Barbara Kingsolver's Path to Persuasion

               Barbara Kingsolver, the author of Lily’s Chickens and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, is widely known for her variety of published works.  In fact, she was even named one the most important writers of the 20th Century by Writers Digest.  Although Kingsolver addresses sensitive topics regarding the food industries across the world, she uses several rhetorical strategies including humor, logos and ethos to create a connection with the reader, in hopes that she can guide the food-buying public towards healthier choices.

                In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Kingsolver uses humor to get the reader to relax while reading about her ideas and experiences. Almost immediately, Kingsolver incorporates humor into Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life while describing her family’s slow adaptation to change. She jokes that,   “Naturally, our first stop was to buy junk food and fossil fuel.” Through this strategy, she shows that she is also subject to imperfection while working to change.  By comparing herself to the reader, Kingsolver is able to encourage the reader by showing that if she can change, others can change too.  In Lily’s Chicken she admits, “I am trying to learn about this complicated web as I go, and I’m in no position to judge anyone else’s personal habits, believe me.”  Had Kingsolver not addressed that she also had trouble adjusting, her points would be less valid and her ideas could be considered extreme and unrealistic.

                In addition to humor, Kingsolver employs logos to strike the reader’s logic and reasoning by using statistics concerning how far food travels from around the world.  In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life she says, “Our average food item covers fifteen-hundred miles to reach us.  Because of industrial farming and food transport, we are now putting almost as much gasoline into our diets as into our cars.”  Through her use of logos, Kingsolver provides a shocking fact to both intrigue the reader and support her idea that we do not pay enough attention to where our food actually comes from.  Without facts, her statements would have no justification and would not be taken seriously by the reader.  She also incorporates logical suggestions that could benefit our nation as a whole.  Kingsolver suggests in Lily’s Chickens that, “We could make for ourselves a safer nation, overnight, simply by giving more support to our local food economies and learning ways of eating and living around a table that reflects the calendar.”  This logical assumption proves to the reader that not only our health would improve but our safety could be improved too.

                Lastly, Kingsolver uses ethos to appeal to the reader’s emotions.  In Lily’s Chickens, she expresses her love for her family and encourages the reader to change for the safety of not only themselves, but most importantly, their loved ones.  Kingsolver reminds the reader that, “Health is an issue, too: My growing girls don’t need the hormones and toxins that lace American food in regulated quantities (the allowable doses are more about economic feasibility that about proven safety).”  This fact is given to the reader to stir their protective instincts and to encourage them to create a better diet for their family’s health.

                Through her uses of rhetorical strategies including humor, logos and ethos, Kingsolver’s style intends to educate, inform, and persuade the reader to pursue a healthier lifestyle.  Despite the sensitivity that can be found within the topics of industrial food production, Kingsolver establishes a connection with the reader, in hopes that she can guide the food-buying public towards healthier choices.

What Most Consumers Tend to Overlook

                It is hard to believe that businesses are willing to sell their product with only profits on their mind, rather than taking the publics’ health into consideration.  As a young consumer, I have never personally focused on what I am putting my money toward and how it could be harming me.  Most human beings, including myself, avoid the unfortunate truth: most companies put their profits toward advertisement and marketing, rather than taking the initiative to improve the quality of their product.  As a teenager, my schedule usually distracts me from making healthy choices that could lead to better development and improvement in my overall health.  Although the foods may taste good and are readily available, the preservatives and artificial flavorings are destroying our bodies.  In addition, factory faming leads to our exposure to saturated fats, cholesterol, excessive protein and harmful hormone levels that can stunt development.  Why do we continue to invest in products that do little to improve our health?  Unfortunately, it’s because most consumers are unable to afford the high prices of organic, natural foods.  Learning more about these harmful contaminates has encouraged me take more consideration of where my food originates from and what it may contain.

Rhetorical Analysis of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson, an essayist and central figure in the transcendental movement during the 1800’s, was mostly known for his strong belief in individualism: a very uncommon topic during his time. In his essay “Self-Reliance,” written in 1841, Emerson emphasizes the importance of trust, confidence, and the acceptance of one’s self by suggesting to the reader that every human being acquires doubt in themselves.  Emerson achieves this by employing an intimate tone, affirmative diction, and a brief comparison to himself to build credibility. 

Initially, Emerson states, “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”  His application of the rhetorical strategy, logos, appeals to the readers reasoning by suggesting that every individual’s heart possesses the same hope of acceptance, when in reality we must learn to trust and accept ourselves first.  Emerson encourages the readers to develop themselves through trust; into the individual they are destined to be, without morphing themselves to please others.  If each individual embodies the hopes of finding self-acceptance and stability, he faithfully believes that we are capable of overcoming the doubts we hold against ourselves.

Emerson’s transcendental beliefs led him to urge individuals to, “Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events.”  His use of pathos motivates the reader to search for their divine purpose, rather than focusing on acceptance from others.  His ideas encourage the reader to follow the path created by the higher power, rather than attempting to seek their destiny with no guidance. Emerson employs logos to appeal to the readers reasoning of equality by referring to others as “contemporaries.”  This reminds the reader that although the ideal of individuality is important, we all possess a similar inner being.

