NEA Chairman, Dana Gioia, in his article, ‘’Why Literature Matters,’’evokes the importance of literature and the great benefits that come along with reading. Gioia’s purpose is to persuade his audience to enlist themselves in literature once again.Gioia’s article was effective in persuading American to rencounter the arts, because of the major benefits for an individual whether it be being for personal,financial or economic well being. Throughout the article the author uses logic to transmit his ideas in a more clear sense , specifically in the second paragraph where Gioia builds up her analysis with informations from the National Endowment of the Arts. Gioia begins his article with significantly high statistics from the NEA where the information states that the number younger adults around the ages of 18-24 involved in the arts is diminishing. The use of logos on the is most evidently displayed ‘’declining percentage of Americans -reading literature’’ and this is used to share how many individuals are not reading.Gioia uses a certain structure to form his idea so therefore he shares background information first to be able to escalate his idea of …show more content…
Gioia uses the credibility of the February issue Wired where author Daniel Pink explains that worthy to search for skills are ‘’not linear’’ but rather are meant to be ‘’artistic and beautiful’’ able to search within patterns to ‘’craft a satisfying narrative’’.Gioia uses a well known source like Wired magazine to increase his credibility for the consequences that are brought upon by decreasing attention on literature. The author is simultaneously using deductive reasoning tactic to persuade the audience into believing his theory of the exact reason why literature is an impactful part of human
In the book Fahrenheit 451 the theme is a society/world that revolves around being basically brain washed or programmed because of the lack of people not thinking for themselves concerning the loss of knowledge, and imagination from books that don't exist to them. In such stories as the Kurt Vonnegut's "You have insulted me letter" also involving censorship to better society from vulgarity and from certain aspects of life that could be seen as disruptive to day to day society which leads to censorship of language and books. Both stories deal with censorship and by that society is destructed in a certain way by the loss of knowledge from books.
“With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history.” – Page 4 of 431 iPhone eBook (177 Pages Left)
Stating that the scholars examined computer logs documenting the behavior of visitors who chose two sites that have several information outlets. The results showed that people showed a form of ‘skimming activity’, which supports him main argument of having troubles with deep reading (737). Further down on the same page, he states “It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of ‘reading’ are emerging as users ‘power browse’ horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense.” This statement supports his pathos appeal of how the reader will be able to relate to it, including himself. Another pathos tactic would be when he states “Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski.” A use of imagery to differ how he used to be able to thoroughly read a book, rather than now due to the convenience of the internet. An ethos appeal is when he uses a quote of Maryanne Wolf, an author, and a developmental psychologist at Tufts University, “We are not only what we read, though we are how we read. (737)” This is yet an additional credible support to his
Roberts, Edgar V., Jacobs, Henry E. “Literature.” The Lesson. 470-475. Toni Cade Bambara. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. 2001
With a spout of kerosene and a flick of a match, a fireman sets fire to a house and all the books inside it, not waiting for the heat to reach 451 degrees farhenheit; the temperature in which it is said books ignite. This may seem a strange thing, a fireman setting fire, but in the futuristic world author Ray Bradbury created in his work Farhenheit 451(1951) this is the norm. A fireman's job is to hunt those with books and set destroy all the books with thier flames. In the Bradbury's book, the government has deemed books and all who possess them public enemy Number One, and society has accepted that with no questions asked. Books represent knowledge, difference of opinion and ideals that are now unsavory in the public's eye.
Don’t worry, be happy, or at least that’s what everyone in Ray Bradbury’s book Fahrenheit 451 thought. No matter what was going on around them, war, crime, or death, they were always happy… Or were they? Ray Bradbury wrote books about censorship in society forming around being censored totally or partially from books and television. In Fahrenheit 451 the main character, Montag, is a fireman whose job it is to burn books to keep the public from reading then and coming up with their own thoughts and ideas and not the ideas that the government puts in their heads. Wile he is burning books one day he opens one to read it and becomes obsessed with reading books. He turns on his fire chief and burns him, and goes to live with people who also read books and memorize them so that they can be reprinted then society is ready for them again. Three people that show that they are happy on the outside but are not truly happy are Montag, Mildred and Mrs. Phelps.
In the novel, technology, especially the enormous TV screens, are responsible for replacing literature, intellectualism, and curiosity. People spend so much time watching programming that is considered unproductive. People in the novel became less likely to search for knowledge and discover new abilities. This happens frequently today. Many people are engrossed in their technology and mass media. They have become less likely to...
