Camille Zendzian

RA
Johnson Revised Draft
06/04/14
As humans, we often find ourselves overconfident in our expectations only to be gravely
disappointed in realitys response. A mother was crudely put in her place by an author as she
made the very mistake of developing high hopes. In a blunt letter, Samuel Johnson explicitly
refuses to write her sons college recommendation to the Archbishop by shifting from abstract,
worldly concepts to the concrete situation to explain that one cannot always eagerly anticipate
compliance to whatever they may request from others.
Initially, Johnson begins by constructing a philosophical stance on the issue in order to
allow the mother to understand the conceptual point of view to his denial. The author opens with
the abstractions of hope happiness pleasures pain and expectations as the
downward spiral one discovers to be inevitable when they develop unrealistic hope in the
confirmation of their expectations. He purposely applies vagueness to this section of his
correspondence so that she could readily comprehend that he speaks beyond her as an
individual; instead, he generalizes humankind. Johnson does so to recognize this fatal human
flaw because once an issue is introduced as larger than a single being one feels a stronger
need to execute it. These expectations he says, end in disappointment when one does not
consider the enormity of what they request. Thus, by opening in such a manner, Johnson
eliminates the womans overshot confidence and then can specify the unreasonableness of her
demands.
The author transitions to subjective matter in the second paragraph through the contrast
of the mothers expectations and reality for she let her emotions overshadow her reasoning.
This shift in his writing allows the reader to see how his philosophy directly relates to her
individually. He uses the concrete subject of a man continually to prove and the sarcastic
Madam to show he speaks now of the precise situation she wrote to him about. The blunt tone
with which he speaks pairs with the direct address compels the mother to recognize the mistake
she made and to reveal his outright denial of her request. The sudden change from abstract to
concrete forces the reader to correlate the previous discussion to the one that follows as the two
juxtapose each other. Johnson purposely applies this method so that she is able to fully
comprehend his philosophy and how it relates to her.
If overconfidence was not shot down, humans would find themselves perpetually
dissatisfied with the world. They would believe deeply in themselves and others and once flaws
are reveals, as the inevitably should be, optimistic opinions will be shot down and dreams would
simultaneously be crushed. The human condition would become desolate, for hope would
whittle away with each disappointment. Therefore, our earth needs people like Johnson to
remind us not to expect too much.