
The author Kenneth Burke wrote a paper called The Rhetoric of Hitler’s “Battle” that brought light to what kind of rhetoric methods Hitler used to gain power and manipulate a large portion of the German population into a certain mentality. Burke explained on this paper many aspects regarding Hitler and what shaped him into the man he was during the second world war, moreover, Burke goes into details of Hitler’s rhetoric to help the reader understand why Hitler’s ideology succeeded and to recognize how his rhetoric could be used again in modern society and how we must stop it. The main idea of Burke’s paper was in explaining the unification device used by Hitler in the second world war and this is where Burke considers Hitler’s four rhetoric methods: inborn dignity, projection device, symbolic rebirth, and commercial use. Burke wants the reader to understand that the unification device is formed by combining these four rhetoric methods and that is why explaining them was something that Burke focused on during his paper.

The first rhetoric method Burke chose to mention was the inborn dignity, and Burke chose to mention it before the rest of the rhetoric methods for a reason. The inborn dignity is when a person believes that he/she is innately superior to someone else due to their difference in race. By mentioning this rhetoric before the rest Burke prepares the reader to understand that Hitler’s unification device heavily depends on this first concept because when he succeed into making his supporters believe they are superior they will also start believing that the other races are inferior. Burke highlighted how Hitler used this rhetoric when he mentioned that Hitler claimed that the Aryan is “constructive” and then claimed that the Jewish people are “destructive”.

The second rhetoric method Burke mentions is the projection device, Burke chose to put this rhetoric after the inborn dignity because this rhetoric method is very connected to the inborn dignity. According to burke “The “curative” process that comes with the ability to hand over one’s ills to a scapegoat, thereby getting purification by dissociation.” (Burke 40). Meaning that this rhetoric is used to blame someone else for everything even if it is not something they were involved in for the sake of having someone to blame. The connection between the projection device and the inborn dignity is the fact that if a person thinks he/she is innately superior then the fault cannot be from them but someone else who is inferior to them. Therefore, Burke mentioning the projection device after the inborn dignity was a decision made for the sake of making it easier for the reader to understand how Hitler used one rhetoric to make another rhetoric effective.

The third rhetoric Burke mentioned is the symbolic rebirth, where Hitler makes his supporters believe in a utopian Germany that can be accomplished if they follow him and ahold to his ideals. According to burke “Symbolic rebirth. Another aspect of the two features already note. The projective device of the scapegoat, coupled with the Hitlerite doctrine of inborn racial superiority, provides its followers with a “postive” view of life.” (Burke 40). And Burke placed this rhetoric method after the scapegoat and inborn dignity for the purpose of making the reader understand what were the fundamental rhetoric methods Hitler used before introducing a rhetoric that relies on giving the supporters an image of what the future will be if they follow the previous two rhetoric methods.

The fourth and last rhetoric Burke mentioned is the commercial use, however, this does not mean that this rhetoric method was the least important of them, mentioning it as the last one means that this rhetoric method depends on the success of the previous three rhetoric methods. This rhetoric method is used to raise money for the cause Hitler was fighting for, and to get financial backing he had to win over Aryan financiers who are willing to back Hitler for the sake of accomplishing his goals. Without this rhetoric, it was impossible for Hitler to gain the power that he did because it is impossible to have a meaningful impact on society if he did not have financial backing that gave him the resources he needs. However, this rhetoric was mentioned last by Burke and the reason for that is how heavily it depends on the previous rhetoric methods for this one to work. If the inborn dignity or the projection device do not work on the people than the symbolic rebirth will not work, and if they all fail how is Hitler going to successfully convince the people with the commercial use rhetoric. Therefore, Burke wants the reader to reach the conclusion that Hitler would not have gained so much political power if the portion of Germany who supported him recognized that Hitler was merely using rhetoric methods to manipulate them into doing a certain mentality and stopped their support for him at the first rhetoric, which is the inborn dignity.

Analyzing the rhetoric methods used by Hitler could make the reader realize how much of the same rhetoric methods are being used in the modern politics. In the same way, Hitler blamed the Jewish people for everything, politicians in the modern world are blaming different races of things they did not commit. In the modern world, some politicians base their policies not based on what is beneficial for the nation but on what can attract more financial backing, much like how Hitler was not benefitting the German nation but still managed to gain financial support. Hitler used the symbolic rebirth to gain support and loyalty, and this same rhetoric used in the United Kingdom when they left the European Union, to gain a more stable economy and lower unemployment rates. Although the same rhetoric methods used by Hitler are used in the modern politics they are not always used for malicious purposes like the way Hitler used them to blame a group of people for everything.

Kenneth Burke the author of The Rhetoric of Hitler’s “Battle” wrote in detail about four of Hitler’s rhetoric methods, inborn dignity, projection device, symbolic rebirth, and commercial use. Analyzing these four rhetoric methods makes the reader understand why Hitler used these methods and why they gave him followers who were loyal to him and held his ideals as just. The inborn dignity was an important method used by Hitler because it was the one that made his supporters justify everything they do or every Hitler does. Then the inborn dignity connects to the other three rhetoric methods and justifies them. By analyzing the rhetoric methods Hitler used the reader could start to think about how they are used in the modern political world and how effective they still are. The author, Burke, explained the rhetoric methods used by Hitler to make the people more aware of them and to identify them when we see them and hopefully not repeat the same mistake of the past and keep in our minds how easily humans can go into the mob mentality and stop rational thinking. In conclusion, Burke’s take on Hitler’s mentality and rhetoric was accurate and very detailed and showed Hitler in a way that makes the reader understand how he was able to do the things he did by manipulating a large portion of a nation.
