Morgan Clyburn 

Major Assignment #1 – Rough Draft Revision #1

There are many components that contribute to successful writing. Hopefully by the end of reading this, you’ll understand what genre, audience, and the rhetorical situation are, and how Bitzers The Rhetorical Situation, Anzaldua’s How to Tame A Wild Tongue, and Collins Commencement Address at Choate-Rosemary Hall represent all of these key terms of writing. Genre first and foremost is such an important aspect of writing, considering all writing pieces fall under a certain genre. Also, when you’re looking for a specific piece of writing, searching by genre is a safe way to start so you know you’re looking in all the right places. According to Merriam-Webster.com, the definition of genre is as follows; “a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content”. So basically, genre is the category of whatever it is you’re looking for. 

Along with genre, the audience you’re trying to appeal to is extremely important. It’s important for how you deliver your writing. It’s important for what intellectual level you’re presenting it at. Who your audience is will really influence how you compose. Now, the rhetorical situation is a huge piece of writing. It is the main course. The rhetorical situation is the circumstance of an event that consists of an issue, audience, and a set of constraints, according to wikipedia.org. Rhetorical situation is really what you are writing for. It’s what has provoked you.

 All three of these are extremely important for your writing and go hand in hand throughout your piece. Your rhetorical situation will most likely place your writing in a certain genre, and your genre will most like attract a certain audience. The genre is what I first look for when I’m picking out a book, and a book that has an intriguing rhetorical situation is what draws me in. 

In Anzaldua’s How to Tame a Wild Tongue, her essay was extremely personal and she established the genre very clearly. This was informative at the least. Anzaldua made it extremely clear who her audience is as well, and that it wasn’t just one audience she was appealing to. She was addressing people who, like her, speak a language that is different than majority of the population where they currently reside. She reached them personally and expressed the emotions that come with being shamed for something she held so close to her heart, and I’m sure the audience reading this who has ever been alienated for not being part of the majority could relate. The way she spoke so passionately definitely drew me to become more interested in her writing. I wanted to read more, I could relate to the feeling of isolation. She was also speaking to those who have been at the other end of the spectrum, those who have given the shaming to others, the “bullies” if you will. Anzaldua was opening up the emotions on the other side from those who have shamed people for not speaking English in America. Those who have shamed young, single mother’s for having a child before they “are ready”. Those who have spoken into racist and prejudice comments. She was also speaking to people of power. Showing these people why a change needs to be made, and who the change needs to happen to/for. The way she handled the rhetorical situation was bold. She jumped right into it, made it extremely clear that her language was being suppressed and there needed to be change. I respect how she made it so clear what the rhetorical situation was and what call of action she wanted. 

Reading Collins Slowing Down, it was very apparent what his genre was, I mean, it says it in the title. It is a commencement speech. He is speaking directly to an audience filled with graduates ready to move to the next chapter in their lives. But not only that, he is also speaking to their parents, teachers, siblings, friends, extended family, realistically he is speaking to anyone who is sitting there in the auditorium. His writing is applicable to everyone I listed above, or anyone reading the speech like I did as a third party. Of course, majority of his writing is geared towards the students graduating, but a lot of what he says can be absorbed by others as well. He addresses the rhetorical situation very well, throughout the whole speech in fact. Collins definitely reaches the audience easily, his words are so smooth – you can tell he’s a professor. Like Anzaldua’s writing, Collins seems personal too. He seems like he is genuine about what he is saying to the students and the advice he is giving and I think this would be received well by his audience. I really liked how he was straight forward in the beginning, he stated “I am not going to give you advice that I have not followed myself I am not going to tell you anything I am not really sure of, which means, I’m afraid, I’m not going to tell you much.” I know my 18-year-old self would have been drawn in just by hearing that line. He was really relating to his main audience, the graduates.

In Bitzer’s The Rhetorical Situation, he is quite literally informing and providing explanation as to why we have and need a rhetorical situation. He is stating that Rhetorical situation invites response and conversation. He gives great examples of this, one being the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Regarding the assassination, Bitzer stated that “The responses — news reports, explanations, eulogies — participated with the situation and positively modified the several exigences”. The news reports, explanations, and eulogies were a response of the rhetorical situation, which would be the actual assassination. Bitzer states how there was an urgent response to the public addressing the tragedy. There were news reports going out and eulogies being provided. I think Bitzer’s audience here would be students learning about rhetoric, or anyone who is trying to further understand a unique perspective on rhetoric. He is teaching and informing, which is why I believe he is speaking to students. Bitzer goes into depth of what he believes calls for rhetorical situation, and what it actually is.

All three of these pieces bring up a wealth of information and definitely unique perspectives on writing. They are all three different pieces, from different people, for different audiences. The way Collins addresses his audience and appeals to him is so suave and appealing, its hard to not listen to him or really be drawn into his speech. How he spoke in his commencement speech was perfect for his audience – which mind you, was extremely broad. Bitzer brought a wealth of information through his article, and he used many real-world experiences that made his rhetorical situation very apparent, as did Anzaldua. Both Bitzer and Anzaldua were very clear about what they were writing for and the issue at hand. Anzaldua was very emotional about it, and I think Anzaldua and Collins have that in common. They both were very genuine about their writing and also factual. All three made their genres very clear, I think that isn’t difficult to do. Texts like these are important and vital to the writing process. Out of the three, I related and comprehended Anzaldua’s very easily in comparison to the other two. It’s important that we have these different perspectives and different ways to define genre, rhetorical situation, and audience.