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Why literature matters dana gioia essay
Why literature matters essay
Why literature matters dana gioia essay
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In "Why Literature Matters," Dana Gioia talks about the importance of literacy and argues that the decline of reading we've been having as time goes on will have a very negative effect on society. To persuade the audience and prove that the number of readers is, in fact, declining, the author reinforces the idea in the first four paragraphs by providing data from research and surveys conducted by trusted sources such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the US Bureau of the Census, which found out in a 2002 study that there is a worrisome "declining percentage of Americans, especially young adults, reading literature." Once they have a confirmation of the data by credible sources, the readers are now more inclined to believe and listen
Andrew Solomon has some valid arguments in his article, and he tries to persuade the readers through logos, pathos, and ethos. Solomon wants the readers to understand the importance of reading, and how its decline can be harmful to the nation. To reinforce his arguments, Solomon shares a variety of examples, for instance, he mentions that reading helps improve memory and concentration, and the decline of reading is causing mental “atrophy.” He also calls upon the readers to take some sort of action to raise reading rates and help the society. This can grant the readers a form of power and control over the crisis that will lead to an em...
In Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use,” symbolism, allegory, and myth stand out when thinking about the characters, setting, and conflict in the story. The conflict is between the mother and her two daughters (Maggie and Dee). There is also the conflict between the family’s heritage (symbolized by the quilt, bench, and butter chum) and their different ways of life. Dee chose a new African name, moved to the city, and adopted a new way of life while Maggie and her mother have stay behind. The quilt (the most important symbol) represents the family’s heritage in that it is made of scraps of clothing worn by generations of family members. The quilt has been sewn by family hands and used on family beds. It has seen history and is history. Maggie and her mother see that that history is alive but Dee thinks it is as dead as her name. Dee does not see that name as part of her heritage. By analyzing these symbols, a number of possibilities for a theme can be seen. Walker could be suggesting that to understand the African-American heritage, readers have to include the present as well as the past. However, the theme could be that poverty and a lack of sophistication and education cannot be equated with ignorance. Lastly, she could be telling her readers that dignity or self-respect rise from and are virtually connected to one’s entire heritage- not just a selected part of it.
.... Le Guin has found that there are many different reasons for why this is happening and they say what some of the reasons are for the decline in reading. They discuss the seriousness of the issue but are not in complete agreement about how serious this issue should be taken and what needs to be done to start solving the problem of declining reading. While reading is definitely in decline, Le Guin does not think that this declining reading issue is a situation that is completely hopeless. There may not be as many people reading books but someone will always want to read so they would never disappear completely. She believes that books will always have a purpose (If a book told you something when you were fifteen, it will tell it to you again when you’re fifty, though you may understand it so differently that it seems you’re reading a whole new book. (Le Guin p37)
An example of this is,”The question was even looser in 1998 and 2002, when the General Social Survey found that roughly seventy percent of americans had read a novel,a short story ,a poem, or a play in the preceding twelve months. And, this August, seventy-three percent of respondents to another poll said they had read a book of some kind, not excluding those read for work or school, in the past year. If you didn’t read the fine print, you might think that reading was on the rise.”(Crain 7) This explains why Crain might have chosen to use statistics as a reference. Many times statistics help to explain reasoning for something that commentary cannot. An example of how Crain thinks that technology is the main reason for the decrease would be,”Children may be browbeaten, but adults resist interference with their pleasures. It may simply be the case that many Americans prefer to learn about the world and to entertain themselves with television and other streaming media, rather than with the printed word…”(Crain 8) This quote represents the problem as to why we turn to technology. It also gives the reader an example of why the reading decrease might be occurring. Technology could also be the root of many other problems in
In “Why Literature Matters” the author, Dana Gioia, argues that literature is very important in today’s society. He talks about the decline of reading over the years and the effects it has on different companies and communities. Gioia uses many persuasive techniques, such as evidence, jingoism, and diction, to try and persuade the reader that literature is important.
In the passage Why Literature Matters by Dana Gioia, the author explains how literature and reading is beginning to drop. He builds an argument on how the decline of reading in america will have a negative effect on society. Dana Gioia uses facts and evidence to support his claim.
A poem that incorporates the oppression of the people living in Martinique, and the political uprising of Martinique during French colonization would be “Out of Alien Days” by Aime Cesaire. Cesaire especially uses examples of imagery and tone to express the ideas of oppression and political revolution to focus on the forms of literature he describes. Along with examples of the literary elements, there should be an explanation of Cesaire’s usage of image and tone that explains the author’s main message in “Out of Alien Days.” In “Out of Alien Days,” Aime Cesaire uses the concepts of imagery and a revolutionary tone to illustrate the problems of the French colonization in Martinique. Cesaire constructs a definitive path in his poem where he is calling for change in Martinique, and rallying his people against the French empire. This paper is about introducing the concepts of imagery and a revolutionary tone along with examples used by Cesaire in “Out of Alien Days,” and an interpretation of the literary elements in connection to Cesaire’s theme in the poem.
