Response To Hitchens The Lovely Stones

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As a response to the British's continued possession of the original Parthenon sculptures, Christopher Hitchens asserts that the sculptures must be given back to their rightful owners, emphasizing the importance of their value. In his article "The Lovely Stones," he conveys this through appealing to the audience's artistic love and passion, citing historical accounts and detailed descriptions, and utilizing word choice.
The author begins his article by writing a quote from known classicist saying "the one building in the world which may be assessed as absolutely right." to describe the Parthenon sculptures, which shows the audience their beauty and intrigues them into finding out more. After explaining the amount of damage that was conflicted on the sculptures and their different parts being separated each in different country, the author compares them with Mona Lisa, one of the most known and iconic paintings of our time, to illustrate the importance of them being reunited by giving an example everyone knows and understands, and to convey the extent of the neglect the Parthenon sculptures face.
The argument is furthered by the author's use of historical …show more content…

This introduces Hitchen's argument and gets and his readers wondering what could be done to preserve these treasures. Furthermore, Hitchens uses the phrase "This is grotesque" to show the awfulness of the situation and the urgency of acting. Additionally, the author says "The British may continue in their constipated fashion to cling to what they have so crudely amputated" to guilt trip those who still oppose his argument by reminding them of the many lands and rights that the British stole and ruined over the years, which also builds a connection with his readers who have witnessed damages the British conflicted around the