees dotted with nimble agile fellows trying their hand at tapping some palm-wine. She looked on at all these different scenarios, wondering why there was apprehension in the air, distant apprehension. 368
Then she turned to consoling herself. ‘Sada’ she told herself ‘this is a beautiful sunny day so don’t spoil it with muddy thoughts. Think how lucky you are to be going off to a conference in a luxury hotel; with running water, air conditioning, sumptuous meals…interpreters are amongst the most well-paid people in the world! Count yourself lucky to be one and thank God for it’7.
Self-consolation has a way of purifying the mind. One can sit back and enjoy a long drive listening to modern jazz-rock and being prayerful and content; and insulate oneself from the dreary decadence flitting by the car window, ever anonymous people, ever faster speed, flitting, flitting, flitting8 by; until the yellow jerry cans eventually become a blur, the villages beside the road smudges, the people herding, pounding, grinding, imbibing, tapping9 ….they become nothing.10
The conference convener was feeling smug. All was ready to go. Everything was in place. She clip-clopped around in her six-incher heels, every bit the savvy young woman,11 a lady, modern and brisk. Her eyes swept the room with delight, as she tilted her head up high. The two hundred bottles of mineral water perched next to crystal glasses seemed to announce12that a serious meeting of minds was about to take place.
At intervals the shiny microphones dotted the linen-covered tables. She strutted to the back f the room and faced the front. A cascade of flowers flowed almost to the floor on the main dais. Silk cloth in blue azure and clear white entwined with smoky grey made loops around the walls – one would be forgiven to think that a wedding was about to take place.
However there was not going to be a wedding. No, not at all. This was going to be a follow-up conference of what had transpired the day before.13 Lengthy presentations had taken place yesterday; delegates had discussed how they had prepared for these few 369 days in Kenya, away in their various countries. Today’s deliberations involved country reps from all over the world saying what they would do, or could not do, for one country in this troubled African continent: Somalia.14 Therefore, committee reps would report their findings, participants would proffer their opinions about these findings and there would be certain in-depth explanations15 about various perspectives for decisions to be taken and so on and so forth, long-winded waffling, this and that fact ….all of them very important indeed.16 Here and there one would hear some dissention, looks of disapproval would be shot around like dangerous missiles17, a well-endowed delegate with an ample behind might distract attention by waddling off in a huff at certain unpleasant remarks18; sometimes outright consternation would be voiced….then all of these various ripostes and attitudes would be amicably brought to an end by the convener herself as she announced the welcome ‘hygiene break’.
Yes today was bound to be a good day. She strutted to the front and took her place, seated. As she did so the room began to fill up with other participants: men and women of noteworthy repute, sent by their governments to represent their political interests.
Here not just to parade their importance19but also to justify the vast amounts of money spent by their amorphous organizations, backed by those invisible ‘governments’ and leave a printed mark behind to be carried on to the next international conference elsewhere in the world, possibly in Europe.20
One after another they streamed into the vast hall: well-heeled, well-coiffed ladies, accessorized by large square-shaped handbags and sufficient bling-bling, silently trying to outdo each other21; men whose bellies were rotund with self-worth22, whose faces shone with contentment as the briefcases they carried weighed down with dollar-filled wallets, expensive electronic tablets and masses of printed paper rubbish.23 As the 370 convener watched them stream in, she looked directly up in the ceiling at the glass cabinet domineering the back of the hall. All the interpreters were seated and ready to begin: a middle-aged handsome woman and two young men; and she found herself envying the imagined life of these three individuals; the dexterity with which they managed to switch from one language to another simply amazed her. She noticed the modern box haircuts of both youths, rendering them more youthful than they really were. She found herself mildly surprised that from across the room she had noticed the well-manicured nail polish of the lady with them, bright magenta, not to mention the excellent application of make-up, fine-tuned to the last detail and the exquisite
‘beehive’ that romanced her oval face.24
Sada noticed her too25. She saw the fastidious young lady across the room momentarily stare at her, so she held her gaze. Calmly and confidently. Why was it that people in this region had no compunction about staring at others?26 Up in the capital city of Nairobi, people did not waste time staring at those endowed with stunning looks.
They merely glanced or engaged them in conversation. What was the convener’s name again? Faith? With a name like that, Sada supposed that it was allowed after all to be given the once-over.
The plenary session took off. Preliminaries were rushed through. The tea or coffee break was gaily announced27 - and the delegates ambled out. This ‘hygiene’ break was to last half an hour before the next session took place. Fed and rested they gradually traipsed back and the rest of the morning was dedicated to the monetary dispensations of various committees and their future needs. As her colleagues went through the linguistic motions of keeping the participants appraised, Sada took time to marvel at the sheer waste of time and finances and energy28 some of these international conferences 371 entailed. From her perch above them all, she knew that these ones belonged to the top tier of their respective societies. None of these people had missed a single meal in their lives she mused to herself. Then the smile faded away from her gentle features and a difficult truth replaced it: the Somalia they were talking about involved a suffering people who were a far cry from these29: ravaged by war, injured physically, psychologically and spiritually, orphaned, maimed, killed.30
The lunch break was deliberately long, in order to allow a half hour or so for the participants to ‘rest’ after eating. Then came the afternoon session. When sleepy heads and sated bodies had all become ensconced in their aptly comfortable seats in the big hall, a gaunt Somali delegate took his place on the rostrum to present the situation in his country. Sada took him on and translated his poor English into French for the benefit of the Francophone participants. He spoke rapidly, with emotion, and he didn’t mince his words he just told it as it was – the stark reality. Sada did not miss a beat. Not only did he read his presentation, occasionally he spoke from the heart; and throughout it all, he flicked over different slides to underscore what he said to them.
What could she have done wrong?31What could she really have done wrong?32 Was she to be killed upon mere suspicion?33 Her husband had suspected her of infidelity….suspected HER of infidelity34. Nothing she could say to him would make him change his mind. It was not the imagined indignity of violation but rather the alleged blemish in physical form that sealed her fate.35Is this what life was all about?
The forced circumcision she underwent as a child, the hand-picked husband – again as a mere child; and now this: she was found guilty of a crime she had not committed and would suffer stoning – such was the law in Somalia. Sharia Law.36 372
All the tribulations brought about by family chores, miscarriages, eventual child births, fleeing the hated Al Shabaab militia, anxiety, fear, loathing, dread37 – all were swept under the carpet38 in one fell swoop. Not a single day could she remember in her short life, when she had perhaps been happy, or found something to smile about, to laugh at.39 Mercifully her face was hidden in her ‘hijab’, so no-one in this world which she was leaving behind would see her anguish or feel her pain; mirrored from misty eyes, her breath choking her as her unwilling legs moved forward at every push from behind. One consolation: she had fulfilled her duty as a wife and a mother – even if this incident was a ruse for her husband to move on in life with others40 and without the guilt of seeing the pain he was causing her.41She had played her part.42 Well.43
“If you look carefully at the slide you can see a small black figure half-buried in the ground,44 surrounded by a very big group of men.” The conference delegates looked at the many ignorant faces of big and small, hairy, healthy, muscular men45; angry men with contorted features, bearded, with blazing, beady46 eyes, and frothy mouths47; arms held high clutching stones, large and smaller stones, and sand and pebbles and just about anything48 they could get their hands on; big, grown, burly men not one of them aged under twenty-five. They appeared to be in motion, some half jumping, some leaning back, intent on a mission49, a mission to stone50 a poor hapless woman, half- buried in the ground, the ground that was already suffocating her51.
And the delegate rambled on: “This is what the Al Shabaab encourage: violence and fear. They encourage violence and they rule by fear52. They don’t even have to use their expensive bullets. They keep people in line by showing them scenes like this…” and he rambled on, his voice wavering here and there, almost fearfully. 373
This is where Sada’s voice faltered. She couldn’t believe what she was saying.
Interpreters don’t just repeat like parrots. They develop a knack for sorting out an idea semantically at lightning speed, before sending it out to the other interlocutor at the same lightning speed, coherently. Being human, they can control the interventions that heart and intellect wish to introduce into the recipe to render interpreter either psychologically emotional or detached.53Sada did her best, stoically doing her job by conveying the message: right speed, right intonation, right everything54 professionally – wrong emotion! She lost control of her heart. That split-second of faltering emotion betrayed how this slide had affected her. And as she kept up the momentum her vision became blurred. Her mind tried to completely block out the specter55 of a poor, illiterate, terrified, lonely young woman, being put to death in such a horrific and desperately horrendous way; unsuccessfully.
There were simply no words to describe the wave of profound empathy that this woman in the glass cabinet felt for the other woman in the groundin the slide being observed in an international conference in a big five-star hotel in a coastal town in the56 country next door…..; in front of an indifferent ‘people’57 – none of whom displayed any consternation at what the neurotic Somali delegate was spewing in the rostrum, handkerchief in hand, wiping his sweaty face although the air-conditioning had by now introduced fridge conditions in the vast hall.58
One of the young men signaled he’d take over from the middle-aged woman whose tears were now flowing freely as she sat at her microphone. Thankfully she allowed him to take off and the conversation flowed smoothly in the delegates’ earphones from a softly feminine empathetic voice to a detached masculine one with conviction and decisiveness59and a rather roughened edge. This one was here to do his job with cutting 374 alacrity, crisp and clear60. Some of the sleepy participants were jolted awake by this irregular change of voice in the microphones.61 But clearly none of them would suffer from indigestion after such a copious lunch; most just wondered vaguely what the interpreters were up to, interchanging before the man in the rostrum had finished his presentation.
Because it was just that to them: a presentation. The Somali delegate had shown the last slide. He mopped his face. He gathered his papers. Then, he stepped off the rostrum.62
Sada regained her composure and looked at the conference convener. The latter was no longer smiling and feeling smug. She had listened to the Somali presenter. She had heard what he was saying to them all. She had63 been affected by what she saw. What she saw64 would be imprinted upon her memory for life. She knew that65. Her gaze on the many faces swimming shapelessly in front of her was blurred. Goose pimples popped up all over her body. She had become as if transformed; she had been transported and blended into that final slide and she had suffered together with the victim; suffered66 in silence, in muted silence67. Gradually the blurry edges of her vision became more defined. The fat well-fed faces68 of the participants came back into focus, into present reality. Some even had wrinkled lines she had not noticed before.69Her gaze lifted up into the glass booth above and behind. And she caught the sad gaze of the female interpreter. 70. Again.71Not a gaze of sizing each other up 72 ; or of comparison between one and the other.Just a gaze of understanding; that gaze. In the few seconds that their gaze had locked into each other, so much had been said, so much felt. So much.So much. So much.73 375
Later that evening when the closing ceremony had been accomplished, Sada wearily gathered up her papers. She still found it hard to believe that ‘a rock of ages’ like her74 could have become so shaken; she, a pillar of strength and source of stability in her family, in her town. She shook her head sadly and carefully stepped out of the glass cabin. This time she wasn’t strutting as she normally did; this time75 she allowed her feet to take over and go where they will76. So her feet took control and propelled her away to the main entrance hall of the luxury hotel, where the reception was located.
Now whom should she see lounging in the corner of the foyer, awaiting the hotel courtesy van to take him straight back to the airport to catch his return flight? Mr. Abdi, the Somali presenter who spoke last in the plenary session. He appeared to be lost in thought, as if wondering if this trip had really been worth it, if his contribution had had any impact at all to the rest of the world that had been microcosmically represented here today. Sada hesitated a moment, then allowed her legs to stride over in his direction. As she did so she wondered aloud “What should I tell him? What should I77 say? Should I tell him what a fine speaker he was? No, that wasn’t true. Shall I say how shocked I was by what he showed us? No, what purpose would that serve? Shall I explain to him that his presentation touched my soul and made me cry? Well, what good would that be?”78
Her conflicting thoughts sent mixed signals to her feet and they came to a standstill.79She stood about three meters away from him. He came out of his daze and noticed this elegant lady, staring at him, as if she’d wanted to say something to him.
And he understood instantly the turmoil that was thrashing round and round in her smart little head. His religion did not allow him to stare unduly80at an obviously handsome and well-proportioned woman. So he permitted himself a courteous grin. But 376 it did not belie what he really thought: that his fearful message to the world – one that could easily cost him his life – had been heard and internalized by at least one person….and surely been interpreted to at least one other.
For her part, she could not return the smile. So she did a very strange thing: she pointed a long tapering index finger81 straight at him – not a finger of accusation, but a finger of recognition – then she changed the gesture into a wave. Farewell.82It was all inadvertent. Her hand said goodbye but her eyes said to him ‘that is a story; there is a story there, to be written. There is a story there to be written83and read for generations and generations to come; a story of pain and suffering for the whole world to know. If the world84 can do nothing about it then, at the very least, the world should know. That woman being stoned to death half-buried already in the ground by her own countrymen in her last refuge was so powerfully symbolic of the country of Somalia being killed by her own children where she stood85. Al Shabaab. One day something will be recorded about this living horror that the weaker sex86 in Somalia knew only as a terrifying reality. Her eyes said it all…And then Sada turned and walked away in another direction, quickening her pace, as if it put urgent distance between her and the source of her profound sense of grief.87
Days turned into weeks and when a couple of months had gone by, she decided to put an end to the constant, infrequent, inexplicable nightmares. She searched around for some loose paper, some foolscap, she picked up a pen (since the pen is mightier than the sword88 to make a statement), she embarked upon a journey of mental healing. She wrote: Her elegant, manicured hand stretched out over the dressing table89…. 90 377
Fig.18
1.9.1 Annotation
1. Epanalepsistic exordium
2. Epiphora
3. Vivid description within the entire paragraph
4. Anaphora
5. Consonance
6. Localism
7. Interior monologue
8. Repetition to emphasise the motion of speed
9. Asyndeton
10. Paradox of human suffering where poverty is only allowed to exist temporarily
in the minds of the well-to-do
11. Isocolon
12. Personification
13. Negative-positive
14. Regionalism
15. Sarcasm 378
16. Satire
17. Simile
18. Caricature
19. Auxesis
20. Satire
21. Irony depicting the underlying reality of some of these highly-touted
international conferences
22. Hyperbole
23. Non sequitur
24. Concrete language
25. Brachylogia
26. Erotema
27. Tricolon
28. Polysyndeton
29. Euphemistic irony
30. Asyndeton
31. Non sequitur
32. Homoioteleuton
33. Anacoenosis
34. Epistrophe
35. Phallagocentrism
36. Brevitas
37. Asyndeton
38. Euphemism for ‘conveniently forgotten’
39. Ethopoeia 379
40. Phallagocentrism
41. Ad hominem and false consciousness
42. The entire paragraph is anecdotal
43. Brevitas
44. Metaphor representing the country of Somalia
45. Asyndeton
46. Alliteration
47. Onomatopoeia
48. Polysyndeton
49. Parallelism
50. Anadiplosis
51. Allegorical parallelism that alludes to Somalia
52. Homoioteleuton
53. Explication
54. Tricolon
55. Oictos
56. Isocolon
57. Synecdoche
58. Paradox of such extreme suffering barely eliciting consternation in the
‘modern’ world – especially given that the conference is in fact a microcosmic
representation of the rest of the world
59. Dissoi logoi
60. Alliteration
61. Caricature
62. Tricolon that emphasizes a sense of futility 380
63. Parallelism
64. Anadiplosis
65. Brachylogia
66. Antanaclasis
67. Oictos
68. Parachesis
69. Caricature
70. Brachylogia
71. Brevitas
72. Anaphora
73. Tricolon
74. Euphemism for a healthy older person
75. Parallelism denoting a change of heart
76. Personification
77. Parallelism denoting momentary confusion
78. Hypophoric isocolon
79. Figurative speech: personification where the character appears to be physically
divorced from the actions of parts of her own body
80. Ethopoeia
81. Caricature
82. Brevitas
83. Epanaphora
84. Synecdoche
85. Paradoxical symbolism
86. Metonymy for females 381
87. Periphrasis
88. Metonymy for writing being more meaningful than war or fighting
89. Motif
90. Epanalepsistic peroration
1.9.2 Synopsis
INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLES VARIABLES
1,2,3 a,b,c
ETHOS (a) PATHOS (b) LOGOS (c)
1. CLAIM The author We enjoy the The world appears to be interpreter & seems to suffer Women come in castigating the the organizer terribly from all shapes & goings-on at sizing each social sizes: those that some of these other up; we imbalance are socially international feel since the class comfortable conferences; sympathetic differences are because they more money is towards the very stark; its have something spent in self- poor women logical to to offer, those aggrandizement along the road wonder what that have to than on the can be done struggle so serious issues about this much in life just at hand unfortunate to be alive, state of affairs those that have no rights whatsoever
2. DATA Something We might What can needs to be envy the anyone do 382
Fortunate done about the interpreter & about the women worry lot of a woman. sympathize current about make-up, International with those who situation in air conditioning conferences fetch water Somalia? Do & need to be from any of these professionalism; more serious elsewhere for highly-touted the less about the tasks lack of running international fortunate simply at hand & water in their conferences fetch water & participants homes. But our bear any perform need to do what hearts, our tangible household they are paid empathy, goes results, if ever? chores for their for: meaningful out to the survival; the deliberation unfortunate rest can even woman in the lose their lives ground being because of the stoned to death politics of the by a mob of day goons
3. WARRANT There is no It is a sad day If international point when a group conferences Those that die whatsoever in of lawless, that are so for nothing are venting by planless, able- costly to host an allegory to stoning a bodied men could meet the skirmishes helpless decide to their mandate, in Somalia that woman to punish a then so many are endless & death. woman humans would baseless. In all Manicured savagely with escape this the cases, it hands & no remorse by kind of needs to stop & fetching water taking the law needless doesn’t warrant at least provide into their own suffering & sustainability a limited right hands. The humanity to life as it is; action is would be a stoning to death loathsome, step closer to 383
takes away any regrettable & realizing a & all those extremely more peaceful unalienable unfortunate in world human rights its entirety that a woman may have had
Table 9.
