PREMIER The Faculty of Arts and Humanities First Year Essay and Academic Resource Guide VOL. IV
Brought To You By The Arts and Humanities Students’ Council 2012 - 2013
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PREMIER Volume IV
| Jessica Habib & Kacie Oliver Cover Art | Kacie Oliver Editors
Dear first year students, May we be the first of many to congratulate you on the life-changing choice you have made by joining the faculty of Arts & Humanities! With that, welcome. The Arts & Humanities Students’ Council is proud to represent and serve the creative, dynamic, and ultimately wonderful students that make up our faculty, and we hope that you find your home here as well. On that note, let us introduce you to Premier. Premier is a terrific resource to guide you through your academic journey, both throughout your first year, and those to come. In here, you will find a collection of “A” and “A+” essays written by first year students. Granted, achieving these marks in university is a bit of a challenge; however, these papers (and the grading criteria provided) will serve as examples to familiarize you with and ground you in university expectations of a quality essay. Also included are guides to academic resources on campus, an introduction to the academic counselling office, academic terminology, pointers on the academic calendar, and much more. To conclude, we will leave you with this: read a lot, research thoroughly, write, then rewrite, proofread, proofread again, and don’t forget to print. All-nighters are a bad idea, coffee and tea help, the library is your new best friend, professors are an irreplaceable source of knowledge, go to class, and finally, you only get better. It’s time to get creative. Jessica Habib & Kacie Oliver Premier 2012/2013 Editors in Chief *Copyright remains with the authors Please Note: Essay submissions appear as submitted, and may contain grammatical and/or typographical errors. Due to formatting constraints, essays do not appear in proper MLA format. MLA guidelines require 8.5”x11” paper, one inch margins, twelve point font, and the double spacing of the entire essay (including heading, title, and paragraphs). For MLA guideline information visit: http://www.mla.org
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TABLE OF CONTENTS THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES STUDENTS’ COUNCIL………………5 A & H ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION: A WHO’S WHO OF YOUR ACADEMIC GURUS…………….……6
RESOURCES BEYOND THE FACULTY: PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC HELP …………………………9
NOW I KNOW MY ABC’S: ACADEMIC TERMINOLOGY ……………………………………………11
WHAT COMES NEXT: ACADEMIC CALENDAR ……………………………………………14
WANT TO BE PUBLISHED? AHSC PUBLICATIONS ………………………………….….………15 FIRST YEAR ESSAYS: 90-100% ……….…….……….…..…….……17 FIRST YEAR ESSAYS: 80-89% ………………………….….….……47
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TABLE OF CONTENTS: ESSAYS Essays 90-100% Escaping From Reality: A Meditation on William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and William Morris’ “Rapunzel”
April Tanner. ……………………………………………………..……….. 19 A Critical Study of Ross Gay’s “Love, You Got Me Good”
Gordon Haney…………………………………………….……............... 23 The Correspondence Theory of Truth
Andrew Dimarco ………………………………………………………….. 26 A Duty to Help People Help Themselves
Eva McGuire……………………………………………………………….. 28 Unreasonable Reason: The Discernment of Evil in John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”
Laura Johnson …………………………………………………...………. 33 Lingering Prejudice: The Homophobic Attitudes of North American Youth
Christina Venier …………………………………………………………… 40
Essays 80-89% Empathy: Patricia Young’s Portrayal of Emotion in “Night-Running”
Kayla Vanstone …………………...…………………….……………….. 49 Passion and Empathy: The Depiction of Historical Events in Paintings as a Method of Emotional Expression
Nicole Kipfer ………………..……………………………………………. 52 The Courteous Misogynist
Samarra Goldglas........………………………………..…………………. 58 The Depiction of Grief in The Lamentation Over the Dead Christ
Christina Venier ……………………………………………..………….... 62
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THE ARTS & HUMANITIES STUDENTS’ COUNCIL Who We Are How do you define the Arts & Humanities Students’ Council (AHSC)? While we are students first and foremost, we are also dedicated members of the Arts & Humanities community. We believe that we belong to the best faculty on this campus, and we want to implement student programming to help foster a better sense of community amongst all Arts & Humanities Students.
What We Do Being a student is not just about academics or social events. Instead, the university experience is a balance between the two. The AHSC’s job is to blend these seemingly opposed worlds together. Past AHSC events have included themed formals, arts nights, charity fashion shows, clothing and food drives, essay clinics, speaker series and movie nights! The AHSC depends on your involvement and participation in order to make sure that our events are ones you’d like to attend.
Where You Can Find Us The AHSC is located in University College, room 112F (just look for the bright turquoise room on the first floor!). If you have questions, concerns, or if you’d like to help out with council events, just pop in during our office hours! Executive e-mails can be found below, while a full contact list for all council members can be found on our council web-page: http://ahscuwo.wordpress.com/
General Inquiries: usc.ahsc.exec@uwo.ca President: Nicole Cheese, ncheese@uwo.ca VP Academics: Kacie Oliver, kolive3@uwo.ca VP Communications: Sarah Emms, semms@uwo.ca VP Events: Kate Jefford, kjefford@uwo.ca VP Finance: George Wong, georgewong123@gmail.com
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A & H ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION: A WHO’S WHO OF YOUR ACADEMIC GURUS Office of the Dean Acting Dean: Dr. Michael Milde The role of the dean is in many ways external relations. As the face of the faculty as a whole, the dean focuses on bringing in resources to better the faculty, such as faculty hiring and fundraising.
Associate Dean (Academic): Dr. John Hatch The role of the associate dean (academic) is in large part to oversee program administration and to encourage academic development throughout the faculty. The associate dean works closely with the AHSC to ensure that administrative standards are met, while encouraging growth of student initiatives.
Academic Counselling Office SENIOR ACADEMIC COUNSELLOR: BONNIE BARRATT ACADEMIC COUNSELLOR: BEN HAKALA Arts and Humanities academic counsellors (located in the Dean’s Office, room 112G) offer assistance in many areas, including: course selection, withdrawals, special permissions, progression requirements, mandatory withdrawal requests for academic accommodation, appeal procedures, interpretation of Senate regulations, and graduation inquiries. Counsellors are available by appointment (519-661-3043) or dropin (Monday to Friday, 9:30am-4:00pm). These are the people who work hard to keep you sane!
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A & H ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATION: A WHO’S WHO OF YOUR ACADEMIC GURUS Departmental Administration Have an academic inquiry? Ask the professor first! Aside from their first-hand knowledge of the course material and assignments, they know you best, and will point you in the right direction.
Undergraduate Chair / Program Director If your query goes beyond the scope of a particular course (program related, special permissions), you might wish to speak to your department undergraduate chair or program director. This individual serves as the link between undergraduate student academic matters and the department as a whole. Undergraduate chairs or directors are there to advise you about modular requirements, special permissions and course selection. It’s also a good idea to speak to your chair or director prior to completing your intent to register.
A & H Departmental Contact Information Classical Studies Department Chair: Aara Suksi, asuksi@uwo.ca Undergraduate Chair: Bernd Steinbock !bsteinbo@uwo.ca Undergraduate Assistant: Kathleen Beharrell, kbeharr@uwo.ca
English Department Chair: Bryce Traister, traister@uwo.ca Undergraduate Chair: Allan Pero, apero@uwo.ca Undergraduate Secretary: Teresa MacDonald, tmmacdon@uwo.ca
Film Studies Department Chair: Chris Gittings, gittings@uwo.ca Undergraduate Chairs: Tobias Nagl, tnagl@uwo.ca Janelle Blankenship, jblanke2@uwo.ca Administrative Assistant: Jennifer Tramble, jtramble@uwo.ca
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French Studies Department Chair: Marilyn Randall, mrandall@uwo.ca Undergraduate Chair: Karin Schwerdtner !kschwerd@uwo.ca Undergraduate Assistant: Kristina Loucks-Neill, kloucksn@uwo.ca Undergraduate Academic Advisor: Paul Venesoen, pvenesoe@uwo.ca
Modern Languages and Literatures Department Chair: Joyce Bruhn de Garavito, joycebg@uwo.ca Undergraduate Chair: Angela Borchert, borchert@uwo.ca Undergraduate Affairs Assistant: Sylvia Kontra, skontra@uwo.ca
Philosophy Department Chair: Henrik Lagerlund, hlagerlu@uwo.ca Asst. Chair/Undergraduate Counsellor: Chris Viger, cviger@uwo.ca Undergraduate Program Assistant: Susan Bock, sbock@uwo.ca
Visual Arts Department Chair: Joy James, jjames53@uwo.ca Undergraduate Chair: Sky Glabush, vaugc@uwo.ca Administrative Assistant: Sandy Leboldus, sllebold@uwo.ca
Women’s Studies and Feminist Research Department Chair: Helen Fielding, Acting Undergraduate Chair: Wendy Pearson, wpearson@uwo.ca Undergraduate Assistant: Alicia McIntyre, amcint4@uwo.ca
Linguistics Program Program Co-Director: Jeff Tennant (French), jtennant@uwo.ca Program Co-Director: Tania Granadillo (Anthropology), tgranadi@uwo.ca
Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication Acting Director: Kathleen Fraser, kfraser@uwo.ca Undergraduate Program Director: Brock Eayrs, beayrs@uwo.ca Administrative Assistant: Shelley Clark, smclark@uwo.ca
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RESOURCES BEYOND THE FACULTY For the majority of students, the academic and emotional transitions from high school to university are quite tough. Thankfully, your university has plenty of free resources to help you to adjust!
The Student Success Centre The Student Success Centre is located in the UCC, room 210, and its mission is to facilitate the development of career, educational and life competencies for students. On top of offering career and resume-building sessions, the Centre also puts on various programs such as:
• Leadership and Mentorship Program (LAMP) LAMP pairs first-year students with outgoing upper-year students in a similar field of academic study. First-year students benefit by receiving support and guidance from a caring leader with both personal and academic endeavors. Mentors invite students to get together for meals, to study or just to drop by during their office hours and chat.
