Zadie Smith, The Universal Writer: Techniques in Three Essays Anonymous 11th Grade

In her essays “That Crafty Feeling,” “F. Kafka, Everyman,” and “The Rise of the Essay,” Zadie Smith writes about the universal experience of writing using her own personal experience as the standard writing experience. Smith completely blends together her personal experiences with more generalized statements throughout her essays. Her use of the first person pronoun “I” and the second person pronoun “you” facilitate her transitions between her personal experiences and these generalized statements. She also uses hypophora to move logically and linearly through her argument. Zadie Smith’s use of hypophora and her personal appeal to her audience through use of the second person pronoun “you” in relation to the first person pronoun “I” in “That Crafty Feeling,” “F. Kafka, Everyman,” and “The Rise of the Essay” work to subtly universalize her own experiences with writing as the standard writing experience, thus strengthening her argument that the writing process is not unique to different individuals but rather that there is a standard writing process and that all writers are connected through writing.

Through her use of the pronouns “you” and “I,” Smith explicitly appeals to her readers as she writes, forming a personal link...