Kenneth Burke's "New Rhetoric"

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses Kenneth Burke's theory of the "new rhetoric" - in which he saw culture as a kind of language of contextual symbols. The "symbolic construction of social reality" is the topic of scholarly debate and discussion even fifty-seven years after the publishing of his groundbreaking book "A Rhetoric of Motives". The paper notes that what Burke meant by "new rhetoric" according to Marie Hochmuth - writing in The Quarterly Journal of Speech - applies interestingly and poignantly to a review of many cultural settings, including the American style of weddings. The paper looks at the American institution of a wedding, with all the traditions, myths, spoken ceremonial words and rituals, and critiques the wedding as a tradition and as a cultural institution, using the new rhetoric interpretations and strategies put forward by Burke.

From the Paper:

"The bride wears white, presumably to signify her purity. But in other cultures, most notably India and Japan, red rather than white is the customary color of first-time brides. Even in our own culture, white was not the customary color for a wedding dress until the 19th century, when Queen Victoria wore white at her wedding. Also, for a long time, women did not have enough money to have a new dress, so they wore their best dresses, unless they were wealthy, but now that clothing is cheaper, almost everyone wears a special dress for the day. Even if someone defies these norms, such an act is consciously interpreted as defiance. People do not exist outside of the symbolic language of the culture in which they find themselves."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1950.
• Foss, Sonja, Karen Foss, and Robert Trapp (1991). "Introduction to Kenneth Burke."
• From Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric. 2nd edition. Waveland. Retrieved 23 Nov 2007 at http://bradley.bradley.edu/~ell/burke.html
• Hochmuth, Marie. "Kenneth Burke and the 'New Rhetoric'." The Quarterly Journal of Speech. (2003): 133-144. Retrieved 5 Dec. 2007 fromhttp://www.comm.umd.edu/faculty/tpg/documents/HochmuthonBurke.pdf
• Schwartz, Joseph. "Kenneth Burke, Aristotle, and the Future of Rhetoric." College Composition and Communication 17.5 (1966): 210-216

More papers on Kenneth Burke's "New Rhetoric":

• Essay # 4472 : "Burke's Contributions to Rhetoric"
• Comparison Essay # 13295 : "Aristotle & Kenneth Burke on Rhetoric"

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