• Leadership Education Program (LEP) LEP is a free course-based program that focuses on building individual and group leadership skills. At the end of each tier, students receive a letter of accomplishment from UWO. To register for LEP one-hour sessions go to: https://studentservices.uwo.ca/secure/CFNS/LEP/login.cfm
The Student Development Center (SDC) The SDC is located in the Western Student Services Building, between the University Community Center (UCC) and the D.B. Weldon Library. It is home to a variety of services specially designed to meet the needs of undergraduate students on campus. The most relevant services that the SDC offers to A&H students are:
• The Writing Support Centre One-on-one tutoring sessions with writing counsellors who provide useful and informed feedback. Book an appointment in two ways:
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1. By phone (519-661-3031) 2. Drop by room 4112 in the SDC weekdays 9:30AM-4:30PM. Students can bring in an assignment at any stage of the writing process ranging anywhere from a thesis, an outline, or a fully written essay. The SDC also offers 30-minute drop-in sessions in the D.B. Weldon Library in room 102A (near Quotes Café). These services are offered Monday-Thursday from 2-4PM and 5-7PM and Saturdays from 123PM on a first come, first-serve basis.
• Learning Skills Services Learning Skills Services help students develop new skills or strengthen existing ones. Counsellors can help students explore different strategies to increase grades, take better notes, remember information more efficiently and study for various test formats. To book a confidential individual appointment with a learning skills professional, you can either call 519-661-2183 or simply drop by the SDC in room 4100 weekdays from 8:30AM-4:30PM. You can also attend a drop in session for oneon-one help with a counsellor or senior student volunteer by going to room 4139 in the SDC. If you think you need some extra help from a private tutor, Learning Skills Services offers a tutor referral service for specific courses you might be taking.
• Psychological Services The SDC provides professional and confidential psychological services free of charge to all Western students who wish to discuss some of the trouble they face at school and in their personal life. Psychological services offers individual counselling and group workshops for a wide range of concerns faced by students such as relationship issues, stress, depression/anxiety, body image concerns, procrastination/apathy, LGBTT2Q issues, family problems and decision-making issues. Call 519-661-3031, or drop by the reception desk on the 4th floor of the Western Student Services Building.
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NOW I KNOW MY ABC’S: ACADEMIC TERMINOLOGY In all likelihood you have seen many of these terms before. While you may have an faint understanding of the terminology, there may be some details you have yet to consider. Get ahead of the game and better familiarize yourself with each term prior to registration for second year this spring. Information on specific module and degree requirements can be found in the academic calendar. There you will also find up to date course outlines and listings. It can be difficult to wade through, so please refer to the helpful guide listed on page 16.
Course Unless outlined as otherwise, a course is considered either a half course, counted as 0.5 credit, or a full course counted as 1.0 credit. Full course equivalent means one full course or two half courses (1.0 credit).
Course Numbering Essay half course, 2nd term
French 3540G Department Senior of study level course
No suffix A B A/B E F G F/G
Full course (1.0 credit), year-long Half course (0.5 credit), first term Half course (0.5 credit), second term Half course, first and/or second term Essay full year course Essay half course, first term Essay half course, second term Essay half course, first/second term
(2,3,4)
Prerequisite
Co-requisite
Anti-requisite
Course that must be successfully completed prior to registration in the desired course.
Course that must be taken concurrently with (or prior to registration in) the desired course.
Courses that overlap sufficiently in course content. Both cannot be taken for credit. An antirequisite course can replace a prior credit.
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Breadth Requirements (ABC Credits) Prior to graduation, all students must successfully complete at least one course (can be either a half course or a full course) from each of three categories (ABC) of courses: [A] Alternate Faculty (Social Science, MIT, Music, etc.) [B] Arts and Humanities [C] Science In addition to your A&H course(s) (Category B), you must have 1.0 course from either Category A or C in first-year.
Module Set of courses in a field of study required for a degree, taken after first year. Modules include: • Honors Specialization (Honors degree): 9.0+ courses, including a 4th-year thesis/seminar course • Specialization (4-year non-Honors degree): 9.0+ courses • Major: 6.0-7.0 courses (3 or 4 year) • Minor: 4.0-5.0 courses. The faculty currently offers modules in all eight departments. A&H also offers an interfaculty module in Linguistics, and a program module in Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication.
Degree Degrees consist of essential modules (listed above), first year prerequisites, completed breadth requirements, and any listed essay course requirements. Degrees may often limit the number of courses that can be taken in one subject, and/or how many first year courses may be taken.
Certificate A Certificate is a non-degree credential that is awarded to candidates who have successfully completed an approved program that has a coordinated curriculum with a professional or an applied focus. Normally, a certificate program will require completion of: • specific degree credit courses • specially designed certificate-credit courses • practical work, and/or workshops. A certificate workload required for all certificate programs must have a minimum of 3.0 credits, and will normally add up to be equivalent of 5.0 credits (equal to one full-time year of study). Most certificates are designed so that they can be pursued concurrently alongside a degree.
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The faculty of Arts and Humanities currently offers certificates in: • Business French • Practical French • Practical German • Practical Italian • Practical Spanish • Ethics • Theatre Arts • Writing • Writing for Professional Programs
Intent to Register (ITR) In order to have access to summer online course selection for second year registration, you must complete an Intent to Register form to be considered a returning second year student. For first-year students, this process also requires choosing one or two particular areas of study. Now, we see your brow sweating and we must tell you there is no reason to fret. The whole process is guided by the Student Development Centre, which puts on several information sessions and departmental fairs explaining the process and your choices in great detail. You will have access to the registration process using an online program available on the Student Services website. For students unable to complete the Intent to Register process online, a paper form can be picked up in the Arts and Humanities main office (UC 112). For more information, please visit the Office of the Registrar, or visit their site at: www.registrar.uwo.ca/index.cfm/course-enrollment/intent-to-register/
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WHAT COMES NEXT: ACADEMIC CALENDAR Nearly everything you need to know about academics (and more) can be found within the academic calendar [http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca]. It can be difficult to navigate the calendar at first, so here are a few key places to investigate as you prepare for your second year!
Keep track of admissions deadlines, add/drop dates, exam periods, and recognized holidays
Links to the many resources for students, including the Student Development Centre, Student Success Centre, & academic counselling services
Everything you need to know about admission requirements, how to structure your degree, internships, coops, degree info, and more Detailed degree information and requirements, organized by faculty Detailed course information and outlines, organized by department
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Explanation of academic terminology (ex. What is a post-degree module?)
WANT TO BE PUBLISHED? The Arts and Humanities Students’ Council produces three additional publications annually:
Semi-Colon, Propaganda & Symposium Semi-Colon is an annual journal for undergraduate essays written for courses within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The SemiColon accepts submissions of essays that have received an A-grade. Essays are selected for publication according to anonymous ranking by an interdisciplinary professor review board. Submissions must be in MLA format.
Propaganda accepts submissions of poetry, short fiction, photography, artwork, drama and other creative work from University of Western Ontario students. There is one deadline per term for submissions.
Symposium
accepts submissions of poetry, short fiction, photography, artwork, drama and other creative and literary work from University of Western Ontario students. It also advertises upcoming student events and news within the university and London community.
We are now accepting submissions for the 2012-2013 publications. Please E-mail all submissions to ahscpublications@gmail.com All submissions are welcome!
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Essays 90 - 100% A selection of First Year Arts and Humanities Student Essays 2010/2011
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Grading Criteria: Essays 90-100% The following selection of first year Arts and Humanities essays were written during the 2010/2011 academic year. Each essay received an A+ grade, or a numerical mark within the range of 90 to 100. Students are encouraged to examine each submission to gain insight on how to better their own original works. Plagiarism of any form is not tolerated by the University of Western Ontario or the faculty of Arts and Humanities. Please refer to the academic calendar for detailed regulations. Below, students will find a rubric constructed by the AHSC. The rubric is comprised of an amalgamation of department rubrics and assignment guidelines contributed by UWO professors of English, Film Studies, Philosophy, and Writing. It is merely meant as a sample rubric, and should be interpreted as such. For accurate guidelines of specific course assignments, please contact your department or professor directly.
A+ (90-100%) • •
• • •
• • • • •
Forceful development of a distinctive, challenging and original thesis Ability not only to expound subject but to see it around–subtleties and ambiguities, qualifications and concessions, relations to other subjects, etc. Quotations seamlessly integrated into text, used appropriately and purposively. Almost no typographical errors, with proper paragraphs. Sentence structure correct, with a full range of sentence types (compound, complex, and compound-complex), and a full range of punctuation (including semicolons, colons, dashes, parentheses). Exceptional style (use of logos, pathos, ethos), rhetorically impressive. Voice, tone, and word choice are original, specific, and appropriate. Claims made are consistent, follow closely from one another. Opposing views are thoughtfully considered and responded to Effective, extensive and independent research, with proper documentation and detailed reference to appropriate sources, with evidence of individual response.
