In Studs Turkel's article, "Community in Action", he takes his audience through four of the five classical oration steps discussed by Ross Winterowd. Winterowd states that classical oration is divided into "exordium to gain the audience's attention, narratio to state the speaker's case, confirmatio to prove that case, reprehensio to refute the opponent's case, and peroratio to sum up" (40).
Turkel gains the attention (exordium) of his audience in his very first sentence by describing the many horrible things that he witnessed because of the Great Depression. This brings readers in and causes them to become emotionally invested in Turkel's story. He then moves on to state his case by saying "And this is my belief too: that it's the community in action that accomplishes more than any individual does, not matter how strong he may be" (Turkel). This statement makes his purpose for writing very clear and also leaves no doubt in the readers mind as to what he believes. Turkel goes on to "confirmatio" to prove that the society as a collective whole is more influential than one citizen could ever be by describing his own life during the time. He talks about how groups were "fighting for rights of laborers and the rights of women, and the rights of all people different from the majority" (Turkel). Because of the fact that Turkel's article is not written as a response to anyone else, he does not seem to refute the ideas of another group or person. He moves on to the last step, peroratio, and sums up his very simple claim by saying "And that happens to be my belief, and I'll put it into three words: community in action. Here he very simply and quickly wraps up his argument and leaves readers knowing exactly what they were intended to have gained from his article.
For my historical analysis I would like to look into the idea of body image in American culture. This would include the many different ways in which beauty has been defined throughout history and how people are influenced by public discourse on the issue. I am interested in thinking about why the ideal beauty has changed and how this ideal might be yet again changed in order to allow those who do not share the "perfect" body to be accepted and feel comfertable within our society today. My general genre for this issue would be body image in the 21st century.
I think that is will be an interesting topic. Fahenstock Secor's article will you move to various levels of stases especially since you will go back into history and see the various ways beauty has been defined. I think it will be important to state a specific claim and define your audience. You should also define what is "perfect" by using the stases of facts and definition. I'm sure there are various definition and meanings for "perfect." I'm really interested and seeing where this goes. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteKellin, I think this is a really great topic of analysis because body issues are so horrifyingly present in our age range. I think that in correlation to your study of the history of beauty, you might also want to discuss how the rising influence of media has affected the idea of a "perfect" beauty. With the increase in communicative technologies, ideas travel much faster and further. This started with the invention of the printing press and the popularization of newspapers. That obsession with knowledge has acted as a catalyst for changing definitions of beauty and the ideal body. I think it would be very important address the significance of media on this topic. Good luck!
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