September 1, 2005

Notes on Punctuation by Lewis Thomas

Thomas cleverly uses punctuation to make an ordinary lesson on punctuation more entertaining. The title Notes on Punctuation gives the reader the impression that the work will be a boring list of rules they had already heard countless times before. However, Thomas’s essay is more enjoyable to read because he not only discusses good rules of punctuation, but uses punctuation to the extreme to show the importance of it. Every person has read an essay or some piece of literature that overuses commas or incorrectly places quotation marks, but Thomas makes these mistakes more interesting and thus more memorable. The reader is first introduced to Thomas’s zany style of writing in the first paragraph which is one long sentence connected by a never ending set of parentheses. He also uses great metaphor in comparing the semicolon to a “wooden bench just ahead … where you can expect to sit and rest for a moment.” Most people, including myself, had never thought of the semicolons importance, but it is truly a “resting spot” where the reader can digest the past few lines before forging ahead. Lewis Thomas’s creative lesson on punctuation keeps the reader interested and teaches a basic lesson by demonstrating poor punctuation when describing each related rule.

August 31, 2005

MLK’s Letter from Birmingham Jail

Martin Luther King is an incredible writer and debater because of the many literary techniques used in his writing. King refutes his oppositions many points step-by-step until he has completely destroyed any point that had previously tried to make. He uses numerous references to the Bible, other authors, and current events to give merit and understanding to his statements. King also combines emotional and logical thinking so that his writing touches and convinces people on more than one level. The list of King’s great writing techniques could continue much further, but I believe the most important part of his Letter from Birmingham Jail is that he speaks not only to the clergymen who the letter is directly addressed to, but to each and every person who reads it.

Martin Luther King doesn’t begin discussing the “white moderate” until half way through his letter, but it is this section’s theme that is for every reader. King’s strongest statement against indifferent people comes when he says, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” Many people today, myself included, look at the overwhelming problems of the world and think that it's too much for us to change so we opt to do nothing at all. We sit watching the nightly news thinking, “That really is horrible” and then go upstairs and grab a snack. It is the same attitude that kept the majority sidelined while the Martin Luther King and the African Americans fought for their rights that prevents us today from taking action against injustice. King’s words against the moderate is reiterated years later by Elie Weisel in his speech on world hunger in which he says that indifference kills as many people as hatred. Weisel says that those people who watch and do nothing are just as guilty as those committing the crime. This portion of the King letter speaks to every individual because we have all at one time turned our back on another. Because the horribleness of indifference continues to pose a threat to change, Martin Luther King’s letter forces each reader to recognize it in themselves and hopefully push them into action.