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April Tanner English 1022E- 001 09 February 2012 Escaping From Reality: A Meditation on William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and William Morris’ “Rapunzel” Throughout William Wordsworth’s poem “Tintern Abbey” and William Morris’ “Rapunzel”, there are noticeable contrasts between various states of consciousness. The relationships between dreaming or being in a trance and reality are starkly different in each poem. Dianne Sadoff writes in her article “Imaginative Transformation in William Morris’ ‘Rapunzel’” that “Rapunzel” embodies some of the Romantic ideals such as the “dialect of consciousness and imagination.” This similarity of Romantic ideals between “Tintern Abbey” and “Rapunzel” make explorations of their differences very interesting. A close analysis of “Tintern Abbey” and “Rapunzel” reveals that dream and trance are used to either escape or improve the character’s surroundings. Wordsworth and Morris incorporate these different stages of consciousness effectively and they strengthen the validity of each poem. In “Tintern Abbey”, the reader encounters Wordsworth’s observations about a place that he has not seen in five years. The poem opens with Wordsworth revisiting the banks of the Wye after his long absence. His descriptions, at first, are of the reality of this setting, of the “wild secluded scene” (line 6) that lies before him. The second stanza becomes entangled in imagination as Wordsworth reflects on the scenery after leaving it; how it comforts him in his loneliness and allows him “tranquil restoration” (30). As Wordsworth gets further from the source of his imagination, his trance-like consciousness becomes more prevalent. “The picture of the mind revives again” (60) and he finds “That in this moment there is life and food / for future years” (64-65). In moments of loneliness or weakness to come he can escape in his mind to this scene of nature’s beauty and power. The method of dreaming or being in a trance in “Tintern Abbey” is that of improving reality. Wordsworth uses nature as an educator. He writes “For I have learned / To look on nature, not as in the hour / Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes / The still, sad music of humanity” (88-91). He takes his surroundings and uses them to learn about humanity and society, thus finding ways in which the natural world could be improved. As the poem progresses, Wordsworth finds himself in a meditative state, a place “of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime” (95). Wordsworth enters this spiritual realm of nature that is all encompassing. Further on in the poem, Wordsworth writes that the external world is important, but that it is what people perceive that makes the world for them. Imagination
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can allow everybody to transcend above the monotony of modernization. The strength of Wordsworth’s thinking allows him to escape his current surroundings and return to nature. “Rapunzel” uses similar techniques of dream versus reality. However, Morris adds a different element; that dreams can tell of things to come in the future. We are introduced to Rapunzel and The Prince in their separate secluded states. We meet a “lonely, imprisoned” (Sadoff 156) Rapunzel who is desperately wishing for somebody to come and save her. Likewise, The Prince is lonely and has been disgraced by the people of his kingdom because he has not found a wife and is considered a dreamer. The Prince and Rapunzel experience different types of dreams. Rapunzel’s dream-state is on-going. While she is in the tower she does not reach a full level of consciousness. It is as if she has been kept sedated for years and can hardly fathom what life on earth outside of the tower is like. In the tower she is often overwhelmed by what she sees and is happy when God sends her a trance during her feelings of woe and she can “feel no more / The bitter east wind biting sore / My naked feet” (194-196). These trances involve a man named Michael, proposed by Sadoff to be Rapunzel’s imagined lover (158). This is a bold statement considering Rapunzel’s naïve nature concerning other matters, such as death, but further examination reveals that sexual fantasy is prevalent in Rapunzel’s escapism. Rapunzel’s dreams have no relation to her reality; she is attempting to will herself anywhere but the tower. In contrast to Rapunzel’s lack of worldly experience, The Prince has gone through many trials. His dreaming is that of escape from the realities of his societal position. The Prince awakes in the morning remembering his dream from the night before where he was “Right full of joy that I had come away / From court; for I was patient of the scoff” (64-65). Although he is clearly a privileged member of society, he was the target of much abuse concerning his personality. The Prince’s dreams are associated with the difference between sleep and awakening. He dreams have much correlation, not to his current life, but to his future. The Prince has an element of prophecy or foretelling in his dreams. When he and Rapunzel are together for the first time, he is bewildered by her name as that is not what he dreamed she’d be called. Whether this dream involved prophetic measures or whether their discovery of each other is merely wish fulfillment, Rapunzel is “the woman of his dreams”. She takes on the name of Guendolen, turning his dream into a reality. Together Guendolen and The Prince find refuge and solace from their individual woes. In examining “Tintern Abbey” and “Rapunzel” side by side, it is difficult to see any similarities between them. One seems to be a reverent appreciation of nature, the other an Arthurian quest for love. However, if the
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reader focuses on the qualities mentioned in the quotation during the opening paragraph, they can see how both poems emphasize the transformations of reality that comes with imagination. Wordsworth embellishes the banks of the Wye in his sumptuous descriptions of the place he so loves. Rapunzel’s imagination creates comfort from her harsh reality in the tower. Imagination transforms The Prince’s woes into dreams of the woman he will discover and fall in love with. Although each poem exhibits this quality in different ways, both have the Romantic characteristic. In one’s mind is the power to transform reality. “Rapunzel” is like a dream, very disjointed and spontaneous, whereas the dreamy tone in “Tintern Abbey” may lead the reader to take the poem for less than what it is. “Tintern Abbey” expresses concern for humanity through Wordsworth’s trance-like musings. Both poems contain a relationship between dream and reality that is based on escaping or improving the current situation. Throughout each poem, the reader experiences very different emotional progressions. “Tintern Abbey” can cause one to fall into the same trance as Wordsworth while “Rapunzel” makes the imagination conjure up suits of armour and spontaneous love. Both poems effectively manoeuver through the various states of consciousness they contain. Although starkly different, there are similarities between each poem. They both use dream to escape and improve reality according to the character’s needs. The reader can escape their reality while Wordsworth, Rapunzel, and The Prince each escape their respective realities.
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Works Cited Morris, William. “Rapunzel.” Supplementary Anthology. Comp. by David Bentley, 2011. 45-52. Sadoff, Dianne. “Imaginative Transformation in William Morris’ “Rapunzel”.” Victorian Poetry 12.2 (1974): 153-64. Wordsworth, William. “Lines.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. 1491-1495.
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Gordon Haney Writing 1000G February 1st 2012 A Critical Study of Ross Gay’s “Love, You Got Me Good” The American Poetry Review published “Love, You Got Me Good” by Ross Gay in the 2011 December edition. The narrator of the poem is addressing a lover, unabashedly using words like “Honeybunny” and “Lovemuffin.” But the relationship is a negative one, the lover filling the narrator’s mouth with “soot”(2), making him smell like “blood”(3) and so forth. Through the use of imagery, tone and narrative, the author slowly communicates to us that “Love, You Got Me Good” is not your traditional love poem, but it exists instead as a savage indictment of American culture. In spirit, “Love, You Got Me Good” is written in the same tradition as Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg and other popular protest writers, but the tone, as it is used, belongs to a different decade. “Honeybunny”(1), “Sweetpea”(2) and “Sugarfoot”(14) are just a few of the words applied by the narrator to the one addressed. What it sounds like, musically, is a Frank Sinatra song, with all the heartache and desperation of the love he sang about. But something is wrong: these endearing terms do not match the overall feel of the work. Despite the vocabulary of a sickly sweet married couple in the twilight of their years, the language around these words is dense and dry, and we sense, initially, that the narrator is addressing a misbehaving lover. Not quite a sonnet, the lines are short and curt, as if someone were speaking in a low, hushed voice. They make the reader uneasy, and the sensation is claustrophobic, full of threat. This is because of the intentional use of cliché—the outdated language of two people in love. As it is set up, the tone of “Love, You Got Me Good” prepares the way for the images employed by Gay to confront his theme. The poem is filled with dangerous imagery, meant to convey a certain feeling about something Gay has not made clear yet in his narrative. “Honeybunny, for you, I’ve got a mouthful / of soot” (1-2). This is how the poem opens. The second comma in that line is the anchor. The first image of Honeybunny is immediately counterbalanced with “a mouthful of soot.” What occurs is a powerful urge to start coughing, to spit up all that bad stuff and get it out of our system. Terrifying images surround the subject being handled: When I think of you I see fire. When I dream of you I hear footsteps on bones. When I see you
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I can feel the scythe's smooth handle in my palm. (4-8) Our expectations are subverted by the enjambment present in these lines; we share in the narrator’s sense of disappointment towards his or her lover. “Fire,” “bones,” and the “scythe’s smooth handle” fitting nicely into the narrator’s palm all denote something terrible, a vast and violent emptiness of the soul. The imagery, as it builds upon itself, slowly reveals the author’s message. The next part of the poem explores images as diverse as polished guns, a piggy bank painted like a flag, and a flag in the shape of a piggy bank. The overtly political themes present in the second half of “Love, You Got Me Good” are a throwback to the anti-war movement of the sixties. The narrative is told in the voice of one both repelled and attracted to the up-until-now-nameless lover, America. The “soot” of consumerist America chokes the author; the “smell of blood,” the “flag” and “piggy bank,” the “fire,” the “bones,” the polished guns, and the reference to the infamous practice of waterboarding(15), describes the sense of horror the author wishes to convey. However fierce his charges, the author admits he still can’t get his lover out of his skin, even though the relationship has gone sour. The poem closes with “Don’t know / what I’d do without you, / Love.” How are we as readers supposed to take this? The author doesn’t say, and he leaves us to figure it out for ourselves. The question of the identity of America is not easily answered, but through the use of tone, imagery and narration, Ross Gay expresses the feeling of frustration shared by many Americans at the present state of their country. Alienation is the final and lasting impression of this poem, and we can’t help but feel doubt for the patriotic sentiments of the American dream.
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Works Cited Gay, Ross. “Love, You Got Me Good.” Online posting. 29 Dec. 2011. NPR books. npr.org. Web. 29th Jan. 2012.
