Guns Germs And Steel Chapter 19 Analysis

Jared Diamond, in Chapter 19 of the novel Guns, Germs, and Steel, proposes that the black Bantu ethnic group was able to exert dominance over the other four cultural groups in Africa in areas that food production was viable because the Bantu’s sedentary lifestyle was greatly advantaged compared to hunter-gatherers living in the same area. Diamond supports his claims by illustrating the major societal and organizational difference between the Bantu and hunter-gatherer groups and pointing to the methods by which the Bantu expansion was carried out. The author’s purpose is to show what environmental factors led to certain peoples asserting dominance over others in order to support his theory about geographic determinism and refute racist explanations about the fates of human societies. The author writes in a logical scientific tone for an educated and intellectually honest audience. The factors all come together to allow Diamond to create a convincing argument about the factors that led to the Bantu expansion in Africa. Within the context of the work as a whole, Chapter 19 fits in as a demonstration of concepts that are previously explored in the earlier chapters of the book. In essence, Diamond is attempting to give more validity to his previous claims by providing an example from history that follows his …show more content…
Diamond builds a very educated tone through the use of an intellectual vocabulary, and his choice of diction helps him convey his claims effectively and clearly. Throughout the chapter, Diamond primarily appeals to the reader’s sense of logos and ethos, and these both strengthen his argument. All of these pieces come together to allow Diamond to build an effective rhetorical argument that adequately explains the factors that led to the present fates of different human