Reading Journal 2 || Russell Baker || "The Art of Eating Spaghetti"

1. Baker is speaking to a person who is afraid of trying something new. He is expressing to his audience that you are never to young to be a writer. His selected audience is mostly high schoolers who are about to graduate in a year or couple years, and who are struggling with what they want to become.  His audience is perhaps similar to himself. He is also pointing out to his audience that you should never be afraid to do something. 
2. In the second paragraph, Russell states his thesis and then tells his audience on Bedford, "...I'd been bored by everything associated with English courses. I found English grammar dull and baffling" (60). This statement he makes shows his opinions on the how much he hated English courses. Even though becoming a writer has crossed Baker's mind, he would have never thought of being an actual writer in his third year of high school. He wrote this essay because he wanted to show the readers that there is never an age to start something you are good at and pursue it as a career. Baker's statements in the entire essay explain to the reader about how one English course and teacher could impact your life and career greatly.
3. The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate to the audience that they should never be afraid to express themselves no matter what the circumstances are. Being yourself will help you get through a difficult situation, just like Baker struggles with English courses and his teacher Mr. Fleagle. After writing his own essay that violated the composition rules and turning it in, he was afraid of earning a bad grade. As soon as "the worst teacher", Mr. Fleagle, compliments his essay to the whole class, Baker receives a sense of confidence in becoming a writer. Basically, he wants his readers to know that there is always a possibility out there, so do not be afraid.
4. This purpose affects the tone he uses, which is very casual with his audience. Since it is a personal essay and there's dialogue in it, we can determine this essay has an informal tone of voice. Baker uses an informal tone to get his message across in a clear manner and let the audience know that their work is excellent even if it doesn't follow the rules. Russell Baker states in the essay, "The idea of prim Mr. Fleagle plucking his nipple from boneless gums was too much for the class. We burst into gasps of irrepressible snickering" (61). This quote provides a sense of childishness and immaturity the children had in that class as they read a stanza from a play called Macbeth. This informality shown in Baker's essay proves to us that this narrative had a more informal tone than formal tone.