Journal # 1"Rhetorical situation"

· Describe the situation that made you feel a need to respond in writing.
There are some situations in which one may feel compelled to reply to a comment or a situation for a number of reasons. Perhaps it was to prove a point, to or ask a follow up question or even to inform. My situation was slightly different in some matters. In the International Baccalaureate Program, the program which I was in demanded that throughout your two years in the program you develop this sophisticated style of writing and at the end of the year you write two types of papers. At the end of my senior year I wrote a comparative study on two novels.

· Why did you decide to respond in writing instead of taking some other action or not responding at all?
I had to respond in writing not only because it was part of the criteria but also because I wanted to inform myself about my writing abilities and to persuade the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) that their program did teach me to become a better writer.

· What type or genre of writing did you use to communicate your purpose, and why did you choose this genre?
The genre that of writing that I used to communicate was a comparative study of two novels: House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, and So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ. I happen to choose this type of genre because I felt that I was able to use it to best portray my knowledge of the two pieces of literature as well as my writing abilities.

· Who was your audience and what kind of relationship did you want to establish with your readers?
My intended audience was the members of the International Baccalaureate Organization. The type of relationship that I wanted to institute was a professional and scholarly as well as an informative affiliation.

· What was your purpose in writing? Did you feel you accomplished this purpose?
I had two purposes to my writing. The first one was to prove to myself that my writing has improved drastically due to the techniques that my English teacher taught and through the genres of writing that IB implemented within their curriculum.
My second purpose of my writing was to prove to the members of the IBO that their promulgated curriculum was beneficial in improving writing.

· What knowledge of the context and culture did you draw on to guide your writing?
The title of my writing was called Subliminal Writings: The role of the Journals and Letters in the House of the Spirits and So Long a Letter. My overall thesis was that the authors secretly gave attention to genres of writing within their novel. Within my writing I drew attention to the styles of writing the two authors used. I took into consideration the time periods that they were written in and if the style of writings were popular at the time that they were written. The authors Allende and Bâ had two different cultures within their novels in which I took note of and established that because of their cultural upbringings they inserted the use of writings differently.

· How is thinking about your writing as responding to a “rhetorical situation” different from other ways to think about the writing you do?
In using “rhetorical situation” you think about what you did intentionally about your writing, whereas the other times you think about your writing you are usually thinking about it before you begin your writing process or as you write or when you are editing your writing. Usually at those times you do not focus on the details that rhetorical situations demand you think about such as factors which can affect your writing or the context which may be affected my time period, location, and current events. Even if the writer does think about those things it is not really thought about intentionally it is usually just part of the writing process that the writer goes through to be able to finish the writing.