"The Law of Human Nature" Reader's Response.
Thesis: Lewis conveys his ideas of basic normality by appealing to the reader using first person.
Continually Lewis assigns his own opinion into the story to keep the reader interested. When writing about his ideas, Lewis states "I know that some people say the idea of a Law of Nature or decent behaviour known to all men is unsound [ ]"(414). By using first person, Lewis poses his idea on a one-to-one basis with the reader. The use of first person makes the reader become more involved in his essay and allows him to more fully understand Lewis" writing. Lewis goes further in his writing form to state "Some of the evidence for this I have put together in the appendix of another book called The Abolition of Man; but for our present purpose I need only ask the reader to think what a totally different morality would mean"(414). As Lewis writes this, he synthesizes his ideas with the reader's and totally interact with him on a person-to-person basis. The effect is that Lewis makes the reader aware of his own thoughts and brings him deeper into Lewis" writing, thus allowing Lewis to further his point.
Later in his essay, Lewis attempts to challenge the reader into thinking for himself based on the questions Lewis personally proposes. After Lewis proves one of the points of his essay, he confronts the reader by stating, "Whenever you find a man who says he .
does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later"(414). By using the word "you" Lewis addresses the reader directly .
and maintains his one-to-one writing form. As his essay comes to a close, Lewis introduces a slight twist into his writing style. He at first reverts back to strictly using first person and then blends in his latter style. As Lewis uses first-person, he writes: "I hope you will not misunderstand what I am going to say.