Bitzer Reading

Rhetorical Discourse is Not a Tree

First of all, you can ignore the title. I took it from the second paragraph of section I, "A rhetorical work is analogous to a moral action rather than to a tree" (p 3). The title I pulled from that sentence is virtually pointless (aside from the small amount of enjoyment I personally derived in forming it), however the analogy that IS present can help us better understand what a rhetorical situation is. Rhetorical discourse and moral action are similar in the sense that they are both a response to particular situations. Moral action is a result of an ethical situation that allows or requires a choice or an opportunity to change that situation. In the same way, utterance is rhetorical because of the situation that   allows it to be invited. "Rhetorical discourse is called into existence by situation; the situation which the rhetor perceives amounts to an invitation to create a present discourse" (p 9).

"[Rhetoric] functions  ultimately to produce action or change in the world" (p 4). Rhetoric is futile without an audience to sway or impact, because rhetoric must offer an opportunity to change the way people think or act. For this to be so, their must be a situation that brings about a desire for change; "a work of rhetoric is pragmatic; it comes into existence for the sake of something beyond itself" (p 3). This 'something' is the rhetorical situation. It gives the discourse not only purpose, but the ability to even occur. It demands resolution, and this need for resolve gives birth to the opportunity for rhetoric, which seeks to meet that demand.