Rhetorical Analysis Of Kenneth Burke, Danielle Allen And Mark Backman

Kulsum Pathan

20531570

Thinking Question 4

Kenneth Burke, Danielle Allen and Mark Backman’s conception of rhetoric, all view the perception of ‘the other’ as valuable. Not only valuable but an idea that goes beyond the terminology of us and focuses on a collective identity of we. Allen views rhetoric as a sense of trust building within communities and ensuring that differences don’t create a drift between an us and them and vice versa; especially not a situation where you assume due to differences and create a sense of belonging through similarities. Allen focuses on friendship a lot within the reading and allows us to understand the importance of creating a space where differences are put a side to create an environment that fosters the idea of viewing the interests of others, as being connected to our own interests.

Burke also talks about separating from you, yourself as an individual from others and allowing to trying to create that bond that creates a relationship. For example, building a relationship with a stray cat or babysitting my friends cat, the relationship around the cat and what it does when it misses us and it behaviour towards a new setting. Even building relationships using rhetoric, it depends on your ability to step out and have some fun but undermining the idea of me and us but now looking at the idea of us through the eyes of

(Beckman, pg. 28). The whole ideology that Backman talks about is moving beyond the question of wo am I to who are we to understand oneself, oneself needs to understand out collective ways. An example to reflect on Backman’s argument of what rhetoric means, is taking someone else’s experience and trying to understand the argument from the perspective of others and moving beyond the personal outlook and focusing on the collective