Makana McClellan

UWRT 1104

January 30, 2017

Rhetorical Analysis of Disparities of Marriage

The purpose of the research paper I wrote for my Liberal Studies class last

semester is to educate my audience, including my professor and anyone interested,

of the similarities and the disparities of Islamic and Christian Marriage Practices.

Because the topic of marriage practices is so broad, I focused on the rights of women

amongst all the different practices and customs within each religion, which aligned

with the course description of women in Islam. Upon careful analysis of my

research paper, I have realized while effectively using my research to educate my

audience of the similarities and differences within the two religions marriage

practices and using pathos to create emotional feelings towards the text, I failed to

augment the amount of rhetorical devices used to fulfill my papers potential.

Through extensive research, I found many similarities and differences

between the two religions and how they view marriage, how they consummate the

marriage, how they view sexual relations within and out of marriage, and the

divorce proceedings aligning with the views of the religions. Another reason of

choosing this topic of comparing the two religions is due to the political atmosphere

we are currently situated in. Our country and certain political figures, including our

president Donald Trump, have certain opinions of the religion of Islam. While
everyone has the right to their own opinion, correct or incorrect, the sources they

use to receive the information to create such opinions could be wrong and

skewered. Many people believe Islam is a hateful, terror filled religion where

woman are given limited to no rights; by comparing the two religions marriage

practices, I exemplify the fact that the two religions are not so different in context

and that the idea of Islam being a terrible religion is wrong. Putting into prospective

such a normal and common relationship, makes the two worlds seem a bit closer

together.

By adding more rhetorical devices, I would be better able to convey a

stronger message to my audience. Adding these devices can also help my audience

to better understand what I am attempting to inform them of. Because the topic may

be a bit controversial, the use of certain rhetorical devices can also ease the attitude

and tone I am attempting to use and not make the reader think I have a certain

attitude towards the topic that I do not. By doing this, it eases the tension that can

occur due to the sensitivity of the subject.

Pathos is a main theme throughout my paper. The topic of marriage tends to

convey a feeling of love, belonging, and union. I attempted to speak positively of

marriage and union throughout my paper since some aspects, such as my section of

divorce, are somewhat taboo and can cause tension. But no matter how positively

and lovey-dovey I speak of marriage proceedings between the two religions, it really

all comes down to how the reader is influenced by their past experiences with

marriage. If a reader had parents who endured a messy divorce and a previously

unhappy marriage, the pathos conveyed for them may be of negative feelings,
especially the section of divorce, more so than a reader whose parents are happily

married. Based on external influences, peoples reactions and feelings towards

different subjects can be affected.

In class, we came up with a list of binary oppositions and that list included

things like night and day, dogs and cats, males and females, etc. Besides both being

monotheistic religions, which means serving only one God, having a set of rules or

commandments to abide that align with a moral code, Christianity and Islam are

very different, that being said they are an example of binary oppositions. In my

essay, I compared the similarities and differences of one aspect within the two

religions that differ. Marriage practices within the two religions differ within areas

such as consummation, sexual relations, and divorce.

Two other topics we discussed are mushfaking and discourse communities.

Mushfaking is partial acquisition coupled with meta-knowledge and strategies to 'make

do'. Simply put, mushfaking is faking it until you make it. Writing is something one

can mushfake a lot to seem like they know what they are talking about when in reality

they are no expert on whatever subject is being discussed. Mushfaking does not appear

much in my research paper, but the same cannot be said for this paper. For this

rhetorical analysis, it was difficult for me to consolidate my thoughts and figure out

how to order my ideas. However, for my research paper, other than the fact I wrote

it in 7 hours, not because I was close to the deadline, but just because it was a great

and easy-ish topic to expand so much on, mushfaking is not prominent. Mushfaking

is crucial to writing all kinds of papers, even if you are a scholar.

 As for discourse communities, your primary discourse is created from which

culture and environment they are raised in. So it makes sense that people raised

within a different religion have different primary discourses. Children raised in

religious homes typically live by a stricter moral code. Christianity, besides

Orthodox Catholics, is not as strict as practices found in Islam. By growing up with

certain rules, people who grow up the same way are put into the same primary

discourse community.

Growing up, I never thought of myself as a strong writer. My father is an

excellent writer who would show me his papers he wrote during his time in

graduate school. His writing flowed unlike mine, which can at times be choppy, as I

am sure this analysis is. However, I do not feel that my writing is bad when writing

papers and essays such as my research paper discussed above. When I am given a

specific, but somewhat broad topic, I am able to expand small thoughts or quotes

into great writing and explanation. The manner in which I write is less than

conventional. Usually, I will randomly write main ideas and space them out, and

then expand on each idea. As the ideas flow, I will rearrange the paper so that the

paper as a whole makes sense and is easy to follow.

By completing a rhetorical analysis on one of my best college papers yet, I

have learned a lot about myself as a writer as well as my strengths and weaknesses

in my writing. No matter how well I believe my writing is, there is always room to

improve.
Bibliography:

McClellan, Makana. Disparities of Islamic and Christian Marriage Practices.

LBST2102-340. 5 Dec 2016. Web Document.