Sender and receiver

Read here our presentation of the sender and receiver of “Nature and the City” by Eric Hoffer.

Sender

The sender of the essay is Eric Hoffer. The text was published in 1968, in the United States of America. The credibility of a text often depends on who the sender is and on the medium used to convey the text.

In this case, Eric Hoffer was a credible philosopher and working-class man. As a working-class man, Hoffer speaks to those like him through an accessible language. Furthermore, he has personal experiences with both natural and city environments which give him the authority and legitimacy to talk about the topic: “For 18 years as a migratory farm worker and placer miner, I knew nature at close quarters. Nature was breathing down my neck, and I knew it did not like me.” (p. 211, ll. 1-3); “As a place miner I had to run the gauntlet of backrush, manzanita, and poison oak when I left the road to find my way to a creek.” (p. 211, ll. 6-8)

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Receiver

The receiver of the text “Nature and the City” by Eric Hoffer is broadly the American public in general. This is suggested through direct references to “this country” (p. 212, l. 4), “our snarling continent” (p. 212, l. 13), or America (p. 212, l. 26). Given that the author is American and he frequently makes references to American people through the first person plural pronouns like “our” (p. 212, l. 13) or “we” (p. 212, l. 27) it is clear that the writer’s target receiver is the American people.

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