Cameron Miller Assignment 1B Rhetorical Reflection Section HAMcGough September 15, 2013 A Reflection Upon Comment Imagine a world

where the act of reading was done by only a select few. Pretty dystopian isnt it. But this theory has already been explored by author E. B. White. In E.B. Whites writing of Comment, points are raised as to the uncertainty of reading and the possibility of having a last reader on Earth is explored. But White also goes deeper than that. The way he writes about certain things in the excerpt reveal subtle details about how he feels about literacy and reveal fundamental points about literacys importance. In this, E. B. Whites Comment remains as meaningful today as it did in the 1940s in spite of a major time difference, and we can explore why it still is relevant through looking at why White wrote it, who it was intended for, and what makes it effective today. In his early life, Elwyn Brooks White served in the army before attending Cornell University. While at Cornell, White wrote and served as editor for the college newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun. In 1921, White graduated from Cornell with a Bachelor of Arts and began working for the United Press International and then the American Legion News Service. He then went on to work for the Seattle Times two years after graduating. In 1925, White became a contributing editor for The New Yorker. His contributions to the magazine continued until his death on October 1st, 1985. During his lifetime, White penned more than 17 books of poetry and other fiction as well as writing essays, and drawing sketches for The New Yorker. Some of these works included the timeless classics Stuart Little, Charlottes Web, and The Trumpet of the Swan. His work won him the National Medal for Literature in 1971, helped induct him into the American Academy of Art and Letters in 1973, and won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1978. In looking at why White wrote Comment and who it was intended for, we can analyze his past, the actual passage, and the writings context. The importance of reading to White is evident in the vast repertoire he wrote to promote reading and the contributions he made to the world of literacy. Reading and writing were also very intimately known to him because he had been doing both almost all of his life professionally. The importance of reading to him also becomes apparent in Comment. He views the last reader as someone to be respected, nourished and possibly even worshipped by suggesting that a community be built around the last reader. This level of respect shown towards the last reader is a way of White saying that reading is something of a privilege. This privilege is currently available to all, and to let the privilege of reading sink into obscurity would be a shame to any generation that played a part in the process of the decline. The writing is also in response to something big that was happening around its publication date in 1940 when it first appeared in The New Yorker. The new medium of movies and the already popular medium of radio were the go-to sources for entertainment. Plays and other stories were

being shown in movie theatres and being broadcast over the airwaves on the radio, leaving papery literature as a secondary means of relaxation and contemplation. White may have written this short essay to contemplate what effect this brave new world may have had on traditional mediums of literature at the time and what an extreme case might dictate. By looking at context, we can also glean who Comment was meant for. White had this short essay published in The New Yorker as one of his editorial columns. Not many young people read The New Yorker for their entertainment, so it can be inferred that the writing is for adults. But not just any adults: teachers and parents. He directs it towards those who can be responsible for keeping kids on the right track in terms of what they read and what entertainment they partake in. By doing this, White makes an appeal that educated adults with the capacity to act can understand and follow through upon. Lastly, we can look at Whites purpose and how it translates to the modern classroom. White aims to bring awareness to the decline of reading by painting the picture of a future with one reader to guide all of humanitys future. He also hopes to show that reading and literacy deserve respect and need to be preserved. He does this by having the people of his illustrated future tend to the last readers every need. When moving this essay from the 1940s to the modern setting of 2013, the main message still stands. However, by placing the essay in a textbook, the passage emphasizes the importance of reading rather than much of a warning. By all means, a warning about the decay of reading still stands, maybe even more so in this modern age of movies, television, cell phones, and fast rates of data transfer. In the textbook context though, the importance of reading comes to the forefront which is in line with what students will view most in the academic setting. However, a warning will come across to administrators of academic settings who are responsible for charting the future of education. E. B. Whites Comment addresses the timeless issue of the importance of literacy. By taking a look at E. B. Whites history, purpose and intended audience, and how it translates to the present day, we can understand Comment in a more profound way. White has written an essay that applies to generations of the past, generations of the present, and quite possibly generations of the future.

Works Cited

"Houghton Mifflin Reading: Meet E. B. White." Education Place. Houghton Mifflin, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. <http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/mtai/white

"E. B. White's Biography | Scholastic.com." Scholastic, Helping Children Around the World to Read and Learn | Scholastic.com. Scholastic, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. <http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/e-b-white>.

Surowiecki, James. " The New Yorker."The New Yorker. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. <http://www.newyorker.com/>. White, E. B.. Comment The New Yorker 1940. Print. Atwan, Robert. Convergences: themes, texts, and images for composition. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. Print.