The Dark Mountain Manifesto Rhetorical Analysis
Environmentalist writing can take on many different forms; the Dark Mountain Manifesto is no one of those. If anything the Dark Mountain Manifesto is the complete opposite of environmentalist literature. At first, however, it was not obvious that this article was meant to be post-environmentalism, post-green revolution, and post-green technology. The heavy usage of rhetoric and alluding language makes it clear that the author does not want to immediately give away his argument but convince the readers through creative writing. His main argument challenges the concept of environmentalism, he claims that it is a delusion created by the myth of civilization and progress, and also consumerism. In order to make his argument resonate with the readers, his choice of persuasive writing tactics such as comparison, amplifications, personifications, and allusions, does the trick. Without these persuasive tactics, the connection he has made between the readers and his writing would be lost.
The connections …show more content…
There seems to be a sense of disillusionment surrounding the green revolution and green technology as they are constantly being represented as necessities for ‘progression’. Yet, much of environmentalism seems to forget that there will always be regression where there is progress; “we have failed in all of it, and our failure destroyed more than we were even aware of (Kingsnorth & Hine, 2009)”. As human beings, we are inherently fearful of failure and even more inherently fearful of dying. The strategic choice of putting “we have failed” and “our failure destroyed” in the same sentence should provoke an emotional response in the readers. The author has specifically chosen the use of this rhetoric to make the readers question the validity of what they are
Environmentalist writing can take on many different forms; the Dark Mountain Manifesto is no one of those. If anything the Dark Mountain Manifesto is the complete opposite of environmentalist literature. At first, however, it was not obvious that this article was meant to be post-environmentalism, post-green revolution, and post-green technology. The heavy usage of rhetoric and alluding language makes it clear that the author does not want to immediately give away his argument but convince the readers through creative writing. His main argument challenges the concept of environmentalism, he claims that it is a delusion created by the myth of civilization and progress, and also consumerism. In order to make his argument resonate with the readers, his choice of persuasive writing tactics such as comparison, amplifications, personifications, and allusions, does the trick. Without these persuasive tactics, the connection he has made between the readers and his writing would be lost.
The connections …show more content…
There seems to be a sense of disillusionment surrounding the green revolution and green technology as they are constantly being represented as necessities for ‘progression’. Yet, much of environmentalism seems to forget that there will always be regression where there is progress; “we have failed in all of it, and our failure destroyed more than we were even aware of (Kingsnorth & Hine, 2009)”. As human beings, we are inherently fearful of failure and even more inherently fearful of dying. The strategic choice of putting “we have failed” and “our failure destroyed” in the same sentence should provoke an emotional response in the readers. The author has specifically chosen the use of this rhetoric to make the readers question the validity of what they are