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Barbara Kingsolver's 'The Green Generation'

Decent Essays

Today, we live in a dog-eat-dog, who’s better than who world. We live in a world where one person’s opinion on something is more important than another’s because they simply are more qualified. With all of the news sources and media outlets, we are left to figure out which source of information is more correct than another based on the credibility and qualifications of its author. This same problem occurs in the topic of climate change. When we look up information about climate change we must evaluate the credibility of the authors who are writing the articles we are reading. Once you are able to figure out which author is more credible the next step is to determine which author is more persuasive and able to convince the reader that their …show more content…

Although it seems as if Kingsolver is the only credible author, Adrienne Brown is a national coordinator of the U.S. Social Forum, and a leader of the Ruckus Society, “which brings nonviolent direct action training to communities impacted by economic, environmental and social oppression” (Green Generation). Brown’s article published in Wiretap Magazine, entitled “The Green Generation”, focuses on the opinions of youth who found their answers to basic climate change questions typed on an online blog for all to see (McKibben 260). On the other hand, Barbara Kingsolver wrote a novel, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, in which her article, "Called Home", comes from (Kingsolver 1). To evaluate which author is more credible the reader must look at the authors education and the quality of the text that they have written. In this case Kingsolver has an advantage over Brown because she has earned multiple biology degrees, compared to no degrees from Brown, which equivalates to more knowledge that is displayed in her …show more content…

I believe that Kingsolver makes her case for the most persuasive author because her writing is about her life story and facts that she has gathered on the way. Wouldn’t you want to be reading a story that you can connect with? I feel that if I can connect to a piece of writing then it becomes more interesting and I would continue to read on. Kingsolver achieves this goal in “Called Home.” Throughout this piece of writing Kingsolver tells a personal narrative of the time she moved from Arizona to the western part of Virginia (Kingsolver 1). Kingsolver is able to connect with the reader by sharing a common experience: “This story about good food begins in a quick-stop convenience market. It was our family’s last day in Arizona, where I’d lived half my life and raised two kids for the whole of theirs” (Kingsolver 1). Think of a time when you went on a trip. What is one of the first few things you start with? The answer: make sure you have plenty of snacks and if you don’t stop and get some. This is contrary to what happens in “The Green Generation.” Brown is unable to connect with the reader because she only uses information from the climate change youth (McKibben 261-267). Now that we have figured out that Kingsolver connect more closely to her audience, the last step to figuring out which author is more

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