Kayla Cafarella page 1

6 November 2009
12 English CP Period 6
Mr. Gallagher
In Praise of the Humble Comma

In the passage In Praise of the Humble Comma, Pico Iyer makes the suggestion

that there is more to punctuation than meets the eye. He makes the point that a mark as

minimal as a comma, one that can even be recognized as a printer’s smudge; a mark that

the paper itself could’ve served its purpose without can change the entire meaning of the

message.

As I read the description Iyer wrote about the purpose of punctuation marks in

writing, I noticed the metaphors he uses to give the reader a vivid description of his point

of view. The metaphors used show the reader how punctuation can work without needing

to draw to much attention to itself. He makes his point in the first paragraph and goes on

the compare the comma to “the size of a pendant’s tick” and “a blip on the edge of our

consciousness” to indicate some semblance of size in comparison to the comma. He uses

imagery to convey how something as important in our language can be so misrepresented

by the common reader.

Iyer then gets back to his main idea by bring up the fact that punctuation marks

are like the traffic signs of communication, telling us when to start and stop; which makes

me think as a reader, what would happen without these signs? It makes me think that

something as small as a comma can be the “flashing yellow light” before the red that

stops us from colliding at the intersection.

Iyer then goes on to establish the relationship between words and the punctuation

that connects them, as the relationship between people and the emotion that connects

them. He uses Gary Gilmore’s letter to Nicole Baker as an example. The words just seem

to keep coming with no place to stop and think or stop to take a breath; showing that
Kayla Cafarella page 1
6 November 2009
12 English CP Period 6
Mr. Gallagher
commas separate inseparables and whether we choose to use commas or not effects

changes the tone of the writer.

Because Iyer wants the reader to understand that punctuation is more than just a

“matter of aesthetics” he shows the reader that popping a comma in the right place can

“give the description a spin, as well as subtlety”, a fine-drawn distinction that would add

to the character’s appearance. In his example, he quotes V.S. Naipaul, “He was a middle-

aged man, with glasses.” With the comma in its correct placement, it brings about the fact

that the glasses weren’t part of the man’s middle-agedness, but something else in the

description.

What Pico Iyer is saying through this piece of writing is that although some of the

smaller things in life that are often overlooked or misused still have a large impact on the

way things are perceived by others. He shows us that words are important, but it’s those

words could imply by the simple slip of a comma could change everything.