Winning the People: Hitler's Rhetoric

As much as Hitler’s “Battle” is a horrific and vicious account, it is rhetorically efficient, particularly because of the variety of rhetorical techniques he uses. For example, he utilizes pathos through Mein Kampf, in which he describes his “struggle.” Besides this, he uses “performances” of a common enemy, projection device, unifying voice, commercial use, symbolic rebirth, and inborn dignity. These tropes make the readers want to agree with Hitler, in a matter of speaking, because they relate to what he says.

Credibility, Gratification, and Enlightenment

I feel that he has a connection with Burke's "The Rhetoric of Hitler's Battle" and the overall purpose of rhetoric. Aristotle says that rhetoric is the "art of persuasion." When it came to Hitler, he persuaded a nation to take up arms. Both of them agree on the idea that whatever language is used, should be used to evoke emotion in the reader or listener rather than for the gratitude of another. In the beginning of Burke's essay, he is saying that if a person knows that their speech will be viewed well no matter what, that person writes "more to our gratification rather than our enlightenment" (190).

Hitler is regarded as one of the greatest speech givers of all time. How else could he have led Germany out of their depression and into World War II? The article speaks of unity around an idea. During his time in power, Hitler was able to convince his armies that they were doing work to stop their enemies. By "uniting on the basis of a foe shared by all" (191),  Hitler would be able to lead those who heard him. He would convince them because he himself believed it. Hitler would have no plan if no one followed him. His words were meant for enlightenment.

Hitler would not be the first to exemplify this idea of it being important that rhetoric is for enlightenment. Other leaders like John F. Kennedy, Jesus of Nazareth, and even any talk show host can use rhetoric for enlightenment towards others.

But, one can easily fall out of this and write for gratification instead of for the audience's enlightenment. This reminded me of a scene from one of my favorite movies: 22 Jump Street [Go to 1:25 and view.]

By the teacher saying "I have tenure," he automatically destroys his credibility. Using "tenure" as an excuse is almost equivalent to a Mom saying, "Because I said so." Also by saying this, he illustrates that he may not there because he wants to teach, but for another reason. Therefore, his work is only for the gratification of a other, not for the enlightenment.

Now while the teacher does say that questioning him is the basis of the course and gets excited about that, the talk about tenure kills his credibility.

Credibility is what Hitler had when he came into power due to the people knowing him from Mein Kamph. Also, being in a position of power will give anyone credibility. Hitler was able to take that credibility and unite the German people around a common idea, "a common enemy" (191).

Therefore, credibility is linked directly to gratification and enlightenment.

Language in the Eyes of the Artist

In David Hume's essay, Moral and Political, he wrote, “Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them." This means that the meaning of beauty is subjective and it is open to different ideas and interpretations depending on the experience of the individual. The same concept can be applied to the theory of language. According to John Locke, “the imperfection of words is the doubtfulness or ambiguity of their signification, which is caused by the sort of ideas they stand for" (817). The ambiguity and doubtfulness that come from the words are caused by the different ideas that the words can stand for. Therefore, the meaning of language is always up for interpretation and it varies in meaning depending on the artist (writer) and the audience (reader).

Mikhail Bakhtin focuses more on stylistics and characterization of language. He says that genres are developed from stylistic modifications, which derive from individual acts and artistic movements. On page 259 he suggests that stylistic approach is a ”private craftsmanship" meaning that the text is uniquely crafted by the writer depending on his style of writing. This goes in accordance to Locke's theory of language that words are only signs of internal conceptions of ideas (818) or "names" we apply to ideas. Signs are culturally derived which means that one word or sign can have a different meaning depending on the region in which it is being utilized or the significance that is given to it by a group of individuals.

Later Locke goes more in depth mixed modes, which includes simple and complex ideas. He said that complex ideas are “formed by the connections among simple ideas”. To understand the concept of simple and complex ideas he uses an example of the words sham, wheedle and banter. Locke explains that words fit the idea that someone makes them stand for. The mind makes up names, which stand for a collection of ideas. Words like sacrilege or murder hold a significance that could never mean the same on their own. The significance of words such as names that are not intelligible is recognized as simple ideas.  

