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?

The opening line of the book is a bold statement by White that establishes the theme for the rest of the book. I agree that New York bestows the gift of loneliness and the gifts of privacy, whether it implies a positive or negative connotation, because in a place clustered with people, everyone is eager to succeed for themselves for a number of reasons and they tend to tune out what does not pertain to them. There are too many people in the city to be able to understand everybody, therefore people do things they want on their leisure time and do not focus on what everybody else is doing, which would be more likely in a smaller city with less people. No matter what time period it is, whether its E.B. White’s New York, or the New York that we live in today, there are so many things going on around the city as White mentions, that may be fascinating in theory, but no one will take the time to go to because there simply is not enough time to be involved in everything. He revisits the concept of loneliness and privacy throughout the text as he continues to list the different things in New York, whether the city is too crowded and tense for people to be integrated with one another or “blending the gift of privacy with participation” so that too many events serves as a blockade to be part of all events. I think the opening is effective because it establishes what the writer will speak about and it is not an abandoned thought, rather something that resonates throughout the entire text. It serves as a direction for the author and allows him to play with the words in different ways to illustrate how hectic New York City is, no matter the time period.

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

The writer uses lists in the book after making a declarative statement in the text. They serve as justifications and visualizations for the reader’s apprehension to sync with the mind of the author. The reader is thrown a piece of knowledge, and then put into the reality of that piece of knowledge, giving the text the same busyness and excess of what is going in New York to better understand the given circumstances. They empower the metaphors that are used throughout the story.