The essay “Thank You for Smoking,” written by Peter Brimelow, is far from an influential essay on why people should smoke. Through this essay, Brimelow makes an effort to convince the audience smoking is actually beneficial to your health. I find it hard for people to write about what they think are the benefits of smoking when there are so many obvious reasons why you should not smoke. The main audience being targeted in this article is those who already smoke and those who are thinking about smoking.
One thing mentioned in the article is the fact that smokers are usually lighter in weight. In my personal opinion, I would rather eat a balanced diet and walk daily rather than walk around with a cigarette in my mouth and risk lung cancer. Inductive or Deductive: When trying to find if an essay is logically stated, you first must find if it is inductive or deductive. This is an example of an inductive essay. What inductive means is that the author goes from using specific samples to generalizations that are drawn from those examples (McFadden). Major Claim:
The major claim is usually the topic sentence or main idea in the article (McFadden). Through the major claim, Peter points out that smoking has beneficial factors. He states those who smoke are less likely to get many diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, endometrial cancer, prostate cancer, osteoarthritis, and colon cancer (Brimelow 142). Another example used in this essay is the author’s comparison of driving automobiles to smoking cigarettes. Brimelow states, “But so is driving automobiles dangerous to your health (over 40,000 deaths a year)” (141).
This to me just seems like a completely ridiculous comparison to include in this article, especially when in the prior paragraph he states that there are approximately 400,000 deaths annually, which are smoking-related (Brimelow). Minor Claim: One minor claim pointed out through this essay is how smoking helps to relax people, which is one form of a stress reliever (Brimelow). In addition, smoking is said to stimulate alertness, dexterity, and cognitive capacity (Brimelow).
It is true these are all things in which people can benefit from; however, these are far from being favorable enough for people to decide to go light up. Grounds: Grounds include all evidence, facts, and logic used in supporting claims (McFadden). Through “Thank You for Smoking…? ” there are several grounds given by Brimelow. These include a list of several diseases that are said to “offer more subtle health rewards to balance against its undisputed risks” (Brimelow 141). Warrants: Warrants are used in writing as a tool to connect evidence to a claim through values and logic (McFadden).
Brimelow spells out in his essay that there are many pros and cons of smoking, and everyone has the freedom to do whatever they choose. By using warrants in this article, Brimelow attempts to get the audience to correspond with his belief of smoking being beneficial to your health. Several examples of how smoking can be good for you are presented in this article as previously stated. Backing: Another supportive term in an argument is backing. This is the logic and evidence provided to support the warrant (McFadden).
Models of this are meagerly presented in the essay through the comparison of smoking related deaths to automobile related accidents. To me this seems like a weak comparison since there are about 360,000 more deaths a year due to smoking. Qualifiers: Words and phrases that are used to limit and modify the overgeneralization of claims are known as qualifiers (McFadden). Examples of these words and phrases are things like if, except, and in most cases (McFadden). As stated by Brimelow, “Lost in this lynching frenzy: the fact that smoking might be, in some small ways, good for you” (141).
This is a great example of a qualifier because the use of the words “might” and “some small sense. ” Brimelow’s use of these words in his major claim, however, shows he is not truly confident in his views. Counterclaim: A counterclaim is argument, which rebuts a claim, or tries to refute the claim being made by the author (McFadden). “Hold on now! Let’s be clear: The Surgeon General has indeed determined that smoking is dangerous to your health” (Brimelow 141). He clearly points out here that yes, smoking is not good for you, and can cause serious health problems.
However, this sentence contradicts his main claim in this article, which is to try to convince the audience there are enough pros to possibly outweigh the cons of smoking. After reading this article, I struggle to find myself agreeing with any points being made by Brimelow. Work Cited: Brimelow, Peter. “Thank You for Smoking…? ” The Genre of Argument. Ed. Irene L. Clark. Boston: Thomson Heinle, 1998. 141-143. Clark, Irene L. The Genre of Argument. Boston: Thompson Heinle, 1998 McFadden, James. Introduction to Toulmin Method. Lecture. Sept. 12 & 14, 2003. Buena Vista University. Storm Lake, IA.