Response To Hitchens The Lovely Stones

In “The Lovely Stones,” an article published in Wired magazine, Christopher Hitchens builds a persuasive argument that Britain should return the original historical pieces of the Parthenon to Greece. Hitchens utilizes effective organization, strong evidence, literary devices, and powerful diction to establish a legitimate argument. The clear logical reasoning of this passage enhances the quality of Hitchens’s article. He starts off strong with a quote that highlights the significance of the Parthenon to draw the reader’s attention. Hitchens follows this with a description of the Parthenon’s hard and prolonged history. The author then provides some background knowledge, as the reader may not be as well learned about the topic as he is. Despite all the damage the Parthenon has gone through, Hitchens states that “one desecration and dilapidation [can be] ... partially undone.” To back this claim, he explicitly explains how the British stole the Parthenon …show more content…
In paragraph two, he includes the “abused and perverted and mutilated,” to express his deep opinion about how the Parthenon has been treated. The repetition of the conjunction “and” adds force to the adjectives surrounding it, and emphasizes the severity of the issue. In paragraph six, Hitchens uses the Mona Lisa getting sawed in half as an analogy to demonstrate what happened to the Parthenon. Since the Mona Lisa is such a prominent painting, and most people are very familiar with it, people can easily relate this example to the Parthenon. The author also selects the negatively connoted words “desecration” and “dilapidation” to emphasize the damage done to the Parthenon. Hitchens also uses the powerful word “grotesque” to emphasize the shattered image of the Parthenon after the horrible act of splitting it apart. Literary devices and powerful word choice are used several times throughout the article to make his argument