Analysis #7 - Breaking the boundaries of Racial Divide

Americans have come a long way in their fight for the elimination of racial divide and human inequality.  Beginning with Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, he declared "All persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be free." (Featured Documents 1)  And while this proclamation didn’t completely end slavery, it set the precedent for freedom in the minds of many for what was achievable.  But, change takes time.  Analagous to the struggles that women endure in a male dominated society, per Simone de Beauvoir’s, Second Sex, African-Americans have essentially been considered an “other” to the white race.  African-Americans have faced an uphill battle in their fight for their right of equality.  

During the Harlem Renaissance period, was it any wonder that African-Americans might wish to have a different skin color to improve their chances of gaining acceptance by whites in literature and music?  Langston Hughes, a pioneer during that time, was concerned about this longing in many of the black artists during the early 1920s.  He understood how desperately these artists wanted to be heard and sought the approval from a white audience.  “But he worries about the price paid for gaining the attention of whites.  The perils facing the black artist are so many – from self-loathing to currying the favor of whites to providing a safe window on the exotic world of the racial other – that success depends on an honesty and fearlessness that are almost too much to ask.” (1191)  Hughes was concerned for the African-American artist.  He hoped they would affirm their race and acknowledge the truth in racism, but his disappointment remained when a poet friend of his declared indirectly that he not only wanted to be a poet, but a white poet. (1192)

One hundred years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Dr. Martin Luther King broke the boundary of racial divide in 1963.  In the attached clip of King's famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. King unites men and women of all races and shares his dream of combined brotherhood where one’s skin color is unimportant.  “I have a dream that one day my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”  (King 1963)  In the time between, and after this great speech, enormous progress has been made in abolishing the racial divide between white and black Americans as attested to in 2009, when Barack Obama became the 44^th President of the United States; a man of mixed race. 

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation

Featured Documents, The Emancipation Proclamation, page 1
Record Group 11
General Records of the United States, web, May 8, 2011

Langston Hughes 1902-1967, the Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism
Leitch, New York, 2010, 2001 - p 1191-1192

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

Dr. Martin Luther King- I Have a Dream  Speech, 1963

Analysis #6 - Woman - Knowing Her Place in Society

Woman’s status as being second to man has remained constant since the beginning of time.  In the era of Aristotle, the belief that women were inferior to men was reinforced by his influence.  In his quotes, "A proper wife should be as obedient as a slave, and “The female is a female by virtue of a certain lack of qualities - a natural defectiveness," (Aristotle; 384-322 BCE -Fable 1), he perpetuated the continuum of keeping women in this subservient role through rhetoric.

In examining the New American Bible, there is no fallacy in the fact that a woman’s place has been second to men since its conception.  History states that God removed a rib from Adam to create woman.  “The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man.  When he brought her to the man, the man said:  “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.” (Genesis 4)  Therefore, being created from man has been a woman’s curse for centuries.  Simone de Beauvoir reinforces this ideology in her book, The Second Sex, by saying that humanity is male and that he defines woman relative to him as she is not an autonomous being. (de Beauvoir 3)

Have women reached a point of enlightenment in realizing that they can achieve the status bequeathed to men?  A shift began to occur with the Suffrage Movement and the Seneca Convention led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and a radical Quaker Group on July 19, 1848.  The push for change helped the women to achieve a “greater proportion of social, civil and moral rights.” (Wikipedia/Seneca)

A second wave of feminism began after World War II and at the time when capitalism prevailed.  Women maintained the position as the suburban housewife thus fulfilling her role in a patriarchal society.  The media helped to influence this role by airing shows like Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best. (Wikipedia).  Unlike the first wave of feminism, this wave focused more on sexuality, family and the workplace. 

While great strides have been made for equality, “Women still make 77 cents for each dollar men make in the US.” (Gunelius)  Knowing this, women pull out all their tricks in an attempt to break the inequality by using their intelligence, femininity, body and looks.  But this is no easy task and often ends in self-destruction.  As Susan Bordo states, “Through the exacting and normalizing disciplines of diet, makeup and dress – central organizing principles of time and space in the day of many women – we are rendered less socially oriented and more centripetally focused on self-modification.  At the farthest extremes, the practices of femininity may lead us to utter demoralization, debilitation and death.” (2240) 

Even today, our media reinforces this subservient role through art.  As depicted in the attached clip, “Coming to America,” the potential princess is groomed, educated and trained to serve and meet the needs of Eddie Murphy’s character, the prince, thus supporting the anti-feminist’s view of a woman’s place in society.

