Second Project Draft:  ...intro.

-Generation Me

     Everyone's had that talk with their parents.  In fact, it's probably part of most families daily conversations.  Now I know what your thinking; what in the world kind of family talks about sex on a regular basis?  A very open one, and that's not very many.  All families have had the success talk before though.  You know, the one where the parents tell their child that he is very special and can grow up to be whatever he wants, as long as he studies hard, graduates the top of his class, and get into the best college out there.  And after all of that praise and encouragement, the child walks away saying "Yeah, right. Whatever."  

     This isn't an uncommon situation today.  Kid's part of "Generation Me," born in the 1980's and 90's, constantly have their self esteem boosted, believe in themselves more than any other generation, but turn out to be quite the cynics, hence the 'whatever.'  Jean M. Twenges book, "Generation Me," explains this incident.  The very cover of the book itself states that todays youth is becoming more and more confident, assertive, entitled, and more miserable than ever before.  

Second Project Rough Draft

     Everyone's had that talk with their parents. In fact, it's probably part of most family’s daily conversations. Now I know what you’re thinking; what in the world kind of family talks about sex on a regular basis? A very open one, and that's not very many. All families have had the success talk before though. You know, the one where the parents tell their child that he is very special and can grow up to be whatever he wants, as long as he studies hard, graduates the top of his class, and get into the best college out there. And after all of that praise and encouragement, the child walks away saying "Yeah, right. Whatever."

     This isn't an uncommon situation today. Kid's part of "Generation Me," born in the 1980's and 90's, constantly have their self-esteem boosted, believe in themselves more than any other generation, but turn out to be quite the cynics, hence the 'whatever.' Jean M. Twenge’s book, "Generation Me," explains this incident. The very cover of the book itself states that today’s youth is becoming more and more confident, assertive, entitled, and more miserable than ever before. In a rhetorical analysis of the book, we see that Twenge implies this through ethos  using several scientific studies and research, the pathos of her own personal experiences as well as others ideas and thoughts and the logos of naturally advancing with time.

      “Generation Me” is clearly about, yes, you guessed it; Generation Me, more often called the Millennials or Generation Y.  For this purpose let’s just call them GenMe.  Throughout the book, Twenge, a Ph.D.,  explains how GenMe has grown to become such a strong generation as a whole. Although us GenMe’ers are different from all other generations in many ways, she most commonly compares us to the Baby Boomers, who were born between 1946 and 1964 and are the parents of GenMe children.  The differences between the two generations show just what GenMe is all about; me, me, and me.

     The first chapter of the book is entitled ‘You Don’t Need Their Approval: The Decline in Social Rules.’  The title says it all.  GenMe obviously doesn’t need anyone’s approval for anything; they do what is good for them.  In this chapter, Twenge demonstrates how she will tie the use of logos, pathos and ethos into her arguments.  For example, she brings up the issue of dress code.  GenMe’ers no longer wear business suits, girdles, gowns, and white gloves every day.  Over time, the dress code has changed to what it is today, which applies to logos.  Kind of like evolution, huh?  It is only logical that over time, people have realized that it is ridiculous to wear clothes that suck in their belly so much they can barely breathe and make them terribly uncomfortable.   Today, there is no need to conform to a certain model or stereotype.  GenMe’ers wear clothes to make themselves comfortable, to express themselves and most importantly, they wear whatever they want.  To support her arguments, Twenge uses many different quotes and pictures of normal everyday people which apply to pathos.  On page 18 and 19, she shows a picture of two different Christmas cards; one from 1955 and one from 2004.  The one from 1955 has the family in not only formal clothes, but the posing and demeanor is formal as well.  The picture taken in 2004 has the family smiling, hugging each other, and has a happy, get–to-the-point message.  This shows that it is more important to comfortable and happy with yourself than to be socially accepted and to follow society’s rules.  She also uses the results of many research projects, experiments and surveys to prove a point.  These findings add to the ethos of the book.  In a recent study conducted by one of Twenge’s students’ and herself, it was found that need for social approval has slid downward rapidly since the 1950’s.  ‘The average college student in 2001 scored lower than 62% of college students in 1958.’ (p. 42)