Greek Town: Thornton Wilder's Our Town

Thornton Wilder’s tragedy, Our Town, was unique at the time of its initial performance in 1938 because the techniques he had incorporated into the play were seemingly experimental: minor scenery, some furniture, few props.¹ Action that normally would require the use of props—preparing breakfast, for example—is mimed by the players.  Wilder’s approach was risky, considering many theatrical productions in the 1930’s focused on costumes, sets and music—that is, were lavish performances.  The Great Waltz (1934) had 180 performers who wore a total of 500 costumes.  An innovative hydraulic system moved the massive sets, and a 53-piece orchestra closed the spectacle with Strauss’ The Blue Danube.  Billy Rose’s $340,000 budget for Jumbo (1935) prevented the production from being profitable.  Hellzapoppin' (1938) was similar to a circus—entertaining the audience via comedians, impersonators, singers, dancers, a magician, musicians, dwarfs, clowns, and pigeons.

Wilder’s techniques suggest that his sentiments about the state of theater in the 1930’s were similar to Antonin Artaud’s in The Theater and Its Double:

     An idea of the theater has been lost. […] At the point of 
     deterioration which our sensibility has reached, it is certain that
     we need above all a theater that wakens us up: nerves and heart.
     […] In the anguished, catastrophic period we live in, we feel an
     urgent need for a theater which events do not exceed, whose 
     resonance is deep within us, dominating the instability of the 
     times.

     Our long habit of seeking diversion has made us forget the idea
     of a serious theater, which, overturning all our preconceptions, 
     inspires us with the fiery magnetism of its images and acts upon 
     us like a spiritual therapeutics whose touch can never be
     forgotten.² 

The therapeutic value of theater is not a new concept.  In Poetics (350 B.C.E.), Aristotle predicates his idea of tragedy on the social benefits of poetry, the tragic effect being analogous to the treatment of emotions.  “A tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic, not in a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions” (6.1449^b.24).³  Through the influence of dramatic action on the spectator’s imagination, according to Aristotle, the morbidity that besets him/her would intensify to the point of crisis and then abate by way of an emotional outburst that might include tears.  The spectator would leave the theater mentally healthy, purged of his/her anxieties.

The tragic plot is designed to affect an audience, and to be properly effective, the action needs to be of appropriate magnitude.  In Poetics Aristotle suggests a simple precept: “Plot must be of some length, but of a length to be taken in by the memory” (7.1451^a.5).  With respect to the duration of the incidents represented on the stage, however, the suggestion is more precise.  “Tragedy,” Aristotle states, “endeavours to keep as far as possible within a single circuit of the sun, or something near that” (5.1449^b.14).  Aristotle does not extensively discuss the supposed unity of time.  It seems the restriction of the action to the events in a single day had more to do with the concentration of the action than with doubts about the ability of the audience to accord the passage of time on the stage with the passage of time in the auditorium.  Aristotle does not require the imitation of action to be exact, nor did the Greek poets have any such idea.  It was the sixteenth-century humanists, such as the critic Lodovico Castelvetro, who invented the unities.

For example, Aeschylus’ Agamemnon (458 B.C.E.) takes place over an indefinite period of time.  The watchman sees the beacon on the mountaintop presumably soon after the sack of Troy, and it would take several days for Agamemnon’s ship to cross the Aegean, but it is convenient to have the interval covered by a choral song that lasts minutes.  Likewise, the action of Our Town spans longer than a single day (1901 – 1913), including temporal shifts forward and backward.  But one easily could argue that the action of Our Town occurs in one day; the drama begins “just before dawn” (4) and ends at “night” (112).
     

