critical anaysis essay: teens and cellphones
What an Expectation
Teens and cells; how typical. In today’s world, it almost seems impossible to separate teenagers from their phones, and these gadgets are not left idle either. It is a rare thing indeed for a teen to call another’s home phone for any reason. However, before texting was around, teenagers continually rang each other’s home phones, and parents frequently fumbled to take messages appropriately for their teenagers. To be sure, cell phones have alleviated this one issue, but unfortunately, cell phones or not, parents are still often left overwhelmed and confused with the many ‘unwritten rules and expectations’ of their teenage children. In his essay “Handling Teen Calls”, Gary Lautens effectively and sarcastically illustrates the many challenges parents are faced with when trying to appease their teenagers’ expectations using unity, consistent coherence, and a humorous style. One essential component of Lautens’ essay is unity, as he constantly introduces the topic and slips in catchy sentences to refer back to the theme. While grabbing the reader’s attention with the first sentence, he establishes the topic. He begins with, “The other evening the telephone rang and a lovely female voice asked, ‘Is Stephen there?’” (301). Here, Lautens informs the reader that the essay will likely be about phone calls, boy-girl relationships, and fathers answering their teens’ calls. Readers are also subtly introduced to Lautens’ sarcastic tone, as he describes the “female voice” as “lovely”. This diction causes the caller to seem dreamy and unrealistic, showing that Lautens finds these callers amusing, and perhaps ridiculous. Also, even though every sentence relates to the theme, he wrote a few short sentences that attract the reader still more, and relate directly to the theme. After explaining his mistake in answering the one phone call, he laments, “When will I learn?” (302). This line is riddled with sarcasm, and supports the theme of how
Teens and cells; how typical. In today’s world, it almost seems impossible to separate teenagers from their phones, and these gadgets are not left idle either. It is a rare thing indeed for a teen to call another’s home phone for any reason. However, before texting was around, teenagers continually rang each other’s home phones, and parents frequently fumbled to take messages appropriately for their teenagers. To be sure, cell phones have alleviated this one issue, but unfortunately, cell phones or not, parents are still often left overwhelmed and confused with the many ‘unwritten rules and expectations’ of their teenage children. In his essay “Handling Teen Calls”, Gary Lautens effectively and sarcastically illustrates the many challenges parents are faced with when trying to appease their teenagers’ expectations using unity, consistent coherence, and a humorous style. One essential component of Lautens’ essay is unity, as he constantly introduces the topic and slips in catchy sentences to refer back to the theme. While grabbing the reader’s attention with the first sentence, he establishes the topic. He begins with, “The other evening the telephone rang and a lovely female voice asked, ‘Is Stephen there?’” (301). Here, Lautens informs the reader that the essay will likely be about phone calls, boy-girl relationships, and fathers answering their teens’ calls. Readers are also subtly introduced to Lautens’ sarcastic tone, as he describes the “female voice” as “lovely”. This diction causes the caller to seem dreamy and unrealistic, showing that Lautens finds these callers amusing, and perhaps ridiculous. Also, even though every sentence relates to the theme, he wrote a few short sentences that attract the reader still more, and relate directly to the theme. After explaining his mistake in answering the one phone call, he laments, “When will I learn?” (302). This line is riddled with sarcasm, and supports the theme of how