Pg. 156 P&A 2. The dominant impression Cohen is trying to create for her readers is one of normality.

She focuses on the grandpa aspects of her grandfather, vividly describing things like the way he ate, games he played with her, and his laugh. He smacked his lips and sucked his teeth; his chewing was moist and percussive(Cohen 153). These figurative descriptions convey a sense of a loving grandparent and cause the readers to reminisce on memories of their own grandfather. The tactic makes the readers almost forget that Cohen's grandfather is deaf, successfully creating an impression of normality. S&S 1. Cohen begins her essay with a description of her grandfather's chin because it was through his chin that they communicated. She describes how he would nuzzle her cheek, scratching her with his beard. This abrasive ritual greeting was our primary means of communication(Cohen 153). It was through this contact that Cohen and her grandfather connected. The rest of the essay stems from this connection as Cohen describes, essentially, her grandfather and his place in her life. Their first and most common form of communication, his chin, was the foremost factor of her memories, and therefore is the starting point of her essay. Combining Patterns. Cohen's use of narration in paragraph nine, though detracting slightly from the dominant impression she is trying to convey, enlightens the readers to her grandfather's deafness, making the full meaning of the essay apparent. She focuses here, not on the emotional aspects of her grandfather, but on the cold, hard facts of his life, including his deafness. ...his family fled the czarist pogroms...they did not detect his deafness, so Sam sailed on...(Cohen 155). Telling the readers at this point that her grandfather is deaf adds an unexpected aspect to their current image of Cohen's grandfather, making them at the same time realize that, even though he's deaf, he is still a grandpa just like the one they were remembering. However, though she accomplishes her purpose, informing the readers of her grandfather's deafness and making them realize that it made him no less of a grandfather, the narration cuts into the flow of the essay, destroying the reminiscent mood she has previously established. Pg. 161 P&A 2. Bernes purpose in writing this essay is to prove to her readers that in the wake of disaster there is new and possibly even better life. After describing how people from all walks of life come to visit Ground Zero, she bluntly states: and by the act of our visitingthat space fills up again(Berne 161). Even though the Twin Towers were destroyed, Berne is telling her readers through this statement that, like a forest after a fire, new people will come and gather, bringing life back to the lifeless land, filling up the empty space. Berne is attempting to give her readers a hope of rebirth and healing in the face of a disaster that has struck them to the very core. S&S 2. Berne uses first and second person points of view in her essay, an organizational tactic that has both advantages and disadvantages in trying to get her point across to the readers. By beginning the essay like a first person narrative, she creates a story for the readers, setting the scene for the switch to second person when the readers are put into that story. Suddenly you notice the periphery(Berne 159). At this point, the readers become a part of the experience. They are no longer listening to a description of a place, they are there themselves, and pretty soon they begin to replace Bernes version of events with their own memories and emotions. The narrative stops being a story and becomes reality, allowing Berne to really drive home her purpose and make the readers believe in the rebirth brought after disaster. However, a disadvantage of this tactic is that the reader can get too involved in their memories, causing them to disregard Bernes transition back into first person and entirely miss her point. They can become overwhelmed with their past experiences and dwell only on the disaster of the

Twin Towers, not on the life afterward. Though Berne's use of both second and first person in her essay helps her purpose sink in, it can distract the readers, pulling them into their own memories further than she intended. S&S 5. Berne ends her essay with a description of the crowd on the viewing platform in order to express to the readers her purpose of new growth after disaster. The entire essay is a description of Manhattan after the Twin Towers experience, rebuilding and healing. Berne is making a journey which ends at the platform above Ground Zero where she sees the biggest effect of the disaster, the most prominent sign of the new life replacing despair. it occurred to me that a form of repopulation was taking effect...thousands of visitors...And by the act of our visiting...that space fills up again(Berne 161). If she didn't put a description of the crowd on the viewing platform, and this statement afterward, Berne's entire purpose would be lost. It is here, where the disaster began, that the disaster heals. It is here were she sees the emptiness full again, the rebirth beginning. She ends her essay with a description of the crowd in order to give her readers an image of the scale on which rebirth after a disaster takes place, how quickly humanity rises together and creates something new. Combining Patterns. In paragraphs one through ten of her essay, Berne compares both the living, moving growth aspect of Ground Zero and the empty, dead space, expressing to the readers both the death and rebirth of the area. She speaks about the busyness surrounding the area and how if one just saw it they might mistake it for a construction site. Ground Zero looks at first simply like a construction site...(Berne 159). At first glance, Berne says the place looks like an area of growth, where a new building might be going up, where things are just getting started. However, on closer examination, Berne expresses to the readers the darker view apparent. Suddenly you notice...the skyscraper shrouded in black plastic, the boarded windows, the steel skeleton of the shattered Winter Garden...there is the little cemetery attached to St. Paul's Chapel...(159). Berne paints, through these descriptions, a site of disaster, a place of death and darkness. She compares, in these ten paragraphs, both the healing process and rebirth and the past pain, showing how, even in the midst of disaster, there is new life. Pg. 181 P&A 3. S&S 1. White first emphasizes to the reader the changes that have taken place on the lake, but then plays them down as unimportant compared to the overall experience which is the same. He spends quite a bit of time explaining the changes in the noise of the lake due to boat motors. The only thing that was wrong now...was the sound of the place, an unfamiliar nervous sound of the outboard motors(White 178). This emphasis on the differences on the lake makes them very apparent to the reader, causing them to sit like a canker sore on the pristine picture White has previously portrayed. However, later in his essay, White heals that sore, expressing to the reader how the changes are not really important at all and the experience is essentially the same. Everywhere we went I had trouble making out which was I, the one walking at my side, the one walking in my pants(180). White tells the reader quite bluntly, that the experiences are so similar he can forget which one is now and which is then. Though there have been changes to the lake, and White emphasizes those in the beginning of the essay, they are unimportant compared to the experience of childhood fishing which is, and will remain, essentially the same. S&S 2. E. B. White repeats ideas and images of joy and peace throughout his essay in order to emphasize to the reader how much more important these encompassing items are compared to small

