New York Times By Dana Gioia Summary

In Dana Gioia´s New York Times article, ¨Why Literature Matters¨ he makes it clear that in the past quarter century the interest young Americans are showing in literary is severely diminishing. His article expresses the idea that the decline in literature is contributing to personal and economic consequences. Gioia makes emotional, logical, and ethical appeals by effectively using evidence, reasoning, and specific diction to persuade his readers that the decline in literary equals a decline in society's well being. Gioia uses credible evidence by referring to a National Endowment for the Arts survey in order to address his readers´ emotion. He states how the “most worrisome finding in the 2002 study... is the declining percentage of Americans, especially young adults, reading literature (Gioia). This establishes his credibility and appeals to his readers sense of fear because it makes it clear that a decline in reading has serious consequences that go beyond literature. He further establishes his credibility when he refers to evidence

He establishes the idea that ¨literacy is a specific intellectual skill and social habit that depends on a great many educational, cultural, and economic factors¨ (Gioia). This allows him to link literature to the business world and show how the decline in reading does not only have consequences in academics, but that it has consequences in all aspects of society. Gioia integrates logical and emotional appeals into his article by portraying the fact that as Americans continue to lose the skill to read closely our nation is going to become less informed and independent. He further backs up his argument by discussing how literature is a quality that a productive society can not lose. Gioia effectively uses reasoning to relay the importance of the skill of literature and show how its consequences apply to all aspects of