Language just like beauty is subjective. What some might think is beautiful others might now and some might understand the significance of a word differently than somebody else.  Beauty and Language have so many different meanings, some are simple but for the most part, they are complex words to define. Language can be a group of words or symbols that hold a special meaning to one group of people but this is always subject to change dependent on its intended purpose or the style of the language. In one of her books, Margaret Wolfe Hungerford wrote, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Therefore, beauty should not be defined by the socially constructed definitions that have given beauty a predisposed significance. Just like beauty, language should not be limited to one narrow understanding but rather extended to an endless degree of meanings and interpretations.  

Bakhtin, Mikhail M. “Discourse in the Novel.” The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin: U of Texas P, 1981. 259-331, excerpted.

Locke, John. “From An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.” The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present, Second Edition. Ed. Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2001. 814-827.

Hitler's True Meaning

            When thinking about Hitler and rhetoric I feel that they go hand and hand.  Hitler was very successful even though it was with bad intentions of persuading the masses and making people believe him and his ways.  Hitler was able to recruit individuals and bring them into his cause.  He did this by “ recruit its followers from among many discordant and divergent bands, must have some spot towards which all roads lead.  Each man may get there in his own way, but it must be the one unifying center of reference for all.  Hitler considered this matter carefully and decided that this center must be not merely a centralizing hub of ideas, but a mecca geographically located towards which all eyes could turn at the appointed hours of payer.” (Burke 192) By creating this mecca in Munich Hitler created “ division of the attention of a people, and always is concentrating it on a single enemy.” (Burke 193)  By doing this Hitler was able to create a stronger soldier by giving the weak and unstable characters knowledge that there are various enemies that will make them doubt their own cause.  By doing this Hitler was able to make the masses find themselves and support him.  Hitler was able to persuade the masses using his rhetoric and appealing to the masses.  He did the same thing with sexual symbolism.

            By appealing to sexual symbolism he says that Jewish individuals are the rival male.  He says that as Germans the males must desires to dominate the females and when the “villainous jew” (Burke 195) seduce them and if he succeeds he will poison the blood by intermingling with them.  This Rhetoric is very smart on his part because he is drawing on the emotional aspect of his followers and by doing this he is able to persuade them to hate the enemy, which in return makes them follow his concepts and ideas.  The “patterns of Hitler’s thought are a bastardized and caricatured version of religious thought.”( Burke 199)

            When he brings up the flaws of his enemy and appealing to his audience he is able to take the “greater one’s internal inadequacies the greater the amount of evils one can load upon the back of the enemy.  Gives a semblance of reason because the individual properly realized that he is not alone responsible for his condition” (Burke 203) and that by uniting as one they can solve these problems.

The Power of Language + Nazi Rhetoric

The anti-Semitic rhetoric of Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP during the decade preceding WWII illustrates the conception of how language defines a time period and how it also promotes social discourse. The racist vitriol propagated by the Nazi party was rhetoric implemented to shift and manipulate an already prevailing prejudice. (History of Anti-Semitism in Germany) Anti-Semitism predated Nationalist Socialist rhetoric and it’s quite fascinating as well as disconcerting how they were capable of manipulating a popular worldview in order to acquire mass appeal and support. It’s a strong demonstration of how “socially significant world views have the capacity to exploit the intentional possibilities of language through the medium”. (Bahktin 290) Considering how the mainstay of National Socialist campaigning was based strongly in propaganda, the part itself even created their own publications about the artistry and strategy involved in propaganda and all that it encompasses.  

Hitler's Philosophy As A Novel

After reading Bakhtin’s “Discourse in the Novel” and Burke’s “The Rhetoric of Hitler’s ‘Battle’”, I came to the conclusion that Bakhtin’s philosophy of language is highly relatable to Burke’s thoughts on “Battle” when the metaphor of a novel is used to examine Hitler’s philosophy.

Bakhtin & Hitler's Language

 In  Bakhtin’s Discourse in the Novel, he talks about how language is a verbal art that is based on both “Form and content in discourse are one, once we understand that verbal discourse is a phenomenon,” (259). Based on the author’s style of a novel, the reader is able to interpret the novel from not just the author’s perspective but from how the author has created this form of style. Bakhtin states how, “dialogue is no static model of speaker making utterance to listener concerning hero. The three elements of the dialogue speak, listen, and influence each other equivalently,” (596). He also states how the combining of language and style is present in the novel, "Such a combining of languages and styles in to a higher unity is unknown to traditional stylistics;... among language that is present in the novel,"(263).

