Yes Virginia is an editorial from a writer of the New York Sun. It was written by a little girl named Virginia who is eight years old in 1897. In her letter she is explaining that her friends are telling her that there is no Santa claus so she asks the writer to tell her the truth. She also adds in her letter the reason she is writing to the sun. She states in her letter that "papa says". The writer then replies to her explaining his interpretation of a Santa claus. The newspaper can only print and publish true facts so he can 't tell her there is an actual Santa Claus. He tells her a direct answer but he goes on to interpret what Santa is through an adults point of view.
In this writing Francis Church takes a more philosophical road when …show more content…
Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn?" The writer is being literal here asking a rhetorical question. He obviously knows that the readers answer is no, but it draws the reader back to the statement he makes about her friends. The rhetorical question relates to his statement he made about them because if they did not ever see fairies on their lawn then they would not believe in them. His point is that their minds are too small to understand that you don’t need to see it to believe it. Throughout the letter the writer gives examples of untouchable but still real things such as love, faith, and poetry.
"The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished." The writer here is using figurative speech. there is no physical light children give off. The external light the writer speaks of here is the light of belief. Children are full of belief and that is what he is describing by saying external light. The children 's joy from their belief lightens up the world, especially around the holidays. Older adults live vicariously through children during the holiday season. They feed on the "external light" the children give off through their …show more content…
He says in the second paragraph in his reply “Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus.” there if that was the only thing a reader saw they would think of the big jolly bearded man that comes down their chimney every christmas and delivers gifts. But its not, he moves on to say that Santa Claus is just like love and devotion. He is their but you have to believe in him and will never truly be able to see him. Church goes on in a few paragraphs down and says “You might get your papa to hire men to watch in the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove?” After that sentence it 's kind of like he wants the reader to think more about the unseen world. Just because its not seen doesn 't mean it doesn 't exist. If a person tries their hardest to prove that a creature is real but they don 't see them it doesn 't prove anyone or thing wrong. It makes believing in that thing much more
In this writing Francis Church takes a more philosophical road when …show more content…
Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn?" The writer is being literal here asking a rhetorical question. He obviously knows that the readers answer is no, but it draws the reader back to the statement he makes about her friends. The rhetorical question relates to his statement he made about them because if they did not ever see fairies on their lawn then they would not believe in them. His point is that their minds are too small to understand that you don’t need to see it to believe it. Throughout the letter the writer gives examples of untouchable but still real things such as love, faith, and poetry.
"The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished." The writer here is using figurative speech. there is no physical light children give off. The external light the writer speaks of here is the light of belief. Children are full of belief and that is what he is describing by saying external light. The children 's joy from their belief lightens up the world, especially around the holidays. Older adults live vicariously through children during the holiday season. They feed on the "external light" the children give off through their …show more content…
He says in the second paragraph in his reply “Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus.” there if that was the only thing a reader saw they would think of the big jolly bearded man that comes down their chimney every christmas and delivers gifts. But its not, he moves on to say that Santa Claus is just like love and devotion. He is their but you have to believe in him and will never truly be able to see him. Church goes on in a few paragraphs down and says “You might get your papa to hire men to watch in the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove?” After that sentence it 's kind of like he wants the reader to think more about the unseen world. Just because its not seen doesn 't mean it doesn 't exist. If a person tries their hardest to prove that a creature is real but they don 't see them it doesn 't prove anyone or thing wrong. It makes believing in that thing much more