Friday, September 30, 2016
Pathos in "The Rights of Animals" by Brigid Brophy
Brigid Brophy employs pathos in her essay, "The Rights of Animals," through both comparison and description of human violation of animal rights. Perhaps Brophy's most powerful implementation of pathos is her comparison of animal exploitation to slavery and the holocaust. Her explanation as to how the atrocities are analogous is strong and detailed, making her message resonate with humans on multiple levels. In addition to this horrifying analogy, Brophy uses pathos by describing the way animals "scream or struggle." This is one of the strongest arguments for the animal rights movement because seeing animals physically suffer is one of the most powerful methods of convincing someone to see animals and the food on their plate differently. Despite the fact that she develops the main facets of her argument through logos, Brophy's use of pathos is still quite effective in convincing the reader of the evils of animal exploitation and factory farming.
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As horrible as it may seem, what an incredibly potent use of diction to really evoke those horrified feelings from an audience. Using the word "scream", as if you can actually hear their cries of agony ringing in your ears, really works to stress the dreadfulness of the situation and makes one evaluate what they can do to help.
ReplyDeleteI love how the poet uses such strong language and metaphors to convey how she feels about animal rights. Comparing animal exploitation to slavery and the holocaust puts animal exploitation in an even more serious context, because no one can think of the holocaust or slavery without having some thought of sadness. I agree with you that this comparison does help the issue resonate more with humans.
ReplyDeleteOn a logical level as well, it's pretty much impossible to counter an argument that compares the subject to the holocaust. People's opinions tend not to differ so much on a subject like that. No one is going to raise their hand and say "factory farming is like the holocaust, *but*..." That argument is pretty much off limits.
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