Analysis Of Burning Love By Elizabeth Kolbert - 1390 Words

Fracking is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into rock to force open ground and extract oil or gas. Fracking is becoming very popular due to the amount of money large companies make by doing so. However, in the article â€Å"Burning Love† by Elizabeth Kolbert, published in the New Yorker on December 5, 2011 she argues that although fracking has made individuals and businesses wealthy, it should be banned. In this essay, I will analyze Elizabeth Kolbert’s essay by identifying and detailing her purpose, goal, audience, and four rhetorical strategies used in this article. Elizabeth Kolbert’s essay was published in the New Yorker making the audience 57% democrat, with an average age from 30-49 and 50-64. Over half of the readers†¦show more content†¦Gaining trust from your audience is very crucial when presenting an argument. When the audience trusts the facts, you’re putting on the table it helps to convince them be on your side of th e argument. I believe Kolbert’s use of references to authority was a strong rhetorical strategy. She is gaining both creditability and trust with her audience in doing so. It is also a very important strategy when it comes to her argument specifically, considering the amount of fracking that is happening in the country and the amount of people unaware of the dangers it is causing. Kolbert’s next strong rhetorical strategy used was the use of a definition. The blackboard worksheet â€Å"Introduction to Rhetorical Strategy’s† says using a definition is, â€Å"when authors define certain words, these definitions are specifically formulated for the specific purpose he or she has in mind. In addition, these definitions are crafted uniquely for the intended audience† (Introduction to Rhetorical Strategies 2). Kolbert’s use of this strategy can be found in the middle of her article in paragraph 4, it reads, â€Å"Shale gas is embedded in dense ro ck, so drillers use a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals to open fissures in the stone through which it can escape† (Kolbert 532). She is defining the process of fracking before getting into different acts made to protect those affected by fracking. The