Summary Of Why Literature Matters By Dana Gioia

In the article “Why Literature Matters,” author Dana Gioia uses several methods of persuasion to convince the audience that the decline of reading in America has had and will continue to have a negative effect on society. Gioia starts off the article with a broad statement about how younger individuals are taking less interest in the form of arts. Gioia’s inclusion of a report from the 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts that shows the declining trend of interest in the arts for young Americans helps prove his point through credibility and shock value of the true results. He states that there’s “been a decline in eight of the nine major forms that were measured,” one of the most important ones in his opinion being literature.