When being asked by a pleading mother to help get her son into the University, Samuel Johnson guiley crafts his response. He appeals to the emotions of the imploring mother instead of shutting her down completely at the beginning. His mood then shifts as he castigates the women for asking this of him. Throughout his response he uses great diction, parallel structure and the repetition of words to emphasize his reasons he must deny her request.
Johnson recognizes in the first paragraph that this mother is writing this letter with hope of him assisting her son. But rather than to succumb to this plea because he doesn’t want to destroy her hope he merely defines hope. Hope he say is “a species of happiness… but, when immoderately enjoyed… must be expiated by pain” (line 4-7). When defining hope in his own words it allows Johnson to add coherent evidence to why he must deny the mothers request while also displaying remorse. When stating that hope must be expiated by pain Johnson is foreshadowing his answer to the mother’s question, the rejection of her son into the university, without have to clearly state it. By foreshadowing he allows the mother to come to this conclusion on her own before he does clearly destroy her hope. Hope that must end in pain.
As the first paragraph ends and the …show more content…
He uses parallel structure to emphasize his implacable response. “Whom I never spoke… whom I never seen… which I had no means of knowing” (18-20). This impeccably crafted sentence strengthens his argument by showing that Johnson has no reason to help this woman’s son. He has no connection with her son and is not indebted to this woman. The repetition of the word “expectation” in the first paragraph allows the mother to draw her own conclusion of what she expected but wouldn’t be getting. He uses the word six times in the first paragraph reaffirming that these are just her expectations. Not
Johnson recognizes in the first paragraph that this mother is writing this letter with hope of him assisting her son. But rather than to succumb to this plea because he doesn’t want to destroy her hope he merely defines hope. Hope he say is “a species of happiness… but, when immoderately enjoyed… must be expiated by pain” (line 4-7). When defining hope in his own words it allows Johnson to add coherent evidence to why he must deny the mothers request while also displaying remorse. When stating that hope must be expiated by pain Johnson is foreshadowing his answer to the mother’s question, the rejection of her son into the university, without have to clearly state it. By foreshadowing he allows the mother to come to this conclusion on her own before he does clearly destroy her hope. Hope that must end in pain.
As the first paragraph ends and the …show more content…
He uses parallel structure to emphasize his implacable response. “Whom I never spoke… whom I never seen… which I had no means of knowing” (18-20). This impeccably crafted sentence strengthens his argument by showing that Johnson has no reason to help this woman’s son. He has no connection with her son and is not indebted to this woman. The repetition of the word “expectation” in the first paragraph allows the mother to draw her own conclusion of what she expected but wouldn’t be getting. He uses the word six times in the first paragraph reaffirming that these are just her expectations. Not