Post-Papers Reflection

As a Cadet with no prior experience in rhetoric, I came into this course with no preconceived notions about rhetoric, nor even the knowledge of a simple dictionary definition. After spending the course reading and discussing major rhetoricians such as Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and Cicero, as well as conducting my own individual research of secondary sources by writing two rhetoric-themed essays, I have come to the conclusion that my most important take away from rhetoric as a field of study is that it is always changing.

Most subjects I have studied in high school and at VMI such as statistics, American Literature, chemistry, history ect, have been set in stone, and not alive like rhetoric. Rhetoric was a breath of fresh air in this regard. One thing we focused on in class was constantly going back to our definitions of rhetoric and noting how they have changed and developed with each passing Tuesday and Thursday. There are infinite things to study in the field of rhetoric. I felt like a kindergartner asked to draw a self-portrait on the first day of the year and then another on the final day– the change and refinement was remarkable.

The first essay we wrote discussed Greek rhetoric and how a culture or figure helped it thrive. Our class discussions at this time were based around essential texts such as Gorgias, Isocrates Against the Sophists, and others. We learned about the oratory function of rhetoric. We even discussed how Plato’s idea of rhetoric changed from “cookery” in Gorgias to being an art of the soul in Phaedrus. Although in my first essay I mainly discussed how Pericles utilized oratory rhetoric through his “Funeral Oration” speech, I also recognized that he was one of the first to make a rhetorical statement in materials: “Although rhetoric was considered oratory only by  Pericles’ predecessors such Plato and Gorgias, I argue that despite not directly thinking about buildings as rhetorical, they actually were to ancient Athenians” (Outland 5). I had already begun to notice the many and constant changes in rhetoric. 

In our next essay, I wrote about my own definition of rhetoric. My day one definition had been something like “persuasive language,” but by the time I wrote this essay my definition was completely changed. I wrote that rhetoric could be anything or anywhere that sends a message. I noted how rhetoric changed in the Renaissance from oratory to letter writing and sermon, “Once about oratory and writing, rhetoric was now put on the backburner by being used only in sermons and letter writing” (Outland 2). I continued my argument by using sources such as Foss Foss and Trapps Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric. Though I cited rhetorician Jean Baudrillard’s view on rhetoric in my paper, just reading this source allowed me to gain an understand of a multitude of different modern definitions of rhetoric from many scholars. 

Sources like this as well as conversations with peers and Major Garriott have led me to realize that the biggest takeaway I have about the study of rhetoric is it’s constantly changing nature. This means that rhetoric will always remain viable and interesting to study. Though I can now notice tiny fragments of rhetoric all over my computer screen or television set, It is exciting to imagine where it will go or what it will become in my lifetime, especially as humanity becomes more and more dependent on technology, social media and globalization.