Rhetorical Analysis

Daniel Hernandez

Tim Dalton

FIQWS AR2

12/15/18

Rhetorical Analysis

Over the course of this class we have been asked to write a rhetorical analysis multiple texts we have read. If you do not know what a rhetorical analysis is let me give you a brief overview of what it is and why we do them. A rhetorical analysis is an in depth analysis of a text, in doing a rhetorical analysis one is attempting to identify the particular elements an author might be using to try and persuade the reader of whatever they are trying to propose. One way to do this is to identify three elements which include: the message, the audience, and the writer/speaker. The purpose of identifying these three elements is to try and find a connection between them. The most simple way of explaining is, who is the writer/speaker and what is the message he/she is trying to connote to their audience, who is their audience?

As I mentioned earlier, each person analyzed multiple texts, these texts included two blogs relating to house tours, one we did in class together and another tour of our choice along with a short story called “Iggy Peck: Architect.” Though the texts may differ and seem to have nothing to do with each other they are closely related to the material discussed all throughout the course. For much of the course we read and held discussion for texts such as, “Thermal Delights”, “McMansion 101”, “Beloved Enemy: A Crippled In A Crippled City,” and many others which all had to do with the idea of spaces, our built environments and what we develop from experiencing these things. Thus, analyzing “Iggy Peck: Architect” and two house tours related greatly with our overall course focus because they have to do with spaces and architecture. One important tool we used to dig out all the specs of each reading was doing a rhetorical analysis.

The text I chose to analyze was a blog about the living style of a NYC resident and how she enjoys to decorate her home in a specific way, it is called, “A 350-Square-Foot NYC Studio Feels Much Bigger Than It Is.” The first step towards rhetorically analyzing this review was to find the writer/speaker, in this particular text the writer’s name is Angie Teater and she likes to travel. Second was reading her take on how she likes to decorate her living area, in doing so I was able to find the message; you can do a lot with a small space to make it feel like home and a much bigger space than it really is. The way I was able to derive this message was through the different details the writer decided to include in her review. Her style is “Sophisticated Vintage Travel,” and says she accomplishes this style by collecting little pieces of reminders when she goes about traveling, not too many reminders just the right amount of vintage travel. You can tell she is very happy about the outcome of her apartment because of the descriptive style she uses when she talks about her furniture and aesthetic pieces that make up her home. Now that we know what she is talking about we are able to picture to what type of audience this text is intended for, I can conclude this review is for anyone who livings in a small space and is looking to make it feel bigger and feel more like home by filling it with touches of their hobbies and likings. Doing this rhetorical analysis has allowed me to go in depth with the the writer’s language and sentences in order to develop the message.

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The writer of the short children’s book “Iggy Peck” is very good with his words. He/she is simple but interesting with his/her choice of words and syntax that come together to form very subtle rhymes. For a child this is great to hear, it keeps them interested and focused on the book waiting for the next set of rhymes to come up. This read aloud version is especially great because the narrator reads the book in a happy attitude, while listening to the narrator this happy attitude helped me stay interested and awake. 

The audience for this type of book are all types of young readers possibly interested in architecture. We know this because the choice of words and cute rhymes are similar to the children’s books I used to read when I was younger. The illustrations are very well done and are also similar to many of the children’s books out there. There is a belief presented here that possibly has to do with chasing your dreams and not having anyone deny it from you. This is important because Iggy Peck in the story is a student in a typical classroom just like the many readers of this book, after reading the story many readers might feel the importance of pursuing their dreams no matter how bizarre. I think this is an important message to spread to children because currently we live in a world where all students are taught the same, this story shows a scenario in how changing the way we teach our students may have an impact on their future.

Doing rhetorical analysis of texts is not something that should be overlooked. For someone who is not strong when it comes to literary comprehension and writing, rhetorical analyzing a text is a very useful tool because it not only allows me to actually understand the text, it also helps me do so without having to re-read in order to understand. In doing a rhetorical analysis one is able to uncover elements of a texts not always easy to recognize such as the greater message behind the puzzle of words and the audience intended for this text. If you understand who the audience is supposed to be then you can put yourself in their position to try and interpret the text a different way. Though I have so far only done rhetorical analysis for this course I know it is a useful tool that I will be using in the future for much more complex readings than “Iggy Peck: Architect” and a couple of house tours.