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

In his book, The Nature Principle, Richard Louv talks about how nature is a natural resource to many of the problems we as humans are facing today, if we would just go outside and take advantage of it. Louv talks about how we (as American’s) have increased our use of technology vastly in the last ten years. While this is not comply bad, it does have negative effects on our physical, emotional and spiritual being if not kept in check. Louv goes on to share that, “the more high tech we become, the more nature we need” (Louv, 2011). Think about a time you have sat in your office for hours on end, working on your computer, at last lunch time came and you went outside for just five minutes because you forgot something in your car. In just those few minutes of going outside, you might have noticed a slight increase in your happiness level. Can you then venture to understand how this could be applied to children, or even increased with taking more time to enjoy nature? Richard Louv challenges his readers to not only be in nature, but to live with nature (Louv, 2011) .

“Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv evaluates the author's argument concerning the clear separation that is happening between people and nature to which he questions what it will mean for the future of the world. To develop his argument Louv uses various rhetorical devices such as an allusion, anecdote from friends, strong connotations, juxtaposition and parallelism in relation to the actions of parents, repetitions along with anaphora, and imagery of the future to ultimately name technology as the culprit for the divide. Louv distinguishes the causes of the separation to make the readers- and all people helping deepen the divide- aware of what they are doing in order to call the required attention needed to result in a change. Louv

The Power of Nature: Rhetorical Strategies in Weisman’s The World Without Us: Unbuilding Our Homes

The first chapter introduced the reader to the art of rhetoric. He describes how rhetoric works through real life examples. He demonstrates ways that rhetoric persuades us like, argument from strength, and seduction. He tells the reader that the sole purpose of arguing is to persuade the audience. He showed that the chief purpose of arguing is to also achieve consensus, a shared faith in a choice.

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.

The author has used the concept of rhetoric questions, which intrigues the mind of the reader

The contrast between technology and humans is talked about in Richard Louv’s article from Last Child in the Woods. He uses great strategies to get his point across to the readers. Louv wants everyone to realize how the times have changed and how important technology has become in our lives. He wants to give us a better understanding of how technology has changed our lives. In this article Louv uses rhetorical strategies to prove to his readers that his points are valid. These strategies are telling stories, using important names, and making jokes.

Richard Louv writes a persuasive essay analyzing the relationship between nature and technology. His essay focuses on how technology is progressively altering the way we perceive nature. Louv believes that the more we are in contact with technology, the less in touch we are with nature. His persuasion throughout the essay uses many rhetorical devices to help the reader envision how much better “true nature” is.

Nowadays, children have become very dependent on technology, rather than observing the world around them. Richard Louv's, "Last Child in the Woods" excerpt portrays to readers that children, nowadays, aren't being given the opportunities nor choosing to embrace nature for themselves. Instead, they're using technology to sort of "mask" reality. Louv provides logical reasoning, real examples, and emotional and relative connections with the reader to strengthen his opinion on this topic. The title, "Last Child in the Woods", also assists with the emphasis that children aren't embracing nature. Author Richard Louv effectively uses rhetorical strategies in this excerpt from "Last Child in the Woods" to emphasize the importance of embracing "true" nature.

Many authors use rhetorical devices and strategies to get their point across and try to convince the reader to believe in their perspective. It can also be used to get emotions from its readers, but that isn’t really the whole point of persuading someone. For instance, Martin Luther King Jr. uses an abundance of pathos in order to make the reader or clergymen feel sympathy towards the black people. Along with pathos, he uses logos and a bundle of hypophora. In order to obtain the goal of persuasion, Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter contains rhetorical devices.

Within the modern world, and the modern thought process people have about our connection with new technologies is one of constant expanse. All caution is thrown to the wind in an attempt to satisfy one insatiable hunger for a certain type of keeping up with the Jones-es. Many authors speak on the wonder of technological advances on society by the exact means of how they work, however, Richard Louv is not this kind of author. He presents technology as useful, but with an underlying tone of a technological numbing agent. We begin to only see it instead of what Earth has given us millions of years. Technology is only a certain part of the problem with the real problem being humanity's mindset toward our greatest asset, nature. Mr. Louv uses extremely profound and intelligent rhetoric to push forward the idea that us as humans are already so broken away from nature, that eventually it will be deemed illogical we used it for anything other than a means produce by it. Richard shows three areas we have really broken apart from nature with the three examples of ad space for parks, extra commodities for an SUV, and the genetic modification of animals.

Richard Louv, in his book “Last Child in the Woods” describes the dramatic change that the world is now facing. Louv’s purpose is to show reader that not everything that we invent is good. In addition, the writer uses a reader-friendly tone in order to establish that he is not going to be harsh on any one person. Also, the author creates a factual tone by giving reader lots of information. Louv does so by utilizing diction in order to establish the mood and tone in the passage.With the use of rhetorical devices such as diction, nostalgia, and rhetorical questioning, Louv has a powerful impact and gets his point across to the audience.

In today’s age, the use of persuasive rhetoric is everywhere. The most recognized use of rhetoric today is through political propaganda. Politics are confusing to many people and disliked by many more. The reason for this is because politics are often misleading. “Political speaking urges us either to do or not do something: one of these two courses is always taken by private counselors, as well as by men who address