Needs By Thomas Sowell Analysis

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Needs Analysis Essay In Thomas Sowell’s essay Needs, he reflects on the fact that Americans routinely interchange the word “needs” with what Sowell believes is in reality the individual’s “wants”. Sowell creates unity with his audience but loses the unity when discussing entitlements and contradicting himself. He then digresses by shifting his tone and turning his essay into a political movement. Sowell creates unity in his essay by uniting his audience. He starts off with using an anecdote that the reader can relate to. The anecdote is about an economist asking if anyone needed any more coffee. Another economist then says “Need?!” and makes the economist asking the question feel “lucky to escape with his life” (Sowell). He uses this anecdote as a method of unifying his audience because the reader can relate to it. The question by that the reader can relate to might not have been about coffee but it had the same structure, using the word “need”. Sowell unites his audience by forming connections with his anecdote. …show more content…

This makes the reader question the meaning of needs. He makes the reader ponder by stating “We obviously get along without them… because we have no choice” (Sowell). Here he gives more support to his question and also making an introduction to his argument. Sowell then states “These ‘needs’ are simply things we want” (Sowell). Sowell argues that the concept and definition of “needs” is reality our “wants”. He creates unity for his purpose by asking the reader questions to ponder about and connecting these questions to his

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