To establish credibility, Emerson explains that, “Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being.”  His rhetorical use of ethos implies that those who take his advice are the individuals who succeed.  Emerson suggests that those who accept the ideas of transcendentalism will find the acceptance they are longing for, and will no longer feel inferior because the higher power will overtake their struggles.  He stresses that the trust and acceptance of ourselves that we seek can only be found individually within our heart, rather than created with our mind, and that it is crucial that individuals do not confide themselves, “childlike to the genius of their age.”  If we proceed to do so, we will lose our true inner self that can be found within our heart.

With Emerson’s use of an intimate, personal tone, he establishes a connection to the reader.  Emerson concludes with, “And we are now men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; and not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers, and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort, and advancing on Chaos and the Dark.”  With the connection to himself, Emerson builds credibility by establishing his understanding.  His reference to “transcendent destiny” alludes to his strong belief in individualism and self-determination.  In addition, his style shifts from short and to the point to lengthy and descriptive.  This shift shows the importance of the ideals of transcendentalists he hopes to spread and justifies his idea of the role of the individual. Additionally, Emerson states that our role is to fulfill our destiny.  He insists that if we are able to find peace with ourselves, we will be capable of advancing to a better society as a whole, or capable of eliminating “Chaos and the Dark.”

Throughout his essay “Self-Reliance,” Emerson emphasizes the importance of trust, confidence, and the acceptance of one’s self by employing an intimate tone, affirmative diction, and a brief comparison to himself to build credibility.  His use of rhetorical strategies including ethos, pathos and logos contribute to his informative expression of ideals by providing structural support and appealing to the readers reason, logic and emotions.  Emerson successfully provided insight to what we must do to find our true self and justified that we must never consider ourselves inferior; we are all longing to find ourselves and acquire the same goals of acceptance. 

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Emerson's Mutual Idea of a Hero

                Throughout history, Ralph Waldo Emerson has been defined as a man who valued individualism and freedom.  After examining some of his most widely-known works, I have come to realize that Emerson was also simply a man of words.  Emerson once said that, “a hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.”  When searching for a hero, we tend to overlook the common man, or even ourselves.  Throughout my life, like Emerson, I have come to believe that we should always be open to expecting the unexpected.

                As a little girl, I loved to go swimming with my friend Laura.  While we swam and enjoyed each other’s company, our moms, who were best friends, would do the same.  On July 18, 2000, Laura’s mom, Kaylynn, invited my mom, sister and I to their new home to swim and cool off from the Texas summer heat.  That afternoon, we explored their new home and ordered pizzas for lunch.  Laura and I were told that we were not allowed to swim until the pizza had arrived and our moms were able to watch us.  As our anticipation built, Laura and I decided that it would be funny to sneak into the backyard just a few minutes early so that we could finally swim; ignoring the fact that we did not have permission.  Before jumping off of the diving board, I slipped a diving mask on to cover my eyes; little did I know that it would come close to killing me.  After running down the diving board, I plunged into the deep water.  While swimming up to the bright surface, the mask slid down my face, covering my mouth and nose.  The more I swam, the tighter the mask would suction to my face.  Once I reached the surface, I gasped for air that didn’t exist.  I attempted to rip off the mask to release the pressure that had built up.  As the mask suffocated me, I ran out of air and strength, sinking to the bottom of the pool.  After only a few seconds, I lost consciousness.  Once Laura realized that I needed help, she sprinted into the house and screamed, “Mom! Mrs. Kim! Something is wrong with Becca, she needs your help! Hurry!”  Our mom’s panicked, realizing that we had not listened, and fled to the backyard to see what we had gotten ourselves into.  When they reached the backyard, they saw Laura yelling and pointing to the bottom of the pool and found that she was pointing to me.  Kaylynn immediately dove to the bottom of the pool and pulled me out onto the hot concrete while my mom called 911 for help.  As she tried to rip the mask off of my face, Kaylynn could not get the mask to come off of my face, and realized she was running out of time.  I had already turned blue.  After cutting the mask off of my face, Kaylynn did all that she could to save my life by giving me CPR until the ambulance arrived.  Once the ambulance reached the house, I had slowly began gaining consciousness. I was immediately taken to the hospital.  At first, I was not showing signs of recovery and the doctors feared that I would lose my memory; however, after several hours in the hospital, I began to return to full consciousness. 

After realizing that I was going to be ok, my parents couldn’t thank Kaylynn enough.  She had saved my life.  We used to see Kaylynn as a family friend; however, now we see her as nothing short of a hero.  Without her, I would not be here today.  While looking into Emerson’s idea of a hero, the first person that comes to my mind is Kaylynn.  Although she may appear to be an ordinary human being, to me she is the selfless, loving, brave woman that forever changed my life.