Argument
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3.8 More ways of discovering arguments We saw above that a nineteenth-century teacher of rhetoric, George Quackenbos, identified inventio as the most difficult stage of preparing a case. I have suggested the folded-paper technique as one way of generating some ideas that can then be structured more formally into an essay or argument. Here are some more methods of questioning texts to discover their arguments.
3.8.1 The rhetoric of fiction: point of view I suggested earlier in this chapter that the most important step you can take as a beginning literature student is one away from the text. Instead of allowing yourself to become immersed (at least on the second reading), you need to step back and consider how the text is beguiling you in this way. Here are some basic questions to ask a text in order to discover whose point of view you are being asked to share or identify with as you read, which can form the start of a deeper investigation into the text and ideology: ● Is there a story? What is it? If not, can you summarise the narration? ● Who is the narrator? Who is telling the story? Whose story or point of view is being conveyed? Where are they? Why are they telling the tale? ● Is there an audience within the text? Who do you think is the intended audience outside it (of the text as a whole)? ● Is there more than one narrator? What kind of a narrator is she or he? Are other voices heard? ● How might the events of the text be described differently by another person within it, or reader outside it?
Further reading If you are interested in this approach to reading, you should explore stylistics and narratology. See, for example, Bradford’s Stylistics, Weber’s Stylistics Reader and Feminist Stylistics by Mills. Further reading on narratology can be found in the first chapter and you should also read Booth, of course.
3.8.2 The rhetoric of fiction: genre Genres can be regarded as forms of persuasion. If this sounds a rather baffling proposition, consider a traditional romance, a Mills and Boon novel perhaps. The conventions of the romance genre lead us to expect the story to be told