William Hazlitt “On the Want of Money”
Essay 2A
Introduction:
Two ways to look at this: 2A uses the proverb, “Money can’t buy happiness”, but he is actually challenging it with a quick, provocative statement that challenges the audience’s notion of what is important in life. Most people hear the cliché: “Money can’t buy you happiness”, but the writer sides with Hazlitt and disputes this notion.
2A also includes writer’s full name and title of text in quotation marks
Thesis: 2A uses a conventional thesis with two parts. What are these two parts?
Controlling argument + subtopics
The controlling argument is the main idea or argument of the essay, and it is created by restating part of the prompt, in this case the prompt asked you to “analyze the rhetorical strategies Hazlitt uses to develop his position on money.”
In his before mentioned essay, Hazlitt makes the argument that money is, in fact, a key part of a prosperous life, and by using despondent word choice and interesting syntactical strategies, he effectively shows that if money can’t buy happiness, a lack thereof can lead to sorrow.
Bold: controlling argument
Italics: subtopics
Subtopics are the main ideas that will be used to prove the controlling argument. Subtopics are turned into body paragraphs and should be listed in the order the reader will see them in the essay.
Quick practice: Underline the subtopics and bracket the controlling arguments in the following thesis statements:
1. Abraham Lincoln uses biblical allusion and a blend of logical and emotional appeals to convince his fellow Americans of the need to continue fighting the Civil War in his “Gettysburg Address”
2. In “The Raven”, Edgar Allan Poe uses dark imagery, dramatic irony and foreshadowing to create a sense of fear.
3. By analyzing the symbolism of the farm and its class divisions, George Orwell’s Animal Farm must be read as a scathing critique—and an allegory—of the communist revolution in Russia.
Subtopic #1: Despondent word choice / strong diction
Notice how 2A uses the evidence sandwich technique of
· Context
· Evidence
· Analysis
However, it is not only these adverbs that show Hazlitt’s pragmatism; the entire piece is full of strong, albeit cynical diction. The verbs in the primary sentence of the piece all vary, but inevitably all mean the same thing: “beggars will be ‘rejected’ and ‘compelled’ they will not be ‘asked out to dinner’ or ‘noticed on the street’ they are ‘scrutinized’ and ‘neglected’ and ‘assailed’ and all around abused.”
Bold = Context
Regular font = evidence/textual support
Analysis/Explanation = italics
The straight denotation of the words is clear: poor men do not lead fun lives. In addition to this, however, it is important to note that all these verbs are passive. The connotation of this is that the lower class men are not in control of their lives, and are instead controlled by the rich who neglect them. This despairing word choice shines a light on the self-fulfillment and autonomy those without money can never achieve.
What we should notice about 2A’s analysis: he discusses diction very specifically, by analyzing connotation vs. denotation and the passivity of the verbs. This analysis is then tied back to Hazlitt’s argument about money.
Subtopic #2: Syntactical strategies
Huge sentence structure mirrors the massive obstacles the poor must face in life.
Asyndeton: connecting clauses without conjunctions
Conclusion: a quick summary of the ideas, use of figurative language “pull the heartstrings”