Aristotle mentions nothing in the Poetics about the unity of place.  Greek theater in the fifth century was not well adapted to facilitate frequent changes of scene, but it is likely that, by the time of Sophocles (496 – 406 B.C.E.), painted screens oriented the audience.  The existent tragedies do not require a multiplicity of scenes, and when there is a scenic change, little effort is necessary to shift the action from place to place.  The seventeenth-century French poets adopted unity of place to enhance the difficulty of their art.  Although they developed a style of classical drama that was successful—Pierre Corneille’s Le Cid (1636), for example—it was divergent from the style of Greek tragedy.  Wilder adheres to unity of place in Our Town: “The entire play takes place in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire” (2).

Aeschylus’ Troy existed, but Wilder’s Grover’s Corners is fictional: is that consequential?  No, according to Aristotle, because art is mimetic.  “Tragedy is essentially an imitation not of persons but of action and life, of happiness and misery.  All human happiness or misery takes the form of action; the end for which we live is a certain kind of activity, not a quality” (6.1450^a.16).  Tragedy imitates nature and edifies to the extent that it imitates life, life’s essential and universal essence.  Tragedy is the imitation of an action, a phenomenon.  Unlike history, it represents not what is said to have occurred, but what might or should have happened in order to provoke pity and fear, which is the intent of tragedy. 

The tragic effect was achieved by limiting the scope of the action.  Aristotle defines unity of action in terms of the relation of a whole to its parts: “Now a whole is that which has beginning, middle, and end” (7.1450^b.26).  His formulation involves the principle of logical sequence which the Poetics affirms throughout as essential to a well-constructed plot.  Moreover, a series of incidents firmly linked in the order of cause and consequence would not only have unity, but would prevent the inclusion of extraneous incidents:

     The truth is that, just as in the other imitative arts one imitation
     is always of one thing, so in poetry the story, as an imitation of 
     action, must represent one action, a complete whole, with its 
     several incidents so closely connected that the transposal or
     withdrawal of any one of them will disjoin and dislocate the 
     whole.  For that which makes no perceptible difference by its
     presence or absence is no real part of the whole.  (8.1451^a.30)

Aristotle’s principle of composition has been quoted as often as it has been violated.  An adherence to his precept would result in a narrative structure that is rare, but not impossible, to find.  The three-act structure of Our Town (“Daily Life,” “Love and Marriage,” “Death”) unifies the action, and Our Town focuses on one story with no subplots to complicate things.

The focus of Greek tragedy was more extensive than what is in the current canon; Aristotle mentions many tragedies of which there are no vestiges.  Of the plays that have been preserved, those that deal with domestic horrors appear to have been especially effective.  According to Aristotle, “Though the poets began by accepting any tragic story that came to hand, in these days the finest tragedies are always on the story of some few houses, on that of Alcmeon, Oedipus, Orestes, Meleager, Thyestes, Telephus, or any others that may have been involved, as either agents or sufferers, in some deed of horror” (13.1453^a.19).  The connections among relatives, friends and associates were important in ancient Greece and Rome, and the action in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon certainly aroused deep emotions in fifth-century spectators.  Since Shakespeare, however, we have been tending to think of the tragic element in terms of the reluctant hero’s inner conflict and the social pressures that determine his/her behavior.

Wilder shifts the focus back to domestic issues.  The characters frequently exhibit their love toward each other.  In the first act, familial love and friendship predominate.  Evening falls on Grover’s Corners, and the Congregational Church’s choir, under the direction of Simon Stimson, begins to rehearse.  George and Emily discuss algebra.  Dr. Gibbs and George speak about responsibilities and allowances.  Mrs. Soames and Mrs. Webb gossip about Simon Stimson’s alcoholism.  Mrs. Gibbs and Dr. Gibbs talk and walk with their arms linked.  The constable makes his rounds to ensure all is well.  Mr. Webb talks to his daughter, Emily, who is enjoying the moonlight at her bedroom window.  And the Stage Manager calls an end to a typical day in Grover’s Corners.  In the second act, romantic love blossoms into marriage after George and Emily overcome their doubts and fears.  In the third act, selfless, spiritual love is shown.  George does not utter a word, but when he throws himself onto Emily’s grave, his deed speaks loudly.

