Rhetorical Analysis Of Animal, Vegetable, Miserable By Gary Steiner

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Gary Steiner, a professor of philosophy at Bucknell University, is a vegan and animal rights activist, and has written a great deal about animal rights. He wrote Animal, Vegetable, Miserable in 2010 for The New York Times to discuss how poorly animals are treated and how humans are brutal towards them whether we mean to be or not. Throughout his piece, he uses strong emotion to connect with his audience, and also appeals to one’s character continuously. However, his tone and lack of reason makes his piece sound irrational.
Veganism revolves around one's character and ethics, which Steiner does a very good job of discussing and using it to back up his argument. In his article, he talks frequently about the ethics and morality regarding animals and how many lack those traits. For a portion of the article he uses the bible as an example of morals and ethics to connect with the audience: after that he uses illustrations from everyday life. One prominent example is when he talks about the fact that nearly fifty-three billion land animals are killed for human consumption and that people are still willing to eat meat after learning that fact(Par.10). These examples are used to effectively connect with the audience and address his argument. …show more content…

Steiner is very passionate about the rights of animals, and makes it clear all throughout the article with active illustrations and tone of voice. His tone expresses a clear understanding and devotion to animal rights, which expresess his emotion clearly with the audience. He also uses examples such as his cat, which shows emotion because it’s his pet that he sees as a friend instead of a source of entertainment for when he is bored(Par.20). Examples like this are used well to demonstrate his emotions in a way that makes sense and backs up his

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