How do you use your time - Essay Example

Analysis of a Real-life Rhetorical Situation: How Do You Use Your Time It was a weekend and I had time on my hands. I had no scheduled or planned activities. Suddenly, I was invited by a cousin to attend his daughter’s baptism. However, I did not want to travel for a quite a long distance to get to the affair. I had an out-of-town business trip the following Monday and I did not want to be too tired for that travel. The rhetorical situation hinges on the issue of whether I should spend my time with my cousin and be too weary for my business trip or not go to the baptism and be fully-refreshed for my business trip.

This situation nudges at family and career values which would place me in a dilemma of making an effort of spending time with family and risking exhaustion before my business meeting. My cousin is earnest but not demanding in his invite. His personal credibility is beyond reproach and he is fair enough in not expecting my full commitment to the occasion. His intention in speaking to me is a motive bound in family values and he does not display any intention aside from inviting me to the occasion.

His intention is also persuasive but not insistent. As an audience to his request, the family link played a large part in deciding whether or not I would or should consider his request. He knew that I too was aware of the importance of family and that there were already fewer occasions when the extended family got to gather and mingle with each other. This rhetorical situation revolves around the issue of whether or not I should give time for my family on an otherwise uneventful weekend and risk being too weary for my business travel on the weekday work week; or whether or not I should not join family and friends for a gathering in order to stay refreshed for my business engagement.

The main lines of reasoning or argument used in this rhetorical situation are my obligation to family and my duty to my career – to perform at 100% capability during the weekday workweek. My cousin is quick to remind me the value of family, but I would have to make a crucial choice on the situation in a few hours time. My cousin appeals not so much on reason but on my emotions and obligations to my family. He is knowledgeable of the fact that I would really be too tired from travelling to and from the baptism and then again for my business trip.

Based on that assessment alone, reason would dictate that I would be compromising the quality of my work when the weekday would come. And he does not bring that logical part of the issue in the conversation. Instead, he appeals to my emotions and conscience as a member of the family in order to persuade me to join the family affair. The structure of the communication in which the situation is arranged is oral or verbal. He uses informal and familial language because of the fact that we are cousins and also good friends.

There is no need for formality in my communication with my cousin because we have been close relatives and friends from the time we were children. This informal tone actually fits the situation I am in because it is marked with more familial overtones. This form of communication matches the content and the context of the situation. And through this form, it helps my cousin in fulfilling his intention. By appealing to me in an informal manner, he has reminded me of our easy and friendly relationship with each other and the enjoyment we would all again experience in being together as a family.

My cousin’s words clearly express his intention in including me as a family member in the baptism. He is also effective in using all these tools in order to convince me that joining them would be the better decision to make. The nature of the communication of this rhetorical situation reveals that society views an implied duty to family – an informality which makes it acceptable to engage in a relaxed conversation with them. However, this culture also implies a responsibility people owe to their careers and their professions – that it too deserves a semblance of professionalism.

This rhetorical situation must be weighed based on personal and professional values.