This initial draft does a good job of setting the scene in a very Iyer-esk fashion in the opening paragraph, and subsequently moves on to describe Iyer's message quite well by integration quotes from his article and analyzing their meaning. This draft is however lacking in its focus on the audience, in both the opening paragraphs and the thesis. Outside sources including Thompson and Jury are hardly mentioned if not at all, and a conclusion is essentially no where in sight. Comments I received from Dr. Lance include:

"tie together the audience(bored) and the ethos building to combat their complacency, so that audience becomes a consistent part of the overall message, and your thesis." 

"can you say more about the style of iyer and how that contributes to his points--rhetorical devices?"

"maybe put yourself in the shoes of a critic who would be skeptical of iyer;s manipulation and would want to break down his "tricks."

Concerning the Memoirs of a Traveler

Pico Iyer, a Oxford graduate, in his article “Why We Travel” drums up his audience of western readers to celebrate the power of travel to bring mankind together. Iyer represents himself as one of many travellers throughout history that sing the same song, raising their voices, or perhaps more aptly their pens, in one mighty chorus declaring that “There is wisdom in turning as often as possible from the familiar to the unfamiliar; it keeps the mind nimble; it kills prejudice, and it fosters humor.” (Iyer 35). One may say that Iyer is merely articulating the benefits to one’s demeanor or that the enjoyment which stems from travel merits the venture into the unknown. However the heart of Iyer’s message truly claims that the power of travel lies within the ability to change heart of man. And what does it mean or require in order to change the heart of man?  It means to relinquish the shackles of the past, pessimism, and preconceived notions of the world to be mentally reborn as a more optimistic, more intertwined, and wiser adventurer who dares to seek the unknown and connect with not only the places but the people that inhabit them.

The chief struggle for many members of western first world nations lies not in physical hunger or poverty, rather the starvation of the mind and soul. Iyer in the very first sentence of his narrative says “We travel, initially, to lose ourselves” (Iyer 1), travelling to lose ourselves implies that those who travel are initially dissatisfied with the status quo of their lives, and need to by necessity travel to lose themselves in a reality that isn’t quite their own. Romeo Vitelli, a practicing psychologist in his essay titled “Bored in the USA” claims that as many as 90% of all Americans report feeling bored at least once a day. But why care about boredom? Isn’t boredom a natural occurrence in our daily lives? Vitelli reports that boredom can lead to distressingly serious repercussions such as “depression, substance abuse, absenteeism from work or school, reduced job satisfaction, and even a general sense that life has no meaning.”  (Vitelli 5). And it’s not just boredom that plagues the western world, stress and anxiety are common struggles found in everyday life, that diminish its quality and vigor. Iyer argues that there is a clear solution, paralleling his initial suggestion that we travel to lose ourselves, follows up to say “we travel next to find ourselves” (Iyer 1), this heavily suggests that the dissatisfaction that comes from dealing with the struggles of everyday life, is released in the midst of travel, and what is restored, what Iyer desires, is for travel to “return me to a more innocent self.” (Iyer 16).

By the time Iyer writes this article describing why be believes travel is so important, he is Forty-Two, hardly a young man anymore, yet he speaks of continuously of being “in love” (Iyer 1) and being reverted to a younger stage of innocence; admittedly his desire to relive his youth may play a factor in his word choice, however the concept of travel winding back the clock and restoring a childlike sense of optimism concerning the world around us is a core argument to counteract the pessimistic trap of thinking that “life has no meaning” (Vitelli 5). What is it about travel that excites us? That restores our youthful sense of curiosity and untarnished optimism. Iyer provides his answer saying “traveling is an easy way of surrounding ourselves, as in childhood, with what we cannot understand.” (Iyer 15) meaning that by placing ourselves in a foreign location we replicate the wonder of learning about the world around us as the optimism of seeing what is new overrides the pessimism of the past and spurs us on to a “more easily excited abroad, and even kinder.” (Iyer 16) self.

By assuming the dancing eyes of an innocent child, the adventurer is able to cherish and intake the foreign land around them, however one must remember that travelling is as Iyer puts it a “two-way transaction” (Iyer 20), both parties of the traveller and native are representatives of their respective nations and their cultures. This exchange of ideas and experiences that occurs between them in a small way interconnects our international community which leads to greater understanding and therefore wisdom. However despite acknowledging the deepening of relationships and respect for one another that results from the interactions between travellers, Iyer does not overlook the far more significant impacts of both the British and American empires on the world, and how it has interwoven humanity’s culture

“In the mid-19th century, the British famously sent the Bible and Shakespeare and cricket round the world; now a more international kind of Empire is sending Madonna and the Simpsons and Brad Pitt. And the way in which each culture takes in this common pool of references tells you as much about them as their indigenous products might. Madonna in an Islamic country, after all, sounds radically different from Madonna in a Confucian one, and neither begins to mean the same as Madonna on East 14th Street.” (Iyer  26)

and how it has changed over time to become the same yet varied. The history of almost every nation on Earth is in some way affected by colonialism, Carl Thompson in his novel “Travel Writing” argues that the reader must take in the author’s words with the colonial biases of western travel writers in mind, which implies that if Iyer wrote about the superiority of western cultures he would fall in Thompson’s critic and undermine his own ethos. By tipping the hat off to the influence of America and colonial Europe on the rest of the world while still reminding everyone that foreign nations still preserve their unique cultural sanctity, Iyer maintains his credibility and still pushes the the idea that societies under similar influences can interpret those influences in different manners. Iyer applauds these subtle differences and apparent similarities as pieces of travelling experiences that inspire the traveller to become more “mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed.” (Iyer 35).