Using Contextual Evidence

Textual analysis is the rhetorical concepts that are used toanalyze the features of texts. ... In another simpler definition, textual analysis is the sole focus on a piece of rhetoric while contextual analysis is the focus on the “big picture"

Both textual and contextual analysis are generally used when doing an in depth rhetorical analysis of various works. While they are both taken advantage of, they are on opposite ends of the spectrum of analysis and entail entirely different approaches. Textual analysis involves looking at the text as it is and what literary strategies it entails. There is an emphasis on analyzing the style of the piece, words used and the way in which the speaker delivers the message. Textual analysis also looks at the appeals; pathos, ethos and logos, to better understand the argument that the author or speaker is trying to convey in their work. Overall, the textual approach to rhetorical analysis is used to dig deep into the literal text and better understand what is being said and what the speaker is trying to defend or present to the reader.

Contextual evidence on the other hand focuses on better understanding the reasons behind why a particular piece is written, looking at it as part of a bigger picture, not just words on a paper, but something that has a role in a particular time or event. In order to understand and analyze the context of any piece, one must have information on the background of the topic, background of the author as well as information about the time in which it is written. This is necessary to help construct the bigger picture in which a particular piece is a part of because the contextual approach to rhetorical analysis looks at things as a part of a larger picture or a response to something else. Therefore, the context cannot be fully understood if one does not know the background, but through contextual analysis, one can find out these various facts and best understand the true reasons for a particular work, not just the literal words used.

One famous example that can be analyzed for contextual as well as textual analysis is Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Looking at it textually, King makes use of repetition of the phrase, “I have a dream” to emphasize how he sees something better for the country that he hopes one day will happen. He is relying on pathos throughout in order to relate to his audience, regardless of race,  because the issue of discrimination is a powerful subject and his details bring out emotion. He also uses words such as we, us and together throughout to stress that the country needs to strive for unity among all and by repeating these words he is emphasizing that this truly is important for all people. As part of the bigger picture, this speech was given in 1963 during the Civil Rights Movement, a time in which African Americans were fighting for equal rights. Therefore, it is important to know that Dr. King is African American and that this movement directly effects him making his speech more meaningful and powerful. It also makes people realize that equality among people is not literally a dream, instead it is something that needed to be done in the United States and it needed to happen as soon as possible so everyone could be treated fairly.

In class assignment:

Using Literary Evidence:

      “If they give you ruled paper, write the other way”

How does this quote exemplify the theme of the novel?  Use at least two specific examples

2.       At the end of the novel, Montag meets a group of men who have also fled from the same society.  One of the men, Granger, compares this group to an ancient bird called the Phoenix.  In what ways are the two similar?  

Formal Writing Assignment

Essays: Fahrenheit 451

Write a well structured essay that thoroughly addresses one of the following prompts.  As usual, make sure your essay includes: all elements of a 5 paragraph essay including a strong thesis; 3 – 4 strong body paragraphs that support the thesis and include evidence (quotes) - Direct quotes and specific examples - from the book; and a conclusion that reviews the thesis and ends with a punch.

1. Beatty tells Montag that it was the minorities that first began to censor books (and remember that he’s not just talking about racial minorities).  Explain how the minorities began the censorship movement in Fahrenheit 451 and then analyze our own society.  Does our society have similar problems?  How so?  Are we in danger of becoming like the society in Fahrenheit 451?  How can we avoid this pitfall?

2. Faber discusses three things that are missing from the Fahrenheit 451 society.  These missing things are the reasons why the people in this society don’t want or need books.  Identify and explain the three reasons Faber gives and then analyze our own society to see if we suffer from the same maladies that infect the Fahrenheit 451 society.

3. Choose one of the short stories we read last week, “There Will Come Soft Rains” or “Masque of the Red Death” or "Cask of Amontillado," and compare/contrast it with Fahrenheit 451.  Consider the following aspects of each story: theme, setting, values of each society, and final outcome for characters and society.

4. Bradbury has said that his book is about the TV replacing books in society, not about censorship.  What types of technologies have replaced books in Bradbury’s future?  Do we see this technology today, 60 years after Fahrenheit 451’s publication?  Do you think Bradbury was right to fear that modern technology would replace books?  Do you think books are appropriately valued in our society (as in not valued too much or too little)?  How are books different from TV or movies (according to Bradbury, and according to you)?

5. One theme in this book is happiness vs. discontentment.  Are the people in the Fahrenheit 451 society happy?  What does true happiness look like?  Which characters are happy and why?  Which characters are unhappy and why?  Evaluate the happiness of our own society.  Do we suffer from some of the same maladies that infect the Fahrenheit 451 society?

Using In-Text Citations

In-text citations: Author-page style

MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:

Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (263).

Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (Wordsworth 263).

Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative process (263).

Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:

Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. Oxford UP, 1967.

In-text citations for print sources with known author

For Print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.

Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3).

Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).

These examples must correspond to an entry that begins with Burke, which will be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of an entry in the Works Cited:

Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method. Berkeley: U of California P, 1966.