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Pico Iyer in his essay draws the attention of the audience to the importance of punctuation in our life, to the value of commas, in particular. To create the audiences motivation for the study of the article, the author explains the role of a comma in our life that is often underestimated. To show our wrong attitude towards the comma, Iyer intentionally resorts to metaphoric exaggeration of its influence, saying that comma, as well as, gods give breath & and & take it away (paragraph 1). The author asserts that a comma is breath itself , no matter how hard we may try to oppress it or ignore its significance (Iyer paragraph 1).
The author explains the main purpose of punctuation as the keeper of order very accessibly. He builds a comparison between the rules of punctuation and rules of the road, which is simple but eloquent since we are aware of the latter in childhood already. He compares a period with the unblinking finality of a red light ; the comma with flashing yellow light ; and the semicolon with a stop sign (Iyer paragraph 2). Thus, the author justifies his point of view that the rules of punctuation help people to establish a harmonious relationship with one another.
Further, the author gives another figurative comparison of a run-on sentence and a sink piled high with dirty dishes (Iyer paragraph 3). Here the author appeals to human feelings again trying to arouse disgust at clumsy sentences that we usually have when observing untidy people or dirty dishes. Besides, the author makes use of historical examples, comparing Victorian time with its strong observance of punctuation and the modern literary trend of stream of consciousness and the picturesque example of James Joyces heroine from Ulysses with her famous inner monologue of more than thirty pages without punctuation.
Iyer presents a multidimensional view of the functions of punctuation in human life, society, and cultures. He parallels the peculiarities of peoples temperaments and their usage of punctuation marks, like the expression of the passion of hot-blooded Spaniards with the help of double exclamation points (Iyer paragraph 4). The author finds a deep interrelation between time, political regime, and punctuation, for instance, capitalization of Ministries, Cub-Committees and Secretariats in absolutist Communist society (Iyer par.4).
However, the scientist stresses that the relationship between punctuation and culture is not the final stage of the importance of punctuation. The relationship between people and punctuation is much more significant. It may be unapparent, but commas and other punctuation marks rule our feelings, they, certainly, influence a person when one bats ones eyes, lowers ones voice of blushes demurely (Iyer paragraph 5).
Further, Pico Iyer illustrates a cardinal shift of meaning, which can make people nervous, offended or scared if punctuation marks are changed in the utterances. With the help of bright examples, he shows that punctuation makes such a deep influence on people like the arousal of suspicion or painful abuse of feelings. The point of view of the author is proven by diverse examples, starting with the generalized example of every child who knows the menace of dropped apostrophe and ending with the concrete example of the Gloomy Dane , Hamlet, and his eternal phrase To be or not to be (Iyer paragraph 6).
The subtle meaning of commas is also tackled by P. Iyer after his analysis of the vital role of punctuation in human life and communication. He emphasizes the simple but valuable beauty that may be created by commas, choosing a prompt metaphor that compares a comma with the necklace that gives an outfit quiet elegance (Iyer paragraph 7). Such a little thing as a comma can give the description a spin , a zest (Iyer paragraph 7).
The last but one paragraph focuses on the importance of comma again. The author is starting to conclude the information he has presented. Again, he parallels a tiny comma and a world that is shaped and rules by commas to a certain extent. The key statement here is that the world without commas is a world without shade (Iyer paragraph 8).
Drawing a conclusion, it should be stated that the assay about punctuation, which at first suggested the idea of an arid and boring set of rules about the usage of punctuation in the text, turned out to be a captivation excursion into history, culture, and human psychology. The nontriviality of the authors ideas, which was supported by the pleasant accessibility of his arguments, has proved to be very convincing. One of the merits of the essay is the masterful usage of figures of speech, like metaphors, epithets, which has turned the essay into the ode to a comma. This essay praises punctuation and makes us believe it can bring us back & to gods (Iyer par. 9).
Works Cited
Iyer, Pico. In Praise of the Humble Comma. Time. (1988). Web.
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