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Andrew Dimarco Philosophy 1020 November 21st 2011 The Correspondence Theory of Truth With regards to the idea of which beliefs we can take as truth in our lives, the Correspondence Theory of truth is a theory that carries an extreme flaw in its structure. In this essay, I will argue that Bertrand Russell’s Correspondence Theory of truth encounters a major problem to its validity when confronted with the fact that propositions and states of affairs are one in the same entity. In order to fully comprehend the major problem with this theory, one must first fully understand it. The Correspondence Theory of truth is based on the idea that for a belief to be true, it must correspond to reality or the state of things in the outside world. The outside world consists of the actual physical reality of things that is separate from linguistic, mental, and logical confines. For example, in the outside world, a monkey is on the carpet if it is literally physically on the carpet, regardless of the personal thoughts or language pertaining to this situation. Russell continues with the Correspondence Theory by pointing to the idea that a person’s private belief is only true if it corresponds to a public belief that is widely accepted as “the belief”. These public beliefs are known as propositions. For example, with regards to the monkey on the carpet, your sentence or my sentence, your belief or my belief, is only true if the proposition is true. According to Russell, “the belief” or a public belief is the same as the proposition. Furthermore, it is important to note that propositions do not exist in our personal minds or in the actual physical world. Russell points to the notion that propositions exist in the “ideal world”, which is the middle ground between what exist in our mind and what exist in the actual physical world. He also points to the fact that a proposition is made true not because it corresponds to certain things in the outside world, but rather because it corresponds to a “state of affairs” in the outside world. States of affairs are not actual individual things in the outside world, but rather ideas of relationships between individual things in the outside world. States of affairs are how things actually are in the outside world. For example let us refer back to the monkey on the carpet example. The state of affair in this example is not the individual monkey or the individual carpet. Rather it is the spatial relationship of the monkey actually being on the carpet. Russell points to
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the notion that the Correspondence Theory is actually a theory that consists of the correspondence between propositions and states of affairs. The major problem with this theory is that propositions and states of affairs are one in the same entity. Therefore, the Correspondence Theory, which states that a proposition is true only if it is identical to the state of affairs that it corresponds to, is completely flawed because you need two different things to correspond with each other. Back to our example of the monkey on the carpet, the proposition (the monkey is on the carpet) is the same as the state of affairs (the monkey is on the carpet). Therefore these cannot correspond with each other because they are exactly the same thing. Also contributing to the major problem with this theory is the fact that we are trying to see if a belief in our mind is the same as what exists in the outside world. The problem with this is that we are unable to check if the outside world is identical to our belief because of the fact that what we perceive as the outside world is also a product of our mind and a belief in itself. In other words, we can never check for the actual truth of what is outside of our minds because we can never escape our own minds. For example, when you check that the monkey is really on the carpet, all you are doing is receiving another “belief” that the monkey is on the carpet. This belief is still a product of your mind. Therefore, a major contributor to the main problem with the Correspondence Theory of truth is that our minds cannot get outside themselves in order to check the outside world.
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Eva McGuire Philosophy 1022E A Duty to Help People Help Themselves In this essay I will critique O’Neill’s argument that Kant’s Formula of the End in Itself implies that we have an obligation to put “people in a position to pursue whatever ends they may have”.1 I argue that this obligation, although it helps one group of people, may harm another group of people. Kant defines the Formula of the End in Itself as “Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means but always at the same time as an end”.2 Behind this statement is Kant’s idea that rational beings are ends in themselves and that humans are rational beings. They are rational because they can take into consideration things other than instinct and desire and they can be motivated by reason to act morally. 3 There is a difference between treating someone as a means and treating someone as a mere means. In a scheme of action where one is treating another as a means, each person consents to her part and each person understands the other is not a thing to be manipulated.4 There is nothing wrong with treating someone as a means. I would like to highlight two conditions of consent; to know the other person’s intention and to have another reasonable option. An example of using a person as a means is painting my house. The painter consents to me using him as a means to paint my house and I consent to the painter using me as a means to earn money. This fulfills the two conditions of consent because the painter knows my intention is to pay him to paint my house and I know the painter’s intention is to earn money by painting my house.
1. Onora O’Neill, “Kantian Approaches to Some Famine Problems,” in Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings, ed. John Perry et al. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 543. 2. Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, trans. H.J. Paton (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1964), 96. 3. Anthony Skelton. “Kant and the Demands of Beneficence: O’Neill’s Account.” University of Western Ontario. Talbot College, London, Ontario. 1 Nov 2011. Lecture. 4. O’Neill, “Kantian Approaches,” 539.
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Also, we both have another reasonable option. The painter has the option of going somewhere else to earn money. I have the option of hiring another painter. Treating a person as a mere means infringes one of the conditions of consent. Examples of this are deception and coercion. Deception infringes a condition of consent because the one person does not know the other’s true intention. For example, promising the painter to pay him for his work while not intending to do so. The painter does not know my intention therefore he cannot in principle consent. Coercion infringes the condition of consent because the one person does not have another reasonable option. For example, threatening the painter that unless he paints my house I will set his house on fire. If the painter does not consent, he suffers a significant loss of property and possibly harm or death. I will now deal with the second part of Kant’s definition which requires us to treat people as ends in themselves. According to O’Neill, this is how we should understand beneficence. To act beneficently, one must make it an end to seek the happiness of others by intending to achieve what they want.5 According to O’Neill, beneficence generates two duties. The first duty is to develop people’s capacity to pursue their own ends.6 This beneficence is directed to those who are unable to pursue any of their own ends,7 such as people in a poor or famished population. This beneficence aims at “putting people in a position to pursue whatever ends they may have.”8 For example, one end of this population is to feed their families. One could develop their capacity of pursuing this end by supporting a charity like World Vision. World Vision “[works] in a community until it becomes self-sufficient”.9 With donation money World Vision gives a family a good and trains the family to use the good. The good produces food, income or clothing material for the family over a long period of time. The family can pursue their own ends because they become self-sufficient.
5. Ibid., 540. 6. Ibid., 542. 7. Ibid., 543. 8. Ibid. 9. “Frequently Asked Questions for Sponsors.” World Vision, accessed November 9, 2011, http://www.worldvision.ca/About-Us/Core-Values/Pages/CoreValues.aspx.
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The second duty is to share some of people’s ends, which is directed to those already in a position to pursue ends.10 For example, one’s neighbour wants to keep the sidewalk cleared of snow for safe walking. One shares this end by agreeing to shovel the sidewalk in front of one’s house and/or organizing a neighbourhood meeting to ask others to shovel in front of their houses. O’Neill argues that the Formula of the End in Itself implies that we have an obligation to put “people in a position to pursue whatever ends they may have”.11 This obligation is directed to those unable to pursue any of their own ends, such as poor or famished people. She thinks that one has a greater duty to develop people’s capacity to pursue their own ends than to share their ends.12 I now ask, what if by developing one group’s capacity to pursue their own ends, one is putting or keeping another group in a position where they are unable, or it is hard for them, to pursue any of their own ends? For example, one donates to World Vision and a good is transported over to a community in Africa. The transportation probably requires gasoline. The gasoline may come from the Middle East. According to Libcom.org, many foreigners work in the oil industry in the Middle East. Their monthly wage is usually less than US$400 and it is common for gasoline agencies to take commissions from foreign workers.13 Therefore, by using gasoline to send a good to Africa, one is supporting the oil industry in the Middle East that puts and keeps its workers and their families in a position where they are unable, or it is hard for them, to pursue their own ends. This is a problem for O’Neill’s argument because it indicates that beneficence toward one group of people may harm another group of people. In conclusion, the main features of Kant’s Formula of the End in Itself are that one must never treat people as a mere means and that one must always treat them as an end in themselves. Treating people as a mere means is wrong because one is using people as things to be manipulated. People are rational beings and so they must be treated as ends in themselves. According to O’Neill,
10. O’Neill, “Kantian Approaches,” 543. 11. Ibid. 12. Ibid. 13. “Struggles of Asian Workers in the Middle East and Oil-Producing Countries, 2006,” Libcom.org, accessed November 13 2011, http://libcom.org/history/struggles-asian-workers-middle-east-oil-producing-countries2006
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treating people as an end is beneficence. The two duties that beneficence generates are to develop people’s capacity to pursue their own ends and to share some of people’s ends. For O’Neill, the first duty of beneficence implies that we have an obligation to put “people in a position to pursue whatever ends they may have”14 and is directed to people who are unable to pursue any ends. I argue that because beneficence can harm as well as help people, O’Neill’s argument is not completely successful.
14. O’Neill, “Kantian Approaches,” 543.
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Bibliography Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Translated by H.J. Paton. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1964. Libcom.org. “Struggles of Asian Workers in the Middle East and Oil-Producing Countries, 2006.” Accessed November 13 2011. http://libcom.org/history/struggles-asian-workers-middle- east-oilproducing-countries-2006. O’Neill, Onora. “Kantian Approaches to Some Famine Problems.” In Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings, edited by John Perry, Michael Bratman and John Martin Fischer, 539543. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Skelton, Anthony. “Kant and the Demands of Beneficence: O’Neill’s Account.” University of Western Ontario. Talbot College, London, Ontario. 1 Nov 2011. Lecture. World Vision. “Frequently Asked Questions for Sponsors.” Accessed November 9, 2011. http://www.worldvision.ca/About-Us/Core-Values/Pages/CoreValues.aspx.
