Rhetorical analysis "In the Jungle"

In this selection “In the Jungle” by Annie Dillard, was written about her time in the Ecuadorian jungle. She starts out with talking about how this is an out of the way place. She continues on to describe how the wildlife is abundant. She also describes how the natives of this jungle still live the same way they did hundreds of years ago. The natives children were fascinated with her hair because they were not used to foreign woman. The image of the tall trees and the birds still singing songs and how this is sweet air to her because it has been untouched by civilization.

She starts with and emotional appeal to the reader. The phrase “out of the way” is questioned, by her, because what is it out of the way of? She uses a description of all the wildlife and its interaction with the environment to try and get us to see that this is how she pictures nature. The majority of her appeals to the reader are based on what she thinks is what true nature should be. She paints a picture of a place that has been untouched by outside forces. Her use of descriptive words is meant to help the reader picture this place. When we are able to picture this place it is meant to make us think about how beautiful nature is and that we should leave nature alone and not interfere with it. She makes an argument at the end that this place was not out of the way but that this was a center of life and peace. The description she gives of the birds songs and how all the wildlife and people are able to live together. She is making the argument that we should be able to live with nature without corrupting it and that nature is not ours to ruin but that what we do affects all of nature.

The organization that she uses leads us to form conclusions for ourselves. The way she starts by asking a question introduces us to the purpose of the essay. It is also meant to make us think of what is “Out of the Way” really means. This leads us to think on about what she says about how the people and nature interact. She then leaves us with the phrase of the jungle not being out of the way but that it is a central place for peace, the peace between people and nature.