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

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Since the beginning of time, man relied on nature for everything- food, shelter, clothing, etc. Today, technology runs rampant, even though we use it to our advantage, it cuts humanity’s tie with nature. Richard Louv invokes the sad truth that we are beginning to lose our relationship with nature. In Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv uses anecdotes, hyperboles, hypothetical situations, rhetorical questions, and imagery to argue against the separation of man and Mother Nature.
In the beginning of the passage, Louv gives examples of what technology can do. Scientists can change the color of a butterfly’s wings, writing advertisements on public beaches, and putting company logos in parks. He uses a quote by Matt Richtel which states, “It’s time for nature to carry its weight” (ln 8-9). By using these examples in his intro paragraph, the reader can see that technology is taking the beauty away from nature. He also writes that “true nature is not even worth looking at” (ln18-19) to …show more content…

The thing about this image is that it is becoming all too real. Even today, we have the older generation telling us stories of when they didn’t have cellphones, back-seat TV monitors, and that they always played outside from dusk until dawn. This helps see how fast technology is progressing, and there will be a time when kids will no longer look out the window on road trips and the separation of man and nature is fast approaching. He also asks the rhetorical questions “Why do so many Americans … worth watching” (ln 43-47). The first question makes “so many Americans” (ln 43) hypocritical of not wanting to watch a lot of TV, but yet they make “so many opportunities to watch it” (ln 45). The second question strengthens his argument of not separating the ties of man and nature by igniting a feeling in the reader that that statement is all too

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