Homer Simpson Chapter 7 Summary

Within “Thank You for Arguing What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach us About the Art of Persuasion,” Jay Heinrichs, a skilled editor, and author with a long history of rhetoric delineates a very educational lesson over the power of persuasive writing or speaking in order to interact with the world around us. He accomplishes this by lucidly describing the steps to become a powerful persuader. My favorite chapter is chapter 7, which proves, to me, that this book should continue to be used in schools. Heinrichs organizes the book by explaining the skill then recounting an anecdote to help further explain when and how the strategy is most useful. Each chapter has a main idea, then has sub sections, not details, but another sub

He explains that sometimes to gain virtue in an audience 's eyes you may have to break some rules. The irony of this of course is that most people would tend to believe that breaking rules would make a person seem less virtuous. To argue using this strategy one must first figure out where the values of the crowd lie and often bend your own mindset to win the debate. In chapter seven he also emphasizes “showing off your experience” (73) and “appearing to take the middle course” (73) This means appear to take a less extreme point of view than your opponent in order to seem less aggressive and more likeable. I like this chapter because it teaches readers to expose their opponent 's weak spot and use it in an argument against them As a student I concede that I did not enjoy reading this book. However I feel that it taught me some new skills that will help me in the long run. Not only did I learn some new things, but I was able to do it on my own. Discontinuing the use of “Thank You for Arguing” would take away class time that should be allotted for other things and uses it to teach rhetorical tools that could be learned over the summer by having students read