Throughout the essay, “The Opposite of Loneliness” , Marina Keegan utilizes pathos to elicit a “sense of possibility” towards her intended audience. Keegan argues for all members of society to find their own “opposite of loneliness” through memorable moments with the people one cares about most. Keegan’s comical yet personable writing style and the usage of pathos is heavily present. By reminiscing about all the good and bad moments in her Yale experience, she uses the ability to draw out relatable situations and emotions for readers who are in the same position as herself. Keegan addresses to her fellow Yale graduates, though it can apply to other college graduates, since it focuses on the general college experience, not a Yale specific …show more content…
As a result, a sense of urgency and regret can be felt within the audience from Keegan’s tone of it being too late to do something. Hence, this emotionally affects the reader since it makes them think about their own decisions and aspirations within their lives while reading about Keegan’s. Additionally, she continues to discuss to the readers that, “we can’t, we MUST not lose this sense of possibility because in the end, it’s all we have.” Consequently, an emotion of motivation is actualized through this phrase to reassure the audience they do not have to believe that they cannot start something new or that it is too late to do something. In retrospect, Keegan’s purpose is for the audience to leave with an optimistic perspective, or recognize their own “sense of possibility.” Keegan directs her audience towards a proposal towards the future, and reassurance that it is never too late: to change one’s mind, start over, and set your heart to. The Opposite of Loneliness brings a sense of strength to the readers and brings a friendly wake up call that the best life endeavors have yet to
In the essay ‘The Box Man’ Ascher invokes many stylistic devices and rhetorical strategies to portray her message that you should accept loneliness. The devices she uses include the rhetorical strategy “Ethos” and the stylistic device Anecdote. She uses many more which will be discussed later in this essay. She portrays the message “accepting loneliness” throughout the whole piece and even provides real life examples to support her message. These Examples include The Box man, the Soup lady, and the Television lady. All of these examples are lonely Individuals however, they go about it at different ways. The Box man chooses to accept loneliness and the other two ladies don't accept it and therefore live miserably.
Leading a meaningful life meant breaking away from the fear of criticism or rejection; conforming to society limits Illgunas’ definition of life. Illgunas’ suburban upbringing makes the danger of social conformity clear to him. Surrendering to society would consequently cause him to completely lose himself. After graduating from high school, Illgunas and his classmates follow the conventional path towards a higher education. Illgunas explains, “My high school class and I moved like a school of fish: we graduates were capable of going off on our own, in whatever direction we chose, but something demanded we all swim as one…” (6-7). Parallel to the claim Illgunas makes, graduates that do not attend college are stigmatized. Society has created a paradigm: after graduating high school, students should attend a traditional four year university, and then enter the “career world.” In Illgunas’ perspective, people in
Would you like to know where and how loneliness can occur through characters in novels and in reality? Well, in the book Of Mice and Men, by Jerry Steinback a commonly occurring central problem is based off of many forms of loneliness occurring through many, if not every character besides sub characters where we do not get a deep enough of an insight to create ideas or inferences about them. Of Mice and Men, is a story mainly focused on two characters, one named Lennie who’s mentally ill and who’s incapable of anything except the needs of physical strength. And another named George, who is smart but caught in the guilt of Lennie’s needs. Meaning, he was and got stuck with Lennie because Lennie ‘s guardian who was George’s friend died so Lennie had no one except his friend George. They together travel as poor migrant workers, and what makes things worse is that Lennie doesn’t know how to stay out of trouble. George works hard in trying to keep a steady life with Lennie, but it’s literally impossible with a man like Lennie. George can’t always be with Lennie to keep him from doing things he isn’t supposed to do. Eventually they get going on a new ranch after an incident with Lennie, and Lennie 's troubles bring him to killing the Master’s son’s wife of their new ranch, where George is later forced to kill Lennie. Loneliness is displayed throughout the book through certain characters who experience it
In the book “Don’t let me be lonely” by Claudia Rankine, Politics, racism, and loneliness happened to appear with several situations she mentions in her book. These topics don’t just affect one person but many because with politics a whole country can be affected
“But, I 'm already resigned to this fate / Looking over my life, I recall / If it hadn 't been / for the loneliness / I 'd have no companion at all. ” This stanza from “Loneliness”, by Lora Colon evokes the negative impact a lonely fate has on a person. Words like “resigned” and “loneliness” establish a sense of depression and resignation. During the times of the Great Depression, many people felt similar feelings of melancholy and stoicism. Jobs were hard to come by, and realistic dreams of success were scarce. John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, allows readers to see the life of the Great Depression. The two main characters, George and Lennie, search for jobs, like many other migrant workers. They dream of owning their own land, however, Lennie’s habit of getting in trouble prevents their dream from being reality. After he accidentally causes more trouble at their new job, George is forced to kill him out of mercy. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck shows that even if one meticulously plans out the road to their American Dream, fate will inevitably intervene and lead one to desolation and loneliness.
