<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>The authors in both works broke down the definition and significance of rhetoric and more specifically visual rhetoric in the new digital writing environment. The graphic novel focused more on the connotation and denotation of the art of rhetoric. Although rhetoric is often seen as deceptive, the author taught us that rhetoric is another way of communication used to express viewpoints and opinions in a persuasive manner. Rhetorics achieve this through the use of these three concepts: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos convinces an audience of the author’s credibility proving that they’re worth listening to. Pathos persuades an audience by appealing to their emotions, this invokes sympathy. Lastly, logos appeals to the audience’s sense of logic and reasoning. Kairos also plays a role in the effectiveness of rhetoric. Kairos is described as the opportunity for speaking, meaning the timing for what you’re talking about has to be appropriate and relevant. The graphic novel also gave us a history lesson on how rhetoric was created and how it impacted ancient Greece, specifically with the birth of democracy. The essay by Mary E. Hocks gave me a very thorough analysis of how we’re beginning to borrow elements from image studies and design fields to express the principles of visual rhetoric. Some of the key terms she used in her essay were audience stance, transparency, and hybridity. Audience stance is how the author uses ethos to invite or discourage certain people from interacting with their online document. Transparency is how the author uses graphic design to create a sense of familiarity for the audience. Hybridity is how the author combines and constructs visual and verbal designs in their online document. Personally, I had never considered the complexity that went into rhetorical writing or visual rhetoric. I was familiar with concepts of ethos, pathos, and logos from high school English but the gr</span><span style=”font-weight: 400;”>aphic novel and essay gave me a deeper understanding of how to put them into practice.</span>
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