Dana Gioia builds and argument about how the decline of reading will effect America by ethos such as outside information, magazines and uses logos to help show the reader that a decline is happening.
In “Oxford Concise Dictionary Literary Terms” by Chris Baldick, characterization is defined as the representation of persons in narrative and dramatic works which include direct and indirect methods in inviting the readers to infer qualities from characters’ actions, speech, or appearance. However, modals in literature context serve as an eye opener to the personality and traits of the characters in short stories. It enables the readers to learn of the characters’ abilities, capabilities, prohibitions, obligations and so forth. The appearance of modals in literary texts serves its own specific purposes in accordance to the author’s wish. In David Leavitt’s “Territory” which describes the relationship between a mother (Mrs. Campbell) and her son (Neil) who is a homosexual, gives me an interest to explore and find out more about the characters. Through the use of modals found in the extract, it enables me to go in depth and examine the characterization in the story.
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
Reading is a crucial part of culture throughout the world, and holds significance to millions of people. In society, it is important for people to read in order to obtain success in school and in the real world. In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, it revolves around a dystopian society in which the importance of reading has been ignored and books have been replaced entirely with television and technology. The people living in this society lack exposure to the skills and knowledge obtained from books. But the few individuals who read books secretly, like the protagonist, Guy Montag, can get a better understanding of the world and the people around them that can’t be earned without reading books. Reading is valuable and beneficial to society because it helps people gain a deeper understanding of other people and the world around them, influences the mental and emotional
Growing up in working class family, my mom worked all the time for the living of a big family with five kids, and my dad was in re-education camp because of his association with U.S. government before 1975. My grandma was my primary guardian. “Go to study, go to read your books, read anything you like to read if you want to have a better life,” my grandma kept bouncing that phrase in my childhood. It becomes the sole rule for me to have better future. I become curious and wonder what the inside of reading and write can make my life difference. In my old days, there was no computer, no laptop, no phone…etc, to play or to spend time with, other than books. I had no other choice than read, and read and tended to dig deep in science books, math books, and chemistry books. I tended to interest in how the problem was solved. I even used my saving money to buy my own math books to read more problems and how to solve the problem. I remembered that I ended up reading the same math book as my seventh grade teacher. She used to throw the challenge questions on every quiz to pick out the brighter student. There was few students know how to solve those challenge questions. I was the one who fortunately nailed it every single time. My passion and my logic for reading and writing came to me through that experience, and also through my grandma and my mom who plant the seed in me, who want their kids to have happy and better life than they were. In my own dictionary, literacy is not just the ability to read and write, it is a strong foundation to build up the knowledge to have better life, to become who I am today.
Reading – we do it every day. In almost every aspect of our lives and often take it for granted. Reading is essential for human communication and increasing knowledge. However, because reading is so important even a small change can have a significantly large impact on our modern society. We are currently in a midst of a cultural revolution. In which the printed word is being transformed by the digital.
Nowadays, many people think reading is not necessary, since there are so many sources of information and types of entertainment, such as TV, cinema and the Internet. I believe they are wrong because reading is very beneficial in many ways.
“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become,” said C.S. Lewis, noted author. This quote, to me, is the most appropriate description of the importance of literature in our lives. Literature reminds us of stories, epics, sacred scriptures and classical works of the ancient and modern times, in which the book To Kill a Mockingbird clearly does. Literature is defined as the body of written works of a language, period or culture, produced by scholars and researchers, specialized in a given field. Why is literature important? Well, let’s see as stated in the quotation by C.S. Lewis, literature not only describes reality but also adds to it. Yes, literature is not merely a depiction of reality; it is rather a value-addition. Literary works are portrayals of the thinking patterns and social norms prevalent in society. They are an illustration of the different facets of common man's life. Literary works serve as a food for thought and a tonic for imagination and creativity. Exposing an individual to good literary works, is equivalent to providing him/her with the finest of educational opportunities. On the other hand, the lack of exposure to literary works is equal to depriving an individual from an opportunity to grow as an individual. To Kill a Mockingbird provides its readers with the ‘finest of educational opportunities’ and that is why it is an important literary work. Harper Lee’s book is a powerful literary work because of the following literary devices employed: Setting, Allegory, and point of view. However before one can dissect the devices used, one must h...