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Laura Johnson English 1022E 26 March, 2012 Unreasonable Reason: The Discernment of Evil in John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” John Milton states in Areopagitica that the “many cunning resemblances” between “good and evil” are “hardly to be discerned” (712). In Paradise Lost, Milton applies this to Eve, whom Satan persuades to eat from the Tree of Knowledge even though Eve initially possesses right reason, reason “guided by moral and spiritual values” (Bentley), and knows that she is disobeying God. Similarly, Laura in Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” also eats forbidden fruit despite her awareness that she “must not” (43). These actions not only indicate flaws in Eve and Laura’s initially sound reason, but they also contribute to the theme of the lack of discernment. A psychological analysis of how Eve and Laura develop flawed reason reveals that because evil mirrors good, they fail to discern it and consequently fall; however, they each use a different form of reasoning, and while Eve’s reason is misled by Satan’s rhetoric, Laura’s reason is misinformed by her senses. In both Paradise Lost and “Goblin Market,” reason is supposed to control the will and the passions and appetites, acting as a “faculty of discernment” (Reid 138) between good and evil choices. Eve and Laura reason using two distinctly different methods; however, each of them Falls due to errors that develop in their reasoning (Sturrock 99). Neither method of reasoning is inherently wrong, but each one has a unique weakness. Eve uses deductive reasoning, which uses general propositions held to be true to draw conclusions about specific incidents; these conclusions cannot be false unless the propositions on which they are based are also false (Passer 334-335). On the other hand, Laura employs inductive reasoning, which uses sensory information to form a general proposition applicable to other situations (334). Errors in inductive reasoning result from insufficient information because outside facts may contradict the conclusions (335). Eve initially uses God and His instructions as propositions for her deductive reasoning. She deduces that if God is good, and that if He forbids the eating of the fruit because it will bring death, then He must be right, and His purpose must be good (Reid 137). Nevertheless, Satan’s powerful rhetoric misleads Eve into shifting her proposition from being founded in God’s truth to being confounded by Satan’s lies. She soon reasons that the prohibition is preventing Adam and her from acquiring wisdom and knowledge (137). In
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general, rhetoric persuades both “from without, and... from within” (Pallister 199), based both on what the audience hears and on how it reacts. After hearing the serpent’s words and seeing that the serpent “hath eat’n and lives” (Milton PL 4.764), Eve begins to doubt God’s warning that eating the fruit will bring death. She internalizes the serpent’s words and, combined with her own observations, believes that this is why he “knows, and speaks, and reasons, and discerns” (765) despite being a ‘mere animal.’ Eve has no knowledge of what evil looks or sounds like (Reid 136). She is aware that Satan is somewhere in the garden, but she never suspects that the serpent is actually Satan in disguise. Without Adam, she is vulnerable to deception. Together, Adam and Eve function as one unit and compensate for each other’s weaknesses with their strengths. Philo argues that Adam excels in thinking, rationality, and intellect, while Eve’s domain is the senses and her intuition (LIX). Nevertheless, Philo blames Eve’s senses, passions, and appetites, arguing that they dominate her reason and make her fall (Donnelly 145). At first, this appears to be the case. Before eating the fruit, Eve experiences a sudden, powerful hunger as a result of the fruit’s tantalizing aroma and tempting appearance; however, she does not eat right away but instead remains in control and pauses to reason through the decision one last time. If Eve’s strength is her senses, then it follows that to make her fall, it is her reason, her weakness, that Satan must corrupt. By separating from Adam, Eve leaves herself vulnerable in this area (145), and Satan seizes the opportunity to pervert her deductive reasoning using his seemingly reasonable rhetoric. As a result, Eve chooses to eat the fruit, and she ultimately falls. Because reason is her weakness, Eve succumbs to the fundamental attribution error, observing the serpent’s behaviour and attributing it to his personality rather than to circumstantial factors (Passer 494). This error further corrupts her deductive reasoning. Satan is generous with his flattery of Eve and his knowledge of the forbidden fruit and its powers of enlightenment. His flattery, however, is actually “gloz[ing].” (Milton PL 4.549), or deceptive flattery (OED “gloze, n” 2). He argues so persuasively that after hearing his first speech, Eve develops a first impression that primes her to view the serpent and his words favourably; the primacy effect causes people to heavily judge an individual based on the information they receive first, which colours future perceptions (Passer 497). Eve knows that God made humans good, and so she deductively reasons, albeit erroneously, that if the “friendly” (Milton PL 4.554) serpent speaks in the “[l]anguage of man” (553) with “human sense” (564), then the serpent must be good. When the serpent voices his desire to see her reach her Godlike potential, she believes that he speaks sincerely and truthfully. To her, the serpent is an
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“author unsuspect, / Friendly to man, far from deceit or guile” (771-772). Even after the serpent leads her to the Tree of Knowledge, Eve fails to realize that he is actually Satan, and that his goal is not for her to acquire wisdom and knowledge, but for her to fall from grace. Her ignorance, therefore, combined with corrupted propositions for deductive reasoning and evil’s ability to imitate good, renders her incapable of discerning between good and evil. By contrast, Laura in “Goblin Market” employs inductive reasoning instead of deductive reasoning, drawing from her senses rather than any innate propositions. Although she knows that she “must not look at goblin men/...[or] buy their fruits” (Rossetti 42-43), it is a command to be obeyed rather than a foundation for logic. The consequences of disobedience are also unclear, unlike in Paradise Lost, where God tells Eve that eating the fruit will bring death. Only Lizzie understands that the goblins bear “evil gifts” (66): Laura, whose reason is founded in her senses, cannot discern the “evil” in the fruits or the goblins. The “merchant [men]” (70) seem good and therefore must be good; their fruits seem good and therefore must be good. The OED defines goblins as “mischievous and ugly demon[s]” (“goblin, n.1”). Despite this, the goblins that Laura perceives do not resemble demons, but charming animals. She compares the goblins’ voices to the cooing of doves, saying that “[t]hey sounded kind and full of loves” (Rossetti 79) and attributing kindness and holiness to them. In Christianity, doves represent the Holy Spirit; for example, during Jesus’ baptism, “the Spirit like a dove descend[s] upon him” (KJV Mark 1:10). Additionally, the dove is a positive symbol of hope, for it brings Noah an olive branch to signal the end of the Great Flood (Gen. 8:11). Overall, the goblins’ friendly actions are deceptive (Tucker 121), and as a result, Laura’s senses fail to observe information that would contradict her conclusion about the goblins being good and force her to realize that this is not the case. Laura’s weakness is her senses, and because her reason is filtered through them, the goblins only need to overwhelm and trick her senses in order to confound her inductive reasoning. They manipulate her memory through both the order of information that they present and the use of mnemonic devices. The serial position effect states that the order of presented information affects memory; people best remember information presented first and last because of the primacy and recency effects, and information in the middle is recalled the poorest (Passer 283). The goblins say “Come buy” (Rossetti 3) three times at the beginning of their speech. They finish by describing the fruits as “[s]weet to tongue and sound to eye” (30) and repeat “Come buy, come buy” (31). “Sound” can refer to being morally or spiritually healthy (OED “sound, adj.” I2b), fit for eating (I3b) or safe from threats (I5). It also refers to having flawless reason (II8). The goblins use the multiple meanings of “sound” to both promote their produce and suggest that the sisters should judge the fruit using sight. They do not want the sisters to discern their evil intentions, and in Laura’s case, they are
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successful. Lizzie, however, sees the truth and closes off her senses, closing her eyes and plugging her ears, to save herself from the goblins’ bombardment of sensory information (Grass 362). Instead of mimicking her, Laura “rears her glossy head” (Rossetti 52) to see the fruit they advertise. Like Eve when separated from Adam, Laura is susceptible to deception without Lizzie to restrain her or provide wisdom. By contrast, however, it is Laura whose reason succumbs to the passions and appetites; unlike Eve, she does not think through her decision. When the goblins present their fruit and suggest a manner of payment, Laura rashly parts with a lock of her hair and immediately gorges herself. She fails to realize that what she perceives is not necessarily the truth (Smulders 34), and that the goblins are not good, but evil. Even after the goblins disappear, she holds this belief. Reason is only capable of discernment when it is properly employed; otherwise, it hinders, rather than helps, in distinguishing between good and evil. Both Eve in John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Laura in Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” possess reason and would normally be capable of distinguishing between good and evil; however, because evil in these two poems disguises itself so well, they do not suspect it. Separate from their respective partners, Eve and Laura are susceptible to their tempters exploiting their weaknesses. Satan’s rhetoric takes advantage of Eve’s weakness of reason and makes her doubt her initial deductive reasoning. By contrast, Laura’s inductive reasoning is overwhelmed by sensory information and manipulated by mnemonic devices that lead her to draw false conclusions about the goblins. Because evil often mimics good so convincingly and deceives in such a variety of ways, even the smallest flaws in otherwise perfect reason may lead to disastrous consequences when it is a weakness or when combined with the human passions and appetites.
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Works Cited Bentley, D.M.R. “Oration and humour: Swift, ‘A Modest Proposal.’” English 1022E Lecture. The University of Western Ontario, London. 18 Oct. 2011. Lecture. Donnelly, Phillip J. Milton’s Scriptural Reasoning: Narrative and Protestant Toleration. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009. Print. Grass, Sean C. “Nature's Perilous Variety in Rossetti's 'Goblin Market.'” Nineteenth-Century Literature 51.3 (1996): 356-376. JSTOR. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.<http://www.jstor.org/stable/2934015>. Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1962. Print. Judaeus, Philo. On the Creation of the World. Trans. C.D. Yonge. The Works of Philo Judaeus Vol.1. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854. 1-52. Google Books. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. King James Version. Bible Gateway. Web. 23 Mar. 2012. <http://www.biblegateway.com>. Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Greenblatt. 725-852. ---. “From Areopagitica.” Greenblatt. 712-720. Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford UP, 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://www.oed.com/>. Pallister, William. “Temptation and Rhetoric of Paradise.” Between Worlds: The Rhetorical Universe of Paradise Lost. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2008. 197-221. Print. Passer, Michael W. et al. Psychology: Frontiers and Applications. 4th Canadian ed. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2011. Print. Reid, David. The Humanism of Milton’s Paradise Lost. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP Limited, 1993. Print. Rossetti, Christina. “Goblin Market.” Greenblatt. 2143-2155. Smulders, Sharon. “First Fruits: From Maude to Goblin Market and Other Poems.” Christina Rossetti Revisited. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1996. 22
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54. Print. Tucker, Herbert F. “Rossetti's Goblin Marketing: Sweet to Tongue and Sound to Eye.” Representations 48.1 (2003): 117-133. JSTOR. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rep.2003.82.1.117>.
