Rhetorical Analysis Of Ursula K. Le Guin

Rhetorical Analysis of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Article Since the dawn of time books have carried the knowledge of our past. We have utilized their existence to gain insight into the past and present of the world we live in. As our society developed through time, so did the ideas of our literature. In the article “The Death of the Book” by Ursula K. Le Guin, the author describes the effects of life and death of the physical book. Throughout the article, she explains in detail how new technology is affecting literature and the future generations. Guin is a persuasive speaker because she utilizes pathos, a subjective style of writing, and a variety of rhetorical questions to convince the audience of the enduring existence of a physical book in

She argues against the ideas of its future nonexistence, stating that “the book is growing- taking on a second shape in form of the ebook” (Le Guin 157). Throughout the article the author uses pathos as a way of establishing a connection with her audience to convey her emotion towards the “death” of a book. By doing so, Le Guin creates a form of communication that appeals to the audience’s emotions by directly addressing them as if it were a realistic conversation. This allows her to develop a realistic sense with the audience that “when we hear about the death of the book, it might be a good idea to ask what ‘the book’ is” (Le Guin 159). Through this Le Guin effectively persuades the reader by drawing on their emotion towards how they see “the book” themselves. In turn, the audience’s attention is focused onto Le Guin’s argument allowing her to easily persuade

utilizes rhetorical questions and simplistic repetition in her writing to show the connection between reading and writing in any piece of material, whether that be on the web or in a physical book. She argues the fact that what we involve ourselves in on the computer or any electronic device require some form of reading. By using rhetorical questions, such as “How much of anything can you do in the e-world without reading?” (Le Guin 158), she effectively draws attention to the audience’s thoughts about the subject. By posing rhetorical questions and drawing on relative facts to convey to the audience, Guin demonstrates her ability to be a persuasive writer by influencing how the audience sees the effects on society between both forms of literature. This allows Le Guin to demonstrate how similar technology and literature require the same skills, which gives support to her argument and ultimately helps make her writing be more