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Rhetorical Analysis: The Eye of the Storm
Haley White
The University of Alabama
COM 310

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Haley White
Mrs. Dean
COM 310
11 April 2012
The Eye of the Storm
In 1968, the assassination of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. spurred riots and
confusion across the nation. This racial event gave Jane Elliott, a third grade teacher from Iowa,
an idea. She would help her students understand the negative effects of discrimination in every
day society. Elliott believed understanding the emotional impact of racial discrimination is more
powerful when experienced first-hand. She conducted multiple exercises starting with an unusual
audience of third grade students.
The artifact for this paper is a documentary titled The Eye of the Storm. This is a story of
a teacher who wanted to make a difference in the lives of her students. This documentary shows
how easily attitudes and behaviors can be changed in the presence of discriminating factors.
Elliott’s exercise allowed her students to experience the devastating effects of discrimination on
a personal level. She repeated this exercise with different age groups and her work was later
captured as a documentary. Elliott divided a classroom of third graders into two separate groups.
She classified one group brown eyed and the other group blue eyed, and then stated one eye
color was superior. Racial discrimination and gender biases became both understood and
experienced. In this essay I will discover Elliott’s attempts to persuade her students against acts
of discrimination. I will include an artifact description and explain the rhetorical situation. Next I
will apply the method of pentadic criticism and consider the rhetorical and social implications in
my artifact. Ending with a conclusion, I will identify the answer to my research questions.

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Artifact Description
The Eye of the Storm documentary contained multiple blue eyed/brown eyed experiments
with audiences of different ages and race. Jane Elliott is the rhetor in the artifact. Elliot’s
experience includes teaching third grade students. Inspired by the 1968 racial discrimination
events, causing the death of Martin Luther King Jr., Elliott conducted an exercise on
discrimination. Elliott became motivated to give her third grade students a new kind of learning
experience. An experience her students would remember forever and later appreciate. Elliott’s
original exercise was titled “A Class Divided” while in a very basic manor, consisting of her
third grade students. By conducting rules and instructions Elliot was easily able to manipulate
her students. Elliott created two groups. One group she classified as brown eyed who received a
collar to put around their neck, and the other group she classified as blue eyed. She told her
students if they had blue eyes, they were automatically better and they received
accommodations. For example, the blue eyed student’s received extended playtime on the
playground.
Immediately her students were in shock. The brown eyed student’s immediately
portrayed lower self-confidence because the blue eyed students were openly discriminating
against them. The blue eyed students were happy because they were told blue eyes were better,
just as Elliot had said. Elliott made the less superior eye color feel as if they were dumb, she
categorized them into a lower standard and talked negatively about them. During recess the
tension among her students grew. The third graders began fighting, calling each other names like
“brown-eyes” and making fun of the others eye color. When the students entered the classroom
Elliott asked why there was a fight on the playground. The student’s response was because they
were brown eyed and they thought they were “stupid”. She gave flashcards to each group of

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students and the brown eyed students reviewed the cards more slowly than the blue eyed
students.
The next day Elliot switched the eye color rules. She now told her students the blue eyed
classmates were less bright and the brown eyed students were more superior. Blue eyed students
would now wear the collar. The students laughed but immediately approached the situation just
as before. Now the brown eyed classmates portrayed a confidant attitude, while the blue eyed
students felt less efficient. Although Elliott switched the roles overnight, the students still acted
upon her rules. At the end of the day she told the blue eyed students to take their collars off and
the students began to reunite as friends. Making one eye color superior than the other affected
the children’s friendships. Although the students were best friends before the exercise, once they
were told their eye color was superior; their attitudes towards one another negatively changed.
Within minutes the students changed from being sweet individuals and third grade students into
what Elliot described in the documentary as “vicious”.
Justification for study
Justen Infinito wrote a journal article titled, Jane Elliott Meets Foucault: the formation of
ethical identities in the classroom and he examined the students perspective of the self. Infinito
conducted the experiment among perspectives of Michel Foucault and found he agreed with
Foucault’s theories. Infinito concluded “I agreed with Foucault, as I had seen it unfold in the
classroom, that by problematizing our own existence, and exploring and enacting possible
alternatives, we achieve our freedom” (Infinito 67-76). He saw Jane Elliot’s “Blue-Eyed-BrownEyed” exercise and concluded, “…the critical engagement and reflection that follows the event
can be shared and understood as both personal and social, as opposed to other forms of life
experience, which surfaced in individuals during discussion” (Infinito 67-76). Infinito believed

