  Ŀ
ĳ!Attach This Header To Top of All Paper Submissions!       [TIA]
Eĳ
sSubject/Class Paper was submitted for  [english                ]
SSubject/Topic of paper (Please Be As Descriptive As Possible)   
a[AP english part three (or is it part two?) essay, well its    ]3 Letter
YQuestion 2 anyway. Re: Soame Jenyns Year of AP exam unknown.  Abbrev.
 [                                                              ]for
S       Grade Level (For High School Students):      9 [ ] 11 [ ]Major
u                                                   10 [ ] 12 [X]Education
B                                       (for Ont., Canada) 13 [ ]Areas,
m       Year (For University/College Students)       1 [ ]  3 [ ]MARK one:
I                                                    2 [ ]  4 [ ]
s                                                           5 [ ]English
SSchool/University/College/Institution [St. Joseph's Collegiate ][ENG] [X]
iCity & State (Province) of Inst.      [Buffalo, NY             ]History
OName of Teacher/Prof. submitted to    [Mr. Zabawa              ][HST] [ ]
nGrade Received (If Received Yet)                           [92 ]Science
 Date Paper was submitted (mm/dd/yy)   [10/09/92                ][SCI] [ ]
FName of Author (Real or Alias)        [The Saint               ]Health &
oHigh School Avg./College GPA of Author                 [95.6   ]Sports
RIf used, Textbook/Novel/Classic Translator/Editor and Version/  [HTH] [ ]
m Edition Info [                                                ] -
 Additional Comments [                                          ]The
 [                                                              ]Information
 Allies
   
Paper 4: Soame Jenyns                      Due date: 10/09/92

     In the passage, it is quite obvious that Samuel
Johnson's main objective is to utterly and systematically
destroy Jenyns' analogy. He uses a number of techniques to do
this, most important of which are organization, tone, diction
and foreshadowing.

     The passage is organized into three main paragraphs and
a concluding paragraph. Each main paragraph is a stage in the
building of his argument. In the first paragraph, Johnson
begins by saying that Jenyns had not gone far enough with his
argument and should have been more graphic in describing the
pleasures of the higher beings. He starts this paragraph off
in a sincere and factual tone, but by the end of it he has
exaggerated to the point of absurdity. He starts the next
paragraph in the same train of thought, but quickly begins an
escalating attack on the type of man Jenyns is by using his
own 'higher beings' as the weapon. The attack climaxes at the
very last sentence of the paragraph. The first sentence of
the third paragraph continues the attack on Jenyns but with
less severity. A full-scale attack on Jenyns' writing and its
value immediately follows and the paragraph ends with a
reference to the absurdity Jenyns suggests. In the final
paragraph Johnson observes that literature has regressed
because of writings such as Jenyns'.  The organization of the
passage allowed Johnson to build his arguments to a certain
point, such as the climax of his sarcastic attack on Jenyns
at the end of the second paragraph, or the absurd
exaggeration he states at the end of the first paragraph.
This building became effective in impressing in the reader's
mind Johnson's arguments and by ending paragraphs with a
climax he was able to leave a lasting impression that he had
destroyed Jenyns' arguments. Also, the slightly formal and
less racing tone of the concluding paragraph left the reader
with the impression that Johnson had been exhausted by the
heavy damage that he had done and that he felt that there was
really nothing more to be said.

     Johnson also uses foreshadowing at various points
throughout the passage. He usually uses this at the end of
paragraphs where he hints that his attack will reach a new
level in the upcoming paragraph. However these are not very
obvious hints but are subtle mixtures of a particular mocking
tone and exaggeration through the use of diction. For example








at the end of the first paragraph, "perhaps now and then a
merry being may place himself in such a situation as to
enjoy, at once, all the varieties of an epidemical disease,
or amuse his leisure with the tossings and contortions of
every possible pain, exhibited together." This is a statement
that is quite different from the other statements made in the
paragraph because it is a completely absurd thought and the
others only hinted at total absurdity. Since this is the end
of the paragraph, it is only reasonable to expect that the
next paragraph will continue the increase in viciousness, as
it does with the attack on Jenyns. Another example of this
foreshadowing of a higher level of viciousness is at the end
of the second paragraph where Johnson says that the
incompetent author who is a plaything of the higher beings
hopes to stand at the head of a new sect because of the
applause that he has received from his peers for his idiotic
"treatise of philosophy." This points out the absurdity of
the situation more sarcastically than any other statement in
that paragraph and again hints at the increased viciousness
to follow. Also, at the end of the third paragraph Johnson
hints at the relatively tame concluding paragraph ahead by
slowing down the pace of the third paragraph. He does this by
listing the absurd activities that Jenyns attributes to the
higher beings and ending the paragraph with an ellipses,
which completely retards the pace. The reader is given the
definite feeling that the conclusion of the passage is near.
The foreshadowing technique is quite effective in keeping the
reader's attention focused on Johnson's arguments.