While things have progressed somewhat over the centuries regarding women’s rights, achieving an equal status to men in our society is still improbable.   

Works cited:

New American Bible, Thomas Nelson Inc, 1988, Genesis, Chapter 2, vs 22-23, page 4

Fable, Jan. “The Woman’s Page”. http://www.forhealing.org/women.html  April 30, 2011

Gunelius, Susan, “Women Make 77 Cents for Each Dollar Men Make in the U.S.” –

http://www.womenonbusiness.com/women-make-77-cents-for-each-dollar-men-make-in-the-us/  April 25, 2011

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Falls_Convention,  April 27, 2011

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-wave_feminism, April 25, 2011

Coming to America, Landis, John, 1988

Featuring: Murphy, Eddie, Hall, Arsenio, Jones, James Earl

Reflection #9 - Feminism

In taking a look at Feminism, we discussed Simone de Beauvoir and her book The Second Sex which focuses on women as "the other."  In exploring feminity, de Beauvoir asks the question, "What is Woman?"  She explores this meaning going beyond the basic gender issue and touching on the essence of femininity that women try to incarnate.  We understand through her writing that the man defines the woman and that she is not autonomous.  These two human beings are in a binary relationship and in trying to do away with the oppressor is not possible because they are interdependent on one another.

Susan Bordo explores the feminist discourse on the body.  She argues that woman try too hard with the daily rigors of beautifying themselves through fashion, diet, and makeup and in the end chasing this ideal of femininity only results in "demoralization, debilitation and death." (2241)

Foucault's The History of Sexuality was discussed and how he is concerned with the order of things in language.  His argument of discourse about sex has intensified since the eighteenth century.  He argued that sex has not been repressed - it has been controlled through discourse.  Foucault asks us to compare the priest to an analyst.  Whereas he hears confessions that divulge the smallest temptations and desires.

Analysis #5 - The Imaginary and The Juicy - Pulp Fiction

Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction follows post-modernism/post-structuralism viewpoints.  There are several things that can be stated about this movie falling in line with these theories.  First and foremost, the story is non-linear; it jumps all over the place.   The film has a disconnection between the characters actions and dialogue.   At one point, the characters Jules and Vincent are walking into a building have a dialogue about foot massages and whether or not it constitutes cheating.  There is no connection between this dialogue (signifier) and their upcoming actions (signified) that they are about to whack several guys in an apartment.   In another scene, Jules and Vincent are at Jerry’s house trying to get help to get rid of a dead body of a boy that Vincent accidentally killed.  Vincent and Jules are calmly talking about how great the coffee tastes as if the fact that they have to get rid of this body is insignificant.  In addition, post-modernism comes into play because this shows that there is no sense of morality in the characters’ actions   Finally, there is a scene where Jules, believes he experiences “divine intervention” when he is shot at, but suffers no wounds.  Vincent disagrees with him and says it was luck.   In post-structuralism, one might argue in favor of Vincent that there is no proven truth that this experience was divine intervention casting a shadow on the Enlightenment era.

In taking a look at Quentin Tarantino’s writing through Foucault’s viewpoint, he considers that it is important to carry the author and his text forward and this is determined by its culture.  “Discourse that possesses an author’s name is not to be immediately consumed and forgotten…Rather, its status and its manner of reception are regulated by the culture in which it circulates.” (1470)  This holds true for Tarantino as he has gone on to make other films and has commanded a vast following due to his talent as a unconventional writer and director. 

Works cited:

Michel Foucault 1926-1984, the Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism

Leitch, New York, 2010, 2001 - p 1470

Reflection # 8 - Postmodernism

 Postmodernism

In reviewing Foucault’s Discipline and Punish we gain a better understanding of his interest in how the discourse of science pertains to order.  Understanding panopticism or the theory that if you know you are being watched then you mostly likely would behave, Foucault’s idea was that we would internalize the pressures of big brother watching us therefore we would regulate ourselves through the power of relations.  In addition, through the power of relations, we understand how disciplines such as criminology, sociology, psychology, etc., regulate us.  From a judge who passes down a sentence to a criminal for evaluation by a psychologist to the sociologist to a criminologist – we gain a better understanding of how these disciplines maintain social order.

