Questioning Modern Consumer Culture: A Rhetorical Analysis

Richard Louv attempts to question the modern consumer culture of the United States by juxtaposing the complexity of purchasing a modern “Mercedes SUV” with the simplicity of staring out the window of a car. Louv uses a multitude of images to remind his audience ¬¬ who are likely the same age as he is ¬¬ of their childhood experiences. Louv also uses personal anecdotes to promote the drastic differences between simple wholesome actions and the modern consumer culture. His use of rhetorical questions also helps the reader in his/her attempt to understand that, “people no longer consider the physical world worth watching.” Louv’s use of technically specific words like, “municipalities” helps him to qualify his statements. The use of rhetorical

questions, highway imagery, technically specific diction, and anecdotes greatly serves Louv’s purpose of comparing the complex action of watching TV and playing GTA inside of a moving vehicle with the simplicity of looking out of a window. The most important and unique aspect of Louv’s rhetoric is his use of rhetorical questions. The rhetorical questions in paragraph three are posed in an effort to show readers the flawed logic that would lead someone to believe that a Play Station and a DVD player are absolute necessities in a vehicle.

The rhetorical questions are also an attempt to show readers a potential future in which, “people no longer consider the physical world worth watching.” The question of, “Why do so many Americans say they want their children to watch less TV, yet continue to expand the opportunities for them to watch it?”, is a literal depiction of the flawed logic of the American consumer culture. By contrasting the popular belief that too much TV entails serious cognitive drawbacks against the mass purchase of TV’s and other electronics Louv is able to slow walk his readers to the conclusion that most Americans yearn for the distractions of TV and other electronics, rather than reject them. This rhetorical strategy allows Louv to assert that Americans are constantly contradicting themselves without directly accusing any specific group of people of hypocrisy. The additional question, “Why do so many people no longer consider the physical world worth watching?”, underlines Louv’s main point that people are far more concerned with man made distractions rather than environmental

beauty. Louv attempts to incorporate this question into his overall dichotomy of everyday actions and the modern scramble for human distraction. These rhetorical questions help to build up Louv’s assertion. The first question establishes the fact that there is a mass consumption of technology in America, and the second question builds upon that by stating that the mass consumption of technology is distracting more and more Americans from the physical world. These questions are the most important part of Louv’s rhetorical strategy because they are the essence of his assertion. If these questions could be answered logically, then Louv’s dichotomy between the modern scramble for advanced technology and the physical world falls apart. Poison - APLac 2015-16 - A4D1. Page 1 of 2 Louv’s rhetorical questions are punctuated by his use of personal anecdotes. Prior to the rhetorical questions Louv describes his friend’s experience of “shopping for a new luxury car to celebrate her half¬century of survival in the material world.” The second anecdote ¬¬ which serves as an antithesis for the rhetorical questions ¬¬ describes how “for a century children’s early understanding of how cities and nature fit together was gained from the back seat.” The first anecdote serves as a basis for Louv’s assertion that Americans have become subsumed by the consumer culture and distracted from the physical world. Louv uses the first anecdote as a platform to discuss unnecessary technological advancements, such as TV’s and Play Stations inside vehicles. These anecdotes allow Louv to produce a dichotomy between simple everyday actions, like viewing the highway from the backseat of a car, with complex technology based actions such as playing a video game inside a vehicle. Louv’s anecdote promotes this dichotomy by demonstrating that the modern need for distraction is so intense that children need a backseat entertainment system in order to survive a simple car ride. In order to qualify his assertions Louv makes specific word choices. In the first paragraph Louv writes that, “cash¬strapped municipalities hope corporations agree to affix their company logo on parks in exchange for dollars to keep the public spaces maintained.” Using the word municipalities ¬¬ which means a town that has corporate status ¬¬ allows Louv to qualify his assertion that cities are a part of the consumer culture. By applying his assertions to only those cities that maintain a corporate status Louv provides the basis for a structured and sound argument. The images depicted in the passage are indicative of Louv’s intended audience and help his audience to connect to the anecdotes and personal experiences upon which Louv builds his assertion. The description of “the empty farmhouse” and the woods that children can see from the backseat of a car helps the reader to imagine a similar memory and connect it with the passage. Louv writes, “the variety of architecture, here and there; the woods and fields and water beyond the seamy edges all that was and is still available to the eye.” Louv chooses these specific images because they capture some of the best that nature has to offer. Louv describes that for a century these images were a child’s first understanding of how nature and cities fit together. This indicates that his intended audience is likely made up of older readers who can remember and connect with the images he has chosen. Louv’s dichotomy between the natural beauty that can be observed from the backseat of a car and the modern scramble for advanced technological distractions is supported by the personal anecdotes, qualified diction, and relatable imagery in the passage. Louv’s commentary on the modern consumer culture provides the basis for the sound argument that modern society has become too distracted and no longer appreciates nature.