Abstract
This thesis explored the rhetorical representation of guilt and shame on the anonymous "community art project" PostSecret.com. Thousands of contributors have created and mailed postcards depicting some secret aspect of their lives. While some confessions celebrate life, others focus on enduring psychological pain. Many are a response to societal standards. Burke ( 1969b) argues that humans are guided by a "universal" principle of hierarchy as a need for social order (p. 141 ). This stratification leads to a "hierarchal psychosis" that produces guilt throughout lite. Maintenance of the hierarchy and a desire for a perfectly ordered world are the impetus for the guilt-purification redemption ritual that provided a foundation for this analysis. This thesis was informed by the work of Messner and Buckrop (2000) who applied Burke's theories to suicide notes to explore their role in restoring order. This study also sought to understand the role of power in an anonymous online confessional.