Here is an example of a reflective essay

A Reflective Essay.

ON BEGINNING

By J. B. Priestley (abridged)

How difficult it is to make a beginning. I speak of essay-writing, like analytical essay writing on customwriting.com,  an essentially virtuous practice, and not of breaking the ten commandments. It is much easier to begin, say, a review or an article than it is to begin an essay, for with the former you attach yourself to something outside yourself, you have an excuse for writing and therefore have more courage. If it is a review that has to be written, well, there, waiting for you, inviting your comment, is the book. Similarly with an article, you have your subject, something that everybody is excited about, and thus you know what is expected of you and you can take up your pen with a light heart. 

But to have nothing to cling hold of, to have no excuse for writing at all, to be com­pelled to spin everything out of oneself, to stand naked and shivering in the very first sentence one puts down, is clearly a" very different matter, and this is the melancholy situation in which the essayist always finds himself. It is true that he need not always be melancholy; if he is full of himself, brimming over with bright talk, in a mood to take the whole world into his confidence, the essayist will find his task a very pleasant one indeed, never to be exchanged for such drudge's work as reviews and articles; and he will step briskly on to the stage and posture in the limelight without a tremor. But such mo­ments are rare, and the essayist at ordinary times, though he would eagerly undertake to defend his craft, cannot quite rid himself of the feeling that there is something both absurd and decidedly impudent in this business of talking about oneself for money; this feeling haunts the back of his mind like some gibbering spectre, and it generally produces one of three ef­fects. According to his temperament, it will prevent him from doing anything at all that particular day or perhaps any other day, or it will allow him to write a few brilliant opening sen­tences and then shut up, or it will keep him from making a start until the last possible moment.

For my own part , I am one of those who find it difficult to begin; I si and on the brink for hours, hesitating to make the plunge; 1 will do anything but the work in hand. This habit is certainly a nuisance, but perhaps it is not quite so intolerable as that of some other persons, men of my acquaintance, who fall into the second category mentioned above and always find themselves making dashing openings and then coming to a stop. They will stare at what they have written, well pleased with it as an opening, and then discover that the flow has ceased, and horrible hours will pass, and perhaps many more dashing open­ings will have been made, before any real progress will have come about and their essay taken some sort of shape. Such writers seem to me even more unfortunate than I am, for I do at least go forward once I have made a beginning; as soon as I have summoned up courage to ring the bell 1 am at least admitted into the house of my choice, and am not, like these others, left kicking my heels in the vestibules of half a dozen houses perhaps without ever seeing the interior of any of them.

COMMENTS

The passage is an example of a reflective essay. Such es­says, as we have shown, are developed through analysis, that is, one starts by breaking down the subject into parts, then groups the various ideas together and finally arranges them in an order best suited for one's purposes. Let us briefly exam­ine how the model essay is built up. Judging by the passage, the following sets of ideas occured to the writer.

1. It is particularly difficult to make a beginning when one has to write an essay. It is easier to do this when one has to write something else, for instance an article or review.

2. There are specific difficulties connected with essay writ­ing.

3. Essayists have different temperaments, so each approaches the task in his own way.

4. How I feel and behave when I set about writing an essay.

We have listed the items in the order in which they are dealt with in the text. From this list we can see that in the arrangement of his ideas the author worked from the general lo the particular and from the impersonal to the personal.

He begins by stating the subject of his essay. This is done in the first two sentences: "How difficult it is to make a begin­ning. I speak of essay-writing, an essentially virtuous practice, and not of breaking the ten commandments." These sentences provide the essay's organizing centre. Now clearly the author must explain what are the difficulties an essayist has to face when he sets himself the task of writing an essay. Here a com­parison with other literary genres is essential to justify the choice of the subject.

