Common Sense

Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" is a good example of how Common Sense is not so unique. It's not so common after all- because a lot of people are definitely lacking it. Have you ever seen a house with like two feet of yard space and about 500 MILLION lawn gnomes cluttering up that little space? Well, that's a really great example of a person that has very little common sense. Because sure, one or two adorable, chipper lawn gnomes might brighten the place up a bit and you can do whatever floats your tug boat or yacht or fishing boat or whatever kind of boat you happen to float. But when you have more lawn gnomes that Switzerland has military troops, it's time to take a step back and rethink your life choices. That, my friends, is common sense at it's finest.

It is a little hard to take this work about common sense seriously. Paine seems extremely passionate about a subject that is honestly hard to take seriously. Common Sense is such an odd thing to write about...and Paine's opinions and ideas slightly overshadow the facts. It is clear the point he is trying to make- he just does not present it very well, in my opinion.

For instance, it is painfully clear to the reader what Paine's opinion on monarchy (and England in general, apparently) is... and the work is more of a persuasive essay than a factual one. He calls the very composition of monarchy "ridiculous" (Paine), and is obviously not one to hide his true feelings about the subject at hand. There is more emotion in his statements than there are facts, and that is a truly compromising element of literature and writing.

However, Paine's passion for freedom and independence and for the country is very genuine, if not a little but over the top as well. Obviously, Paine's main goal in this piece of writing is to evoke emotion and make the reader feel passionately about these subject matters, too. His enthusiasm is a little too much in certain points, but his point is very clear. He loves America, and he wants you to love it, too.

Unlike the writings of Benjamin Franklin, Paine uses heavy emotions that, although can be overdramatic, also make his writing more enjoyable and entertaining. Benjamin Franklin was a great writer for his time, but his writing skills were sometimes overshadowed by facts and information and it could sometimes be unclear what point he was trying to convey. Franklin was too factual and Paine was not factual enough, in my opinion. But between the two writers, I would have to say that Paine was more successful and persuasive. Franklin's writing was straight facts, and did not really give readers a reason to feel inspired. Paine's writings are so laced with emotion and persuasion that they give the reader every reason to wrap themselves up in an American flag and celebrate Independence Day every day. And sometimes, and author has to be that emotion to get a response from readers.

Overall, I would have to say that "Common Sense" is a bit overdramatic for my taste, but is written well enough to be considered a good work of it's time.

Paine, Thomas. "Thomas Paine's Common Sense". Archiving Early Amercia. Web. Oct 18 2010.
http://www.earlyamerica.com.