A Rhetorical Analysis Of Beach Lessons By Zan Smith

Recently, the alarming rates of obesity in our contemporary society has been due to the lack of active behaviours starting from a young age in which the younger generation spends a large amount of their childhood watching television. Both concerned and disappointed, Zan Smith’s pragmatic article titled “Beach Lessons”, published on the Child Monthly magazine, exposes the concerns of the increasing amount of time children spends viewing television and playing video games and should, therefore, be minimized. Accompanying her informative piece are two photographs that are contrasted and accentuates the importance of a child’s youth. Furthermore, Smith targets parents of young children in an attempt to encourage parents to take their kids outside

Opening her piece with an anecdote, supported by her reflective tone, Smith captivates the audience towards her own experiences of a mother. Her invigorating story of her three toddlers “squabbling” and “constant demands” obliges the reader to be more interested in what she is saying as it is a relatable situation for most mothers. Furthering upon this, Smith shifts to an informative tone as she addresses the epidemic of obese children due to “spending over 70% of their days being sedentary”, confronting the parents with shocking statistics, the parents of young children are aroused by fear and is urged to reconsider their responsibility as a parent. Moreover, Smith confidently provokes the readers by asking them rhetorical questions and then answering them, proving that the answer is obvious, just like the problem. Hence, Smith’s use of a visual representation of two children who are projected as disconnected and slightly inhumane, digs into the emotions of the audience, creating an impersonal and sinister mood. By doing this,

This is used to compare the visual from before, in which the children looked as if they weren’t human and detached from one another. Dominating the image are two young children who are laughing and entertaining themselves with a spade and shovel, portraying the immediate shift in behaviour once they are initiating in proper social activities. Thus, readers are enlightened and encouraged to stand up and be apart of the solution. Smith also provides the audience with a range of advantages in taking the kids outsides, from no more “arguments and demands” to “a child’s first ecstatic experience of buoyancy”; they are positioned to prevent further interactions with screens by allowing them to experience the outside world and enhance their “world of senses” and “childhood