From domesticating dogs and livestock to more recently poisoning and killing anything labeled dangerous, humans have been in control of the environment for thousands of years. Now that we have more technology that can do harm, we must consider the effects of our worldwide massacre. Joy Williams and William Stolzenburg both wrote books concerning this topic and how we’ve effected or nearly eradicated whole species in search of economic gain or safety. These authors took very different approaches to address the issue, with Williams writing an accusatory and direct novel using “you” to speak to the reader while Stolzenburg creates a story personifying two of the last wolves in the United States as they avoid traps and hunters. The use of personification
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Using this tense, Williams is trying to create a thought process for the reader throughout the entire excerpt. This “thought process” mocks and simplifies how the reader might justify all the environmental damage by presenting a situation they may have been in and their response. An example of this is when she states, “Those lovely pictures […] you just know they’re going to be accompanied by a text that will serve only to bring you down. You don’t want to think about it! It’s all so uncool.” (Williams) Her style of writing may remind the audience of experiences they have faced and she criticizes a very common response to seeing upsetting images by dumbing down an emotional response to it is “uncool”. Her criticism makes the reader re-evaluate their reasons for not wanting to think about the environment because they realize now how irrational their response may seem. Her strategy can be hit-or-miss because not all readers may respond well to her confrontation and may become lost in her chain of thoughts. Another way Williams addresses the audience is by using the first person plural tense. Again, she mocks the audience and shames them into action by sarcastically stating, “We know a lot these days.”(Williams) She uses this perspective as a response to herself making fun of what a reader might think. She believes many readers think they know a lot but in reality they don’t, and she is trying to show that to the readers in order to get them to learn more and take action. This strategy complicates her chapter by adding more tenses and twists but can be effective once the reader understands what she is trying to
Using this tense, Williams is trying to create a thought process for the reader throughout the entire excerpt. This “thought process” mocks and simplifies how the reader might justify all the environmental damage by presenting a situation they may have been in and their response. An example of this is when she states, “Those lovely pictures […] you just know they’re going to be accompanied by a text that will serve only to bring you down. You don’t want to think about it! It’s all so uncool.” (Williams) Her style of writing may remind the audience of experiences they have faced and she criticizes a very common response to seeing upsetting images by dumbing down an emotional response to it is “uncool”. Her criticism makes the reader re-evaluate their reasons for not wanting to think about the environment because they realize now how irrational their response may seem. Her strategy can be hit-or-miss because not all readers may respond well to her confrontation and may become lost in her chain of thoughts. Another way Williams addresses the audience is by using the first person plural tense. Again, she mocks the audience and shames them into action by sarcastically stating, “We know a lot these days.”(Williams) She uses this perspective as a response to herself making fun of what a reader might think. She believes many readers think they know a lot but in reality they don’t, and she is trying to show that to the readers in order to get them to learn more and take action. This strategy complicates her chapter by adding more tenses and twists but can be effective once the reader understands what she is trying to