The Rhetorical Stance
In his essay entitled "The Rhetorical Stance" Wayne Booth points out three "clumsy poses" often used by speakers or writers who are attempting to be persuasive: the pedant stance, the advertiser's stance, and the entertainer's stance. These are three positions taking by "rhetoricians" that do not, according to Booth, contain a proper balance among "...the available arguments about the subject itself; the interests and peculiarities of the audience; and the voice, the implied character, of the speaker."(Booth, 27) The pedant stance refers to a speaker or writer sacrificing his audience for the subject, creating almost a "book report" of an argument Booth calls "...written not for readers but for bibliographies." (Booth 27) This case often occurs when a speaker or writer is given an audience seemingly not worth any extensive attempts at persuasion for his argument (or no specific audience at all), or when he is not given an argument (or "question," as Booth often refers to it) for which he has any particular passion (or no specific "question" at all). Booth uses as an example students writing persuasive papers on literature in which it is often quite obvious that the students either have no particular interest in
He successfully walks a fine line between a preachy or scolding tone, while still conveying that the rhetorical balance is absolutely necessary in the teaching of rhetoric and how, if students do not learn it, the future rhetorical literature will be doomed. He could have gone on a fact-laden lecture, but instead chose to personalize his persuasive argument with stories about students he has taught and how he has seen first-hand the effects of the "clumsy stances. no rhetorical purpose," (Booth 28) and, therefore, can not be expected to write a very persuasive paper. " (Booth 31) This is the "sex sells" attempt at rhetoric where an argument has a deliberate foundation in being controversial or being exactly want an audience already wants to hear without much care for actual knowledge of the subject matter. In "The Rhetorical Stance" Booth seems quite passionate about his argument, while at the same time remaining within the "rhetorical balance" he is discussing. Obviously, if Wayne Booth was giving an address at this conference, any chance of him taking the advertiser's stance could pretty much be ruled out beforehand since he would have to be considered an expert on rhetoric and, thus, would not pose a risk of being lax on knowledge of the subject matter. He does not seem to be giving this address to make any friends. " (Booth 25) That statement does not seem to make an attempt to put the audience in a lively mood. The advertiser's stance refers to a speaker or writer is almost the exact opposite of the pedant stance-putting too much concern on influencing the audience and not enough on the subject of the argument. I found this to be a very well-organized piece, and in no way was he hypocritical in his delivery of it. And since Booth's original audience consisted of members of the College Conference on Composition and Communication, his motives for persuasion take on an urgency in that these peers of his must themselves teach students the rhetorical balance. The third "clumsy stance," the entertainer's stance, refers to "willingness to sacrifice substance to personality and charm. " (Booth 32) Similar to the advertiser's stance, it also sacrifices subject matter in favor of the audience, but here the speaker or writer is not so much just handing the audience what they want to hear, rather, trying to win them over via pleasing wit or appeal not directly related to the argument ("empty colorfulness," as Booth calls it). Booth shows how many "experts" believe that merely stirring up the audience means the speaker or writer has succeeded in his persuasive argument, and he says, "This perversion is probably in the long run a more serious threat in our society than the danger of ignoring the audience.
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Acceptance Essays
