Practice technique spotting:
(See Checklist for Technique Identification). Use this checklist as the basis for the following “taking it further” exercises.
- See Your sentences and Response from Exercise 34, p. 46.
- Here is a list of further techniques, and two sample paragraphs of prose.
Emotional appeals and hypothetical/imagined scenario: Mr Adams appeals to the emotions of his audience by referring to an imagined hypothetical story of the 12-year old boy who has suffered so much from cancer that he has changed into an old man. Mr Adams encourages the audience to place themselves in the position of this 14 year old person in order to feel his pain including the loss of weight and hair as the boy becomes a “wizened old man”.
- Appeals to sympathy: The reference to young children with cancer is likely to arouse sympathy among members of the audience.
- Expert opinion and selective quotes: Mr Adams refers to Professor James McCluskey who contends that cures are possible only because of testing on animals. The audience is likely to support such a cure even if it means testing on animals. Many would feel heartless if they disapprove of the tests because they would feel that they are denying children and teenagers the chance to lead a healthy life.
Jan defends the animals and attacks testing.
- Appeal to emotions: Jan appeals to emotions by listing the harmful consequences for animals.
- Emotive language: rabbits suffer “horrendous damage and pain”; the tests involve “poisoning animals”; animals are finally “killed”. This highlights the consequences for animals of testing.
- Real life example: Specifically, Jan refers to the Draize rabbit and encourages us to sympathise with its pain. She uses emotive language to show that animals generally die as a result of testing.
Write a discussion of each author’s views and techniques
Mr Adams endorses animal testing on the grounds that it is important for medical research and cures. Mr Adams relies on a combination of evidence to encourage members of the public to recognise its benefits. Firstly, he uses a hypothetical scenario of a 12-year old boy to appeal to people’s emotions. Specifically, the boy becomes a “wizened” old man to reflect his very sad and desperation transformation owing to a severe form of cancer. The fact that there is a “glimmer of hope” for the young boy, owing to animal research, proves that it is critical. This example seeks to counter our negative emotions relating to testing, and defends the research on the ground that it can save young people’s lives. The author emotionally challenges the audience to personalise the situation and identify with that young boy. To reinforce these sentiments, the author refers to the expert at Melbourne University, to confirm the view that animal testing is vital for medical breakthroughs. Finally, Mr Adams encourages us to recognise the enormous benefit to the health of mankind, because of the critical cures against mass contagious diseases. This helps to reassure us so that we overcome any adverse sentiments about testing and realise that it is necessary for a greater cause.
Contrastingly, in “Time for Alternatives” Jan decries the practice of testing on animals on the grounds that it is cruel and inhumane. Jan draws our attention to the range of tortuous experiments that are conducted on animals to engage our emotions in a very dramatic way. Specifically, she refers to the Draize test to single out an experiment that is particularly harmful. In this case, the experiment on the rabbit leads to “horrendous damage and pain”. This encourages her audience to recognise the extreme pain that is inflicted on animals, in an attempt to emphasise the fact that the animals suffer unnecessarily. She reproachfully concludes with the reference to the eventual deaths of all animals to challenge readers to think about the purpose of these experiments.
The cartoonist reinforces Jan’s view that animal testing is not only used for medical purposes. The fact that the animals suffer because of the flavour of deodorants encourages many consumers to feel a sense of guilt. The artist personalises the rabbits through the captions to reinforce the fact that they do have feelings and would suffer from the brutal experiments.
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