1.9.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion
The pertinent rhetorical tools that persuade us in the particular direction of the storyline are among many others, the following:
1a) The epiphora: …ofcourse …. of course….; the localism: mwewe!mwewe!
(translated from the local language as ‘eagle! Eagle!’); these two tools of rhetoric introduce drama into the narrative.
1b) The interior monologue ‘count yourself lucky and thank God for it’ allows the audience to enter into the head of the character; the paradox ‘…the yellow jerry cans…they become nothing’ – the paradox is that this is a truism when looked at allegorically: to the government of the day, people who go about searching for the basic right of water provision whilst carrying yellow jerry cans, such people are only statistics in the government’s economic terms; they are reduced to mere numbers.
1c)Auxesis: ‘here not just to parade their importance…’an effect is produced when one narrates in this manner, disgust is hinted at; this sense of disgust is perpetuated by the non sequitur ‘ …briefcases weighed down with dollar-filled wallets, expensive electronic tablets and masses of printed paper rubbish…’ 384
2a) Tricolon: The plenary session took off. Preliminaries were rushed through. The tea or coffee pause was gaily announced…; this device aptly portrays the drab monotony of some of these international gatherings which are in fact quite literally nothing other than that.
2b) Homoioteleuton: ‘What could she have done wrong? What could she really have done wrong?’ This is a literary device that stresses emphasis, where parallel structures have similar endings.
2c) Oictos: Her mind tried to completely block out the spectre. Oictos evokes compassion where antanaclasis evokes the same sentiment by varying degrees:’ she had suffered together with the victim, suffered in silence, in muted silence.’ – antanaclasis being the repeated use of the same word, each time with different meanings.
3a) Parachesis: …the fat well-fed faces … came back into focus…; a form of alliteration.
3b) Hypophoric isocolon: …shall I tell him …? …shall I say …? Shall I explain…?
Well, what good would that be?
3c) Ethopoeia: his religion did not allow him to stare unduly….the audience can put themselves in the character’s situation in order to understand his internal turmoil; further, there is synecdoche ‘…if the world can do nothing about it …’ the world being those few representatives of their chosen countries; the metonymy ‘the weaker sex’ referring to the female gender.
The predominant tools of persuasion in this storyline, or the most hard-hitting, are parallelism, personification, irony, ethopoeia and onomatopoeia. All of them are also 385 strategies that are appropriate to the writer’s purpose. A new perspective to the story is the way some female interpreters spend their time: if they’re not preening themselves expensively they’re bridging linguistic divisions between great minds; the question is, is this a good thing or a bad thing? How are they to be judged? This text alludes to the fact that an individual should not be judged by the skin covering their body, but by the soul hidden within that body.
The audience is mature and adult. The reason for writing this story is to bring to light the paradoxes of some of these international gatherings; the hypocrisy, irony and sheer waste of time and money involved – in order to achieve so little within a myriad policies. What is the point of an international conference? That is the all-important question. These are the tools of rhetoric that are used to answer this question while sustaining the interest of the readership: epiphora, interior monologue, satire, sarcasm, hyperbole and erotema. Alliteration and the occasional brevitas also enrich the text. The analysis also offers other perspectives: do women silently compete with each other
(friends and frenemies)? Do conference delegates ever suffer from guilty consciences especially the long-serving ones (read ‘career’ delegates)? Are narcissistic individuals capable of sympathizing with others; can they relate to those less self-indulging than they? ‘Logos’ plays a big role in this story but ‘pathos’ prevails throughout it.
Application of The Classical Theory
The classical theory accommodates six parts to a text:
- Exordium which clarifies the purpose of the text
- Narratio which outlines the context of the subject being addressed in order
to facilitate understanding 386
- Partitio where the purpose of the text is clarified with matters that are
accepted and those that are disputed
- Confirmatio where techniques used by the rhetor support what (s)he is
saying
- Refutatio where the rhetor’s techniques in that portion of the text are used by
the rhetor to respond to variant advocacy
- Peroratio where the rhetor concludes his contentions in the text and where
his closing is largely dependent on pathetic proof
In this storyline the exordium begins with an epanalepsis and is extremely long and drawn out. As a rhetorical tool, epanalepsis is a figure of speech in which the same word or phrase appears both at the beginning and at the end of a clause. The narratio which ensues is full of prevarication which itself is rife with sarcasm and irony. The partitio comprises of: preparation before the conference, the conference itself, and how the conference and its aftermath affected the chief protagonist. Therefore the confirmatio in the storyline were the atrocities being experienced around the world with particular emphasis on Somalia. The refutatio was not particularly discursive – it was merely implied and mostly portrayed in body language: that of the chief protagonist the interpreter, and that of the Somali delegate. Interior monologue on the part of the chief protagonist, the female interpreter, played a major role in displaying displeasure and disbelief. Paragraphs twelve and thirteen are an amplification of the victim’s unfortunate circumstances in retrospection, before coming back to the delegate’s presentation in real time. The peroratio is also long and drawn out as it actually begins three paragraphs before the last one, culminating as it were, with not only an emphatic metonymy (the pen is mightier than the sword) but also with another epanalepsis. 387
1.10 Story 10.
The following story is about the tribulations that some of the beggars we find on the pavements go through. No-one really stops to talk to them, being content with throwing them whatever loose change they may have in hand. This is probably because no-one really wants to know how they got to their predicament; it would put them in a position of defensiveness, rife with guilt and some regret. So this story borders on the ridiculous hypothetical tendencies of those of us who may wish to become magnanimous to one of these beggars and it goes further to show us how the so-called under-privileged, while resentful of their unavoidable situation, may not necessarily be grateful for positive intervention. It brings to mind some of the sayings of Nietzsche and goes to show how these are still very relevant in the present day. The rhetorical strategies that bring out the effectiveness of the text are oxymoron, explication, plenty of euphemism and some logical fallacy. The setting of the story is the Central Business District of Nairobi in
Kenya.
Fig.19
388
The Dream
As she walked along the street she rounded a corner and … lo and behold1! There was what looked like a bundle of greasy rags2 piled up on the pavement, a little to one side. As she approached it the horror sank in: it wasn’t just a bundle of clothing, it was3 a severely deformed woman: twisted arms, twisted legs, twisted spine4 – with however the beautiful fine features of a very sad face.5Spina bifida.6
Instinctively she reached into her handbag. She fished7 out some paper bills, she peeled off a couple. These she handed over to the poor sick woman on the pavement.
The victim8 took the bills and politely thanked her, wishing God’s blessings upon her.
Bernadette condescendingly smiled back and resumed her walking. She walked the length of the street, turned into a reception area and took a lift up to the seventh floor where she entered her office, the comfort zone home-away-from-home to which she fled9 on a daily basis.
But she could not get the spectre of that woman on the street out of her mind. So she picked up her phone. The money she had offered her was simply not enough, would never be enough.10 Surely there had to be more that she could do11…”Hello” she faltered “Is that Walter? Look, I want you to get hold of the company accountant. Can the two of you come round to my office? There’s a substantial amount of money that I want and I require both your signatures on the cheque. Please come right away.” And with that she hung up.
The two gentlemen dutifully came round and did as they were bid12. This was her company and no-one argued with Bernadette. 389
She felt as if some bigger power had taken over her mind. Bernadette quickly took off to the bank, this time on wheels, and cashed a sizeable amount of money at the till.
This time she drove around with her chauffeur and one of the office messengers who was sturdy and well-built. The vehicle stopped right in front of the afflicted young woman. Bernadette got out and respectfully asked her if she’d agree to take a ride with her briefly in the chauffeur-driven car13. The other woman smiled, a contemplative smile, and then she replied that she had no objection.
So the office messenger picked her up and placed her in the back seat with
Bernadette; and off they went for a drive. Bernadette explained to her that she’d wanted to offer her a sizeable amount of money so that her current circumstances might change for the better; so that she, Bernadette, could make a real difference in her life.14
“Now why would you want to do that?” asked the other. “Why should you feel responsible for my predicament when you don’t even know my name15?” Bernadette decided to be truthful and honestly said “The way you look just makes me feel terrible.
I can’t imagine16 how you live with your spine and limbs al bent up like that. I’m sorry, my name is Bernadette, what is your name?”
The other woman looked at her carefully and decided to answer her with measured words.
“Thank you for your sympathy at my condition Bernadette but if you can think back carefully, I didn’t ask you to pity me. You simply walked round the corner, saw my hideously deformed body and, gave me an amount of money that you yourself decided was adequate17for me at that point in time – probably to salvage your own conscience.
If now your conscience has pricked you to the extent of coming back to give me more money, and for my own safety take me home with it, then once again I thank you for 390 that kind gesture. However, until you can literally put yourself into my shoes18 as it were, and know how I feel when I sit on that pavement, soiling myself, bleeding, in sunshine and in rain, from morning unto night19, daily, daily,20 - then you have no right to quantify your generosity towards me! And you have no right21 to know my name!”
“Where is your home?” insisted Bernadette who didn’t want to take this pathetic creature22 back to the pavement, for some powerful unknown reason, and leave her there with this bundle of money – a sitting duck23 for the petty thieves. “Where do you live? Because you won’t be safe on the pavement with all this cash.”
“You have not been listening to me” continued the other “Your gesture is meaningless to you and to24me until you put yourself personally in my situation. For now let me just politely say that I do not want your money and ergo25, there is no need for you to see where I live. Now take me back to the pavement please and leave me alone26.”
Bernadette could not believe her ears27. This poor sick woman had thrown her kindness into her face,28 just like that29 …after all her efforts to assist her …She told the chauffeur to stop driving around and turn back.
Then she decided to rise to the challenge30. She was not going to return that rebuked cash31 to the bank, nor was she going to squander it on what she imagined this
‘nameless person’ might require.32She had a far more brilliant idea: when the vehicle arrived opposite the spot on the pavement, she ordered the chauffeur to leave the car parked there and instead of the messenger placing the human bundle on the ground,
Bernadette herself got out, requested that the other woman remain in the vehicle – and sat in her spot on the pavement; trying to imagine the discomfort of spina bifida, of being illiterate, of begging in silence33on a dirty busy pavement. 391
Needless to say, the driver and messenger were completely speechless. The other woman looked on in surprise. Surprise that her words had made such an impact. An impact34 that she herself could not begin to understand.
More surprised were the pedestrians who marched on the pavement. Some of them leered at the smart beggar-woman35 who was sprawled there uncomfortably in six-inch heels. Others made suggestive remarks and glowered at her. Still others abused her and told her to stop wanting when she appeared not to be in want36 at all. So many people passed her on that pavement. Most women simply shook their heads in disbelief. Small children pointed at her and rebuked her clothes and make-up. Someone passed and spat on her! She was simply not cut out37to beg on the streets. Poor rich38womengot no pity in this trade; they had to be poor with some kind of affliction39. Those are society’s40 rules. Nobody gave her a single cent!!
A drizzle broke out briefly and Bernadette became very uncomfortable. Then the sun came out and beat down mercilessly41 upon her. She was sweating conkers42. She even relieved herself to prove to the other that she was determined to undergo the humiliation that this other had experienced – at whatever cost!43 When evening set in she wearily got up, entered the vehicle and dejectedly faced the other woman, defeat written all over her face. “I’ve had enough” she said feebly. “Now that I’ve suffered just some of what you suffer on a daily basis, will you let me give you a million pounds to change your life for the better and take you home? And tell me your name?”
The other woman looked at her with level eyes and once again spoke to her with carefully-measured words “Look” she said, “I really don’t mean to be ungrateful but let me not waste any more of your time. The home you so seek to find44 is that spot there on the pavement where you found me this morning on your way to work. The little 392 money people give me daily allows me to buy some milk and bread since my diet has to be small and liquid. I have no dependants45 and there are no important people in my life, so your one million pounds is of absolutely no use to me.46 Since my affliction is terminal, I really have no more prospects as concerns my future plans.47Finally to satisfy your curiosity, my name is simply Hope, and I’m glad to have known you because I think that you may have learned something from me today48 – I certainly
‘hope’ so.”49
Having said that she wrenched open the car door from the other side and bodily flung herself into oncoming traffic; whereupon immediately after there was an abrupt animalistic shriek and a dreadful screech50 of car tyres.51
Bernadette woke up……sweating.
Fig.20
1.10.1 Annotation
1. Ecphonesis
2. Simile
3. Negative-positive
4. Tricolon in asyndeton as portrayal
5. Oxymoron
6. Brevitas 393
7. Adjunction
8. Paradiastole
9. Horismus
10. Epiphora
11. Interior monologue
12. Dramatistic
13. Concrete language
14. Explication
15. Sarcastic dialect
16. Oictos
17. Analogical to the foreign aid symbolically handed out to developing countries
18. Logical fallacy
19. Tricolon
20. Repetition to emphasise monotony
21. Logical fallacy
22. Tapinosis
23. Euphemism for easy pickings
24. Repetition for emphasis
25. Dramatistic
26. Indignatio
27. Personification of these body parts
28. Euphemism for straightforward rebuttal akin to arrogance
29. Anacoluthon
30. Phallogocentric euphemism for taking the bull by the horns – itself another
euphemism 394
31. Humoristic antiptosis
32. Antiptosis
33. Tricolon
34. Auxesistic anadiplosis
35. Oxymoron
36. Dramatistic
37. Euphemism for unsuitable
38. Oxymoron
39. Periphrasis
40. Metonymy
41. Personification
42. Localism
43. Brachylogia
44. Charismatic and dramatistic adjunction
45. Foreshadowing
46. Aetiologia
47. Alloisis
48. Ignoratioelenchi
49. Antanaclasis or pun on the word hope
50. Onomatopoeia
51. Cacophony
395
1.10.2 Synopsis
INDEPENDENT DEPENDENT VARIABLES VARIABLES
1,2,3 a,b,c
ETHOS (a) PATHOS (b) LOGOS (c)
1. CLAIM Good deeds are We obviously Our collective far & few feel sorry for intelligence A crippled between. A the afflicted tells us that woman is on guilty woman who pity, though the pavement, conscience suffers from not to be severely always stalks both disability denied, should physically the well & & inability – nevertheless challenged, able. So the but she can not be unable to do good deeds think and she exaggerated to anything but they perform does. overwhelming beg for are often to proportions sustenance in salvage their either; we also cash or in kind. conscience realize that However, cognitive physical thinking is an disability is not ability necessarily mental inability
2. DATA The guilt Although we Quite logically within the well sympathize there should be She suffers the & able can with her a limit as to climate, lives reach alarming predicament it how far one in her filth & is levels is very hard to can go to aid devoid of any feel empathetic another person. self-esteem because she Familiarity because of her doesn’t profess breeds physical humility, given contempt is a appearance her mastery of well proven the language & motif here &
her potential to the be consequences argumentative can be extremely drastic 396
3. WARRANT A guilty The lack of The conscience can empathy can consequences Although she blow your lead us to be of this attempt may warrant pride away, kill thankful that at familiarity & some pity, she any dignity you the victim in congeniality justifiably had & reduce question chose are drastic; abhors it & your self- suicide so that they are in fact pays the esteem to zero our continued tragic. The ultimate price levels sense of guilt only to prove her may be brought consolation abhorrence to an end; comes from the after albeit tragically title: it was all pronouncing a a dream logical fallacy
Table 10.
1.10.3 The rhetorical tools of persuasion
The pertinent rhetorical tools that persuade us in the particular direction of the storyline are among many others, the following:
1a) Negative-positive: it wasn’t just a bundle of clothing, it was a severely deformed woman; followed closely by the oxymoron: ‘…the very fine features of a very sad face.’ Both devices are meant to shock, to affect, the reader.
1b) The paradiastole: ‘ the victim took the bills and politely thanked her’; this persuasive tactic (it leads to pity – pathos) is followed in quick succession by the horismus ‘…the comfort zone to which she fled’ in order for the author to emphasize the contrast in the lives of the two women. Bear in mind that horismus is a brief and often antithetical definition and talking about ‘comfort zones’ in the light of fellow humans begging out there in the streets is the antithesis in this narrative paradigm.
1c) Sarcastic dialectic: Why should you feel sorry for my predicament when you don’t even know my name? 397
2a) Logical fallacy: ‘put yourself into my shoes’ (this is faulty reasoning and can give rise to misconceptions and misunderstandings).
2b) Monotony (of life, of one continuous and unchanging activity) can sometimes be emphasized by repetition: …from morning into night daily, daily…
2c) Tapinosis: …to take this pathetic creature back…tapinosis being the use of a debasing epithet; where debasement occurs, ‘idignatio’ is never far behind: …and leave me alone!
3a) Humoristic antiptosis where antiptosis means the substitution of one case for another: …nor was she going to squander it on what she imagined this nameless person might require
3b) Periphrasis: ‘… they had to be poor with some kind of affliction…’ – destitution is the word being avoided here
3c) ‘Ignoratio elenchi’: I think that you may have learnt something from me today…; this device means that this conclusion is irrelevant.
The predominant tools of persuasion within this storyline, or the most hard-hitting are the oxymoron ‘some of them leered at the smart beggar-woman’ and elsewhere ‘poor rich women get no pity’; explication; euphemism: ‘a sitting duck’, ‘she decided to rise to the challenge’, ‘she was simply not cut out…’; and logical fallacy. All of them are also appropriate to the writer’s purpose of stressing or laying emphasis on a situation or a person.
