Richard Louv's Rhetorical Analysis

Detachment is quite the devilish character as he slips and slides into the cracks of humanity. Many people claim there is a disconnect between humanity and nature. One author in particular who addresses this is a man named Richard Louv. Louv’s argues that humanity is growing detached from nature leading to a sad loss of an important connection; illustrated effectively by tactical usage of rhetorical strategies. The first section of the excerpt uses ethos to introduce the issue of human technology controlling nature. Louv begins the first paragraph with references to a “Researchers at the State University of New York” who are “experimenting with a genetic “technology through which they can choose colors that appear on butterfly wings” (1-3).

Instead of using the rhetorical appeal of logos, pathos becomes quite prominent. A friend “settled on a Mercedes SUV, with a Global Positioning System… vehicle provides a map” (26-27). As the story continues, “” The salesman’s jaw dropped when I said I didn’t want a backset television”’ (29-30). This friend of his was growing increasingly dissatisfied with the influence of modern technology into the life of her daughter. This sets the stage for when it is stated that “parents who will pay a premium for a little backseat peace” because parents want to children to be “on their Playstation without bothering the driver” (41-42). This story creates an emotional appeal to the fellow parents that are reading this passage. Parents emotionally connect to stories involving children. Children are extremely powerful for making people feel. The reality finally starts to set

Kids are obstructed by the technology of the world; parents were infatuated with the natural world. A specific choice of diction is then used for the rest of this section with a repetition of a certain pronoun at the beginning of each sentence. “We saw birds on the wires” and that “We were fascinated with roadkill” and frivolously joking “we counted cows and horses and coyotes, and shaving cream” (64-67). The repetition of the word ‘we” connects the readers together in a sense of unity. Unity leads to empathy which is the ultimate form of pathos. Empathy makes all the emotional appeals strung throughout the passage deeply serious for the parents that will and have read this. Conclusively speaking, “We considered the past and dreamed of the future, and watched it all go by in the blink of an eye” (71 – 73). Blink of an eye is a common phrase that insinuates the flash that is the sudden change of the world. This ending sentence is a brilliant way to end this section of the book, Last Child in the