Emotional Appeal in McCarthys On Immortality - Article Example

?Emotional Appeal in McCarthy’s ‘On Immortality’ Through her essay, ‘On Immortality,’ Susan McCarthy employs emotional appeal through use of figurative language, repetition and irony so as to persuade the reader of the possibility of human longevity and the fact that it is more attractive than immortality, with the latter being a possible consequence of the search for human longevity. McCarthy argues immortality as being less attractive as compared to human longevity, but also indicates the need for longevity to go “past combating diseases and address the very problem of aging” for it to be more attractive (547). Scholars arguing against the attainment of human longevity and possibly immortality base their arguments on the inability to resolve diseases which eventually cause death. But still, many other scholars in relevant fields have made extensive studies that support the possibility of human longevity based on their findings from experiments on animals, including mice, fruit flies and parakeets. Even so, natural selection tends to favor reproduction more than longevity in an attempt to safeguard the future. Therefore, the author uses emotional appeal through figurative language, repetition and irony in the essay to persuade the reader of the attainability and sustainability of human longevity and its attractiveness over immortality. McCarthy extensively uses figurative language as an emotional appeal to present immortality as an immature and unwise idea. The author uses the metaphorical comparison, terming it as a highway of immortality, to show the carefree life that immortality would be (McCarthy 544). With the wideness and the smoothness associated with a highway, the author suggests that immortality does not have checks. Indeed, McCarthy further uses figurative language in arguing that this kind of life does not have a weigh station of wisdom (544). It therefore portrays lack of wisdom associated with immortality where humans lack the maturity to handle the challenges that come with it. This has been used to further solidify the author’s stand against immortality. This comes out vividly when McCarthy (550) talks of the possibility of a rise of unstoppable mortal species that would eliminate the immortal beings due to natural selection. The author thus persuades the reader of longevity as being more favored by nature than immortality which is not well thought about. Similes in the essay have been used to discredit immortality as a form of lifestyle that would objectify human life. McCarthy (546) compares immortality to a car, where in order to keep it going, then, there would be the need to keep replacing its parts. This intends to make the reader appreciate that immortality would turn humans into objects. It would make their operations resemble that of objects such that in order to keep them going, then worn out parts of their bodies would be replaced with new ones, just as worn out parts of a car get replaced to enable them keep moving. This, therefore, means that immortality would make humans lose their humanness, an aspect which they treasure, and adopt a new objectified life. It is this loss that the author uses to portray the unattractiveness of immortality. The author’s use of irony enables her convince the reader of the advantage that comes with mortality. It is ironical that humans admire long life more than they seek for “long healthy life” while they “want to be 100 years old and dewy fresh” (McCarthy 547). Since aging is inevitable, McCarthy indicates that the immortal life would be a source of pain to humans, who only seek to live without considering the quality of life. Human longevity, on the other hand, considers the duration and quality of life, appreciating the need for human health. After execution of the required assignment, which McCarthy (547) notes is to bring forth the future, they then pave way for the fresher generation, thus creating room for the new generation, space being an important component of quality life. This way, the quality of life would be upheld at its best. Thus, mortality could be more beneficial than immortality to human existence. Repetition has also been used in this essay to appeal to the reader’s pathos by emphasizing on the repeated fact, as noted by Conklin (221), such that the author’s confidence brought out through such repetition raises the reader’s belief in the argument put forth. McCarthy sarcastically repeats the term, “forever,” when comparing the ability to cause a car to keep going forever to the ability of causing humans to live forever because it is common sense that at one point, a car has to be grounded (546). It thus makes the idea that humans can “live forever and to live forever young” as sarcastic (547). To make this clear, the author uses repetition when describing Dr. Leonard Hayflick’s view on significantly increased longevity: “it won’t happen, it can’t happen, and if it did happen it would be a bad thing” (546). This repetition emphasizes the impossibility of significantly increasing longevity, which could be likened to immortality, and as such persuade the reader of the argument. To further make sure that the reader is persuaded of the author’s knowledge in human science, the author repeats some technical terminologies such as the word, “telomerase,” and its related terminologies (McCarthy 545). This emphasizes on the existence of a gene that could be altered to achieve human longevity. Thus, through repetition, McCarthy appeals to the reader’s confidence in her arguments and emphasizes on the ability of attaining human immortality. Indeed, Susan McCarthy’s use of emotional appeal through figurative language, irony and repetition enables her convince the readers of her argument in the essay, ‘On Immortality,’ of the attainability, sustainability and attractiveness of human longevity over human immortality. Metaphors and similes enable her portray immortality as being undesirable and an immature thought that objectify humans. The irony in the essay enables her promote the perception of mortality as being more desirable than immortality because it does not only provide for longer lifespan but also a quality life. Repetition enables her to emphasize on the immaturity of the thought on immortality and exhibit her knowledge in the field of human science. As such, McCarthy appeals to the reader’s pathos on the desirability, attainability ad sustainability of human longevity over immortality. Works Cited Conklin, Wendy. Differentiation Strategies for Language Arts. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education, 2009. Print. McCarthy, Susan. “On Immortality.” Remix: Reading + Composing Culture. 3rd ed. Ed. Latterell, C. G. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 544 - 550. Print Read More