essay example of rhetorical analysis final draft.
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ENC 1101
27 March 202X
Rhetorical Analysis of Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts”
In the chapter “Shitty First Drafts,” published in the book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life in 1995, author Anne Lamott attempts to ease her readers’ frustrations with writing by explaining the importance of a first draft. She details her own experiences as a writer by stating that there isn’t a writer who can successfully develop a perfect piece with only one draft, except maybe one. She provides examples of her time writing for California Magazine and her struggles when writing as a food critic for them. She explains that “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere” (25). Toward the end of her work, she explains to her audience how she struggles with self-doubt when writing, and she provides her own way of coping with this self-doubt. Lamott’s use of writing is an analogy to life and how people need to understand that they are not perfect when they start something new. Her use of humor and examples help her audience relate easily to her purpose; however, her humor can also distract readers or make them less receptive to her ideas.
Lamott, while addressing her audience directly, adds elements of her sense of humor within her first paragraph. She establishes that people view successful writers as ones who sit at their desks feeling great about themselves, they write happily all day, and they write quickly. However, she quickly details that this belief is not accurate. After detailing that she knows some great writers, those that “you love” (21) who struggle writing, she then explains that there is one writer who does write without stress. Her audience, those who need confidence for writing and other parts of their life, can understand her humor when she explains that the one author who writes without stress is one that she and other writers “do not like … very much” (22). She then details that she and her colleagues believe this female author does not have a “rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her” (22). Lamott’s tone from her first paragraph already addresses her audience’s needs to help build their confidence in writing and life.
Lamott wants her audience to understand that writing, and other parts of life, are all just a process that takes time, and even when writing and life seem so stressful, her readers do have options. Right away, from the title of her book, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, readers know that Lamott wants them to take writing and life “one step at a time.” Plus, her title helps to establish that writing and life are not much different. Then, within the body of the chapter, “Shitty First Drafts,” she explains that one of her writer friends understands the struggle. She quotes him and explains that every morning he “says to himself nicely, ‘It’s not like you don’t have a choice, because you do — you can either type or kill yourself’” (22). This may not be humor to all of her readers, because it is a serious topic, Lamott clearly has a dark sense of humor throughout her piece. With this, Lamott does reach some of her readers who have felt this way either with writing or in life. However, this can also offend some of her readers who have struggled with depression. Therefore, Lamott’s voice helps to develop her purpose, and while some will find her sense of humor funny and relatable, others may find it offensive and distracting.
Then, while Lamott’s main purpose is to reassure her audience that they are not alone, she is also trying to help her audience find methods that could work for them, again, through her voice. She uses language such as “child’s draft” (22) to explain what writers should consider their first draft. She doesn’t want writers to put pressure on themselves as they begin writing. She mainly explains that it is important to get down any thoughts that the writer has, no matter how silly, “sentimental, weepy, emotional,” or ridiculous it may seem (23). She once again uses humor to establish what type of content can go into the “child’s draft”: “‘Well, so what, Mr. Poopy Pants?’” (23). Her explanation of the first draft being the “child’s draft” also uses childlike humor. Because of its unsophisticated nature, it is clear to her audience that she is being funny here, yet some of her audience may find it less humorous and more awkward. Still, Lamott clearly achieves her purpose through her details.
As Lamott writes of her own experience while working for California Magazine, she continues to present examples to ease the fears of her audience using dark humor. Through her experiences, she details how she doesn’t like what she writes, which leads her to leave her computer to walk around her house, make phone calls, look at herself in the mirror, and do other activities to help her procrastinate. Then, using dark humor again, she jokes about her fear of dying while her old draft is a “shitty draft.” She worries that if she were to die and then someone were to read that poorly written draft, people would “believe that the accident had really been a suicide” (25). This humor is something that many have experienced, and again, many aspiring writers may have thought this or had a similar worry. Still, since Lamott’s audience includes those who are seeking motivation, these ideas can have the opposite effect, leading some to feel defeated.
Lamott also provides her readers with ideas of how to eliminate the negative thoughts they have; the thoughts that could be the voices of those who fill her with self-doubt, some of whom are real and others who are created because of her own self-doubt. She explains how she has “voices in her head” that create an internal struggle: “Quieting these voices is at least half of the battle I fight daily” (26). She explains how “let to its own devices, [her] mind spends much of its time having conversations with people who aren’t there” (26). These conversations are ones that she has daily wherein she tries to justify her decisions with these voices. This explanation is followed by her own way of quieting these voices. After talking with a hypnotist, she learned to image in the voices as mice that she places in a jar as a way to silence them. She concludes with a recommendation a friend provided, which is once again part of her dark humor. Her writer friend “suggests opening the jar and shooting [the mice] all in the head” (27). Then, she says she thinks “he’s a little angry, and I’m sure nothing like this would ever occur to you” (27). This last line is the most interesting because after a chapter filled with dark humor suggesting the opposite does not fit. Therefore, this last sentence reads more as sarcastic humor rather than a serious comment. In the end, Lamott’s statement is directed toward her audience; plus, it includes those same elements of humor that readers notice throughout the piece.
In “Shitty First Drafts,” Lamott’s use of dark humor helps to establish her purpose, and overall, it helps her to achieve her purpose with her audience. She may alienate some of her audience who suffers from depression, but most of her audience will include those who have in some way had those same or similar thoughts. Therefore, whether they have thoughts of quitting or failing, her primary audience will take comfort in knowing that they are not the only ones who think this way. When first reading it, some of her audience may not really understand the idea of the voices in her head, but these are just the ideas of self-doubt that come with time. The somewhat shocking ending may have readers contemplating their own ways to “quiet the voices” in their head but possibly with less violence.
Work Cited
Lamott, Anne. “Shitty First Drafts.” Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, First
Anchor, 1995, pp. 21-27. docs.google.com/file/d/0B6YyWhb1z3ojQ21wdno4VFdJSnc/edit. Accessed January 2020.