In Greek tragedy, when one expects the chorus to utter wisdom, it usually provides formal precepts and trite maxims—chiding excess, counseling moderation, and brooding on the folly of pride and the dangers of hubris.  The chorus, as an actor in the tragedy, is seldom in a position to generalize philosophically on the significance of the action.  To infer the meaning of a tragedy—assuming it has a meaning—one must look, not at what is said, but to what is done.  Thus, one discovers that tragedy is seldom informative.  Often it is ambiguous.

The Stage Manager in Our Town is similar to the chorus in Agamemnon.  Aeschylus’ chorus is aware of both the principals and the spectators.  At times it separates the audience from the action to concentrate attention on itself, and occasionally the chorus unites the two dramatically and emotionally.  It is a participant in the action, an actor, and it is a mirror, something that brings into proper proportion the action.  Aristotle states that “The Chorus too should be regarded as one of the actors; it should be an integral part of the whole, and take a share in the action” (18.1456^a.25).  Wilder’s Stage Manager is a neutral character, an actor both inside and outside the play.  He addresses the audience on the present, the past, and the future.  Temporal limits bind him, yet the Stage Manager is both beyond and outside time.  He comments on the action and tells the audience about events that occur offstage.  In Act II the Stage Manager informs the audience that the title of the act is “Love and Marriage.”  George attempts to see Emily, but Mrs. Webb does not allow him to see his bride.  The Stage Manager interrupts to present a scene from the past, the time when George and Emily became aware of their love for each other.  The Stage Manager asks Dr. and Mrs. Gibbs to explain to the audience how the parents reacted to the engagement.  While the actors arrange chairs to be pews for the wedding scene, the Stage Manager talks to the audience about the importance of marriage.  The wedding begins with the Stage Manager as the clergyman.

Our Town begins at dawn with the birth of twins in a nearby town and ends at night with the death of Emily Webb Gibbs in childbirth.  As one life ends, another begins.  Throughout the play the Stage Manager directs the audience’s attention to the repetition of the cycle of life.  In his opening monologue, he announces that the names on the tombstones in the graveyard are the “same names as are around here now” (6).  At the beginning of Act II, the Stage Manager affirms that the sun has “come up over a thousand times” (47).  And in the third act, he mentions both: “lots of sun and moon and stars” and “Over there—are the old stones” (86).

Some critics consider Thornton Wilder a religious writer and Our Town a religious play.  But, excepting the Congregational Church and the wedding scene, there is nothing explicit about God or heaven.  The Stage Manager contemplates the word eternal at the beginning of Act III:

     Now there are some things we all know, but we don’t take’m out
     and look at’m very often.  We all know that something is 
     eternal.  And it ain’t houses and it ain’t names, and it ain’t earth,
     and it ain’t even the stars … everybody knows in their bones
     that something is eternal, and that something has to do with 
     human beings.  All the greatest people ever lived have been 
     telling us that for five thousand years and yet you’d be surprised
     how people are always losing hold of it.  There’s something was
     down deep that’s eternal about every human being.  (87 – 88)  

Aristotle does not discuss, nor did he need to discuss, in the Poetics the religious or the moral or the political objectives of the poet/dramatist.  Aristotle’s theater is not a forum for the exchange of ideas.  A tragedy is neither an allegory nor an exemplum nor a vehicle for the expression of opinions.  From Aristotle’s standpoint tragedy is designed to move, not to teach.  Similar to Agamemnon, Our Town concludes with no resolution.  The moral issue is left open.

Grover’s Corners is ruled by laws and customs that the inhabitants heed, but it is laughable to conclude that the imitation of banality was Wilder’s objective.  The Stage Manager is assiduous in his effort to discern patterns, but the play truly defies rationalization, and the Stage Manager suggests that the meaning is explicable only in regard to the eternal thing which resides in each of us.  God only knows what that is.

