My Thesis Proposal for Rhetorical Analysis

Thesis Proposal for Rhetorical Analysis

            Of the four articles given to us to choose from, I have to say that I didn’t enjoy the writers’ views in any of the selected pieces. Standing from the intended audience’s point of view though, I can see the skill by which each of these authors portrayed their opinions. The article I found to be the most effective would have to be A Government in Thrall to Religion by Frank R. Zindler. For this reason I have decided to write a rhetorical analysis on this piece in order to learn how Zindler managed to be so persuasive for his intended audience.

A Government in Thrall to Religion is most certainly the work of an extremist. Its constant sarcastic and ironic references to generally accepted Christian beliefs, along with incredibly strong language, push Zindler to the outer limits of what a lot of people would find acceptable, or even understandable, but despite this polarization, Zindler will find many people to listen to his message. Many with similar or close to similar views will likely walk away from reading this article feeling inspired to act upon what the author was portraying. He does this by first using strong language to reach deep into his audience’s soul to give them the idea that maybe their beliefs are not quite adequate and that they need to listen to him. This is most definitely a tool of pathos. Where Zindler can tread upon the hearts of those he preaches to, and twist them to be inspired by his language, despite the extremity of his writing. I plan to focus on this a lot in my analysis, on how he manages to inspire through the sheer amount of cunning, momentous, and quirky phrases he uses.

I also plan to write on how he portrays the Bush administration as an enemy using, logos type arguments to demonize Bush in the eyes of his audience. This is very clever because it makes him sound like he knows what he is talking about which also gives him a slight ethos approach for his audience as well. I may not like his message at all, but I certainly can see his skill in the art of inspiring a crowd, even if it’s for the wrong cause. I will also expound on this in my analysis and I hope I can learn from this article on how I can better inspire people for that which is right.