JFK RAILS AGAINST THE STEEL INDUSTRY

Rhetorical Analysis of 2012, Question #2

PROMPT

• On April 10, 1962, as the United States was emerging from a recession, the nation’s largest steel companies raised steel prices by 3.5 percent. President John F. Kennedy, who had repeatedly called for stable prices and wages as part of a program of national sacrifice during a period of economic distress, held a news conference on April 11, 1962, which he opened with the following commentary regarding the hike in steel prices. Read Kennedy’s remarks carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies President Kennedy uses to achieve his purpose. Support your analysis with specific references to the text.

PROMPT

• On April 10, 1962, as the United States was emerging from a recession, the nation’s largest steel companies raised steel prices by 3.5 percent. President John F. Kennedy, who had repeatedly called for stable prices and wages as part of a program of national sacrifice during a period of economic distress, held a news conference on April 11, 1962, which he opened with the following commentary regarding the hike in steel prices. Read Kennedy’s remarks carefully. Then write an essay in which you analyze the rhetorical strategies President Kennedy uses to achieve his purpose. Support your analysis with specific references to the text.

REMEMBER

REMINDER: DEVICES CREATE MEANING

• Metaphors strengthen biases…
• Alliteration underscores emotional volatility…
• Repetition increases audience outrage….

READ THE SPEECH AGAIN

• What is JFK’s argument?
• What DEVICES did you notice?
• What MEANING did the devices create?

GREAT SORROW

SADLY.

• A vast majority of the essays focused primarily or exclusively on features of prose style, with the weakest of these fixated on the formal features (stylistic devices, logical fallacies) without acknowledging the intent behind them (Kennedy’s rhetorical purpose). A typical essay began, “President Kennedy used anaphora, emotion, and slippery slope to achieve his purpose” and then moved on — with various levels of success — to identify the location and use of what the student identified as Kennedy’s rhetorical strategies.

SADLY.

• A vast majority of the essays focused primarily or exclusively on features of prose style, with the weakest of these fixated on the formal features (stylistic devices, logical fallacies) without acknowledging the intent behind them (Kennedy’s rhetorical purpose). A typical essay began, “President Kennedy used anaphora, emotion, and slippery slope to achieve his purpose” and then moved on — with various levels of success — to identify the location and use of what the student identified as Kennedy’s rhetorical strategies.

SADLY.

• A vast majority of the essays focused primarily or exclusively on features of prose style, with the weakest of these fixated on the formal features (stylistic devices, logical fallacies) without acknowledging the intent behind them (Kennedy’s rhetorical purpose). A typical essay began, “President Kennedy used anaphora, emotion, and slippery slope to achieve his purpose” and then moved on — with various levels of success — to identify the location and use of what the student identified as Kennedy’s rhetorical strategies.

WEAK ESSAYS

WEAK ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• The weakest essays substituted the simpler task of summary for rhetorical analysis, merely explaining what Kennedy said. Slightly more successful analyses went beyond summary to list various rhetorical strategies but did not identify them clearly in the text or, more commonly, explain how the strategies might have helped Kennedy achieve his purpose. Many essays featured the terminology of rhetorical analysis (ethos, logos, pathos) or of stylistic analysis (assonance, alliteration, parallel structure) but inadequately or inaccurately identified these as strategies in the text — for example, confusing ethos and pathos, and demonstrating this confusion with inappropriate textual evidence or with a complete absence of reference to the text.

WEAK ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• The weakest essays substituted the simpler task of summary for rhetorical analysis, merely explaining what Kennedy said. Slightly more successful analyses went beyond summary to list various rhetorical strategies but did not identify them clearly in the text or, more commonly, explain how the strategies might have helped Kennedy achieve his purpose. Many essays featured the terminology of rhetorical analysis (ethos, logos, pathos) or of stylistic analysis (assonance, alliteration, parallel structure) but inadequately or inaccurately identified these as strategies in the text — for example, confusing ethos and pathos, and demonstrating this confusion with inappropriate textual evidence or with a complete absence of reference to the text.

