1. What is your impression of the opening line of White’s book: “New York bestows gifts of loneliness and the gifts of privacy.” Do you agree or disagree with White? If so, why? If not, why not? How effective is the opening? What does it accomplish, if anything?

My first impression was that he was describing New York as a bitter sweet place, that living in New York can give you a gift you may like and a gift you may not like. I agree with White, being born and raised in New York I know you definitely get a sense of loneliness and I think people least expect it because New York is the city that never sleeps. However people here live on a constant schedule and it takes them to being in their own world that they forget about their surroundings. If privacy in New York is being compared to privacy in a small town I also agree on that, living in such a big city allows you to keep things private from a large number of people. There is a lot of people you walk by every single day without knowing a thing about them. I think the opening is very effective because he goes right into how he feels about New York, which ultimately makes it an attention grabber.

2. How and why does the writer use list in this book?

The writer uses a list grammatically incorrect by writing the word “and” rather then using commas, and I think it was obviously done purposely by the writer. The writer seems to mention something and lay out the list in a way dragging his idea and sarcastically making sure his point gets across to the reader.