Summary Of Christopher Hitchens The Lovely Stones

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Christopher Hitchens uses powerful word choice, violent history, and the artistic impact of the Parthenon to build the argument that the Parthenon sculptures should be returned to Greece in his work, “The Lovely Stones”. The violent history of the Parthenon and Greece as a whole is Hitchen’s first justification as to why the Parthenon should be returned to Greece. He lists events such as the occupation of the Parthenon by Turkish forces to be used as a garrison and an arsenal which resulted in the detonation of of a powder magazine that severely damaged the structure (paragraph 2, lines 3-5). He also mentions that the Acropolis was made to fly a Nazi flag during Germany’s occupation of Athens (paragraph 2, lines 6-7). These tidbits of gruesome information serve to introduce to the readers the grave injustice that the Parthenon suffered when it was sawed in half by Britain’s Turkish ambassador of the Ottoman Empire, Lord Elgin, to pay off a 2.2 million dollar debt …show more content…
He wrote about it’s decorative 192 warriors, the exact amount of Athen’s heroes who died at the battle of Marathon (paragraph 3, lines 8-15). This shows that not only is the Parthenon incredibly beautiful, it is also important and honorable for the people of ‘new’ Greece as it represents the people of ‘old’ Greece who fought valiantly and even died for their country. For the Parthenon to be sawed in half and separated is similar to the Mona Lisa being cut in half and the halves being separated (paragraph 4, lines 3-5). This analogy speaks loudly to readers who are not Greek since the Mona Lisa is, to some people, considered a worldwide treasure. Using the artistic importance of the Parthenon— that being how the decorative pieces of the structure contribute to as well as represent the culture of Greece, Hitchens is able to further persuade his audience to agree with his
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Summary Of Christopher Hitchens 'Article' The Lovely Stones

“The Lovely Stones” In Christopher Hitchens article “The Lovely Stones” (July 2009), he argues that the Parthenon is a true work of art, and we should do everything in our power to preserve what is left of it. He supports his claim by first remarking on all the occupations of the Parthenon that have disfigured and tainted it, then talking about the cutting of the statues and the taking of them back to Britain, and lastly bringing up the attempt of Greece to preserve the statues in a special museum…

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