I start with my thesis and I ask: What does my reader need to know in order to understand my point? What might most effectively earn her attention?
T: More than any other rhetorical strategy, the article’s use of questions serves as a filter, guiding the audience members into sub-consciously categorizing themselves into particular positions, not in terms of identifying as socialist, which the audience does already, but in terms of deciding what kind of socialist he will be. Essentially, Einstein guilts his readers into action.
I’m thinking the kairotic moment of this essay is so important, and really interesting, that it might make sense to introduce the article and its author within the context of its historical time. There are several approaches I might make:
- Anecdote: begin by telling a specific story, one that illustrates a point I need to convey
- An interesting and little known fact or statistic: How many “socialists” were persecuted during McCarthyism? I’m not sure. Might be interesting to find out.
- Define a term: it would have to be either a term my audience doesn’t know or a term I define in an unexpected way. Not many people in my audience think of Einstein as a socialist. And maybe, if I really define socialism (as opposed to how most people misunderstand it due to the residue of propaganda), my audience might find itself identifying as socialist. That could be interesting.
- Ask a question: It would have to be a question that my audience wouldn’t automatically answer and then not want to read what I’ve got to say, and it would have to be a question that I actually answer later on. This one’s risky given Einstein does it so beautifully and I’m not Einstein….
- Quotation: Bad idea generally, as I”d have to integrate a quotation into my own argument and I never want someone else to speak for me. Because I’m working with Einstein’s words already, this would be risky and my last choice.
Leave a Reply