Heaven and Nature
Edward Hoagland
The Harvard educated war
veteran, Edward Hoagland, who was included in The Best American Essays of
the Century, shares his particular views on the causation of suicide in
elders. In his essay, Heaven and Nature, Edward Hoagland tries to change
the minds of those who believe all suicides are alike due to mental illness. In
writing this essay, Hoagland analyses the contrast between suicide in men and
women.
In supporting his
beliefs that the motives of self-murder between genders are dissimilar,
Hoagland uses the strategy of Hypophora, proposing a question to engage the
reader and responding with a fulfilled answer. Edward Hoagland questions why
the rate of suicide for men is three times as women. In asking this question,
he first sets up readers to doubt their own beliefs that suicides are alike
between genders because he provides that the rate vastly differs. He later
succeeds in changing the readers’ minds by answering his inquiry. Hoagland
states, “Men often compete with one another until the day they die... Men greet
each other with a sock on the arm, women with a hug, and the hug wears better
in the long run” (Hoagland 514). In being competitive and prideful, men do not
want to show weakness, such as asking for help. Since women have less envy in
their personality, they are able to seek guidance. The differing
characteristics between men and women answers why men have a higher suicide
rate. The stubborn and competitive drive in men can keep them from accepting
that they cannot solve all their problems without help. The hopelessness and
feeling of taking matters into their own hands leads to suicide. Women are less
likely to commit suicide of this reason because they are not always trying to
beat out to competition. The use of Hypophora in Hoagland’s essay is essential
in persuading readers that suicide is different within genders.
After reading Heaven
and Nature, readers are moved to believe that suicide does vary between
genders. Before reading Hoagland’s essay, most will believe that desiring to
kill oneself is a mental illness. However, Hoagland’s use of answering and
providing reasoning to statistics changes one’s mind. It is now understandable
that suicide is much deeper than a mental illness, and that personality traits
that clash between male and female, often create suicidal thoughts. Hoagland
has succeeded in writing Heaven and Nature, because his thoughts will
change many people’s thoughts on suicide.
Only Similar in Name
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