How to Live to Be 200 BY STEPHEN LEACOCK Process

The Thesis Rather than using A thesis sentence or statement, stephen leacock used his whole essay as A form to deliver his thesis.
The thesis is not stated at the beginning as is usual in a written work.
It’s the idea that he is trying to get across throughout the whole essay.
As the reader begins, you get the impression that the essay is about how healthy living will help to live a longer life.
Half way through the essay the reader is surprised to find leacock changing his point of view.<br>

The message Leacock is conveying is that even though a person may chose to live a healthy lifestyle, exercising, eating healthy, taking care of their body and so on, does not mean they will live a long and healthy live.
A person, who chooses to live a normal day to day life, may live just as long as or longer than someone who is a health fanatic.
His point is that no one knows how long they will live, so it is important to live each day enjoying ourselves.<br>

Eventually sooner or later, from illness, accident or old age everyone dies.
The thesis is that whether you live a healthy life or not, you should enjoy life to the fullest as there is no guarantee that you will live a long life.<br>

PURPOSE<br>

The author uses humour and over-exaggerations throughout the essay to prove a point.
The only limitation on food is whether or not you can afford it? Training germs so they won’t get you sick? Sandow exercises? None of these seem, as our society defines it today, healthy.
Leacock contrasts the “health mania” extreme and the “modern” extreme to make the reader question both sides.<br>

We get the sense of ridiculousness from the examples the author uses, you can’t hunt for the ozone!

The attention-grabbing hyperboles and contradictions put the point of moderation is key across to the readers, just in a very hilarious way.<br>

STRUCTURAL DEVICES<br>

A structural devices are when the writer manipulates stylistic effects to create new meaning.
In the essay Leacock starts with telling you about the narrators friend Jiggins, who had all of these crazy health routines so he could live until the age of 200, and then later on in the essay begins to say that all of the things that Jiggins did were crazy and that you should be more relaxed and take your time.<br>

The author at the end of the essay was contradicting everything Jiggins did to stay healthy.
The author of the essay used foreshadowing with the death of Jiggins being too concerned about your health would be bad thing so Leacock made the narrator go of the deep end on not being concerned about anything.
I think Leacock was trying to infer by making fun of both sides that you need a healthy balance between them both in order to live a happy long life<br>

Examples of contradiction: “he used to take a hot plunge in the morning to open his pore and then a cold plunge to shut them” , contradicted by “ also, drop all that cold-bath business.

You never did it when you were a boy. Don’t be a fool now. If you must take a bath (you don’t really need to) take it warm”<br>

Simile pg 281, paragraph 4: “Jiggens used to hitch himself up like a dog”
Hyperbole pg282, paragraph 10: “They are ridden by the Health Mania”
Hyperbole pg282, paragraph 12: “They hunt for ozone.”
Personification pg283, paragraph 19-21: “Hit it as hard as you can..it will soon get sick of that...it will understand...never knew a more affectionate companion”<br>

Literary Devices<br>