 “A student writer is an individual who is learning to use language to discover meaning in experience and communicate it” (Murray 29). Donald M. Murray repeats this over and over in his passage “The Interior View,” to explain to the reader why this concept is significant. The author wants to make the point that the student writer should be the one in control of their writing and not the teacher. Murray backs this point up by breaking down this quote and providing an in depth analysis of each part to the reader.

The first-time Murray says “A student writer is an individual who is learning to use language to discover meaning in experience and communicate it,” (Murray 29) he wants his readers to understand that he believes writing is an extremely personal process, and those who choose to write use their pieces to express who they are as an individual, even if students are assigned similar topics to write about. Murray backs this up by saying 

“We must accept the individual student and appreciate his individualness. No class can move lock step through a writing sequence which is meaningful. The students do not start at the same place and do not end at the same place. They do not proceed at a similar pace and they do not follow the same path through the course” (Murray 29).

Murray is saying that each student develops their writing abilities individually. Toward the end of the author’s explanation of this part of the concept the author points out that the individual should learn the process for themselves but the writer should still be aware of the basic process of writing that most writers follow. So even though the author feels the student should develop their writing abilities individually he knows that there is a basic process of writing that the writer should know. 

The second-time Murray says “A student writer is an individual who is learning to use language to discover meaning in experience and communicate it,” (Murray 30). When talking about this part of the concept Murray is explaining to the reader that there are no givens when talking about language. Murray wants the reader to get away from the idea that there is a right way and a wrong way and develop the understanding that some language does not work, and the student writer must figure out what works by trying to make what the student does not know works work. He is trying to say that the individual student writer must learn to use language in his/her own way. He wants it to be understood that writers should forget the idea that there is right and wrong way to write and realize what works and what does not by trying to make it work and learn from the things that did not work. The author uses a perfect example to back up his point, in the passage he says 

“While John Kenneth Galbraith was working on a book he called Why People Are Poor, he decided that title was undescriptive, and he called his manuscript The Opulent Society. It was not the word and Galbraith knew it, but it was getting there. Opulent was the necessary wrong word. It was a long step from Why People Are Poor to The Opulent Society. It was a short step to his celebrated title, The Affluent Society” (Murray 30).

This story about John Galbraith shows the reader that it is okay for a student writer to learn from trial and error. The author wants readers to realize that student writing is a process and that students must learn from the ways that did not work. When a writer does not trust the process, and gets caught up about what is right and wrong, their writing starts to lose that uniqueness that every student should have in writings. This shows the reader that a student writer is an individual person and the student should learn individually.  

The third time Murray says “A student writer is an individual who is learning to use language to discover meaning in experience and communicate it,” (31) he wants to tell the reader that all students have different experiences and the teacher must realize that their experiences aren’t the same as the students. Murray backs this up by saying 

“The student writer is searching for what is significant in his experience. That is what the writer does and that is what the student does. To allow this search to occur the teacher must realize that not all his students will have the same experience or find the same meaning in the same experience. What is meaningful for the student may not be meaningful for the teacher” (Murray 31). 

This quote backs up the claim that a teacher should not judge the student for writing about their experiences when the teacher is unable to relate to those same experiences. Murray does not come right out and say it but reading the quote one can imply that the teacher should not try and force an experience on a student if they haven’t experienced it because just like student’s teachers have their own experiences too and these experiences cannot be forced on any writer. “Discovering meaning in experience” is emphasized this third time to portray Murray’s beliefs that when a student becomes a writer, they should write about something that has a great significance in their lives and not be pressured into writing about something that has no meaning at all. 

The final time Murray says “A student writer is an individual who is learning to use language to discover meaning in experience and communicate it,” (Murray 31) he wants the reader to know how important the writer’s communication is. The importance of communication cannot be taken for granted. It’s an important part of the writing process when a student writer publicizes their writing for teachers and possibly peers to see. To make sure this part of the process is successful the student writer should communicate experiences in THEIR writing. The author says “If you do not have a subject you won’t have a reader; if you do not know what you mean you can’t say it; if language does not clarify your own mind it will not clarify your reader’s mind,” (Murray 32) this quote points out that if the students writing does not make sense to him/her then it will not make sense to the audience because it starts with the writer. When looking at this final piece of the concept the author wants to apply what was said before and let it flow. There’s one quote that sums up the authors idea and it says “I see but one rule: to be clear. If I’m not clear, all my world crumbles to nothing.” -Stendhal  

Throughout the passage, Murray breaks down “A student writer is an individual who is learning to use language to discover meaning in experience and communicate it,” he does this to tell the reader what he means in each part of the quote. The first part he breaks down is “A student writer is an individual,” which is saying the student should write about their own individualness and develop their writing as an individual. The second part he breaks down is “who is learning to use language,” this is saying the student should learn by trying things out then learning from the attempts that didn’t work. The third part he breaks down is “to discover meaning in experience,” when the author explains this he wants the reader to know that the student should connect their writings to their own personal experiences and do not let other people such as teachers influence what you write about. The last part the author breaks down is “and communicate it,” when means put everything the author talked about and communicate it. The authors main point about the whole concept is for the student to be themselves and don’t let others decide how to write, learn, or communicate because that’s not how it should be. It should start with the student.