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Maddie Heiner

Ms. Woelke

APEL P. 4

7 May 2020

Desert Solitaire Essay

Nature is one of the most serine, beautiful, and cherished aspects of our world. It is

peaceful and inviting, with the various types of wildlife singing songs of their own fortune. In

our day and age, many developers have an urge to erect buildings, towns, or cities in these very

serene areas of nature, therefore slowly taking over the wilderness for their own. American

writer Edward Abbey can see the beauty in nature and its inhabitants, and as a result Abbey

opposes the act of overcoming the wildlife to develop modern industries. In order to express her

viewpoint on nature and its importance, he writes a book titled Desert Solitaire in the hopes of

displaying the true beauty of the world we live in. Abbey utilizes rhetorical strategies including

vivid imagery, strong tone and diction, and comparisons to elaborate his claim that modern

developers need to realize that nature and industry can coexist if we preserve certain areas of

wildlife.

To begin, Abbey opens by describing the frogs and their happiness that comes from

living in such a beautiful place. He describes them in depth, stating that they are often "clinging

to the edge of their impermanent pond" and as the night draws on, they join together all

"croaking away in tricky counterpoint"(Abbey). This vivid imagery describes the frogs in their

natural habitat, and shows that they are content in their living. By using auditory imagery when

describing their song of croaks, the audience understands that they are in a state of joy and

happiness, and therefore brings them to believe that industrializing the area would be a negative
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decision because it would take away the frogs and their beloved home. Abbey then follows up by

asking a rhetorical question of "Why do they sing?" and "What do they have to sing about?" The

answer is this: they are alive and simply love living in such a spontaneously joyful atmosphere.

These rhetorical questions have the ability to get the audience thinking, and spurs realization

regarding modern developments. They begin to understand that building in such serene

atmospheres would take away this joy felt by these living creatures, forcing them to abandon

their habitual homes. From only using simple imagery and rhetorical questions, Abbey is

provoking the audience to take a side against too much industrialization, and become drawn to

the idea of living in harmony with these creatures in perseverance.

Farther along in the passage, Abbey begins to describe the natural state of wildlife with

more depth and detail. He uses mystical diction when he describes nature as "magical" and

depicts the different aspects of wildlife by naming the "four-winged dragonflies in green, blue,

scarlet and gold." This beautiful imagery of the colorful natures of these serene dragonflies

demonstrates that every creature in nature is beautiful, and they are all unique. For this reason,

Abbey believes in the perseverance of these creatures and their natural habitat, and through

describing nature in a magical sense it depicts the wildlife as endearing, special, and mystical.

She uses these two strategies to demonstrate the importance of nature and its inhabitants, and to

again describe the wonder of nature to the world.

Towards the end of the passage, Abbey finally mentions us humans and begins to

describe ways we can live in harmony with nature. He starts by mentioning that "distinctive

human contribution" is becoming just as apparent as the "giant cactus" in the canyon of Navajo.

This comparison puts everything into perspective, seeing that humans are interacting with the

landscape on a regular basis. Through comparing humans intervening in natural areas to a typical
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cactus, the audience has a sense of why things need to change. Abbey uses this comparison in an

effort to persuade them that developers need to have limits and understand that they are working

with something treasured and precious. Abbey does go on to give an example regarding the

positives in human interaction with nature by describing that the windmill located in nature is a

"joy to man and to beast" therefore proving that it is possible to live side by side with wildlife

and its inhabitants. The hopeful tone created here through the word "joy" provides the world with

a positive desire for a better future, and causes them to press onward with a lighthearted

ideology.

To end, nature and its beauties are underappreciated by some people in our society, but

we all need to move to understand its true importance. Developers need to know their limits

when it comes to building new towns, cities and industries in nature, and people need to truly

believe that wildlife is treasured. Abbey wants the world to believe these concepts and move

forward to living in harmony with nature and the creatures that live there, and in order to

persuade the world he used rhetorical strategies including beautiful imagery, hopeful tones, and

optimistic comparisons