_______________________________________________________

          ¹Thornton Wilder, Our Town (New York: Perennial-Harper, 2003).

          ²Antonin Artaud, The Theater and Its Double, trans. by Mary Caroline Richards (New York: Evergreen-Grove Press, 1958) 84 – 85.

          ³Aristotle, On Poetics, trans. by Ingram Bywater, in Great Books of the Western World: Aristotle II, Vol. 9 (Chicago: Encylcopædia Britannica, 1952) 681 – 699.    

 

Brief Analysis of American Primitive

Lineation, repetition and tropes are the effective constituents of the poems in American Primitive.*  Mary Oliver, using the aforementioned poetic techniques, transforms otherwise commonplace free verse into lyrical and imagistic elegies.  For example, "The Sea" begins with the rhythmic lines, "Stroke by / stroke my / body remembers that life and cries for / the lost parts of itself" (1 - 4).  Anaphora counters the enjambment between the first and second lines with the result that the reader/listener actually feels as though he/she is swimming.  The pace quickens through the third line and into the fourth line--as the speaker is remembering--until the reader/listener encounters an end-stop, a hyphen.  The pace slackens again when the reader/listener encounters a comma separating a spondee: "fins, gills" (5).

Sometimes Oliver repeats individual words and phrases within lines.  "Something" begins with alliteration: "Somebody skulking the yard / stumbles against a stone, it stutters / across the dark boards of the night / and we know.  We know" (1 - 4).  The internal repetition of the phrase "we know" echoes the sound of the stone.  More often, however, Oliver uses anaphora to create rhythm and to make her endings powerful.  In "Vultures" the repetition of infinitives in three successive lines (6 - 8) establishes a rhythm that she breaks with the multisyllabic word "resurrection" (9).  The colon stresses the word's importance.  The phrase "no one" appears internally three times--in lines 9, 13 and 20--as well as the word "them"--in lines 28, 30 and 31--creating tension.  Oliver employs anaphora near the end of the poem:
     however wise the doctrine,
     however magnificent the cycles,
     however ultimately sweet
     the huddle of death to fuel
     those powerful wings.  (32 - 36)
Oliver is restating the ideas in lines six through nine, which makes the poem's structure correlate with its theme.

Oliver portrays the notion of resurrection in "Vultures" both sonically and imagistically.  Furthermore, throughout the collection, philosophical abstractions become concrete by way of tropes.  The mundane association of love with flowers seems less cliche in "Cold Poem" because she imagistically portrays love as egocentric in the ultimate line, "crushed red flowers" (24).  Although Oliver compares lust to flowers in "An Old Whorehouse"--"It would be years before / we'd learn how effortlessly / sin blooms, then softens, / like any bed of flowers" (15 - 18)--she does such in a unique way.

Any poet contemplating free verse as a means of expression needs to study Oliver's techniques.  She concretely and uniquely depicts abstract concepts.  She creates unity via repetition.  Her linear breaks simulate motion and control emotion.
_______________________________________________________
     *Mary Oliver, American Primitive (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1979).

Example of an Effective Memo

I attached the following memo, a proposal, to an email I sent to my superiors and peers at the Episcopal Church of the Advent.  A proposal is a complex argument, a combination of different types of arguments: definitional, categorical, evaluative and/or causal.  (For more information on argumentation, please refer to "Toulmin's Scheme for Argumentation" and "The Components of an Academic Argument.")  The introductory paragraph is a summary of the content.  In the succedent section, "Current System," I define the problem.  I respectively describe some consequences and evaluate some options in the next two sections.  I close the memo with a recommendation and an alternative.  To limit the length of the memo, I attached appendices of details for those who might have needed more information.