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Works Consulted Agari, Masahiko. Formula, Rhetoric and the Word: Studies in Milton's Epic Style. Berne: European Academic Publishers, 1997. Print. Arseneau, Mary, Antony H. Harrison, and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, eds. The Culture of Christina Rossetti. Athens: Ohio UP, 1999. Print. Barfoot, C.C. “Christina Rossetti In and Out of Grace.” Liebregts, Peter and Wim Tigges, eds. Beauty and The Beast. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996. 7-20. Print. Cook, Patrick J. “The Endless Work of Paradise Lost.” Milton, Spenser and the Epic Tradition. Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1996. 134-179. Print. Dilman, İlham. “Reason, Passion and the Will.” Philosophy 59.228 (1984): 185204. JSTOR. Web. 3 Mar. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3750455>. Gilroy, Amanda. “Christina Rossetti: Sisters, Brothers and the 'Other Woman.'” Liebregts and Tigges. 43-57. Liebregts, Peter and Wim Tigges, eds. Beauty and The Beast. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996. Print. Marsh, Jan. “The Spider's Shadow.” Liebregts and Tigges. 21-30. Maxwell, Catherine. “Tasting the ‘Fruit Forbidden.’” Arseneau, Mary, Antony H. Harrison, and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. 75-102. Menke, Richard. “The Political Economy of Fruit.” Arseneau, Mary, Antony H. Harrison, and Lorraine Janzen Kooistra. 105-136. Sturrock, June. “Protective Pastoral: Innocence and Female Experience in William Blake's Songs and Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market.” Colby Quarterly 30.2 (1994): 98-108. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cq/vol30/iss2/4>.
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Christina Venier Women’s Studies 1020E-002 2 April 2012 Lingering Prejudice: The Homophobic Attitudes of North American Youth Every day in the hallways of schools across North America, the words “faggot”, “dyke”, “homo” and “that’s so gay” can be heard spewing from the mouths of otherwise polite youth. That is because, as Barbara Smith says, “homophobia is usually the last oppression to be mentioned, the last to be taken seriously, and the last to go. But it is extremely serious, sometimes to the point of being fatal” (99). The tragic reality is that many youth in North America still view it as an acceptable prejudice to express, often without realizing the immeasurable pain they cause their homosexual peers. Despite recent pro-gay initiatives in the media, homophobia is still outrageously present in North American high school and university students, manifesting itself in verbal bullying, brutal violence against homosexual teens committed by their heterosexual peers, and in the disturbingly high rates of homosexual teen suicides. Verbal harassment is one of the most prevalent forms of bullying experienced by sexual minority youth, and although it is often ignored, it is equally, if not more, damaging than physical harassment (Leach and Mitchell 43). A major reason people harbor homosexual attitudes is because it calls their own heterosexuality and sexual identity into question (Smith 100) and the most obvious way to “protect one’s heterosexual credentials and privilege is to put down lesbians and gay men at every turn, to make as large a gulf as possible between ‘we’ and ‘they’” (Smith 100). Homophobic insults act as an “aggressive manipulation toward a particular gender ideology” (Alderson and Brown),. That is, masculine, men attracted to feminine women, and feminine women attracted to masculine men. Homosexual youth trouble this gender binary, and homophobic youth turn to these insults in an attempt to “fix” this disruption. Part of this manipulation is taking the word “gay” and changing it to mean “stupid” or “worthless” (Taylor et al.), and then applying it to anything unpleasant, as in “that homework was so gay”. According to Egale’s 2008 online survey involving over 1700 Canadian high school students, 75% of participants reported hearing phrases like “that’s so gay” on a daily basis at school (Taylor et al.). One student even commented that, “I’ve counted myself hearing “That’s So Gay” and other homophobic terms up to around 15 times per class. That’s up to 60 times a day” (Taylor et al.). The newer, negative “gay” is a normal part of today’s students’ vocabulary, reinforcing homophobic attitudes and ruining homosexual teens’ self esteem in the process.
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In addition to general negativity like “that’s so gay”, more targeted insults, such as “fag”, “dyke” and “homo” are increasingly common, with studies showing that current students are more likely than past students to hear these comments on a daily basis (Taylor et al.). And hear them they do: 50% of sexual minority youth report hearing these words in the hallways of school, compared to 1/3 heterosexual youth, indicating that these hurtful words are becoming so automatic, that the non-targeted heterosexual youth barely notice their use and impact (Taylor et al.). To make matters worse, the use of words like “fag” are rarely condemned publicly (Leach and Mitchell 45). This reinforces not only the homophobic attitudes of these youths’ role models, sending the message to these students that it is okay to casually insult their homosexual peers, but also emphasizes to homosexual teens that something is “wrong with them” (Baker 88). As a result, sexual minority youth are six times as likely to be verbally harassed about their sexual orientation, and five times as likely to be verbally harassed about their perceived sexual orientation or identity, compared to their heterosexual peers (Taylor et al.). Included in the verbal abuse are comments concerning gender expressions, and LBGT youth are twice as likely as their heterosexual peers to be verbally harassed about their expressions of masculinity and femininity (Peter and Taylor 283), again indicating that the disruption of gender binaries is a factor in homophobic attitudes and the bullying caused by them. In addition to verbal bullying, 55.8% of sexual minority youth in the Egale study had seen homophobic graffiti at school, and 15.1% of these students reported being targeted in homophobic graffiti at least once (Taylor et al.). The study also showed that 47.3% of LGBT students had experienced homophobic rumors being spread around them and 27.7% had experienced homophobic bullying via the Internet or text messaging. Sexual minority youth are also more likely to be victims of sexual harassment: a particularly degrading and damaging form of verbal bullying that is often associated with depression (Taylor et al.). In the Egale study, 35.7% and 41.4% of female and male sexual minority youth, respectively, reported experiences of sexual harassment, compared to 16.6% of heterosexual females and 23% of heterosexual males. To add to the cruelty, homophobic youth also tell anti-gay jokes and emulate behaviours of stereotypical gays and lesbians in an effort to “get a laugh” (Leach and Mitchell 45), again showing that “[e]xpressions of homophobia are legitimate and acceptable in contexts where other kinds of verbalized bigotry would be prohibited. Put downs and jokes about ‘dykes’ and ‘faggots’ can be made without the slightest criticism in circles where ‘nigger’ and ‘chink’ jokes, for instance, would bring instant censure or even ostracism” (Smith 101). It is also important to note that although heterosexual males tend to be more homophobic than heterosexual females (Alderson and Brown), homosexual females
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experience more verbal bullying than homosexual males (Taylor et al.). In general, this is probably due to a combination of homophobia and Western society’s lower regard for women. Verbal bullying displays the ignorance and fear harbored by North American youth. This often escalates to more intense hate, leading to physical abuse. Verbal harassment can easily turn into physical harassment, assault, or even murder if anti-homophobia policies are not enforced. The violence against homophobic youth committed by their heterosexual peers is often malicious, ultimately dehumanizing the victims and further strengthening the concept of “other”. A 1997 report from the Southern Poverty Law Centre in the United States said, “[w]hen gays and lesbians are attacked it’s particularly vicious... They aren’t just punched. They’re punched and kicked. They’re beat and spit on. They’re tied up and dragged behind cars. It’s almost as if the attacker is trying to rub out the gay person’s entire identity” (qtd. in Amnesty International 47). According to the 2009 Egale study, more than 21% of LGBTQ participants reported being physically harassed because of their sexual identity (Taylor et al.). In addition, the 2007 US Climate Survey found that 44.1% of LGBTQ youth had been physically harassed, in forms of pushing or shoving, and 22.1% had been more severely assaulted, i.e. punched, kicked, or harmed with a weapon (Taylor et al.), simply because of their sexual orientation. Most surprising, however, is that contrary to most research, female sexual minority youth were more likely to be physically harassed or assaulted because of their orientation than male sexual minority youth. The Egale study found that 25.4% of young homosexual women responded “yes” to physical harassment, compared to 23.2% of young gay men (Taylor et al.). Little research has been done on acts of homophobic violence done by females, so it is unclear whether the violence done to lesbian youth is perpetrated more dominantly by heterosexual males or females, and the proportions of each. The research done on homophobic heterosexual men, however, indicates that those most invested in their masculinity, like athletes (Baker 94) are more likely to engage in homophobic violence. This makes sense because Western culture values masculine attributes such as power and violence, so many teenage men find “gay-bashing a convenient sport to prove their masculinity” (Cornish et al. 27). Canadian research has also shown that over 40% of homophobic crimes included at least one teenage “basher” (Cornish et al. 27). According to Statistics Canada, in 2009 police-reported hate crimes were most likely to be committed by 12 to 17 year-olds, with 92% of the accused and 73% of the victims being male. In addition, the article stated that 74% of crimes motivated by sexual orientation were violent, making them the most violent stream of hate crimes, including race and religiously based crimes (Statistics Canada). In conjunction with the statistics referring to lesbian youth being more assaulted,
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these statistics could mean that less young women report the violence committed against them, and it also suggests that these young women are being assaulted by their male peers. Certainly, violent murders of gay males are the most publicized, with one of the most famous being the 1998 murder of gay teen Matthew Shepard who was “lashed to a fence on the outskirts of town, beaten, [and] pistol-whipped” (Loffreda ix). The murderers tried to justify their actions by saying they, “panicked due to his gay sexual advances” (Cornish et al. 25). This further supports the theory that heterosexual male teens lash out in homophobic violence in an effort to protect their heterosexuality, and therefore, their masculinity. These are often fueled by irrational fears based in homophobic lies, such as “homosexuals are sexual predators” or “are immoral and [therefore] need to be punished for violating social norms” (Baker 91). Nevertheless, it is important to remember that many homophobic students do not act on it in the form of harassment for fear of getting hurt or getting into trouble (Baker 91), so there are probably even more teens who harbor homophobic feelings than the studies have estimated. When the hostile homophobic environment at school becomes too much, the sad reality is that many homosexual teens will turn to suicide as a way out. The isolation and alienation results in weak school attachment that many of these bullied LGBT teens experience at school. This has been associated with an increased risk for depression and suicidal thinking and suicide attempts (Sadowski 90). The trauma is so severe that, unfortunately, many sexual minority youth “who have experienced bullying report long-term mental health symptoms that are strongly correlated with post-traumatic stress disorder” (Wells). To make matters worse, it is often difficult for young LGBT youth to seek help for their depression without “outing” themselves, and many are so afraid of the ostracism that could result that they suffer in silence (Taylor et al.). Young lesbians are more likely to feel isolated at school than young gay men (Peter and Taylor 289) and as a result, the 2007 McCreary study in British Columbia found there are “exceptionally high rates of suicidal thinking and suicide attempts” among them, and this number is increasing (Peter and Taylor 289). The rates of suicidal thoughts in lesbian youth has increased from 33% in 1992 to an astonishing 63% in 2003, and attempted suicide rates have risen from 13% in 1992 to 38% in 2003 (Taylor et al.). Suicidal thinking in young gay men, however, has declined from 50% in 1992 to 26% in 2003, and attempts have also decreased from 44% in 1992 to 9% in 2003 (Taylor et al.), however, these rates are still three times as high as those reported for heterosexual youth (Taylor et al.). When compared to the suicide trends of heterosexual youth, with the rates for males remaining relatively stable, and females have been decreasing (Taylor et al.), the suicide epidemic in homosexual youth becomes clear. The studies
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done on LGBT teen suicide all indicate that: Gay, lesbian and bisexual youth experience more depression than the general youth population. The incidence of suicide in this group varies according to the study, but gay and lesbian youth have been found to be 2 to 7 times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counter-parts. Gay, lesbian and bisexual youth account for nearly 30 percent of completed youth suicides (Shelby). When these LGBT suicide statistics are put together with the numbers of these teens subject to homophobic bullying, the connections between the two become painfully obvious. The recent Internet phenomenon, the “It Gets Better Project” is also indicative of the LGBT teen suicide crisis. The project was created “In response to a number of students taking their own lives after being bullied in school, they wanted to create a personal way for supporters everywhere to tell LGBT youth that, yes, it does indeed get better” (It Gets Better Project). This is one of many initiatives aimed at LGBT teens that are at risk for suicide, and the need for these causes again proves that there is a LBGT teen suicide crisis. However, it is important to remember that being homosexual is not responsible for these alarming suicide rates, but rather the intolerance and ignorance displayed by these teens’ peers and role models, leading to “intimidation at school” that is to blame (Baker 89). Clearly, homophobia is rampant across North American campuses and little is being done to stop it. Sexual minority teens are vulnerable to verbal and physical harassment in addition to the mental illnesses and possible suicide triggered by them. Even though the statistics and stories about homophobic youth in North America are shocking and disheartening, there is still hope for this epidemic to stop. According to the Egale study, 58% of heterosexual teens surveyed reported finding homophobic comments upsetting. If there was more positive education about what it means to be a LGBT teen in the 21st century and the repercussions of homophobic attitudes, that 58% could grow to 100%. If this could happen, the verbal and physical harassment would cease to exist and LBGT teen suicide will just be another statistic from the past.
