Analyse af 'Too Smart to Fail' af Stephanie Kuehnert

Do grades define us, and are grades a reflection of our ability in life and success in life? Straight A´s might get you in the door to a great grad school or a prestigious job, but it will in no way guarantee your success in life. In the article “Too Smart to Fail” by Stephanie Kuehnert, she describes how growing up as “The Smart Girl” made her realize that “Smart wasn’t the end goal, neither were the letters like “A,” or “PhD.”” After being scared of failure for almost twenty years of her life, she finally understood that all these limitations she´d put on herself to strive for perfectionism actually made her forget who she really was. The article’s portrayal of good grades suggests that maybe in reality, it is not about the grades you achieve, but the character, the personality, you are.

Stephanie Kuehnert uses rhetorical devices as allusion, tricolon and anaphora in order to engage the reader. The author points out her early reading abilities by referring to Peter Pan, The Little House series, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Stephanie Kuehnert was labelled as the “Smart Girl” ever since she remembers. The author stimulates ideas and extra information in the reader´s mind when she debates the identity she took on when she was so young. By using allusion, she helps the reader contextualize her childhood by referring to well-known classical childhood books. Through the tricolon “I never challenged myself, I wasn’t learning new things - in fact I was really fucking bored,” Stephanie Kuehnert emphasizes her point in a pithy and memorable way. The three parallel statements are being used to describe her inner deals with being a Smart Girl - and how she managed to tell herself she was screwing up her life, while she continued getting straight A´s all the way through Highschool. This is a great example of how mistakes in today’s society, often become flashpoints of failure instead of chances to grow. The author continues using tricolon when she enlightens how she´d “let self-doubt, fear of failure, and a too-strict sense of who [she was] “supposed” to be.” The three phrases combined in a tricolon makes a single, powerful impression in the reader’s mind. She acknowledges and encounter her unhappiness trying to be what she thinks she’s “supposed” to be and feel negative emotions about letting it dictate so much of her life.