Jean Baudrillard’s simulacrum denotes representation but still carries a sense of counterfeit or falseness.  It is a copy of a copy.  Simulacra has real references but are only a pretend representation, marking the absence and not the existence of the object is represents.   The Disney clip in class showing the dancers on Main Street supports this theory.  By bringing nostalgia to the park goers of a time that never really existed serves a world of today for these people because our forward thinking is always working backwards.

Analysis #3 - Marxism on Slumdog

Click here to see this video







In this clip from Slumdog Millionaire, a Marxist view might be that the children are not only exploited, but they are victims in a capitalistic society where they suffer mentally and physically for their cheap labor at the hands of their oppressors.   This suffering is more than just a basic class difference.  The children are not only well below the poverty level, their thoughts and opinions are disregarded because of their age, therefore causing an even wider gap between them and the authority figures.
One could argue that, if in deed, there was nothing morally wrong with the idea that the children pan for things and beg tourists for money only to give it over to the higher authority (the orphan ring-master), their return payment for their prolific labor is balanced unequally.  In being so young, the children are unable to enter into an amicable agreement that their payment in the form of food and shelter is in direct correlation to their labor value of spending entire days running around the streets of Mumbai begging for money. 
In the end, when realizing that their lives are in danger because of what the men will do to them (gouging out their eyes in an effort to gain further sympathy from tourists – which only increases profits for the capitalists), the children revolt against the men and flee as a means of escape similar to other proletarians who rise up to fight for their rights. 
Marx’s idea of dialectical materialism, in believing that "all change results from the constant conflict arising from oppositions inherent in all ideas," (648) is supported by this economic structure of the society in which these children live.  Their world is shaped at the hands of the capitalists and by having the courage to run, the children have taken the first step toward changing their condition.

Works cited:

Karl Marx 1818-1883; Friedrich Engels 1820-1895; The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism
Leitch, New York, 2010, 2001 - p 648

Slumdog Millionaire, 2008
Dir. Danny Boyle
Perf. Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Rajendranath Zutshi

Reflection on Marxism

Marxism

The material conditions of life and the economic structure of society was the driving force behind Karl Marx’s theory of Marxism.  He believed that, “The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general.  It’s not the consciousness of men that determines their well-being, but their social being that determines their consciousness.” (662) 

Marx set out to prove that the economic and social forces shape the human consciousness.  Stemming from dialectical materialism – believing that all change results from a constant conflict arising from oppositions inherent in all ideas - he argued that these internal contradictions in capitalism would eventually lead to its demise. 

He determined that society has a base and superstructure.   With the base being the class (workers) the superstructure emerges.  The base is the way people relate to one another in productive relations.

Marx’s theory of class struggle is a central element to his beliefs.   He was against capitalism (private ownership) insisting it created a barrier between the proletarians and bourgeoisie.   Within capitalism, the proletarians only own their capacity to work – to sell their own labor.  But as a result of the disparity between their labor value and the surplus value derived from their mean of production, the bourgeoisie continue to benefit by getting richer and the proletarians lives remain the same.

Marx believed that eventually a social revolution must occur when an economic recession takes place.  The proletarians would be unable to afford the very products they manufacture and the bourgeoisie would not be able to consume the surplus value.

With relation to commodity fetishism, little thought from the recipient goes into the labor value that is involved in making or producing a product as in our class example of coffee.

Analysis #4 - Is It Psychological or Just Plain Evil?

Freud states in the Imp of the Perverse, “The psychical value of erotic needs are reduced as soon as their satisfaction becomes easy. An obstacle is required in order to heighten libido…” (2412) This is only partially true in the case of serial killer, Ted Bundy, who sexually assaulted and killed over thirty women before he was executed on January 24, 1989.

Ted Bundy’s perpetual erotic need to be satisfied through sadistic and violent sexual assaults, were never fulfilled. Some say he killed anywhere from 29 to 100 women. He did, however, use many tools and created obstacles in his primitive game of hunter, to intensify his sexual excitement to lure his prey into his lair – a Volkswagen Beetle. He would fake a broken leg or arm in order play on the naivety of college girls. The results were mostly the same; the violent deaths of young, beautiful women.

