Rhetorical Analysis (NORM) Perley

David

The picture I have chosen is of UNCC mascot Norm located at the main entrance of the campus. The picture is of norm mining for gold and has a platter that he is looking to seeing if he found gold. The purpose of the statue is to not only show off our mascot but to add emphasis on why exactly it is so special to be a UNCC 49er. Norm is displaying hope in the picture because he mines all day and night just for the chance that he may even get a glimpse of gold. I think that message speaks for our whole campus because there is a big wide open world to explore and grow and UNCC 49ers will try their best in everything they do to be successful in this life. They will always strive for the best and now we can bring in our school motto stake your claim. Stake your claim is well emphasized on campus and is everywhere from posters to on our website. Norm is displaying stake your claim because in the statue it seems that he may have found a little piece of gold that despite its size can be worth a ton more. The gold in the platter represents our goals as a 49er and what will we do to strive to reach that goal. The audience of this statue is everyone who enters the main entrance of campus; opening a whole new world behind this solid stone statue. There arent many recognizable ethos in this statue but there are logos and pathos. The logos in this statue are the logical appeal of norm and the supportive evidence that he is a gold miner with the pale of water that he is holding. Getting deeper into logos would be that the statue can lead a persons thought on it in many different ways. People

entering campus can interpret different meanings and ethics that they personally connect with that they think the statue is representing. Even though there arent flat out obvious ethos the logos still support ethos and can be taken from it. The pathos in this statue is that people can feel the way norm feels in the statue. When people enter campus they see norm and assume that he found gold since he is a 49er and can also create some sort of metaphor to different people that appeals to the audiences emotions. Some of Bangs principles can also be noticed of the photograph of the statue. First off right front is that the picture is obviously centered on Norm and dominates the scene. Another one would be the vertical path of stones in front of Norm displaying he has a long road ahead and needs to keep going. Now referring to Sturken and Cartwrights article on representation, Norm represents not just some random 49er, but the whole community of UNCC. This one sole figure can represent a whole community through this one photograph. The ideology behind the statue would be to stake your claim and to strive for the best and only the best. Norm is a truly great mascot and this photograph depicts not only him, but the whole community behind UNCC.