Journal #1 The Connection Between Rhetorical Situations and Genre

     Rhetorical situations and genre are connected because of the fact that both take into account a situation and respond to that situation accordingly.  Rhetorical situations are defined by Bitzer as “a complex of persons, events, objects, and rela- tions presenting an actual or potential exigence which can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced into the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence.” This quote defines rhetorical situations as situations where discourse is introduced to bring about beneficial change to a problem. I agree with the way Andrew defined genre as the way we write what is “appropriate to that particular situation.”  Both rhetorical situations and genre connect also in the fact that they are directed to an audience.  Bitzer used the example of presidential speech to show that all rhetorical situations require an audience to participate in the discourse and to aid in change.  The genre of country music, for example, was used by Dirk to demonstrate how some people love country music but others have a serious distaste for it. Country Music relates to a very specific audience.

     Through our understanding of rhetorical situations and genre we as writers can put more focus into a situation and help to make our writing more specific to that particular situation. This would aid us in getting messages across to our readers. Beyond that, with this new understanding of rhetorical situations and genre I feel I am more able to notice the use of these techniques in others writings. This will help me to have a better understanding of the piece.