Freud concluded that a criminal’s psychotic behavior stemmed from the inability to successfully develop a healthy relationship between the ego and superego. Bundy, however, apparently had little, if no, issue with his id - “if it feels good, do it.” While sadistic acts of murder are not normal, for Bundy this unresolved battle between the ego and superego may have led to his demise through execution. According to Freud, having the incapacity to feel guilt, affection, or to learn from an experience is a result of a defective superego.

In the case of Ted Bundy, other psychoanalytic theories played into his destructive tendencies. His bizarre childhood of growing up with his mother, believing she was his older sister, may have led to an unresolved Oedipus complex thus directing his aggressions toward women. In addition many speculated his abusive grandfather was in fact his father. Could his violent tendencies have been genetically inherited? Bundy’s impulsive desires for violent pornography and the inability to express those desires in a healthy manner may have directly correlated to his social ineptness. Many psychiatrists can speculate as to what made Ted Bundy act out his aggressions, but we will never know if it was truly psychological or just pure evil.

 
Works cited:
The Courtly ‘Imp of the Perverse’, The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism
Leitch, New York, 2010, 2001 - p 2412

Reflection #7 - Reader Response

The correlation between Barthes, Sarte and Iser is the connection between the reader and text.
We understand the importance of the reader and the text and how the two bind into a cohesive covenant. I don’t believe, however, that when the reader becomes invested in the story, the author is no longer relevant as suggested in Barthe’s, Death of the Author. In fact, I think the author holds more relevance as he/she is the creator of the story.
Iser’s influence in the development of literary theory is one where literature becomes a way of reflection. This makes sense. I know there are many times after I read as story where I can’t help to reflect on the content and how it might connect in my own life.

Reflection# 6 - Psychoanalysis

Freud was somewhat of a character in my opinion.  I often wonder where he came up with his psychosexual stages.  In covering these stages: oral, anal, phallic, latent, and puberty/genital, Freud insisted these were formative in a child’s development.  While some of these stages make sense, I find it hard to believe that every little boy wants to sleep with his mother and do away with his father as Freud suggests in the Oedipus Complex.  And, if this complex is not resolved, then a neurosis becomes prevalent.   In addition, his belief of castration anxiety where the father poses as a castrating force because the child has feelings for the mother seems absurd.  For human desires to be repressed into the unconscious as a defense mechanism because the conscious cannot tolerate them is more believable to me than the Oedipus Complex. 

Freud’s belief that dreams are “windows to the soul” and that these dreams speak to therapists in an abstract light seem plausible.  Here, it is important for the therapist to connect the symbols in a dream to the reality of what the person is experiencing in order to sift out the cloudiness and focus on the real issue that patient is suffering with.

For Jacques Lacan, language is important in the theory of psychoanalysis because he believed the child knows he can get what he wants through communication.   His idea is that the self is always incomplete.  There is need, demand and desire and that demand never is fulfilled.   There is something to say about this demand.  I recognize it with my own children when they want something and it never seems to be enough.  You can look at it in another way and think maybe it’s just love they desire and therefore you reach to hug them, only to have them scream they want a different toy! 

Reflection #5 - Structuralism

 

Defamiliarization.   Making the everyday - unfamiliar or the ordinary strange.  This was an interesting discussion this past week.  I understood this better after we examined a clip from the movie Go Bananas, by Woody Allen.   With the imminent assassination of the leader in the movie and how the newscaster, Howard Cousell, made the experience like a sporting event, defamiliarized the scene. 

In examining Ferdinand Saussure’s study of linguistics and structuralism, learning about semiotics was interesting in that signifier and signified are the key to language and how we communicate.  The idea that signs are broken down into what you see, is what you think - reinforces this belief.  Saussure’s work emphasizes thinking in binaries.  Ie. cat/dog, mother/father, etc., therefore when we examine something  we don’t comprehend one without the other.  When analyzing this semiotic theory, it allows us to understand how something can be exchangeable with what is represents as in the case of Michael Jordan.  He expands out to many commodities.

Following this structuralistic approach to literature, I am more able to look at a text now and break it down in a way that was foreign to me before.  It isn’t something that particularly excites me, however.  When I read a story, I prefer to get lost in the plot, versus breaking it down to understand the signifier and signified.  How much fun is there in that?  I hope that when people read my novel, they won’t get hung up in the structure and just get lost in the story.