In an essay of the type we are discussing, the greatest amount of space is generally alloted to descriptions of the author's own thoughts, feelings, behaviour, etc., but in this case a purely subjective approach would have made the essay less convincing, and also less interesting. So the author first speaks of essayists in general, showing various reactions to the task, reactions which vary from person to person and to some extent depends on the writer's mood. This passage also helps to make a smooth transition to the personal part of the essay (not included here).

If you compare this essay with First Snow (p. ), you will find that they have much in common, both in the arrange­ment of the material and in the manner of the exposition. Here, too, the author aims at creating pictures in the reader's mind. To a great extent this is achieved through the use of metaphor based on concrete images: "to stand naked shivering and shak­ing in the very first sentence one puts down", "like some gib­bering spectre .. .". Abstract nouns are used sparingly, words expressing very general ideas are avoided. The sentence struc­ture is here more complex than in First Snow, as befits the subject. The sentences are varied in length and structure, those which state the most important ideas being short (for example, the opening sentence). Thus the author produces a vivid and imaginative piece of writing, with humorous touches, mainly in the form of metaphors.

You Might Have Thought of the Following Analytical Essay Writing Tips

Compared with the narrative and the descriptive essays, these are more difficult to write, not only because it is more difficult to arrange one's ideas logically, but also because one has to devote more thought and time to the collection of ideas relevant to the subject. Here a plan is essential.

The best way is probably to jot down ideas as they come into your head. Let us presume that your subject is The Value of Travel. 

You might have thought of the following:

1. Seeing how other people live.

2. Visiting places known from books.

3. Talking a foreign language.

4. Mountains.

5. Other people's customs.

6. Broadening one's mind.

7. Meeting interesting people.

8. National food.

9. Getting to know one's country better.

Having put down all these ideas, you can now try to group them together and then arrange them in the order best suited for your purpose. You will find that your ideas naturally fall under five main headings.

1. Scenery.

2. Places of interest.

3. People: their customs, habits.

4. Getting to know one's country better.

5. Broadening one's mind.

The outline of the essay is now complete. All that you need is a paragraph introducing your subject.

There are a number of things against which you must guard, particularly in an essay of this kind. 
Remember that it is better to deal with only a few things in full rather than skip casually over many. If, for instance, in an essay on traveling you sim­ply write that this gives you a chance to become acquainted with different national customs and leave it at that, you will have said little of interest. But if you take one example and describe it, this will not only make your writing more vivid but will also convey some real information to the reader. Thus, rather than spreading out, concentrate and take care not to become too abstract.

THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF LIVING IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

An Argumentative Essay.

Now here is an example of an argumentative essay.

THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF LIVING IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The advantages of living in the twentieth century are clear to anyone who spends time in one of the world's highly devel­oped nations. The disadvantages of modern life, however, are sometimes not so quickly seen. 

Consider the average man today in contrast with man 200 years ago. Without doubt, man's life has been eased considerably. Machines now perform for him many of the services that he previously had to do for himself. They cut his grass, wash his car, open and close his doors, walk for him, climb stairs for him, serve him coffee, and both put him to sleep and wake him up to music. In two major areas — transportation and communications — great progress has been made. Mass publishing practices have spread newspapers, magazines, and paperback books around the globe. Relayed across oceans by Telstar satellites, television informs and entertains peo­ple in every hemisphere. Mail moves swiftly and efficiently; tele­phone cables connect all continents. More than any other single Invention, the gasoline engine has revolutionized modern life. City streets, clogged with automobile traffic tell us that. More recent discoveries have led to the surge of jet and supersonic plane travel. Even as man darts throughout the world, he is protected from di­sease as no man before him has been, and he can look forward to living a longer life than his grandfather did. Furthermore, man now commands a more plentiful supply of the world's goods. He may own not only a car and a home but also a stove, a refrig­erator, a washing machine, books, phonograph records and cameras. 

Even his old age is better provided for through pen­sion and retirement plans offered by the government and by industry. Thus the advantages of living In the twentieth century are many.

