How Nerf Became the World's Best Purveyor of Guns for Kids

               “How Nerf Became the World’s Best Purveyor of Guns for Kids” by Jason Fagone can be compared to “Black Holes” by Michael Finkel through the use of effective rhetorical strategies. Fagone exhibits a lot of research and thought in his writing that elevates his opinions to the next tier of acceptance. By putting in more detail about the background and setting of his narrative about Jablonski, he relates to the readers’ interest in a story. If he can illustrate his points through a story that is moderately interesting, he will successfully hold the readers’ interest throughout the story. Unlike an essay that is solely argument, a narrative will weave arguments through something that catches the reader’s interest. This helps the author to not have to work as hard to keep interest through the essay’s entirety. This essay was more effective in holding the reader’s interest because the black hole essay did not have a story to have the arguments flow through. Fagone also maintains ethos on a relatively childish topic as well. The safety of children is not childish, but when the word “nerf” is involved, there is a connotation of childishness. He embraces the childishness when talking about grown men playing with guns for a living, but then he immediately refutes it with statements that call nerf guns marvels of engineering. This controversy that the author uses works because he addresses how they can seem childish, but the refutes it with a stronger argument. This style of writing was not used in the Black Hole paper too much except when the author refuted Einstein. By refuting an expert in the field, he strengthens his argument significantly and strikes the readers interest. This is a risky method though because it could destroy the entire argument if you do not effectively refute the expert.