Rhetorical Analysis Essay: Gender & American Identity

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You’ve probably noticed that the world around you is full of rhetorical situations, textual objects and communicative acts. In this 4-6-page essay you will choose and analyze a text that makes an argument about gender. Look for a text that has interesting rhetorical features and eloquently makes a claim about how Americans construct gender identity. In other words, pick an excellent example of rhetoric that uses all three of the major appeals and is free of logical fallacies. You can pick from argumentative genres such as, but not limited to, editorials, polemic speeches, political cartoons, videos (5 minutes or less) published or broadcast since 2013. You could also choose a monument or other publicly displayed object that has been installed for longer than five years if it is currently viewable to the public (take a photo to include with your essay). Pick your text and present it to your essay high school instructor for approval. Answer the essay question below.
ESSAY QUESTION
While hiking through the Texas Hill Country, you encounter an extraterrestrial being named Pat who visited earth back in the days of the Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Pat had a wonderful time learning about rhetoric and decided to come back to learn something about America today. Pat’s species doesn’t have specialized sex characteristics and is curious about the concept of gender identity. Clearly, you can’t tell Pat everything about such a broad topic in a single essay. You can, however, take advantage of your common vocabulary in rhetoric to explain how one text makes an argument about gender. You are acting as a cultural ambassador; therefore, write in a clear, formal style with a neutral ethos. Remember: you’re an intergalactic diplomat, not an activist. Analyze, don’t advocate!
With that in mind, thoroughly introduce the specific rhetorical situation of your text. Gathering this important cultural context could mean doing some research, so be sure to document your sources. Then, include the audience for the text and its overarching claim. Explain how the text uses rhetorical appeals to support its claims. Relate your text back to ideas discussed in the curriculum using these questions to brainstorm ideas: What arguments does your text make about gendered power dynamics? Does your text approach gender through tropes or commonplaces about the roles people should play like mother, father, sister, brother, wife, husband, princess, hero? Does the text maintain or disrupt commonly held ideas? Are there small flaws in the text that reveal something about the larger conversation around gender?
Hint: if you chose an image or video, give specific examples of how colors, lines, sounds, and other features make rhetorical appeals.
• Your essay MUST be on topic!
• Include a clear thesis statement
• Invent an arrangement/organizational strategy that best showcases your findings and analysis
• Length: 4-6 pages, double-spaced, size 12 font (not including the Works Cited)
• MLA formatting
• Parenthetical Citations and Works Cited—the MLA guide in Purdue has strategies for citing unusual sources. Hint, hint!
• In the Works Cited, include a link to the text (or an image if you took a photo) for the grader so they can quickly find what you picked.
• Plagiarism results in a zero (0)
*******Number of sources depend on the writer,thanks.