Analysis #2 - Screaming over Bakhtin

A man walks along a bridge with two friends on a warm and breezy day, when he notices the clouds churning eerily into a dark gray, tumultuous frenzy.  Far in the distance, the pastel sky changes to streaks of crimson as if flames of fire are licking from the heavens.  He senses that an unbeknownst terror has ripped through nature, stripping her of all her beauty.  He becomes paralyzed with fear at the phenomenon he is witnessing, before he grabs his face and the panic spews forth into a high-pitched howl that he cannot contain.  His friends continue to walk ahead entranced in their intimate conversation oblivious to any change around them. 

In Edvard Munch’s, The Scream, we see a person holding his face and screaming while standing on a bridge.  The scene allows for many individual interpretations.  Munch’s voice speaks through his character in a compilation of words that become continuous even after one views the painting which follows the discourse of Bakhtin’s philosophy. 

In Bakhtin’s, Discourse in the Novel, he states, “The word, directed toward its object, enters a dialogically agitated and tension-filled environment of alien words, value and judgments and accents, weaves in and out of complex interrelationships, merges with some, recoils from others, intersects with yet a third group: and all this may crucially shape discourse, may leave a trace in all its semantic layers, may complicate its expression and influence its entire stylistic profile.” (1088) 

One can derive from the art that the words used to describe the horror the man is feeling does affect it’s stylistic profile.  His terror which is something that is forthcoming unlike anything he has ever encountered before, like demons about to descend upon him, are layered in a way to solidify the complex intricacies of the expression that are intended for the viewer.  This artwork is heteroglossic in that the artist intends to evoke something deep through the character by his vocalization of his fear, intended by the painter.  This includes the coexistence of the character, the painter, as well as the viewer, where all three play their part.

One could agree with Bakhtin that this is a dialogical painting that speaks to us from previous works of art and will continue on, in other future paintings.  One might see the man in the picture expressing anxiety and terror that will resonate his own utterances of fear and other emotions long after he has finished viewing the painting.  In essence, it will perpetuate more thoughts and feelings going forward.  It’s a continuous cycle where every word to describe the painting remains in conversation with another.   





Works Cited:
Discourse in the Novel
Mikhail M. Bakhtin
The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism
WW Norton & Company - New York/London
Vincent B Leitch, General Editor 2010, 2001, p 1088

The Scream, Edvard Munch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream

Reflection #4 - Lecture Review on Kant & Bakhtin

Reflecting on tonight’s class, we finished reviewing the Enlightenment Theory. The main point in Immanuel Kant’s, What is Enlightenment?, is the emergence from self-imposed immaturity. For when a person can seek out understanding without the guidance from others, he/she is then considered to have taken a step into maturity. Kant’s aim to appreciate beauty universally with disinterestedness, made some sense to me.
In Rene Descartes’s statement, “I think, therefore I am,” we are reminded of the duality of self among other implications that adhere to rationalism, empiricism and skepticism.
Reviewing Bakhtin and Formalism, we discussed his Discourse of the Novel. This essay drives home the point that one should care about the text itself and how every text is dialogical. Meaning, one thought stems from a prior thought and branches out to a future thought/word/dialogue.
I appreciated watching the Hunchback of Notre Dame clip when we discussed the concept of Bakhtin’s Carnival. It made much more sense. I understood the idea of the inversion of power when it is permitted/allowed during the Carnival and how that gives people a different perspective of the life of others. Sometimes it appears to be greener on the other side; other times, not so. In the case with the Hunchback, when he was crowned King of the Carnival, he smiled and seemed to be happy, although the irony in that was he was crowned for being the ugliest – and he wasn’t wearing a mask. So his joy was founded by others who were belittling him.

