i wish we would have gotten a chance to hear from more students yesterday during our enargeia-slam so if you're willing to break through your shyness, you can post your examples of enargeia here.
to kick things off, here's the vivid scene i came up with during class:
Picture yourself leaving campus late one evening after a particularly rigorous night of rhetorical debate. Turning over the events of the evening in your mind - how would Mayor Daley's speech have changed if he spoke to a more hostile audience? why does our crazy teacher keep trying to turn her invented ethos into situated ethos? can we ever really be outside of rhetoric? - you notice that you're now all alone, wandering down a particularly deserted street northwest of campus. "Why didn't I take that ride Caroline offered me on the back of her bike?!?" you curse. "Just a few more blocks," you think, but, secretly, you're terrified. You decide to make a risky choice, turning down a dark alley because it will get you home more quickly. Halfway down the alley, with the other end in sight, a man stumbles out in front of you. He's holding a knife. He looks drunk. He looks frightening. "Give me your money and your rhetoric textbook!" he yells. You begin to reach for your wallet and then decide you can't bear to part with your Crowley and Hawhee. You're scared but you realize your audience doesn't share that emotion. What's a rhetorician to do?!?!? "Listen mister," you begin, "Picture yourself leaving campus late one evening after a particularly rigorous night of rhetorical debate..."
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