Question

Kindly help :)

Read the following text, which is an article from the Yale Daily News blog. It was written in 2012 by a graduating student of the university.
Analyse the text, focusing on form, structure and language. [25]

We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I could say that’s
what I want in life. What I’m grateful and thankful to have found at Yale, and what I’m
scared of losing when we wake up tomorrow and leave this place.
It’s not quite love and it’s not quite community; it’s just this feeling that there are people, an abundance of people, who are in this together. Who are on your team. When the check is paid and you stay at the table. When it’s four a.m. and no one goes to bed.

That night with the guitar. That night we can’t remember. That time we did, we went,
we saw, we laughed, we felt. The hats.

Yale is full of tiny circles we pull around ourselves. A cappella groups, sports teams,
houses, societies, clubs. These tiny groups that make us feel loved and safe and part
of something even on our loneliest nights when we stumble home to our computers –
partner-less, tired, awake. We won’t have those next year. We won’t live on the same
block as all our friends. We won’t have a bunch of group-texts.

This scares me. More than finding the right job or city or spouse – I’m scared of losing
this web we’re in. This elusive, indefinable, opposite of loneliness. This feeling I feel
right now.

But let us get one thing straight: the best years of our lives are not behind us. They’re
part of us and they are set for repetition as we grow up and move to New York and
away from New York and wish we did or didn’t live in New York. I plan on having parties when I’m 30. I plan on having fun when I’m old. Any notion of THE BEST years comes from clichéd ‘should haves ...’ ‘if I’d ...’ ‘wish I’d ...’

Of course, there are things we wished we did: our readings, that boy across the hall.
We’re our own hardest critics and it’s easy to let ourselves down. Sleeping too late.
Procrastinating. Cutting corners. More than once I’ve looked back on my High School
self and thought: how did I do that? How did I work so hard? Our private insecurities
follow us and will always follow us.

But the thing is, we’re all like that. Nobody wakes up when they want to. Nobody did
all of their reading (except maybe the crazy people who win the prizes).We have these
impossibly high standards and we’ll probably never live up to our perfect fantasies of
our future selves. But I feel like that’s okay.

We’re so young. We’re so young. We’re twenty-two years old. We have so much time.
There’s this sentiment I sometimes sense, creeping in our collective conscious as we
lay alone after a party, or pack up our books when we give in and go out – that it is
somehow too late. That others are somehow ahead. More accomplished, more
specialized. More on the path to somehow saving the world, somehow creating or
inventing or improving. That it’s too late now to BEGIN a beginning and we must settle
for continuance, for commencement.

When we came to Yale, there was this sense of possibility. This immense and indefinable potential energy – and it’s easy to feel like that’s slipped away.We never had to choose and suddenly we’ve had to. Some of us have focused ourselves. Some of us know exactly what we want and are on the path to get it; already going to med school, working at the perfect NGO, doing research.

For most of us, however, we’re somewhat lost in this sea of liberal arts. Not quite sure
what road we’re on and whether we should have taken it. If only I had majored in biology... if only I’d gotten involved in journalism as a freshman ... if only I’d thought to apply for this or for that ...What we have to remember is that we can still do anything. We can change our minds. We can start over. Get a post-bac or try writing for the first time. The notion that it’s too late to do anything is comical. It’s hilarious. We’re graduating college. We’re so young. We can’t, we MUST not lose this sense of possibility because in the end, it’s all we have. We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I’d say that’s how I feel at Yale. How I feel right now. Here. With all of you. In love, impressed, humbled, scared. And we don’t have to lose that. We’re in this together, 2012. Let’s make something happen to this world.

Answer 1

The article from the Yale Daily News blog is a personal reflection by a graduating student of Yale University. The writer expresses their thoughts and feelings about the sense of community and connection they have experienced while at Yale and their fear of losing it as they move on from the university. The text is divided into three paragraphs, each with a distinct focus.

The first paragraph introduces the central idea of the article: the writer's desire for the opposite of loneliness, which they describe as a feeling of belonging and connection with others. The writer uses informal language, including contractions, to create a conversational tone and engage the reader. The lack of a word for the opposite of loneliness suggests the writer's struggle to fully articulate their feelings.

The second paragraph focuses on the specific communities and groups that the writer has found at Yale. The use of short sentences and phrases, such as "The hats," creates a sense of immediacy and intimacy. The writer uses repetition and the imagery of tiny circles to convey the close-knit nature of these groups and the sense of safety and belonging they provide.

The final paragraph shifts the focus to the future and the writer's anxiety about the unknown. The use of the second person, "we," and the repeated phrase, "We're so young," creates a sense of unity and solidarity with the reader. The writer emphasizes the idea of possibility and encourages the reader to embrace change and pursue their passions.

Overall, the article is structured as a personal reflection with a clear beginning, middle, and end. The language is informal and conversational, with a focus on engaging the reader and conveying the writer's emotions. The writer uses repetition, short sentences, and vivid imagery to create a sense of intimacy and immediacy. The central idea of the article is the writer's fear of losing the sense of community and connection they have experienced at Yale, and the writer encourages the reader to embrace change and hold onto a sense of possibility for the future.