Introduction
The personalities of introverts are commonly misunderstood in a world dominated by extroverts. For this critical analysis project, I chose an article by Jonathan Rauch called “Caring for your introvert: The habits and needs of a little-understood Group”. The following text will review the goal, the reason, the target audience for the piece, and the evidence featured in this work. The evidence will be used to explain why the decision to write it was made.
Discussion
Rauch wanted to explain the truth behind the behavior of introverts, which is commonly perceived as misanthropic and anti-social. Regarding the purpose of the text, he expects to start a dialogue that would ease the struggles of introverts in an extrovert-dominated society. Some of the proof that he uses features the fact that these people process information in ways that differ from those of other people (Rauch, 2003). Rauch later states that introverts are underrepresented in many fields, including politics. While most presidents, e.g., George W. Bush are extroverts, only a small minority of them, such as Richard Nixon, are introverts. According to the author, he discovered that a quarter of people belong to that group, albeit, they happen to be a minority among the general population and the majority among prodigies.
Another reason why Jonathan considers his work to be rather important is because extroverts dominate public life. Due to the fact that they think in the process of conversations, their speeches are often quite lengthy and may contain irrelevant fillers. The writer then states that if introverts governed the world, it would have been more peaceful and rational. Due to this dominance, extroverts control social life as well, which results in them being perceived as empathic and bighearted, while their opposites are perceived as private and narrow. Finally, one valuable point that the author makes is that introverts are forced to endure long filler conversations created by extroverts due to the etiquette rules that were most likely created by the latter.
I believe that he is writing this text for a general audience. This is obvious due to the frequent use of layman’s terms and a simple, almost non-scientific vocabulary throughout the entire text. Although he does refer to other scholars, some of the references he makes are explained in a more approachable manner. Some of the challenges Rauch experiences involve the misrepresentation of introverts, as their behavior is viewed as anti-social, and his personal struggles since he is one himself. Besides stating that this group is underrepresented in public and social life, he believes they are oppressed as well, due to the oversaturation of their polar opposites in politics. Besides that, Jonathan adds that some traits that introverts exhibit are mistaken for arrogance. This occurs in spite of them being more thoughtful, rational, sensitive, and independent. By the end of the work, he expects his audience to be able to interact with introverts more appropriately.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the text that I chose for this work is “Caring for Your Introvert: The Habits and Needs of a Little-understood Group” by Jonathan Rauch. The goal of this article is to explain some of the misconceptions surrounding this set of people. Meanwhile, the reason is centered on the author wanting to educate people on their under- and misrepresentation in society, as well as the struggles they experience in an extrovert-dominated world. This can be viewed in the writer stating that most people in politics are extroverts and that this group of people has control over the social world as well. This, in turn, results in these individuals being perceived more positively than introverts. The target audience for this text is general, as it is written in a simple manner. Some of the struggles the writer experiences involve misconceptions and the dominance of extroverts in society. However, he still hopes that after reading this text, people will be able to approach introverts in a more appropriate manner.
Reference
Rauch, J. (2003). Caring for your introvert: The habits and needs of a little-understood group. The Atlantic, 291(2).