Response to Audience Addressed, Audience Invoked

· What different kinds of information emerge from the two types of analysis? What does each reveal or conceal?

· When or why might one type of analysis be more useful than another?

· In what ways do these types of analysis inform each other or reveal weaknesses in each other?

In the matter of audience addressed, this type of writing may work as a genre to appeal to a very specific audience. Speech writers for politicians may prefer this method when considering a topic or issue for the individual speaking. Oral rhetoric is decidedly different than the written word, but I found this to be the best example. Audience addressed allows the write to focus specifically on content geared toward his audience, whomever that may be. It allows him to decide which medium may best carry his message. What is the appropriate tone to take? One of the limitations of this method is that the writer may focus so exclusively on one set group that he may neglect to take into account his unintended audience. This method of writing undoubtedly works best when the writer has a very clear idea of who his actual audience will be.

Audience invoked provides the writer with much the same information as the technique of audience addressed does. However, this method may allow the writer to focus more on his message. Too much clarity regarding audience may give the writer tunnel vision when it comes to the message he is trying to convey. If the writer himself is free to create the stage, we may find a text that is more open in its tone, as the writer may seek to appeal to as many audience members as possible. Or a writer may envision that his audience knows little about the topic he is speaking of. In such a case, we may find ourselves as readers (or audience) exposed in more detail to the message the writer is passing along. One flaw of this method is that the message may become too general. It may lack focus.

All writers tread a fine line where audience is concerned, save perhaps writers of fiction. One might argue the writer must strive to put his best effort into his message for his audience addressed rather than audience invoked. The members of the audience addressed are more likely to be a receptive audience. Writers may imagine themselves appeal to a large base of people with audience invoked, but we must remember this is a concept the writer is dealing with only in his own mind. Audience addressed is the true forum in which his message must play out.