Montaigne/Austen Essay

David Foster Wallace once said, "What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at any given instant." We have too many thoughts and feelings to put into words. Everyone's minds and emotions are in different places that there is almost no point in expressing them. How can one express their thoughts and feelings if they don't fully understand them themselves? Our minds are like roller coasters, going up, down, and rapidly changing direction. It's challenging to describe ones thoughts in such depth when these thoughts are rapidly changing direction. In The Complete Essays by Michel de Montaigne, his techniques and thoughts contradict Foster's notion. While David Foster Wallace argues in favor of barley sketching the outlines of topics, Michel de Montaigne argues critically against generalizations. 

In The Complete Essays by Michel de Montaigne, he covers a wide variety of topics: friendship, love, freedom, education, and religion. The goal of these essays was to promote beliefs yet they turned to be Montaigne's search for knowledge. However he wasn't very successful in organizing his thoughts. His essays were written in stream of thought going from topic to topic because he had so much to say. To put emphasis on the didactic nature of his work, he also wrote structurally. He favored concrete experiences therefore he attempted to elaborate on his thoughts. To better get his views across, Montaigne supported his arguments with quotations from Ancient Greek, Latin, and Italian texts as well as with anecdotes. In many ways Michel de Montaigne's techniques and thoughts contradict David Foster Wallace's belief in generalizations. 

Montaigne's style is quite unique, opening a window into his thinking that some may not be able to understand. He makes odd connections from subject to subject, for example, talking about moderation and transitioning into cannibalism. He embeds his own personal knowledge as well as his own experiences. Montaigne takes an uncommon approach when writing which makes his style unique yet noteworthy. 

Another great writer, Jane Austen, shares similarities with Michel de Montaigne, particularly in Pride and Prejudice. Both authors expressed their thoughts as they pleased. Montaigne said whatever he felt at any given time and Austen used characters to convey her feelings even though they were uncommon for a woman during this era. Like Montaigne's writings, each chapter in Pride and Prejudice further develops the story from Elizabeth's point of view. Elizabeth also gives a one sided, stream of consciousness portrayal of events, similar to Montaigne. 

David Foster Wallace claimed that it was impossible to go in depth on every thought due to the complexity and excessive amount that run through the human mind. Michel de Montaigne however was able to do this. In illustrating his viewpoints, Montaigne was able to contradict Foster Wallace and critically argue against generalizations. Both Montaigne and Austen voiced their thoughts on matters that were uncommon and they did so in a way that allowed the reader to be intrigued and involved.