“Up Against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson, senior editor at Texas Monthly and whose article appeared in Mother Jones, introduces her article through a worker's perspective of Wal-Mart. It focuses on the negative aspects of Wal-Mart by chronicling the real-life struggles of several Wal-Mart employees. “Progressive Wal-Mart. Really." by Sebastian Mallaby, a Washington Post columnist, focuses his article on what critics say about Wal-Mart and attempts to defend Wal-Mart by comparing Wal-Mart to other retailers. Although Karen Olsson and Sebastian Mallaby examine both the negative effects of Wal-Mart, Olsson rebukes Wal-Mart's unfair treatment of employees and the unlivable wages that the world's largest retailer provides while Mallaby defends Wal-Mart's actions with reasonable statistics. Both authors speak about the negative opinions people have about Wal-Mart. However, each author has a very different style in approaching the topic. Karen Olsson's article provides a more personal aspect by providing personal stories from real Wal-Mart employees to directly pinpoint what is wrong with the Wal-Mart company, Olsson uses the stories to show the terrible effects Wal-Mart has on its employees and the middle class. He even opens his article with “Jennifer McLaughlin is 22, has a baby, drives a truck…and works at Wal-Mart” (Olsson 606). Starting his article from a personal perspective, he provides an insight into the life of a Wal-Mart employee. Olsson's article takes a strictly negative view and does not show the positive effects Wal-Mart has to offer. Sebastian Mallaby, however, structures his article in a completely different way. He uses a justification approach instead of stating his...... middle of paper ... article focused on defending Wal-Mart's flaws that most people already know about. However, he provided more statistical evidence, which made the topics he discussed have better evidence to support his opinion. Mallaby's article was effective in championing most of the topics discussed, but still failed to relate to readers on a personal level. Overall, both articles had excellent points and effective reasoning and gave readers insight into the effects of Wal-Mart.Works CitedMallaby, Sebastian. “Progressive Wal-Mart. Truly." They say I say with the readings. Eds. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. New York: WW Norton & Company, 2012. 620-623. Print. Olsson, Karen. “Against Wal-Mart.” They say I say with readings. Eds. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. 606-618.