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Summary Of Solitude And Leadership By William Deresiewicz

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William Deresiewicz writes about what he thinks of the current day society and attempts to explain why this type of society occurred. His essays connect with the reader through his relatable examples that he uses. The three essays I had read of his were “Solitude and Leadership”, “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education”, and “Generation Sell”. These essays were about the culture of current day society and education. His works brings up questions within the readers’ minds. In addition, Deresiewicz brings up fantastic, convincing ideas using his unique writer’s voice. His use of the tone and mood of the writing, his diction, and his syntax, and his personal touches forms his wonderful, thought provoking essays.
The tone of Deresiewicz’s writing …show more content…

In his essay, “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education,” he starts out with the situation he had with his plumber. How he could not begin a conversation with the plumber and how he was trying his best to figure out how to start one. Deresiewicz stated “Fourteen years of higher education and a handful of Ivy League degrees, and there I was, stiff and stupid, struck dumb by my own dumbness. “Ivy retardation,” a friend of mine calls this”’ (The Disadvantages of an Elite Education). By using this sentence, Deresiewicz was beginning to transition from his personal experience to the body of his essay of how elite education doesn’t provide you with all you need. Deresiewicz also did this for “Generation Sell” when he began talking about what he saw in the current day society. But in this essay, he did something unique from the other essays I had read. Deresiewicz went back to the past within his transition to the actual idea meant to be expressed within his essay. The reasoning behind this could be that he wanted to give background information on this topic before he went into his stance. Nonetheless, this added a little twist to this essay and shows that he could fluctuate his writing style a bit between

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