Bissot,

Erin Bissot

Prof. Johnson

Writ 2

13 June 2017

Rhetoric Between Childrens Books and Research Articles

Society is exposed to different genres daily such as television and paper

advertisements, novels such as fantasy or horror, blogs found online, newspaper

articles, and so on. By using varying types of genres to discuss similar topics, the

rhetor can appeal to different audiences, directly allow the audience to think about

the literary techniques employed and consider the works difference in context. The

choices of rhetoric, such as language and formality, are strongly based upon the

authors choice of audience, the language or diction exigence, or purpose of of the

work of text. When discussing the topic of engines, specific comparisons between

two different genres such as the elementary childrens fiction book The Little Engine

That Could and the scholarly research article Why Fast Trains Work: An

Assessment of a Fast Regional Rail System in Perth, Australia reveal the differences

in an authors rhetoric, preference of audience, and meaning.

The first choice of genre is the childrens book The Little Engine That Could,

written by Watty Piper and Loren Long originally in 1930. The childrens books

theme focuses around engines, also known as trains, and how one train struggles to

climb a hill with a large amount of cargo and strain. Carroll, author of Backpacks vs.

Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis reminds the reader that rhetoric, such

as rhetoric written within The Little Engine That Could, is created through specific
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situations or context (48). As mentioned earlier, the authors choice in language

and formality is specifically based on the speakers audience choice. In this childs

fictional account, Piper and Longs audience choice is clearly based for children and

kids around the ages of three to eight, the target audience being elementary school

children. Although parents and elementary school teachers are not truly part of this

targeted audience, parents and teachers may take on the role of the speaker. For

example, although Long and Piper are the original speakers of the story, parents

assume the role of the speaker when reading their child to bed. Similarly, teachers

also have the availability of becoming the speaker when reading and teaching to

their class. An authors audience choice is extremely important because it can also

hint to the reason, or purpose behind a text.

Within this genre of childrens books, the author makes different choices in

context of his writing in order to relate to the children. For young minds that are not

fully developed and have smaller vocabularies, Piper and Long must choose a type

of basic language, or diction, that children may understand and process. Due to

Piper & Longs simplistic formality, it is necessary to use short and descriptive

phrases such as She was a happy little train, There were toy cars, and the little

train was carrying all these good things in order to fulfill the authors exigence,

which will later be discussed. Typically, in a childrens book, the language is basic

and easy to read, through the authors literary use of repetition. For example, The

Little Engine That Could begins its first words with Chug, chug, chug... And Puff,

puff, puff... (Piper and Long).

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Repetition, such as that found in The Little Engine That Could, serves as a

learning tool for young children. Reid, author of Ten Ways to Think about Writing:

Metaphoric Musings for College Students discusses how Americans have a very

high tolerance for repeated messages and young elementary kids have come to rely

on repetition for learning (11). Reid carries on about repetition in Piper & Longs

The Little Engine That Could and states that this repetition needs to appear early

and often (12). By using the literary repetition such as I think I can, I think I can, I

think I can, found in Piper & Longs childrens book, young elementary children in

the audience can recognize the key themes throughout the book and find a way to

sing along and participate (Reid 12). The elementary childrens genre has also

made the use of recurring pictorial images that are large and full of color, giving the

engine itself a face with different emotions, toys, delicious foods and so on. By

placing colorful and depictive images on every single page, the attention and moral

story of The Little Engine That Could keeps the eyes and attention of the audience in

full focus.

The exigence, or the purpose of writing and selling these childrens genres, is

simply to inform children about perseverance and hard work, and to express what

that value can achieve. By allowing parents and teachers to read to the kids, the

author also offers a chance of building personal relationships between the rhetor

and their audience. The exigence of this genre also allows teachers who are reading

in class to enforce moral life lessons of hard-work and the concept of never giving

up. The childrens book genre was created to show the success derived from

constant determination and positivity.

