An Analysis Of MP Dunleavey's 'Buy Yourself Less Stuff'

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In 2007, MP Dunleavey released the essay “Buy Yourself Less Stuff,” a work directed at individuals who move from one new and exciting possession to the next, but never find satisfaction in these acquisitions for long. She included herself in this category (22), which connected her with the readers and assured them that her message, money best fosters happiness when used to improve quality of life instead of merely being used to accrue additional possessions, was directed at herself as well, giving her credibility. In her essay, Dunleavey blended delivery, organization, and substance to effectively argue her assertion. Dunleavey’s delivery set the stage for her arguments and shaped how the readers responded to her argument. She opened her …show more content…
Her delivery causes the reader to draw logical conclusions out of the piece, but most of the evidence she offers up for the reader to is based on pathos, or emotion, rather than logos, or logic, meaning most of the logical conclusions readers create are based more on emotional reaction than logical facts. Though the article does contain some hard, logical facts, such as statistics and surveys, it is the emotional proofs that are most common and are placed in prominent locations in the essay. Instead of weakening the argument, using ethos as the primary evidence actually strengthens it, because readers felt a better connection with emotional facts than they did with statistics. In “Buy Yourself Less Stuff,” MP Dunleavey used an impressive variety of support to back up her argument. She answered her audience’s questions, put readers at ease, and connected with them through shared life experiences. She used delivery, organization, and substance in such a way that each one supported the other two. Her use of readers’ own experiences and conclusions to support her assertions was brilliant, and guided the readers to her conclusions through their own logic. Through this, Dunleavey was extremely effective at convincing readers of the validity of her

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