Dyl Lockwood Eng250H-McGough HA Assignment 1B Rhetorical Reflection Due: 9/18/13 E.B.

White Comment Rhetorical Reflection Elwyn Brooks White, known to many as E.B. White, lived from 1899 to 1985. His career took off when he was hired at the The New Yorker magazine in 1927. In the 1930s, White went from writing published essays and articles, to childrens books. His honors include the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, National Medal for Literature, and the Pulitzer Special Award for Literature. E.B. White comments on literacy and the importance of reading without the advancement of technology. In E.B. Whites comment, written around 1940, the target audience is students and teachers. For students, Whites comment emphasizes why learning to read is so important and also why continuing to practice reading skills is crucial. With shocking statistics, White is influencing teachers to put reading on the hierarchy of importance or else the world will eventually become illiterate. Not only is this comment relevant in students and teachers lives, but also to those who are pushing technology and diminishing the use of books in schools and libraries. In his comment, E.B. White is evidently looking down upon technology pushers, playing up what would happen if these types of people took over our education system. During the time that E.B. White said this quote, the television and computer were just making appearances in homes and in businesses. They were not always common items to own and people were fascinated by all of their capabilities. People like E.B. White however feared the overtaking of this sort of technology and what might happen when it evolves into bigger and better things. The overall purpose of Whites comment is to make the population more aware of what could happen in years to come if reading continues to get replaced by the new, cool items in audio and visual technology. E.B. Whites quote was originally published in his book The Second Tree From the Corner, in 1954. The quote was reprinted in The Library Chronicle, published by Harper and Brothers1. Then, the quote was also reprinted in Convergences: Themes, Texts, and Images for Composition. The purpose of reproducing E.B. Whites quote in Convergences is to make current readers aware of how much they are using technology compared to written word, whether it be in books or newspaper articles. Because Convergences was published in 2009, the audience here is readers of this day and age, stressing the importance of why students need to keep reading. As a whole, E.B. White was successful and unsuccessful in making his point on how printed word is vital in every persons education. He was successful because to this day people are still reading from books and taking in printed words. However, in 1940, he did not scare many people of the up and coming technology. Nowadays, technology is booming. People can read books from electronic devices without a need for a printed copy. The original production and

the reproduced version of Whites comment serve more or less the same meaning with a different audience.

Works Cited Comment-E.B.White Convergences: Themes, Texts, Images for Composition. Ed. Robert Atwan. Boston: Bedford/St.Martins, 2009. 60.
1

"Full Text of "The Library Chronicle"" Internet Archive. Ed. Thomas R. Adams. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2013.