The range in which one might define a text is almost infinite. A text can be informative, while a text can also be misleading. From a poststructuralist context, in “Work to Text,” Roland Barthes articulates a text as a process. Barthes explains that a text realizes an “irreducible” meaning (1328). Barthes also explains that a text requires the reader to combine the practice of reading and writing as a “practice of unique meaning,” to produce the text, “to open it, to set it in motion” (1331). In essence, Barthes conceives a text as a process of understanding. A work is closed, while a text can flourish if actively read. A text can only have meaning if meaning is constructed through critical engagement, rather than passive consumption. Barthes' description of a text emphasizes the reader/writer relationship, ultimately suggesting that the definition of a text can tolerate multiple ways in which meaning functions in the formulation of the text. In “Rhetoric,” Susan C. Jarratt argues that the act of formulating lyrics is an intentional practice. Jarratt emphasizes the importance of rhetoric in the formulation of the text as central to the writing process. According to Jarratt, the standard definition of rhetoric concerns “the ways in which human beings use speech to influence the attitudes and behavior of others” (75). A utopian version of rhetoric, Jarratt explains, is “a political practice that allows for a free and open exchange of opinions by competent and empowered speakers for effective collective action” (74). While many scholars have expanded the definition of rhetoric in many ways, the corrupt abuse of influence in rhetorical practices has marginalized certain rhetorical activity in favor of “competent and au……middle of paper……languages ​​and Literatures. Nicholls, David G., ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2007. 126-139. Print.Friedman, Gil and Harvey Starr. Agency, structure and international politics. London: Routledge, 1997. E-book.Hall, Stuart. "Cultural identity and diaspora". Nicola Mirzoeff. Diaspora and visual culture representing Africans and Jews. London: Routledge, 2000. Print. Jarratt, Susan C. “Rhetoric.” Introduction to scholarship in modern languages ​​and literatures. Nicholls, David G., ed. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2007. 73-102. Print.Leitch, Vincent B., ed. The Norton anthology of theory and criticism. London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. Print.Nicholls, David G., Ed. Introduction to Scholarship in Modern Languages ​​and Literatures. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2007. Print.