Nothing of Language is Original

Imagine, the invention of the bicycle. The bicycle could not have been invented without the invention of the wheel. The invention of the wheel too was facilitated by the invention of something before it, and so on. The point is, one thing is completely dependent of the other. Each invention is linked to another and cannot exist without the other. No one idea, or invention in this case, is original. Each is bound by a theory that came before it, and whatever comes after it, will be bound by that same theory or idea. Similarly, no aspect of language is original. 

Differance in Hitler's Rhetoric

Jacques Derrida's concept of differance comes from the idea that the meaning of words is grounded in their difference from other words. The signification of words is not innate knowledge to us. Rather, we learn and create meaning for words by knowing what they don’t mean. Hitler created a definition of his Aryan nation in much the same way. Kenneth Burke argues that Hitler, especially through the symbol of the common enemy and the idea of inborn dignity, creates the same kind of antithesis between the superior and the inferior—that is, between the Aryan race and all others. In this way, Hitler created a rhetorical argument that defined their Aryan nation by what they were not. In other words, they came to know who they were by first knowing who they were not.

Hitler's Language

It is common knowledge that Adolf Hitler was an extremely persuasive and effective writer and speaker. He led people to do unthinkable and repulsive acts under the guise that our society was plagued by an undesirable race that needed to be removed. In Burke's "The Rhetoric of Hitler's Battle" it is obvious that Hitler manipulated language to essentially brainwash his followers. Hitler's intentions gave the words he used new, sinister meaning that they may not have taken on before his employment of them.

In Bakhtin's "Discourse in the Novel" words are given meaning through the speaker or writer's intentions. Words mean and convey different messages at different times because of the person, their intentions, and the time in which the words are utilized. I'd like to explore this phenomena through Hitler's rhetoric and use of language in his manipulation of his followers.

Blogging with Bahktin

To discuss the significance of Bahktin's theories in blog form is most appropriate; the language systems that Bahktin claims are "dialogic" become manifested in a "physical" or "visible" form when one engages in the culture of blogging. Blogging, as a form, is ripe with heteroglossia. That is, the nature of the structure of a blog is only useful if its content complements its innate tendency for dialogue, response, and  a melding of belief systems, language systems, and creative processes and ideologies. "Form and content in discourse are one, once we understand that verbal discourse is a social phenomenon - social through its entire range and in each and every of its factors, from the sound image to the furthest reaches of abstract meaning." (Bahktin, 259) This idea, according to Bahktin, has influenced our inherent separation of style and content, a separation in writing that should not and cannot be made. When it comes to blogging, the idea of discourse between language systems and utterances is "personified" even "exaggerated" in its complete form, reinforcing both Schuster and Bahktin's assertions to expand our definition of language and style as an ever changing discourse that calls upon itself, others, and the "system" itself for defining.

Social Discourse: Burke and Bakhtin

Social discourse is speech or text communication that involves a social element. A social type of discourse is communication that has a social purpose or some kind of distinctively social aspect. Bakhtin says “language provokes social discourse” (259-61). This is exactly what is talked about in Burke’s “Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle.” Hitler is working to persuade his people (the Aryans) that Jews were people that should not be allowed to live on earth. Hitler does this specifically through social discourse and he also uses style and content which he realizes are important when trying to connect with or persuade an audience to do or think a certain thing.

Altering Perception Through Lingual Association

In his essay Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle, Kenneth Burke systematically breaks down, and at times commends, the strategic language used by Hitler in his verbal dissemination of Jewish people in his book Mein Kamph. Burke breaks down the dismissive notion that Hitler chose Jews as his scapegoat out of pure calculation, instead reasoning that his disdain for them came from a real place of displaced anger and frustration. Through out his book Hitler persistently criticized Jews as the inferior race and juxtaposed them with the inherently superior “Aryan” race; consequently manifesting an associative meaning between “Jew” and “devil”.

Bakhtin and Burke

In Bakhtin’s essay Discourse In The Novel, Bakhtin’s discusses how language has the power start social discourse. Bakhtin also states that style is language. These two key factors and many others correspond with Burke’s explanation of, Hitlers Mein Kampf, and why it was such a powerful speech, in his essay The Rhetoric of Hitler’s “Battle”. To understand how Burke connects Bakhtin’s  theory of language and style, one must understand how Bakhtin’s thought of language. 

