Summary: Jane Goodall's Essay Against Trophy Hunting

Superior Essays
Summary: Jane Goodall is strongly against trophy hunting because it is wasteful and could potentially put a species’ future at risk. It demonstrates a lack of compassion for sentient beings. Trophy hunting is sadistic and has no use other than to be able to brag about slaying beautiful and mighty animals.

Author Questions

Who is the author?

Acclaimed anthropologist Jane Goodall wrote this blog-post.

Does the author aim to persuade, explain, inform, entertain, defend, motivate, dissuade, praise, delight, blame? Goodall aims to chastise trophy hunters and dissuade others from taking part.

What is the author’s attitude toward the subject?

Jane Goodall clearly demonstrates her disgust for trophy hunting. She is horrified by
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The author is arguing against it.

Does the author support his or her message by appealing to reason (logos)?

Goodall appeals to reason by pointing out the difference between hunting solely for pleasure versus hunting for survival.

Does the author support his or her message by appealing to emotion (pathos)?

Goodall appeals to emotion by repeatedly mentioning the innocence and beauty of these animals being slaughtered.

Does the author rely on his or her authority (ethos) to support his or her message?

Goodall, to a certain degree, relies on her authority in the field of anthropology to support her message. While it is not outright said, she is using her fame to get her message across (as opposed to including the opinions of other experts).

Are there biases or hidden assumptions?

Having immersed herself in the animal kingdom for decades, Goodall is inherently biased. Therefore, she will always fight against harm to animals (rightly so).

Context Questions

When was the text written?

This opinion piece was written on August 20th, 2015. This was shortly after Cecil the lion’s death.

What historical, social, or political events might the author be responding
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She crafts a compelling argument by carefully choosing her words and letting her opinion be known. For instance, there are many medium to long sentences in this text. These, along with more formal diction, make theauthor seem educated and rational. This is important because if she had chosen to use mostly shorter sentences, her argument might have seemed hot-tempered and uninformed. However, Goodall effectively intersperses some shorter sentences so that her article doesn’t begin to feel verbose and stale. Another effective strategy is that she doesn’t mince words, and chooses instead to be blunt in her feelings towards trophy hunters. She uses strong words and phrases like “a sadistic desire to attract praise,” “Palmer is not the only hunter deserving of our contempt and anger,” and more to establish her thoughts on trophy hunting. A couple of times Goodall makes use of repetition and rhetorical questions to highlight the immorality of killing innocent animals. A final rhetorical device that she uses, quite powerfully, is imagery. She creates a vivid image of these beautiful and innocent animals being slaughtered mercilessly. A good example of this

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