A discerning adult readership is targeted in this story and the reason for writing it is to show to what degree disability can affect the life of a poor woman and influence the 398 thinking of a well-meaning donor. Why do we give alms to the disabled members of our society? This is the question being addressed by the analysis. What makes this analysis interesting to the reader is paradiastole, concrete language, sarcastic dialectic, logical fallacy, indignacio and foreshadowing – all of which vivify the actions taking place and all of which create room for argumentation. This story is high on logic and low on pathos and throughout it the writer’s ethical stance is felt. It’s a demonstration of what happens when ‘pathos’ is downplayed; the reader cannot easily empathize with such an erudite yet unfortunate person, who lacks the stereotypical empathy normally given to a beggar who is also a woman. There is a deeper meaning to the story where one wonders whether money can in fact buy happiness and bring about a sense of contentment; whether suicide should seem to be like the only solution to a problem: is this an exoneration of suicide? Ultimately one may ask, is there sincerity in giving as in receiving – or are both giver and receiver simply fulfilling a role that neither enjoys playing on the world stage? These and other mental gymnastics are the sweet products of logical appeal, even when there is a hint of illogical realism within the personalities of some of the characters. 399
Application of The Classical Theory
The classical theory accommodates six parts to a text:
- Exordium which clarifies the purpose of the text
- Narratio which outlines the context of the subject being addressed in order
to facilitate understanding
- Partitio where the purpose of the text is clarified with matters that are
accepted and those that are disputed
- Confirmatio where techniques used by the rhetor support what (s)he is
saying
- Refutatio where the rhetor’s techniques in that portion of the text are used by
the rhetor to respond to variant advocacy
- Peroratio where the rhetor concludes his contentions in the text and where
his closing is largely dependent on pathetic proof
As in all the other storylines, the exordium not only clarifies the purpose of the text, it heavily relies on the ‘shock’ factor to increase interest and curiosity in the readership.
The narratio that follows is upbeat and fast-paced throughout the storyline. What the confirmatio stipulates is that pity is in good order for a victim that suffers from spina bifidae. What the refutatio underscores is the old adage: familiarity breeds contempt.
The partitio which is where the purpose of the text is clarified, is heavily reliant on logic; its as if the reader is compelled to question whether wrongs can be righted simplistically (like by giving tons of cash money to a terminally ill beggar). The peroratio is intended to produce mixed feelings on the readership because of the surprise ending.
400
APPENDIX 2. Interpretative commentary of the short stories (anthology)
The anthology of short stories has just one intention: to persuade the reader in such a way as to make them forget that the entire storyline is pure fiction. During the following commentary about the stories, it is instructive to retain that the tools of rhetoric are what is in use and the rhetorical device is how this or any other tool is utilized.
In the first story, an elderly American woman commits suicide in a small eastern
African country because she’s become utterly emotionally drained. Her suicide doesn’t elicit empathy from the onlookers because her depression was misconstrued as insanity.
Flashbacks, erotema, vivid description and imagery are the rhetorical tools that make this story credulous. For instance erotema is the rhetorical tool which as a device asks questions to which no answers are expected. In the second story, the vast expanses of rural Nevada provide the setting for a narrative where the chief protagonist is the vengeful nephew whose uncle molested him at a precocious age. It’s the level of vengefulness and the “coup de gras” which are poignant here. Invective, inference and sarcasm are the rhetorical tools that are opted for, where interior monologue becomes the icing on the cake since it strongly hints at murder. The third story lends credence to the adage “there’s nothing worse than a woman scorned”. The most powerful tools and devices of rhetoric here are phallagocentrism, bdeligmia, onomaetopia, amplification and foreshadowing; where phallagocentrism for instance establishes the attitude of dominance and arrogance that men display when they become disinterested in a relationship. Murder is committed here too, where a wife plots and schemes then kills her husband. 401
The fourth story has three protagonists belonging to the same generation: an African, an
Asian and a Caucasian. Their separate lives are depicted with the use of rhetorical tools like sarcasm, euphemism, and satire where satire for instance is the kind of language that is critical of a character’s actions. Interior monologue also plays a prominent role.
It ends with the three entering into a successful suicide pact. The fifth story focuses on what passes for the life of a dog in the Central African Republic. It is a tear-jerker and places the reader on a guilt trip, particularly the one who is religiously inclined. Irony, polysyndeton and asyndeton, as well as personification, are all very effective tools and devices in this story – effective to the purposes of the writer. A drawn-out personification of the bus for instance lays bare a very vivid image of the condition of this vehicle. That the dog meets with an untimely death may be disheartening but the fact that his portrait hangs on a wall in Europe, offers some solace, some consolation to the collective readership. In story number six, a bad-tempered ill-mannered individual is the chief protagonist. Vivid description and stereotypical caricature as well as interior monologue, sarcasm and allegory all provide comic relief – as do euphemism and facetiae. The result is diminished empathy when the victim succumbs to injuries sustained in a car accident…..supposedly.
Story number seven depicts a suicide bomber who for some reason spares a young girl from the fatal injuries he’s about to inflict upon the occupants of a bus. She however is the chief protagonist so the narrative lingua is slightly infantile to reflect her youthfulness. Satire, caricature and epanaphora provide vivid description and hasten the tempo; epanaphora being the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases for emphasis. The phallagocentric tool creates foreboding and this in turn becomes a sense of relief to the reader, when the young girl escapes from being killed. Story number eight is very graphic. It recounts the physical pain of an acid 402 attack victim and the subsequent guilty remorse of the perpetrator. It weighs in the amount of empathy for the victim that one can possibly have in the face of immense cruelty. So argumentation is a rhetorical device that becomes inevitable. Anaphora, epizeuxis (emphasising an idea by using one-word repetition and epideictic tautology
(ceremonial rhetoric) are the tools and devices that propel the storyline to its unexpected peroration. Amplification creates a brief realism to the story, which happens to be the writer’s purpose.
The ninth story is a farce that evolves with a good measure of the devices of irony, metaphor, allegory and sarcasm. A conference interpreter is appalled by what she’s interpreting and emotionally affected to the point that she has difficulty in remaining detached and becomes subjective because of empathetical considerations. The most effective rhetorical tools and devices here are interior monologue, homoioteleuton
(where parallel structures have similar endings) and metonymy such as referring to the female gender as “the weaker sex”. Story number ten is a reality check in the sense that it explores a subject that lives largely in the realms of our collective imagination. A begging woman rankles the conscience of a well-to-do woman and what ensues is nothing short of an incredulous situation. Sarcasm and tapinosis (a debasing epithet) reign; so does the tool oxymoron and a variety of euphemisms; all these tools augment foreshadowing and argumentation.
403
APPENDIX 3. Thematic interpretation of the short stories. Although authors frequently avoid interpretations (Roberts EV, 2003), this study has come up with a brief thematic interpretation of each storyline in an attempt to show the contextual usefulness of some of the figures of speech that a writer can employ.
Otherwise, there are several interpretations to each story and only the most basic ones have been selected and those that are not open to ambiguity. The arrangement is discussed according to the exigencies of classical theory: exordium (the way the story begins); narration (the way in which the story unfolds); partition (where there is a division of the various points of view that the writer wishes to put across); confirmation
(where a line of thought is confirmed as being in existence or true); refutation (where there is proof of variant or opposing arguments); peroration (how the story comes to an end). The style recognises plain style as being instructive to the audience; middle style as a progressive build-up, where a sequence of events preoccupies the audience; high style where the audience is not disappointed in the end.
Thematic interpretation of storyline 1: Go
ARRANGEMENT.
The story begins on a note of hopeless resignation and the narrative heavily depends on flashbacks. The flashbacks are chronologically sequential and span the entire lifetime of the chief protagonist. What is confirmed is a lifetime in search of self-identity and self-worth; what is refuted is that she ever found a solution to her problems. To counter the original euphemism, she became ‘the rolling stone’ that gathered ‘more moss’. The peroration is to analogically take the bull by the horns and commit a successful suicide. 404
STYLE
The style used is clearly the middle style where the author strives to progressively build up the mental anguish of the main character – even to the point of implying that she could have been mentally unstable in the end, in her old age. The title then is the emphatic answer to her enigmatic query: should I, or should I not?
Thematic interpretation of storyline 2: Fighting Fire with Fire.
ARRANGEMENT
The storyline builds up from flashback, to current dialogue, to anticipated foreboding.
The introduction begins with comfortable simplicity but the narrative proceeds to fill us with apprehension; the audience collectively plays the role of the journalist. The partition of the storyline deals concurrently with the lifetime achievements of the victim and the wasted life of the torturer. Vengeance is confirmed whilst forgiveness is refuted; even the advanced age of the man who caused so much pain does not excuse him. The peroration is clearly that justice has been served; the torturer got his just reward.
STYLE
What is instructive to the audience is that deeds are punishable here on earth - not later after the physical body perishes as many world religions would have us believe. In
Kiswahili, a language which extends from the eastern coast of Africa to central and parts of West Africa, the adage is “malipo ni hapahapa duniani” ( what goes around, comes around). So the style is clearly the plain style. The message is straightforward: revenge is sweet. 405
Thematic interpretation of storyline 3: Unseen
ARRANGEMENT
The exordium (introduction) paints the picture of a man towards whom we are not endeared: he is dastardly and goes against the grain of what we expect of a happily married man. Not only is he unhappily married but the narrative proceeds to explain that his woes do not emanate from his wife but from the wrong choices that he opts to prioritize. At the level of ‘partitio’ the narrative proceeds to inform us that the unhappy wife for her part is somewhat unreal – thus creating a sinister feeling, some foreboding of what is to follow: she is too nice – almost to melodramatic levels – and we become apprehensive. What is confirmed in the storyline is that these two individuals are no longer happy with each other; the husband detests his wife and the wife develops characteristics that become more and more devious and conniving; to the level of being downright dangerous.
At the level of ‘refutatio’ the couple has reached the point of no-return: nothing more can be done to salvage this marriage. Forgiveness and reconciliation is what is refuted. ‘Peroratio’ suggests that something has to give; in this case, murder is committed. Not only is it well planned out, it appears to be successfully carried off.
STYLE
This style is the high style where the audience is somewhat satisfied with the outcome of events. As an audience we feel no remorse for the man who spared no love for his wife when he tragically dies (-under suspicious circumstances). The writer’s style here is one where she’s a non-character narrator or heterodiegetic, where her angle of focalization of events is from above. This story is one of process analysis. 406
Thematic interpretation of storyline 4: Once Upon a Time.
ARRANGEMENT
The introduction of this short story outlines in brief the lives of three very different girls; all three are socially and racially different; only their ages are not dissimilar. The narrative has a fast pace and the childhood descriptions of all three girls are full of imagery and symbolism. The ‘partitio’ separates the three protagonists in their juvenile and adolescent years, then brings them together at a certain point in their lives within the same geographical space: the library. ‘Confirmatio’ underlines the fact that cultural differences need not bring about unnecessary hostilities; even though xenophobia remains a perpetual threat within the communicative situation between people of variant cultural disposition, it must be overcome. The ‘refutatio’ supports us overcoming our differences in order to work together in this world. It is in fact that people cannot live in isolation whatever their differences might be; and that they need one another. The conclusion is rather melodramatic: three suicides, where three completely different people end their short lives in a shared suicidal pact; where what unifies the three is their shared and collective guilt resulting from the shortcomings that each has suffered in life. The ending of the story is hyperbolic.
STYLE
This is the plain style. The audience is frankly learning about the vagaries of life in an
African slum, in an Asian household, as a privileged European - in the developing world. Concurrently the audience is being instructed about the stereotypical labels pinned on the players that come from these backgrounds. This is a story about causal analysis which relates to the three main characters. 407
Thematic interpretation of storyline 5: The Painting.
ARRANGEMENT
This is a highly subjective story, particularly because of its homodiegetic or third person character narrator throughout most of the storyline. The exordium is stark, rudimentary, down-to-earth with no-holds-barred. It therefore ends with the realization that the main protagonist is in fact a dog. Henceforth the narrative excites sympathy from the audience – perhaps because of the understanding that we all share some collective guilt about the ways in which we neglect or mistreat those of our pets that happen to be dogs. The divisions are chiefly two: the miserable, destitute life of a poor dog, then the death of this same dog that is memorialized by transferring the image onto canvas in far-off Europe, thus immortalizing him as a painting. What is confirmed in this story is poverty as an agent that engenders violence, hypocrisy being shielded by religion, vibrant hope tragically being rendered into hopelessness. What is refuted is that not all dogs are destitute – some dogs enjoy unbelievable privileges especially when their owners are empowered with similar privileges in the human environment.
Also part of the ‘refutatio’ is the role of prostitutes: their role in life may be indecent but that does not qualify them as being inhumane, not necessarily. The conclusion is very final and probably not warranted; but there is a sense of relief nevertheless that the poor animal will not continue to suffer any more.
408
STYLE
This is the middle style of writing prose fiction where the audience is emotionally moved by the sequence of events. The dominance of concrete language brings out the realism within the unfolding events. The style aptly brings out the purpose of this story: after a lifetime of wretched suffering because of ignorant and unfeeling humans, it takes a different kind of human being – selfless and caring – to immortalize the poor animal so that every time we see that painting we may be reminded about how not to mistreat man’s best friend. The point of view transcends from the first person to the third person and the sub-themes are numerous.
Thematic interpretation of storyline 6: Nature Plays a Role.
ARRANGEMENT
The exordium or introduction is curt, vivid and unfriendly. It simply does not endear us to the chief protagonist; he’s even referred to as ‘the victim’. This is symbolic because he goes through hell in more ways than one and we’re inclined to believe that he deserves to. The narrative makes this novella rather fast-paced: sentences are short, action is brisk and dialogue is abrupt and occasionally pejorative. The same narrative is also enriched with figures of speech like allegory and caricature, and even lends itself to humorous effect with euphemisms galore. The partitions within the narrative are generally sequential: a man is knocked down; in hospital he receives a flow of visitors until one of them pretty much shocks him to death. This is the kind of story that confirms that our deeds on earth will one day follow us to our graves; and this translates into a serious sub-theme as well. What is refuted in the story is that evil deeds can go unpunished. Quite the contrary; those who misbehave and mistreat others usually end up paying the ultimate price for their miscreant outlook to life – another 409 serious sub-theme. The peroration is predictable: “the victim” is killed by his own folly when it catches up with him. The language that communicates this tragedy doesn’t however allow us to feel any sympathy for what befalls the main character. One might even be forgiven to think ‘good riddance to bad rubbish’.
STYLE
Although both the middle style and the high style are evident, it is the former which appears to be more prevalent. Effort is expended by the writer to ensure that the chief protagonist annoys his audience, is unobtrusive, indifferent and selfish to a point. The tragic and untimely departure of the main character is not just a relief to him; even the audience is glad that it is impending and inevitable – if only because of the euphemistic ecphonesis that ends the storyline.
Thematic interpretation of storyline 7: A True Story.
ARRANGEMENT
This is a story about a young girl child in a Middle Eastern country, a country that is plagued by the irksome behavior of suicide bombers. So the exordium exposes her daily chores and zeroes in on one particular day. The entire narrative is written with childish simplicity as we enter the mind of this young girl and begin to feel her apprehension and empathize with her very genuine fears. The divisions in the narrative are evident with each burst of distance covered, starting and stopping, which happens with the bus at each stop. Signs of the times are that where political instability raises its ugly head, ill-will reigns supreme. This is a constant thematic stipulation which is confirmed time and again as the story unfolds. The refutation is more obscure: not all suicide bombers are soul-less beings; yes they maim and kill and seriously injure 410 countless innocent people but sometimes, a piece of humanity – however small – can endear them to the rest of mankind; like instilling abject fear in the mind of a young child in order to save her life. It’s a drop in the ocean of rational thinking and the milk of human kindness, but it’s a drop nonetheless. This line of thinking is what the conclusion appears to uphold within the interior monologue of the main protagonist after the tragedy; in addition to the paradox of feeling immensely grateful towards such a horrifying individual, one whose main purpose in life was to destroy it from its very core.
STYLE
This is quite definitely the middle style since so much energy is expended in persuading the audience to become fearful and apprehensive with the child. Likewise we are shocked by the tragedy and reminisce with the young girl as if we had suffered and survived directly with her.
Thematic interpretation of storyline 8: An Almost-True Story.
ARRANGEMENT
The story begins with the exordium of a violent crime being committed which is vivified with inference and anaphora. This is followed by lengthy pre-planning of the justice that will be meted out to the perpetrator of the crime. The narrative dwells on the preparations for that justice to be administered and logic with explication are intrinsic.
The story is thus divided into two: commitance of a crime, punishment to be suffered.
This dire situation is also embellished with caricature and imagery. The ‘confirmatio’ therefore is that a crime has been committed that simply can’t go unpunished.The
‘refutatio’ is arguably that the punishment, though it may be forgiven in law, may still 411 be endured in a different way – and lawfully; what is refuted then is denying forgiveness in the first place. The ‘peroratio’ is quite aptly that the act of forgiveness is actually paradoxically more of a punishment than the intended punishment would have been, although this can also be viewed as a logical fallacy.
STYLE
The style is middle style to the extreme. The collective emotion of the audience is coerced and teased out and suggestively persuaded at every turn in the narration.
Aristotle’s theories of pathos and logos play a very big role in the style of narration displayed within this storyline; this is why the conclusion can leave the audience comfortable and relieved or highly dissatisfied – either one of two extremes.
Thematic interpretation of storyline 9.
