Let There Be Dark Rhetorical Analysis

Words: 610
Pages: 3

In the passage “Let There Be Dark”, the author, Paul Bogard, argues his view on why darkness in important and how artificial light pollution has negative effects on the world and its inhabitants. He uses many devices including; logos and relative data, pathos, and ethos. All of which strengthens his argument and writing. First, Paul Bogard uses logos and relative data in many parts of his writing to strengthen the logic of his argument. One of the examples he uses is, “Some examples are well known,..., and some are not, such as the bats that save American farmers billions in pest control and the moths that pollinate 80% of the world’s flora.” This shows logos because he gives relative data by saying the moths pollinate 80% of the …show more content…
An example of the use of ethos is when Bogard writes, “Already the World Health Organization classifies working the night shift as a probable human carcinogen, and the American Medical Association has voiced its unanimous support for light pollution reduction efforts and glare reduction efforts at both the national and state levels”, which shows that his argument is valid due to the fact that the American Medical Association agrees that light pollution should be reduced. It strengthens his argument because the readers now see that Bogard is not alone in his cause. The American Medical Association is a major group that has a large amount of validity. It also builds on credibility because the World Health Organization says that working at night is a probable carcinogen which moves people to see that natural darkness is of much importance. The readers can not deny that light pollution needs to be reduced if major medical groups say it is causing harm to the human population which persuades the readers that Bogard’s argument is important and that they should take action to decrease light pollution. In conclusion, Paul Bogard uses many types of persuasive tools including logos and relative data, pathos, and ethos in his article “Let There Be Dark”. All of the tools he uses contribute to strengthen his argument that natural darkness should be preserved and light pollution should be heavily