The Happiness Of Pursuit Rhetorical Analysis

In Jeffrey Kluger, Alex Aciman, and Katy Steinmetz’s article, “The Happiness of Pursuit,” several rhetorical strategies make their argument persuasive for their intended audience. The first technique they employ is clear structure in organizing their piece. In the beginning Kluger, Aciman, and Steinmetz use a hook detailing a historical funnel that paints a picture of how many things in America have risen out of difficulty. Specifically they state, “We created outrageous things just because we could--the Hoover Dam, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Empire State Building, which started to rise the year after the stock market crashed, because what better way to respond to a global economic crisis than to build the world 's tallest skyscraper?” (Kluger,

Furthermore, the type of examples Kluger, Aciman, and Steinmetz utilize involve strong data and facts to support their piece and make it more convincing. To illustrate, they describe, “ Just since 2004, the share of Americans who identify themselves as optimists has plummeted from 79% to 50%, according to a new Time poll. Meanwhile, more than 20% of us will suffer from a mood disorder at some point in our lifetimes and more than 30% from an anxiety disorder. By the time we 're 18 years old, 11% of us have been diagnosed with depression” (Kluger, Aciman, and Steinmetz 2). Given that their audience consists of more educated, well-read people, this evidence is particularly useful due to the fact it contains numbers and data that prove the writer 's’ main point and persuade their readers. This also provides their text with reliable information about how money does not guarantee happiness. Another device Kluger, Aciman, and Steinmetz employ involves varied sentence structure beyond simple subject-verb