Why Literature Matters By Dana Gioia Summary

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.

In the passage “Why Literature Matters” by Dana Gioia, Gioia states that the decline of interest in reading in America is decreasing. She then claims that this lack of interest will hold negative effects on the future of our society. Gioia uses facts and evidence to support her claim.

Literature is known to have a profound impact on people. It can influence their attitudes, behaviours, beliefs and ultimately, their decision-making process. Reading about the thoughts and stories of other people helps one make moral decisions because it develops one's sense of empathy and it makes one learn more about the world, making them a better person in the end.

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 one study it is revealed that “literary readers are markedly more civically engaged than non readers… more likely to perform charity work, visit a museum, or attend a sporting event.” Gioia adds this study to her essay because she her audience to know that not reading doesn't just affect your job or work, it affects your daily

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 author of “Why Literature Matters” builds an argument to persuade his audience that the decline of reading in America will have a negative effect on society. Gioia builds up an argument by using multiple forms of persuasions. This includes him using evidence, such as fact or examples, to help support his main claims. Dana Gioia also uses logos and pathos to help express his writing which eventually leads to persuasion. He eventually establishes his claim the decline in of reading in America will have a negative effect on society.

In the passage, “Why Literature Matters”, Dana Gioia creates his argument to persuade his audience that decline of reading in America has a negative effect on America. He mentions studies and surveys done on younger Americans that were done to observe how readers versus non-readers participate in society and also to observe young Americans’s knowledge on the “historical and political awareness among young people”. Dana mentions early in his argument that as Americans “income rose… [and the] college attendance ballooned” that the art interest of young Americans decreased. He later mentions a survey done by the National Endowment for the Arts, observed that the number of young Americans participating in art has decreased in relation to the number

In Why Literature Matters Author Dana Gioia expresses and supports his opinion on why schools should support and teach arts and literature. Gioia shows the rapid decline in Americans not reading literature anymore, he shows the consequences you will face in the real world, like when you try to get a job. Gioia uses facts and statistics throughout the essay, as well as appealing to your patriotism.

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.

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.

As a young girl, I remember my grandma used to read me a story every night before bed. Now that I’m older I find writing as an escape, a way to let my feelings out. However, in the persuasive essay, “Why Literature Matters” by Dana Gioia, it is brought to light that literature is a dying subject. The author informs the reader of this tragedy by providing a solid, well built argument, and backing it up with factual evidence.

In the excerpt from “Why Literature Matters”, Dana Gioia uses evidence-based phrases that detail how a lack of reading has affected society. One of the strategies used to illustrate his point is to present a paragraph about why the use of literature, or lack thereof, is important, and then making a new paragraph to support his claim with evidence. An example of this is in the paragraph beginning with “The decline of…” being followed by “It is probably”. The first paragraph states that without literature,”[Young people's] appreciation and support of American democracy is limited”, and the next backs it up by saying that citizens who read take up other civilised acts more commonly as compared to those who don't.

Young Americans who read, demonstrate a better civilize attitude and the necessity to learn new information. Gioia states, “One of the surprising findings of “Reading at Risk” was literary readers are markedly more civically engaged than nonreaders, scoring two to four times more likely to perform charity work, visit a museum, or attend a sporting event”. Literature’s positive effects are visible as people who tend to read more, become further intelligent. The young Americans who read know they should prepare themselves for the future. They become active in their communities and occupy their lives with productive activities rather than be indolent and negligent as someone who might not read.

Some topics are more interesting to read than others. In an article called ‘Why Literature Matters’ written by Dana Gioia, this article can be viewed as highly persuasive because of the techniques he uses to get his points across to the audience .Gioia is able to build arguments though his use of evidence and different literary techniques.