Scotts- first 4 paragraphs

In the article Wal-Martian Invasion it is made clear through words with negative connotation such as torn, invaders, trouble, declining, impossible, failed, and unable that the writer is trying to get the audience to be against Wal-Mart. By quoting John Kerry and his campaign against Wal-Mart is also showing that the writer is probably affiliated with the Democratic Party. By looking at the author Barbara Ehrenreichs other books she has written you can tell that she is a strong democrat and it against poverty-level wages and people not getting paid for what they work for. The article Wal-Martian Invasion was originally published in the Baltimore Sun. I think that this author uses a lot of pathos to appeal to readers emotions by over generalizing the matter and saying that Wal-Mart is going to take over the world and false statistics. However, she also appeals to pathos by making the reader feel bad for the workers who are not getting paid for how much work they actually do.
In the beginning of the Wal-Martian Invasion article the author uses an allusion by making reference to John Kerry for "hammering the mega-retailer for its abysmally low wages," and Dick Cheney praising it for its, "spirit of enterprise, fair dealing and integrity." She is alluding to these two presidential candidates in the beginning of her rhetorical analysis to help gain credibility. Mentioning these people with status really helps her article gain credibility with her intended readers. Later on in the article you can tell that she is alluding back to John Kerry and it is clear that she is on his side of this argument. By alluding to a common or well known person or place is a great way to help people understand and actually get a point a crossed to readers and worked very well in this article.
Throughout this article the author uses many different tools to help gain credibility and to persuade the intended readers. One of the major tools she uses is overstatements! In this article the author also uses a lot of overstatements when talking about how Wal-Mart is going to take over the world. For instance, "by the year 4004, every square inch of the United States will be covered by supercenters, so that the only place for new supercenters will be on top of existing ones." This would never happen and is a major overstatement which makes her argument much less credible. This is taking exaggeration much too far and hurting her analysis' credibility and believability. Although sarcasm in the right way can help with an argument, this overstatement was far too much and didn’t help with her argument. I do not think that her extreme overstatements helped prove a point or persuade her readers.
In the very first sentence in this article the author uses imagery when referring to what Wal-Mart is doing by saying, its torn cities apart from Inglewood, California, to Chicago, and engulfed the entire state of Vermont." This evokes a mental image in our minds that makes us agree with her point of view. If we can mentally picture something tearing cities apart across the United States we will be much more likely to support her argument.