“For Tigers to exist, we have to want them to exist, now, more than ever.” What exactly is John Valliant’s point in posing this thought? With this quote in mind, given by John Valliant, quoting John Goodrich, the Tiger becomes more about what we should do than simply just a story about a tiger in Russia. The story itself is important, as that is the medium which is used by Valliant to capture his audience. However, as the book flips from chapter to chapter, it’s almost as if the central story fades for longer periods of time as more information and direction on morals and ethics enter the pages. Valliant does an excellent job at capturing the reader's attention with something as exotic and extraordinary as an Amur Tiger at the beginning of the book and then allows that hook to persuade readers to carry on through the journey as he slowly teaches, advises and encourages all who read to be more aware of the choices they make in relation to the surrounding environment. In essence, John Valliant does an exceptional job of using Narrative Transport Theory by first seizing his audience and second, building credibility and third, mentoring and exposing his values through the use of facts and images, while the reader is still engaged.
In order to teach and advise something of great importance, a teacher must engage their audience. John Valliant, acting as the teacher, engages readers who pick up The Tiger, first with its title. In a similar fashion to that of a newspaper headline, aiming to catch the attention of the onlooker with an exotic hook, John Valliant captures attention with his title. There are not many more things as exotic and interesting to humans than tigers, perhaps because we don’t know much about them, other than they are, in a sense, “rare.” John uses this same idea to continue to capture a reader as the book begins with the attack of a tiger. What better attention-grabber is there than to catch the attention of someone with a tiger attack! John does a great job of leaving you on the edge of your seat as you wait to hear what happens next to the tiger after the first attack. We are accustomed to short and quick stories in order to get the whole idea of a story as fast as possible, but John is very good at not giving it away all at once. Because of this, he is able to elongate the story from a simple tiger attack, into a book I believe teaches about morals and ethics and what we can do better as a society in relation to all that is around us.
After John has caught the attention of the reader, he then proceeds to give in depth background of multiple characters, which allows us to understand the choices the characters make in the book more fully. For example, at first, poaching of any animal seems a heinous crime, but as we understand the why behind the choices some of these characters make to end up poaching animals, it’s not so black and white. Because of this contrast, it in a way sets up an opposing view, similar to that of an argumentative essay, when one includes a counter-argument. As we know the point of a counter-argument actually builds credibility for the writer in the first place, and therefore John receives more credibility before jumping too far into what I’ll call the “morals and ethics” section of the book. As John builds credibility after already including a juicy hook for the readers, he sets himself up in a position to teach.
At last, once John has empowered himself to teach, after building credibility, he continues on throughout the rest of the book to bring up facts and information about the relationship of humans with the natural world. He gives short stories about man before time and man in the wilderness. He offers insight on how humans have lived in harmony with the animals and environment in the past and then offers his suggestion, in diverse ways, through his own mouth and the mouth of others, that we need to shift back a little and watch where we step so we don’t end up anywhere we don't want to be. John offers quotes from others past and present, local and global, to show that the relationship between us and our friends of nature is crucial to our own health and to the future generations beyond.
In conclusion, John Valliant does an excellent job of introducing ideas and knowledge which can persuade and move others to think differently (Narrative Transport Theory) by first engaging the reader, next, building credibility through example and rapport and lastly, offering his suggestions as the human race moves forward.
