Norman Cousins: The Death Of Benny Paret

The death of Benny Paret was a very tragic incident. It set off lots of disputes as to whose fault it was. Norman Mailer blames Benny's death on Griffeth. On the other hand Norman cousins blames his death on the violent nature of boxing.

Norman Cousins was a news reporter. He published many books and is very qualified when it comes to writing. Cousins says that the only please a crowd is to put killers in the ring. Cousins then says, “People come out to see the knockout.” It is the crowd that is making boxing more violent than it has to be. Their were lots of investigations as to whose fault it was that Benny died, but cousins claims that their was not someone to blame. Cousins said that he was killed “because the human fist delivers enough

He spends a paragraph asking questions getting the reader to think. then Cousins will give lots of evidence to persuade the reader that Benny was killed because of the nature of the sport. He justifies that by saying that the brain is “the most complex mechanism in all creation.” I really like how Cousins explains that the brain can take a lot of damage and that many people can withstand it, but damage to the brain can be permanent. It makes the reader know that someone being killed is very rare but possible. Cousins uses very good imagery in describing what the crowd wants to see he says the phrase “killers and sluggers and maulers”. Also when he is describing the fight he uses very good words that creates imagery like “squirts”, “wobbles”, and

Cousins is claiming that it is the nature of boxing, and mailer is claiming that it is Griffiths violent nature that killed him. They are both really good at backing up their claim and persuading the reader. Mailer gives a lot of description on Benny like “a proud club fighter.” He is also very good at describing Griffiths like “uncontrollable” or “demolishing”. In cousins article there's very little description on Benny, and he never mentions Griffiths. Instead Cousins focuses on the sport itself and the crowd. Mailer spends the majority of the article describing the fight. Cousins barely even talks about it he said, “Benny Paret was killed in the