Read this essay then respond to the question down bellow

The Bearded Seal My Son May Never Hunt 

Global warming is real and is affecting many parts of our lives. For Laureli Ivanoff, the author of the article The Bearded Seal My Son May Never Hunt has majorly affected her and her communities’ culture. She describes through facts, and her stories ice that usually always forms in Unalakleet Alaska and across the globe is little is nonexistent. The decrease in ice, many traditions and their way of life have been taken from her and her indigenous community. She highlights the practice of hunting for Bearded Seal and is distraught that it is something her son will never experience. In her article, she uses ethos and pathos’s rhetorical skills to engage and provoke the reader to care; the logos tool is less apparent in the article. In using ethos and pathos, the reads’ knowledge is evident, and their experiences develop the argument that the world is changing tragically fast, and with that, so are the traditions of indigenous people. 

Ivanoff relies heavily on pathos throughout his speech, as without it, she would be unable to connect and engage the reader in a relatable way. She describes her experiences while hunting for Bearded Seal as apart of their culture. As she does this, she intertwines saddening facts about the lack of ice. In the text, she emotionally appeals to the audience, “grateful to share the moments on the ocean with these quiet, confident and beautiful creatures.” Describing the animals as beautiful creatures, humanizing them. Doing this helps you see the animals in a positive light and helps convince you that they are worthy of saving. They rely on Breaded Seal and many other marine animals to survive. She describes how their ways of life are slowly becoming lost, “Because the indigenous experience is one of loss. My community, like others around the world, has lost a lot… We lost ways of nourishing ourselves.” She puts into perspective how much the indigenous people have already suffered. They take care of their land and have high respect for the animals. As around the world, others do not, and it had affected their survival. She ends the article on a positive and optimistic note, not mad at the world, but in hopes the world will be able to adapt, such as her people will. By using pathos, she humanized the issue and helped the reader to care. 

As pathos was the primary rhetorical tool used throughout the article, the ethos was used as well. Ivanoff has a consistent logical viewpoint throughout the text. There is a small undertone of manipulative when she describes the ocean changing so rapidly, she brings in the guilt of her son, “I hurt for him. And for my family and our stomachs and spirits. My son, not yet crawling, may never harvest an ugruk for his family. His experience is already one of loss.” She targeted the emotions to get the reader engaged. In the article, she does appear very knowledgeable. She grew up learning the land and as a great deal of knowledge. She references many different facts from her personal experiences. There are many stories of hunting the Bearded Seal and how the ice and marine life have changed through her years of doing so. The article was published in October 2018, only four years old. From research, Laureli Ivanoff is a very respectable writer and has written many other articles on this topic of changing land. She reserviced the governor’s award and is recognized as a leader among Alaska Native writers. As well as this article was posted in the New York times, a very credible source of media. She does lack relevant sources when describing scientific facts, which plays into the absence of logos. 

The idea of logos was there for the author but was not executed correctly. At the beginning of the article, there are many facts stated about the state of the ice and how higher temperatures have delayed the ice to form. Within the second paragraph, Ivanoff states this fact, “Last winter, there was less ice in the Bering Sea than any winter since the start of record-keeping in 1850.” With this fact, there is no source stated from where this information came from. This is a great fact that supports this agreement, but with no source listed, the reader is unaware if it is credible or not. There are also claims made by the author that are her first-hand experiences. The article begins with a specific example, “It’s October and we haven’t yet had a frost. The ground is still soft. When my grandpa was little, ice anchored to the shore would begin to form at this time of year”. There is no evidence within the article that this is a scientifically proven fact. The reader has to trust the author to believe if this is true. With no sources, specific names, graphs, charts, or tables, Ivanoff does not rely on logos to prove her argument.  

Ivanoff does not use logos, with a lack of evidence and sources. She leans into ethos and pathos to describe her experience of hunting Bearded Seal and how global warming is preventing future generations from doing so. Her art of storytelling and knowledge helped strengthens communities by illustrating a side of rural Alaska too rarely seen in mainstream media.

1. What specifically did you like about this paper?
2. What change(s) would most improve the paper?
3. Does this paper follow the “Important Guidelines” in  M5 Writing Assignment: Rhetorical Analysis (1st draft)? If not, what does the writer need to do before submitting a revised draft?
4. What do you think the writer is saying?  Are you sure?
5. What points need to be more fully developed, explained or illustrated (focus on the body paragraphs)?
6. Is the introduction effective in grabbing your interest and drawing you into the paper’s main idea?  Why or why not?
7. How effective is the thesis in holding all the ideas in the paper together?
8. Comment on the unity and coherence of the body paragraphs, including the topic sentences. Which body paragraphs effectively unified? Which need revision? Support your answers with evidence. 
9. What do you think about the conclusion?
10. Does the draft contain errors (spelling, punctuation or grammar) that often distract you from the ideas in the essay? Explain.