Last Child in the Woods Essay

In this article, Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv describes the importance that children have the ability to grow up and experience as their parents did through the back seat of a car. Louv’s purpose is to compel parents to stop giving in to technological advances and to start persuading their children to embrace the world. He uses his personal experiences to convey his point of view and he uses short simple sentences. Throughout the essay he is a strong advocate when making sure children enjoy reality instead of living in this technological age. He most frequently uses short simple sentences. This brevity keeps the audience intrigued and keeps the flow of the piece going. In the article he says, â€Å"The highways edges may not be postcard perfect,† (47-48). Its simplicity makes its understandable to all ages, so it’s relatable by both parents and their children. Its effect on the audience is to try and persuade them to say no to all the technology for their children and to show them what the world has to offer. Louv uses personal experiences from childhood as his second rhetorical strategy. An example from the text is the entire last paragraph when he is talking about all the things he saw from the back seat of his car as a child. Here are a few things he said , â€Å"We saw birds on the wires and combines in the field.† and â€Å"We held our little plastic cars against the glass and [pretended that they, too, were racing towards some unknown destination.† He uses this as to play with the readers emotional side, ethos. The reason behind it is that by play with their emotions it will persuade them to believe that his principles are ethically correct. Louv concludes his article by stating how even though life in the back seat can be boring and mundane; it can also shape us into who we are today.