Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetoric Reveals the Benefits of Religious Texts

Ossama, Rana "the book" (10/25/2007) via Flickr. Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License

Why does religious censorship continue to thrive? To answer this question, Margaret Auguste appeals to her audience - fellow school librarians as well as parents, administrators, and the library community at large - by using personal stories of encountering this issue to build their credibility with the audience while convincing them of the presence of  'religious' censorship, emotionally compelling narratives of a certain spiritual book that is a prime example of 'religious' literature being suppressed in schools and homes, and a multitude of convincing statistics that illustrate the positive link between interaction with spiritual texts and growth in youth in her essay "Those kinds of books: religion and spirituality in young adult literature.” The author's adaptive use of rhetorical strategies account for her credibility in the context of her essay, her audience's reactions, and the enormity of the issue she is challenging; these strategies serve to strengthen her argument overall. By observing Auguste's use of rhetoric, we may be able to harness the skills of rhetorical analysis to defend intellectual freedom and stand up to censorship - we can ensure that all people have access to vast resources of information and maintain the integrity of Library and Information Sciences.

Auguste uses personal testimony and experiences to build her own credibility as a school librarian, acknowledge counterarguments of her co-workers, and describe the extent of the taboo on religious literature in school libraries and society. She begins her essay with the following testimony: "’Are you sure it is okay to have those kinds of books in the library?’ my colleague asked me in a hushed tone, while perusing several books featuring religion that I'd chosen for our annual eighth grade realistic fiction project. He then furtively glanced around to make sure no one outside of our group could hear our conversation. My other colleagues also voiced their concerns, nervously reminding me of another teacher who had recently been the subject of an administrative reprimand over a book she had given to a student that the student's parent had found extremely objectionable.” This experience paints the author as an independent thinker, and as a librarian that upholds the values she was taught; her coworker’s criticism and description is almost derogatory, clearly showing her to be the more reasonable of the two. Such an inference filters her coworkers’ thoughts and concerns on the issue of religious books in school libraries into an unreasonable and cowardly category. They are too afraid to give a child relevant books because they don’t want parents to become angry with their choice - Auguste shows that librarians have lost control of book selection, and she is taking that control back. This testimony also introduces her audience to the concept that religious censorship still thrives in school libraries today. The fact that a librarian would face reprimand over book choice because a parent was uncomfortable is portrayed as silly; librarians are trained individuals educated specifically to choose the right book!  Intellectual freedom is at the core of Library and Information Sciences, it is absurd to admonish experts in maintaining information access for doing just that. This perspective may make her audience uncomfortable, as parents are among the group. However, this may be intentional, as Auguste later says, “The provocative nature of these topics ignites conversations that are essential to the development of the critical thinking skills that adolescents require to become insightful and intelligent adults.” Could the creation of this discomfort be meant to generate philosophical debate among her audience as well? Auguste additionally describes her role in this eighth grade “realistic fiction project” as a necessary piece of a capable group to bring influential and timely books to children for reflection. This makes her appear humble to the audience, which would earn her their respect, and may also justify her basic argument. Religion and religious issues play a major role in many issues today, such as religious conflict in Israel leading to widespread violence and discrimination, so why not give students religious books to enhance their perspectives of an issue? Auguste exemplifies the role of standing up for the core values of our field and for those whom our field serves, and we would do well to see the importance of her stance. Rhetorical strategies such as personal testimony can strengthen an argument when used well, and the same principle applies to the similar strategy of ‘storytelling.’

The author employs emotionally compelling narratives to change her audience’s perspective of religious texts, provide an example of ‘inappropriate’ material, and create a tangible connection between access to spiritual texts and development of youths. Our compelling school librarian chooses to describe the basic plot and message of a book she selected for her eighth graders by saying, “I had fallen in love with the book Does my Head Look Big in This by Randa Abdel-Fattah… The story centers on a Muslim teenager, Amal Abdel-Hakim, and the ramifications of her decision to wear her hijab all the time...Amal is taken aback by the intensity of the emotions the public expression of her religion stirs in others and within herself, but her courageous struggle brings results; it strengthens her determination to express herself, becoming an essential part of her self-identity.” This portrayal of a religious text may change parents’ and academics’ perspectives of what a religious text is and what it has the potential to do for a young adult audience. For instance, most parents would take a quick glance at the book, see that it centers around something Muslim, and immediately discard it for another. However, Margaret Auguste reads the book to understand its real message. This example may function to make parents and administrators question their actions in reprimanding librarians for similar book choice, and to enlighten her audience about the content of most ‘religious’ young adult novels. She shows them as books that allow young adults to explore issues of religion and self-identity, and makes it plain that they are a positive influence on readers. Auguste promotes the idea of multiculturalism in literature, which is essential to any kind of information and consumer equality. Her description of the main character and inclusion of quotes from the book also leads her audience to believe that youth can relate to their situations and plots overall. Amal’s trepidation, “I can’t sleep from stressing about whether I’ve got the guts to do it. To wear the hijab full-time;” her friends’ reaction, “ [they thought I wasn’t really] into the whole Muslim thing,” and her teacher’s assumptions, “She adds to Amal’s distress by mistakenly assuming that she  is a victim, forced by her family to adhere to Muslim doctrine,” all create a situation a majority of young adults and her audience can relate to. Most teens experience some form of alienation and misunderstanding as they mature, and these books could give them a sense of comfort in that they aren’t the only ones going through difficulty. Auguste champions the idea that the field of Information Science requires diversity of information sources as well as acceptance of that diversity and those it represents. The use of rhetorical ‘tools’ such as emotional narratives contribute to an author’s power over the audience, usually by  inciting a deep emotional response and tend to function as a method of changing the audience’s perspective.

