Ramage and Rhetoric, A Personal Account

The world opened up when I hit age 20, or perhaps I opened myself up to it. Regardless, this was the age when events in life began to happen that more clearly defined me as a person. Through travel, both international and domestic, I was able to immerse myself in foreign situations, therefore allowing development of a clearer picture, not only of who I am, but also how I came to be this person. Camping in the high desert of Utah for two months after studying for a month in England and France was the ultimate removal from the comforts of the familiar and unknown, allowing time to reflect on experiencing everyday moments in my journey through life. Delving into Rhetoric A User’s Guide by John D. Ramage has produced similar results in the realm of self-reflection. As I trek through Ramage’s views and definitions of rhetoric, both my reactions, and the subsequent reasons for those reactions, to his concepts bring forth deeper understanding both of rhetoric and of components of myself not yet explored.
Define what something is not and you will become more aware of what it is. What a backwards thought it seems at first, but upon closer inspection-and application- this concept develops a bit of solidarity. Ramage’s use of the Anti-Rhetoric Spokesperson introduces readers to this idea and initially, it was difficult to follow and grasp his motivation behind its usage. He was talking nonsense; why not give a simple, square definition of this “rhetoric” he was speaking of? I trudged through, making notes of the hypothetical Anti-Rhetoric and his anti views, unsure of where Ramage was taking me. What I did not realize on first inspection of this section was that the donning of the Anti-Rhetoric was itself a rhetorical device, and without my counscious awareness, Ramage was already engaging in a rhetorical ride. Coming to this realization was an excursion all its own.
Two years ago at a small Virginia university nestled in the Blue Ridge mountains, a younger version of me sat in a basement classroom studying the wonderful, drab, downright confusing but eventually enlightening world of Plato’s The Republic. This was my first encounter with a philosophical work that engaged and spoke of rhetoric and initially the road was rough. Eventually, the analogous stories and seeming illogical tangents took on deeper meaning as my understanding of rhetorical language began to develop, and I grew accustomed to the nature of discourse held between Socrates and his associates.
Fast-forward a spell and I am now a studious junior at Kutztown, beginning an Advanced Composition course that requires the study of Ramage’s book. After the first few pages of the Anti-Rhetoric spokesperson and a step into the next few that hinted what rhetoric actually is, memories of my freshman year dance with Plato flooded my mind, and recalling the style of The Republic helped me to understand the manner in which Ramage introduces rhetoric. In the section titled “The Rhetorical Retort” in the first chapter, Ramage states that use of the Anti-Rhetorical spokesperson was really a “rhetorical device we employed to set up our arguments in support of rhetoric as a legitimate way of understanding the world (9).” Reading this line spurred an ah-ha! moment in my mind where I saw the lessons of my past (which I’d expected to forget) come into play. Renewed faith in my ability to understand the inner workings of rhetorical style kept me motivated through the rest of the first chapter, although the going was at times extraordinarily slow. I found the content of the second chapter much more engaging and rewarding, as it challenged my views and thoughts on identity.



It's a start, if nothing else.