Analyzing Rhetorical Strategy in : "Graphic Novel 'Maus' Banned in Russia for It's Cover"

This post will look at the rhetorical strategies that appear in my article. It will be guided by our reading in 'A Student's Guide to First Year Writing'

   

Decker, Kathryn "Strategy" taken January 14th, 2004 via Flickr
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Appeals to Credibility or Character

• Spiegelman uses personal stories as examples of the topic
• Despite the fact this is based off an interview, there are links to outside sources
• Also references well-known and professional people
• Elevated word choice; speaks professionally with ease
• Author is generally well known and respected as a cartoonist, teacher, and advocate
• Appeals to his audience (listeners on NPR; generally educated)

Spiegelman does fairly subtle appeals to his credibility. He has a famously known book, and knows he is speaking to an educated audience who will have a good chance of knowing who is already. He sprinkles in some names of people in positions of power to look more credible. However he barely acknowledges counter arguments, which takes away from his credibility slightly. Though, to be fair, his interview was less than 5 minutes long, which doesn't allow much time for discussion. 

Quote: "The first time this reared its head was way back whenMaus was not a known entity [and]... the head of Rowohlt publishing said, "We have a problem — it's against the law to show swastikas on the covers of books in Germany."

Appeals to Emotion

• Uses personal stories (mentioned before)
• Has formal diction, but still manages to speak with casual ease
• Sense of humor-cracks a couple jokes
• Reads like a QRG almost; short and sweet with external links 
• Tone of voice is professional 

Spiegelman speaks with a certain ease that makes him easy to read and listen to. His sort of casual concern for this almost screams "Isn't this a bit ridiculous? I've been here before, no real need for alarm, but come on. This is a bit arbitrary don't you think?" His ability to communicate makes him easy to listen to and sympathize with. His humor at his own previous misadventures with his cover art immediately makes him likable, and therefore more people are likely to side with him. 

(Said in an easy-going tone) Quote: "So I did. I got a separate paycheck on top of the relatively small advance — and when the second book came out, they insisted that I do the cover, so I don't get any extra money."

Appeals to logic 

• Text is based off an interview with some extra analysis and background
• Reads like a QRG; organization is easily readable 
• Clear transitions (Interview questions and subheadings)
• Image of Spiegelman's book for reference 

Becker, Hallye. Screenshot from my computer, October 1st, 2015. Accessed via NPR.org

Though not a logical strategy is used, Spiegelman manages to come across as very logical. It's more in his tone and word choice than the actual organization of the article, though it is easily broken apart and readable. The image used just serves as an illustration of what the cover looks like, so that nothing is left for the reader to imagine (aka an enormous swastika dominating the page when in actuality is it not the focal point).


REFLECTION

I read Isaak's analysis of his rhetorical strategies. Reading over his, it seems like we're fairly even in terms of depth of analysis. However, he definitely utilized more quotes than I did. Having lots of things to quote off of made it easier to see the exact content he was referring to. We both seemed to have less depth for logical appeals. I'm not sure if it was because it was difficult to pick out the logical rhetoric.