The article that will be evaluated in this particular essay is taken from Newsweek’s ‘Society and Arts’ (dating August 14,2000), which is titled as ‘The New Singles’ and it is written by Carla Power in cooperation with Antonia Francis, in Paris and Stefan Theil, in Berlin. As it can be understood from the title it is about the people in Europe, who prefer living alone. Throughout the article, different lifestyles and different choices of people, who are living alone, are reflected. While doing that, the reasons and the outcomes of living alone are given with some additional information including, statistics and research results.

The article shows that there is a certain shift away from family life to solo lifestyle. Day after day more and more people decide to live alone. Reasons are various. Personal ones are; to have an independent and colorful life, to have an own place in which one can find peace and solitude, to escape from a routine family life, social ones are; the revolution in the field of communications, the shift from a stable business culture to a mobile one, increasing rates of working women… Consequently, these reasons direct people to live alone. According to sociologist Jean-Cloude Kaufmann whose ideas take palace in the article, the ‘home-alone’ phenomenon is ‘irresistible momentum of individualism’. And also, a research made by Richard Scace reveals that in the year of 2010, the number of single person households will be more than the number of families and couples who are living together. This may be as a consequence of broken families, relationships that come to an end, and a search for a self determined life.

The outcomes of home-alone phenomenon are also discussed in the article. For instance, people who sought freedom or need solitude are more apt to drink alcohol and as it is mentioned in the article over the past five years, these people became the mainstay for British Drinks industry. On the other hand more houses are being build in order to answer the needs of home-aloners. In addition, the need for telecommunication or the ways of feeling secure created a new era of telecommunication and security services. When considering the relationships of these people; they carry out different and short timed relationships that bring some of the sexual problems and diseases together. The conditions become tough for the aged people who are living or who want to live alone. After retirement, they mostly tend to be together with other people or to meet regularly, but still by leading their own lives.

Considering the style and the language of the article, we may say that its language is simple, but coluored with up to date vocabulary and idioms. The abbreviations used, makes the article easy to be read. The beginning sentence: ‘You now the type’ arouses the question ‘which type?’ and raises wonder. Also the title attracts interest and urges one to read the article. Accurate uses of punctuations help the true reflection of the meanings. The colouring of some of the words in the article makes it more interesting.

The article is based on the results of some pollsters, statistics and researches made by sociologists, and some institutes. So, we may say that, it depends on the basis of objective grounds with little or no personal additions. The quotations used throughout the article -which I find very interesting and sincere- gives it a fluent and lively tone. It is a well-organized and coherent article, which displays the living conditions and the preferences of the Europeans, in near past, present and even future. It starts by reflecting the home-alone phenomenon continues by giving the results and the outcomes of this phenomenon. A good research is made on almost every ground of life, such as marketing advertising, economy, and relationships and so on. This encourages the reader to think objectively and to confide in what is written in the article.

Consequently, being an objective, coherent and fluent article, ‘The New Singles’ by Carla Power, satisfies and pleases the reader.

Bibliography

Newsweek,August 14,2000. "Society & Arts" The New Singles

Word Count: 671