As a former United States President, Jimmy Carter has a voice that many listen to. In “Foreward to Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Seasons of Life and Land,” Carter uses that voice to encourage the American people to protect the wilderness. Carter prompts people to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and help the area to remain undeveloped. Carter maintains that it is imperative to protect this refuge by using personal anecdotes about his own time spent in Alaska, powerful word choice to draw the reader to his side, and employs the word “we” in order to instill a sense of coalition between the readers and Carter. Carter begins to construct his polemic of supporting the refuge by introducing several personal experiences of his own …show more content…
Carter stresses that this is a truly amazing piece of land with many aspects that make it worthwhile to leave it undisturbed. Starting off strong, Carter begins: “The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge stands alone as America’s last truly great wilderness.” Right away, Carter establishes rapport with the audience by describing the refuge as an alluring and unique wilderness. By using such powerful wording, Carter is able to provoke inside the reader a feeling of awe, as if they had experienced the magnificence of the refuge for themselves. Carter then goes on to describe the refuge with phrases such as “a once-in-a-lifetime wildlife spectacle” and “magnificent area as vast as it is wild”. The readers are able to gain a sense of what being at the refuge is actually like, and are more willing to advocate for its protection. Carter then switches gears again by compelling the readers to undergo an emotional response to threats against the refuge. He introduces phrases like “tearing open the heart of our greatest refuge” and “little of that precious wilderness remains” to pull at the reader's heartstrings. The readers are then left with the sense that destroying this refuge would be akin to destroying the heart of their very nation. Carter’s use of heart-rending terms familiarizes readers with the refuge, and gives them a sense of what they should fight