ARRANGEMENT
This is a story whose title (hinting at sarcasm) seems to be the overriding factor but, which simultaneously offers several other sub-themes: The Interpreter; Women: What
Values, What Priorities?; The Life of a Woman; Woe to Somalia; The Delegate; To Be
Female. All these sub-themes point at one phenomenon: the woman. They bring this phenomenon out in all its varied aspects: from frivolity to death. This pattern is exactly what is followed from the exordium to the peroration. The exordium is downright frivolous and this is precisely what engenders anticipation and hastens the pace of the narrative. The narrative is highly descriptive, with attention to detail being consecrated upon the particular tasks of a woman or a female depending on her lot in life: the interpreter, the women carrying water on the roadside, the conference organizer. The
‘partitio’ is arranged severally: the pre-conference preparation, the ride to the hotel, the 412 actual conference, the aftermath. In all the divisions, save the last with its interior monologues, the writer’s angle of focalization is from above thus giving the narration a heterodiegetic angle. What can be confirmed in this story is that women in some societies are still second-class citizens; they have no rights and are often too frivolous to be taken seriously. What can be refuted is the thought that nothing can be done about it. The story ends with the interpreter playing her part to do something about the injustices to women in this East African region. The ‘peroratio’ brings this out conclusively with epanalepsis.
STYLE
The style of writing hovers between the plain style and the middle style; as the audience learns something new, so are they emotionally influenced: consternation, surprise, regret, shame, pity – not in that order but intermittently. Pathetic appeal totally overrides the other appeals to reason.
Thematic interpretation of storyline 10.
ARRANGEMENT
The ‘exordium’ indicates straight away what the thesis (or main idea) will be: a story about a beggar, a woman suffering from spinabifidae. But the subject doesn’t end there, it goes further to discuss the act of charity; something that is performed the world over without anyone pausing to think about the consequences ensuing to both the one who gives and the one who receives. The narrative is reminiscent to what Nietzsche discussed in his novel Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Hollingdale RJ.,1969). In it
Nietzsche intimated that those who give alms to the less fortunate do so only to feel better about themselves, whereas those who receive the alms usually begrudge the giver 413 because they believe that the generosity is not genuinely and sincerely meant for their well-being; it is instead in order for the giver to enjoy the luxury of pity. He says “for I saw the sufferer suffer, and because I saw it I was ashamed on account of his shame; and when I helped him then I sorely injured his pride” and later on “Beggars …should be entirely abolished! Truly, it is annoying to give to them and annoying not to give to them.” Nietzsche was dead against compassion “…where in the world have there been greater follies than with the compassionate? And what in the world has caused more suffering than the follies of the compassionate? Woe to all lovers who cannot surmount pity!”
The narrative in this story therefore belabors certain perspectives that portray compassion where logic plays a major role. The partitions in the storyline overlap each other and can easily be nullified altogether. Bernadette pities the beggar, tries to be like the beggar quite literally and only accomplishes humiliating the latter with her compassion to the point of this latter committing a suicide; as if the very act of pity smothered her rather than alleviating her suffering. The storyline confirms that whenever compassion surpasses conventional limits, the outcome can be extremely paradoxical and unfortunate. The storyline refutes the conventional belief that giving monetary assistance is a good thing. It also refutes that those who receive help are always grateful to some extent; thus the reference to the shared beliefs with Nietzsche.
The peroration is surprising because the last thing the audience expects as a solution to the dilemma faced by both protagonists is a suicide; a happy ending is far more palatable. This particular ‘peroratio’ absolutely justifies the title.
414
STYLE
Quite frankly the narrative style in this story is plain. Not only is it instructing the audience, it urges them to question and to think.
415
APPENDIX 4. Glossary An amalgamation of rhetorical and literary terms in alphabetical order. (Wallace,
2018)
* Abstract and concrete. These are ways of describing important qualities of
language. Abstract words are not associated with real material objects that are
related directly to the five senses. Words such as ‘love’, ‘wisdom’, ‘patriotism’
and ‘power’ are abstract because they refer to ideas rather than to things.
Concrete language on the other hand names things that can be perceived by the
five senses: table, smoke, and lemon. Generally one should not be too abstract
in writing; it is best to employ concrete words and name things that can be seen,
touched, smelled, heard, or tasted in order to support the more abstract ideas.
Fighting Fire with Fire is a good example of both abstract and concrete
language.
Absurdity. The exaggeration of a point beyond belief.
Accumulation. The emphasis or summary of previously made points or
inferences by excessive praise or accusation.
Acutezza. Wit or wordplay used in rhetoric.
Adjunction. When a verb is placed at the beginning or the end of a sentence
instead of in the middle. For example (from Rhetorica ad Herennium), "At the
beginning, as follows: 'Fades physical beauty with disease or age.' At the end, as
follows: 'Either with disease or age physical beauty fades.'"
Ad hominem. In an argument, this is an attack on the person rather than on the
opponent’s ideas. It comes from the Latin meaning “against the man”.The 416
Dream manifests this when the beggar denounces Bernadette’s right to know
her name.
Aesthetics. The examination of symbolic expression to determine its rhetorical
possibilities.A True Story is replete with symbolism: the vegetables and
monotony of household chores combined, send a message of a life that is
already extremely mundane for a young girl in a rural setting; the journey itself
is allegorical to the life that she leads, a life of fear and foreboding at every turn.
Aetiologia. Giving a cause or a reason.
Affectus. A term used by the Italian Humanists of the Renaissance to describe
the source of emotions or passions in the human mind.
Agenda. That which a persuader successfully makes salient and then spins [see
Vatz, Richard E.]
AllegoryThis is an extended narrative in prose or verse in which characters,
events and settings represents abstract qualities and in which the writer intends a
second meaning to be read beneath the surface of the story; the underlying
meaning may be moral, religious, political, social, or satiric. JohnBunyan’s
Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory to the temptations of Christians and George
Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegory to the Russian Revolution.
Alliteration.This is a repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words
that are close to one another: Mickey Mouse; Minnie Mouse; Donald Duck;
Daffy Duck…
417
Alloisis. The breaking down of a subject into its alternatives.
Allusion.This is a reference to some literary, biographical or historical event. It
is a “figure of speech” (a fresh, useful comparison) used to illuminate an idea.
For instance if you want to state that a certain national ruler is insane, you might
refer to him as a “Nero” – an allusion to the emperor who burned Rome.
Common examples are Scrooge, Catch-22, Don Quixote, Mother Theresa,
Judas.
Ambigua. An ambiguous statement used in making puns.
Amplificatio. An all-purpose term for all the ways an argument can be expanded
and enhanced. The storyline Go is an apt example.
Amplification. The act and the means of extending thoughts or statements to
increase rhetorical effect, to add importance, or to make the most of a thought or
circumstance.
Anacoenosis. A speaker asks his or her audience or opponents for their opinion
or answer to the point in question. Instances of this are featured in International
Conference.
Anacoluthon. An abrupt change of syntax within a sentence. (What I want is —
like anybody cares.) Within the anthology both Go and Unseen use this device.
Anadiplosis. Repeating the last word of one clause or phrase to begin the next.A
True Story uses this device at least twice and the same with International
Conference. 418
Analogy. The use of a similar or parallel case or example to reason or argue a
point. For example, an analogy likening “division of labor” to the activity of
bees in a hive makes the first concept more concrete by showing it to the reader
through the figurative comparison with the bees. It is usually used to clarify an
action or a relationship, such as comparing the work of a heart to that of a pump
as another example.
Anaphora. From the Greek ἀναφέρω, "I repeat". A succession of sentences
beginning with the same word or group of words. Here is a famous example
from Churchill: “We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall
fight in France. We shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with
growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the
landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in
the hills. We shall never surrender.” At least three stories in the anthology make
use of this device: Go, An Almost True Story and International Conference.
Anastrophe. Inversion of the natural word order. This device is similar to the
hypallage in Once Upon a Time.
Anecdote. A brief narrative describing an interesting or amusing event or
making a point.
Animorummotus. The emotions.
AnnotationExplanatory notesadded to a text to explain, cite sources, or give
bibliographical data. 419
Antanaclasis. From Greek ̩ ̩ἀντανάκλασις, a figure of speech involving a pun,
consisting of the repeated use of the same word, each time with different
meanings.
Anthimeria. Substitution of one part of speech for another (such as a noun used
as a verb). It is traditionally called antimeria.
AntithesisThe presentation of two contrasting images. The ideas are balanced by
word, phrase, clause, or paragraphs. Here are some examples; from
Shakespeare’s Hamlet “To be or not to be, that is the question”; from Kennedy
“Ask not what your country can do for you, rather ask what you can do for your
country…”;from Lincoln “The world will little note, nor long remember, what
we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” It is the juxtaposition of
contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, or grammatical
structures; the second stage of the dialectic process.
Antimetabole. Repetition of two words or short phrases, but in reversed order to
establish a contrast. It is a specialized form of chiasmus.
Antinome. (pronounced an-ta-nome) Two ideas about the same topic that can be
worked out to a logical conclusion, but the conclusions contradict each other.
Antiptosis. The substitution of one case for another. This device is frequently
used in The Dream every time the author refers to the beggar.
Antistrophe. In rhetoric, repeating the last word in successive phrases. For
example (from Rhetorica ad Herennium), "'Since the time when from our state 420
concord disappeared, liberty disappeared, good faith disappeared, friendship
disappeared, the common weal disappeared.'" Also see epiphora.
Antonym is a word that is opposite in meaning to that of another word: ‘hot’ is
an antonym of ‘cold’, ‘fat’ is an antonym of ‘thin’.
Aphaeresis. The omission of a syllable from the beginning of a word.
Apocope. The omission of the last letter or syllable of a word.
Aphorism.A short often witty statement of a principle or a truth about life.
Examples: the early bird gets the worm; what goes around comes around;
people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
Apokoinu construction.A blend of two clauses through a lexical word which has
two syntactical functions, one in each of the blended clauses.
Apophasis / Apophesis. Pretending to deny something as a means of implicitly
affirming it. As paralipsis, mentioning something by saying that you will not
mention it. The opposite of occupatio. See Fighting Fire with Fire.
Aporia. An attempt to discredit an opposing viewpoint by casting doubt on it.
Aposiopesis. An abrupt stop in the middle of a sentence; used by a speaker to
convey unwillingness or inability to complete a thought or statement. See A
True Story.
Apostrophe. From Greek ἀποστροφή, a figure of speech consisting of a sudden
turn in a text towards an exclamatory address to an imaginary person or a thing. 421
Appeals. Rhetorical devices used to enhance the plausibility of one's argument;
Aristotle's appeals included ethos, logos, and pathos.
Arete. Virtue, excellence of character, qualities that would be inherent in a
"natural leader," a component of ethos.
Argument. Discourse characterized by reasons advanced to support conclusions.
Argumentum ad baculum. Settling a question by appealing to force.
Argumentum ad hominem. Using what you know about your opponent's
character as a basis for your argument. See A True Story.
Arrangement. See dispositio.
Arsarengandi. Teaching of forensic speaking during the Medieval rhetorical era.
Arsdictaminis. The art of writing letters introduced and taught during the
medieval rhetorical era.
Arspoetria. Medieval teaching of grammar and style through analysis of poetry.
Arspraedicandi. The art of preaching based on rhetorical ideas and introduced
during the medieval rhetorical era, during an increasing intersection between
rhetoric and religion.
Artistic proofs. Rhetorically-produced methods for persuasion. For Aristotle,
three possibilities would be ethos, pathos, and logos.
Assonance.Repetition of vowel sounds between different consonants, such as in
‘neigh/fade’ 422
Asyndeton. The deliberate omission of conjunctions that would normally be
used; where commas are used to separate a series of words – a device which is
useful in speeding up the flow of the sentence. Here is an example from John F.
Kennedy: “We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships,
support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of
liberty.” See A True Story.
Audience. Real, imagined, invoked, or ignored, this is a concept that seems to be
at the very center of the intersections of composing and rhetoric. It refers to the
writer’s intended readership and it affects many of the writer’s choices,
including level of diction, range of allusions, types of figurative language, and
so on.
Aureation. The use of Latinate and polysyllabic terms to "heighten" diction
Auxesis. To place words or phrases in a certain order to obtain a climactic
effect.
Axioms. The point where scientific reasoning starts. Principles that are not
questioned.
B
Backing. Supporting an argument's merit.
Barbarism. Use of a non-standard word, expression or pronunciation in a
language, particularly one prescriptively regarded as an error in morphology.
Bases. The issues at question in a judicial case. 423
Bdelygmia. Expression of hatred or contempt. This device features in Unseen,
Once Upon a Time and Fighting Fire with Fire.
Belleslettres. Written works considered quality because they are pleasing to the
senses.
Belletristic Movement. Movement of rhetoric in the late 18th and early 19th
centuries emphasizing stylistic considerations of rhetoric. It also expanded
rhetoric into a study of literature and literary criticism and writing.
Bomphiologia. Bombastic speech: a rhetorical technique wherein the speaker
brags excessively
Brachylogia. Brevity of diction
Brevitas. Concise expression. See The Painting and Once Upon a Time.
Burden of proof. Theory of argument giving the obligation of proving a case to
the challenging party. This is largely the case in The Dream.
C
Cacophony. Harsh, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry
or prose; the opposite of euphony. See The Painting.
Canon. A term often used to discuss significant literary works in a specific field,
used by Cicero to outline five significant parts of the rhetorical composition
process. 424
Captatiobenevolentiae. Any literary or oral device which seeks to secure the
goodwill of the recipient or hearer, as in a letter or in a discussion.
Caricature. Descriptive writing that greatly exaggerates a specific feature of a
person’s appearance or a facet of personality. See The Painting,Nature Plays a
Role,A True Story and especially International Conference.
Catachresis. The inexact use of a similar word in place of the proper one to
create an unlikely metaphor. For example (from Rhetorica ad Herennium),
"'The power of man is short'" or "'the long wisdom in the man.'"
Causal analysisis a form of writing that examines causes and effects of events or
conditions as they relate to a specific subject
Charisma. An attribute that allows a speaker's words to become powerful. See
The Dream.
Characterisationis the description of people. As a particular type of description
in an essay, characterization attempts to capture as vividly as possible the
features, qualities, traits, speech, actions, and personality of individuals. A good
example is that of the executioner in An Almost True Story.
Chiasmus. From the name of the Greek letter "χ", a figure of speech consisting
of the contrasting of two structurally parallel syntactic phrases arranged "cross-
wise", i.e. in such a way that the second is in reverse order from the first.
Circa rem. Latin: The circumstances surrounding the act in one Roman topical
system. 425
Claim 1. A primary point being made to support an argument. 2. Stephen
Toulmin: the resulting conclusion to an argument.
Classicism. A revival in the interest of classical antiquity languages and texts.
Climax. Climax occurs when words or sentences are used to increase weight by
mounting degrees in parallel construction.
Clichésare expressions that were once fresh and vivid, but have become tired
and worn from overuse. “I’m so hungry that I could eat a horse” is a typical
cliché.People use clichés in conversation, but writers generally should avoid
them.
Closings or “conclusions” are endings for your essay or short story. Without a
closing it is incomplete, leaving the reader with the feeling that something
important has been left out. There are numerous closing possibilities available
to writers: summarizing the main points in the essay (Fighting Fire with Fire);
restating the main idea; using an effective quotation to bring the essay to an end;
offering the reader the climax to a series of events (Nature Plays a Role, Once
Upon a Time and Unseen); returning to the introduction and echoing it
(International Conference); offering a solution to a problem ( Go); emphasizing
the topic’s significance (The Dream); or setting a new frame of reference by
generalizing from the main thesis ( The Painting, A True Story and An Almost
True Story). Whatever type of closing you use, make certain that it ends the
essay in a firm and emphatic way.
Coherence is a quality in effective writing that results from the careful ordering
of each sentence in a paragraph, and each paragraph in the essay. If an essay is 426
coherent, each part will grow naturally and logically from those parts that come
before it. Coherence depends on the writer’s ability to organize materials in a
logical way, and to order segments so that the reader is carried along easily from
start to finish.
The main devices used in achieving coherence are transitions, which help to
connect one thought with another.
Colon. A colon (Greek κῶλον) is a rhetorical figure consisting of a clause which
is grammatically, but not logically, complete.
Colloquialism. A word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used
in ordinary or familiar conversation. It is often inappropriate in formal writing
(y’all, ain’t). See Once Upon a Time.
Common Topics. Arguments and approaches useful in rhetorical settings; koinoi
topoi.
Composition is a term used for any essay or piece of writing that reveals a
careful plan.
Connotation / denotation are terms specifying the way a word has meaning.
Connotation refers to the “shades of meaning” that a word might have because
of various emotional associations it calls up for writers and readers alike. Words
like “American”, “physician”, “mother”, “pig” and “San Francisco” have strong
connotative overtones to them. With denotation however, we are concerned not
with the suggestive meaning of a word but with its exact, literal meaning.
Denotation refers to the “dictionary definition” of a word – its exact meaning. 427
Writers must understand the connotative and denotative value of words, and
must control the shades of meaning that many words possess.
Consubstantiality. Substance commonality.
Conclusio. Latin: A letter's conclusion.
Confirmatio. Latin: The section of a judicial speech (in Roman rhetorical
theory) that offers evidence supporting the claims given during the statement of
facts.
Confutatio. Latin: Counterargument in Roman rhetorical theory.
Consonance. Repetition of identical consonant sounds within two or more
words in close proximity, as in boost/best; it can also be seen within several
compound words, such as fulfill and ping-pong.
Constraints. Referring to "persons, events, objects, and relations which are parts
of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action
needed to modify the exigence." Originally used by Lloyd Blitzer.
Contingency. In rhetoric, it relates to the contextual circumstances that do not
allow an issue to be settled with complete certainty.
Context. The circumstances surrounding an issue that should be considered
during its discussion.
