Gr 12 English

[nikki_piper]

I am reasing an essay called "In Defense of Literature" by Wendell Berry. It is about how today's community treats literature as an ornament, how students are ineptat the english language-posessing only mediocre writing skills and how the school systems ignore and accept literary shortcomings. Can anybody identify and EXPLAIN who the target audience is and why the author chose that paticular audience?

[dundurn]

Persumably the essay was published, otherwise you wouldn't have it to study. In what form or in what publication did it reach the outside world? Presumably the readers of that publication are the target audience. Given that the author is describing shortcomings in both students and the school system, he is unlikely to be happy about the situation. He presumably wants his writing to effect an improvement and therefore imagines that his readers are in a position, directly or indirectly to produce or to block such a change. Sometimes you write to tell people they're doing a good job and to do it more effectively or often. Sometimes you write to other people to tell them what they're doing wrong or to ask them to get out of the way of progress.