Bakhtin and Locke: The Imperfections of Language

In book III, An Essay to Human Understanding, John Locke mentions that language is compromised of flawed and imperfect words. He believes that, ““easy to perceive what imperfection there is in language, and how the very nature of words makes it almost unavoidable for many of them to be doubtful and uncertain in their significations;” thus meaning that we must consider the nature of the word before understanding the importance (Locke 817). Similar to Locke, Bakhtin indirectly believes that, “language is thus fundamental not only to learning, but to mind; it both creates and is created by human intelligence” (Schuster 598). Both of these theorists prove that words may be interlaced with different meanings, but we are responsible for deriving our own meaning based on our experiences.

Language as Appropriation and Corruption

“He was helpful enough to put his cards face up on the table, that we might examine his hands. Let us, then, for God’s sake, examine them” (Burke 192).

This quote taken from Burke’s “The Rhetoric of Hitler’s ‘Battle’”, provides the perfect cohesion of both his and Bakhtin’s arguments on understanding literature. Both express distaste for those who cling to examining literature based on limited, pre-set ideas that fail to grasp the extent of language’s implications within works. For Burke, it is the “inattention” of the “hasty reviewer”; for Bakhtin, it is the “divorce between an abstract ‘formal’ approach, and an equally abstract ‘ideological’ approach” (Burke 191, Bakhtin 258). Both examine language’s influence in terms of power, and more specifically how the merging and effective appropriation of ‘languages’ is capable of swaying an entire society to an unspeakably horrendous outcome.

A Dialectical Approach to Hitler’s Rhetoric

With reference to Bakhtin’s Discourse in the Novel and Burke’s The Rhetoric of Hitler, I would like to discuss the duality of approaches noted in both these texts. The most recent class periods have revolved around discussion pertaining to language, the implications, and its utilitarian aspects across a range of spectrums.

Bakhtin’s approach in regards to language discusses discourse in the novel, in addition to the novelistic whole. He refers to “form and content in discourse” as being one, and that we must understand “verbal discourse as a social phenomenon,” (Bakhtin 259). Bakhtin argues for the stylistic purposes of language and goes as far as to say “that to create a style is to create a language for oneself,” (598). He places much emphasis on his own rhetorical triangle, which is meant to evoke to speaker, hero and listener, therefore providing a sort of cross over area in which the intended audience and speaker collide, (Bakhtin 596). In accordance to his rhetorical triangle, certain aspects and characteristics that are manifested by the said triangle can be seen when Burke discusses in The Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle. Because of Hitler’s endeavors, he has been forcefully demonized by history, but what we cannot neglect is the fact that the man was an incredible orator and rhetorician during a time when the German people were severely lacking morale. Hitler’s influence spoke volumes of the German condition, and although his motives for action were less than worthy, even inhuman, as a rhetorician he contributes historically more to “our gratification than to our enlightenment,” (Burke 191).

Was Hitler’s Language In Style?

Language is used as the tool through which ideas are spoken, conveyed, and signified. However, it holds power beyond these simple terms, and is used to perform several other tasks, such as shaping a particular social discourse. Through Bahktin’s, “Discourse In the Novel,” we are presented with the idea that a particular style used in language can effectively shape the means through which persuasion and rhetoric can be deemed as effective. The speaker is expected to personalize a tone and style representative of his own in order to connect to a specific audience on a unified level. 

Hitler's Intention for Languge

During Tuesday’s class we focused on Bakhtin and his interpretation of what language can do. Through reading Bakhtin and unpacking it as a class one of the things I learned is that language can have different intentions (Bakhtin 289). Burke’s “The Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle” provides an example of Bakhtin’s assertion by showing that language can be manipulative.

Hitler's Genius

After reading Burke's Rhetoric Of Hitler's "Battle", I have come to realize one thing...that Adolf hitler  was a rhetorical genius.

Burke and Hitler (and little bit of Locke) on Symbols and Symbolic Action

Burke's argument that Mein Kampf is a symbolic act is backed up by an abundance of symbols made within the text itself. In fact, the book is almost entirely based in symbols. Based on the Bedford Glossary definition of a symbol as "something that stands for or suggests something larger and more complex," and Burke's definition for symbolic action (which can be found in his 1966 work titled Language as Symbolic Action) as systems of communication that rely on symbols, it is undeniable that Mein Kampf is a symbolic act. I have explored many of the symbols Burke found within the book to back up this claim.

