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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page research paper that addresses Deborah Tannen's 1998 text The Argument Culture: America's War of Words, which presents a comprehensive summary of Tannen's principal thesis for this text in the opening chapter, which is entitled "Fighting For Our Lives." This examination of this chapter analysis of Tannen's use of rhetorical devices, as well as the main points of her argument. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khtanne2.rtf
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of this chapter analysis of Tannens use of rhetorical devices, as well as the main points of her argument. Tannens principal claim and her audience: This main argument is
that there is a "pervasive warlike atmosphere" that pervades American society, as well as Western culture, which has a "deep, thick, and far-ranging root system" (Tannen 2). While this cultural
atmosphere has served the purposes of society in the past, Tannen feels that in contemporary culture it is getting in the way, rather than helping to solve it problems (Tannen
2). This "argument culture" has as its basic premise the idea that an "adversarial frame of mind" is the most effective way to get anything accomplished (Tannen 2). The
author disputes this assumption and is quite persuasive. The audience for her book is the public at-large, which includes her fellow social scientists, policy makers, and media journalists, as she
pictures the argumentative atmosphere of which she speaks to be systemic. Exigence of her claim: As this suggests, Tannen sees this cognitive mindset as a factor that characterizes all
of Western society. The exigency of her position derives from this fact, as the assumption that ties her various points together as a rhetorical whole is that change is both
necessary and desirable. In making this point, Tannen refers to her experience with the media in regards to her previous books as an example, While Tannen did not intend her
previous work as a polemic against specific stances or issues, she was often confronted by journalists who perceived her books in argumentative terms. Curious about this observed behavior, she once
asked one journalist, "Why do you need to make others wrong for you to be right?" to which the journalist declared, "Its an argument" (Tannen 3). This answer appears to
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