The Fear Of Fear In Never Cry Wolf By Farley Mowat

Humans are born with two innate fears: fear of falling and fear of loud noises. As we grow up though, more natural fears are given to us through our parents or big influencers in our lives. Fear is an adaptive behavior that we have to help identify threats. It is an ability that has allowed us as humans to survive predators and natural disasters since the beginning of time. So naturally, humans stay away from and even blame our fears for things they didn’t do. In the book Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat, (published 1963) this fear is of Wolves. Mowat is sent out to Canada for a year to research whether or not the wolf population is guilty for the declining of Caribou numbers. With the help of Mike and Ootek, friends Mowat found on his journey, Mowat comes to the conclusion that the greatest danger to the caribou is an animal that does not walk on four legs. Through the rhetorical strategies of Ethos, Pathos, and logos, Mowat dispels the insanely …show more content…
Mowat is a dedicated scientist with 6 PhD’s. He uses the rhetorical appeal of Ethos to show the kind of person he is. Mowat starts off by telling the readers of his experience and showing them that he is indeed a skilled scientist, not just anyone off the street, and that since he was arguably so talented that “It was, therefore, inevitable that I work for the government.”(5) Through this, Mowat allows the readers obtain a sense of trust in him, and makes the readers feel like they can take Mowat’s word when it comes to his findings. While advancing in the reading of Never Cry Wolf, though, readers start to realize that even though Mowat embarks his research with an open mind and records most exactly what he sees, his persona is clouded by his use of “wolf juice,” or alcohol, during his research. Taking this into consideration, some of the conclusions that Mowat comes to and also his actions towards the wolves can be