In his article “Carriages Belong in Central Park”, appearing in the New York Times, Liam Neeson addresses the issue of horse drawn carriages in New York City. The article come from a sense of exigency created by a proposal by current New York mayor, Bill de Blasio to eradicate the horse drawn carriage business in the city of New York by the end of this year. Neeson feels the need to address this issue seeing that he is a lover of horses and as he mentions, he grew up with horses in his native land of Ireland. Neeson also feels a sense of urgency in responding because he shares the opinion that the ban is untimely will be in bad interests of not only the horse owners, but for the entire city of New York in general.
In light of this exigency. Neeson goal is to advocate for the proposed action to not be taken and allow more time for discussion. He hopes to capture the attention of New York Mayor, Bill De Blasio to show him how such an action will be detrimental to the interests of the city. In addition, the author hopes to show that the reasons behind the action are not essentially accurate. For instance, contrary to popular belief; the horse carriageway business is a humane one. He even quotes a city inspector who has visited horse stables and found that there are in perfectly human conditions and there is no evidence of cruelty and neglect, which are some of the reasons being given by proposers of the ban.
Neeson thesis or main statement is conveyed in the second and third paragraph of his essay where he states that “horses, much like humans, are at their happiest and healthiest when working” (Neeson, “Carriages Belong in Central Park). In the third paragraph, he goes on to state “Horses and their caretakers work together to earn a decent livelihood” (Neeson, “Carriages Belong in Central Park). These two lines depict the authors’ main message which is that the business of horse carriages should be continue to go on in Central Park, New York, because horses are naturally designed to carry and pull people or objects and also because the business is an important economic activity for New City resident that is conducted in perfectly ethical and humane conditions.
In “Happiness and Its Discontents," Daniel M. Haybron addresses the ambiguous nature the term happiness that has been interpreted differently by different researchers over time. The sense of exigency that has prompted the author to write this article is the increased tendency of modern day research to equate happiness to satisfaction. Many researchers have tended to measure people satisfaction with their lives as an indicator of happiness, which Haybrin feels, should not be the case.
Several phrases within the article support the author’s thesis. For instance, in the first part, the author quotes the belief among sociological researchers that “Happiness embodies your judgment about your life, and what matters for your happiness is something for you to decide” (Haybron, Happiness and Its Discontents). In the next paragraph, he goes on to reject the notion claiming, “This is an appealing view. However, I have come to believe that it is probably wrong. Or at least, it can’t do justice to our everyday concerns about happiness” (Haybron, Happiness and Its Discontents). The statement indicates the author’s thesis, which is to rebuke the popular belief about happiness and propose a new belief, which he advances in the third part of the article claiming, “I would suggest that when we talk about happiness, we are actually referring, much of the time, to a complex emotional phenomenon Happiness as emotional well-being concerns your emotions and moods, more broadly your emotional condition as a whole. To be happy is to inhabit a favorable emotional state” (Haybron, Happiness and Its Discontents).
Looking at the first article, the author Liam Neeson has composed it in a very articulate manner. He moves on from one point to the other to support his major argument in a manner that allows the audience to follow. For instance, he starts the article by giving background information about the issues at hand, which in this case is the proposed ban on horse carriageway business in New York City.
He then goes to state his argument, which in this scenario is opposing the ban. This transition is for instance made in the second paragraph where he boldly writes that the “The majority of New Yorkers, however, do not agree with him” (Neeson, Happiness and Its Discontents), (in reference to Bil de Blassio). Next, he moves onto give reasons and statistics behind his argument and explains each one in detail. Such a structure allows his essay to have a smooth flow and achieve its intention of passing the message to the audience effectively.
Works Cited
Neeson, L. “Carriages Belong in Central Park." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. Carriages Belong in Central Park,., 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
Haybron, Daniel. "Happiness and Its Discontents." The Opinionator. N.p., 13 Apr. 2014. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. <opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/happiness-and-its-discontents/?ref=opinion>.
