ABSTRACT
Walter Fisher observed that much of what functions as “persuasion,” “argument,” or “case-making” is offered in the form of stories or narratives. Terms such as narrator, character, plot, and setting give us places to look and things to look for in such texts that are not intended as literature but as rhetorical responses to some exigence.
We pay attention to the concepts of narrative probability and narrative fidelity that help you assess the rationality of a narrative text and provide means to determine if a text is a “reliable, trustworthy and desirable guide to thought and action.” We offer the logic of good reasons as a way of systematically making those assessments.
We demonstrate the applicability of the approach to very different texts: the Gettysburg Address and an episode of Smackdown! The analyses show you how the concepts of narrative can be applied insightfully to almost any rhetorical text.