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because the students were being kept in a room with other students, they were not standing up for
themselves, and more likely to conform.
In the article Revisiting "The Eye of the Storm": The Subtleties of Gender Bias, a few
prospects which affect the illusion in The Eye of the Storm documentary are discussed. This
article discusses how the video misleads viewers from the true perspective within Elliott’s
classroom expressing, “…the video in relation to Mrs. Elliott’s treatment of boys and girls in her
class” (Volk and Beeman 38-48). Robert Volk and Mark Beeman conducted two reasons
students often support the gender bias observation. The first reason explained, “…this is a short
segment and my not accurately represent what occurs in her class on a day-to-day basis” (Volk
and Beeman 38-48). The second observation included, “…the blue-eyed-brown-eyed exercise
itself may have been subjected to the selective biases of the camera operator and the film editor”
(Volk and Beeman 38-48). Depending on the perspective through which one views the video
impacts what will be taken in or away from the documentary. By assessing the documentary the
effect of the video can be determined differently according to Volk and Beeman among
participants and viewers.
Thinking outside the box: a reply to Elliott and Dex is written by Ken Smith in response
to Elliott and Dex’s approach towards his reference about Max Weber. Smith viewed the concept
of class Elliott used within her lessons and her use of a “step-by-step” approach (Smith 177-184).
Smith emphasizes the importance of using Weber’s theory, and how Elliott should incorporate
Weber’s reasoning and guidelines. The point of Smith’s article is found when he stated, “…I am
much less interested in what the concept of social class might have looked like forty years ago
than I am in what it might look like in the next forty years”(Smith 177-184). Smith believes we
need to account for our social classes, but focus on the future and not only the past or present.

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Maria Claudia Oliveira discussed the quantitative and qualitative approaches Jane Elliott
took in the documentary. Oliveira found Elliott’s approach in quantitative analysis, “…tend to
neglect particular individuals and their experience and pay less attention to agency and mind than
qualitative research does” (Oliveira 421-429). She also found Elliott’s qualitative approach,
“…the in-depth interviews, storytelling, and other strategies are adopted to bring to surface
individuals’ understandings and meanings on the topic under investigation” (Oliveira 421-429).
Focused more on Elliott’s approaches, Oliveira identified the condition effects of the qualitative
and quantitative approaches.
Research Question
Through the articles of Infinito, Volk, Beeman, Smith, and Oliveira varying opinions of
Elliott’s documentary were expressed. The sources I studied lead to the question: Did Jane Elliot,
intentionally or unintentionally, influence the outcome of her exercise?
To answer my research question, I will first explain the rhetorical method of pentadic
criticism. I will then break down my artifact using a process, which includes the five basic
elements of drama. To conduct this method I will examine multiple aspects of Elliot’s
documentary including the dominant element. Pentadic criticism is a reliable method of
rhetorical analysis that can be applied to any artifact.
Introduce the Method
Although pentadic criticism is associated with Kenneth Burk, it was first used in Aristotle
and Talcott Parsons work. Burk developed the label “dramatism” to explain human motivation
through the study of drama. Like a play pentadic criticism uses five main elements of drama.
These elements include: act, agent, agency, purpose, and scene. The act is the main action in the
artifact. The agent is who is preforming the main act. Agency includes the tools the agent uses to

