Rhetorical Analysis of Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” Essay

Directions analyse Civil Disobedience. As you read, underline examples of Thoreau using rhetorical devices and identify and let off the devices via annotation. Answer questions 1-4 to prepare for further contrive with a sm any sort. The group will range together on questions 5 through 8. Be ready to explain your answers to the whole class. Even when youre working as a group you should be writing the answers.1. Based on your rendering of Civil Disobedience, what kind of person does Henry David Thoreau seem to be? How would you qualify his state of mind and emotion as he composed this strain? Cite specific examples from the textbook to comple ment your claims ab protrude Thoreaus portion and persona.Voice = textual features such as diction and syntax, that contri juste to a generators persona Syntax and tone are formal, academic, eloquent. Sentences head for the hills to be longer, complex sentences punctuated with frequent commas and semicolons (to indicate pauses) which lends the pacing of a speech, virtu solelyy as if even though were reading a scripted watchword, its Thoreau himself speaking to us, lecturing even. Also, parallelism (more precisely in the quest example, anaphora) Yet this government never of itself fur in that respectd any enterprise, but by the brightness with which it got out of its charge. It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The character inherent in the Ameri discharge people has done all that has been accomplished. (paragraph 2) (The last It does not with the TheAmeri lav people has done is antithesis) Diction is academic and intelligent, supporting the same tone mentioned above (alacrity is a lesser-known word for speed).Repeated use of the machine metaphor when referring to the government and politicians/lawyers who work for it. Sets up an Us (free-minded, free-thinking citizens who rebel against slavery) versus Them (the government machine and those who would support i t, as well as those who talk but dont act against it). He uses We a lot, further emphasizing this division against government, but also the unity of people who agree with his points, a were in this together kind of thing.Repeated use of words associated with honorable, positive gentleman qualities as well as those associated with evil and guilt tradition justicevitalityforce versus complicated machinery (paragraph 2) a corporation has no conscienceagents of injusticedamnable businessat the service of some(prenominal) unprincipled man in power (paragraph 4) Persona the character that a source/speaker conveys to the listening Anti-authority (at least rebellious against corrupted power). Anti-government. In estimate of the rights of all free-thinking people. A bit of a maverick. hot under the collar(predicate) and in some cases, bitter at the government for injustice. Critical and handle of people who claim they disagree with slavery but do cipher almost it.2. What does Tho reau do in Civil Disobedience to urge his readers to accept in him as a trustworthy, credible person? Point out specific passages where you felt Thoreau was (or was not) particularly believable (this gets at the ethos of the break up). Other examples of intelligence or pathos?A writer builds ethos (an appealingness to the authors credibility) by establishing himself as credible, believable, and trustworthy.3. One device a writer can use to get a point across is metaphor. Thoreau uses metaphor extensively in Civil Disobedience. Notice, for example, what he compares machinery to or how he uses gaming metaphorically. demand two metaphors and explain, citing specific examples from the text, how they help Thoreaus central idea pay off more vivid for his readers.The machinery metaphor is extendedused throughout the workThe gaming metaphor (paragraph 12) All vote is a sort of gaming, deal checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions and betting naturally accompanies itEven voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the grace of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.4. How do you think Thoreau valued his readers to react to the strain? What did he want them to feel? think? commit? do? How do you know? Identify specific places in the essay that help you determine Thoreaus purpose.(paragraph 15) Some are petitioning the State to unfreeze the Union, to disregard the requisitions of the President. Why do they not dissolve it themselvesthe union among themselves and the Stateand refuse to pay their quota into its treasury?(paragraph 17) Unjust laws exist shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we confirm succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?(paragraph 23) If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison, or give up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which to choose. If a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and fucking(a) measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit ferocity and shed innocent blood.5. Using the questions below, divide the essay into functional split (a part of text classified according to its functionfor example, introduction, example, or forebode public debate). score the part and be prepared to support your answers. 1) the exordium the web that draws listeners into the speech, the speaker would introduce the subject at hand and include material that would spend a penny the audience attentive and receptive to the ground. 2) the narration would offer scene material on the case at hand 3) the partition would divide the case and make clear which part or parts the speaker was going to address, which parts the speaker would not take up and what order would be followe d in the development 4) the confirmation would offer points to substantiate the argument and provide reasons, details, illustrations, and examples in support 5) the refutation would consider realistic objections to the argument and try to counter these 6) the peroration would drawtogether the entire argument and include material intentional to compel the audience to think or act in a way related to the central argumenta. Is there some partitioning that clearly lets the reader know what subject the composition is about and what the writers purpose is? If so, where does this section begin and end? In this section, can you find an answer to the central question that the text has been written in response to, or can you find an indication of the texts central argument?b. Is there a part that explains any background information that the reader needs to know in order to be able to understand the answer to the central question or argument that the composition offers? If so, where does this section begin and end?c. Is there some sentence or paragraph that focuses the readers attention on some particular issues, aspect, or theme that the paper establishs as opposed to others that it could examine?d. Is there some section that purposefully sets out material in support of the papers answer to the central question of its argument? If so, where does this section begin and end?e. Is there a part that examines possible objections to the answer, argument, or supporting material? If so, where does this section begin and end?f. Is there a sentence or section where the writer specifically answers the So what? question? In other words, is there a section where the writer hints at what he or she hopes readers will think and do on the basis of what they have read in the text?6. Using a functional part where Thoreau is supporting his argument, see how many of the following rhetorical methods you can identify. Cite the paragraph number and a few identifying phrases or sentences of specific text to identify the methoda. Relating anecdotesb. Describing scenes and evoking sensory imagesc. Defining foothold and conceptsd. Dividing the whole into partse. Classifying the parts according to some principle or orderf. Providing cause-and-effect reasoning7. Select one specific paragraph that you commit represents the most interesting, most vivid passage in Civil Disobedience. cover as much of the style of that passage as you can. For every stylistic feature you notice, explain what you see as its effect on 1) the appeal of the essay, 2) the credibility of Thoreau (ethos), or 3) the emotional or persuasive power of the piece (pathos).8. Point out some ways you see Thoreau tapping into the cultural repositing of his readers. (Cultural memory in modern rhetoric refers to the writer-reader connection. It has to do with how much knowledge, information, and entropy a writer has about his audience and their culture. A simple way of talking about this is to ask what d oes a writer know about is readers and their lives, and how does he or she use it to further his writing purpose?). To what does the text refer or allude with the expectation that readers will know the theatrical role or allusion? Are these references and allusions likely to appeal to and affect readers today in the same way they did when Thoreau used them?