Issue Advocacy

804 Words2 Pages

American society prides itself on the right of free speech, or, the freedom to express oneself in any manner that is deemed appropriate. Even today, in an America in which citizens are supposed to be free from monopoly, disloyalty, and deceit, omnipotent businesses exercise their power to achieve their goals with minimal struggle. During a similar age in which big businesses dominated the world, and thus could get away with essentially any heinous crime, Upton Sinclair wrote his novel The Jungle to call the public to the truly disgusting truth about the meat packing industry. Similarly, Art France’s The World According to Monsanto exposes Monsanto and the scheme it shared with the FDA in regards to inspection of genetically altered foods and the effects certain foods have on the environment. In the book The Jungle, and the documentary The World According to Monsanto, the appalling verities of the world are exposed to the public in a variety of fashions, including the use of ethos, pathos, and logos; the organizational techniques of narration and exemplification; and juxtaposition.

Appeals to credibility, logic, and emotion, fill both The Jungle and The World According to Monsanto in order to elicit a supportive attitude from the audience. In The Jungle, Upton Sinclair uses his research and past experience to mold a story that parallels the truths of the evils of the meat packing industry. This use of ethos, coming from the fact that the audience is aware of Sinclair’s expertise, immediately entices the readers to more readily believe what is being presented to them. Analogously, in The World According to Monsanto, the viewers join the woman researching the topic, making them feel as if they are learning along with her. I...

... middle of paper ...

...ther. Similarly, The World According to Monsanto is organized in such a fashion in which a topic is introduced, examined slightly, applied to the real world, and then another topic is addressed, such that facts and stories mold a vague understanding of the topic into a well-informed one. At the start of the documentary, the viewer could have no idea or any comments on the debate over genetically altered foods, contrasting with the viewer at the end who understands a great deal about the issue.

In Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle, and Arte France’s “The World According to Monsanto,” the elements of pathos, logos, and ethos; juxtaposition, and the organizational structures of narration and link the two pieces of rhetoric together. This allows both pieces to achieve their goals of disabusing the audience of abnormal and horrible happenings in the modern world.

Open Document