Bakhtin vs. Burke in the Rhetoric of Hitler

            Throughout our discussion with language and style in class, we constantly have questioned the power of language. Language can cause many movements to take place through analytical speaking. Bakhtin argues that style is language, "that to create a style is to create a language for oneself" (598).  Bakhtin then goes onto explain that "language both creates and is created by human intelligence" (598). These two quotes throughout the class discussion made us ponder modern examples of what Bakhtin exactly was talking about.  Bakhtin's  rhetorical triangle states that by invoking speaker, hero, listener (596)  it becomes  less clear who's the subject and  who's the object. When thinking about Bakhtin's rhetorical triangle, I noticed what he meant in Burke's, "The Rhetoric of Hitler's Battle." The evil man himself practiced rhetorical speaking in such a way that influenced  "the Aryans." "Hitler's 'Battle' is exasperating, even nauseating; yet the fact remains: if the reviewer but knocks off a few adverse attitudinizing and calls it a day, with a guaranty in advance that his article will have a favorable reception among the decent members of our population, he is contributing more to our gratification than to our enlightenment" ( Burke 191). 

The Good and the Bad of Language

Bakhtin's "Discourse in the Novel" was another difficult concept to understand shortly after reading Derrida's "Differance." Bakhtin covers a number of aspects throughout his essay, including the stylistic life of discourse in the novel, as well as the unities of the novelistic whole. Furthermore, Bakhtin discusses ideas like internal dialogization, stratification, and the fact that language is heteroglot. One of the most important ideas Bakhtin traces on is the idea of understanding and response through language and how they are dialectically merged.

Hitlers Symbolic Stand

 Burke's "The Rhetoric of Hitler's Battle", demonstrates a lot of different analyzations of Hitler as well as examples of Hitlers actions through symbolism. Reading this essay, truly shows how well Hitler managed to get away with what he believed for a very long time. He was creative and persuasive and also demonstrated a sense of agency through his speech and language. His audience was gaining by the second and he did enough research in order to figure out how to draw them in and obtain what he wanted.
  Burke managers to analyze Hitler pretty well in my opinion. On pages 193 and 194 Burke provides us with an excerpt from Hitlers book about concentrating on a single enemy. Burke realized that the common enemy is a symbol that unites two sides. As I was reading this, I couldn't agree more with what was being said. I would have never thought of this being a small symbolic action but it is a small step in the direction of which Hitler was trying to go. I think that symbolic actions can be small and large. What I mean by this is that I think what Burke meant by "Symbolic Action" was that humans ambition, is what drives the symbolic actions, which later lead up to a much larger symbolic action as a whole. The actions being taken by Hitler, are desired by him which makes him determined to create an even larger action, thus, making him a symbol of the Holocaust as well as a symbol for many other things in this era. Hitler connected with people and made them trust him so that all could be possible of him being a symbol later on in his time of being a leader. Burke also discusses how he thinks Hitler was not all there in his mind which I thought was interesting as well. Hitler showed areas of being "crazy" but he was also very very smart in order to gain what he wanted. I thought this was an interesting topic that Burke brought up but I also agreed with it after reading Burkes thoughts on this.

Sex Sells - Even Hitler Knew That

In class on Tuesday, we grappled with the idea of “what can language do? (other than signify)”. After analyzing Mikhail Bakhtin’s “Discourse in the Novel”, I know many things that language can do. It can “define a time period” (Bakhtin 291), “provide diversity in the novel” (Bakhtin 315), and “permit authorial intention” (Bakhtin 314). While what language can do is extremely important – and I will unpack what it can do for the purpose of understanding my central idea – after I read Kenneth Burke’s “The Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle”, I am more interested not in what language can do, but through what means or how language pulls those feats off.

Burke’s “The Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle” is a great exemplification of how literary criticism can be used in a political context, in this case, Hitler’s persuasion to the Aryan race that the Jews were the scum of the earth. Hitler was more than just a terrifying great leader, but he was a rhetorician of sorts, because he mastered so many rhetorical skills. He understood that it was not just content, but also style that was crucial when persuading and attempting to connect with an audience.