Holla!!! It be my very first draft of this paper EVER!!!

A Journey Through Ramage: Stolen Style and Leading By Example

Rhetoric (n) -- 1 : the art of speaking or writing effectively: as a : the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times b : the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion
2 a : skill in the effective use of speech b : a type or mode of language or speech; also : insincere or grandiloquent language
3 : verbal communication

That would be Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defining the noun “rhetoric” right there. Not too complicated-- it makes sense to me, anyway, and it‘s far less of a read than 30 pages-- and it leads one to wonder how and/or why this mister John D. Ramage has decided to complicate such a simple thing (though an extensive topic, I’m sure) with seemingly senseless ramblings about food, Harley Davidson motorcycles (white collar workers and Dykes on Bikes!), Plato, and that oh so lovable pooch; P-Dog. All of this chaos (noted especially on the blog site and during in-class discussions) triggers many switches in my head. I’m a man with a passion for analogy and metaphor, not to mention the occasional simile. So I, for the sake of taking a page out of Ramage’s book (I’m not sure whether that was a pun), shall be describing my journey through “Ramageland,” as Dr. Mahoney deemed it, through the medium of metaphor.

Example: Ramage-- or at least his user’s guide for rhetoric-- is a war. How so? Well, how about a brief comparison to World War II? Admittedly, I am not well learned in this topic, and WWII is a far more significant-- not to mention a more tragic and impacting-- occurrence in world history, but I have the world at my fingertips this very moment and would honestly like to see where I am going with this. This is about my journey through Ramage anyway, and who says the journey has to stop at this paper?

One could compare the introduction of Ramage to Pearl Harbor. Yep, I said it. The spring 2007 ENG 230 class’s exposure to “RHETORIC: A User’s Guide” (as the book’s cover so elegantly reads) is comparable to the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. This is quite terrible, not just the bombing and the lives lost, but this metaphor.

Let us try something else. It turns out I really did not like the direction I was going with that. And to think, I was just about to compare Ramage to Adolf Hitler.

Ramage reads not like a war-zone (though still easy to compare to one: chaotic, unfocused, overwhelming, for a purpose that is easily forgotten, etc.), but more like juggling. Yeah, that’s it! Juggling.

Once again, the expected “How so?” is aroused by this association of two seemingly very different things, and thusly I shall answer. In order to juggle, one needs practice, patience, and obviously something to juggle. Ramage is similar only that instead of rubber balls (or kittens or chainsaws), one must utilize a highlighter (well, highlighter was my personal choice) or some other object used to help one master this jumbled piece of literature. Ramage is not such a bad read once the knack for his style is attained. I’ve discovered that laying all of the pieces Ramage gives his audience out on a table first really makes piecing them together a cakewalk.

Ramage is still no cakewalk, however (and yes, I am basing Ramage’s identity on his writing. First impressions say a lot, and based on what I’ve seen in the past, a person’s writing says a lot about who they are). Ramage is a riddle. There is an answer, but it’s not always so easy to find. That or it is just so easy to find that the reader will glaze over it, missing what’s hidden right on top of the layers upon layers of Ramage jargon. I certainly did.

But I never mentioned how my journey through “Ramageland” began, did I? Well, I was very late in starting this journey, that’s for sure. Missing my first class on my first day back from holiday is not a good start for any semester (unless it’s a semester in which failure is rewarded, in which case committing the former would be praiseworthy). Not only did I miss the first class, but my copy of “RHETORIC: A User’s Guide” did not arrive until late in the week. This set me back a few pages. What set me back a few chapters, however, was my inability to absorb this book.

Picture my girlfriend, Christina, and me sitting in the newly constructed Academic Forum (a name that reminds me of the Justice League and a name that has lead to many jokes on a similar wavelength). We have discussed Ramage before-- for she had this very course last spring-- and I had ranted about my troubles in reading the reading. She explained that skimming the reading would work fine, and that I should simply seek out main points (this worked eventually with the help of my trusty highlighters, mentioned earlier). Still, far after we had joked about picturing Ramage as a Woody Allen looking man, I could not bring myself to read this text. My eyes would grow as heavy as Ramage’s vocabulary. I would read one paragraph and respond with a grin, “Okay… I got this!” only to end the very next sentence with a cry of frustration. Simply put, I hated this book.

Hated is a word in the past tense, however. Once I realized this paper would rely on me understanding and comprehending the incomprehensible, I set to work. The first few pages were rough. I was climbing a literary Mount Everest, at least that’s how it felt to me. I was determined. Blue and yellow lit up the page as words I didn’t understand and the passages I did were marked for future reference.

Then, as I stumbled through the chapters, I began to realize that this was getting easier. I was actually starting to get this stuff. Ramage’s style is different, but not impossible. His references to pop culture and Shakespeare were beginning to make sense just so long as I applied them to the in class discussions, listened to all his thoughts before analyzing, and didn’t dwell on what didn’t click.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that part of the journey is figuring out what the journey actually is (don‘t judge a book by it‘s cover… or author?). I honestly didn’t understand a word of what Ramage was saying to me in chapter one of “RHETORIC: A User’s Guide” until the very end of the chapter, and to be honest, I still might be a world away from grasping his true intentions. Still, I have grown to appreciate Ramage’s work, and I am actually finding slight enjoyment (yes, this scares the pants off of me too) in the challenge Ramage presents to me. I can’t say I like the guy, but I respect him to a degree. His style, while pretentious and arrogant, is indeed unique. He makes some fine and interesting points (though it’s a somewhat boring read, as most will probably agree), and if one looks, they can find them. It’s just a matter of patience, practice, and being able to accept the occasional misquote. Oh! And being able to accept his pompous attitude towards all things… well, ever.