KNOWING HOW TO LIVE ALONE

This is one of my favortie essay featured by Lynn Quitman Troyka in 1990, in her book Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers, 2nd edition, Prentice Hall International, London.

The first paragraph is the introduction. This contains a brief indentity of the situation. The last sentence is the thesis statement.

"Alone one is never lonely," quotes May Sarton in her essay "The Rewards of Living A Solitary Life." Most people, however, are terrified of living alone. They are used to living with others-children with parents, roomates with roomates, friends with friends, husbands and wives. When the statistics catch up with them, therefore, they are rarely prepared. Chances are high that most adult men and women will need to know how to live alone, briefly or longer, at some time in their lives" (Troyka 76).

The second paragraph contains some important information that are related to the last sentence or the thesis statement. It gives background to the thesis.

"In the United States, circumstances often force people to live alone. For example, many high school and college graduates move away from their hometowns to continue their educations or take jobs. Most schools assign roomates, but employers usually expect people to take care of their living arrangements. Also, married people might feel they will always be together, but recent news reports say that one out of two marriages ends in divorce. An even sadder statistic concerns the death of a spouce. Estimates are that in the next twenty years eight out of ten married women will become widows, usually late in life. These facts show that most people have to live by themselves at least once in their lives whether they want to or not" (Troyka 76).

The 3rd paragraph is a series of statements that contitutes the 1st support ideas for the thesis. This is the first concrete foundation giving strenght to the proposition, thus, maintaining the argument.

"One good way to prepare for living alone is to learn how to take care of practical matters. For example, some students and newly single people might not know how to do something as simple as opening a checking account. When making arrangements alone, they might be too tense to find out that they can compare banks as well as the benefits of various types of accounts. Similarly, making major purchases is something people living alone might have to handle. When divorced or widowed people were married, perhaps the other spouse did the choosing or the couple made the decisions together. But, how long can a person manage with a refrigerator that can not be repaired or a car that will not run? After shopping around and making price comparisons, most people find that these decisions are much less complicated than they seem at first" (Troyka 76-77).

The 4th paragraph contains a series of statements and is the 2nd support idea for the argument stated as thesis of the composition.

"The confidence that single people get from learning to deal with practical matters can boost their chances for establishing new friendships. When singles feel self-reliant, they can have an easier time getting out and meeting new people. For instance, some students are in the habit of always going to classes with a friend. When they break this dependency, they can be pleasantly surprised to find that they can concentrate better on the course and also have a chance to make new friends. Likewise, the idea of going alone to the beach or to parties can paralyze some singles. Once they make the attempt, however, people alone usually find that almost everyone welcomes a new, friendly face" (Troyka 77).

The 5th paragraph contains a series of statements that gives 3rd and final foundations for the main argument.

"Probably the most difficult problem for people living alone is dealing with feelings of loneliness. First, they have to understand the feeling. Some people confuse being alone with feeling lonely. They need to remember that unhappinly arried people can feel very lonely with spouses, and anyone can suffer from loneliness is a room crowded with friends. Second, people living alone have to fight any tendencies to get depressed. Depression can lead to much unhappiness, including compulsive behavior like overeating or spending too much money. Depression can also drive people to fill the feeling of emptiness by getting into relationships or jobs that they do not truly want. Third, people living alone need to get involved in useful and pleasurable activities, such as voluteering their services to help others" (Troyka 77-78).

Finally, the last paragraph contains the concluding sentences which is an encouragement for keeping oneself informed.

"People need to ask themselves, "If I had to live alone starting tomorrow morning, would I know how?" If the answer is "No," they need to become conscious of what living alone alone calls for. People who face up to life usually do not have to hide from it later on (Troyka 78).