differences in his childhood experience and his son's. White is almost obsessed with the feel of his fishing trip, focusing on a positive aura he feels in both instances. It seemed to me...that those times...had been jollity and peace and goodness...(White 179). He wants the reader to be overwhelmed with a sense of wholesome goodness and speaks of the trip with biblical terms of endearment, adding to their force and purity. Beyond this, he describes the sunshine, the laughter, the aroma of the trip, the summertime, oh summertime(179). These images create a picture of a utopian world where all is good and nothing bad will happen. With an image of perfect joy and ideas of purity and peace foremost in the reader's thoughts, White can portray the insignificance of the differences he finds between his childhood and his sons, dropping them like flecks of ash on the happy pool he's created where they quickly disappear in lieu of the bigger picture. S&S 3. Combining Patterns. Pg. 189 3. My family, though rather hectic and perhaps disorganized at times, is in fact a rather magnificent organization demanding respect, morality, and intellectual vigor. If someone were to look through photos of us, three pictures would stand out as expressing this dynamic most accurately: a school photo of my brother, Oliver, from his kindergarten picture day; a picture of the family relaxing at the beach; and a formal family portrait we feature yearly on Christmas cards. In Oliver's school photo he is sitting perfectly straight, his starched suit holding his shoulders square. This stance is a mirror image to his stance on life. Oliver, as with most of our family, likes his world ordered, contained, starched. However,within that unmoving form you see a pair of wicked clever eyes. Those eyes express Oliver's hidden nature. He is cunning, witty, and ready for adventure. Our family is like this as well. We stand together, solemn and with perhaps obsolete views of conduct and respect, but there is a gleam of something more beneath the outward appearance. We are intellectuals but far more interested in the realms of wit than education. This wit and the hectic experiences that can arise from too much free time in our company is apparent in the picture of my family at the beach. There is, first and foremost in the photo, a magnificent sand castle, complete with columns and domes. Was there a reason for us making such an extravagant structure when it would soon be washed away by the next big wave? None other than the desire to entertain ourselves. My family does nothing small; you either wow the crowd or don't even bother trying. Around the castle and all down the beach, there is a hearty game of tag in progress. With twelve kids, this event is a rather mob-like affair. We are a mess of disorganized joy, uncontrollable and unstoppable. But even in this instance of seemingly complete disorder, there is logic and grace in our movements. If you look closely, you will see that we are not just playing tag, we are acting out battle strategies in order to keep as many people away from the tagger while simultaneously protecting ourselves. At the time of the scene, the game ended as person by person finally sacrificed themselves to save the designated winner. This is life in my family. You are expected to hold yourself to certain standards, and the whole is always more important than the individual. The final picture is of my family posed for a professional portrait. There is nothing particularly striking about this photo, but we are all together and the full force of our nature engulfs you like a wave. We are standing still and straight, staring forward with perfect smiles plastered on our faces. There is a regal air about us, almost as if we belonged in nineteenth century England. However, the dog to the far left of the group wagging his tail frantically speaks to our hectic nature and moves your

eye to begin noticing the small inconsistencies within the photograph. There is a sweater sleeve slightly crooked here, a hair out of place there. Adventures were had before this picture was taken. Looking at the picture, you find yourself wondering what those were, what our now seemingly mischievous smiles are remembering. Our lives are full of these remembrances. They are full of school photos, beach trips, and family portraits like these three, all contradictions, all marvelous. We are a serious family. We place the bar high for ourselves and don't give up until we reach it. Yet amidst all the work and niceties, we aren't afraid to have fun. There are fourteen of us after all, and a household of that many is rarely a quiet place.