Man and nature has always had an imbalanced relationship. Since the dawn of mankind, humans depended on the unpredictable being that is nature in order to survive. Gradually, however, the environment has been manipulated by people, to fit their needs for survival and personal satisfaction. Presently, the relationship between man and nature has been drifting further apart with a growing disconnection between the two, as shown in Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods. Through the use of rhetorical devices like anecdote and pathos, Louv brilliantly develops his argument about the separation between people and nature. Louv’s use of an anecdote helped to show readers just how far mankind has taken advantage of the outside, to the point where …show more content…
Louv invites the reader to reminisce on their childhood of looking out of the window when on a car ride. Using the words “we” vulnerably makes a connection between the author and audience, allowing them to both remember the times when “We actually looked out the car window.” This allows the reader to appeal to their inner child, and reflect on the wonder and fascination that was felt when looking through the window and seeing the vast landscape. With his expert use of imagery, Louv efficiently manages to evoke feelings of bittersweet nostalgia, where readers can’t help but look back at a time where people actually payed attention to the outside world, and was not deterred by technology. Describing the time where “In our useful boredom, we used our fingers to draw pictures on fogged glass as we watched telephone poles tick by” and closing it all off with “We considered the past and dreamed of the future, and watched it all go by in the blink of an eye.”, surely evokes the reader to think about how much has changed over time, sadness when seeing the potentially bitter truth with disengagement between people and the environment, and brings an important feeling of wanting future generations to gain the experience of looking out the window and letting the imagination