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carry out their act. The purpose is developed from what the speaker seeks to accomplish from
the act. The scene is where the act occurs. Some examples of how others have used the pentadic
method follow.
In the movie Thelma and Louise the pentadic approach was used to teach students to
become “…critical consumers of the symbols they encounter daily” (Griffin 165). In order to
analyze the multiple scenes within the film of Thelma and Louise Cindy L. Griffin identified five
different pentads. By creating more than one pentad, students could visualize the different
dramas incorporated into the film. Griffin applied different pentads to the movie. She showed by
changing the representation of the elements included in a pentad that different conclusions can be
drawn.
Elizabeth A. Dickinson used Burk’s pentad, “… as a tool to analyze advertisements in the
Montana Meth Project anti-drug campaign” (Dickinson 126-131). Dickenson focused on how the
pentad helps explain the reality or purpose within an artifact. She explained, “Critics can explore
relationships between elements and examine ratios (sets of two elements) to understand which
elements are emphasized and how they work together” (Dickenson 126-131).
Method
Whether a rhetor chooses to include multiple sets of terms in differents places, more than
one pentad can be discovered. When choosing which pentad to apply, choose the one most
interested in or the primary pentadic set. Different pentadic selections lead to different
conclusions. To apply the pentadic method to this artifact, one might do the following. Break
down the five elements of drama. When using the pentadic method consider who is
demonstrating the main action in your artifact. For example the act taking place was an
experiment with third graders. Next, to figure out the scene, ask yourself where is the act taking

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place? Elliot’s third grade classroom can be considered the scene. Identify the protagonist of
your artifact to determine the agent. The agent can be a person, group, or the rhetor themselves.
Jane Elliott might be classified as the agent. Think about the agent’s tools used in order to
conduct their act. If Elliott is chosen as the agent, her rules and instructions are considered the
agency. What the agent seeks to accomplish is the purpose. The purpose to Elliott’s exercise is to
sensitize her students to discrimination.
After breaking your artifact into the five elements of drama begin pairing elements to
form a ratio. Creating a ratio is important because the dominant element will be discovered.
Begin by pairing each of the five elements with the others, to form a total of twenty ratios. One
ratio at a time, identify the relationship. Ask the question, does the first element have power over
the second? Apply this question for all twenty ratios. For example, pairing act and scene
together, determine whether the act has control over the scene. If the agent is Jane Elliott, does
Jane Elliott have control over the act, an experiment with third graders? The answer to this
question is “yes”. Elliott has control over the experiment because she is the teacher and she
created the experiment. From this, determine the dominant element. Choose the element that
contained the most power over the other four elements.
My research question asked whether or not Jane Elliott, intentionally or unintentionally,
influenced the outcome of her exercise. Whether or not Jane Elliott had control and was the
dominant element of the documentary, she may have influenced outcome of her exercise. Elliott
conducted the exercise in order to sensitize her students to discrimination, in other words she had
a reason behind conducting her exercise. Because she had a purpose, Elliott was able to decide
what rules and instructions she would apply to her classroom. The outcome depended on how
Elliott manipulated her students’ thoughts and feelings. Although Jane Elliott had an impact on

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the outcome of her exercise, a new question is asked. Was Jane Elliott’s influence on the
outcome of her exercise, intentional or unintentional? I will later analyze the documentary to
determine whether Elliott’s influence was intentional or unintentional.
Analysis of “A Class Divided”
There are many ways to apply the pentadic method to my artifact. I chose to analyze and
focus on what I saw as the most dominant pentad. I will use the pentadic method to analyze the
exercise Elliott performed within the documentary itself. The chapter “One Daring Lesson”
shows the original exercise used throughout the documentary. In the documentary The Eye of the
Storm, I broke down the five elements of drama. An inspiring third grade teacher, Jane Elliott is
the agent. To conduct and exercise with third graders is the act. The scene is the third grade
classroom. The agency includes the rules and instructions. The purpose wishes for the students to
be sensitized to discrimination.
Agent-Act
According to the pentadic ratios of this situation I discovered the agent. I found the agent
to be the most dominant term according to the ratios. Jane Elliott holds the most control and
power. In this pentad, the agent has control over the remaining four elements. With the agent-act
ratio, Elliott had the opportunity to choose a much older group to perform her exercise. Instead,
Elliott chose to first present her exercise to her third grade students. Elliott first did this because
she was unsure of how the exercise would influence individuals. Selecting a class of third grade
students was an easy way out. Younger children have a higher likelihood to conform to one
another.
Agent-Act

