Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Persuasive Appeals in ââ¬ÅEconomyââ¬Â and ââ¬ÅConclusionââ¬Â - Literature Essay Samples
The autobiography Walden, or Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau is a personal narrative describing how and why he performed his experiment of living at Walden Pond, close to nature. ââ¬Å"Economyâ⬠describes Thoreauââ¬â¢s personal experience in the beginning of his time at Walden, while ââ¬Å"Conclusionâ⬠sums up Thoreauââ¬â¢s beliefs about how people should live their lives. In the different sections of the essay, Thoreau uses the three basic persuasive tactics to convince readers that his beliefs are correct: ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos invokes our rationale that people with personal expertise or experience on a subject are more credible than those without. Logos appeals to the rational part of our thinking because by nature we trust data and the idea of cause and effect. Pathos conjures up what we think and feel about different subjects using word choice (General). Authors try to persuade the reader using these techniques by appealing to various aspects of his or her thinking. In Walden, the section ââ¬Å"Economyâ⬠and the section ââ¬Å"Conclusionâ⬠share a common theme, which is that one can be self-reliant and live the simplest life possible in order to pursue oneââ¬â¢s dream and ultimately ones spiritual freedom. In ââ¬Å"Economyâ⬠, Thoreau uses logos and ethos to develop his theme because he uses personal experience and his own records as evidence to support his view, but in ââ¬Å"Conclusionâ⬠, he uses pathos because he states his opinion and reveals his passions, thereby appealing to the readersââ¬â¢ emotions and values. A major element of ââ¬Å"Economyâ⬠is the use of ethos to establish credibility, since Thoreau is a city man and conducted his experiment in order to gain some experience living in the wilderness. Ethos is the main way that ââ¬Å"Economyâ⬠conveys Thoreauââ¬â¢s message that one should be self-reliant and live simply. He tells us that he ââ¬Å"[has lived] alone, in the woodsâ⬠¦[earning his] living by the labor of [his] hands only. [He has lived there] two years and two monthsâ⬠, and now he is ââ¬Å"a sojourner in civilized life againâ⬠(Thoreau 217). Thoreau starts by buying an old, beat-up shanty, and the same morning he moves in, he takes ââ¬Å"down this dwellingand [removes] it to the pond side by small cartloadsâ⬠(Thoreau 218). When building the house, he transports ââ¬Å"two cartloads of stones up the hill from the pond in [his] armsâ⬠(Thoreau 218). In order to preserve food for the winter, he digs a cellar ââ¬Å"in the side of a hill sloping to the southdown through sumac and blackberry roots, and the lowest stain of vegetationto a fine sandâ⬠(Thoreau 218). Building a house is probably the most difficult part of making a living independently, but Thoreau, a city man, is successful at it. To both earn money and provide food for himself, he plants ââ¬Å"about two acres and a half of light and sandy soil near [the house] chiefly with beans, but also a small part with potatoes, corn, peas, and turnipsâ⬠(Thoreau 219), even though one farmer before has said that the land was ââ¬Å"good for nothing but to raise cheeping squirrels onâ⬠(Thoreau 219). Although the land near Walden is not the most fertile, Thoreau is still able to provide sufficient food for himself. As far as fuel and staying warm are concerned, he has gotten ââ¬Å"several cords of stumps in plowingâ⬠, and the remainder of his fuel consisted of ââ¬Å"dead andunmerchantable wood behind [his] houseâ⬠(Thoreau 220). The fact that he is able to obtain so much fuel from Walden shows that nature already provides plenty of resources for us that we should make use of. Through his experiences of building his own house, planting his own crops, and gathering fuel from nature, Thoreau builds readersââ¬â¢ respect for him on the subject of being self-reliant and living a simple life. ââ¬Å"Economyâ⬠uses some logos to convey the fact that it is possible to live with only the basic human necessities and cultivate a living from oneââ¬â¢s own hands. Thoreau meticulously keeps a list of expenses on his house. On his house, he spent a total of ââ¬Å"$28.12 à ½Ã¢â¬ (Thoreau 219), compared to a new home in Brooklyn, NY, which costs about $2,500 in the 1850s (History). Relying on his own labor, Thoreau got a home for one-hundredth of that price. In addition, he says that he spent ââ¬Å"1.40â⬠on transportation, because he carries ââ¬Å"a good part on [his] backâ⬠(Thoreau 219). From his planting, he ends up getting ââ¬Å"twelve bushels of beans, and eighteen bushels of potatoes, besides some peas and sweet cornâ⬠(Thoreau 220). Such quantities are definitely enough to sustain a person throughout the year. These statistics show that anyone, even a city man, can obtain the basic human necessities with his own labor. Through the careful keepi ng of records, Thoreau is able to buttress his argument because readers are more likely to believe what numbers tell them. In contrast to ââ¬Å"Economyâ⬠, ââ¬Å"Conclusionâ⬠relies more on pathos to convey Thoreauââ¬â¢s ideas. Thoreau often directly states his beliefs with a confident or passionate tone. He tells us that ââ¬Å"if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hoursâ⬠(Thoreau 228), revealing a passion and optimism that is not seen in ââ¬Å"Economyâ⬠. Although there is no direct scientific evidence to support his statement, Thoreau arouses a strong inspiration in readers. He also tells us in ââ¬Å"Conclusionâ⬠that people will become more enlightened about the universe if they simplify their lives. He writes that ââ¬Å"as [a man] simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weaknessâ⬠(Thoreau 228). Here, he uses irony and pathos to convey his b elief that by living simply, one can turn around normally negative situationspoverty, solitude, weaknessinto positive situations. Thinking about this makes readers feel inspired and more motivated to live a simple but meaningful life, which is the goal of pathos. Thoreau tells us in ââ¬Å"Conclusionâ⬠that being self-reliant and living a simple life will ultimately allow one to achieve spiritual freedom: ââ¬Å"[w]e will not be shipwrecked on a vain realityâ⬠(Thoreau 228). By ââ¬Å"vain realityâ⬠, Thoreau is referring to a reality dominated by material goods. Thoreau believes that a life dominated by many material goods is more miserable than a life dominated by fewer material goods, because material goods cannot give inner freedom. Part of being self-reliant, according to Thoreau, is not trying to imitate others. After all, a ââ¬Å"living dog is better than a dead lionâ⬠(Thoreau 228), meaning that a living dog should just be a dog and do useful activities, instead of trying to be a lion and not getting the goal. Thoreau makes readers question whether they have lost touch with themselves. He appeals to our values by using strong and emotional diction, stirring up our thinking about what type of life we want to live. The use of different persuasive tacticslogos, ethos, and pathosinvokes different aspects of human psychology and creates different effects of persuasion in ââ¬Å"Economyâ⬠and ââ¬Å"Conclusionâ⬠. Thoreau first builds his argument to the rational side of our thinking by conducting the experiment at Walden and keeping careful records to convince the reader of his credibility and paves the way for his conclusion, then ends with strong, passionate words that appeal to our emotions. The use of the three tactics and the way it is set up makes the argument persuasive and provocative, and we leave with the feeling of inspiration. One gets slightly different impressions about Thoreau when reading the two passages, but both selections are equally convincing and powerful.
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