Stacey Suver's essay, A Pop Life, explores the different types of pop culture and its effect on Americans and their everyday lives. (Suver, 2011) Suver successfully uses devices, such as first-person point of view, several allusions, an informative tone, and rhetorical questions, that work together to form a well-organized essay that teaches his audience about the influences of pop culture. Suver's composition can be compared to Napalm, a piece of street art created by an anonymous graffiti artist out of Great Britain. (Banksy Biography, 2014) The piece involves the images of a naked girl crying and two notable mascots of American companies: Mickey Mouse of the Walt Disney Company and Ronald McDonald of the McDonald's fast food chains. The …show more content…
He includes allusions to pop culture event that many people are familiar with. These allusions, such as Paris Hilton's arrest, famous quotes from movies, and a reference to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's relationship, act as examples of the effect of pop culture on the American public as readers are more likely to recognize these references. (Suver, 2011) The readers familiarity with the allusions gives more to the main argument of Suver's essay. Suver also maintains an informative tone for readers who may not get many of the references or fully understand the point Suver is trying to make, such as the moment where he explains high and low culture. He gives examples of both ends of the 'culture spectrum' and furthers his explanation: "As you can see, popular culture routinely falls towards the low end of the spectrum." (Suver, 2011) His informative tone provides clarity to his readers in order to alleviate any uncertainty towards his ideas.
Finally, Suver includes rhetorical questions, such as "how can something [pop culture] that is so integral to our cultural identity be valueless?", "what does it mean to be truly knowledgeable?", and "is this true?". (Suver, 2011) These questions trigger the reader's thought processes turning a passive reader into an active reader. Suver poses these rhetorical questions towards the beginning of the essay. The placement of these questions is crucial to the effectivity of the composition because their readers think about each of the examples made in the piece and prepare themselves for the writer's