“Minimalism is a tool to get rid of the excesses of life and focus on what is important, so that you can find happiness, fulfillment and freedom. » Minimalists in Graham Hill's NY Times commentary, Living with Less. A Lot Less, in which he examines the effect of material goods on happiness in our lives, Hill creates an informative but aggressive tone throughout the article using persuasive strategies, Pathos and Ethos. Use these strategies to convey to the reader that consuming material goods only leads to poor performance and a problem of hoarding. He tries to convince the public that consumerism does not lead to happiness, but to dissatisfaction. Although he uses two persuasive strategies, his argument lacks content in Ethos. Hill fails to explain in a thorough analysis why America's endless consumption of material goods does not actually lead to an increase in happiness. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayHill begins his commentary article by explaining his minimalist lifestyle, living in a four hundred and twenty square foot studio apartment, sleeping on a Murphy bed, with very few clothes and using only two bowls in his house. For the introduction, Hill continues to use Pathos as a persuasion strategy. He describes to the audience how, through a minimalist lifestyle, he became wealthy and describes a time when he and his partner sold their Internet consulting company for more money than he could have ever imagined. Like any other person, Hill bought a big house, designer clothes, accessories and a ton of gadgets as well as a nice luxury car. But Hill had reached a point in his life where he had more money to spend than he knew what to do with. He was “very rich” at this point in his life. Hill realized that he could and did have all the material things one could dream of, but he was not satisfied (Hill 309). He uses Pathos effectively in the introduction, and once the audience can connect with Hill on an emotional level. Many can relate to him when he describes purchasing material goods, yet still being dissatisfied with his lifestyle. In the body of his commentary article, Hill abruptly changes his persuasion strategy from Pathos to Ethos. He begins by explaining that he now owned two homes and emphasizes the idea that he was not the only one who had a life filled with excess possessions (Hill 309). He also uses logos citing credible sources and studies that explain that almost everyone uses more space than necessary to live as they were. He lists facts from these studies to explain America's waste, saying: "We take up more than 3 times as much space per capita as we did 60 years ago... America has a storage industry $22 billion staff due to its endless hardware consumerism. Businesses and experts believe that consumerism plays a significant role in pushing our planet to the brink of its inevitable end. Hill ends the body of his article with a rhetorical question: “Is all this endless consumption leading to a measurable increase in happiness”? While most of the body paragraphs managed to provide credible sources to support his logo-fueled argument, the author fails to explain in depth why America's endless consumption of material goods does not actually lead to to an increase in happiness. In his commentary, Hill returns to his first strategy, 2016. 308-312