Margaret Auguste uses statistics to show her audience that religion is an established integral component of children’s lives, and maintain her audience’s focus on the censorship controversy as opposed to religious controversy in general. She cites the National Study of Youth and Religion to show that a majority of teens are religiously involved and feel that religion  is a significant part of their lives: “80 percent of the respondents self-identified as Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Mormon, or Jewish… 71 percent had a very close relationship with God… 80 percent had few or no doubts about their beliefs in the past year.” This supports her argument for the integration of religious texts by making the suggestion that religion is already a key factor in young adult lives; the texts will cultivate religious growth. She mentions that the study defined religion in a sense that can encompass teens who are atheist or agnostic: “They defined religion as a formal organized system of beliefs, public rituals, and doctrine that stems from tradition and practice, that is often inherited and passed down generation to generation, and includes both atheism and...cults.” This effectively re-defines what religion can be for the audience, again changing their perspective on what roles and structures religions can have to favor her argument. Also, by giving this expanded definition, she doesn’t exclude certain members of her audience who may practice a commonly questioned faith. Auguste manages to use a study about religion to encompass all parents, librarians, and administrators in a comfort zone that doesn’t judge validity of religions, which keeps her audience focused on the issue of the inclusion of spiritual texts instead of the spiritualities themselves. Startling statistics can change the perspective of an audience, guide them along a ‘logical’ train of thought, and strengthen an author’s argument overall; in a similar vein, scholarly sources can enhance the logical appeal of a text.

Finally, the author inserts scholarly opinions and theories into her essay to provide a logical link between spirituality and child development, portray spirituality as akin to moral and personal values, and describe how youth can gain a sense of identity via religious texts. Auguste presents four theories of psychologists and psychosocial academics that agree on a fundamental level - development is affected by spirituality: Plaget observed that youth grow as individuals through innovative concrete thinking, which is enhanced by discussions of topics including religion; Kohlberg theorizes that “Morals, values, and how they impact decision-making skills become exceedingly important during adolescence...Religion with its sense of values and morality may assist in these decision-making skills”; Erikson claims that social constructs - i.e. religion - are crucial to “the development of identity”; and Fowler links these three theories into one that specifically relates spirituality and child development. The fact that the author relies so heavily on sources of academic merit conveys to her audience that her argument has a strong base in logic. All four of these differently focused theories point to an important link between religion and young adult maturation, making her argument that such a connection should be protected and encouraged all the more irresistible. To dispel any audience confusion about the term “spirituality,” Auguste sets out to define it and inform her audience: “It consists of practices, beliefs, and experiences that create a commitment to a way of living that may or may not be influenced by traditional religion or doctrine.” Not only does this create a similar rhetorical outcome, this definition is extremely similar to her earlier interpretation of “religion.” She creates a distinction between the two - “A person most often inherits religion but makes a conscious decision to be spiritual.” - which combines with the definition to create a sense of inclusion. The author is effectively including those who might have felt left out earlier in her essay because she made no effort to include the religiously ambiguous. Additionally, even if the readers are confused about religion’s role in the conflict of banning spiritual books, they can still understand her argument  on a basic moral level. The author saves her most supportive scholarly sources for last to reaffirm the strength of her position to her audience. By immediately following the Search Institute’s study which showed that, “the majority of teenagers… would welcome an opportunity to discuss their ideas about religion and spirituality, and the role they play in their lives, with a caring and nonjudgmental person” with children’s literature expert Trousdale’s opinion that, “stories invite children to enter a world not their own, vicariously identify with the story’s characters and their situations… Such books may resonate with the child’s spiritual experiences or encourage them to think beyond their experiences,” Auguste implies that it is entirely logical and proven that religious texts have a positive impact on children. When an author uses academic sources, they are usually attempting to appeal to their reader’s sense of logic and imply to the reader that their argument is supported by facts.

The effective use of rhetorical strategies has an overwhelmingly positive effect on the strength of an author's argument. Any author will use rhetorical strategies to connect with their audience, build credibility, impact emotional response, and display logic. As we were taken through an analysis of Margaret Auguste's essay, we saw how each strategy had a vast diversity in impact on her essay overall. Auguste explains how and why our religion-phobic schooling and society impact youth access to books through personal testimony, compelling narratives, statistics, and scholarly sources. In our field, book-banning, censorship, and lack of diversity are monumental controversial debates that seem to have no end. How will you interpret the core values of our field? How will you support your stance with rhetoric? Don’t let others make decisions for you when it comes to freedom of information - fight to be heard!

Works Cited

Auguste, M. (2013). Those kinds of books: religion and spirituality in young adult literature. Young Adult Library Services, 11.4, 37+. Retrieved from: http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy2.library.arizona.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=uarizona_main&id=GALE|A337071005&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&userGroup=uarizona_main&authCount=1