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Britney S. FrancisSPCM 2180
Quiz OneIntro to Rhetorical Criticism
1. The commonality of the articles by Banks and Understanding
African American Rhetoric is
the fact that African Americans come from tradition and have
cultural meaning. Both articles
discuss tradition as a way to provide a sense of freedom against
the racism that is still very much
alive today in America. Rhetoric, whether it is a public speech
or private day-to-day talk, is a
feature of African American history and culture. Banks describes
African American rhetoric as
the study of the pursuit of life, love, and liberation for Black
people and the whole society.
What this means is that rhetoric is a tool to put Blacks in a
place where they can acquire freedom
in an unfair and unjust world filled with societal setbacks.
Thurman and Calloway-Thomas
however explore rhetoric as an oral-based culture. This culture
is the reliance that African
Americans placed on oral traditions throughout the
generations.
2. Banks uses the word persuasion is his definition of rhetoric
and its uses in African American
rhetoric. It becomes evident that the freedom struggle goes way
beyond marching in
Washington and signing petition. Instead, it is a tool used to
achieve liberation in American
society. Living the American Dream is not necessarily a dream
that included African
Americans. One use is to establish our own freedom by fully
understanding African American
rhetoric and its uses. Persuasion is the driving force behind
these texts. Foss says that
communication is the purpose of rhetoric. African American
rhetorics sole purpose it to
communicate and persuade.
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3. Two features of African American rhetoric, according to
Thurman and Calloway-Thomas, are
indirection and verbal play. These sectors of rhetoric are used
in our everyday lives as African
Americans. Verbal play refers to symbolic exchange of words.
Verbal play has two functions:
expressive and instrumentally. Examples of indirection are
rappers and spoken word poets. Both
of these orators use words that stand for something else. For
example, in Ice Cubes song
AmeriKKKas Most Wanted, he says I put heads to bed and fled the
scene wit all the green
which means he knocks people out and leaves with large amounts
of money. Verbal play could
either influence by drawing attention or manipulating.
4. Symbols are a substantial part of African American rhetoric.
Foss says that symbols are the
medium for rhetoric and that particular medium is communication.
Symbolic words have been
embedding in the speech patterns of African Americans from the
very beginning. It was a way of
expressing themselves without outwardly saying what it is they
truly meant for they were not
allowed to express themselves fully due to mental and physical
oppression. This is why Thurman
and Calloway-Thomas mentions in their article that there is a
noticeable difference between the
way that African American engage in daily verbal struggles,
influenced by orality than White
Americans. Examples of this would be when African Americans
refer to the Black race as us,
when saying things like they know how hard it is for us to make
it in corporate America.
Another example would be when we will stop letting the media
portray as in a negative light?
when referring to Black people as a whole. Martin Luther King
also used this in his infamous I
Have A Dream Speech, I may not make it to the mountain top When
referring to a mountain
top or an upward climb usually symbolizes a fight or struggle
for freedom.
