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Adrian Ulibarri Daniel Baird English 1010-093 3/18/2014 Rhetorical Analysis Paper Paper Vs. Pixel Nicholas Carr is an American writer, He wrote a book The Shallows: What the internet is Doing to Our Brains that was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction. His article Paper Versus Pixel was originally published in Nautilus quarterly a science magazine where Philosophy, Science, and culture are woven together to give the reader a unique reading experience. "Paper Versus Pixel" is an article that was written by Carr in August, 2013. In this article Carr says that many people over the years have determined that the day when people would stop using paper was rapidly coming to fruition. Throughout the decades several writers and inventors have made the claim that paper would be replaced with new more convenient technologies, Such as the Phonograph, IPods or the Kindle; However, none of these doomsday claims have ever come to pass, New technology has only augmented paperback volumes. In Carr's article "Paper Versus Pixel" Carr uses a mixture of Ethos, and Logos to get his point across and show that paper isn't going anywhere any time soon. Carr uses Logos to point out the history of the book and how every time a naysayer has called out a cry of "the end is near" that the book has managed to overcome and persevere. One example of which is when Carr mentions an essay written in Scribners Magazine in 1894. The essay was written by French litterateur Octave Uzanne and was titled The End of Books. Uzannes essay made the claim that Thomas Edisons new invention the phonograph would soon

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spell the end for books. Uzanne made the claim that books were far more work than they were worth and that people would soon throw them to the waist side in lue of the new phonograph. Carr points out that Uzanne was wrong. The phonograph did not replace printed text like Uzanne he predicted it would. This is a prime example of Logos in the sense that if it hasn't happened before why will it happen now? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. People have cried out that books out outdated and will soon be replaced for centuries now and books and printed literature are still going strong. Nicholas continues to use Logos to point out that even in todays modern media flooded world, books have retained their popularity. He mentions Amazons Kindle which is a relatively new invention that allows readers to download E-books. Carr points out that while sales of Ebooks were unbelievably high when they were first released they have fallen in recent months because many readers still prefer printed books. Even the most diehard fans of E-books still purchase printed books. Because of this the reader can use Logos to conclude that books and printed volumes are here to stay despite the advantages that other media content may provide (Carr 3,4). Carr uses Ethos by mentioning an experiment that took place in Norway. This experiment was conducted on young readers who read both exposition and narrative works. The readers who read from screens couldnt understand the material as well as readers who had read from a written page. Carr says that these findings were consistent with other studies on the way people read. This was due to the spatial representation of the story in the book. The researchers that Carr quotes believe that it is this spatial representation of the story that helps readers absorb and understand the information. Bye quoting these researchers Carr is using their credibility to augment his own and further cement the legitimacy of his argument in the mind of the reader.

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While Nicholas sees the many merits of E-books he has concluded that books are far from the end of their life span. This year in the U.S., Some 2 billion books and 350 million magazines will roll off the press. (Carr 5), states Nicholas, a figure that does a great job of illustrating the importance of printed media. Paper will continue to be used alongside digital media for years to come. While Carr believes that printed media is here to stay based off of the statistics he has seen, he uses Ethos one last time by pointing out the advantages of Electronic books. Carr says "Electronic books and periodicals have advantages of their own, of course. They're convenient. They often provide links to other relevant publications. Their content can be searched and shared easily. they can include animations, audio snippets, and interactive features. They can be updated on the fly. when it comes to brief news reports or other simple stories, or works that we just want to glance at rather than read carefully, electronic versions may well be superior to printed ones." (Carr 5) By pointing out these advantages Carr give his argument credibility. He shows that he has seen the merits of the new technologies that people claim will replace books and has factored them in to his conclusion. While Carr uses Logos and Ethos quite effectively in his article both in the way he explains the history of the Paperback book as well as in how he structures his argument; However, I feel that he could have used Pathos a bit more to give his readers a stronger emotional response. He only uses pathos in two ways. The first is the emotional response that he tried to give his readers. The emotional bond of familiarity. That is to say that everyone is familiar with how books feel, smell, and operates and that people will tend to cling to what they know over what may be new and trendy. The second way Carr uses Pathos is much more subtle,

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if he even intended to do it at all. He uses a conversational tone that lacks emotion and sounds unbiased, This gives his Ethos more credibility. Despite his lack of emotional appeal to his audience I feel that Carr was very persuasive with his argument. I could understand his argument and claims and found it easy to agree intellectually with what he was saying. I found him convincing and I believe that his audience would have been convinced as well.

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Works cited Carr, Nicholas. Paper versus Pixel. Nautilus Quarterly. 29 Aug. 2013. Digital.