Rhetoric of the Heart

          Well with Valentine's Day coming right around the corner, I feel this is a good time to dissect one of the worlds most rhetorically based holidays. Valentine's Day is just one giant day to celebrate love through rhetoric. Everything we say or do on and around Valentine's day is just dripping with rhetoric. Simply saying "I love you" doesn't sound very pretty or heartfelt, compared to half of the cards and candies we have on Valentine's Day.  Yet isn't that all we're really trying to get across to the receiver of these gifts? The practices and customs that surround Valentine's Day are all just forms of really artistic rhetoric.

          The most obvious use of rhetoric is of course the symbol of Valentine's Day... the red heart. When we see this we automatically know what it means. It is the symbol for love, something that we recognize all the way back from our childhood. Now, of course this heart looks absolutely nothing like an actual heart. However, it is still a universal symbol that when we see it we know it means love and affection, and when seen around this time of year it means Valentine's Day. You can find the heart everywhere; in stores, on TV.  The heart is used by the media on many occasions to represent love.  When a cartoon character becomes love stricken their eyes turn into hearts. The background on the title of the show I Love Lucy  was a heart.  The heart is what we refer to when we are feeling love or feelings born from love. When someone breaks up with us we become "heart-broken." In actuality the heart has nothing to do with our emotions but it is a universal symbol for love. Valentine's Day has become a day where we celebrate love. So it is only fitting that the heart would be the prevalent symbol. The color red is used to as well. It has become the color that we associate with the heart. Most likely this is because of blood, but from this red has come to symbolize love and is as recognizable as the heart.  You don't give someone a valentine shaped like a yellow star. You give them a red heart. Chocolates come in red heart shaped boxes. This is done so that the receiver of the gift will make the correlation between the gift and what it represents which is love for that person.

          The other common symbol used commonly for Valentine's Day that represents love is the flower, and in particular the red rose. The rose is a powerful symbol of love. However unlike the heart it has a gender bias. A rose is usually given to women from men as a token of their affection.  The rose is used more by adults, because it  has more of a sexual meaning to it than a heart. The rose looks beautiful and smells beautiful. That is why it is commonly used for  love because it reminds men of how precious and beautiful the women in their lives really are. In the movies the leading man will give the love interest roses to say he loves her. In commercials for the man usually gives roses along with his gifts. One of the most popular Superbowl commercials of all time was for an online flower company, advertising for Valentine's Day. I know the first time I met my current girlfriend I gave her a dozen roses. We've been together for a year now. The rose is a powerful symbol that tells a woman that she is loved. Hearts and roses allow us to express our affection without really having to say anything at all.