Brady Evans Assignment 1B Rhetorical Reflection Section HB McGough September 18, 2013 Comment Over half of a century ago,

, world renowned childrens author E.B. White wrote a column considering the future of reading. The column itself may be short, but its message has left a huge impression upon those who have read it. Recently, it was reproduced in the textbook Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for Composition. In the time between this reproduction and its original publishing, the world and its people have changed drastically. The meaning of Whites original message, however, has not changed in the least bit. The era in which White wrote the column was around the time when television and movies became the more prominent source of entertainment. According to graduate student Miriam Janechek, most of his career was spent writing for the magazine The New Yorker. This is where the original column first appeared. Janechek also stated that White had always had a strong connection towards both nature and writing. His love for these two ideas is essentially what her article is centered around. Knowing this, it would seem that he would have not cared too much for the idea of going to college, but he found it to be more of an obligation. He did end up going to Cornell University, according to Janechek, but nothing more was written about the subject. Most likely, White believed it necessary to go to a university in order to be of higher importance in the writing world. E.B. White had a specific purpose in mind while writing his comment on the future of reading. One analogy he uses specifically asserts the idea that those who regularly read will hold higher positions in the hierarchy of humanity. Thus, it would seem, his intended audience must be those who do not regularly read. On the other hand, those who do not read on a regular basis would most likely not be reading his column on the future of reading. Perhaps getting routine readers to think of their own reading habits was Whites actual intention. In order to prevent the overtake of technological entertainment he warns readers to not stop reading unless they wish to dedicate their lives to serving those who do. According to White, it is those who continually read who will be of higher stature in the upcoming world. After nearly sixty years, the reproduction of Whites comment in Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images, for Composition has little change on its original meaning. The audience, however, is quite a drastic change. Initially, it was addressed to routine readers, but now it serves the purpose of informing university students. Just as White had an obligation to go to a university, college students have the obligation of continuing to read throughout their lives. The reproduction of the comment in the textbook warns students to not dedicate their lives to serving people above them at a time in which they are attempting to accomplish the exact opposite. Therefore, the main purpose of this reproduction is simply to reiterate Whites original intended message. E.B. Whites comment on the future of reading had the intent of keeping the attention of readers in order to keep them reading. Reproducing this work in a textbook over fifty years later did not

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affect this intention even though it was put in front of a very different audience. The original context of the comment does not differ from todays context in the effect it produces upon its audience. A mere restatement of the passage causes college students to question their reading habits as they attempt to gain the highest possible importance they are able to achieve. Work Cited Janechek, Miriam. The Story of Charlottes Web: E.B. Whites Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic (Review). Childrens Literature Association Quarterly 27.1 (2003): 98 119. Project MUSE. Web. 15 Sep. 2013.