Rhetorical Analysis Of Let There Be Dark

Every child can remember when they wrote their first persuasive essay to their parents. It probably covered the topic of getting a puppy or going on a trip to Disneyland. The arguments that kids can put forth at that age are weak and illogical. On the contrary, Paul Bogard can skillfully construct a persuasive work of art that has the ability to change the minds and opinions of his audience. He has many solid techniques that he used to convince his readers of his thesis. He incorporated logos, pathos, and ethos, the greek words for logic, emotion, and ethics, to persuade the audience. In Let There Be Dark, Bogard informs his readers about light pollution and how it could affect future generations, cause health problems, and is an ever increasing problem for humanity.

In his introduction, Bogard smacks his readers in the face with his first statistic, “8 of 10 children born in the United States will never know a sky dark enough for the Milky Way.” Bogard cuts right to the emotions of his audience by guilt tripping them. He caused them to feel responsible for the light pollution that would plague the next generations and hinted at the idea that children today may never be able to experience the dark night sky like previous generations had. As a result, the statistic gave the reader a sense of the severity about light pollution in the United States. Bogard wants his audience to feel empathy for future generations who may never experience a truly dark