Rose Cornelson Montgomery Library 

Date: 31 August 2011 

To: Ned Morris, Ann Harken, Chris Lynn 

From: Stephen Tulloh 

Subject: Modernizing the Library 

The library must become more efficient--that is, easier to manage and easier to investigate--lest it return to a patronless storage area that it had come to be until a couple of weeks ago.  We have an extensive collection of religious information that could be useful to parishioners, students at local colleges, and patrons of the public library if only they knew more about our holdings.  An electronic management system, similar to the system by which the public library operates, will allow volunteers to direct the use of the library's information more effectively and will make the library's holdings more searchable, opening the library to more people.  If we shift to an electronic management system, it would differ from the public library's system in two major ways.  Our system would be free, and it would be adaptable. 

Current System 

There are three ways a patron can investigate the library's holdings, and each requires the patron to be in Satterlee Hall.  He/she can browse the shelves, leaf through the card catalog, or peruse a printout.  One problem is the library may not have what the person wants or needs, but he/she put forth effort to come to the library.  Although leafing through the card catalog is quicker than browsing the shelves, it is inconvenient because the cabinet occupies a corner of the library workroom, a space that accommodates one person.  To search for items via subject, one must stoop or squat.  Another problem is the organization of the printout, via call numbers, which is beneficial to librarians, not patrons. 

If a patron wants to borrow an item, he/she must complete a series of tasks to check out the item.  First, the patron must complete a registration card.  Second, he/she must file it.  Third, the patron must sign the check-out card and write the date on it.  Fourth, he/she must file that card. 

That process is not difficult.  Cataloging all the donations since 2005, however, will be difficult.  The database, if it remains, has not been updated for six years.  The library received hundreds of donations throughout that period.  If we do not shift to an electronic management system, volunteers will need--for each item--to determine the call number, to type three similar cards for the catalog, to enter the information into the database, and to type a check-out card.  Again, volunteers will need to do all the aforementioned for each item. 

Modernizing the Library             2                             31 August 2011 

New System 

Shifting to an electronic management system will not consume more time than maintaining the current system.  Such systems generate call numbers via International Standard Book Numbers (ISBN's), and they eliminate redundant tasks, such as typing three similar cards for a catalog.  They also produce all the relevant information a patron needs to determine whether an item meets his/her needs.  Furthermore, patrons can search for an item via author, title or subject, and they can do such remotely. 

Libraries have been shifting to electronic management systems because the systems are more efficient.  However, with respect to public and academic libraries, those systems are expensive to install and maintain.  For libraries with significantly fewer holdings, there are cost-effective choices, one being open-source, integrative software. 

Open-source software is available to the public for free.  The developers reason that those who use the source codes will modify them, ensuring the applications will be more useful and errorless than compiled applications, which tend to become outmoded sooner.  (For more information about open-source and compiled software, please refer to Appendix A).  Because users customize the codes, open-source software continuously evolves, and there are networks of users that provide technical support. 

Our Options 

There are six reputable providers of open-source, integrative library management software.  At one end of the range is Liblime Koha, which is appropriate for public and academic libraries.  It charges for a warranty and technical support.  Georgia's public library system developed and maintains Evergreen, but it, like SOPAC2, requires Apache, an internet service provider, and MySQL, open-source database software, both with which I am not familiar.  At the other end of the range is Library Thing, a community for individuals who want to catalog their books online.  In the middle of the range are OpenBiblio and BiblioteQ.  Both are for midsize libraries, but OpenBiblio lacks refinement. 

My Recommendation 

Windows supports BiblioteQ, and the code is in a language (C++) I understand.  The application will simplify the management of the library and will make it more serviceable.  Volunteers will be able to catalog books, periodicals, audiotapes, compact disks, videotapes, and digital versatile disks, and they will be able to do such without comprehensive knowledge of Dewey Decimal Classification, for the software will generate control, call and class numbers via ISBN's.  Thus, the classification of items will be less subjective.  The application also will produce images of covers by way of Amazon and will retrieve information--title, authors, publishers, et cetera--by way of Z39.50 queries.  (For more information about Z39.50, please refer to Appendix B.)  Because the software shortens the time to catalog items, volunteers will be able to focus on other administrative tasks--such as creating accounts; updating patrons' information; generating lists of overdue, requested and reserved items; and printing and interpreting statistics. 

