Seeking Motives

For more on writing about literature, see Ch. 13.

In much college writing, you will try to explain motives behind human behavior. In a history paper, you might consider how George Washington’s conduct shaped the presidency. In a literature essay, you might analyze the motives of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Because people, including characters in fiction, are so complex, this task is challenging.

To understand any human act, according to philosopher-critic Kenneth Burke, you can break it down into five components, a pentad, and ask questions about each one. Burke’s pentad overlaps the reporter’s questions but also can show how components of a human act affect one another, taking you deeper into motives. Suppose you are writing a political-science paper on President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), sworn in as president right after President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. A year later, he was elected to the post by a landslide. By 1968, however, he had decided not to run for a second term. You use Burke’s pentad to investigate why.

  1. The act: What was done?

    Announcing the decision to leave office without standing for reelection.

  2. The actor: Who did it?

    President Johnson.

  3. The agency: What means did the person use to make it happen?

    A televised address to the nation.

  4. The scene: Where, when, and under what circumstances did it happen?

    Washington, DC, March 31, 1968. Protesters against the Vietnam War were gaining influence. The press was increasingly critical of the war. Senator Eugene McCarthy, an antiwar candidate for president, had made a strong showing against LBJ in the New Hampshire primary.

  5. The purpose or motive for acting: What could have made the person do it?

    LBJ’s motives might have included avoiding probable defeat, escaping further personal attacks, sparing his family, making it easier for his successor to pull out of the war, and easing dissent among Americans.

Next, you can pair Burke’s five components and ask about the pairs:

actor to act act to scene scene to agency
actor to scene act to agency scene to purpose
actor to purpose act to purpose agency to purpose
PAIR actor to agency
QUESTION What did LBJ [actor] have to do with his televised address [agency]?
ANSWER Commanding the attention of a vast audience, LBJ must have felt in control — though his ability to control the situation in Vietnam was slipping.

Not all the paired questions will prove fruitful; some may not even apply. But one or two might reveal valuable connections and start you writing.