Article Analysis

1. The author of this article under analysis is Ken Ilgunas. Ken Ilgunas is an
author, journalist, and backcountry ranger in Alaska. He has hitchhiked ten
thousand miles across North America, paddled one thousand miles across
Ontario in a birchbark canoe, and walked 1,700 miles across the Great
Plains, following the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline. Ilgunas
has a BA from SUNY Buffalo in history and English, and an MA in liberal
studies from Duke University.
This is an article from The New York Times – a quality paper, so we can trust
this article.
2. The article under analysis is headlined: When Home Is a Campus
Parking Lot– there are some violation of writing a headline, e.g. the
headline is a complete sentence + the author still used an indefinite article ,
however, he capitalized all the words, as it may be traced in other American
newspaper articles. It also indicates that this article will be about living of a
student on a parking lot because he probably has little money plus there is
the word ‘home” which indicates that the attitude of author towards such
style of living is positive, we can`t call places we despise our “homes”.
Georghaphical place -parking lot.
Time – student’s semester.
The headline is eye-catching. It is not misleading and describes the subject
accurately.
The second heading under the main one basically resumes the fact that Ken
Ilgunas lived out of a Ford Econoline as a grad student, with one pot, no
running water of his own and nary a date.
3. I believe that narrative type of writing is used in the article.
A narrative essay is a form of academic writing that aims to tell a story. As
the author, your goal is to create the right atmosphere and a lifelike
experience for your readers.
As a rule, narration is written from the first-person perspective.
This form of writing is about sharing stories—that's the key purpose. As for
an essay writer, your task is to tell readers about a real-life experience and,
simultaneously, to make a clear point of why you are suggesting that
particular story and why it matters.
Basically, in a narrative essay, all you do is guide readers through the story;
you don't make arguments, criticize, or attempt to persuade them. Instead,
you are just telling a story, letting readers draw their own conclusions. That's
the most distinctive feature of such papers.
4.
In this text, the author describes a certain period of his life when he had to
live in a van and describes the idea of leaving in it to be able to pay his
tuition fees.
But the main idea is that such a seemingly uncomfortable way of life is
actually not so hard. The real problem lies within our society.
 The consumer trap is an idea suggesting that a capitalist economy
systematically imprisons the majority of middle and lower class families by
edging them into accruing debt through having to keep up with today’s fast-
paced marketplace. With the growing frequency of people shopping through
e-commerce, the consumer trap is now easier than ever to fall into.
Aside from enough money to cover incidentals, the majority of people
hardly even have savings. The majority of people, especially in America,
have some form of debt. Big business has essentially enslaved the
consumers into a constant trend of buying things they can’t afford and
having to constantly spend money on things such as car loans, mortgages,
student loans, credit cards, phone bills, internet, and much more.
Also, E-commerce has played into this especially well. Online shopping has
made it so we can essentially do all of our shopping without even leaving the
comfort of our own homes. Anything you could want is literally at your
fingertips. This has made it so most people have the ability to spend their
paycheck or buying something on their credit card without the factor of
tangibility. It’s 100% easier to spend $100 on something virtually than at the
store. This has enabled people to buy whatever they choose, without a
portion of remorse or contemplation.
5. I believe that the type of reasoning the author uses to present his arguments
is inductive.
Inductive reasoning uses theories and assumptions to validate observations.
In some ways it's the opposite of deductive reasoning, as it involves
reasoning from a specific case or cases to derive a general rule. The results
of inductive reasoning are not always certain because it uses conclusions
from observations to make generalizations. Inductive reasoning is helpful for
extrapolation, predictions and part-to-whole arguments.
6. The author’s aim of writing is to share his own experience with the
audience.
7. At the beginning the author uses rhetorical question to catch attention of a
reader. He ends the article using the thought provoking statement.
Also it indicates a frame repetition – the author starts and finishes his text
with the same thought.
Clearly, there is an introduction, the main body and the conclusion.
But the introduction is a bit strange, so this part isn't quite coherent because
the introductory part is fuzzy.
But generally speaking, the text is coherent – it is not a stream of thoughts.
It has lots and lots of linking words, despite its deformities and so on.
8.
The style is semi-informal, because there is the usage of personal pronoun I,
there are cases of clipping (e.g. ads-advertisement, Duke - university).
There is very subtle irony in text, there is humor also. The slant is a bit
moralizing.
The form of presentation – author’s narrative + there are examples of direct
speech.
The bulk of the vocabulary is rather emotional. The author also uses lots of
descriptive words. Sometimes we can see the examples of the conversational
vocabulary.

