Rhetorical Analysis Of Living Like Weasels

Living Like Weasels Rhetorical Analysis In her essay “Living Like Weasels”, Annie Dillard explores the idea of following a single calling in life, and attaching one’s self it this calling as the weasel on Ernest Thompson Seton’s eagle had. Dillard presents her argument using the analogy of a weasel and how the; “weasel lives as he’s meant to, yielding at every moment to the perfect freedom of single necessity” (Dillard). In constructing her argument, however, she often contradicts herself undermining the effectiveness of her argument and leaving the reader confused. Dillard primarily uses ethos and pathos to support her argument and concerning both, the reader discovers; inconsistencies in her character, and conflicts between her perceptions

Early in the work Dillard follows her description the pond where she first sees the weasel with, “This is, mind you, suburbia. It is a five-minute walk in three directions to rows of houses, though none is visible here. There's a 55-mph highway at one end of the pond…” (Dillard). By offering this description Dillard is established as a member of this community, standard in many aspects, and not a part of the wilds of the pond. Despite this being her background, Dillard could have still successfully used ethos as a method of persuasion by explaining why she longed for an escape from this life and to live the simpler one she describes. A reasonable explanation is not presented, however, the closest Dillard comes is to say, “I come to Hollins Pond not so much to learn how to live as, frankly, to forget about it. That is, I don't think I can learn from a wild animal how to live in particular” (Dillard). Dillard offers no elaboration as to why she felt the need to forget how to live, this is essential as in the very next statement she states that she believes there is nothing in particular to learn about living from a weasel, which is the entire argument throughout her essay. Dillard unsuccessfully uses ethos to further her argument of “living like weasels” by failing to establish herself as someone

Despite her attempts, Dillard fails to present a compelling argument in either case to make the reader want to change their current way of life. In her attempts at appealing to her ethos, Dillard establishes herself as similar to most others to try and demonstrate that anyone can pursue this life, however, this merely serves to show that, like Dillard, few people have reasons to change their life. It also serves to show that even those who want to change their lifestyle will have the same difficulties that Dillard had in leaving her previous life and ways of thinking. The use of pathos further discredits Dillard’s argument by essentially establishing the weasel as a ruthless killer and then asking the reader to adopt its lifestyle as their own. Dillard presents a weak argument in her composition and relies on her detailed language and confusing analogies to convince the reader to senselessly adopt the life of a