Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here': Citations and Rhetorical Analysis

College, for most of us, is a huge step. When you enter college the biggest decision to make is what you will major in. What should you consider when deciding your major? Family, social status, friends, religion, etc. Mark Edmundson speaks on this topic in his essay, “Who Are You And What Are You Doing Here: A Word to the Incoming Class”. Mark makes it clear who his audience is when he mentions the words “incoming class”, therefore the freshman that are going through the college experience right now. He uses persuasion to convince the reader that college is about finding what interests you and to not just understand what you learn but also question the liability of it.

Analysis of Mark Edmundson's Essay

When mark begins his essay he says we need to “fight against the institution” letting us know how nowadays you have to fend for yourself because college administrators including teachers don’t bother to care for you. The author also claims that students are pushed a lot by either the father or mother. Colleges want the students to be “civic leaders” or “well-rounded students” or my favorite “people who know what the system demands”. Edmundson tells us that the influence others have for us may be good but it can be dreadful. This is one of the biggest reasons he encourages students to “fight” fight to be who they want to be, not what others want them to be. Edmundson did a good job accomplishing his goal using pathos but he could’ve done better in terms of logos.

The curiosity in his title, “Who Are You And What Are You Doing Here: A Word to the Incoming Class” is enough to get the reader’s attention. He makes great use of diction as well as syntax to connect with the reader’s thinking and feelings. The title alone makes the audience intrigued enough to read more into the text and figure out the deeper meaning of it all. If the title wasn’t as interrogative but instead had more of a declarative or imperative sentence it wouldn’t have the same impact. Edmundson combines really creative words in his essay, for example, he uses the words: “servants,” “slaves” “full bore attention” which connects really well to his statement that “life is elsewhere”. He did a good job connecting the main point and making us realize that if you don’t do what you love in college, everything else will be a series of boredom and dull life.