I’ve never understood the word “rhetoric” or what lies behind those eight letters as a meaning. I’m not sure if I can confidently grasp onto a meaning even now; or if I ever will. I’m in the middle of a tug of war with my mind telling me what this word means while the other part of my mind is contradicting my own self.

I’m told rhetoric includes words, images, and gestures presented to an audience for some kind of purpose. Does the purpose only include the “sender’s” delivery or does this include the reaction and consequences by the audience? If that purpose or reactive consequence is not met by the audience does this make it not rhetoric, or does this make it an unsuccessful form of rhetoric? If rhetoric involves an audience, then what constitutes an audience? Does there need to be a group of people sitting with all attention focused on “the man up front” or are passersby considered an audience?

I understand that we’re still in the beginning of this broad topic and through these next few class periods specifically, my thoughts on this subject will meld and mold into something more solid.

From conclusions that I can draw at this point, humans are naturally rhetorical beings. We naturally tend to rely on symbols, strive to have or be an audience, seek and work towards defining truth, and have the desire to analyze the world around us. These descriptions can apply to our natural tendencies as a human race, and also can apply to the idea of rhetorical theory. It will be interesting to get all of the different perspectives on rhetorical theory as well; to compare histories and conclusions about this idea of communication and persuasion.