In Praise Of A Snail's Pace Analysis

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In the essay, “In Praise of a Snail's Pace,” by Ellen Goodman, Goodman completes a “full circle” by choosing to begin and conclude her essay with the same incident, to ensure that she stays fully on topic throughout her entire essay. This framing device that Goodman employs within her essay pulls the essay together and makes it seem complete. In the beginning, she uses it as an anecdote that sets up for the middle section of her essay, then the conclusion ties back to the beginning because Goodman talks about the same thing, with sending her friend a sympathy note after the passing of a loved one. “I arrive at the island post office carrying an artifact from another age.” This statement is the thesis statement, which summarizes the entire essay,…show more content…
Very few people write letters these days, they just feel it would be much easier, and make more sense, to send a brief text message, IM, or e-mail. Even though we feel more connected with others through the internet, we are still very far removed from one another. We aren't giving one another the full attention we should whenever we communicate via e-mail or text message. To make her point more noticeable between the difference of postal mail, and e-mail, Goodman uses very well-written imagery. “All the speed in the Internet cannot hurry the healing of a friend's loss.” Through these words, Goodman is trying to say that handwritten mail shows more feeling than an e-mail. It can take as little as three minutes to write a sympathy letter, via e-mail, to a friend, depending on how fast one types. However, it takes more time, desire, and care to write a letter that's handwritten. “A piece of snail mail to carry the stamp of authenticity.” This image shows her point of view that letters and notes sent through the postal service, although slower, often show more sincerity and sentiment on the part of the
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