Reflection #3 - Enlightenment Theory

Tonight we reviewed the Enlightenment Theory. There was a lot of material covered. This theory moves from rationalism (understanding through reason), to empiricism (understanding through senses), and ends with skepticism (understanding that true knowledge is not possible).
Out of the writings we discussed, I felt the easiest to grasp (not easy at all) was Kant’s, What is Enlightenment? This writing basically expresses the idea that to rise out of self-imposed immaturity, one must be able to understand things without the guidance of others. This concept seems basic enough, however, Kant goes on to explain that, “Nothing is required for this enlightenment, however, except freedom; and the freedom in question is the least harmful of all, namely, the freedom to use reason publicly in all matters.” (pg 2) He discusses restrictions on freedom in public and encourages private expression as long as it does not hinder the progression of enlightenment.
We also discussed the four reflective judgments to include: the agreeable (sensory), the good (ethical), the beautiful and the sublime; with the beautiful and sublime both falling under the subjective universal judgment. These reflective judgments lack a firm rule, whereas determinative judgments surpass subjectivity.
We touched on Rene Descartes and his idea that if you doubt your own existence than you can be sure that you do exist.
Alexander Pope’s, Essay on Criticism, was discussed briefly. His writing appeals to the neo-classical art in the 18th century and he suggests that you must know your strengths and weaknesses. This essay makes a point to silence the critics.


Works cited:
An Answer to the Question:
What is Enlightenment? (1784) Immanuel Kant

Reflection # 2 - Aristotle's Way of Thinking...

Today we had the opportunity to listen to guest speaker, Kevin O'Neill, discuss Classical Rhethoric Theory. We had an interesting lesson about the Greek cultural and how the use of rhetoric focuses on context. Three important facts we learned about the Greeks were: Labor, Cultural of Work, and the Realm of Speech and action (Pathos/Logos)- turning the human body into an act of self-expression.

The Greeks were physical people who cared very much about how they looked and how they spoke. They were also an agonistic culture (extremely competitive). The Greeks created the Polis - urban environment surrounded by farmland. But no one could argue that God created the kingdoms. Plato argued that the Greeks' creation of Polis was only through speech.

Speech was a very important way of life for the Greeks. Aristotle determined there were three main ways of speaking: Deliberative - speaking of the future, Forensic - speaking of the past, and Epideitic - eulogizing a person through either praise or blame. Aristotle's thoughts on rhetoric were for speech to operate on logic.

The Sophists were instrumental in teaching the public (for money) how to use expression, dress, and tone of voice in being persuasive.

The Greeks used different argumentative avenues to their advantage. Epagoge (induction) and Dialectical (batting back and forth). The Dialectical would focus on syllogism - an assembly of a set of sentences that generate a final sentence from the first two. The sentence must declare that it is either true or false, must contain a subject and predicate, and the premise has to end in a conclusion.(ie. All men are mortal. Socrates is a man, therefore Socrates is mortal).

In communicating through speech, Aristotle believed in the importance of ethos - character of the individual - that he must have goodwill (Eunola,) and must seem virtuous. He also understood the psychology of people and that human desire must be understood before speaking to one's audience as well as knowing that happiness entices people to flourish.

In the end, Artistotle insisted that to be an effective speaker, one must know the tools to use in order to speak effectively in an agonistic society.

Analsysis #1 - Who Could Blame a Girl?

Who Could Blame a Girl?

In Gorgias’s, Encomium of Helen, through the use of rhetoric, he defends Helen’s actions of infidelity using several different reasons. They are as follows: the fact that her parents were gods and it was her destiny, her beauty was immeasurable, the persuasion of speech (logos), and the idea that she may have just been besotted with love. In the movie, First Knight, Lady Guinevere’s actions are supported in a similar way that Gorgias defends Helen of Troy’s actions.

Gorgias proposed that because Helen’s parents were gods, it was probably this reason that her actions could not have been different. “The will of fortune and the plan of the gods.” (39) In essence, she was not in charge of her own destiny, therefore no matter what she did to prevent her infidelity, it was her fate and that could not be altered. In addition, Helen was said to have been blessed with an undeniable beauty that men couldn’t resist, and because of this beauty that “aroused erotic passions in many men,” (39) how could anyone fault Helen for being led astray? If a man became a victim to Helen’s beauty, it was not her problem; it was theirs. If these reasons were not convincing enough, it is very possible, according to Gorgias, that Helen was persuaded by speech. Gorgias makes it clear that, “A speech persuaded a soul that was persuaded by what was said and to consent to what was done. The persuader then, is the wrongdoer.” (39) Finally, he makes his last point that maybe Helen was just besotted with love and who can argue with that?

