Sabotaging Style

Style is one of the most basic part of writing. It is also one of the most important parts of writing. Literacy style has been beat into our heads since elementary school. Elementary school we learned about narratives, persuasive, expository, and descriptive writing styles. Even though we may not have understood them yet, we used them whenever the teacher had us writing about our summer or to describe our favorite animal. Over the year’s literacy style has grown from something we did without understanding it, to writing complex essays to convince someone to do something.

We are still learning about literacy styles and the importance of them. Currently we get to learn about styles and how they relate to rhetoric. Rhetoric, that thing that we've been learning about all semester, is the art of persuading someone to win an argument. But how does rhetoric effect style?

 

Rhetoric is what brings meaning to style. It makes it obvious that rhetoric is what gives your words meaning and makes the ideas that we have become real. There is no way to approach literacy styles without involving rhetoric. It is impossible to separate the meaning of our words from the actual words. How we communicate and the things that we mean, are impossible to separate from the actual words. If you yell at someone that you hate them, they are going to assume you hate them. If you quietly whisper that you hate someone, they are still going to assume you hate them. If you text them and tell them that you hate them, once again, they are going to believe that you hate them. All three ways of delivering the message all have the same impact.

 

Literacy style is an important and yet tricky portion of writing. Rhetorical approach to writing means you have to know what you want to say, what you want to mean, and how you want to say it. 

 

There are many aspects to consider when deciding how to go about writing something. The writer must develop some sort of “style repertoire”. The writer needs to understand things about their writing before they can decide how they go about writing it. The writer must understand the audience and what they expect. They must also understand that there are limits because of the medium being used. A person cannot use sarcasm as easily in writing as they could in broadcasts. The writer must also understand the variations for style that fit their specific situation. This means that a writer might not consider using logos in an emotional situation as it would be less efficient to get their points across.

The style used in our writing is a part of who we are and what we are trying to say. Style is an important part of literature as it helps determine what type of writing we are doing. Rhetorical approach takes style one level deeper and makes it a part of our words and ideas.