The article "Water Wars: Bottling Up the World's Supply of H2O” written by Joshua Ortega is mainly about the negative effects bottled water has or can have on the environment, America’s economic stability, as well as America’s general welfare. Ortega conveys his message to the people of the Seattle Washington by getting his article published in The Seattle Times newspaper on March 21, 2005. The general assumption is that the message is directed to an environmental conscious audience.
Tools
Simile: “Taking away your water is the same thing as putting a gun to your head.” Even though this statement is not meant to be taken literally, it is used by Ortega in order to stress the absolute necessity for water. This helps sure up the foundation of his argument and helps the reader understand more fully what it is that is at steak.
Figurative Language: The sixteenth paragraph contains references to the change that has come to water markets by the writer figuratively speaking. This is done in order to build up the writer’s credibly and, by extension, make an appeal to ethos.
Allusions: Ortega recounts an incident that occurred in Canada where the local government deregulated its water protection infrastructure thus causing the death of seven and the sickening of many others. This was done as another attempt to establish an appeal to logos. By mentioning a past experience the base of the writer’s argument can be strengthened.
Diction: The opening paragraph is meant to attract the reader’s attention and thus is an appeal to pathos. Ortega effectively uses words in his opening paragraph that are both powerful and meaningful.
Overstatement: Ortega’s second paragraph is meant to in a way summarize his following point. This is done by using an overstatement to convey his message. It is an appeal to pathos because he is trying to convey his summation to the reader.
Tone: The closing statement of Ortega’s article is an appeal to pathos due to the fact that the last few sentences carry a type of rousing tone for the reader to actually go out and do something about the argument that was presented.
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5 comments:
I think that that was a great use of a simile. It was also kind of an overstatement because it's not actually like putting a gun to your head but it can potentially kill us. Similes put things into perspective though. Sometimes they're a bit shocking...
Joshua Ortega writes about the negative effects that bottled water can have on the environment, America’s economic, and Americas by using a combination of appeals to pathos, logos and ethos. These all combine to create a sort of motivation that is comprised of emotional, fearful, and patriotic factors.
The authors allusions to Canada and France really boost his credibility because he has knowledge about this issue as a world wide problem. Ethos is strengthened. I think this article is very strong but more solutions should be posed.
I think the use of overstatement is a very affective tool in writing. It appeals to the emotions of the audience and lets the reader know in an exaggerated way how important the issue is.
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