Critical Evaluation Essay

There are many ways to draw the attention of an audience in a short story, essay, or speech. In Twain's short story he shows how man descended from the animal kingdom instead of ascend from animals. His essay influences the reader to feel what Mark Twain is feeling. He portrays his emotions through metaphors and gathers the emotion of the audience. He also uses examples of how much more cruel man can be compared to the animal kingdom. He is very sarcastic in his story and is also a bit comical at times. Mark Twain uses pathos, ethos, and logos in his short story, “The Damned Human Race,” by comparing and contrasting the harsh views of humanity against the actions of animals.

Pathos refers to being able to appeal an audience through their emotions. In “The Damned Human Race,” the title itself draws in the audience's attention. Through his examples in the short story, he makes his audience believe that humans are in fact the bottom of the animal kingdom. Mark Twain's short story is successful because he uses a lot of metaphors that the audience can relate to. Twain states “Roosters keep harems, but it is by consent of their concubines; therefore no wrong is done. Men keep harems but it is by brute force, privileged by atrocious laws which the other sex were allowed no hand in making. In this matter man occupies a far lower place than the rooster”(Twain, 2). In this example, Mark Twain depletes human beings. He draws the reader in by using several metaphors so the audience can feel pity and possibly anger. Mark Twain uses ethos by establishing his credibility. He states that he uses the scientific method in his studies. The scientific method is usually used by scientists to prove an experiment. The results are not guessed or specul...

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...m this experiment, he concludes that the Earl is a cruel animal and that the anaconda is not. He observes that the Earl destroys everything even if there is no use for it, and the anaconda does not. Twain believes that this experiment shows that the Earl is descended from the anaconda and that the Earl had lost something in the transition.

In conclusion, Mark Twain is able to successfully draw his audience into his short story using pathos, ethos, and logos. His realistic comparisons of man kind versus the animal kingdom is credible. He is able to draw the audience's emotions through his use of metaphors in order for the reader to feel Twain's emotions and possibly lead to change in what seems to be the evil way of man kind.

Works Cited

Twain, Mark. “The Damned Human Race.” Moodyap.pbworks.com. n.d. Web. 15 Feb 2014. http://moodyap.pbworks.com/f/Twain.damned.pdf