The book, the pig who sang to the moon, as written by Jeffrey Masson is a fascinating read that seeks to change human perception on farm animals. The overriding belief of farm animals is that they are dumb, a preconceived notion that Masson seeks to change with his book.
As part of rhetoric analysis, the author seeks to connect the three variables in an attempt to share the message to his audience namely, the author, the topic and the audience. Following this connection, the author goes farther to apply his appeals in the form of ethical appeals (ethos), logical appeals (logos) and emotional appeals (pathos) to his audience. These appeals are made in a bid to convince the audience to share his line of thought on the topic under discussion.
In this case, Masson applies the above appeals adequately and as a result is able to garner support from his audience. For instance, he applies an ethical appeal in his book following the indication in the preface page of his qualifications. He was a former project director at Sigmund Freud, prior to writing this book, and he is also a psychoanalyst. The mention of such qualifications ultimately lets the audience know that he is a qualified individual, with the background needed to cover the topic under discussion. Being a psychoanalyst, he is able to use his skills and experience to explain to his audience of the misconceptions of animal thinking as well as lets readers know of the intelligence capacity of farm animals. Therefore, he is able to garner support from the audience following his citing of qualifications that imparts credibility and character to his argument.
Furthermore, the application of reason by use of notable individuals such as Darwin and Gandhi introduces concepts of logic. In this case, individuals are able to have a scientific and moral perspective on the issue of animal emotions and ethical behavior that human beings are required to have towards animals. This strategy is able to strengthen his argument in a bid to convince individuals to share in his belief. Masson is also able to include literary styles in his book to give the book an enriched feel that readers are able to connect with. For instance, in the beginning of the book, he writes of a song that is sung by the pig that seeks to illustrate the state of emotion of the pig. One can be able to identify of the state of happiness of the pig.
Further on the book, Masson’s argument is that it is wrong to domesticate animals, let alone, eat them. The farmed animals namely, pigs, cows, ducks, sheep and chicken are evaluated, in terms of their emotional state as well as their intelligence capacity. The author indicates that animals generally are similar to human beings in the sense that they have emotions. Therefore, subjecting them to domestication and eventually taking advantage of their products such as cheese, meat, eggs and the like. This approach is cruel and proposes that human beings should do the humane thing and let farmed animals go and embrace veganism.
Singer, a well known animal activist may agree with Masson’s argument. Even though he is inclined towards ethical landscape and aims to reconfigure the stands held by other individuals, he would appreciate Masson’s point of view. Masson is focused on engaging the meat eaters, a more defined approach in the change of mindset held by such individuals. Matt Cartmill, an anthropologist would also agree with Masson. This approach follows his article on hunting and the aggression, evil natured of human beings and the innocent animals that bear the brunt of human nature.
Masson puts his heart and soul into the book in a bid to shed light on the sensitive issue of animal treatment. However, he does not seem to propose complete alternatives that would facilitate the transition from meat eating individuals to veganism thereby affecting credibility of his argument.
