Through rhetoric of motives by the seasonal novel via identification, symbolism, and imagination, Smith indirectly portrays the political event of Brexit (British Exit) and its consequences in British society. Burke believes that through rhetoric of motives and grammar of motives it is possible to create protagonists that people can easily identify with to persuade them into action based on their intended political views.

This study explored how the rhetoric and dialect of Smith that have symbolic meanings and functions is motivating through identification with characters. The themes of Ali Smith's Autumn are in congruity with Kenneth Burke’s theoretical ideas represented as theme of love to explain illogical coupling of a young woman and an old man that recalls England and Europe/EU interconnection and mismatching relations.

Rhetoric of motives refers to the application of terms with persuasive function that move people into action. Her novel, How to Be Both won the Costa Novel Award, the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, the Goldsmiths Prize, and the Saltire Literary Book of the Year Award. Smith is the author of ten previous works of fiction. Two old friendsDaniel, a centenarian, and Elisabeth, born in 1984 look to both the future and the past as the United Kingdom stands divided by a historic, once-in-a-generation summer. The following is from Ali Smith’s novel, Autumn. Identification refers to identifying with characters having some components or substances in common. Autumn (Seasonal Quartet) Ali Smith, 2016 (U.S., 2017) Knopf Doubleday 288 pp. In this study, Autumn was investigated in light of Kenneth Burke's notions of identification, substance, symbolism, and imagination known as rhetoric of motives. In his political novel, Autumn, Ali Smith has implicitly integrated family life with political matrices of British-European relations.

Autumn smith novel