In the attached clip of, First Knight, Lady Guinevere and Sir Lancelot are thrown together in a passionate embrace. Under normal circumstances this might not be a problem, however, Lady Guinevere is married to King Arthur. In support of her actions of this illicit affair, one might argue through rhetoric that because King Arthur was the age of her father, her sexual desires for a younger man were only natural. Sir Lancelot was handsome, younger, carefree in his actions and protective of her. How could a she be faulted for falling victim to him? Furthermore, one could argue that because she was impressionable, by proof that she joined King Arthur in marriage at his persuasion, in an attempt to protect her city from the rebels, she could have easily been coerced by Sir Lancelot through his words, (logos) that they belonged together. As Gorgias has said in his Encomium of Helen, “Speech is a powerful master and achieves the most divine feats with the smallest and least evident body.” (39)

Lady Guinevere was incapable of denying Sir Lancelot’s charm and the intense attraction that he had for her, and vice versa. Because of this, it wouldn’t be fair to condemn Lady Guinevere and blame her for the affair. She was a victim and because of the way Sir Lancelot pursued her she wouldn’t have been able to resist his charm and the love he felt for her.

Both Helen of Troy and Lady Guinevere were helpless against the deep desires they felt for their pursuers. These men used seductive persuasion by their words, actions and physical contact to win the hearts of the woman they loved. In the end, how could either woman be blamed for falling in love with handsome, younger men? I only hope that one day this argument could benefit women in the 21st century.

Works Cited:
Gorgias, Encomium of Helen, The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism
Leitch, New York, 2010, 2001 - p 39

First Knight, 1995
Director, Jerry Zucker
Perf. Sean Connery, Richard Gere, Julia Ormond

Reflection #1

This past week we focused on Rhetoric – the Art of Persuasion - through the writings of Gorgias’s Encomium of Helen.  We also discussed Plato’s Republic Books II, III and X.  In addition, we viewed a clip of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.   

I really enjoyed the class discussion of Gorgias the most.  I was reminded that it was important to take into consideration the historical context of the writing; something I failed to do at the start.  It was easy to form an opinion that Gorgias should not have defended Helen for her actions of cheating on her husband, thus leading to the Trojan War, given that we all have free will and are responsible for our own choices.  This makes sense in our century, however, in understanding the historical time of the writing and the belief system during that period, it started to make more sense of why Gorgias argued in her defense.  Several things came into consideration.  First, he argued that because she was a descendant from the gods, she stirred passion in men who could not resist her beauty.   The fact that she may have just fallen in love was another consideration.  Gorgias also stated that through the art of persuasion through speech, this may have persuaded her soul.  Finally, maybe it was just her destiny to be fulfilled. 

In the end, Gorgias makes it clear that there could have been many things that would have been the driving force for Helen to make her choices and that despite her cheating, she should be forgiven and not held accountable for her actions or the Trojan War.

In Plato’s Republic, we learned that he demands censorship of all writings.  He believes that poetry is a lie, psychologically damaging, and because people are impressionable from what they read, these untruths will corrupt the readers.  He also felt this way about plays. 

In the Allegory of the Cave video clip, we saw prisoners being held in a cave, unable to move their bodies and heads which were forced to look straight ahead.  A fire was lit behind the prisoners and a few workers would hold up cut-outs of animals and people and cast the shadow on the cave wall.  When a prisoner was freed and brought up into the sunlight, he learned that he could not trust what was real.  The correlation between clip and Plato’s views are that nothing is real, everything is in a shadow and that poetry is twice removed.

Intro

Hi,
I'm in a Theories of Fiction class and just blogging a little about myself as an intro. 

I'm back at CSUN, part time, as a junior after taking a ten-year hiatus to raise my two kids - or at least get them to a point where they are a little more independent.  (10 yr old and 6 yr old).   I work for a great company that offers tuition reimbursement and since I really want to finish my bachelor's degree, I couldn't resist it.  I'm a English major - creative writing.  I must admit that I thought this major would be more focused on creative writing than literature, but it's not.  At least I'm broadening the scope of my education.  I will confess that some of these courses are dreadful - the ones that take me out of the creative writing and into other areas of cognitive thinking - that hurts using that part of the brain :) 

I wrote an action/romance novel and am working on trying to get it published.   I love to read too.  I'm a huge fan of:  Stephen King, Nelson DeMille, Dean Koontz and Nora Roberts.


So here I am, working full time, taking night classes, raising kids and trying to get an action/romance novel published.  I hope it all pays off one day!