WEAK ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• The weakest essays substituted the simpler task of summary for rhetorical analysis, merely explaining what Kennedy said. Slightly more successful analyses went beyond summary to list various rhetorical strategies but did not identify them clearly in the text or, more commonly, explain how the strategies might have helped Kennedy achieve his purpose. Many essays featured the terminology of rhetorical analysis (ethos, logos, pathos) or of stylistic analysis (assonance, alliteration, parallel structure) but inadequately or inaccurately identified these as strategies in the text — for example, confusing ethos and pathos, and demonstrating this confusion with inappropriate textual evidence or with a complete absence of reference to the text.

WEAK ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• The weakest essays substituted the simpler task of summary for rhetorical analysis, merely explaining what Kennedy said. Slightly more successful analyses went beyond summary to list various rhetorical strategies but did not identify them clearly in the text or, more commonly, explain how the strategies might have helped Kennedy achieve his purpose. Many essays featured the terminology of rhetorical analysis (ethos, logos, pathos) or of stylistic analysis (assonance, alliteration, parallel structure) but inadequately or inaccurately identified these as strategies in the text — for example, confusing ethos and pathos, and demonstrating this confusion with inappropriate textual evidence or with a complete absence of reference to the text.

MID-RANGE ESSAYS

MIDRANGE ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• Typical midrange essays identified rhetorical strategies but did not make convincing connections between these strategies and Kennedy’s aims of identifying himself with the American people and condemning the steel industry’s actions. Other essays in the middle range acknowledged that Kennedy’s words were intended to have certain effects, but they identified these effects only vaguely and generically — for example, “to emphasize his points” or “to show he’s not just talking and really means what he says.”

MIDRANGE ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• Typical midrange essays identified rhetorical strategies but did not make convincing connections between these strategies and Kennedy’s aims of identifying himself with the American people and condemning the steel industry’s actions. Other essays in the middle range acknowledged that Kennedy’s words were intended to have certain effects, but they identified these effects only vaguely and generically — for example, “to emphasize his points” or “to show he’s not just talking and really means what he says.”

MIDRANGE ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• Typical midrange essays identified rhetorical strategies but did not make convincing connections between these strategies and Kennedy’s aims of identifying himself with the American people and condemning the steel industry’s actions. Other essays in the middle range acknowledged that Kennedy’s words were intended to have certain effects, but they identified these effects only vaguely and generically — for example, “to emphasize his points” or “to show he’s not just talking and really means what he says.”

MIDRANGE ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• Typical midrange essays identified rhetorical strategies but did not make convincing connections between these strategies and Kennedy’s aims of identifying himself with the American people and condemning the steel industry’s actions. Other essays in the middle range acknowledged that Kennedy’s words were intended to have certain effects, but they identified these effects only vaguely and generically — for example, “to emphasize his points” or “to show he’s not just talking and really means what he says.”

HIGH SCORING ESSAYS

HIGH SCORING ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• The higher-scoring essays successfully identified strategies, fully elaborating on how these strategies helped Kennedy rally support from the American people by publicly shaming the steel executives. For example, one student discussed how Kennedy worked in his speech to make the subject of rising steel prices relevant to the American public; another discussed how the “millionaire Harvard graduate” managed to identify with working-class Americans.

HIGH SCORING ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• The higher-scoring essays successfully identified strategies, fully elaborating on how these strategies helped Kennedy rally support from the American people by publicly shaming the steel executives. For example, one student discussed how Kennedy worked in his speech to make the subject of rising steel prices relevant to the American public; another discussed how the “millionaire Harvard graduate” managed to identify with working-class Americans.

HIGH SCORING ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• The higher-scoring essays successfully identified strategies, fully elaborating on how these strategies helped Kennedy rally support from the American people by publicly shaming the steel executives. For example, one student discussed how Kennedy worked in his speech to make the subject of rising steel prices relevant to the American public; another discussed how the “millionaire Harvard graduate” managed to identify with working-class Americans.

HIGH SCORING ESSAYS TENDED TO:

• The higher-scoring essays successfully identified strategies, fully elaborating on how these strategies helped Kennedy rally support from the American people by publicly shaming the steel executives. For example, one student discussed how Kennedy worked in his speech to make the subject of rising steel prices relevant to the American public; another discussed how the “millionaire Harvard graduate” managed to identify with working-class Americans.

HOW DO YOU RATE YOUR ESSAY?