Analyzing Paul Bogard's Let There Be Dark

The newspaper article “Let There be Dark” by Paul Bogard is persuasive writing focused on convincing readers that light pollution is a serious problem in today’s society that can be overcome by accepting the beauty of the dark. Mr. Bogard begins the article by making a connection to his own personal memories of the dark and his fear that society is losing the connection to the night. He begins his argument about the necessity of natural light and dark with stating, “And too little darkness, meaning too much artificial light at night, spells trouble for all.” This thought reaches out for the readers curiosity on what exactly he means as ‘trouble’. This word ‘trouble’ pulls readers deep into the article to hunt for the ‘trouble’ he talks about. The trouble is immediately found when he gives

Bogard bases his argument with logos by bringing in the American Medical Association’s support that less light pollution is for the best. The readers rely on that a medical association would be a trusting source and that makes Mr. Bogard’s argument stronger. For all of the readers who love animals, he then connects his argument to nocturnal animals. Without the dark, these animals could not possibly function because they rely on it for operations of the animal cycle. He backs up this argument with the fact, “400 species of birds that migrate at night in North America, the sea turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs.” Using pathos to connect the readers emotions to think about helpless animals without dark, is one way he kept readers interested. Mr. Bogard continuous keeping us interested with his opinion that without darkness our ecosystem would be destroyed. The next paragraph his target audience is art lovers, by connecting that Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” painting would not be a phenomenal painting if he seen the night lite up with artificial light. Near the ending paragraph of Mr. Bogard’s article, he hits the audience hard with an image to think about for a life