The Ladder of Abstraction

"The Fourth State of Matter" by Jo Ann Beard is the next specimen that I have chosen.

This essays tells of Beard's experience during the murder of her friends and colleagues at the University of Iowa. Though this is a longer essay, the writing keeps the reader engaged the whole time. Beard does by using her ability to move up and down the abstraction ladder.

What is the abstraction ladder? Imagine a ladder of your choice. Located at the top most rung of that ladder are words like love, success, irritation, and friendship. But what do any of these words really mean?

Start climbing all the way down that ladder until you get down to the bottom, and you find thing like friendship -- when my roommate zips up my zipper because I can't reach or irritation -- hairspray plastered to the vanity counter with hair stuck in it from when my roommate did her hair. Using these words, you have moved from telling your audience you were irritated to showing your audience your moment of irritation.

This essay is a perfect example of using the abstraction ladder to Beard's benefit. She uses words like "satisfying" which is high on the abstraction ladder, but then she goes on to describe an example of satisfaction. She captivates her audience with this strategy making her essay a good read.