Throughout Last Child in the Woods, Louv talks about how mankind is losing his connection with nature and how society today is instead widening the gap by focusing on technology instead of nature. As part of the technological generation of kids, I believe this is very true as I recollect my parents sharing with me what they did when they grew up and I was answered with “we played outside” and “we didn’t have all of the technology today you guys have”.
In Richard Louv’s essay titled Last Child in the Woods, Louv uses a hyperbole, an anecdote, and imagery to convey how mankind is losing his connection with nature. One of the major strategies that Louv uses is a hyperbole. Louv tells about an encounter he had with a car salesman and how the salesman‘s “jaw dropped” and almost “refused to let him leave the dealership without an explanation”.
The use of this hyperbole helps show the reader how common the average person would react when someone decides to not choose technology over viewing nature and how the need for technology is common today. Also, this hyperbole shows the frustration the author must
have felt when dealing with someone who couldn’t understand his viewpoint. Louv uses the anecdote which describes the story about him looking out the window of a car and how he used his fingers to draw pictures on fogged glass. This gives a much more personal feeling as it gives a relatable story for many readers to reflect on. In today’s society, you see kids playing on devices like i-pads or watching a movie instead of enjoying the beauty of nature itself like Louv describes which shows the sad truth that exists in society today.
The Essay on Nature Vs. Technology
Nature Vs. Technology The ideas expressed in Michel Montaigne’s “On Cannibalism” are still greatly valid in today’s society. Technology has made life easier, and as the saying goes, “The more you have, the more you’ll want.” We are a fast-paced society that does not give much thought to the world around us. Not only do we not seem to notice the ...
The particular effect of this is that it gets the reader to reevaluate how he or she may be living today and how they may be contributing to the widening gap with nature and mankind. Lastly, Louv uses various pieces of imagery such as when he says “as thunderheads and dancing rain moved with us”, “telephone poles ticking by”, and “water beyond the seamy edges”. These various pieces of imagery truly help the reader feel and almost live through the experience the author went through, hammering the point that the new generation’s connection to nature is fading away and we need to do something about it.
This mystifying imagery truly connects with any reader whose looked out a window and viewed these images. In conclusion, Louv relies on personally connecting with his readers to show how mankind is losing his connection with nature to potentially get the reader act to change and rejoin the ties with nature so that future generations may enjoy the beauty of the world. Louv also seems to believe that by connecting with your childhood past, that you will regain the youthfulness that you had when you were a young kid. All of this begins when you choose to live in connection with nature.
