1、Text AnalysisThe author of this text tries to make and argue for her point effectively by employing several writing techniques. The pronoun “him” appears unexpectedly in the beginning sentence. It can strike the reader as emotionally charged and suspenseful: Who does the writer refer to? Why would t
2、he writer feel that way? What was it that aroused these emotions in her? Immediately after, there is a strong thesis statement concerning what was going through the writers mind and how she felt at the moment about what she saw. This thesis is presented upfront in a clear and forceful manner: It is
3、pathetic and disgraceful that a grown-up college student is still overly dependent on their parents. Next, the second paragraph follows to help the reader quickly identify “him” with a group and even a generation of young people. It also reveals what the writer intends to do in this essay, that is,
4、to contrast two generations in terms of parent-child relationships. With such an introduction, the context for the rest of the text is well set up to allow the writer to proceed smoothly with a contrast between parents of todays college students and the writers parents. She chooses the block-by-bloc
5、k method for organizing the text, first presents and discusses parents of todays college students, and then moves on to discuss her parents. To help the reader keep track of the contrast, she switches from one block to the other using expressions of time (e.g. twenty years ago, when I tell my mother
6、 that ). Finally, a note of caution. It can be argued that the writer provides an interesting perspective on cross-generational differences and offers good advice. However, the reader may need to be wary of the risk involved in basing a conclusion on personal experiences to make a blanket statement about generations.
