Guitar

Ecology of a Cracker Childhood: The Real Argument

The book Ecology of a Cracker Childhood was written by Janisse Ray. This book is a compellation of many different things. The author speaks fondly about stories from her childhood and stories that were told to her by relatives. Also the author focuses on nature and Longleaf pines that she is also very fond of. The author uses these stories to paint a picture in the reader's minds of her love for the forest. She further explains, throughout the book, how at peace she is while she is in nature. Janisse Ray uses many different writing techniques to show the reader how she feels. This book is written for entertainment purposes, but the author also spends a great deal of her time arguing her point. The author has both strengths and weaknesses throughout the book. Janisse uses very good evidence to support her claim and she has the ability to entertain while giving you the argument; these are two examples of her strengths. She also has several weaknesses while trying to prove her point. Her weaknesses are her one sided points of views, and the way her paper is organized.

Ray feels passionate about many different things in this book. She uses specific evidence to support all of the points that she is trying to make. For example Ray discusses: "In a 1995 national biological service assessment of biological loss, ecologists Reed Noss classified the longleaf/wiregrass community as "critically endangered". Ninety-eight percent of the presettlement longleaf pine barrens in the southeastern coastal plains were lost by 1986, he said. Naturals stands-meaning not planted-have been reduced by about 99 percent" (15). This is an example of how Ray uses factual information to support her claim; longleaf pines are becoming endangered. She uses these types of quotes throughout the entire book to support the point that she is trying to make. She presents her personal opinions along with what can be done; this author uses several different sources of information and authority to make a very strong argument. Ray writes, quoting another knowledgeable scientist, "If forest fragmentation and conservation of natural forest to pine plantation persist, scientists warn, recovery will not happen. This, ecologist Bruce Means passionately writes, Ð''Is another chapter in the sorry tale of the unbridled exploitation of our nation's natural resources'" (Ray 152). She uses many different figures in the science community to support her ideas and to further prove to the reader that her passion about the environment is not just hers alone.

Ray explains the importance of the longleaf pines by illustrating what makes up the forest such as animals, plant life, bugs and other types of surrounding nature, "Leon's woods are full of deer. Quail and turkeys abound, and gofer tortoises. Fox squires shimmy up the flaky, grey brown bowls of the pines, and hundreds of migratory song birds stockpile provisions. There are grey horned owls and red tail hawks. Red-cockaded wood pecker candle trees pepper the woods" (Ray 253). Ray explains how animals need this type of forest to live and she uses pathos, or tries to appeal to the readers' emotions. By explaining that innocent animals and wildlife require the longleaf pine forest to thrive, she convinces the reader to care more about her cause.

Besides giving out facts that the reader must digest, the author also makes the reader feel they know her on a personal level by adding personal stories from her childhood. This is another one of the author's strengths. Not only does she use facts to prove her point, she uses personal stories to grab the reader's attention. An example of one of Ray's personal stories came from the chapter "Shame", "It has taken me a decade to whip the shame, to mispronounce words and shun grammar when mispronunciation and misspeaking are a part of my dialect, to own the bad blood. What I came from has made me who I am" (33). These stories pull the reader in and let them get to know the author on a more personal level. Once the reader is entrapped and feels attached to the author and her stories, Ray then uses the attention that she has gained to prove her point about longleaf pine trees. These stories seem to entertain while she is giving the reader factual information about the longleaf pines. This technique distracts from the point that she is trying to make in her argument, but it helps the reader to be more open-minded. Ray knows that the many readers do not want to read an argument about how to save the longleaf pines, so she put childhood stories to help the reader listen to her argument without getting bored with it and closing the book.

Although the author shows the readers many different strengths in the compilation of this book, she has several weaknesses as well. The author does not continue with one thought or idea throughout the book. She jumps around from chapter to chapter discussing different topics as if her thought process is not complete. She starts the book with a few chapters discussing her memories from her childhood, and in the next chapter Ray discusses her passion for longleaf pine trees. This leaves the reader feeling unfulfilled and confused. The reader is left without answers to questions and without endings to stories. For example, using the quote from the previous paragraph, "It has taken me a decade to whip the shame, to mispronounce words and shun grammar when mispronunciation and misspeaking are a part of my dialect, to own the bad blood. What I came from has made me who I am" this is how one chapter ends (Ray 33). The next chapter, "Built by Fire", discusses a dramatized or fairytale version of how the forest started its existence and how the trees reproduce. This chapter does not appear to have anything to do with the previous chapter and it does not tie with her stories about her childhood. Ray skips around from story to fact, to fiction