life on thin ice essay Flashcards
introduction
“Life on thin ice” is a compelling non-fiction narrative written by the award winning journalist Dan McDougall. Through his masterful use of effective techniques he explores the harrowing impacts climate change has on the country of Greenland and the inhabitants. This enables readers to intimately connect with the Greenlanders’ plight and persuades the reader to realise that climate change is causing the Greenlandic people so much distress and trauma so it requires urgent action.
paras
importance of ice
dangers of ice
dogs
mental health
importance of ice topic sentence
McDougall masterfully employs various powerful techniques to highlight how important the ice is to the people in Greenland and persuade us to believe climate change needs urgent action.
importance of ice quotes
“the islands ice sheet covers 80% of the land”
“freeze offers escape”
“sea ice is an open highway”
“umbilical cord”
“frozen womb”
importance of ice evaluation
McDougall is successful in drawing readers in by providing essential context, allowing us to comprehend and become invested in how vital the ice is to the Greenlanders’ survival. This persuades us to feel an urgent need to take action against climate change to stop the Greenlandic people from losing the ice they rely on so heavily.
dangers of ice topic sentence
Having previously established the vitality of the ice to the Greenlanders’ survival, McDougall masterfully employs narrative techniques to highlight the growing danger of the ice, creating emotional and physical hardships for the Greenlandic people.
dangers of the ice quotes
“the frozen sea is now a threat”
“designed to break the ankles”
“Greenlands world is shrinking”
dangers of the ice evaluation
McDougall’s descriptions of the dangers of the ice successfully opened readers up to the harrowing reality of the ways climate change is affecting Greenland to elicit a deep sense of empathy from us and persuade us to desire to take urgent action to help climate change come to an end.
dogs topic sentence
McDougall’s adept use of literary devices underscores how important the dogs are to the people and culture in Greenland which persuades us to agree that climate change needs urgent action.
dogs quotes
“stirring a foul brew”
“seal stew”
“my son”
“a shocking explosion of grief”
dogs evaluation
McDougall successfully unveils how important the dogs are to the Greenlandic people and their culture in a way that encourages us to sympathise with their plight as we are led to understand the impact losing their dogs to climate change would have on them. This persuades readers to believe climate change needs urgent action as we don’t want them to lose their dogs that mean so much to them.
mental health topic sentence
By weaving together powerful anecdotes, McDougall explores how the impacts that climate change has had on their country is causing their mental health to decline and persuades us to believe we need to take urgent action to stop climate change so their mental health doesn’t decline further.
mental health quotes
“domino effect”
“feeling homesick when you are home”
“there are no local words for climate change”
“ecological grief”
mental health evaluation
The writer’s stark descriptions of the Greenlanders’ declining mental health successfully conveys their vulnerability in a way that moves readers and encourages us to believe climate change needs urgent action to stop the Greenlanders’ mental health worsening.
conclusion
Overall Dan McDougall successfully highlighted the harrowing effects climate change has had on the Greenlandic people and their country in order to persuade us that climate change is a serious issue that we need to take urgent action to fix.
