How In The World Do You Get A Skunk Out Of A Bottle Analysis

Rhetorical Analysis

A common conception of the legendary skunk is their rather fascinating ability to deter predators with a horrible smelling spray that blasts anything within ten feet with a repulsive mist. The skunk is a force to be reckoned with and not just for the fact that it can leave you smelling foul for days. Skunks spray when alarmed as a defensive technique, in which many predators have encountered these creatures and only the smell tells their story. Robert Connors, a scholar at the University of New Hampshire, enlightens readers on his encounter with a trapped skunk and his personal struggles in the situation. This bottle the skunk was in might have been thought to be harmless waste, but our trash is hurting animals and our environment. In Connors analytic approach to his narrative account in “How in the World Do You Get a Skunk Out of a Bottle?” he takes a significant stride in accounting an almost impossible situation while humanizing a skunk.
This is not your typical How To
Connors is very descriptive in his writing making sure you can visualize every detail. He utilizes descriptive words that makes you feel a flourish of emotions for the skunk. You could practically visualize the skunk in pain, “His sides heave…and each breath is a struggle of seven seconds duration…he is suffocating as I watch (157).” Appealing to your emotions, this makes you almost disregard the fact that he is a smelly skunk with the off chance you may get sprayed you actually just want to save that skunk. The human qualities he gives the skunk by speaking to him as if it were a human being, it helps to empathize with the skunk. Connors has repetitive conversations with the skunk, “What do you want me to do (157)?” and “What were you looking for in there anyway, you