Week 2 Journal

Rhetorical situations and genre are connected in that genre determines the type of reactions that the audience can be expected to give to the rhetor. Genre influences what kind of exigencies there are and thus has a major role in dictating the rhetorical situation at hand. In addition, rhetorical situations and genre have a tendency of repeating fairly often, creating known or innate responses. Both create these learned responses and behavior as a means of overcoming exigencies and changing in order to better adapt. Also, an audience is essential to both terms because the audience are the reactors and determine what change will come about from the constraints and restrictions. Overall, genre determines the responses and reactions that occur in the rhetorical situations.
Our understanding of rhetorical situations and genre can help us to understand everyday writing in that they allow us (the audience) to gain more insight into how the rhetor (the author, in most cases) thinks and how they construct their writing, plots and conflict that drive them. With this understanding comes a deeper knowledge of how the writing process works and how to get the most out of works.