Bill McKibben in his article, “Sky Mall: Pie in the Sky," is blasting members of North American middle class who are becoming too much dependent on laser technology, despite them being expensive and espousing other risks. Therefore, this essay will analyze the text, as a materials object, work of art, and commend how it responds to the general view of the world (McKibben, n.p).
Taking the text as a material object, the author is addressing North Americans, by reflecting on how everybody is just enthusiastic with laser technology systems without realizing the risks he or she espouse. Therefore, the purpose of his text is to urge everybody to browse the catalogues of Sky Mall to “realize consumer habits of North Americans," so that he may change. He supports his argument by advancing several scenarios to illustrate how Americans, instead of just focusing on what they need, they are “embracing what they might desire." In its structure, it is a problem-solution-resolution process, since he presents his problem, following it with several illustrations why the practices are wrong and resolute by proposing a solution as “emulating Chinese laser technology workers who do not even use them." Therefore, using a website as a medium, the text has been produced to reflect on the context of current laser technology enthusiasm (McKibben, n.p).
In methods of communication, he does not use much a powerful or technical language, but resorts to general factual persuasions, which of course is meant to address daily lifestyles of people at home, in travel and factories. For instance, he says that consumers will be “surprised to see what laser can be," instead of using, a technical language to show harmful substances a laser emits (McKibben, n.p).
On psychological techniques, the author is blasting one aspect of the middle class's growing materialism and, therefore, dependency on laser technology. The dependency has its own effects such as spending much money on such equipments instead of “putting in health care and retirement savings." As a work of art, the author is not clear as such, because he uses illustrations that are not straight for the reader to grasp. However, for language grandeur, he is vigorous in his language. He can use slangs, “dust mites," and standard language, which he has used in most cases (McKibben, n.p).
The facts used in the text are however true, because he urges everybody to confirm what he says by "browsing Sky Mall Catalogues." For gravity, his illustrations are averagely tender, as they are not supported by any serious academic literatures; they are, therefore, personal imagination/ reactions. Although the text was good, it may not be agreeable with the general view of the world, because in most cases, as income rises people will tend to be materialistic and, therefore, employing new technology should be expected as part of it (McKibben, n.p).
Work Cited
McKibben, Bill. Pie in the Sky: Solutions to Problems you Never Knew You Had. BillTotten,
2006. Online, 2014 <http://billtotten.blogspot.com/2006/04/pie-in-sky.html>
