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Explain how Bogard builds an argument to persuade that natural darkness should be preserved. Analyze how Bogard uses features in the directions that precede the passage to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument. Focus on the most relevant features of the passage.
The battle between darkness and light has been fought since the very first days of humanity, before fire was even created, Bogard simply takes a different side to the battle than most. He argues in his essay “Let There Be Dark” that darkness affects the entire planet -the natural world, today’s population, and future generations- in surprisingly positive ways, and that it’s up to us to defend it. Overall, his arguments are powerful and likely to make any reader question leaving his or her lamp on, but this is largely in part to his great capabilities as a writer. Every part of his essay, even the title, is built to convince his readers of why they should preserve the darkness and the natural order of life.
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To anyone who has ever read biblical passages or studied any kind of advanced education, “Let There Be Dark” is a clear Biblical analogy, one with an ironic twist. This iconic phrase references a hand full of the first words in the chapter “Genesis” of the bible, “and god said ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light...”, to most church goers, this alone would likely bring to mind that even darkness was made by the same creator, and for others, at the very least, it brings to mind that even darkness is natural, in all its forms. Alongside leaving the readers with this thought, it also lays a tone of humanity, and a false one of
The tone during the whole plot of in Brave New World changes when advancing throughout the plot, but it often contains a dark and satiric aspect. Since the novel was originally planned to be written as a satire, the tone is ironic and sarcastic. Huxley's sarcastic tone is most noticeable in the conversations between characters. For instance, when the director was educating the students about the past history, he states that "most facts about the past do sound incredible (Huxley 45)." Through the exaggeration of words in the statement of the director, Huxley's sarcastic tone obviously is portrayed. As a result of this, the satirical tone puts the mood to be carefree.
In the late 1800’s America began to take on its own individual identity as a country. The Chicago World's Fair was a great influence for that notion. In Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City he tells a duel nonfictional storyline of one of the fair’s architects and a serial killer living just outside the fair. By using imagery, juxtaposition, and syntax Larson is able to enchant the reader and make the novel read like a fiction.
A good author writes with a specific purpose. Many of them are very opinionated and controversial, calling out certain groups of people, or presenting readers with seemingly outlandish ideas. George Orwell says that he writes “to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other people’s idea of the kind of society that they should strive after.” His purpose is to persuade his readers to better themselves as well as society based on what he deems the correct approach. Erik Larson wrote “The Devil in the White City” to shine light on the infamous Gilded Age of America and the stark contrast, yet inevitable relatedness, of pride and evil. The book follows the story or architect Daniel Burnham as he works on the World’s Columbian Exposition,
It can be argued that the theme of light VS darkness is used to good
As a morality tale, the darkness is the ugliness of inner mind, such as jealousy and vanity, and the light would be the kindness and the
The possibility of evil by Shirley Jackson is a short story written in the time period of 1965. A great aspect of this short story is the fact that it is vague. It contains many themes that is seen from thousands of different perspectives. One of these themes is, “Where there is light, there is darkness.” This quote can be taken quite literally and figuratively. In a literal sense, where there is light, there will be shadows(darkness). In a figurative sense, it’s essentially saying that good have to coexist with evil.
"Darkness" implies that as the universe gets colder, humanity, in an effort to stay alive, burns the earth for warmth.
Altering an audience's opinion is a struggle that many writers face; it is always possible, however, to unite the reader with the speaker's position. In Paradise Lost by John Milton, the author attempted to persuade his readers into thinking that the theme of obedience to God will keep you in a blissful state and disobedience will keep you in a wretched state by the use of light in his books. God is associated with a radiant white light; while on the other hand, Satan is affiliated with a dark shady black. With this use of this contrast of symbolism of light and dark, there is a clear distinction that light is righteousness and more desired than the darkness, which is evilness and bad.
Paul Bogard's "Let There Be Dark" provides a reasoned argument for the preservation of natural darkness. His claim is developed by the use of various literary elements, appealing to logic and emotion simultaneously. Throughout "Let There Be Dark", Bogard uses a potent concoction of factual evidence, anecdotes, logical reasoning, and simple persuasion.
To begin his article, Bogard recalls a personal story; his vacations at his family's Minnesota lake house as a child and the way that his “hands disappeared before [his] eyes”. By sharing his past experience he is intentionally making the reader remember their own experiences similar to his in which they were amazed and comforted by the similar feeling of darkness. This not only draws his readers in, making them want to delve deeper into the topic, it also establishes certain emotions that now correlate with the word darkness. Bogard then continues to strengthen his argument on the preservation of darkness by sharing broad and common instances in which further play on the emotions of the reader; “Consider how it brings us together with those we love, how we illuminate our most intimate experiences with flame or moonlight”. This excerpt not only installs a personal instance within the minds of the reader, but also establishes validity to his claims by doing so.
"In the beginning when God created the heavens and the Earth, the Earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light."
"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." Edith Wharton, a nobel prize in literature winner, once said in her poem Vesalius in Zante. Being the light in someone's life is something that I strive for. Every person has a choice. To be the light or be the darkness. We can also have our own light or darkness. We as humans go through things in life that dull our light and make us feel alone and sad, but others have the choice to be the candle and bring light to each other.
As all good essays should have, Paul presents straight facts to the reader to highlight the importance of the night. He could write on and on about how we should preserve the night, but without any reason why, no one would believe him. In the paper, he states “Our bodies need darkness to produce the hormone melatonin, which keeps certain cancers from developing, and our bodies need darkness for sleep. Sleep disorders have been linked to diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and depression, and recent research suggests one main cause of ‘short sleep’ is ‘long light.’” In this excerpt, he uses factual evidence to scare the reader into understanding the importance of the night. Paul also uses facts to give the reader hope, as well. He gave evidence of cities like Paris who are creating measures against light pollution, and he shows how this has helped the quality of
...story. However Conrad also challenges many assumptions of darkness being solely associated with evil, and light being solely associated with good, as throughout the novel the light of the white society is critiqued, representing the evil side of humanity.
There is an old expression, “Mould grows in the dark”. In human culture, there are many reflections of dark being bad and sinister, and light being good and virtuous. Darth Vader from Star Wars is dressed in black, while Luke is in a light robe. Heaven is always pictured as being full of light, while hell is dark and evil. Imagery of darkness is very important in human life, as we tend to polarize things automatically. Shakespeare understand...