Notes for second mini-analysis (Gallop/White/Berger)
In this second Mini-analysis, you will bring forth and examine for your reader elements of a suitable text that occur to you as "surprising," especially in relation to the customary projections we can assume from the audience.
Use Gallop's argument and terms, defining them using examples from your rhetorical artifact. For instance, when closely reading for what is surprising in the text, strive to discover and then reveal elements of the text that do not readily conform to the main idea. That means you will need to demonstrate what an audience might project the main idea to be, and then show how that projection might lead to overlooking or ignoring surprising details that invoke ideas and values that would challenge the main idea. Thus, you need to actually show your reader how this juxtaposition of "surprising elements" with the projected "main idea" results in undergoing a challenge to the thoughtless projection of stereotypes, etc. Share with your reader how this might lead to revising their understanding of the text. So, for instance, you might build from the results of McKee's method: as you test the controlling and counter ideas you see against actual details of the text, you will likely encounter "surprises" that reveal your initial view of the text (articulated as the controlling idea and counter idea) to be projections, which then might allow you to generate alternative interpretations of the text that stray from the main idea. Then you share with your reader how the new aspects of the text bring you to revise your understanding of the text (which you also share with your reader). Inevitably, what emerges is a point of view (another often-marginalized controlling value) that contextualizes the orginal reading of the text--that is, a critical perspective becomes possible, one that allows you to give voice to views the text ignores, marginalizes, or attacks. Thus, in the end, Gallop's method ought to serve as an instrument to then employ a critical method much like White's, or Berger's, otherwise known as a "one-two punch." |
Also refer to the general topics for workshopping mini-analyses.
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