Hey Ya'll...Remember TAKS?

“The desires may be conscious or unconscious (or in the very large grey area between), and may shift during the course of the writing. For instance, a novelist might want to make a lot of money, so s/he wants to write something wildly popular, but s/he might also want to get critical acclaim, and so feel the need to write something elitist. The text may show those varying intentions by having some parts that appeal to a popular audience and others that appeal to critics. The more that the various intentions are in conflict, the less likely it is that the text will achieve any of them. So, in your own writing, it is always a good idea to try to be clear with yourself about just what your intention is…That is, what is the main point, and how does the author want the audience to feel about it?”

-Understanding Misunderstandings: How to do a Rhetorical Analysis by Trish Roberts-Miller

I liked this article. It was very to the point and held my attention and really made me think about the writing I produce. I’ve never thought about what the main focus of my writing is or how I want it to affect the reader…until I remembered TAKS testing.

I usually write to please professors or on rare occasions, for fun, but never really to produce an emotion from someone. The only time I ever really did was for things like the TAKS tests. I remember how my peers would tell me the crazy stories they made up about them being diagnosed with cancer or their Father saving them from the burning tree house they had built last spring…just before Grandpa died (*grader grabs tissue box and a single tear falls L*).

We would write these crazy stories that didn’t even really happen just to elicit an emotional response from our reader. Who couldn’t give the kid trapped in a flame-engulfed tree house a perfect score? We would play on their pathos, as I learned from Thank You for Arguing.

I just think it’s funny how we as people sub consciously use the ideas of logos, ethos, and pathos. This book is really helping me think about what I say and how I say it, but more importantly WHY I say it.