 Ads – clipping(colloquial expression).

 Scanned the rows of sedans – metaphor.
 In search of new home – metaphor.
 And there it was- inversion.
 Whose bumpers proudly faced away – personification.
 Exhibiting a juvenile….. – personification
 It was big, it was beautiful….. – anaphora
 Low….so low – catch repetition
 “drives great’ – direct speech
 HAD – graphical foregrounding
 Made as much as as…. –simile
 But it’s not just tuition…-personification
 Dorm- colloquial vocabulary
 Ghastly –epithet
 Tuition, books,….-enumeration
 Could I live in a van?
 For… - anaphora
 …well… - mesodiplosis
 Creepy van – epithet
 On my journey to get out of debt – metaphor.

 (…..)-parenthesis
 Journey – financial awakening – metaphor
  The cost had chained…-metaphor
 Steel balls of debt –metaphor
 Liberal arts freed…-personification
 Duke – he means university – clipping

9. He arrives to the conclusion that it was the right choice which allows him to
save a great deal of money.

10.I agree that there is a huge problem of the consumer trap - an idea
suggesting that a capitalist economy systematically imprisons the majority
of middle and lower class families by edging them into accruing debt
through having to keep up with today’s fast-paced marketplace. With the
growing frequency of people shopping through e-commerce, the consumer
trap is now easier than ever to fall into.
Aside from enough money to cover incidentals, the majority of people
hardly even have savings. The majority of people, especially in America,
have some form of debt. Big business has essentially enslaved the
consumers into a constant trend of buying things they can’t afford and
having to constantly spend money on things such as car loans, mortgages,
student loans, credit cards, phone bills, internet, and much more.
Also, E-commerce has played into this especially well. Online shopping has
made it so we can essentially do all of our shopping without even leaving the
comfort of our own homes. Anything you could want is literally at your
fingertips. This has made it so most people have the ability to spend their
paycheck or buying something on their credit card without the factor of
tangibility. It’s 100% easier to spend $100 on something virtually than at the
store. This has enabled people to buy whatever they choose, without a
portion of remorse or contemplation.
However, I would not live in a van at any cost. Living in a van might seem
fun, and it is, but there are some problems with it too.
The first thing to address about living in a van is the old stigma that is still
somewhat attached to it. Nowadays (for younger travelers) living in a van is
more representative of being free and living a minimalist lifestyle. But that
doesn’t mean everybody thinks that way. “Living in a van down by the
river” is a common quote used to describe becoming a failure in life.
Plus a van is not a house, no matter how much you try to make it that way.
Therefore, you can’t really sleep in your undies or without them or enjoy the
simple joys of life such as dancing around your kitchen while blasting
music.
The reality of the situation is that most of the time you’ll be spending your
time in public places. Even if you park in a private lot, you run the risk of
being seen by the general public, which may be quite inconvenient. Privacy
is a dealbreaker for me, so van life seems gross.
Hygiene can be tough
It’s unfortunate that a smaller living area doesn’t automatically imply less
upkeep. The sink, the floors, and your trash can will all fill up more quickly
since they’re so small. Plus, in order to dispose of waste, you’ll have to
sometimes spend a lot of time searching for garbage bins. 
On social media, van life may look carefree and opulent, but it really
requires a lot of work to keep everything, including yourself, clean. You can
use the gyms to shower but the idea of this lifestyle makes me anxious.