Modernizing the Library             3                             31 August 2011 

Because BiblioteQ has uniform functionality across various platforms, courtesy of Z39.50, patrons will be able to access the library's holdings remotely.  And they will be able to query the library's holdings via author, title or subject.  They will be able to request an unavailable item, to reserve an item, or to communicate with a volunteer.  Furthermore, they will be able to gather more information through embedded hyperlinks to Amazon, the Library of Congress, or another website. 

An Alternative 

The library has a compiled application, ResourceMate, that Jaywil Software Development released in 2005.  The problem is the version, 2.0 Plus, does not have some of the essential features volunteers will need to manage the library efficiently.  For example, if we are unable to locate the database, an army of volunteers will have to spend hundreds of hours creating another catalog of the library's holdings.  To reduce the number of volunteers and the amount of time that would require, we need to upgrade from 2.0 Plus to 3.0 Plus, which will cost $129.00.  Then, we must upgrade the screen license from 2.0 to 3.0, and that will cost $10.00.  To generate information about an item via ISBN's and Z39.50 queries--the most essential features--we must register our version and pay for support, which is $70.00 per year.  Finally, to make the library's holdings searchable via the Web, we must pay $149.00.  To summarize: we initially will need to pay Jaywil $358, and that does not include taxes, for something we can get at no cost. 

The Future 

We also will need to pay Jaywil $70.00 every subsequent year for support.  On the other hand, with respect to BiblioteQ, volunteers will be able to change the graphics and information on the homepage, to update the software, and to seek help through BiblioteQ's national users' network.  An army of volunteers will not need to manage the library; several volunteers will be able to prevent the neglect that has befallen it.

Modernizing the Library             4                              31 August 2011

Appendix A: Compiled versus Open-Source Software

If you have bought or downloaded ready-to-run software, then it is likely that software was compiled, run through a compiler that translated and formatted the source (program) code so that your computer could understand it.  Few people can modify compiled versions of applications, and fewer can determine the ways developers created the parts of them.  Commercial software manufacturers compile their codes to prevent other manufacturers from copying and using them.  Compilation also allows manufacturers to control the quality and features of products.

In contrast to compiled software, open-source software includes the source code, for the developer wants the user to modify it, ensuring the usefulness and longevity of the product.  The software development industry regards software as open-source if it meets six criteria:

• The license must not exclude other software.
• The software must not interfere with the operation of other software.
• The distribution of the software must be free.
• The software must include the source code.
• Anybody can modify the source code.
• Custom versions can be redistributed.

A concern for users of open-source software is the lack of a warranty and technical support.  Because the license allows users to modify the application, it is difficult to support.  One reason Liblime is able to sell Koha's software is that it provides a warranty and technical support.  Red Hat is able to do the same with respect to Linux, an operating system.  Some additional examples of open-source software are Mozilla, an internet browser; Apache, a Web server; PERL, a Web scripting language; and PNG, a graphics file format. 

Modernizing the Library              5                             31 August 2011

Appendix B: What Is Z39.50?

Z39.50 is a standard for information retrieval.  It was developed to overcome the problems with searching multiple databases--problems such as knowledge of unique menus, command language, and search procedures.  Z39.50 simplifies the search process, making it possible for a searcher to use the interface of the local system to search both our library's holdings as well as other libraries' holdings.

Z39.50 corresponds to the client-server model of computing in which two computers interact in a peer-to-peer relationship with each computer having a specific functional task.  The local system is known as the origin, and it performs all the communicative functions relative to a search--that is, sending a query and requesting the return of records.  The Z39.50 part of the local system is known as the target, and it interfaces with the database in the remote system--for example, the Library of Congress--and responds to messages from the origin, providing records that correspond to the query.