Conundrum. A riddle whose answer is or involves a pun; it may also be a
paradox or a difficult problem. 428
Conversio. Latin: Varying sentence structure to discover its most agreeable
form.
Conversation model. The model, in critique of traditional rhetoric by Sally
Gearhart, that maintains the goal of rhetoric is to persuade others to accept your
own personal view as correct.
Cookery. Plato believed rhetoric was to truth as cookery was to medicine.
Cookery disguises itself as medicine and appears to be more pleasing, when in
actuality it has no real benefit.
Critical theory. Systematically analyzing any means of communication for
hidden assumptions and connotations.
Concession. Acknowledgment of objections to a proposal.
D
Data. Stephen Toulmin. Initial evidence supporting a claim.
Deconstruction. Analyzing communication artifacts by scrutinizing their
meaning and related assumptions, with the goal of determining the social and
systemic connotations behind their structure.
Deduction. Moving from an overall hypothesis to infer something specific about
that hypothesis; or moving from a general rule to a specific example.
Delectare,To delight; viewed by Cicero as one of the three goals of rhetoric. 429
Delivery. Canon #5 in Cicero's list of rhetorical canons; traditionally linked to
oral rhetoric, refers to how a speech is given (including tone of voice and
nonverbal gestures, among others).
Demos. The population of an ancient Greek state, considered a political entity;
population; the common people.
Descriptionis a type of writing that uses details of sight, color, sound, smell, and
touch to create a word picture and to explain or illustrate an idea; one of the four
modes of discourse. See The Painting where the dog imagines what life in
Dimana would be like for him; and Nature Plays a Role where Carola’s
personality is described.
Dialectic. A rhetorical term that has been defined differently by Aristotle and
Ramus, among others; generally, it means using verbal communication between
people to discuss topics in order to come to an agreement about them. See The
Dream.
Diallage. Establishing a single point with the use of several arguments.
Dialogue is the exact duplication in writing of something people say to each
other. It is the reproduction of speech or conversation and it can add
concreteness and vividness to an essay and can also help to reveal character.
When using dialogue writers need to pay attention to correct punctuation. It is
moreover important to develop an ear for the way other people talk and an
ability to create it accurately, in order to use dialogue effectively in essay
writing. 430
Dictamen. The art of writing letters.
Diction refers to the writer’s choice or use of words. Good diction reflects the
topic of the writing; it can include subtle descriptions and conversational
sarcasms – the diction of Malcolm X. Levels of diction refer both to the purpose
of the essay and to the writer’s audience. Skillful choice of the level of diction
keeps the reader intimately involved with the topic. Word choice in itself is an
element of style and diction creates tone, attitude, style as well as meaning.
Didactic. This is writing whose purpose is to instruct or to teach. The work is
usually formal and focusses on moral or ethical concerns. This type of writing
may be fiction or non-fiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides
a model of correct behavior or thinking. The Dream is somewhat didactic.
Dispositio. In the classical theory of the production of speech
Pronuntiatiodispositiorefers to the stage of planning the structure and sequence
of ideas. Often referred to as arrangement, the second of Cicero's five rhetorical
canons.
DissoiLogoi. Contradictory arguments. See International Conference.
Dissonance. Harsh or grating sounds that do not go together.
Distribution. Dividing a whole subject into its various parts.
Divisio. To divide into categories or classes.
Docere. To teach; viewed by Cicero as one of the three goals of rhetoric. 431
Dramatic irony. When the reader is aware of an inconsistency between a
fictional or nonfictional character’s perception of a situation and the truth of that
situation.The Dream leans into this direction.
Dramatistic. A way to look at the nature of language stressing on language as an
action; for example when one uses expressions such as 'thou shalt' and 'thou
shalt not." See The Dream.
Dysphemism. A term with negative associations for something in reality fairly
innocuous or inoffensive.
E
Ecphonesis. A sentence consisting of a single word or short phrase ending with
an exclamation point. See Unseen, Once Upon a Time and The Painting. The
first storyline also has an ecphonesistic title: Go!
Effect Is a term used in causal analysis to indicate the outcome or expected
result of a chain of happenings. When dealing with the analysis of effects,
writers should determine whether they want to work with immediate or final
effects, or both. Thus a writer analyzing the effects of an accidental nuclear
explosion might choose to analyze effects immediately after the blast, as well as
effects that still linger.
Ellipse. The suppression of ancillary words to render an expression more lively
or more forceful. 432
Elocutio. In the classical theory of the production of a speech (Pronuntiatio),
elocution refers to the stage of elaborating the wording of a text, using correct
grammar and diction.
Emotional appeal. When a writer appeals to readers’ emotions (often through
pathos) to excite and involve them in the argument.
Emphasis suggeststhe placement of the most important ideas in key positions in
the essay. Writers can emphasize ideas simply by placing important ones at the
beginning or at the end of the paragraph or essay. But several other techniques
help writers to emphasize important ideas: (1) key words and ideas can be
stressed by repetition (A True Story); (2) ideas can be presented in climactic
order, by building from lesser ideas at the beginning to the main idea at the end
(An Almost True Story); (3) figurative language (for instance a vivid simile) can
call attention to a main idea (Fighting Fire with Fire); (4) the relative proportion
of detail offered to support an idea can emphasize its importance (Once Upon a
Time); (5) comparison and contrast of an idea with other ideas can emphasize its
importance (The Dream); and (6) mechanical devices like underlining,
capitalizing, and using exclamation points (all of which should be used
sparingly) can stress significance (Nature Plays a Role).
Essay. This is the name given to a short prose work on a limited topic. Essays
take many forms, ranging from a familiar narrative account of an event in your
life to explanatory, argumentative or critical investigations of a subject.
Normally, in one way or the other, an essay will convey the writer’s personal
ideas about the subject. 433
Enallage. The switching of grammatical forms for an expressive purpose; for
example when discussing slum life in Once Upon a Time.
Energia. The latin word for 'energy' that was used by Aristotle in reference to
the force or vigor of expression in writing or speech.
Enthymeme. A type of argument that is grounded in assumed commonalities
between a rhetor and the audience. (For example: Claim 1: Bob is a person.
Therefore, Claim 3: Bob is mortal. The assumption (unstated Claim 2) is that
People are mortal). In Aristotelian rhetoric, an enthymeme is known as a
"rhetorical syllogism:" it mirrors the form of a syllogism, but it is based on
opinion rather than fact (For example: Claim 1: These clothes are tacky. Claim
2: I am wearing these clothes. Claim 3: Therefore, I am unfashionable).
Enumeratio. Making a point more forcibly by listing detailed causes or effects;
to enumerate: count off or list one by one. This is quite evident in Go.
Epanalepsis. A figure of speech in which the same word or phrase appears both
at the beginning and at the end of a clause. See A True Story.
Epanaphora. In rhetoric, repeating the same word or phrase at the beginning of
successive phrases for emphasis. For example (from Rhetorica ad Herennium),
"'To you must go the credit for this, to you are thanks due, to you will this act of
yours bring glory.'" See International Conference.
Epideictic. Ceremonial rhetoric, such as might be found in a funeral or victory
speech. See An Almost True Story. 434
Epigraph. The use of a quotation at the beginning of a work that hints at its
theme.
Epiphora. The repetition of a phrase or word at the end of several sentences or
clauses. (Also see anaphora.) International Conference and The Dream depict
this device.
Epistemology. Philosophical study directed at understanding how people gain
knowledge.
Epistrophe. A succession of clauses phrases or sentences that all end with the
same word or group of words, especially for rhetorical or poetic effect. Here are
some examples: from Corinthians in the Bible: “When I was a child, I spoke
like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child”; from The Merchant
of Venice by Shakespeare: “I’ll have my bond! Speak not against my bond! I
have sworn an oath that I will have my bond…” See International Conference
where the author is questioning the reason for the victim’s suffering.
Epithet. A term used as a descriptive and qualifying substitute for the name of a
person, place or thing.
Epizeuxis. Emphasizing an idea using one word repetition. See An Almost-True
Story.
Eristic. Communicating with the aim of winning the argument regardless of
truth. The idea is not necessarily to lie, but to present the communication so 435
cleverly that the audience is persuaded by the power of the presentation.The
Dream is an eristic story.
Erotema. The so-called 'Rhetorical Question', where a question is asked to
which an answer is not expected. This is rife in Nature Plays a Role and in
Unseen.
Ethos. A rhetorical appeal to an audience based on the speaker/writer's
credibility; the writer tries to persuade the audience to respect and believe him
or her based on a presentation of image of self through the text. This is highly
apparent in International Conference.
Ethopoeia. The act of putting oneself into the character of another to convey
that persons feelings and thoughts more vividly. See International Conference.
Euphemism. An innocuous, inoffensive or circumlocutory term or phrase for
something unpleasant or obscene, uncomfortable or inappropriate. “He went to
his final reward” is a common way of saying that he died. Euphemisms are also
often used to obscure the reality of a situation. The military uses “collateral
damage” to indicate civilian deaths in a military operation. Other examples:
mortician is a euphemism for undertaker; sanitation worker for garbage
collector – and so on and so forth. Prevalent in Nature Plays a Role.
Euphony. A succession of harmonious sounds used in poetry or prose; the
opposite of cacophony.
Evidence. In rhetoric, facts or testimony used to strengthen a claim. 436
Example. An individual instance taken to be representative of a general pattern;
one can say therefore that ‘arguing through this process is considered reliable if
examples are demonstrable, true or factual, as well as relevant.
Exemplum. The citation of an example, either truthful or fictitious.
Exigence. A rhetorical call to action; a situation that compels someone to speak
out.
Exordium. The introductory (Lat: exordium, beginning) portion of an oration
Explication. The art of interpreting or discoveringthe meaning of a text. It
usually involves close reading and special attention to figurative language.
Exposition. The immediate revelation to the audience of the setting and other
background information necessary for understanding the plot; also, explanation;
one of the four modes of discourse.
Expression. Applying the correct language to an argument.
Extended metaphor. A sustained comparison. Often referred to as a conceit.
The extended metaphor is developed through a piece of writing. Some of this is
evident in International Conference where the stoning of a woman - a giver of
life - is metaphorical to the destruction of Somalia as a country.
437
F
Fable. A short allegorical story.
Facetiae. Latin, humor or wit. See Nature Plays a Role.
Facilitas . The improvising of effective oral or written language to suit any
situation.
Faculty psychology. 18th century, the mind contains faculties that include
understanding, imagination, passion, and will.
False analogy. When two cases are not sufficiently parallel to lead readers to
accept a claim of connection between them.
False consciousness. Jurgen Habermas: a distorted view of reality, people, and
the world. This is the predominant scenario in Nature Plays a Role.
Feminist Rhetoric. Rhetorical theory concerned with feminism and its critique
of social structures. The storyline Once Upon a Time follows this trend; to a
smaller extent, so does A True Story.
Fictio. The attribution of rational traits to non-rational creatures.
Field-dependent. Stephen Toulmin's term: standards for assessing arguments
that are specific to a certain field.
Field-invariant. Stephen Toulmin's term: standards for assessing arguments that
are not determined by the particular field. 438
Figurative language, as opposed to literal, is a special approach to writing that
departs from what is typically a concrete, straightforward style. It involves a
vivid, imaginative comparison that goes beyond plain or ordinary statements.
For example instead of saying that “Joan is wonderful,” you could write that
“Joan is like a summer’s rose” (a simile); “Joan’s hair is wheat, pale and soft
and yellow” (a metaphor); “Joan is my Helen of Troy” (an allusion); or use a
number of other comparative approaches. Note that Joan is not a rose, her hair is
not wheat, nor is she some other person named Helen. Figurative language is
not logical; instead it requires an ability on the part of the writer to create an
imaginative comparison in order to make an idea more striking. It creates
associations that are imaginative rather than literal.
Figure. Unusual arrangement of language that tries to achieve unique meaning
for ideas.
Figures of speech. Expressions such as similes, metaphors, and personifications,
that make imaginative, rather than literal, comparisons or associations.
Flashback is a narrative technique in which the writer begins at some point in
the action and then moves into the past in order to provide necessary
background information. Flashback adds variety to the narrative method,
enabling writers to approach a story not only in terms of straight chronology,
but in terms of a back-and-forth movement. However, it is at best a very
difficult technique and should be used with great care. The storyline Go!is rife
with flashbacks.
Forensic Oratory. Speaking in a courtroom. 439
Foreshadowing.This is the use of a hint or clue to suggest a larger event that
occurs late in the work.Fighting Fire with Fire explores this device well and so
does Unseen.
Freight-train. A sentence consisting of three or more very short independent
clauses joined by conjunctions. A device which features prominently in
International Conference.
G
Gens. Latin, an influential group of families
Genera. (Plural of genus) Classification by race, kind, or possession of
similarities; descriptive of different types of oratory.
General/specific words are necessary in writing, although it is wise to keep your
vocabulary as specific as possible. General words refer to broad categories and
groups, while specific words capture with more force and clarity the nature of a
term. The distinction between general and specific language is always a matter
of degree. “A woman walked down the street” is more general than “Mrs.
Webster walked down Fifth Avenue,” while “Mrs. Webster, elegantly dressed in
a muslin suit, strolled down Fifth Avenue” is more specific than the first two
examples. Our ability to use specific language depends on the extent of our
vocabulary. The more words we know, the more specific we can be in choosing
words.
Generalization. When a writer bases a claim upon an isolated example or asserts
that a claim is certain rather than probable. Sweeping generalizations occur
when a writer asserts that a claim applies to all instances instead of some. 440
Genre. A type of literary work, such as a novel or poem; there are also sub-
genres, such as science fiction or sonnet, within the larger genres.
Graecismus. The use of Greek idiom.
H
Hendiadys. Using two nouns linked by a conjunction to express a single
complex idea.
Hermeneutics. The theoretical underpinnings of interpreting texts, usually
religious or literary.
Heteroglossia. The many prolific languages of any culture.
Heuristics. Determining or applying the proper methods for investigation.
Homiologia. A tedious style or redundancy of style.
Homoioteleuton. From the Greek ομοιοτέλευτο (homios, "like" and teleute,
"ending"). A figure of speech where adjacent or parallel words have similar
endings.International Conference uses this device on at least two occasions.
Horismus. A brief and often antithetical definition. See The Dream.
Hubris. The excessive pride of ambition that leads a tragic hero to disregard
warnings of impending doom, eventually causing his or her downfall. See
Nature Plays a Role.
Humor. Anything that causes laughter or amusement; up until the end of the
Renaissance, humor meant a person’s temperament. 441
Hypallage. A literary device that reverses the syntactic relation of two words (as
in "her beauty's face"). See Nature Plays a Role and Once Upon a Time.
Hyperbaton. A figure of speech in which words that naturally belong together
are separated from each other for emphasis or effect. See A True Story.
Hyperbole. A figure of speech where emphasis is achieved through
exaggeration, independently or through comparison. For example (from
Rhetorica ad Herennium), "'His body was as white as snow, his face burned like
fire.'" It is obvious and intentional exaggeration. See The Painting.
Hypophora. When a speaker asks aloud what his/her adversaries have to say for
themselves or against the speaker, and then proceeds to answer the question. For
example (from Rhetorica ad Herennium), "'When he reminded you of your old
friendship, were you moved? No, you killed him nevertheless, and with even
greater eagerness. And then when his children groveled at your feet, were you
moved to pity? No, in your extreme cruelty you even prevented their father's
burial.'" See A True Story.
Hypothesis. An educated guess.
Hypsos. Great or worthy writing, sometimes called sublime. Longinus's theme
in On the Sublime.
Hypozeuxis. A sentence in which every clause has its own subject and verb.
Hysteron proteron. A rhetorical device in which the first key word of the idea
refers to something that happens temporally later than the second key word. The
goal is to call attention to the more important idea by placing it first. 442
I
Icon. Using imagery to create resemblance.
Identification. Connecting with a larger group through a shared interpretation or
understanding of a larger concept; Kenneth Burke was one of the first people to
use the term in this way.
Ideology. A way of understanding one's external surroundings.
Ignoratioelenchi. A conclusion that is irrelevant. See The Dream.
Illustration is the use of several examples to support an idea.
Image. A word or words, either figurative or literal, used to describe a sensory
experience or an object perceived by the sense. An image is always a concrete
representation.
Imagery. Words or phrases that use a collection of images to appeal to one or
more of the five senses in order to create a mental picture. It is clear, vivid
description that appeals to our sense of sight, smell, touch, sound or taste.
Imagery can also add meaning to an essay and writers can use it to contribute to
any type of wording, or they can rely on it to structure an entire essay. It is
always difficult to invent fresh, vivid description, but it is an effort that writers
must make if they wish to improve the quality of their prose. Imagery is rife in
Nature Plays a Role and The Painting.
Imitatio. Latin, imitation. 443
Inartistic proofs. Discovered information stemming from the raw data of
experience.
Indefinite questions. In Quintilian, questions that are discussed without referring
to anything specifically.
Indignatio. To arouse indignation in the audience. See Nature Plays a Role and
Unseen.
Induction. Rhetorical method for coming to general conclusions through
specific examples. It is the process that moves from a given series of specifics to
a generalization.
Inference. A conclusion one can draw from the presented details. This device is
evident in Once Upon a Time.
Ingenium. Latin, In Vico- the ability to understand similarities and relationships
that is innate in all humans.
In re. Latin, arguments concerned with what actually happened.
InstitutioOratoria . Educational and rhetorical principles as described and
prescribed in treatise by Quintillian.
Insultatio. Abusing a person to his/her face by using irony and derisive
language. See Unseen and Nature Plays a Role.
