So the other day, I came across an interesting paper written by Keith Grant Davies called “Rhetorical Situations and their Constituents.” As I was reading, I started thinking about one of the constituents in particular.

Constraints

Although the traditional definition of the term has a negative connotation, constraints in a rhetorical situation can be both positive and negative. Constraints are “factors in the situation’s context that may affect the achievement of the rhetorical objectives.” (Grant Davies 272) In plain english, they are features that can hinder or change the success of the discourse by altering how the audience views and feels about the discourse.

Now is there a connection between constraints and the boundaries that we love to talk about? Continue reading →