One of the many advantages of Z39.50 is that the searcher does not need to know the details of the standard.  The origin module within the local system is responsible for establishing the connection to the target, formulating the query, interpreting the results, tracking the results, terminating a session, and so forth.  Thus, the searcher only needs to know one set of commands to search our library's holdings and other library's holdings.

The Z39.50 method of information retrieval is different from the traditional method, whereby a searcher uses a local terminal to log into a remote system and uses that system's unique menus, command language, and search procedures.  The implementation of Z39.50 will eliminate the need for expertise in the use of a large number of dissimilar systems. 

Regardless of the platform or software, systems are able to participate in an information retrieval session if both systems support the Z39.50 standard.  Our library needs a system that supports the Z39.50 standard so that volunteers and patrons can perform a wide range of tasks.    

Memoranda

Whereas letters are for people outside an organization, memoranda (memos) are for people inside an organization.  In large organizations, however, in which each division is autonomous, the corporation's culture determines whether people in different divisions send letters or memos to each other.

The formats of letters and memos are dissimilar.  The simplified format of letters is somewhat similar to the format of memos, for both do not have a salutation and close and both have a subject line.  Audience and format are the only differences between letters and memos.  Both means of communication can be complex or simple, long or short, formal or informal.

A distinct part of a memo is the header, which will vary slightly after the first page.  Date:, To:, From: and Subject:, respectively, are at the top of the first page and are flush with the left margin.  A space separates each item.  Before you send the memo, write your initials next to your name to signify that the memo is genuine and that you proofread it.

Currently memos are attached to emails, and recipients print and archive them.  Similar to emails, memos need specific, concise and relative subject lines.  (For more information on subject lines, please refer to "Electronic Mail.")  Because an effective subject line acts as a title and aids in filing and retrieving, the subject lines of the email and the memo must be, if not identical, correlative.

There are no paragraphic indentations in memos.  Ensure there is a space between paragraphs and between text and headings.  In complex, long and formal memos, headings improve readability, but the first (introductory) paragraph does not require a heading.  With respect to any headings, capitalize the first letter of the first, last and all other words except articles (a, an, the), the to in infinitives, prepositions (on, above, to, for, between, beyond, with, et cetera), and coordinating conjunctions (and, or, nor, for, but, yet and so).  Headings also need to be in boldface.

There are no spaces between lines of text.  With respect to the organization and content of positive, neutral and negative messages, please refer to "Electronic Mail."  The following lists of questions highlight the information in that essay.

Positive and Neutral Messages

1. Is the introductory paragraph a summary of the content, and does it correlate to the structure of the message?
2. Are the headings succinct and relative to the information they introduce?
3. Are there details about the policy or the project?  In other words, does the memo have all the necessary information: places, dates, times, costs, et cetera?
4. Are there reader benefits, and are the benefits realistic?
5. Is each benefit developed fully?  Did you adapt the benefits to the audience, stress the extrinsic and intrinsic advantages, provide grounds (reasons and/or evidence), and create the benfits with a you-attitude?
6. Is the conclusion positive?
7. Is the subject line specific, concise and relative?
8. Is the format correct?

Negative Messages

1. Is the introductory paragraph a summary of the content, and does it correlate to the structure of the message?
2. Is there a description of the problem?
3. Is there a description of the events that caused the problem?  (You will need to include such only when you are writing a memo to your superiors.)
4. Is there an alternative or a compromise that reveals your concerns for the audience?  (You will need to include such only when you are writing a memo to your peers and subordinates.)
5. Is there a description of the way(s) to solve the problem?  (You will need to include such only if you are writing a memo to your superiors.)
6. Is the conclusion positive?  Did you recommend a solution to your superiors and ask them for action, or did you ask your peers and subordinates for input or action?
7. Is the subject line specific, concise and appropriate?  (If you are writing a memo to your superiors, the subject line should be a solution.  If you are writing a memo to your peers or subordinates, the subject line should be the topic of the message.)
8. Is the format correct? 

