William Zinsser The Right To Fail Summary

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Recommended: Short essay on success and failure

William Zinsser’s article “The Right to Fail” discusses the unrealistic vision of success and failure that society has placed on itself. “The Right to Fail” is an excerpt from Zinsser’s book The Lunacy Boom which was published in 1970; this excerpt brings an awareness to the expectations that America places on young people and those who fail. Zinsser is speaking to a general audience of young and older people in America. The goal of this article is to change the way that society views achievements and failures. Rather than a setback, Zinsser sees failure as a way to learn and grown from the past; failure is meant to be used as tool to push society forward and improve things. Zinsser opens his article giving two examples of a dropout. One example

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