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Elliott’s location created an advantage when she conducted her experiment because she
was in a comfortable, familiar setting. Teaching her new exercise, Elliott chose that of which was
more comfortable for her. Elliott began her first exercise in her regular routine schedule of a
third grade classroom.
Agent-Scene
When I applied the agent-scene ratio, Elliott the agent-scene ratio is determined. Elliott,
being a third grade teacher, requires a third grade classroom setting. Elliot had the choice to
conduct the exercise third graders she is able to manipulate her exercise more drastically. The
response from her students would indicate certain differences if they were not third grade
students. The Agent chose to first conduct her exercise among her third grade class, Elliott could
have chosen a different group if she would have wanted.
Agent-Agency
The act-agency ratio describes what rules and instructions Elliott wanted to apply to the
experiment. Again, because Elliott’s students are immune to listening to her, the children will
most likely listen to her rules and regulations. Elliott could choose what methods or items to use
to teach her purpose to the third grade students. Elliott conducted rules for example; the brown
eyed students were required to wear a collar around their neck so everyone knew what was less
superior. Elliott was able to use her knowledge of how third graders act, and incorporate rules
she knew would affect them. Elliott had control of how she was going to create the most reaction
from her students.
Agent-Purpose
The agent controls the purpose in this ratio because Elliott has a passion to teach her
students more about the effects of discrimination. Elliott is out to sensitize her students to

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discrimination, and she has a purpose for doing so. Elliott can manipulate her standard lesson
within a different context, producing a discrimination experiment. She can approach her students
with how she wants them to learn about discrimination. Because Elliott has a purpose to
presenting this exercise she is passionate in teacher her students a lesson that they will always
remember.
Rhetorical Implications
According to the formation of the analysis I performed, the rhetorical implications are
indicated by Elliott’s ability to persuade. She was able to teach her students the negativity
evolved from discrimination. Elliott incorporated Burk’s use of dramatism stating, “…humans
develop and present messages in much the same way that a play is presented” (Foss 355-386).
To explain how Elliott created a play within her communication, she was able to change her
personality into a very negative discriminating teacher. Elliott’s exercise was able to grab the
attention of her third grade students, although she was doing this by manipulation. Since Elliott
was the rhetor, and the main character, her specific world view points were shared. Since Elliott
was the only dominant element, she was teaching her students among her personal viewpoints
and values.
Social Implications
The “blue-eyed-brown-eyed” exercise continues and has a history of changing views
about discrimination. My findings impacted society because of the experiences Elliott’s
teachings in the classroom created. People began to absorb the label she had given them. The
impact of “A Class Divided” comes in terms of both positive and negative. When the third grade
students were first categorized as inferior according to eye color they were traumatized. Elliott
takes an extreme approach, and there could have been a student who was negatively affected.

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The artifact affects people because when first viewing the video, the way children and adults act
according to her classification is not of the normal. Elliott’s comments were rude and hurtful, but
because of them, at the end of her exercise she would explain her reasoning and people would
come out of the room remembering how it really was a life changing experience.
In “A Class Divided,” Elliott’s third grade students from her original exercise, made a
visit to their elementary school about thirty years later. The former third graders still
remembered the experience and lesson learned from Elliott’s experiment. Elliot’s former
elementary students watched the video and were able to positively reflect on their past learned
experience together.

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Works Cited
Dickinson, Elizabeth A. "The Montana Meth Project: Applying Burke's Dramatistic Pentad to a
Persuasive Anti-Drug Media Campaign." Communication Teacher 23.3 (2009): 126-31.
Web.
Griffin, Cindy L. "Teaching Rhetorical Criticism with Thelma and Louise." Communication
Education 44.2 (1995): 165. Web.
Infinito, Justen. "Jane Elliot Meets Foucault: The Formation of Ethical Identities in the
Classroom." Journal of Moral Education 32.1 (2003): 67-76. Web.
Oliveira, Maria Claudia. "Using Narrative in Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative
Approaches by Jane Elliott." Narrative Inquiry 15.2 (2005): 421-9. Web.
Smith, Ken. "Thinking Outside the Box: A Reply to Elliott and Dex." British Journal of
Sociology 60.1 (2009): 177-84. Web.
Volk, Robert W., and Mark Beeman. "Revisiting "the Eye of the Storm": The Subtleties of
Gender Bias." Teaching Sociology 26.1 (1998): 38-48. Web.