     There is no doubt that the tone is sarcastic throughout
the passage, but there are different levels of sarcasm. For
example the shift from one level to another is notable in the
first paragraph where Johnson begins by saying that he
"cannot resist the temptation..." Without reading any further
the reader might think that Johnson has begun a full-scale
sarcastic offensive immediately. However this is not the case
as is soon found out, it seems that Johnson was merely
teasing the reader by using that phrase. That was of course
only a hint at sarcasm. The next stage is where Johnson
states that these higher beings "have many sports analogous
to our own. As we drown whelps and kittens..." By referring
to the drowning of innocent creatures as a human sport,
Johnson effectively satirizes Jenyns' comparison between the
suffering that humans cause to animals and the suffering that
the higher beings cause to humans. To reach the next level,
Johnson compares higher beings who are "virtuosi" and








"delight in the operations an asthma" to a "human philosopher
studying the effects of an air-pump." Through this ridiculous
and cruel analogy Johnson demonstrates to the reader that
Jenyns is an advocate of rubbish. Immediately following,
Johnson bursts into the next level by describing the higher
beings as "frolic beings" who have a "merry bout" at the
"vicissitudes of an ague." He goes on to say that it is also
"good sport" for them to watch a "man tumble with an
epilepsy, and revive and tumble again, and this he knows not
why." He also moves up a level once more when he remarks that
the higher beings' "exquisite diversions" may also include
the "high mirth" in watching the lasting pains of the gout
and stone, especially if "the play be a little diversified by
the blunders and puzzles of the blind and deaf." The use of
words such as "mirth," "diversified" and "play" are so cruel
and repulsive when considered in the context of pain and the
difficulties of the disabled, that the reader is forced to
shun Jenyns' concept. Johnson has now completed making a very
valuable point in his argument, he has effectively stated
that Jenyns' belief that these higher beings consider it
sport to cause pain to helpless creatures is absolutely
absurd and that anyone with the slightest bit of intelligence
will feel the same way.  This is a convincing argument mainly
because if the reader has been an advocate of Jenyns', his
idiocy has just been systematically proven to him. The last
sentence in the paragraph is not as effective in sarcasm as
it is in demonstrating the absurdity of the concept, and so
the climax of the sarcasm was reached in the second-to-last
sentence.  These type of tone changes which are used in each
paragraph work very effectively in building Johnson's
argument in a rational and near-scientific manner.

     The diction throughout the passage is what is
responsible for the tone changes and the building. It is also
what is responsible for sustaining the generally sarcastic
mood of the paragraph. A phrase such as "may be justly
suspected to be written..." in the third paragraph is very
sarcastic because of the word "suspected." The word
"suspected" adds an element of mystery, however the reader
already knows that it is not catch-the-criminal Johnson is
playing but catch-the-idiot-author and so the word ultimately
provides a comical element to the serious, thus satire. In
the same sentence Johnson also says that the books will be of
no use to the "corporeal inhabitants" of our world. The word
"corporeal" no doubt suggests that humans are inferior to
these "invisible" beings, and when said again after so many








arguments that he has made, it conveys Johnson's exhaustion
with tearing apart Jenyns' idea. The reader gets the feeling
that Johnson does not care to tear it apart any longer
because he has done a sufficient job already and that he has
now adopted an attitude of contempt towards the idea. Johnson
uses some interesting words and phrases in the final
paragraph to express his weariness with destroying Jenyns'
concept and his sorrow due to the pitiful state of
literature. He says that we have "clambered" "from one state
of argumentation to another, instead of rising into the light
of knowledge, we are devolved back into dark ignorance." The
formality of the language, words such as "argumentation," and
"devolved" suggest that Johnson has fallen back on formality
due to his exhaustion from a racing argumentative piece. The
parallels drawn by the phrases "light of knowledge" and "dark
ignorance" suggest abstract thought,  a maneuver usually used
to end an argumentative piece. The word "clambered" itself
suggests the effort with which literature was supposed to
progress, yet as Johnson tells us immediately afterward, we
have regressed, thus an irony. Johnson also elaborates on the
mess authors lose themselves in when he says "all our effort
ends in belief, that for the evils of life there is some good
reason, and in confession, that the reason cannot be found."
Johnson has effectively shown the reader the pathetic state
literature is in by citing this vicious circle that authors
are traveling in. The word "confession" contributes greatly
to this effect by drawing a picture in the reader's mind of
Jenyns confessing that his theory is meaningless, it serves
as a parting shot.

     In conclusion, it should be noted that Johnson produced
the effect of framing Jenyns' theory in absurdity by using
many different literary techniques and a clever combination
of sarcasm and exaggeration.