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So what is the importance or meaning behind the authors choice in genre,

audience and context? The importance, or so what behind the authors many

choices helps to engage the audience and build a strong and important relationship

with your viewer. Once the engine summons the courage to carry on, the author

also provides a moment of clarity, or climax to the story, that follows after learning

the concept of perseverance, motivation, and self trust (Reid 22). In How to Read

Like a Writer by Mike Bunn, the authors true goal is to break-through to their

audience. The genuine goal of the author is to consider the effect of certain

rhetorical choices on potential readers, and then further more, to imagine what

different choice the author might have made instead (Bunn 72). Once you have

imagined these possible substitutions, one may take it a step further and imagine

What differences in choice the author might have made and to what effect [those

authors] varying choices would have on their newly chosen audience (Bunn 72).

Another genre that discusses train engines is the scientific journal article

Why Fast Trains Work: An Assessment of a Fast Regional Rail System in Perth,

Australia, written by McIntosh et al. in 2013. The speaker, rhetoric such as

language and context, and the meaning can be stated in many ways, but the focus of

rhetorical communication is the message that the authors are trying to

communicate. In McIntosh et al.s research article, the new topic of Southern Rail

Systems in Australia is heavily discussed along with the controversy of the planning

in urban areas that are car dependent (37). The communication of the author lies

within and depends on their audience and the idea or topic that theyre trying to get

across to the audience. The use of rhetoric here could be to turn in an assignment
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for a good grade, or simply to inform others of a new and better working train in

Australia. Rhetors who focus on their audience make choices determined by the

type of language used or the formality of the discourse used. McIntosh et al.s

audience lies within scholars, college students, engineers, and the community of

areas affected. The same topic of these two genres of engines differ due to the

authors treatment of the topic. The scientific research genre discusses the speed,

length and power of a train, while the childrens genre is focused on motivation and

self belief.. The author uses advanced terminology due to his older aged and likely

highly educated readers with intellectual vocabularies. For example, McIntosh et al.

uses heavier diction such as infrastructure and catchment, operational model

and station configurations (37). Using this type of diction implies that the authors

are aware that their audience is of a high education and can apply logic to situations.

Based on the authors choice and their older research audience, they can determine

the more serious degree of formality of discourse used throughout the text and also

the reasons for the rhetors argument. Simply put, the purpose for this scientific

research genre is for authors to inform society about construction, city planning and

the use of their article as an organizational tool. Why does McIntosh et al.s

combination of heavy diction and language, older and wiser audience and exigence

matter? The answer is that the author wants their readers to consider whether a

technique is appropriate or effective, while trying to convey their ideas (Bunn 81).

As discussed previously, genres can come in many different forms while all

embracing the same type of topic. Given the speaker, audience and purpose, it is

important to remember that the combination of these different styles all play a role
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in how the text is presented and what constitutes what is written inside. Although

the topic of trains is used in both genres, the elementary school children genre

focuses on perseverance and determination, while the scientific research article

genre focuses on the speed and ability to make an engine efficient. The authors

choice of context, within a genre, plays a key role in the readers understanding of

the text. The style and context in which authors use their audience, purpose, and

language, require the reader to think about the choices the author has made, and

how the techniques that he/she used are influencing your own responses as a

reader due to the treatment of the topic (Bunn, 72).

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Works Cited

Bunn, Mike. How to Read like a Writer. Writingspaces. (2010): 71.

Carroll, Laura Bolin. "Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis."

Writingspaces. (2010): 45.

McIntosh, James, Peter Newman, and Garry Glazebrook. "Why Fast Trains Work: An

Assessment of a Fast Regional Rail System in Perth, Australia." Journal of

Transportation Technologies 03.02 (2013): 37-47. Scientific Research Open

Access.

Piper, Watty. The Little Engine That Could. Penguin, 2005.

Reid, E. Shelley. "Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College

Writing Students. Writingspaces. (2010): 3.