Interior monologue. Writing that records the conversation that occurs inside a
character’s head. Predominant in International Conference, The Painting and
Go! 444
Interlacement. Combining the figures Antistrophe and Epanaphora for rhetorical
style and emphasis. For example (from Rhetorica ad Herennium), "'Who are
they who have often broken treaties? The Carthaginians. Who are they who
have waged war with severest cruelty? The Carthaginians.'"
Intersubjective agreements. Agreements on the fair conduct of an argument
among individuals participating in dialogue.
Introductions are the beginning or openings of essays and they should perform a
number of functions. They should alert the reader to the subject, set the limits of
the essay and indicate what the thesis (or the main idea) will be. Moreover they
should arouse the reader’s interest in the subject, so that the reader will want to
continue reading into the essay. Several devices are available to writers that will
aid in the development of sound introductions: (1) Simply state the subject and
establish the thesis (Go!); (2) open with a clear, vivid description that will
become important as your essay advances(save your thesis for a later stage, but
indicate what your subject is) ( The Dream);(3) ask a question or a series of
questions which you might answer in the introduction or in another part of the
essay (Fighting Fire with Fire); (4) tell an anecdote ( a short, self-contained
story of an entertaining nature) that serves to illuminate your subject; (5) use
comparison or contrast to frame your subject and to present your thesis (Once
Upon a Time); (6) establish a definitional context for your subject; (7) begin by
stating your personal attitude towards a controversial issue. Many are the
techniques that can be used to develop an introduction. What is important to
remember is that you need an introduction to an essay. It can be a single
sentence or a much longer paragraph, but it must accomplish its purpose – to 445
introduce readers to the subject, and to engage them so that they want to explore
the essay further.
Invective. A verbally abusive attack. See Unseen and Nature Plays a Role.
Invention. Described by Cicero as the process of determining "valid or
seemingly valid arguments;" the first of his five rhetorical canons. Highly
visible in Fighting Fire with Fire.
Inversion. Reversing the customary (subject first, then verb, then complement)
order of elements in a sentence or phrase; it is used effectively in many cases,
such as posing a question: “Are you going to the store?” Usually, the element
that appears first is emphasized more than the subject.
Invitational rhetoric. (Foss and Griffin, 1995) rhetoric involving "an invitation
to understanding as a means to create a relationship rooted in quality, imminent
value, and self-determination." Emphasizes the relationship between the speaker
and freedoms of the audience to make decisions for themselves in order to
promote equality.
Ioci.Jokes, see Cicero's De Oratore and his theory of humor.
Irony. A deliberate contrast between indirect and direct meaning to draw
attention to the opposite. It is a situation or statement in which the actual
outcome or meaning is opposite to what was expected;it is the use of language
to suggest the opposite of what is stated. Writers use irony to reveal unpleasant
or troublesome realities that exist in life, or to poke fun at human weaknesses 446
and foolish attitudes. Many situations and conditions lend themselves to ironic
treatment. See The Painting and International Conference.
Isocolon. A string of phrases of corresponding structure and equal length. See
An Almost-True Story and The Painting.
Issues of definition. Things related to naming an act.
Issues of fact. Issues related to an act's occurrence.
Issues of quality. Issues related to the seriousness of an act.
J
Jargon. Highly technical language used by a specific group or profession. The
term usually has pejorative associations, with the implication that jargon is
evasive, tedious, and unintelligible to outsiders. The writings of the lawyer and
the literary critic are both susceptible to jargon.
Judicial. Type of oratory used to attack or defend someone in a court of law.
K
Kairos. From the Greek word καιρος. Generally means, "timing" or "the right
circumstances."
Kategoria. Greek for Accusation.
Koinoi topoi. Common topics; in a rhetoric situation, useful arguments and
strategies.
Koinonia. To consult with your opponent or judge. 447
Kolakeia. Flattery; telling people what they want to hear while disregarding
their best interests; employed by sophistic rhetoricians.
L
Latinitas. Stylistic feature involving the proper use of language.
Lexis. Style.
Literae humanae. Academic disciplines that are known as the liberal arts:
languages, philosophy, history, literature, music, art and certain abstract
sciences.
Litotes. Stating a positive by negating the negative — a form of understatement.
("I am not unaware of your difficulties.")
Localism. A word, phrase, or custom particular to one's location. See
International Conference.
Loci communes. Types of arguments. Quintillian trained orators to learn
intellectual habits to access the arguments quickly.
Locution. Refers to the utterance of a statement.
Logic. The process of reasoning. This is rather apparent in The Dream.
Logical Fallacy. Misconceptions resulting from faulty reasoning. See Once
Upon a Time and An Almost-True Story.
Logical positivism. The effort to make scientific standards applicable for
resolving all issues. 448
Logical Proof. Arguments used to persuade audience. Reasoned.
Logos. Rhetorical appeals based on logic or reasoning.
Logology. Kenneth Burke. Study of the specific theological terms used. Not to
find the truth or falseness of the statement, but why that particular word was
chosen.
Lyrical. Songlike; characterized by emotions, subjectivity, and imagination.
M
Major premise. Statement in a syllogism. Generalization.
Magnanimity. Doing good to others, "its opposite is meanness of spirit" (from
Aristotle's Rhetoric). Apparent in Once Upon a Time; the character of the
Ellingsworth-Sparrowdale girl can claim magnanimity.
Material fallacy. False notion concerning the subject matter of an argument.
Maxim. "A saying drawn from life, which shows concisely either what happens
or ought to happen in life, for example: 'Every beginning is difficult.'"
(fromRhetorica ad Herennium). See An Almost-True Story where the maxim an
‘eye for an eye’ is thoroughly played out.
Memory. Described by Cicero as the "firm mental grasp of matter and words;"
the fourth of his five rhetorical canons.
Metanarrative. Universal theories positing to know all aspects of humanity. 449
Metaphor. A figure of speech where a word that normally applies to one thing is
used to designate another for the sake of creating a mental picture. For example
(from Rhetorica ad Herennium), "'...he lightly breathed a favoring breath'".A
figure of speech in which one thing is referred to as another; for example, “my
love is a fragile flower.”; it is where an item from one category is compared
briefly and imaginatively with an item from another area. Writers create
metaphors to assign meaning to a word in an original way. See Fighting Fire
with Fire and Unseen.
Metonymy. A figure of speech which substitutes one word or phrase for another
with which it is closely associated. For example (from Rhetorica ad
Herennium), "one should say 'wine' for 'Liber', 'wheat' for 'Ceres'." In UK,
people speak of "Crown property" meaning property belonging to the
Sovereign. Similarly: "The White House had no comment to make." (= the
President's representatives)So it is a figure of speech that uses the name of an
object, person, or idea to represent something with which it is associated, such
as using “the crown” to refer to a monarch; Also: “ the pen is mightier than the
sword”. See Fighting Fire with Fire and Once Upon a Time.
Metron. Greek, measure.
Minor premise. Statement in an argument.
Mode.The method or form of a literary work; the manner in which a work of
literature is written.
Modus inveniendi. Latin, in St Augustine, material used to understand the
scriptures. 450
Modus proferendi. Latin, in St. Augustine, expressing ideas found within the
scriptures.
Mood.Similar to tone, it is the primary emotional attitude of a work (the feeling
of the work; the atmosphere). Syntax is also a determiner of this term because
sentence strength, length, and complexity affect pacing.
Moral. The lesson drawn from a fictional or nonfictional story. It can also mean
a heavily didactic story.An Almost-True Story is such a story since it discusses
the virtue of forgiveness, succinctly.
Moral reasoning. Reasoning employed in rhetoric that determines a conclusion
based on evidence. Used in issues of ethics, religion, economics, and politics.
Motif.Main theme or subject of a work that is elaborated on in the development
of the piece; a repeated pattern or idea.
Motive. Something that plays a role in one's decision to act.
Movere. To persuade; viewed by Cicero as one of the three goals of rhetoric.
N
Narratio. A presentation of essential facts in a judicial speech.
Narration. Storytelling, involving the elements of time, place, actor, action,
cause and manner. It is telling a story to emphasize an important idea. It is the
telling of a story in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama; and it is one of the four
modes of discourse.
Necessary Cause. Cause without which effect couldn't/wouldn't have occurred. 451
Negatio. To negate or deny.
Negative-Positive. Sentence that begins by stating what is NOT trueand then
ending by stating what is true. See International Conference and The Dream.
Neoplatonism. School of thought emanating from the works of Plato and
Aristotle in early BCE Rome.
Noema. Speech that is deliberately subtle or obscure. At least two instances of
this are evident in Fighting Fire with Fire.
Nomos. Greek, a social custom or convention.
Non Sequitur. A statement bearing no relationship to the preceding context. See
International Conference.
Notaries. Secretaries trained in rhetoric for dealing with the agreements that
were needed for commercial cities in Italy to function.
O
Objectivity. An impersonal presentation of events and characters. It is a
writer’s attempt to remove him or herself from any subjective, personal
involvement in a story. Hard news journalism is frequently prized for its
objectivity, although even fictional stories can be told without a writer rendering
personal judgment.
Objective/subjective writing refers to the attitude that writers take toward their
subject. When writers are objective, they try not to report their own personal
feelings about their subject. They attempt to control if not eliminate, their own
attitude toward the topic. Many essays on the other hand, reveal the author’s 452
personal attitudes and emotions. For some kinds of college writing, such as
business or laboratory reports, research papers, or literary analyses, it is best to
be as objective as possible. But for many of the essays in composition courses,
the subjective touch is fine.
Occupatio. Introducing and responding to one's opponents' arguments before
they have the opportunity to bring them up. The opposite of apophasis.
Oictos. To show pity or compassion. See International Conference and The
Dream.
Ominatio. A prophecy of evil.
Onomatopoeia. Words that imitate the sounds, objects, or actions they refer to.
(ex. "buzz", "hullabaloo," "bling," “slam” and “boom”.) See Unseen, The
Painting, A True Storyand The Dream.
Opening. First part of discourse. Should gain audiences' attention.
Order is the manner in which you arrange information or materials in an essay.
The most common ordering techniques are chronological order (involving time
sequence); spatial order(involving the arrangement of descriptive details);
process order (involving a step-by-step approach to an activity); deductive
order (in which you offer a thesis and then the evidence to support it); and
inductive order (in which you present evidence first and build towards the
thesis). Some rhetorical patterns such as comparison and contrast, classification
and argumentation require other ordering techniques. Writers should select
those ordering principles that allow them to present materials clearly. 453
Optatio. A wish exclaimed.
Orcos. An oath.
Oversimplification is when a writer obscures or denies the complexity of the
issues in an argument.
Oxymoron. A condensed paradox. A figure of speech composed of
contradictory words or phrases, such as “wise fool,” “bitter-sweet,” “pretty
ugly,” “ jumbo shrimp,” “cold fire.”See Unseen, A True Story and The Dream.
P
Pacing. The movement of a literary piece from one point or one section to
another.
Parable.A short tale that teaches a moral; similar to but shorter than an allegory.
Parachesis. Repetition of the same sound in several words in close succession.
Alliteration (initial rhyme) is a special case of parachesis.
Paradeigma. Greek, argument created by a list of examples that leads to a
probable generalized idea.
Paradiastole. Greek, redescription - usually in a better light. See The Dream and
Go.
Paradox. A statement that seems to contradict itself but that turns out to have a
rational meaning, as in this quotation from Henry David Thoreau: “I never
found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” It is a statement
that seems to be contradictory but actually contains an element of truth. Writers 454
use it in order to call attention to their subject. See International Conference
whose entire storyline is a complete paradox – apart from being a total travesty
in this day and age.
Parallelism. The technique of arranging words, phrases, clauses or larger
structures by placing them side by side and making them similar in form.
Parallel structure may be as simple as listing two or three modifiers in a row to
describe the same noun or verb; it may take the form of two or more of the same
type of phrases (prepositional, participial, gerund, appositive) that modify the
same noun or verb; it may also take the form of two or more subordinate clauses
that modify the same noun or verb. Or, parallel structure may be a complex
bend of single-word, phrase, and clause parallelism all in the same sentence.
Here is an example from Churchill: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall
fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields.” It is a variety of
sentence structure in which there is ‘balance’ or coordination in the presentation
of elements. “I came, I saw, I conquered” is another good example of
parallelism presenting both pronouns and verbs in a coordinated manner. It can
also be applied to several sentences or entire paragraphs and can be an effective
way to emphasize ideas.There is allegorical parallelism in International
Conference in the section where the men are stoning the female victim; also
where the interpreterppp seems confused about where to go, which direction to
follow.
Paralipsis. A form of apophasis when a rhetor introduces a subject by denying it
should be discussed. To speak of someone or something by claiming not to.
Parallel Syntax. repetition of similar sentence structures. 455
Parallel Structure. using the same tense and structure.
Parisosis. When clauses have very similar lengths, as measured by syllables;
sometimes taken as equivalent to isocolon.
Parody. A work that ridicules the style of another work by imitating and
exaggerating its elements. It can be utterly mocking or gently humorous. It
depends on allusion and exaggerates and distorts the original style and content.
Paromoiosis. Parallelism of sound between the words of two clauses
approximately equal in size. The similarity of sound can occur at the beginning
of the clauses, at the end (where it is equivalent to homoioteleuton), in the
middle or throughout the clauses.
Pathos. An emotional appeal that inadvertently evokes laughter or ridicule. It is
an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or
compassion. Over-emotionalism can be the result of an excess of pathos. See
Once Upon A Time and Nature Plays A Role.
Paronomasia. A play on words, often for humorous effect.
Particular audience. In Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, the actual audience the
orator addresses.
Pathos. Greek, the emotional appeal to an audience in an argument. One of
Aristotle's three proofs. 456
Pedantic. A term used to describe writing that borders on lecturing. It is
scholarly and academic and often overly difficult and distant.
Perfectus orator. Latin, a complete orator.
Periphrasis. The substitution of many or several words where one would suffice;
usually to avoid using that particular word. See The Dream.
Peroratio. Latin, the last section of a judicial speech where the speaker is the
strongest.
Personification. A figure of speech that gives human characteristics or attributes
human qualities to inanimate objects, or represents an absent person as being
present. For example (from Rhetorica ad Herennium), "'But if this invincible
city should now give utterance to her voice, would she not speak as follows?'" It
is giving an object, thing or idea, life-like or human qualities. Like all forms of
figurative writing, personification adds freshness to description, and makes
ideas vivid by setting up striking comparisons. See Once Upon A Time where
the author states “In came the trolley of tea.” See also The Dream where there is
personification of parts of the body.
Persuasion. A form of argumentation, one of the four modes of discourse; it is
language intended to convince through appeals to reason or emotion.
Petitio. Latin, in a letter, an announcement, demand, or request.
Phallogocentrism. Examines the relationship between logos (reason) and the
phallus (representative of male genitalia). Just as the phallus is implicitly and
sometimes explicitly assumed to be the only significant sexual organ, the 457
masculine is the accepted as the central point of reference of validity and
authority for a society. This is particularly poignant in A True Story and also
appears in Nature Plays A Role and International Conference.
Phronesis. Greek, practical wisdom; common sense.
Physis. Greek, nature.
Pian. Ancient China, the art of disputing.
Pistis. Greek, belief.
Plausibility. Rhetoric that is believable right away due to its association with
something that the audience already knows or has experienced.
Pleonasm. The use of more words than necessary to express an idea.
Poetriae,Ars. Latin, poetry as an art.
Point of view. This is the perspective from which a story is presented. It is the
angle from which a writer tells a story. Many personal or informal essays take
the first-person (or “I”) point of view (storyline 2 in the anthology). The first
person “I” point of view is natural and fitting for essays when the writer wants
to speak in a familiar and intimate way to the reader. On the other hand, the
third-person point of view (“he”, “she”, “it”, “they”) distances the reader
somewhat from the writer. The third-person point of view is useful in essays
where writers are not talking exclusively about themselves, but about other
people, things, and events (storyline 6 in the anthology). Occasionally, the
second-person (“you”) point of view will appear in essays, notably in essays 458
involving process analysis where the writer directs the reader to do something.
Other point-of-view combinations are possible when the writer wants to achieve
a special effect – for example, combining first- and second-person points of
view (Fighting Fire with Fire). The position that you take as a writer depends
largely on the type of essay that you write.
Polis. Greek, the city-state, especially the people in the city-state.
Polyphonic. Having multiple voices.
Polyptoton. The repetition of a word or root in different cases or inflections
within the same sentence. See the storyline Go in the anthology.
Polysyndeton. The repeated use of conjunctions within a sentence, particularly
where they do not necessarily have to be used. It can be the sentence which uses
and or another conjunction (with no commas) to separate the items in a series.
Polysyndeton appear in the form of X and Y and Z, stressing equally each
member of a series. It makes the sentence slower and the items more emphatic
than in the asyndeton. All the stories in the anthology enjoy this device.
Portrayal. Describing a person clearly enough for recognition. For example
(from Rhetorica ad Herennium), "'I mean him, men of the jury, the ruddy, short,
bent man, with white and rather curly hair, blue-grey eyes, and a huge scar on
his chin, if perhaps you can recall him to memory.'" See The Painting.
Position. The stance taken by a rhetor that s/he is attempting to prove through
argumentation. 459
Positivism. Term created by Auguste Comte that posits that science, math, or
logic can prove any reasonable claim.
Postmodernism. Related to rhetoric, a field of inquiry concerned with the
ideological underpinnings of commonly held assumptions.
Praedicandi, Ars. Latin, Preaching.
Praegnansconstructio. A form of brachylogy in which two clauses or two
expressions are condensed into one.
Pragmatism. Approach based on practical consideration and immediate
perception to the exclusion of moral (in the sense of 'should') and ethic
arguments. The character of the beggar in The Dream is pragmatic.
