The metaphor of the rhetor

As a more complete justification of my claim that visual rhetoric might be justified by the fact that it is merely an extension of the claim that rhetoric is metaphorical, my aim in these next few posts will be to address that metaphorical nature and then to apply it to a real-world event (that event being the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire of 1911 in New York City).

In "The Rhetorical and Metaphorical Nature of Graphics and Visual Schemata," Rosemary E. Hampton works to justify the dialectical mechanism of visual rhetoric by claiming it as an extension of rhetoric's metaphorical form. She writes, "Rhetoric cannot escape metaphor. [...] Because metaphor is a means of regulating the world of thought, cognition and interpretation require knowledge of codes used in different symbol systems--the symbol systems in the technologized context of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries" (348). If we are to think of rhetoric as the manifestation of a dialectical search for meaning or reality, then that manifestation signals the rhetorical form itself as a metaphor for the search for meaning that occurs inside of the individual's mind. This postmodern conception of argument emphasizes the style and form of the argument as well as the actual content of the argument. If the form of the argument is to carry a significant amount of weight in the articulating and persuasiveness of the argument, then the accommodating of the argument to modern means of communication becomes a valid concern for the rhetor.

Here, one might begin to think of the place of visuals in the argument, whether they are used as pieces of evidence in themselves or whether they are used as mere stimulants and entry points into the argument itself. In following posts, I will explore the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire, the visuals associated with it, and the roles of the visuals in the context of the argument.

Work Cited

Hampton, Rosemary E. "The Rhetorical and Metaphorical Nature of Graphics and Visual Schemata." Rhetoric Society Quarterly 20.4 (1990). JSTOR. 1 December 2007. .