Reading Response to Chapter 12 Delivery

For this week’s reading response, I found the section in Chapter 12 on delivery of oral discourse to be quite interesting.  Although it seems that throughout most of my blogs I have talked about the importance of speech, and the key elements that make for successful oration, I will dig deeper into the process of grabbing the audience’s attention through gestures of the speaker rather than the mere fluency of the speaker’s voice. 

Not everyone is meant for speaking in front of people. Most people dread the thought of being the center of attention in front of an audience.  Personally, I believe that having the ability to comfortably express your thoughts and opinions in front of any size audience is one of the best qualities a human can have!  Even though Crowley and Hawhee assert that “The ancients gave a great deal of attention to the use of tone and pitch to convey emotions; but since contemporary audiences prefer that a speaker’s tone and pitch reflect those that occur in conversational speech, today speakers needn’t worry about such matters”(409).  This is pure bull crap. They even go on to say that ancient rhetoricians changed the volume of their voice to emphasize certain words, while today speakers can rely on technical equipment to support their voice.  I believe that today, having a strong voice is essential in getting any point across. Regardless of the person’s lung size, the speaker should be able to convey his or her thoughts with great stress and emotion on their words, not the level of volume in which they announce it. 

Let’s use a speech about informing the class about the pros and cons of eBay.  As an audience member of an intro public speaking class, my expectations are not very high. But in this case, I would hope that the speaker has at least rehearsed his or her speech because “…rehearsal helps you decide where to pause and where you can look up at your audience in order to establish contact with them” (410).  Furthermore, eye contact is a key component in any speech.  Imagine standing at a podium and never looking up to your audience while reading your speech. Your speech would become lifeless, as well as your audience. Not only is eye contact important, but in most cases pacing around your given area, and using hand gestures, ultimately feeds the audience with entertainment. The more the audience has to look at, improves the context of your speech as well.

Response to Chapter 11, Memory

Memory is an interesting concept. Can you imagine how much crap is stored in our brains that we rarely use? It’s funny to think that if we really wanted to dig deep into the history of our life, we can picture things that happened at certain points of our life.  As a college student, I personally rely on memory every day. All the way from when homework assignments are due, to upcoming test dates, memory is a key aspect of my everyday life. In chapter eleven, Crowley and Hawhee discuss how important memory was within rhetorical theory.  Crowley and Hawhee assert that “Ancient Rhetoricians distinguished between natural memory and artificial memory” (376).  Furthermore, “…artificial memory is a memory that has been carefully trained to remember things” (376). I find it quite interesting how heavily ancient rhetoricians relied on artificial memory as terms of invention.  In this case, relaying back on information that they previously stored, then “reorganized and expanded upon these, and added their own interpretations of the traditional material” (376). I never thought of memory as a form of invention.  For many today, the practice of reading, re-reading, and writing down material can help us retain material. But living in a world where technology is constantly advancing, the process of retention is not a necessity. In my opinion, we can easily look up a term, theory, event, etc, on our phone faster than taking the time to dig back in our memory, and correctly arrange our ideas.