Summary Of Why Literature Matters By Dana Gioia

In Dana Gioia’s article titled “Why Literature Matters”, he explains about the decline of reading literature for young Americans. Although “income rose to unforeseen levels, college attendance ballooned, and access of information increased enormously” he states, “the interest young Americans showed in the arts… diminished”. In his article, Gioia uses surveys, articles, studies, and statistics to persuade his audience that the decline of reading in America can have a negative effect on society.

In the article, “Why Literature Matters”, the author, Dana Gioia, states how reading is taking a turn downhill as young adults are not reading literature. Gioia addresses that in order to fix the issue, politicians and business communities need to try and fix the problems. Dana Gioia uses a series of logical appeals to show how the decrease in literature is affecting the society.

Dana Gioia, author of the article "why Literature Matters", writes about the decline of reading in the U.S. and how it affects our society. The consequences of people not reading are expressed through his specific factual evidence and his prediction of what is going to happen if the American people continue to ignore this issue.

Larissa MacFarquhar’s essay titled,“Who Cares if Johnny Can’t Read?” , was published in the Slate magazine in 1997, rebuts the misconception that Americans in today’s society don’t read as much as people did in the past. MacFarquhar presented factual information to back up her claim that Americans do read and that they read more now than they ever did. In addition, people do not read classics as much as they read genre fiction and self-help in today’s society. MacFarquhar also stated that reading books is better than television. According to MacFarquhar, she believed that reading can stimulate emotions and allow people to participate unlike television. Later, she acknowledged that certain television can also stimulate emotions and allow people

The author of, Why Literature Matters” confidently tries to further spread awareness of the decline in reading and persuade the readers to begin reading. Dana Gioia is passionate to this subject and attempts to appeal to the readers heavily through statistics and potential consequences.

I viewed reading as a chore, was often unenthused, and would mostly annotate on the overarching themes without gathering any meaning from them. Books were merely a series of words printed on paper. This school year, however, I began to understand the allure reading has to offer. I have grown to appreciate reading and the insights a book can offer. When reading our numerous texts, I was able to live vicariously through the characters of the books and relate aspects of their lives to my own. Because all of the books from English I pertain to coming of age, I was able to not only learn about maturation as a process, but understand how it pertains to my own life. Through protagonists such as Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye or Esperanza from The House on Mango Street, I learned about my “misguided desire to preserve childhood innocence” and to empower feminism similar to Holden and Esperanza respectively (Heart of Gold, Raghuram). Gradually, I have finally developed the ability to relate to novels and its characters amidst writing my own story.Whether it be thematic elements or the details of a case I am working on, I have become more observant to even the most trivial details. Now when I read, I not only look at the themes, motifs, and symbols, but also repeated phrases or situations that parallel each others as well as the symbolic meaning behind some ambiguous phrases or scenes. Reading now, in contrast to last summer, is a

In this article from 2005, Dana Gioia is telling Americans how much the decline in reading among young Americans has gone. Gioia is encouraging Americans to read, and writes about the consequences of not having this literature reading skill.

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

In "Why Literature Matters", Dana Gioia, author of said article, uses negative connotations to exude the thought that the lack of literary readers will indeed have a negative effect in our society's future.

When was the last time you read a book. I guarantee that your parents & grandparents still read books. Though, people around my age have begun to read less often. Which is why Dana Gioia wrote this article. She tries to persuade reading literature to inspire my generation to read more by stating facts from different sources.

Dana Gioia's purpose of this essay is to explain to society that reading less will mentally impact them. She is trying to get the message across to everyone, so that they understand the image that there setting on themselves, and impact that is has on them outside of literature. It is also impacting them in the business world. With there decline in reading, it holds there brain from opening up and really creating artistic ideas.

In the passage “Why Literature Matters,” Dana Gioia uses facts and statistics as well as strong word choice and tone to help persuade the audience.

Dana Gioia calls out millennials and younger generations in america, to spark a conversation about the increasingly declining and destructive behavior of NOT reading! Gioia makes very many fantastic points and uses very many persuasive elements on why literacy actually is vital to to our society and the negative effects that come from this lack of literacy. She gives us factual evidence and credible sources to pull the reader into her side of the argument.

In the article, “Why Literature Matters,” Dana Gioia predominantly focuses on the use of logos, logical fact-based evidence and stimulating, emotional-based language to entice the audience. Gioia elaborates on the theme of correlation between young adult Americans and the decline of literature in this age group. He continues his argument with the consequences with the decline of literature in the lives of these Americans.