Summary Of 'The Coddling Of The American Mind'

In The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt every paragraph a new vocabulary word or two are introduced to the reader. In order for the reader to follow along the reader must remember the definitions of the previously learned words as well as learn the definitions of the new vocabulary word/s. A new word that is introduced during the article is Microaggression. This word is first introduced in the third paragraph and then used thirteen more times in the article. On top of the new vocabulary being taught the text also has a more difficult reading level. Based off of this information the audience for whom the authors appear to be writing to in one in the academic community. Professors, educators of any kind, undergrad or grad students as well as anyone well educated falls into this community.
Since The Coddling of the American Mind is written by two authors the tone switches ever so slightly when the subject matter switches to discuss how the topic affects mental illness in the country, especially college students especially. The authors choose a cautionary tone when writing this article in order to raise awareness about the movement that is happening on campuses all across the United States. Since the target audience seems to be the academic community the authors probably found it pertinent to bring this to the readers attention. Although since the audience is close to the topic the authors may be just taking a cautionary tone to remind the audience of what is happening on campuses around the United States. The authors seem to be critical of the way society works at this present moment. The authors points out faults they find in the society, one for example is the over protective nature people have been developing since the 60s in the United