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Works Cited Alderson, Kevin G., and Tyler L. Brown. "Sexual identity and heterosexual male students' usage of homosexual insults: an exploratory study." The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality 19.1-2 (2010): 27+. Academic OneFile. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. Amnesty International. Crimes of Hate, Conspiracy of Silence. Ridgefield Park: Globe Lithographing Co., Inc., 2001. Print. Baker, Jean M., PhD. How Homophobia Hurts Children. New York: Harrington Park Press, 2002. Print. Cornish, Lindsay, Michael Kehler and Shirley R. Steinberg, eds. Boy Culture: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: Greenwood, 2010. Print. It Gets Better Project. “What is the It Gets Better Project?” Savage Love, LLC. It Gets Better Project, 2012. http://www.itgetsbetter.org/pages/about-it-getsbetter-project/. Web. 31 March 2012. Leach, Fiona, and Claudia Mitchell, eds. Combating Gender Violence in and Around Schools. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books, 2006. Print. Loffreda, Beth. Losing Matt Shepard. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. Print. Peter, Tracey and Catherine Taylor. “‘We Are Not Aliens, We’re People, and We Have Rights.’ Canadian Human Rights Discourse and High School Climate for LGBTQ Students.” Canadian Review of Sociology. 48.3 (2011): 275-312. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. Sadowski, Michael. “Growing Up in the Shadows.” Adolescents at School: Perspectives on Youth, Identity, and Education. Ed. Michael Sadowski. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press, 2003. 85-101. Print. Shelby, Patricia. "Isolated and Invisible: Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth." The Canadian nurse 95.4 (1999): 27-30. CBCA Complete; CBCA Reference & Current Events; ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source; ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. Smith, Barbara. “Homophobia: Why Bring It Up?” The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Eds. Abelove, Henry and Michele Aina Barale. New York:
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Routelege, 1993. 99-102. Statistics Canada. Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2009. 2009 Juristat. 85-002-X. Ottawa, Ont.: Statistics Canada, 2011. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002- x/2011001/article/11469-eng.htm. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. Taylor, C. & Peter, T., with McMinn, T.L., Elliott, T., Beldom, S., Ferry, A., Gross, Z., Paquin, S., & Schachter, K. (2011). Every class in every school: The first national climate survey on homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in Canadian schools. Final report. Toronto: Egale Canada Human Rights Trust. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. Taylor, C., Peter, T., Schachter, K., Paquin, S., Beldom, S., Gross, Z., & McMinn, TL. (2008). Youth Speak Up about Homophobia and Transphobia: The First National Climate Survey on Homophobia in Canadian Schools. Phase One Report. Toronto ON: Egale Canada Human Rights Trust. Web. 6 Feb. 2012. Wells, Kristopher. "Research Exploring the Health, Wellness, and Safety Concerns of Sexual Minority Youth." The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality 18.4 (2009): 221-30. CBCA Complete; CBCA Reference & Current Events; ProQuest Education Journals; ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source; ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source; ProQuest Psychology Journals; ProQuest Research Library. Web. 6 Feb. 2012.
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Essays 80 - 89% A selection of First Year Arts and Humanities Student Essays 2010/2011
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Grading Criteria: Essays 80-89%
The following selection of first year Arts and Humanities essays were written during the 2010/2011 academic year. Each essay received an A grade, or a numerical mark within the range of 80 to 89. Students are encouraged to examine each submission to gain insight on how to better their own original works. Plagiarism of any form is not tolerated by the University of Western Ontario or the faculty of Arts and Humanities. Please refer to the academic calendar for detailed regulations. Below, students will find a rubric constructed by the AHSC. The rubric is comprised of an amalgamation of department rubrics and assignment guidelines contributed by UWO professors of English, Film Studies, Philosophy, and Writing. It is merely meant as a sample rubric, and should be interpreted as such. For accurate guidelines of specific course assignments, please contact your department or professor directly.
A (80 to 89%) • • • • •
• • • •
Clear development of a specific and challenging thesis, with proper paragraphs. The writer has taken risks with his/her argument, and most of them succeed. Quotations well integrated into text, used appropriately and purposively. Few typographical errors, with proper paragraphs. Sentence structure correct, with a range of sentence types (compound, complex, and compound-complex), and of punctuation (including semicolons, colons, dashes, parentheses). Graceful style, neither pompous nor breezy. Claims made are consistent and related to one another Opposing views are thoughtfully considered Effective and independent research, with proper documentation of sources, with evidence of individual response.
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Kayla Vanstone English 1022E - 001 30 November 2011 Empathy: Patricia Young’s Portrayal of Emotion in “Night-Running” Patricia Young’s “Night-Running” employs many literary devices and techniques throughout the poem. Although at first glance, this poem seems to have these devices to simply further the rhythm and feel of the poem, Young’s aim in using them is not so simple. Upon closer examination, a reader can see that the placement of words on the page, along with each and every word used is very intentional. The deliberate usage of the literary devices in the poem is vital to the story it tells, and the reader’s understanding of the characters within it. The literary devices and techniques give the reader a clear view of how the characters in the poem see the scene around them. Young uses imagery throughout the poem to demonstrate the character’s views of their physical surroundings in the poem. This imagery allows the reader to envision themselves in the scene and, because of the skilled way with which Young uses this technique, lets the reader feel and see what the characters within the poem feel and see. Young describes things that would be familiar to the reader, such as a boy running, “grass slapping his ankles”, to permit the reader to feel the same thing (8). Because of the familiarity of the things Young chooses to describe, it is easy for the reader to imagine seeing and feeling the environment around her characters. Young also takes something as well-known as a sunset and tells the reader it is “whisky / rags streaking the sky” (6-7). She takes a familiar occurrence and uses unusual words to describe it, which gives the reader insight into how the characters view what is around them. The author’s abundant use of imagery allows the reader to easily envision themselves in the place of the characters described. Another way in which the reader feels pulled into the story is through the unusual and subtle descriptions of the characters’ emotions. The emotions of the characters aren’t made obvious, but they add to the reader’s experience of the poem. In one instance, Young uses what might be confusing wording in another context, but here “his tongue-tied / hands” is a term that seems to make sense (27-28). It not only gives the reader a visual of the boy, but it also gives them a sense of how he feels. It opens a window for the audience to be able to feel how the boy feels, because, despite the fact that this term seems to be invented by the author, the reader knows exactly what is meant by it, and what feelings it implies. Another example of Young demonstrating the characters’ emotions is when she writes, “as though he just happened by, / and is that her moving behind the curtain?” (23-24). The two ideas in the sentence are only
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divided by a comma and a line break, but they have very different meanings and the change of topic comes on quite suddenly. This shows the reader the way the boy thinks, which allows the reader to put themselves inside the boy’s head. Young’s unique, yet somehow familiar way of explaining emotions draws the reader further into the scene she creates. The author also strives to give the reader visual portrayals of the scene with the placement of words on the page. The audience will see the staircase of words when the boy is running with “his body / springing / forward” and envision the forward motion of the boy as the words descend and move forward over the page (17-19). Not only will they be able to see him, but the way the layout has the audience saying the words allows them to hear the boy’s feet as they hit the ground. Another instance in which Young uses this technique is when she describes the boy’s breathing after his run. Not only is it said that he is “breathing hard” but those two words are set apart from the rest of the line to let the reader adopt the rhythm of breaths of someone who has just run a long way (21). The layout of the poem not only shows the audience the image Young is describing, but makes them feel the sensations the characters are feeling as well. Young’s “Night-Running” is not a simple poem, and each word used is an important element and so is the positioning of every word on the page. Emotional and physical insights for the reader are intricately woven into the plot in order to subtly allow the reader to envision not only the scenes in the poem, but the feelings of the characters as well. The reader is not simply given descriptions of emotions and images, but is pulled into the story, given the gasping breaths of a running boy, feeling the sensation of grass against skin and the nerves of a boy seeing the girl he adores. Giving the reader the chance to feel a character so deeply can perhaps allow them to see themselves within the character and understand their actions and reactions within the story.
