Dana Gioia's Why Literature Matters

Literature; it has compelled us, entertained us, educated us, and drove us to madness. It has served as life instruction, by using the characters as the lesson plan. It is sometimes blunt, sometimes ugly, and in Truman Capote’s case, is so gruesome that we do not dare forget it.

In the article “Why Literature Matters” by Dana Gioia, she is trying to persuade the audience that the decline of reading in America has a negative impact. She does this by using logos and diction in her writing to make her claim stronger. Dana Gioia uses logos, which is putting facts into the article. This is proven in the second paragraph when she states “According to the 2002 survey of Public Participation in the Arts… arts participation by Americans has declined for eight of the nine major forms”. Gioia uses facts from a relible resource, which makes her claim stronger.

In the fourteenth chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster depicts all the elements found in a Christlike character. To begin, a simple fact is stated; “we live in a Christian culture” (124). Foster declares this to establish the fact that Christianity is a predominant religion on Earth, and it greatly impacts it’s surrounding civilizations. “Culture is so influenced by it’s dominant religious systems” that religion may sneak into a writer's work, no matter their personal beliefs on the religion (125). While knowledge of religion is helpful - especially to a reader - too many religious beliefs can lead problems. Foster articulates that intelligent readers possess a diverse knowledge in multiple religions,

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.

In Thomas C. Foster's book entitled “How to Read Literature like a Professor” the chapter “Don't read with your eyes” helps one understand that reading from their own perspective does not help them understand the situation fully. In James W. Loewen's book entitled “Lies my teacher told me” the chapter “Red Eyes” focuses on history and how telling history from one perspective can give the reader a biased view. Foster's books point is to not just read from your perspective but to read with an open mind and look at the situation from all different angles instead of one perspective.

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.

Throughout the essay, Prose argues that literatures in high schools are dumbing down the English curriculum. She says books that are “chosen for students to read are

The youth of America’s society is starting to grow up without the arts of literature. The idea that adolescents’ interest in reading has decline is clearly express by Dana Gioia, in the article, “Why Literature Matters”. The author uses different illustration to persuade the readers of his argument. One persuasion method he utilizes is describing the consequences of reading and not reading to display the reality of the dilemma.

About how nonfiction literature doesn’t just need to be informational text. It can be in the form of newspaper articles, brochures and even websites. He urges teachers to not only read informational text as nonfiction literature but to also read materials that

In the reading the author attempts to express her view that research is all about creativity, how researching a particular area is all thinking constructively to find a beneficial solution to a problem which other people can then use. Throughout the reading Kantz helps the reader understand how to use textual sources persuasively by exploring the idea that texts don’t always mean the same things to every reader. Throughout this piece Kantz tells the story of the learning experience of a particular student, Shirley. The piece continues to explain the differences between facts and opinions; facts are persuasive and are largely accepted by the clear majority of people, whereas opinions are statements

to start Dana to put together all his argument was based on many surveys and statistics that the government does to the people during the last 10 years, many people are losing the value of reading and more young people between 15 to 18 years, also Dana It uses the opinion of the people and some of the things that people complain about.

What I think about this article is that is speaks the truth and is spoken from a very intelligent man’s mouth. What he mentions in this article makes you second-guess yourself on a statistic you thought very much was an accurate one. “We suspect that statistics may be wrong, that people who use statistics may be “lying”—trying to manipulate us by using numbers to somehow distort the truth.”(Joel57). When thinking about this quotation, it really does make sense. Wouldn’t you do anything to get somebody to believe what you’re saying is true, even if it came to lying to them? I have learned the hard way that most of what comes out of people’s mouths are lies. This is why this quote makes a lot of sense to me. People out there would say and do anything to get you to believe them. This is why a lot of statistics are said, because the person saying it is just trying to manipulate you. I had never taken that perspective on statistics, until now.

In the article Reading Literature Makes Us Smarter and Nicer by Annie Murphy Paul we learn if reading books is more effective on people or if it is not. Reading books helps individuals understand people and the world correctly and reading does have an effect on people because it betters their understanding on many things. Reading Literature is easier to understand when it is a hard copy or a paper rather than an electronic device. In today's society it's been demonstrated that kids, teenagers, and adults who continue to like and read books do better in school and in the world. Those individuals have a better understanding of what occurs in the world and what is right from wrong.

But the writing was old. The narrative comprises lengthy sentences, archaic spelling, paragraphs of reported speech, and plenty of passives. Persuasion isn’t for the modern reader. It’s not for the 21st century youth with fleeting memories, and attention spans that span less than a goldfish’s. It’s not for the internet surfer, the scroll-addict, or the lover of the feed.

In the article “Reading Literature makes us Smarter and Nicer” written by Annie Murphy Paul discusses many different opinions about the effects that reading has on you as a person. For example some psychologist are saying that reading does improve your mind and ability to comprehend things, and it also will improve your behavior, moods.