While reading the first person narrative essay of Jane Goodall entitled “A Plea For The Chimpanzees”, I came to the realization that Chimpanzees are so much like human beings that it is unfair to continue treating them in the manner that the scientific community has become accustomed to. It led me to imagine what my life would be like if I were part of a human experiment under the same conditions. Just imagining the abusive treatment and lack of care was enough for me to realize that I too would have become insane, just like the chimps in the laboratories. They did not ask to become experiments, we chose to use them that way. However, the fact that they are, so highly evolved and almost human, leads me to agree with Ms. Goodall, chimpanzees must be accorded the chimpanzee equivalent of protection and rights as a human being.
Ms. Goodall’s main intention in telling the story about her visit to the chimpanzee laboratory is quite clear. She wants to and successfully brought to the attention of her readers, the sad and inhumane situation that these animals are placed in all in the name of scientific advancement. Her main idea is that by being highly descriptive in her narrative and placing her readers in a situation wherein they can imagine themselves in the same situation as the chimpanzees, that fear and realization on the part of the humans will bring about the much needed and necessary changes in the treatment of the laboratory animal. By presenting the chimpanzee’s plight in a way similar to that of a human being who is slowly falling into a state of depression and insanity, we come to understand and realize what is actually happening to the chimps. By recognizing the similarities between the humans and the chimpanzees, then she contends that the changes, which will even help facilitate the experimentation process, will be implemented for the mental, physical and social well-being of the chimpanzees.
I am of the opinion that the author succeeded in presenting her case and explaining her purpose for the essay. She used a highly disturbing and graphic imagery method in presenting her reasons for wanting and needing to support the changes in the treatment of the laboratory chimpanzees which in turn, made the readers feel like they were actually in the laboratory and observing the goings-on within the laboratory set up.
By effectively using the anthropomorphism literary device, she was able to turn animals into human beings and present them in a manner that normal people do not normally view them as. She effectively portrayed them as people who grow mentally, develop physically, convey emotions, and communicate in ways similar to the human ways. Therefore leading the reader to contemplate, where does the animal end and the human begin? Are chimpanzee’s simply lower forms of human beings? Maybe. As such, they do deserve the same respect as their higher evolved counterparts.