TA Aragorn and those great characters

After a bout of rhetorical analysis on advertisements, this blog is going to tackle a beloved figure of film and literature, Aragorn, and his speech before the Black Gates of Sauron. Here is the text: "Hold your ground! Hold your ground! Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers, I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight!! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!!!"
It seems that the enthymeme of Aragorn is: What are the consequences of staying and fighting an insurmountable army on the future of Middle Earth? Aragorn would argue that staying and fighting an insurmountable army will preserve the future of Middle Earth, because making a stand before the Black Gate will ultimately result in the downfall of Sauron. His audience is a bunch of frightened men, who seem ready to retreat, thereby showing that they would disagree with his claim. Obviously they would agree with the implicit assumption that whatever results in the downfall of Sauron preserves the future of Middle Earth.
Aragorn begins his argument by appealing to ethos, his credibility not only as the king, but as a brother. The bulk of his argument rests on pathos. He appeals to the sense of honor inherent in he men of the west by painting a dismal picture and then refuting it. He tells them to stand because they believe in Middle Earth and what it stands for. His logos is definitely lacking, seeing how an army that outnumbers his about 100 to 1 stands before them.
An argument on the battlefield rarely resorts to statistics and research because that is now what the audience that is being addressed needs. I wouldn't care much if you told me that the odds of dying in battle were 34.7% if I saw a crazy guy with a sword running at me. Therefore, I believe that Aragorn's argument was sufficient, typical, accurate and relevant for his audience. After all, they did follow right behind him into the heat of battle. That would qualify as effective.

RA example of propaganda WWII

Up next post will focus on the marvel of World War II Soviet propaganda. The Soviets were masters at warping the Russian people's perceptions of reality and using art, monuments and rhetoric to do so. This poster is typical Proletariat fare and features the caption: The People and Army are One! At the time of this poster, the government was striving to involve the people back in the USSR in helping to support the war effort. Since the army was fighting abroad, the audience includes the men and women not able to serve. The enthymeme is a typical war-time ideal: What are the consequences of "supporting the troops" (an interesting idea even today) on the success of the army? The manufacturing and agricultural efforts of the people back home will feed and clothe the army, as well as supply it with needed weaponry. The fact that the government felt a need to issue this poster indicates that ordinary citizens felt that they could not contribute to the war effort. The logos of the argument is that (apparent) unity breeds success. I think that most people would find that a logical conclusion. However, the appeal of this piece of propaganda is rooted in pathos. For Russians, red is a very important color. It symbolizes both power and beauty and would appeal to the Marxian idea of communism and the idea of "everyone in it together." The faces of the people radiate pride in their calling and satisfaction in their work, implying that anyone who unites with the army will have those very same feelings. The ethos is established through the hammer and sickle sign, representing the twin foundations of communism: industrial and agricultural workers. The success of Soviet propaganda is debated, but I believe that these posters were effective. The Russian people always wanted that unity, but the Soviet government is the one who made a bungle of it all.

FW Ben in Alaska

Basically my brother and his wife screwed themselves over, royally. My brother Ben is a pre medical student studding biology at BYU-I He and his wife took an internship in Alaska, where they called me from today, to wish me a happy birthday. I turned that phone call into I hope, a benificial conversation to motivate them do some thing that they have been dreading and putting off. Namely petition to switch tracts at school. BYU-I is so retarted in that they even have "tracks" it is a way of rationing the student body in such a way that every student has and only has 2 semesters a year that they can atttend school, I guess that this allows more students to attend. The unfortunate situation is that the medical internship in alaska is 8 months long, this means that Ben will miss his opportunity to attend school because of the internship and when he gets back he will be "off track" which means that he can not attend. Through the meny phone calls his wife has made to try to get things straightened out she spoke with a man who is on the committee who would make the decision about swithing tracts said that they could submit an online 300 word petition "but that they never even looked at them". So with out any feeling of success they have done nothing.......... I spoke with them briefly (only about2 hours.....) and helped them trough an argument analysis and I think that we came to the conclusion that they could build a strong argument via logos pathos and ethos. It is imposable for me to right down all of what we said but I truly enjoyed the power that Rhetorical analysis has allowed me to put good arguments together in a logical way that is targeted to my audience.

FW HIstory of creativity final project

For History of creativity I had to paint a painting and I decided to write something for this free write that I could turn in with the painting to "explain" myself.

White Salmon City

First and for most. I am an engineering major and this is the first painting that I have painted in my life. This is a picture of the Columbia river gourge in Washington by my house in a little town called White Salmon. This painting took forever! And I am happy with the final product. My wife is so proud of me she wants to hang it up (so please write all of your comments and corrections on this page. thanks)
This painting exhibits renaissance characteristics through the application of several different kinds of perspectives. My favorite form of perspective exhibited in this painting is diminishing perspective and I incorporated it through the gradual fading and graying of the colors layer by layer as you approached the focal point of my one point perspective. My one point perspective is not as obvious as if I had drawn anything man made like a sign or a house or a sidewalk. But if you look closely I painted the entire gourge to a vanishing point the canyon walls on both sides and the river converge on this point. That is my 1 point perspective. I also incorporated overlapping perspective in the trees against trees, trees against the water and the road, and mountains over mountains and clouds over clouds, ect. Overall this project was difficult but a lot of fun, I really learned a lot!
This is to promote the awe inspiring natural beauty of white salmon and its location in the historic Columbia river gourge. There are lots of places to hike boat and sights to see. It is a great place you should come and visit some time 

FW White Salmon English

For History of creativity I had to paint a painting and I decided to write something for this free write that I could turn in with the painting to "explain" myself.

White Salmon City

First and for most. I am an engineering major and this is the first painting that I have painted in my life. This is a picture of the Columbia river gourge in Washington by my house in a little town called White Salmon. This painting took forever! And I am happy with the final product. My wife is so proud of me she wants to hang it up (so please write all of your comments and corrections on this page. thanks)
This painting exhibits renaissance characteristics through the application of several different kinds of perspectives. My favorite form of perspective exhibited in this painting is diminishing perspective and I incorporated it through the gradual fading and graying of the colors layer by layer as you approached the focal point of my one point perspective. My one point perspective is not as obvious as if I had drawn anything man made like a sign or a house or a sidewalk. But if you look closely I painted the entire gourge to a vanishing point the canyon walls on both sides and the river converge on this point. That is my 1 point perspective. I also incorporated overlapping perspective in the trees against trees, trees against the water and the road, and mountains over mountains and clouds over clouds, ect. Overall this project was difficult but a lot of fun, I really learned a lot!
This is to promote the awe inspiring natural beauty of white salmon and its location in the historic Columbia river gourge. There are lots of places to hike boat and sights to see. It is a great place you should come and visit some time 