Cameron Miller Assignment 1C Summary and Response Section HAMcGough September 15, 2013

Comment In the short writing Comment, author E.B. White contemplates a quote from a college president that speculates reading will eventually be a rare occurrence. He also contemplates whether or not the written word is in the evening of its existence because growth of the audiovisual age that had captivated the world. White then suggests that the world must prepare for this decrease in literacy. He adamantly asserts that if only one reader were to exist in the future, communities and educational institutions should be built around that reader. Essentially, the reader at the center should function like a Queen Bee, with people giving the last reader special treatment and nourishment. Many very important points are raised in this short passage of text. The enigmatic what if is explored and author White has his go at the problem. I, for one, agree with what White states about this matter. His analogy about the last reader is spot on and that he is correct in expressing concern about the threat that the audio-visual world poses to reading. Furthermore, I believe his statement still rings true in the present day. Firstly, in his writing, White expresses a profound respect for literacy by suggesting that the last reader should be the center of the community and receive special treatment. I believe that this respect is the right attitude to have towards literacy. Before the modern age, literacy used to be a commodity that was only available to the rich and entitled because knowledge was power. Now, all have access to that powerful commodity. The right to literacy should not be squandered in any way because it is a privilege and a powerful one at that. By placing the reader at the center of the community, proper respect is shown to the powerful knowledge that he or she possesses and allows for the betterment of that community by learning literacy from that person. Secondly, I believe that White is right in contemplating the possible negative impact of the audio-visual world that has become so prevalent. Literacy is a muscle that needs to be exercised in order for it to stay sharp, and in this technological age, information is transferred at lightning-fast rates but not in a way that promotes the act of legitimate reading. In essence we have somewhat reverted to the days of hieroglyphs and word of mouth by watching moving pictures and listening to audio files instead of picking up a concrete and reliable book. There exists a very real danger in this practice. We begin to focus on fast and easy info that comes from pictures and audio, instead of reading concrete rhetoric and art that causes us to think, ponder, and encode material. Picking up a book also does something that the technological world could never do: It slows us down. By reading, we receive a reprieve from the hectic nature of the world and we are able to relax and contemplate things on our own time instead of living on a predetermined time table.

2 Lastly, I believe his commentary still rings true today. Granted, we have not seen the last reader come about yet, but bit by bit the quote of the college president is coming true in a roundabout way. In this modern age, literacy has evolved into a hybrid of colloquialism, short-hand, and slang that distorts a true literacy of rhetoric, contemplation, and analysis. This replacement literacy of quick uninspired sentences, stale diction, and hodge-podge grammar might as well be the destruction of literacy itself. It is something that should be guarded against too and many educational institutions are by doing what White had suggested: Giving the students (the last reader) attention and giving them the resources they need to stay literate. E.B. Whites Comment is a writing that I feel hits a hot-button issue on the head. He emphasizes the respect that we need to show to our own education, illustrates some of the concerns of literacys survival, and writes a message that has stood the test of time and is still applicable today. White has written something that all should ponder in order to fully appreciate what treasures literacy and reading are.

Works Cited 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.