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. Marriage in Christian culture is an

exhibition of love and commitment but not deemed necessary, while in

contrast, marriage in Islamic culture is considered a necessary step in

fulfilling ones religious duty. Another distinction between Christian and

Islamic marriage is the rights women have in said marriage and divorce

in accordance with their religious texts (McClellan, 1). 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. As

mentioned above, Trump and others have negative opinions about

Islam and its practices. In anyway that makes speaking of subjects

some may not understand due to lack of education easier, is helpful to

the entire understanding of my paper.

Pathos is a main theme throughout my paper. Pathos is a

rhetorical appeal used to make readers feel a certain emotion and be

persuaded towards whatever argument is being presented. 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. Binary

oppositions are related terms but opposite in meaning. The 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.

While pleasure for both man and woman is encouraged, there is some

controversy whether female sexual needs are important or if they

cause sin and chaos. This debate reflects the Christian attitude towards

sexual interaction. The sexual body and sexual drive is considered

dangerous (McClellan, 6). This quote describes the different attitudes

of sex between the two religions. In my paper I expand on why and in

what ways the religions treat sex in that manner.

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.