Prefix isone or more syllables attached to the front of another word in order to
influence its meaning or create a new word. A knowledge of prefixes and their
meanings aids in establishing the meanings of words and in increasing the
vocabulary that we use in writing. Common prefixes and their meanings include
bi- (two), ex- (out, out of), per- (through), pre- (before), re- (again), tele-
(distant), trans- (across, beyond).
Presence. In Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, choosing to emphasize certain
facts and ideas instead of others, leading the audience along that path.
Presumption. An idea is reasonable or acceptable only until it is sufficiently
challenged. 460
Process analysis is a pattern of writing that explains in a step by step way the
methods for doing something or reaching a desired end.
Prolepsis. A literary device in which a future state is spoken of in the present;
for example, a condemned man may be called a "dead man walking".
Proof surrogate. An expression used to suggest that there is evidence or
authority for a claim without actually citing such evidence or authority. This is
evident in sections of The Dream.
Propositionisthe main point in an argumentative essay. It is like a thesis, except
that it usually presents an idea that is debatable or can be disputed. This device
is apparent in The Dream.
Prosopopoeia Speaking as another person or object; in a sense, the inverse of
apostrophe.
Pronuntiato. Latin: The delivery of an oration or an argument in a manner
befitting the subject matter and style, while maintaining control of voice and
body.
Protagonist. The main character of a literary work.
Protreptic. Greek, the potential to persuade through language; a device which is
highly visible in The Dream.
Prudence. Judging practically.
Psogos. Greek for blame; a device which is highly visible in Nature Plays A
Role. 461
Psychagogos. Greek for a poet.
Psyche. Greek for the mind or soul.
Public Sphere. Place where individuals can engage in discussion without the
political or state interests interfering.
Purpose. What are we trying to do with our uses of language?Purpose refers to
what a writer hopes to accomplish in a piece of writing. For example, the
purpose may be to convince the reader to adopt a certain viewpoint (Go, The
Dream), to explain a process (Fighting Fire with Fire,Unseen) or to allow the
reader to feel a dominant impression (International Conference, A True Story,
An Almost-True Story). Purpose helps a writer to determine which expository
technique will dominate the essay’s form, as well as what kinds of supporting
examples will be used. Purpose and audience are often closely related.
Q
Quadrivium. The major subjects taught in medieval times: geometry, arithmetic,
astronomy, and music.
Quaestiones. Debatable points around which disputes are centered.The Dream
is rife with this device.
R
Reasoning by Contraries. Where the first statement of two opposite statements
directly proves the second. For example (from Rhetorica ad Herennium), "'Or 462
how should you expect a person whose arrogance has been insufferable in
private life, to be agreeable and not forget himself when in power...?'"
Rebuttal. Stephen Toulmin's term, conditions on the acceptability of a claim.
Refutation isa technique in argumentative writing where you recognize and deal
effectively with the arguments of your opponents. Your own argument will be
stronger if you can refute – prove false or wrong- all opposing arguments. Some
of this is evident in An Almost-True Story and in The Dream.
Red herring. When a writer raises an irrelevant issue to draw attention away
from the real issue. See Once Upon a Time.
Reductio ad absurdum. This is the Latin for “to reduce to the absurd.” This is a
technique useful in creating a comic effect and it is also an argumentative
technique. It is considered a rhetorical fallacy because it reduces an argument to
an either/or choice.
Regionalism is an element in literature that conveys a realistic portrayal of a
specific geographical locale, using the locale and its influences as a major part
of the plot. See International Conference.
Repetition is a word or phrase used two or more times in close proximity.
Res. Latin: An argument's substance.
Rhetor. A person who is in the course of presenting or preparing rhetorical
discourse.
Rhetores. (Greek) Those who make a living by speaking persuasively. 463
Rhetoric. The study and practice of good effective expression. Also a type of
discourse- focusing on goals of the speech or piece of writing that attempts to
sway the mind of the audience. Not only is it the art of effective
communication, especially persuasive discourse; rhetoric focuses in the
interrelationship of invention, arrangement and style in order to create felicitous
and appropriate discourse.
Rhetoric of Fiction. Wayne Booth's idea "the author's judgment is always
present" in a narrative.
Rhetorical Audience. Those who can be persuaded by rhetoric.
Rhetorical discourse. Discourse created within the boundary of the principles of
rhetoric.
Rhetorical opposition. Protagoras's idea that there are two sides to everything.
Rhetorical modes: exposition, description, narration, argumentation.
Rhetorical question: one that does not expect an explicit answer. It is used to
pose an idea to be considered by the speaker or audience. Also known as
erotema, this devoice is evident in almost all the stories in the anthology.
Rhetorical Situation. A term made popular by Lloyd Bitzer; describes the
scenario that contains a speech act, including the considerations (purpose,
audience, author/speaker, constraints to name a few) that play a role in how the
act is produced and perceived by its audience. The counterargument regarding
Bitzer's situation-rhetoric relationship was made by Richard E. Vatz in "The
Myth of the Rhetorical Situation" and “The Mythical Status of Situational 464
Rhetoric” in The Review of Communication, 2009. He argued for a salience-
meaning (or now, agenda-framing-spin) model of persuasion, which
emphasized rhetoric as a creative act with increased agent or persuader
responsibility for the situation his or her rhetoric, creates. He maintained this
added to the importance of rhetorical study and that Bitzer's formulation was
"anti-rhetorical."
Rhetorical Theory. The organized presentation of the art of rhetoric,
descriptions of the various functions of rhetoric, and clarifications of how
rhetoric achieves its goals.
Root isthe basic part of a word. It sometimes aids us in knowing what the larger
word means. Thus if we know that the word doc- means ‘teach’ we might be
able to figure out a word like “doctrine”. Prefixes and suffixes are attached to
roots to create words.
S
Salience/Agenda; Meaning/Spin. The basic components of all rhetorical
struggles.
Salon. Intellectual assembly in an aristocratic setting; primarily associated with
France in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Salutatio. (Latin) A written greeting.
Sannio. (Latin) the fool. The role to avoid when using humor in a speech. 465
Sarcasm. Harsh, caustic personal remarks to or about someone; less subtle than
irony. It is a sneering or taunting attitude in writing. It is designed to hurt by
ridiculing or criticizing. Basically sarcasm is a heavy-handed form of irony, as
when an individual says, “Well you’re exactly on time aren’t you?” to someone
who is an hour late, and says it with a sharpness in the voice, designed to hurt.
Writers should try to avoid sarcastic writing and to use more acceptable
varieties of irony and satire to criticize their subject.Once Upon a Time, Nature
Plays a Role and International Conference all have instances of sarcasm.
Satire is the humorous or critical treatment of a subject in order to expose the
subject’s vices, follies, stupidities, and so forth. It is a work that reveals a
critical attitude toward some element of human behavior by portraying it in an
extreme way. It doesn’t simply abuse (as in invective) or get personal (as in
sarcasm). It targets groups or large concepts rather than individuals. It is a better
weapon than sarcasm in the hands of the writer because satire is used to correct,
whereas sarcasm merely hurts. This device is used in International Conference,
A True Story and the satirical imagery in The Painting.
ScesisOnomaton. (Latin) omit the verb. A style of repeating an idea using words
or phrases similar in meaning in close proximity.
Scholasticism. Rhetorical study of Christianity that was intellectually prominent
in 11th-15th century Western Europe, emphasizing rhetorical concepts by
Aristotle and a search for universal truth. 466
Scientific Method. A system of observing and analyzing data through induction;
prominent school of thought since the 17th century whose proponents are often
critical of rhetoric.
Scientific Reasoning. Moving from axioms to actual conclusions. Also
Syllogistic logic.
Scientism. In Weaver, applying scientific assumptions to subjects that are not
completely natural.
Scientistic. Kenneth Burke. Way of looking at the nature of language as a way
of naming or defining something. ex. 'It is' or 'It is not.'
Second Sophistic. Rhetorical era in Rome that dealt primarily with rhetorical
style through some of the Greek Sophists' concepts, while neglecting its
political and social uses because of censorship.
Semantics. Philosophical study of language that deals with its connection to
perceptions of reality.
Semiotics. Branch of semantics concerning language and communication as a
system of symbols.
Senatus. Latin for Senate. The group of elders who governed Rome.
Sensuscommunis. A society's basic beliefs and values.
Sententia. Applying a general truth to a situation by quoting a maxim or any
otherwise saying as a conclusion or summary of that situation. 467
Sentimentality is the excessive display of emotion in writing, whether it is
intended or unintended. Because sentimentality can distort the true nature of a
situation, writers should use it cautiously, or not at all. They should be
especially careful when dealing with certain subjects, for example the death of a
loved one,the remembrance of a mother or father, a ruined romance, the loss of
something valued, notions that lend themselves to sentimental treatment. Only
the best writers can avoid the sentimental traps rooted in their subjects.
Setting: the time and place of a literary work.
Shui. Formal persuasion in ancient China.
Sign. Term from semiotics that describes something that has meaning through
its connection to something else, like words.
Signifying. Term from semiotics that describes the method through which
meaning is created with arbitrary signs.
Simile. A figure of speech that compares unlike things, implying a resemblance
between them. For example (from Rhetorica ad Herennium), "'He entered the
combat in body like the strongest bull, in impetuosity like the fiercest lion.'" It
is an imaginative comparison using “like” or “as” and it is useful in reinforcing
for example, the dull description of a scene: ‘the sky looked like an artist’s
canvas.’See Unseen, International Conference and The Dream.
Skepticism. Type of thought that questions whether universal truth exists and is
attainable by humans. 468
Slangis a level of language that uses racy and colorful expressions associated
more often with speech than with writing. Slang expressions like “Mike’s such a
dude” or “She’s a real fox” should not be used in essay writing, except when the
writer is reproducing dialogue or striving for a special effect.
Solecismus. Ignorantly misusing tenses, cases, and genders.
Sophists. Considered the first professional teachers of oratory and rhetoric
(ancient Greece 4th century BC).
Soraismus. The ignorant or affected mingling of languages.
Speaker. The voice of a work; an author may speak as himself or herself or as a
fictitious persona
Sprezzatura. The ability to appear that there is seemingly little effort used to
attain success. The art of being able to show that one is able to deceive.
Baldessare Castiglione.
Spin. In Vatz, the act of competing to infuse meaning into agenda items for
chosen audiences.
Starting Points. In Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca, the place between the
speaker and audience where the argument can begin.
Stasis System. System of finding arguments by means of looking at ideas that
are contradictory.
Stereotype. A character who represents a trait that is usually attributed to a
particular social or racial group and who lacks individuality; a conventional 469
patter,expression or idea. Look at the stereotypical caricature of bus drivers in
general in The Painting.
Status quo. Latin: The generally accepted existing condition or state of affairs.
Straw man. An argument that is a logical fallacy based on misrepresentation of
an opponent's position. The writer argues against a claim that nobody actually
holds or is universally considered weak. Setting up a straw man diverts attention
from the real issues.
Studiahumanitas. Latin: Humanistic studies deemed indispensable in
Renaissance-era education; rhetoric, poetics, ethics, politics.
Style. An author’s characteristic manner of expression – his or her diction,
syntax, imagery, structure, and content all contribute to style.
Subjective. (See objective/subjective) it is in fact a personal presentation of
events and characters, influenced by the author’s feelings and opinions.
Suffix is a syllable or syllables appearing at the end of a word and influencing
its meaning. As with prefixes and roots, you can build vocabulary and establish
meanings by knowing about suffixes. Some typical suffixes are –able (capable
of), -al (relating to), -ic (characteristic of), -ion (state of), -er (one who), which
appear often in standard writing.
Syllepsis. A word modifying others in appropriate, though often incongruous
ways. This is a similar concept to zeugma. 470
Syllogism. A type of valid argument that states if the first two claims are true,
then the conclusion is true. (For example: Claim 1: People are mortal. Claim 2:
Bob is a person. Therefore, Claim 3: Bob is mortal.) Started by Aristotle. It is
the format of a formal argument that consists of a major premise, a minor
premise, and a conclusion.
Syllogistic Logic. See Scientific Reasoning.
Symbol. A visual or metaphorical representation of an idea or concept. It is
something that exists in itself but also stands for something else. As a type of
figurative language, the symbol can be a strong feature in an essay, operating to
add depth of meaning, and even to unify entire essays. It is the use of symbols
or anything that is meant to be taken both literally and as representative of a
higher and more complex significance.
Symbolic inducement. Term coined by Kenneth Burke to refer to rhetoric.
Sympheron. (Greek) Path that is to one's advantage.
Symploce. A figure of speech in which several successive clauses have the same
first and last words. See A True Story.
Synchysis. Word order confusion within a sentence.(a common ‘Kenyanism’ is
‘what can I do you for?’)
Syncope. The omission of letters from the middle of a word, usually replaced by
an apostrophe. 471
Synecdoche. A rhetorical device where one part of an object is used to represent
the whole. e.g., "There are fifty head of cattle." (Head is substituting for the
whole animal). "Show a leg!" (naval command to get out of bed = show
yourself). See International Conference where this device has been used at least
twice.
Synonym is a word that means roughly the same as another word. In practice, a
few words are exactly alike in meaning. Careful writers use synonyms to vary
word choice, without ever moving too far from the shade of meaning intended.
Syntactic permutation. Sentence structures that are extraordinarily complex and
involved; they are often difficult for a reader to follow.
Syntax. The grammatical structure of a sentence; the arrangement of words in a
sentence. It includes length of sentence; kinds of sentences: questions,
exclamations, declarative sentences, rhetorical questions, simple, complex, or
compound.
T
Tapinosis. Language or an epithet that is debasing. This term is synonymous
with Meiosis. See The Dream.
Taste. A learned admiration for things of beauty.
Tautologia. The same idea repeated in different words.
Taxis. The distribution of a proper adjunct to every subject.
Techne. Greek for a true art. 472
Terministic screens. Term coined by Kenneth Burke to explain the way in
which the world is viewed when taking languages and words into consideration.
Theme. The basic principle pulled from the Bible in order to create a sermon;
the basic idea or “message” of a literary work. It is also often termed the thesis;
everything in an essay should support the theme.
Thesis. The major claim or premise made in an argument to be proved or dis-
proved. It is the main idea of a piece of writing. It presents the author’s assertion
or claim. The effectiveness of a presentation is often based on how well the
writer presents, develops and supports it. The thesis sentence normally appears
early in an essay, somewhere in the first paragraph, and it serves to convey the
main idea to the reader in a clear way. It is always useful to state your central
idea as soon as possible, and before you introduce other supporting ideas.
Thesmos. Greek. The law that comes from the authority of kings.
Title for an essay should be a short simple indication of the contents of your
essay and it can convey the central subject in a brief and effective way (Go in
the anthology); or the central idea but more abstractly (The Paintingwithin the
anthology).
Tone. The author's voice in an essay through use of figurative language or a
style of enunciation in writing (also known as a diction). The way the author
expresses himself out loud or through a character. It is the writer’s attitude
towards his or her subject or material. A writer’s tone may be objective, ironic
(“Let It Snow”), comic (“Catfish in the Bathtub”), nostalgic (“Open the Doors
of Your Mind with Books”), or a reflection of numerous other attitudes. Every 473
writer should strive to give a “personal voice” or tone that will be distinctive
throughout any type of essay under development. Tone is the characteristic
emotion or attitude of an author toward the characters, subject and audience
(anger, sarcasm, loving, didactic, emotional, etc).
Topical systems. Methods for finding arguments.
topographia. The description of a place. Amply employed in International
Conference.
topothesia. The description of an imaginary or non-existent place.
Topos. A line or specific style of argument.
Toulmin Model. A method of diagraming arguments created by Stephen
Toulmin that identifies such components as backing, claim, data, qualifier,
rebuttal, and warrant.
Transgression. Reading a text and looking for the deeper meanings instead of
the obvious ones. This device has been utilized in sections of International
Conference.
Transition is the linking of one idea to the next in order to achieve essay
coherence. Transitions are words that connect these ideas. Among the most
common techniques to achieve smooth transition are: (1) repeating a key word
or phrase; (2) using a pronoun to refer back to a key word or phrase; (3) relying
on traditional connectives like ‘thus,’ ‘for example,’ ‘moreover,’ ‘therefore,’
‘however,’ ‘finally,’ ‘likewise,’ ‘afterward,’ and ‘in conclusion’;(4) using
parallel structure; and (5) creating a sentence or an entire paragraph that serves 474
as a bridge from one part of the essay to the next. Transition is best achieved
when the writer presents ideas and details carefully and in logical order. A word
or even a phrase that links one idea to the next and carries the reader from
sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, that is transition.
Translative issue. Dealing with procedure of an ensuing case.
Tricolon. The pattern of three phrases in parallel, found commonly in Western
writing after Cicero. For example, the kitten had white fur, blue eyes, and a pink
tongue.It is a sentence consisting of three parts of equal importance and length,
usually three independent clauses.
Trivium. (Latin) Grammar, rhetoric, and logic taught in schools during the
medieval period.
Tropes. Figure of speech that uses a word aside from its literal meaning. See
Once Upon a Time where Mirabelle ‘chirps’ in an effort to be pleasant and
Nature Plays a Role where ‘she pawed the money’ is a trope depicting avarice.
U
Understatement. A form of irony, also called litotes, in which something is
represented as less than it really is, with the intent of drawing attention to and
emphasizing the opposite meaning. It is the opposite of exaggeration. It is a
technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than
intended.
Unity is the quality of a piece of writing (not dissimilar to coherence). It is that
feature in an essay where all material relates to a central concept and contributes 475
to the meaning of the whole. To achieve a unified effect in an essay, the writer
must design an introduction and conclusion, maintain a consistent tone and
point of view develop middle paragraphs in a coherent manner, and always stick
to the subject, never permitting unimportant elements to enter. Thus unity
involves a successful blending of all the elements that go into the creation of a
sound essay.
