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Essay / Literary analysis of The Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
Since the beginning of humanity, even before civilization, man lived off the land and depended on it for his survival, even in the first civilization, the Nature controlled every aspect of life. Little by little, we began to learn how to control nature and use it to our advantage. Today, man's connection with nature is limited, and as Roheal Louv argues in The Last Child of the Woods, it is a sad truth that continues to gain gravity. Louv argues against the captivation of man and nature using the device of anecdote, hypothetical example and rhetorical devices. Louv uses an accessible anecdote to make his claim. The reason he uses the story of a friend who pressured him to buy an in-car multimedia system, using a hyperbolic description such as "the salesman's jaw dropped" in order to create dramatic effect. The result of his description of the event is that it causes the reader to experience the same boredom that the customer must have felt in the anecdote. By making the anecdote seem like a common occurrence, he attempts to show that salespeople's attitude toward reliance on technology is almost universal in today's society. Louv highlights the common view that technology is a constant need and his disapproval of this view. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get the original essay To continue to develop the anecdote of in-car entertainment, Louv uses juxtaposition to help show his disdain for of this idea. He suggests that “we will tell our grandchildren one day/that there was a time when children looked out the car window/instead of playing on the phone or watching TV in the backseat.” The key to the effectiveness of this example of juxtaposition is that it is often realistic. Even today, our grandparents tell us about their childhood without television or the Internet. Louv's analysis could therefore prove true. The shocking realism of this makes the reader aware of the immediacy of the problem and the pace at which the problem is progressing, effectively causing the separation between man and nature and possibly creating more hypothetical examples in the reader's mind. Finally, Louv uses the devices of abstraction. and concrete images to advance his demand for the separation of man and nature, perhaps his most effective device, Louv's images paint a scene that is virtually impossible to erase insofar as it is deeply familiar, evocative and an emotional connection to the problem. His description of "fogged glass/stalking telephone poles/counting cows and horses" evokes a nostalgic memory of the reader's own childhood, making him unable to resist the desire to preserve these memories for future generations. He makes the reader realize that this experience could be lost to children of decades to come if the separation between man and nature is not bridged. Louv's images create a sense of mournful loss that brings the issue down to a personal level for anyone who has ever looked out of a car window as a child. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Louv's argument relies on anecdotal evidence, rhetorical devices, and images, but more importantly, it draws on a sense of personal attachment to the issue at hand. It subtly proves that the disparity between humanity and nature is an issue that concerns us, 54(2), 195-209..