2Youngins2Oldheads

  Kevin Davis’s “Does Going to College Mean Becoming Someone New?” (1986) is a narrative and informational essay about his experience as an English major transitioning from high school writing to college writing. Davis explains how frustrating and difficult it was trying to change his mind set in order to write on the college level that was expected from his professors.  Davis’s love for reading and writing made him choose English as his major, but soon he realized that he could not produce the type of writing style required of him. Davis’s purpose for this essay is to highlight challenges students can face when entering a new academic discourse community in college and how to function and succeed in it. The audience who could gain the most by reading this essay would be high school and college students, as they can learn about discourse communities and the different insights relating to writing on a satisfactory college level.        ...

                                                  In the passage “Learning to Read and Write” from Frederick Douglass’ autobiography “Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass” (1845), Douglass highlights his difficult and tumultuous journey to literacy with the assistance of kind mistresses and neighborhood children. In this personal and persuasive essay, Douglass eloquently uses flashbacks and introspection to share his viewpoint of life before and after he gained the knowledge of freedom and all its possibilities. His writing style helped show the purpose of this passage was that learning to read and write as a slave was definitely and blessing and a curse. Douglass’ audience could be for the general population of any age, but especially those who want a first-hand glimpse into the tug of war within the mindset a young slave.     ...