Question

Summarise this Paragraph from Flannery O'Connor, "Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction" (1960) You may say that the serious writer doesn't have to bother about the tired reader, but he does, because they are all tired. One old lady who wants her heart lifted up wouldn't be so bad, but you multiply her two hundred and fifty thousand times and what you get is a book club. I used to think it should be possible to write for some supposed elite, for the people who attend universities and sometimes know how to read, but I have since found that though you may publish your stories in Botteghe Oscure, they are any good at all, you are eventually going to get a letter from some old lady in California, or some inmate of the Federal Penitentiary or the state insane asylum or the local poorhouse, telling you where you have failed to meet his needs.

Answer 1

Answer:

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Explanation:

It'd be rather difficult to accurately summarizes this due to possible conflicting definitions of just that.

This is why I'll supply everything you need! :)

1. MAIN POINT: The main point of this paragraph, from MY interpretation, is that it's more rewarding to write for a generalized audience, AKA all readers, rather than narrowing in on a specific targeted audience hoping to reap the rewards.

2. EVIDENCE: I make this conclusion because of key phrases and literary techniques riddled throughout the paragraph.

One old lady who wants her heart lifted up wouldn't be so bad, but you multiply her two hundred and fifty thousand times and what you get is a book club. . . I have found that though you may publish your stories in Botteghe Oscure, they are any good at all, you are eventually going to get a letter from some old lady in California. . . telling you where you have failed to meet his needs (O'Conner, Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction).

3: INTERPRETATION & EVIDENCE: From the passage and the given situation, it's stated that trying to write for some form of elite group, like those who attend places like Harvard or Yale, will oftentimes limit you in various ways, assuming your work is even considered good. Those supposed elites make up a tiiiiny, insignificant percentage of readers. HOWEVER, you have nice old biddies and tired readers as a vast and overwhelming percentage of readers, and many of them will view your work, assuming it's aimed for the smaller percentage, as underwhelming. This will undoubtedly limit your audience and opportunities.

4. SUMMARY: If I were to summarize this, it'd be similar to what I've stated already, but you may use this as a guideline here:

The paragraph from "Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Fiction" by Flannery O'Conner creates an extended hypothetical to highlight the importance of writing for a majority percentage of audiences to increase the scope and magnitude of your work while increasing your opportunities, a stark contrast to the self-inflicted limitations brought/inflicted upon oneself by attempting to narrow their target audience to a specific, smaller minority. In this passage, this premise is delineated by highlighting the appeal behind reaching the average reader rather than a supposed elitist.

~Troy