Political ideology and institutions permeate our society. As a result those that have the authority to define the literary canon do so with some measure of political influence. Criticism simply would not exist were it not for the political institutions which defines what is being studied. Eagleton implies that teachers and those who study the canon are responsible for this new discourse. Rhetoric is discussed as the oldest form of literary theory.
Rhetoricians study literature as a means of persuasion and effective discourse.
Eagleton calls for a new form of rhetoric, one that would only be applicable to literature. This notion is in contrast to other forms of critical analysis. By having a methodology amorphous to many things it loses its effectiveness in examination of the material. Eagleton suggests that the idea of literary theory is not to interpret the meaning of a part of a work but to attempt to understand its underlying meaning through signifiers within the work. Eagleton concludes by saying he believes that our society is moving in a direction that recognizes there are valuable contributions to be made by many members of society.