Rhetorical Analysis Of Richard Louv's Last Child In The Woods

John Muir, a brilliant Transcendentalist, has written hundreds of enlightening environmental essay to emphasize the adamant need to save these sacred kings of the forests, the Redwoods. Within Muir’s vivid and emotional entries, specifically “Save the Redwoods”, John utilizes rhetorical devices such as personification, analogy, and Religious allusion in order to express the vital need to save the trees.

Throughout history, humans have had a strong reliance on nature and their environment. As far back as historians can look, people have depended on elements of nature for their survival. In the past few decades, the increased advancement of technology has led to an unfortunate division between humans and nature, and this lack of respect is becoming a flaw in current day society. In Last Child in the Woods, Louv criticizes modern culture by arguing that humans increasing reliance on technology has led to their decreasing connection with nature through the use of relevant anecdotes, rhetorical questions and powerful imagery to appeal to ethos.

In his 2008 novel, Last Child in the Woods, journalist and natural idealist Richard Louv demonstrates the effect that separation from nature has on children. Using a variety of rhetorical strategies, Louv reminds the different parents, as agree cohort which adapted alongside new technology, of the benefits they received from nature prior to the technological revolution. Louv persuades them to instill an appreciation of the natural world in their children, even if such appreciation deviates from societal norms.

As humans become intrigued to the developing digital reality around them, they become unaware of the existing world around them. Within Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods, Louv begins to explain the advancement of technology, then continues to argue about how society is beginning to drift away from the experiences of nature. Louv also calls the audience into action, he develops his argument with the use of irony and juxtaposition. He thoroughly applies juxtaposition and irony creates an aspiring tone for the audience to bring action of the upcoming world.

Nowadays, society is full of abundant materialistic stuffs, which makes human to be isolated to each other and even the nature. A writer, Richard Loux, established a book Last Child in the Woods in 2008 to argue about the separation between people and nature to all people, especially parents who have children. Loux adopted a persuasive tone throughout the passage to reach his purpose---make comparison between movie on the television and the “drive-by movie” out the car window in order to emphasize the importance of nature---by employing rhetorical questions nd some short sentences.

In Richard Louv's essay titled Last Child in the Woods, he uses many different rhetorical strategies to develop an argument discussing man versus nature. Louv writes about how the world and society change everything and how technology is taking over the world. Louv also mentions about how technology is becoming apart of people daily lives for the good and the bad. Louv presents a strong argument on how this generation is more focused on technology than nature. Louv was able to make strong arguments using many rhetorical devices to help develop his argument discussing the difference with people and nature.

The use of technology in society today has drastically increased and has became difficult to comprehend. To the point where it started to consume people’s lives no matter how hard they strived to be individuals, and it drew a wedge between society and nature. In Richard Louv’s passage, “Last Child In The Woods,” he emphasizes how over time the relationship between people and nature has declined by using rhetorical strategies such as imagery, anecdotes, and hypothetical examples.

Louv supports his claim about the separation between people and nature by using an anecdote of a friends experience when buying a car. When declining the offer of having a backseat monitor for her daughter the “salesman jaw dropped” and wouldn't let her go without an explanation on why. His purpose is to show how in desire these “multimedia entertainment products” are, and how now they have taken the place of nature. Louv shifts to a reflective tone where he depicts a back seat “drive-by movie” in a simpler time, where children were able to see houses and the woods teaching them how “cities and nature fit together”. Louv then appeals to emotion by using pathos when talking about the future, he says that maybe we’ll be able to tell the stories to our grandchildren. Really just painting a picture of how your imagination run wild looking out of the car window “drawing pictures on the fogged glass” and “counting cows and horses”. Where you could disconnect from the world.Connecting with the experiences of many people who lived in a time where backseat monitors didn’t

Many see the grass of yesterday as greener. This is the case with Richard Louv in his work Lost Child in the Woods where he believes that today’s society is too removed from nature and too obsessed with technology. Louv claims that as the world becomes increasingly influenced by technology the “true nature” is less valued than it was with previous eras. He successfully uses rhetorical techniques in order to accomplish his purpose of criticizing the people of today for distancing themselves from the natural world.

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, creates a thought-provoking idea of the separation between people and nature in this excerpt from his book. His opinionated tone forces the reader to be concerned for the future generations by including ironic hyperboles and sarcastic diction, which appeal to the readers’ pathos. He uses these rhetorical strategies to indirectly state his opinions.

Louv states in the passage that, “The sheer popularity of simulating nature or using nature as ad space “. This quote builds on the idea in which instead of children or adults admiring the beautiful views nature has to offer instead people are being

Throughout this passage, Louv uses extensive imagery to show how outstanding nature is. He says, "In our useful boredom, we used our finger to draw pictures on fogged glass as we watched telephone poles tick by."(ln. 76-79) By giving examples throughout his passage it helps connect nature with people. The author persuades readers and shows how people do not need technology to get through a car ride. Nature is simply appealing enough to keep you intertained in the car.

People of all ages rely so heavily on technology that they fail to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of nature that surrounds them. In the past few years, technology has become increasingly advanced that people have become dependent on it for almost every aspect of their lives. For instance, people have all the information they can possibly want with just a click of a button. Through Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods, he emphasizes the desperate need for people to stray away from technology and focus on the importance of nature.

Richard Louv, in his work The Last Child in the Woods, depicts how people and nature are becoming more detached as time goes on.* In order to illustrate how technology is contributing to the disconnection between people and the outside world, Louv uses imagery, anecdotes, and logical appeals.*

As a child, I grew up in close proximity to a small wooded area, backed by an elementary school on one side, and a busy neighborhood on the other. It was barely big enough to be called a forest, and often muddy and littered with trash from the nearby school. Nevertheless, it was a source of adventure and awe for me and my siblings. During the summer, we would spend entire days in the woods, bounding through the trees and playing hide and seek. Even during the winter, we could be found out in the woods, sliding on ice in the small swampy pond. That forest, where I spent countless hours in wonderment, has ignited in me a reverence for nature and all its beauty that lingers on to this day, almost ten years later. Those towering trees seemed sacred and invulnerable. Today, however, that already small forest is shrinking, as companies buy the land, one section at a time. Most of the once towering trees have been cleared out and replaced with pristine rows of houses; instead of low brush and bushes, there are now “For Sale” signs. In the same fashion, Earth’s natural resources are being rapidly depleted worldwide in the name of human development. Whether in distress for the environment, or concern regarding the ability of the human race itself to survive, advocates for the concept of sustainability are calling for a change in human attitude and behavior. In order for us to preserve the sacred beauty of nature, and to prevent our vital resources from diminishing further, we need to