There are many aspects for my mind to conceive while reading the articles why I write by George Orwell and Joan Didion. There are many different factors in triggering an author’s imagination to come up with what they want to write, and why they want to write it. In most writings a purpose is not found before the writer writes, but often found after they decide to start writing.
The entirety of Ray Bradbury’s life revolved around literature. Ever since Bradbury was a child, he had possessed an affinity towards to writing. Bradbury’s writings were not purely influenced by his passion of literature, however. Growing up the author would’ve learned about the frail nature of books: the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, the Nazi’s book burnings, and Stalin’s “Great Purge”. Bradbury also witnessed the golden age of radio and its transition into the golden age of television, all of which Bradbury believed detracted from the beauty and knowledge that could be attained through a written medium. The American author worried about the fall of his beloved literate dreams.
Throughout the article, Gioia’s diction is straightforward and harsh. He says things like, “the decline in reading has consequences that go beyond literature” (Gioia) and “the decline of reading is also taking its toll in the civic sphere... the evidence of literature's importance to civic, personal, and economic health is too strong to ignore” (Gioia) to show the reader that if you do not read, you will be affected in many ways. This strong diction helps convince the reader that literature is very important because they do not want to be affected in their jobs and social circles. Gioia also uses a call to action to persuade the reader that literature is important. This is mainly shown at the end of the article when Gioia calls on the politicians and businesses to help fight the literature problem. He says, “Libraries, schools, and public agencies do noble work, but addressing the reading issue will require the leadership of politicians and the business community as well” (Gioia). This is a call to action by Gioia because he is directly saying to the politicians and businesses that they need to do more in helping the reading issue. He is calling to them, saying that they need to help. This persuades the reader into believing that literature is important because Gioia wants to get important people involved, such as businesses and
In the article “Reading and Thought” the author Dwight MacDonald provides criticism and disagreement with Henry Luce’s idea of “functional curiosity”. Luce developed the term “functional curiosity” defining it as an eagerness of people to know the latest news happening around the world. On the other hand, MacDonald concludes that functional curiosity only strengthens reader’s practice in reading rather than in providing invaluable information. He underlines that literature nowadays is deficient and insubstantial since there is no deep meaning in the texts. Modern printed literature is simply being skimmed through by the reader as the reader nowadays tends to avoid too much information resisting thinking in such a way. Because of the new nature of the printed materials, MacDonald considers today’s reading behavior and the way people think as flimsy and indifferent. I agree that our thought has definitively changed since we are paying less time to serious critical thinking losing connections with society and awareness of it.
In “The Closing of the American Book,” published in the New York Times Magazine, Andrew Solomon argues about how the decline of literary reading is a crisis in national health, politics, and education. Solomon relates the decline of reading with the rise of electronic media. He believes that watching television and sitting in front of a computer or a video screen instead of reading can cause the human brain to turn off, and lead to loneliness and depression. He also argues that with the decrease of reading rates, there will no longer be weapons against “absolutism” and “terrorism,” leading to the United States political failure in these battles. The last point Solomon makes is that there is no purpose behind America being one of the most literate societies in history if people eradicate this literacy, and so he encourages everyone to help the society by increasing reading rates and making it a “mainstay of community.” Solomon tries to show the importance of reading in brain development and he encourages people to read more by emphasizing the crisis and dangers behind the declination of reading.
The idea of literature being an important aspect of life has always been greatly prevalent in my upbringing. This notion that I supported was spurred on at the cause of my obstinate parents insisting upon my reading of two books a week to benefit my vocabulary and to develop the articulate thought process of a skilled reader. As a young child, my biggest influences were my parents’ passionate and persuasive ideas regarding the correlation between
Bradbury attacks loss of literature in the society of Fahrenheit 451 to warn our current society about how literature is disappearing and the effects on the people are negative. While Montag is at Faber’s house, Faber explains why books are so important by saying, “Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores” (79). Faber is trying to display the importance of books and how without them people lack quality information. In Electronics and the Decline of Books by Eli Noam it is predicted that “books will become secondary tools in academia, usurped by electronic media” and the only reason books will be purchased will be for leisure, but even that will diminish due to electronic readers. Books are significant because they are able to be passed down through generation. While online things are not concrete, you can not physically hold the words. Reading boost creativity and imagination and that could be lost by shifting to qui...
Literature has many purposes, and opens doors to unique worlds. Through Literature, we discover ourselves and world time and again.