Essay dictionary

            
             I found the best definition of rhetoric in Random House Webster's Dictionary Rhetoric (n).
             o The art of effectively using language in speech or writing.
             The Penguin Handbook of Literary Terms and Literary Theory says that "rhetoric is the art of using language for persuasion, in speaking or writing; especially in oratory. The classical theoreticians codified rhetoric very thoroughly. Acknowledge and command of it was regarded as essential-(pg.173).
             The Missionary Position by Christopher Hitchens has several examples of rhetoric. Hitchens as definitely honed in on using language effectively for persuasion. In The Missionary Position Hitchens uses rhetoric to show his reader that Mother Theresa was not the saint that everyone believed her to be. A prominent example of rhetoric can be seen when Hitchens talks about Mother Theresa's financial status. An ineffective way to explain her economic status would be to say that Mother Theresa took a vow of poverty, but had over fifty million dollars in the bank. This is shocking, however Hitchens is able to lead the reader to think that Mother Theresa is unethical with her care for the poor. Hitchens quotes Susan Shields, a nun who worked with Mother Theresa for nine and a half years. He pairs her testimony with his argument, which pulls the reader in to believe that Mother Theresa was unethical. .
             Robert Hughes also uses rhetoric in Culture of Complaint. Hughes uses a more direct form of rhetoric to show Americans what they are really like. Unlike Hitchens eloquent style, Hughes is very straightforward which gets the point across just the same. We see this when he is talking about Americans and using PC language. He uses a letter written from a faculty member at the University of Kentucky to a student. The letter is reprimanding the student for not using PC language. Hughes wittily points out that the faculty member writes the letter with sloppy English.