Katherine Wells
America, Hitt
Rhetorical Strategies
Hitt’s argument: America is an apt name.
We sympathize with him immediately from his story in the classroom- making us care along with him:
“Vespucci sold it to us”- Hitt and the audience are one entity, both interested in this story
“What happened, you ask?”- the audience, in fact, did not ask, but he keeps drawing the audience in. Recognition and identification with his audience.
“See how nicely that works?”
Makes it more like an interaction, a conversation, rather than a lecture.
Consistently relates his story to contemporary culture, using slang like “bum,” “baby.”
Logos:
facts like 268 printers, no copyright laws: we assume, or agree with his assumption, that the printers exaggerated the material for profit.
Or: numbers of editions published, although none in Spain- similar conclusions drawn.
Ethos:
Establishes his and his sources’ credibility by name-dropping ColumbiaUniversity near the beginning. Also, his casual use of facts—kind of throwing out data nonchalantly—makes him appear very knowledgeable and his essay looks effortless. You can trust the information and opinions coming from someone who seems like they’re a natural.
Pathos:
Appeals to our sense of humor.
His own voice is informal, sarcastic, casual; he includes us in his jokes.
Music gives the piece a fun, funny, interesting tone- like the porn-style music when reading the racy passages or the “sleuth” music in his beginning investigations.
Comparison with Print Version
Changes in structure- inductive vs. deductive argument
Audio Version: work of printers conflated with Amerigo himself, vs. Print: Amerigo a hapless tool manipulated by history, printers
The easy association will be better remembered by those listening rather than those reading, who can re-read and pause to make distinctions. Conflating meaning is easier cognitively.
Reliance on visual information primarily- creates images and then later comments on them in the audio version.
More freedom to use clichés in audio rather than sophisticated language in print.
Oratory: helpful to use the same language over and over again- the “gist” level- need signposts, previews, repetition- use the recognizable.
Audio structured more as his journey- strength of the medium (as opposed to print, which needs proof, stronger details and information)