Question

Why are shoes so expensive? Every time I go to the mall to buy a new pair they are more expensive than the previous pair I purchased. It's crazy. How can shoes cost so much? When I was a kid, my mom bought me a 20-dollar pair of sneakers at the end of every summer. They certainly weren't the most beautiful-looking shoes ever made, but they were the right size. They took a lot of punishment without falling apart, and they protected my feet from rocks, broken glass, fire ants, and so on. What more could a person ask for?
     Now, when I buy a pair of new shoes I spend a lot more than 20 dollars. If my mom knew how much my most recent pair of shoes cost me, she would fall out of her chair, and I bought the least-expensive pair I could find! The most frustrating part—other than doing math in my head to figure out how many hours I had to work to buy the shoes—is that the shoes I spent so much money on are not as well-made as the 20-dollar sneakers I had as a kid. Since I am not as active as I was when I was a kid, my new shoes will not be used as much as those old 20-dollar pairs were. Despite that, the new shoes will wear out faster than the 20-dollar pairs ever did. I will be looking for a new pair in five or six months. So, compared to the 20-dollar shoes of my childhood, I just spent four times as much money on a pair of shoes that will last half as long. Does this make sense to anybody? Maybe I will start going barefoot.

What was the author's purpose in writing this passage?
to persuade the reader to make better decisions when he or she is buying new shoes
to persuade the reader that the old inexpensive shoes were better than the new expensive ones
to persuade the reader to stop wasting his or her money on expensive tennis shoes
to persuade the reader to boycott companies that make expensive, low-quality shoes

Answer 1

To persuade the reader that the old inexpensive shoes were better than the new expensive ones.

The author never gives any examples of the better decisions readers should make when buying new shoes.
The author never mentions expensive tennis shoes, he/she simply "rants" about expensive shoes being made today and compares them to the shoes of his/her childhood.
The author never mentions boycotting companies making expensive, low-quality shoes.