One of the things I want to get you accustomed to doing is trying stuff out - trying out concepts and applying them to actual texts. You've started doing this, but I want to encourage an even higher degree of specificity in your analyses - that is, when you write about a particular feature in a particular text, I'd like to see you include examples and some discussion of why you think that's there. It's the only way, in the end, that you'll get a clear handle on these concepts, or at least a grasp of how they might be useful both as tools for reading and tools for composing.
So, I want you try out, specifically, the concept of enthymeme, again applied to a particular text surrounding the campaign. What I want you to do, that is, is identify a place in a text where you see an enthymeme, and discuss it. That means you'll need to identify the premise or premises made visible, as well as the premise or premises left out - it's kind of a fill in the blank exercise, but the blank is hidden.
You might try out some of the other categories Aristotle suggests as well, like paradigm (example) and maxim. Again, the degree to which these concepts will give you a new perspective on texts and discourse is the degree to which you use them to do focus on specifics in a complex way.
So - write this on your blog by Friday, and come ready on Friday to talk about it in class.
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