Some organizations want memos to be no longer than one page.  If you are unable to include all the information on one page, state the central idea, list the primary points, and provide secondary information.  Attach an appendix of details for those who may want more information.  If the organization does not have any paginal restrictions, format the header of the second and subsequent pages in one of the following ways.

     Subject line
     Date
     Page number

     Subject line                           Page number                            Date

Memos are written to introduce or update a policy, to inform of progress or results, or to respond to an event.  Some types of memorandum are summaries, evaluations, progress reports, and field studies.  The content of memos and reports is similar, but memos are short, no longer than three pages.  Documents that are longer than that are reports disguised as memos.

Example of an Effective Letter

This post comprises an example of an effective business letter and the reasons it is effective.

Background

The following letter, which is in block format with mixed punctuation, is a response to a problem many readers likely have experienced: receipt of a past-due notice.  When a policy holder receives a past-due notice, he/she often will call or write the underwriter immediately, asking for an explanation.  Certainly the policy holder is afraid he/she will be without insurance only because the underwriter thinks the policy holder has not paid his/her premium.

From the underwriter's perspective, if the policy holder would wait, the firm likely would resolve the discrepancy.  If it did not receive the policy holder's payment, the firm sends a legal notice that serves as a third chance to pay the premium.  The firm is forced to cancel the policy if it does not receive payment after 30 days from the date on the original bill.

The letter is from a nonexistent insurance company, Free Insurance.

Example

Free Insurance

www.freeinsurance.org

One Premium Drive

Oklahoma City, OK 73112

(405) 866-4444

July 5, 2011

Mr. Stephen Tulloh

100 Maple Street

Columbia, SC 29205

Dear Mr. Tulloh:

You continue to have automobile insurance.

Free Insurance only mails a past-due notice if we have not processed a payment within three days after the date it was due.  Sometimes there is a delay in the delivery of a payment; less often a policy holder forgets to include his/her policy number or signature on a check.  When Free Insurance receives a check with all the necessary information, we promptly credit the account.

If Free Insurance does not receive a check within three days after the date the payment was due, the policy holder still has a 30-day grace period to pay the premium.  The policy holder receives a second notice informing him/her that we have not received a payment.  To keep his/her insurance operative, the policy holder only needs to stop payment on the first check and to send us another check.

Electronic maintenance of your account offers many benefits.  First, it guarantees immediate receipt of a payment.  Second, our well-trained agents can help you get any discounts (safe driver, good student, safety equipment, bundled policy, to list a few) for which you are eligible.  Third, you can make a claim electronically so that your agent can quickly and safely get you mobile again.  Fourth, you also will receive a check faster, usually within three weekdays.

During the current recession, your automobile, home and possessions are worth more.  You can protect them with a Free Insurance bundled policy.  Call John Doe at (803) 866-4444, and he will reveal how easy and affordable it is to be completely protected.  If you only want to insure a mobile device, a valuable collection, or a fine antique, John will help you do that, for his job is to serve you.

Whatever your insurance needs may be, Free Insurance will help you personally and personably.

Sincerely,

Jane Doe

Director, Customer Services

Explanation

What makes it an effective letter?  It opens with a positive statement that assures the reader.  The explanation of Free Insurance's policy is in the second paragraph.  The company does not assign blame, and the paragraph ends somewhat positively.  The writer positively presents the negative information in the third paragraph.  The second notice is not a threat; it is an announcement of a 30-day extension.  Because the writer suggests a way to resolve the problem, there is no need for further correspondence.  The writer, in the fourth paragraph, proposes another way to resolve the problem, presents additional benefits of computers, and includes some benefits of continual coverage by Free Insurance.  In the penultimate paragraph, the writer softly sells other policies the firm offers and prepares the reader for the close.