Shopping is one the most common activities that takes place around the world
Shopping is one the most common activities that takes place around the world. It would be near impossible to find someone that has never step foot inside a mall or a clothing store, shopping has become a daily part of human life. Two writers that have recognized the significance of the shopping are Anne Norton and Malcolm Gladwell, they both wrote two different articles about shopping and how shoppers have changed the people shop and how companies have started to change the way shoppers go about shopping. In “The Signs of Shopping,” Anne Norton a professor of political science at the university of Pennsylvania, analyzes the many ways in which malls, catalogs, and home shopping networks sell you what they want by telling you who you are. (Norton 87) . The main points in Norton article are different types of shopping and the identity people gain while shopping. In “The Science of Shopping,” Malcolm Gladwell who is an accomplished writer who has wrote many articles for New Yorker goes into detail about the science that business use to lure more people into their stores and get people to buy more. Were introduced to Paco Underhill a retail anthropologist and urban geographer whose a genius when it comes to reading people. In both papers the writers use similar techniques to get their points across as well as different ones but the focus of this paper is establishing what tools the author’s use to get purpose across ,the audience the author is going for, as well as the tone used in these articles.
Something that was done very well in Gladwell’s paper was the use of theories that he used to explain what he was saying this also helps readers understand what the theories are and have a better understanding of them. Gladwell introduces the “Butt Brush theory” as well as the “Decompression zone” these theories give credibility to what Gladwell is writing about because of the evidence he is able to provide from the theories. He describes the theories in a way that is easy to understand and makes sense, he does this by using descriptive language that allows the reader to imagine and think about what Gladwell is saying. The use of science and facts is a great tool that was used well however this was something that was lacking in Norton’s article, there is a clear lack of this. At some points it’s just feels like Norton is just being bias and she begins to lose her credibility while doing so and also make her article less interesting.
Proper tone in an article can go along way its creates that vibe of the paper and allows the writer to influence the reader in a way that they want to. Both Norton and Gladwell are both excellent writers and this is something you can clearly tell while reading their articles. In Gladwell does a great job in describing whatever he’s talking about he uses descriptive language that helps readers see what he’s saying. He also keeps his tone neutral throughout the article never taking a side this makes his article believable. An example of how descriptive Gladwell writing is comes when he is describing Paco “Paco Underhill is a fall man in his mid forties, partly bald, with a neatly trimmed beard and an engaging, almost goofy manner” (Gladwell 98) perfectly describes Paco and allows readers to be able to imagine how Paco looks like. Norton uses direct and power words to express the message shes trying to send by using words such as “restrict” (Norton 87), “Controversial” (Norton 87), “Authority” ( Norton 87). ” Neither Freedom of speech nor freedom of assembly is permitted there” (Norton 88) her shows the very passionate about the topic which is a good as long as it doesn’t cross a line that would make everything she says sounds bias, she didn’t cross this line. With the language and tone used in these articles it’s becomes more clear to see what the intended audience for articles. In Gladwell’s paper he uses more common words that are easy to understand, even when describing what seems like complicated theories he does a fantastic job of explaining what he’s writing that make it possible for everyone to enjoy. His target audience could be anyone, the common reader or someone who doesn’t read very much. Norton uses more scholarly vocabulary this becomes apparent while reading throughout her article. The words that Norton uses aren’t very common and her writing style does suggest that the audience for this should be for people like read often and other scholars.
The structure and what a paper says goes along way if a paper is hard to follow it can cause the reader to lose interest or even forget what they’ve read shortly after reading. Gladwells paper has an easy to follow format