Universal audience. An audience consisting of all humankind (most specifically
of adult age and normal mental capacity). The entire anthology is intended for a
universal audience.
UomoUniversale. The universal man.
Utterance. Statement that could contain meaning about one's own person.
V
Validity. Apprehension over the structure of an argument.
Validity Claim. Claiming to have made a correct statement.
Verba. Latin: The part of an argument that advances the subject matter.
Visual rhetoric. A theoretical framework describing how visual images
communicate, as opposed to aural or verbal messages.
Vir bonus bene dicendi. Latin: The good man speaking well.
Vita activa. A life lived in active involvement in the political arena. 476
Voice refers to two areas of writing. One refers to the relationship between a
sentence’s subject and verb (active and passive voice). The second refers to the
total “sound” of a writer’s style.
Vulgarisms are words that exist below conventional vocabulary, and are not
accepted in polite conversation. Vulgarisms are always to be avoided in writing,
unless they serve an illustrative purpose.
W
Warrant. Term used by Stephen Toulmin to establish a link between data and a
claim.
Ways and Means. One of the five main matters that Aristotle claims political
speakers make speeches on. It consists of the speaker's country's revenue and
sources, as well as the expenditures of the country.
Z
Zeugma. From the Greek word "ζεύγμα", meaning "yoke". A figure of speech in
which one word applies to two others in different senses of that word, and in
some cases only logically applies to one of the other two words. This is a
similar concept to syllepsis.
477
APPENDIX 5. Figures: photographs. Story 1. Fig.1: Traffic scene; Fig.2: Car accident scene.
Story 2. Fig.3: Greg in front of the fireplace; Fig.4: Greg asleep in armchair.
Story 3. Fig.5: Scheming Mildred; Fig.6: Mildred in semi-darkness.
Story 4. Fig.7: Cartoon of three friends; Fig.8: What could have been but wasn’t.
Story 5. Fig.9: King above and Doggy below; Fig.10: The two as puppies.
Story 6. Fig.11: Grumpy George; Fig.12: Stickman caricature of George.
Story 7. Fig.13: Chief protagonist; Fig.14: At peace.
Story 8. Fig.15: The victim; Fig.16: The victim appeased.
Story 9. Fig.17: Sada at work; Fig.18: Contemplative Sada at day’s end.
Story 10.Fig.19: Hope the beggar; Fig.20: During better days…
Poem: Fig. 21: Inside of mainsail nature composition; Fig.22: a trail in the woods
478
APPENDIX 6. Tables. Table 1: Synopsis of storyline 1
Table 2: Synopsis of storyline 2
Table 3: Synopsis of storyline 3
Table 4: Synopsis of storyline 4
Table 5: Synopsis of storyline 5
Table 6: Synopsis of storyline 6
Table 7: Synopsis of storyline 7
Table 8: Synopsis of storyline 8
Table 9: Synopsis of storyline 9
Table 10: Synopsis of storyline 10
479
APPENDIX 7. Charts. Chart 1: Interrogation about gender and age
Chart 2: interrogation about level of literacy in English
Chart 3: interrogation about profession
Chart 4: interrogation about economic disposition
Chart 5: a logical interrogation about the appropriateness of the title to the story
Chart 6: An ethical interrogation about the story’s effect upon the reader
Chart 7: ethical and emotive interrogation as it involves both the writer’s perceived intentions and the influence of these intentions on the reader
Chart 8: Logical and emotive interrogation since it demands judgement of the writer after being influenced by both the rhetorical devices in use and by the logical of the storyline
Chart 9: Emotive interrogation as it attempts to elicit the element of surprise
Chart 10: Ethical and logical interrogation about both the narrative voice and its audience
480
APPENDIX 8. The pilot study The pilot study that preceded the main research study relied on six units stratified only as male and female. A short story in motion was utilized where sixty rhetorical tools and devices were employed to bring about persuasion. Aristotle’s three narrative appeals were displayed in almost equal measure: ‘ethos’ which calls attention to the writer’s personality; ‘logos’ which underlines reason; ‘pathos’ which is basically emotive appeal. Questions used in this pilot study were retained with minimal improvisation, like the additions of questions 7, 8, 9, and 10 in Part 2 for more refined elicitation. The outcome of the pilot study tended to favor logical appeal rather more than the other two appeals , where it undoubtedly dominates the ‘peroratio’ or conclusion of the story; and where the readership’s emotive response particularly in
Part 2 leaned rather sharply towards logical considerations. Additionally, the storyline for the pilot study was different from the one for the main research study.
The following story was used in the pilot project. It was given without any summary about what to expect and without any annotation whatsoever; in order to avoid prejudice. The time-frame for reading it was one week. Six participants took part in the exercise. Here, the story is given followed by annotations so that one can see how the control group was inadvertently influenced by the rhetorical devices in place. However what is notable is that these annotations were not in place when the participants read the story and neither was there any underlined text to draw their attention or influence their thinking. There was no preamble as a brief introduction to the text nor was there any discussion of the rhetorical strategies that were utilized to effect a reaction.
Additionally there was no pictorial support. The story was simply read as a creative narrative piece. Here however, the researcher wishes to present it with the necessary bells and whistles especially since it is also extracted from the original anthology. 481
Storyline
Of Bus Rides and Bottles of Water
This was a long-distance bus; so it was spacious and new and luxurious1. The tendency was to copy the airline industry and divide the bus into sections. So the front of the bus was the VIP section. The one row behind them was first class and the rest of the chairs behind were economy class. An extra VIP chair was awkwardly across the aisle within the first class section – and for this particular journey it was unoccupied!2 It went unoccupied for half an hour, one hour, one and a half hours, two hours3….and you watched it from a rear seat in the economy class….
Ever since the bus began its journey in fact you had been watching that seat. You had been wondering why anyone would pay more money just to be in the same bus with other people, going in the same direction, covering the same distance, and even listening to the same music – breathing the same4 air!...Why was it that some people always wanted to be seen as different from others?5 You just couldn’t understand their reasoning, you just couldn’t6…. And now, one and a half hours – no two hours – later, you decided …..7
The turn-boy arrived at the rear of the bus, amicably and dutifully handing out bottles of mineral water for the travelers to enjoy courtesy of the bus management, as the vehicle proceeded towards the warmer coastal towns. Then he turned to go back to the front of the bus and didn’t appear to have noticed the unoccupied VIP seat, as he perfunctorily dropped down8onto the step near the door and opposite the driver, to continue from where he’d left off in some kind of inane conversation…. 482
You decided that you could also enjoy some ‘special’ treatment on this bus. You’d boldly walk up to that VIP seat and defiantly occupy it whether anyone else liked it or not!9So you took control10and you did just that!
First it was the smell, a smell11 of burning firewood12; gross13; then it was some kind of claw14 that caught my hair as you clutched at the headrest of my first-class seat.
Ouch!15 Since I had been dozing off, lulled by the rhythm of the bus and the bass guitar from the sounds of piped music, that claw in my hair did not augur well for you. I turned in surprised anger to question the source of my discomfort16, only to see a middle-aged man in a mouse-coloured suit apologetically crumple17into the VIP seat across the aisle from me, looking as if he was gasping from the effort of having walked all the way from the back of the bus to accomplish this feat: to sit in this chair, this18one here….then you looked at me sheepishly19.
Of course in that instant your age confused my thinking processes since I knew at once that you were rather older than me; that20your background and mine were literally worlds apart – and I was right! No sooner had you plonked21yourself down than your little ancient mobile phone made a loud rasping, illiterate22noise by way of ringing.
Your book-like English23, spoken loud enough to inform the entire bus since your correspondent was calling from very far away24, informed everyone whether they cared to hear it or not, that you were a struggling teacher25in a primary school upcountry and on your way to a big meeting in the coastal region. The confusion in my mind then was due to my upbringing: traditionally the younger of two people is supposed to show respect to the older one – unconditionally; and especially when she’s a woman, which happens to be my gender of birth and choice. So I couldn’t give you a piece of my mind26, which is the way my education had taught me, was by virtue my God-given 483 right. All I could do was glower at you and keep my mouth tightly closed in an effort to allow my traditional upbringing to hold sway27.
Let me reiterate: the look I gave you was one of anger for clawing28my hair! But you on the other hand must have misunderstood it for something else. After your phone conversation you started to fidget; you shifted to the right of the large seat, then to the left, then29 back to the middle again, just like a goose30 landing on a pond and ruffling its feathers to settle down. Each time you shifted slightly, you threw me a side glance while I for my part, pretended to be asleep while I peered at you from beneath my false long dark eyelashes…..trying to simmer down.
Then you did the most annoying thing of all – you leaned towards me and woke me up!Woke me up!!31 You said something incoherent and mumbled apologetically about a bottle…that bottle ….bottle32of water …the one in your bag…
MY bag?! Were you really asking me for the bottle of water in my bag? A bottle that no-one could see by the way since I had stashed it right inside! My bottle!33
(courtesy of the bus company). You had simply assumed that the bottle handed to me by the conductor was stashed away somewhere in my bag – how dare you ask me for my bottle of water how dare you!34 The angst I felt rose up my neck to the bottom of my jaw. I didn’t realize it then but this was actually a face-off between middle-aged, traditional, poverty-stricken semi-idiocy and not-so-young, well-educated, financially- stable, narcissistic bigotry35: two complete and absolute opposites.
“There are more bottles of mineral water over there…extra ones…next to the conductor; just go and ask him, he won’t refuse” – my voice was forcibly condescending. “No. I want your water….” you stupidly36 managed to stutter “the one in your bag…mine is too far away…I mean, I’ll give you mine later on to refund 484 you…but for now…can you give me your bottle of water to drink? (no please, almost like a command) Some seconds passed in utter silence.37It was a “silenced transmission of pressurized good breeding” (Wole Soyinka: Telephone Conversation38). When my voice did come, it was certainly “lip-stick-coated, long gold-rolled cigarette-holder pipped” (same poet, same poem; verbatim). “Okay, here.”39
For the first time in my life, I found myself giving without wanting to, offering without40 mirth; it was all I could do not to throw it at your desperate insistent face!
Why did you ask me for a bottle of water? Was it because you knew that I’d been given a free one like you and everyone else? Did that give you a right to ask it of me?41 Even when it was well-hidden in my bag? How dare you? How dare you42 bring out the worst in me? In me43, a person who is normally generous at heart. You make me feel awful. I loathe the fact that the mere request for a bottle of water to drink can make me so angry to have to give it to you. You44 give me no choice. You scorn my advice. You make me feel bad. You make me feel45 like standing up and doing something very crude to shock you into consternation…; why did you have to do this to me?46 Or was it your need to feel equal to me that gave you the impetus to dare to ask me what you knew we both had – what we all had – as if you had every right to it anyway47 as a traditional older man; one who was not supposed to be turned down48 by a younger woman – whether or not she was ‘educated’.49Surely not.50
I seethed. Seethed51. You gobbled52the contents noisily, seemingly unaware of the selfish turmoil in my mind; selfish because as the object of my displeasure53 you proceeded to add insult to injury54by deferring to me pretentiously; the pretension rearing up its ugly head55 because you gave me no choice and you knew it. You horrible individual.56 Luckily for you, my good upbringing wouldn’t allow me to stand 485 up and choke you as you gobbled up what should have been my bottle of water to drink on the journey.57
The bus came to a halt. Everyone descended for a twenty-minute break for food and refreshments. I assuaged my mixed feelings with some vanilla ice-cream (comfort food) and went back to the bus with a chilled bottle of peach-and-pear fruit mix; absolutely delicious. Then you lumbered58up to my chair with a warm bottle of mineral water clutched in your big claws and half-heartedly offered it to me as a form of refund, careful this time not to get too near my head.
I declined.
And you….you59 promptly pulled off the cap, stuck the bottle up between your big, thick, lips and proceeded to empty the contents; as if my refusal was precisely what you had expected and rightly so.
I fell into a deep unnatural sleep – and suffered an inexplicable nightmare under all that piped music.60 A ‘wanna-be’ VIP and a first-class passenger, both on the same journey, so alike and yet so different; each reminiscent of the paradox of egocentrism – and lack of it. 486
Annotation.
1. Polysyndeton
2. Foreshadowing
3. Asyndeton
4. Parallelism in asyndeton
5. Erotema
6. Epanalepsis
7. Aposiopesis
8. Alliteration
9. Interior monologue
10. Ethopoeia
11. Anadiplosis
12. Concrete language; allegorical to a charcoal burner’s life of poverty
13. Colloquialism
14. Symbolic imagery
15. Ecphonesis
16. Euphemism for culprit
17. Hyperbole
18. Anaphora
19. Epithet denoting guilt or inferiority
20. Epanaphora
21. Onomatopoeic hyperbole
22. Epithet denoting extreme annoyance; bdeligmia
23. Satire 487
24. Sarcasm
25. Facetiae
26. Analogy referring to a telling off
27. Satire
28. Onomatopoeia
29. Anaphora
30. Simile
31. Epistrophe
32. Paramoiosis
33. Ecphonesis
34. Epanalepsis
35. Cacophonic personification
36. Meiosis; tapinosis
37. Brachylogia
38. Apostrophe
39. Caustic brevitas
40. Paramoiosis
41. Causal analysis
42. Anaphora
43. Anadiplosis
44. Anadiplosis again
45. Isocolon with epanaphora
46. Erotema
47. Logical fallacy
48. Phallogocentric irony 488
49. Process analysis, a refutation; non sequitur
50. Hypophora
51. Epistrophe
52. Onomatopoeia
53. Metaphorical innuendo
54. Euphemism for making things worse than they already are
55. Personification
56. Brevitas ad hominem
57. Irony
58. Onomatopoeia
59. Aposiopesis
60. Non sequitur
The above annotation depicting the rhetorical tools and devices utilized was not available to the participants and is only included here to show the possibilities of exactly how the reader was persuaded by the writer.
489
PILOT STUDY QUESTIONS
The questions are noted here verbatim. The researcher was committed to keeping them brief and to the point:
The following questions are based on how you reacted to the story that you have just read. They will be used as data in an analytical matrix. Please answer to the best of your ability and do not write down your name.
GENERAL INFORMATION.
1.) How old are you? ______What gender are you? ______
2.) What is your level of literacy in English? I have finished: o-level / a-level /
diploma level / degree level / masters level / Ph.d level.
______
3.) What do you do professionally? I am a : student / academic / retired / other.
______
4.) Socially how do you describe yourself as? I am : low-income / middle-income /
well off / non-committal. ______
INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR REACTION TO THE STORY.
1.) How appropriate was the title of the story to it? It was: very appropriate /
inappropriate / no connection. (please underline just one answer)
2.) How has the story affected you now that you’ve read it? I am : happy / sad /
shocked / surprised / indifferent / disgusted / none of the above (please
underline just one answer) 490
3.) How was the language used by the writer? It was : strong / vague / threatening /
don’t know (please underline just one answer)
4.) What would you say about a writer who can write a story like that? S/he is :
selfish / honest / guilty / temperamental / all of the above / none of the above
(please underline just one answer)
5.) Was there an element of surprise in the story? Yes, here and there / no,
nowhere. (please underline just one answer)
6.) Use one word to describe the story: incredible / believable / interesting /
uneventful / boring (please underline just one answer)
THANK YOU VERY MUCH INDEED FOR YOUR INPUT AND YOUR VALUABLE
TIME. SMW.
491
APPENDIX 9. Questions used in the main study BACKGROUND INFORMATION
1. I am: 15 – 25 26 – 35 36 – 45 46 – 55 56 – 65 older
2. Nationality ______;gender : ______
3. My level of literacy in the English language is
: as a second language speaker ; as a native speaker .
4. I am a student / academic / retired person / other
5. I would describe my financial status as: low income / middle income
; high income ; non-committal
INFORMATION ABOUT REACTION TO THE STORY
1. How appropriate was the title to the story? Most appropriate
inappropriate no connection whatsoever
2. How did you feel as you read the story? Amused Entertained
Disturbed All of the above None of the above
3. In your opinion, how was the language of the writer of the story?
Strong Vague Ominous Sarcastic Indistinct
4. How would you describe the writer? Selfish Honest
Judgmental Sentimental All of the above
5. Was there an element of surprise in the story? Yes No
6. Describe this story in one word: Incredible Believable
Interesting Laborious
7. What motivated you to read the story from the beginning to the end? A sense of
pity Comic relief Curiosity A sense of distaste 492
8. In other words, my motivation whilst reading the story was:
- It made me emotional
- It caused me to question the author’s intentions
- It progressed logically from start to finish
9. The overriding perception I have of this story is the following:
- A level of sentimentality is a crucial proponent to appreciation of a short
story
- The author is a fiendishly vengeful individual
- Argumentation can either lead to a logical conclusion or to a logical anti-
climax
10. How did you feel by the end of the story? A sense of : Fulfillment
Resentment Profound respect unresolved anger Downright
consternation
493
APPENDIX 10. Respondents: Acknowledged with thanks and immense gratitude:
Mr. Abbas M.; late Prof. Richard Z.; Dr. Susan M.; Miss Margaret W.; Mr. Willis C.;
Ms. Doris M.; Mr. Dave S.
Mr. Phillip Z.; Dr. Sassy M.; Mr. Alun M.; Mrs. Nancy K; Mr. Andreas K; Mrs. Wendy
C.
Miss Dorah NK; Miss Brenda GO; Miss Diana BO; Mr. Douglas NM; Mr. Zachary JO;
Mr. Jairus K