In the response to the catastrophic plight of giant Sequoias being laboriously cut down, the

author John Muir firmly maintains that logging of these trees should definitely be

prevented, and American people should quickly recognize its significance. In his argument,

John demonstrates his resolute conviction about the issue, conveying his superstitious

beliefs on the trees. In lieu of using facts or expert testimony, he apparently makes the most

extensive use of emotional appeal as his evidence by delivering how the Sequoias made to

him such a strong appeal.

As stated above, in his persuasive approach to the audience he uses a number of phrases

and vocabularies that somewhat suggest his godly and superstitious beliefs upon Sequoia

trees, …show more content…
In addition to the phrase, the

author states ‘could one of these Sequoia Kings come to town in all its godlike majesty…’ to

imply that they are the supreme example of majesty among all living things, thus should be

defended piously. Later on, he describes the forest where Sequoias are as ‘noble groves and

forests’, so as to show his determined admiration for the trees and even the forest with

them. After that, when he explains that the ‘finest Sequoias’ are logged and sawed into

lumber he calls it a ‘lamentable ruin’, which is a very intense phrase that effectively shows

his emotion towards the frustrating devastation. In a later paragraph he describes the trees

as ‘kings of the forest, the noblest of a noble race’, highlighting their great sanctity. This

personification can also generate compassion for their plight. Overall, vocabularies cited

here are quite religious; this clearly exhibits that the author has extremely special beliefs in

the trees, which is even distinguishable from normal advocates of