When reading all the pieces that we have read in class I had a hard time connecting pieces writing to each other if they were not the same type of writing. For example I could not figure out how to connect Frankenstein to the poem “The Second Coming” to me the two were completely different types of writing how can they be compared? Upon receiving the essay prompts for the midterm I had to do a lot of thinking before I could even begin to form an idea on the pieces of work I could write about. Upon much consideration, however, I noticed a common theme in a lot of the work we have read in the class: loneliness. A lot of the characters in the pieces were very lonely and isolated from everyone around them, this could be because they brought it on to themselves or they have been like this all along and just refused to acknowledge it. The characters that we have read about thus far that really exemplify this theme of loneliness through them are Blanche, in “A Street Car Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, Ned in “The Swimmer” by John Cheever, and the employee shown in the poem “Buying and Selling” by Philip Levine.
Loneliness and exclusion from society hurts and affects everyone; the emotional strain a person endures from it creates the image they present to others, but deep down they are not the display image they manufacture. As an illustration, while opening up to Lennie in the barn Curley’s wife states, “I get lonely… You can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad.
Steinbeck and Fitzgerald show us two sides of loneliness. In the Great Gatsby, the characters have so much, yet truly have so little. While Daisy’s material possessions were vast, she had no real relationships with those around her. In Of Mice and Men the
For decades now, neurologists have studied the effects of social isolation on a human’s physical and mental health. “The effects of social isolation or rejection are as real as thirst, hunger, or pain”(Cacioppo). Scientists have come to the conclusion that the toxic effects of chronic loneliness can impair cognitive behavior, impair social skills, and eventually lead to death. Humans who choose to live in this manner are more susceptible to stress induced illnesses and ultimately death. The book Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer tells the real life story of a man who put himself into social isolation in the Alaskan wilderness, making him vulnerable to the toxic effects of loneliness. Similarly, character Jay Gatsby, in the book The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald sets himself up to encounter the same effects when he moves away from his family into a giant mansion by himself. The Great Gatsby and Into the Wild prove that human interaction is
Throughout the novel, Curley’s wife is used as a model of loneliness in order to show the impact of loneliness and isolation on the human mind. For example, she shows
There is only one thing in life that is really needed and that is friends. Without friends, people would suffer from loneliness and solitude. Loneliness leads to low self-estee. In the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, the characters, Crooks, Candy, and Curly’s wife all show some form of loneliness. They are curious of George and Lennie’s friendship because they do not have that support in their life. Through his novel, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck demonstrates that many times, a victim of loneliness will have a never-ending search to fulfill a friendship.
from the society can cause loneliness in ones life. In “A Rose For Emily”, William
It is inevitable that death is all around us. By understanding this, one has the ultimate choice to continue on with their lives or remain in a state of bereavement. An inability to escape this grieving state inhibits one to move on and consequently these feelings dictate and govern our whole lives. This philosophy, existentialism, advocates that as humans we have the power to direct our own lives and pave our own paths. Author Banana Yoshimoto recognizes this ideal and illustrates the journey of how several young adults finally realize their place and meaning in the world despite their struggles. They all face a similar tragedy where their loved ones perished from their lives, and are ultimately challenged to overcome their
Loneliness is usually a common and unharmful feeling, however, when a child is isolated his whole life, loneliness can have a much more morbid effect. This theme, prevalent throughout Ron Rash’s short story, The Ascent, is demonstrated through Jared, a young boy who is neglected by his parents. In the story, Jared escapes his miserable home life to a plane wreck he discovers while roaming the wilderness. Through the use of detached imagery and the emotional characterization of Jared as self-isolating, Rash argues that escaping too far from reality can be very harmful to the stability of one’s emotional being.
Have you ever felt so alone, you get the impression that you do not belong at a place? Sandra Cisneros describes the unfavorable relationship she faces with her family. Although Sandra is talked down upon, she persuades the readers how the loneliness impacted her life.