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Let There Be Dark Rhetorical Analysis

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Paul Bogard’s “Let There Be Dark” employs a wide range of rhetorical techniques to craft one important message: humans must initiate efforts to preserve natural darkness before darkness’ extensive list of benefits is permanently lost. Bogard’s argument is built upon his appeal to the broad spectrum of benefits offered by natural darkness, including those pertaining to health, the environment, and the economy. Utilizing outside sources to back the validity of these benefits, Bogard completes his message with a tone of hope, imploring his audience to join him in his course.

Bogard begins his argument with a personal anecdote to compare and contrast his personal experiences with the beauty of darkness against the modern trend of children never …show more content…

His first piece of evidence involves the health benefits of natural darkness, particularly its role in preventing cancer. After beginning his point by including the support of two reputable health organizations, the WHO and AMA, to provide a sense of validity to his argument, Bogard highlights the benefits of darkness and a good night’s sleep. He then shifts from the health of humans to the health of nature and the natural environment. Appealing to a desire for ecological preservation, Bogard lists animals that depend on darkness, then explains the critical role these animals play in our lives, such as bats assisting in pest control and moths that pollinate the world’s flowers. The utilization of the simile relating light pollution to “the bulldozer of the night” summarizes the destructiveness of light pollution that Bogard tries to convey.

Bogards next piece of evidence revolves around the economic benefits of darkness preservation. First using NASA as a source for backing the rate at which darkness is being lost, Bogard’s logic of excess light being “wasted energy, which means wasted dollars” provides the reader with a simple benefit of reducing light pollution: saving

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