Rhetorical Analysis Of “What Happened On Easter Island”
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion using language. Since one can not present an essay verbally to the audience, essayists use different appeals and rhetorical devices to achieve specific purposes. Robert Krulwich, a scientist, journalist and blogger, describes two versions of what happened on Easter Island in his essay. The first one is a total ecological collapse, and while humans manage to survive in the second one, their quality of life is completely degraded. The scenarios on Easter Island are representations of what might be the planet’s future. Krulwich persuades the audience to take action now before the damage becomes irreversible through his appeal to logic, his uses of rhetorical questions, and his variation in tone of voice.
Krulwich utilizes logical supporting evidence in his essay to deliver his argument effectively. In the beginning, he talks from a scientific perspective, giving multiple facts and cited references on the history of Easter Island. Quotations regarding geography, geology, archaeology, and history from famous scientists and researchers like Jared Diamond, Terry Hunt and J.B. Mackinnon are brought up to validate his own argument. Krulwich emphasizes the severity of the situation by quoting Jared Diamond: “Easter Island is the ‘clearest example of a society that destroyed itself by overexploiting its own resources’” (Krulwich 1). It clearly implies that all of humankind will suffer the same fate if nothing is done. These facts and references persuade the readers to accept his argument because they appeal to logos. Then, Krulwich discusses human adaptability by providing real examples from the past such as natural disasters, extreme poverty, and the Nazis concentration camps during World War II. He uses scientific facts to reason that “people can’t remember what their great-grandparents saw, ate and loved” (Krulwich 5), thereby making the readers realize the potential global crisis that is happening. This statement is further explained by his synthetic orange juice analogy; it suggests that what is true to one situation can also become true for the other. The analogy breaks down his complex argument by creating a familiar comparison, thus making it easier for the readers to comprehend. Issues regarding the environment are often serious, therefore Krulwich chooses to appeal to logos using well-supported evidence.
Krulwich employs rhetorical questions throughout his essay to emphasize a point or to provoke thinking from the readers. After describing a seemingly better scenario regarding what happened on Easter Island, he poses a question: “Is this better?” (Krulwich 4). By doing so, he put the readers’ reasoning ability to the test while triggering their curiosity at the same time. The question gives an indirect comparison between the two scenarios to ironically reveal a shocking but undeniable truth. Krulwich then sarcastically asks the readers “rat meat, anybody?” (Krulwich 4) and “should we celebrate?” (Krulwich 4), not to receive an answer but to engage their mind. He forces them to think for themselves actively, and to make a decision. Based on the evidence provided, they have no option but to conclude that humans may never realize the need for change because of their ability to adapt. Along with those questions, commas, hyphens, and dashes are used in a large amount. These punctuations create pauses and give the readers time to absorb the information. When doing so, they are fooled to believe that they have come up with the conclusion themselves. Krulwich cleverly triggers a sense of self-satisfaction from his audience and use it to ultimately convince them.
Throughout his essay, Krulwich varies his tone of voice to achieve different effects. From the beginning, he uses scientific language with highly formal dictions to present a professional tone. This establishes his ethos as a knowledgeable speaker and reveals his serious attitude toward the subject. He strategically uses asyndeton, punctuations, and alliteration of the “s” sound to create a rhythm when being read out loud. It builds up a sense of urgency in the readers’ minds even before his thesis is stated. After establishing his credibility, Krulwich tone becomes informal and persuasive. He appeals to both logos and pathos when he uses the story of Easter Island as an analogy to warn that the planet will one day suffer the same fate. The phrase “we will, all of us, go down together” (Krulwich 1) provokes both fear and uneasiness. The use of parallelism creates balance and rhythm in the flow of idea. The sentence is symmetrical in structure, making it more memorable to the readers. Pathos is introduced to touch upon the readers’ emotions and convince them that the environment must be protected. Then, he uses colloquial language to turn the formal essay into a casual discussion. Colloquial phrases such as “OK”, “starving folks”, and “muddle through” create a sense of trust between his audience and himself (Krulwich 4). He speaks as if they were at the same level, not as a superior figure. As a result, readers can relate to him more easily. Finally, he expresses his desperate attitude in a form of an imperative sentence, “we must become alarmed” (Krulwich 5). By using the word “we” to refer to the entire human race, Krulwich places the responsibility of preserving the environment on each individual. It provokes the natural emotion of fear because no one wants to suffer such a tragic ending. The syntax is direct and simple, which slows down the readers and draws attention to each individual word. His audience is swayed not only by concrete evidence alone, but also by Krulwich appropriate tone of voice.
The development of logical arguments, the use of rhetorical questions, and the variation in tone of voice allow Robert Krulwich to not only raise awareness for the severity of the issue, but also convince the readers to take action. He argues that there is a solution to this problem. However, it will take a combined effort of everyone on this planet. Krulwich believes that “to prevent an ecological crisis, we must become alarmed” (Krulwich 5).
Work Cited
- Krulwich, Robert. What happened on easter island - a new (even scarier) scenario. Krulwich
- Wonder, NPR, Dec. 2013, https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/12/09/249728994/
- what-happened-on-easter-island-a-new-even-scarier-scenario. Accessed 15 Feb. 2019.