In contrast, one finds that progress can also have its draw­backs. It is true that today man moves more swiftly through the world. But in doing so, he often loses track of the roots and traditions that give substance and meaning to life. Nor does the fact that he is better informed through television, radio, newspapers, and books necessarily mean that he is wiser than men of earlier generations. Instead, the ease with which the written and spoken word are produced today sometimes seems to lead to superficiality of thought. Although man has been given the gift of leisure and a longer life, he has become more restless and is often uncomfortable when he is not working. Flooded with goods and gadgets, he finds his appetite for mate­rial things increased, not satisfied. Man invented machines to replace his servants. But some current observers feel that man is in danger of becoming the servant of his machines. Mass production lowered the cost of many products, but as prices went down, quality also often decreased. Another distress­ing aspect of modem life is its depersonalization. In many offices, automation is beginning to replace human workers. Some colleges identify students not by their names, but by their IBM numbers. Computers are winning the prestige that philos­ophers had in an earlier age. The frenzied pace in many cities is another of the less attractive by-products of an industrial society. Soon, man may even fall victim to the subtle loss of privacy that threatens him. 

Even today, he can be watched on closed circuit television screens as he walks in stores and ho­tels. He may be tracked by radar while driving on the highway or listened to by means of a microphone concealed in his heat­ing system. He might even be sharing his telephone conversa­tion with an unknown auditor. Certainly many problems face men living in the most technologically advanced era in history. As old enemies have been overcome, new enemies come into view, just like the old ones. 

Yet if modern man remains the master of his own fate, he can still fashion a satisfying life in this fast-moving century.

(from American English Rhetoric by Robert G. Bander)

 

COMMENTS

The model essay provides another example of development by analysis, that is, by breaking down the subject-matter into separate points and arranging these points in a suitable order.

The structure of the model essay has, however, one peculiarity which we have not discussed so far. The essay consists of two contrasting sections, the first dealing with the advantages of living in the 20th century, the second mainly discussing its dis­advantages. This method of organizing the subject-matter is generally known as analytical development by contrast.

The main problem which arises when you organize your pros and cons in separate sections is that in the second part you will have to remind your readers occasionally of the items con­tained in the first part. There are a number of such references in the model essay: "It is true that today man moves more swiftly through the world"; "Nor does the fact that he is better in­formed ..."; "Although man has been given the gift of leisure and a longer life . . .", etc. If you remove these references, you will see at once why they are necessary: they establish a firm con­nection between the contents of the two parts of the essay, and, moreover, help the author to put his arguments more forcefully.

Another way of organizing similar material would be by contrasting pairs, instead of sections, throughout the composi­tion. Here, for example, is a short extract from Anthony Trol-lope's essay in which he discusses some differences he has ob­served between Americans and Englishmen:

"The American, though he dresses like an Englishman, and eats roast beef with a silver fork — or sometimes with a steel knife — as does an Englishman, is not like an Englishman in his mind, in his aspirations, in his tastes, or in his politics. In his mind he is quicker, more universally intelligent, more am­bitious of general knowledge, less indulgent of stupidity and ignorance in others, harder, sharper, brighter with the surface brightness of steel, than is an Englishman; but he is more brit­tle, less enduring, less malleable, and I think less capable of impressions. The mind of the Englishman has more imagina­tion, but that of the American more incision. The American is a great observer, but he observes things material rather than things social or picturesque. He is a constant and ready specu­lator, but all speculations, even which come of philosophy, are with him more or less material ..."

(The Englishman and the American by Anthony Trollope)

Note that Trollope's opening sentence not only indicates how the work will be organized, but also tells you on what is­sues the Americans and the English will be contrasted: their minds, their aspirations, their tastes, and their politics.

Both methods of analytical development by contrast may be successfully used in dealing with a wide range of subjects, for example, in characterizing a person, in describing an abstract concept, an unfamiliar object or situation. Of all the means of development, development by contrast is one of the most forceful.