SHOPLIFTERS OF THE WORLD UNITE AND TAKE OVER!
Rhetorical Analysis Number 2



Goal: In his article Paul Constant’s first goal is to entertain the reader. His second goal is point out the crippling effects of shoplifting and the powerlessness of store owners regarding it.

Argument: His argument is that shoplifters have a negative effect on independent store owners and that he’d prefer they stole from corporate book chains.
Audience: Specifically, Paul’s article is going to appeal to Independent bookstore owners who have experience with countering shoplifters. On a secondary level, Paul has a very cynical and sarcastic tone, using some four letter expletives that broadens his scope to anyone willing to be entertained by the perils of an independent bookstore owner.

How: Paul first uses an appeal to ethos stating his credibility having worked both for a corporate book store and for an Independent book retailer for eight years. This experience gives him the credibility to speak with some authority on book thieves. Paul also employs a pathological appeal that elicits both sympathy and disgust. He cites other book retailers who’ve had to close up shop due to rampant shoplifting. He also gives a detailed account of the methods certain shoplifters use to get books and even the books that are the most popularly stolen! Paul also tells a story of chasing a book thief down the streets of Seattle, only to see the shoplifter hurl the stolen books into the Puget Sound River. This act is quite despicable and is used to tap into a readers feelings of pity for the authors, booksellers and publishers who’ve had their product wasted mindlessly. The article is short and meant to be a quick read and so there’s not really a sufficient amount of information. While there are personal experiences, it lacks concrete data regarding booksellers’ losses. While this might not be exactly what he’s going for (he may not be a moral crusader for booksellers’ rights is what I’m saying) it’d certainly help his cause if he had a little more information. The information that is provided is certainly relevant to his topic, but it might be exaggerated a bit to make for writing something exciting. This would certainly compromise the accuracy of his statement. His experiences also might not be typical of all booksellers because he seems like an eccentric fellow (chasing thieves down the streets of Seattle and all of that) that might not be true of an average bookseller.

Effective?: Ultimately I enjoyed reading the article, but the only thing Paul Constant convinced me to do was to steal books and get funny reactions from the store owners.

(The story is here)