Zinsser’s Photo of E.B. White Symbol Analysis

William Zinsser has a picture of his role model, E.B. White, hanging on his office wall. This photo represents how writing well is fundamentally simple: the best writing requires simple materials and is concise and jargon-free. Moreover, it reflects the idea that the best way to learn to write is simply to emulate one’s role models.

Zinsser describes this photo in his introduction to the 30th Anniversary Edition of On Writing Well. It shows White working at a plain wood table with his typewriter, an ashtray, and a wastebasket. This is all writers need: a way to put words on paper and a way to get rid of the words that don’t come out right. The photo reminds Zinsser and his visitors that the basic ingredients of good writing will never change. Today, writers face the same basic challenges as they did in the past and will in the future. The basic solution to these challenges is also the same: simple, precise, jargon-free writing. E.B. White mastered this style, and he also famously advocated it in his revised edition of The Elements of Style. Therefore, White’s photo represents how both the writing process and the best writing have to be simple.

Since the basic elements of good writing never change, Zinsser argues that one of the best ways for beginners to improve is by studying and emulating successful writers from the past. Specifically, Zinsser always sought to emulate E.B. White, and On Writing Well seeks to emulate The Elements of Style by applying its principles to contemporary nonfiction. Therefore, White’s photo also symbolizes how learning to write well is simple: beginning writers should figure out which writers inspire them and then emulate those writers until they find their own voice.