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Works Cited Young, Patricia. “Night-Running.” An Auto-Erotic History of Swings. Winlaw: Sono Niss Press, 2010. 21-23. Print.
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Nicole Kipfer Visual Arts History 1040 Mar. 9, 2012 Passion and Empathy: The Depiction of Historical Events in Paintings as a Method of Emotional Expression Regardless of an artist’s location or style, depictions of historical events, particularly in paintings, are a constantly reoccurring theme. Many paintings are intended as more than a mere historical record; they are emotionally charged portrayals of the event as observed by the artist. For this exhibition three paintings have been selected, namely Francisco Goya’s Third of May, 1808 (Figure One), Joseph Mallord William Turner’s The Slave Ship (Figure Two) and Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (Figure Three). These three paintings are united in their intent to reveal the artist’s feelings and opinions about the event that is being portrayed. Examination of their historical content and the way in which they are painted will emphasise the strength of the connection between them. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Spain endured extreme political turmoil. Charles IV and Maria Luisa, the king and queen at the time, failed to please their citizens. The Spanish people were left no choice but to put faith in their son, Ferdinand VII. They hoped he would be the one to restore order; however this hope was in vain. Ferdinand VII sought aid from Napoleon Bonaparte, who helped him to overthrow his parents, then immediately turned on Ferdinand, putting his brother in charge in attempt to control Spain himself. When the Spanish realized the French were enemies, and not allies, they tried to defend themselves, which resulted in the French army’s brutal massacre of multiple poor Spanish civilians.15 This Massacre is the subject of Francesco Goya’s Third of May, 1808. At this time, “…Goya was recording a very different face of war: the struggle of the Spanish people against the invaders and the many horrors of warfare.”16 This is clearly demonstrated in the way Goya paints this event. He shows sympathy for the Spanish, depicting the French as inhumane, with black hoods and weapons. The Spanish are trapped between the firing squad and cliff, with no hope to escape, unarmed and terrified. “… Goya shows war, for the first time, as utterly lacking in glory…without the consolation of chivalry, religion without mercy, and despair
15
Fred S. Kleiner, Gardener’s Art Through the Ages:The Western Perspective, 13th Edition. (Boston, MA: Clark Baxter, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010, 2006), 618. 16 Belle Waring and Elizabeth Fee, “The Disasters of War.” American Journal of Public Health 96, no. 1(Jan 2006): 51. http://search.proquest.com/docview/215090264/fulltext?accountid=15115
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without redemption. Despite the ferocity of his critique, Goya retained a passionate empathy for the suffering he witnessed.”17 The use of light and dark in the exposure of good and evil is a prominent aspect of the painting, employed by the artist to emphasize the strength of his sympathy. The only light in the painting is shining on the man in the centre, who is also the only figure wearing white. His lightness identifies him as a pure Christ-like figure. Further emphasizing this point are his arms, spread open like the crucifix.18 As a Spanish artist, Goya chose to portray the events of the massacre in the perspective of Spanish civilians. He “…encouraged empathy for the massacred Spanish peasants by portraying horrified expressions and anguish on their faces, endowing them with a humanity lacking in the French firing squad.”19 Goya’s use of painting to communicate his emotions is evident in Third of May, 1808, revealing his obvious empathy for the Spanish and detest of the French. Joseph Mallord William Turner’s The Slave Ship was inspired by the Zong Massacre, as described in a book which was recently republished at the time of the painting’s creation.20 The Zong Massacre took place on the British slave ship, The Zong, upon which Captain Collingwood was in the process of transporting slaves to the Caribbean. Many of the slaves fell ill, and with the understanding that his insurance would not reimburse him for slaves who died on board but only for those who died at sea, he ordered all sick slaves to be thrown overboard.21 To reveal emotion in his paintings, Turner chose to use colour rather than explicit content. “Turner often used the natural world to express human emotions and capture dramatic human events.”22 Unlike many landscape artists of the time, Turner chose to forfeit serenity and detail in his paintings in favour of intensity, awe and terror. Like many Romanticists his goal
17
Waring and Fee, “The Disasters of War,” 51. Kleiner, Gardener’s Art Through the Ages:The Western Perspective, 13th Edition, 618-19. 19 Ibid 20 Kleiner, Gardener’s Art Through the Ages:The Western Perspective, 13th Edition, 627. 21 William Patrick. “Turner’s The Slave Ship.” The Southern Review. 30, no. 3 (Summer 1994): 563. http://search.proquest.com/docview/206037969 22 Dorothy Amore Pilla and Gillian Shallcross. “Turner’s Slave Ship.” School Arts. 100, no.1 (Sept. 2000): 35. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DASORT&inPS=true&prodId=AONE&userGroupName=lond95336&tabID=T002&search Id=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=AdvancedSea rchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA65014679&&docId=GALE|A65 014679&docType=GALE&role=&docLevel=FULLTEXT_WITH_GRAPHICS 18
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was for his viewers to experience a feeling of sublime.23 For this reason, it is understood that Turner’s unique style made use of colour as a means of expressing emotion. The Slave Ship was not well received by the public, and its lack of historical detail resulted in much controversy. “Viewers objected to the way Turner told the story--or failed to tell it--and to his radical, even violent, brushwork and color…Many people, to this day, are troubled by the difficulty of reconciling the beauty of the painting with its tragic subject.”24 In the case of The Slave Ship it is the beauty and nearly undecipherable horror that causes the question of Turner’s opinion on the matter. However, consistent with his other paintings, “He manipulated color, light, and paint, more for their emotional and expressive impact than for their ability to describe.”25 Turner’s use of colour was an attempt to evoke emotion regarding the tragedy. Though by some it is considered an insufficient attempt, it remains that the painting was created with the intention of expressing emotion. Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, provides a third example of a painting based on an historical event revealing emotions of the artist. In late April, 1937, German and Italian Pilots bombed and destroyed the town of Guernica, Spain, while under the orders of Francisco Franco, the Fascist rebel leader. The massacre killed more than a thousand innocent civilians and injured many.26 It was later revealed “…that Guernica was a designated practice site for the Nazi air force…”27 Picasso used this event as inspiration for his painting Guernica, which was initially intended for the Paris International Exposition. After the bombing he entirely changed his plan for the subject of this mural.28 Picasso was enraged by such an extreme display of inhumanity and outwardly reacted against it. “It is widely agreed that Picasso’s oeuvre is autobiographical and expressive.”29 This is the case in Guernica, where Picasso expressed his passionate personal feelings in response to the bombing at Guernica. The painting is enormous and he filled the canvas with images of figures overwhelmed by despair and chaos. It was painted in shades of blue, revealing the depression the artist felt at the time. More specifically Picasso used symbols with personal meaning to express the degree of his emotions. Picasso’s paintings
23
Kleiner, Gardener’s Art Through the Ages:The Western Perspective, 13th Edition, 627. 24 Pilla and Shallcross. “Turner’s Slave Ship,” 35. 25 Ibid 26 James K. Harris. “Picasso’s Guernica.” Archives of General Psychiatry.67, no. 9 (Sept. 2010): 878. http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/67/9/878 27 Ibid 28 Ibid 29 Ora Attia. “Separation and Individuation in Picasso’s Guernica.” The International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 92, no. 6 (Dec. 2011): 1561-1581. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-8315.2011.00418.x/full
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sometimes included a bull fight, and these instances have all occurred during periods of turmoil in his own life.30 With the depiction of a bull in Guernica, and the symbolic importance this has to Picasso, it is evident how deeply this event affected him. Picasso used the bull as a means of injecting his strongest emotions into his paintings. Through the use of images, colour and symbolism, Picasso makes it clear that the intention of Guernica is not only to make record of the event in history, but to express his personal emotional reaction to the bombing of Guernica. Though the depiction of historical events has often been employed as a method of recording the past, there are many cases where the artist infuses his or her own emotional reaction into the painting. Third of May, 1808 by Francisco Goya, The Slave Ship by Joseph Mallord William Turner and Guernica by Pablo Picasso were selected to be displayed together in this exhibition because they are all examples of how artists have used historical events as their theme. Furthermore, they share a common intent to reveal a deeper and more emotional portrayal of history, through the perspective of the artist. Though in some cases the historical integrity of the paintings may be questioned, it is what they reveal about the impact of history on the people who experienced it that makes them truly remarkable works of art.
Figure One. Francisco Goya, Third of May, 1808, 1814-1815. Oil on Canvas, 8’9”x13’4”. Museo del Prado, Madrid. Voorhies, James. Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) and the 30 Ibid Spanish Enlightenment, 2000-2011. [55] http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/goya/hd_goya.htm
Figure Two. Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and the Dying, Typhoon Coming On),1840. Oil on Canvas, approx. 3’x4’. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Henry Lillie Pierce Fund). Koppelman, Dorothy. Light and Dark, Hiding and Showing in Joseph Mallord William Turner. 2008. http://www.terraingallery.org/J-M-W-Turner/turnerlight.htm
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Figure Three. Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937.Oil on Canvas, approx. 11’x25’6”. Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid. Pablopicasso.org. Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso, 2009. http://www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp
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Bibliography Attia, Ora. “Separation and Individuation in Picasso’s Guernica.” The International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 92, no. 6 (Dec. 2011): 15611581. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.17458315.2011.00418.x/full Harris, James K. “Picasso’s Guernica.” Archives of General Psychiatry. 67, no. 9 (Sept. 2010): 878. http://archpsyc.amaassn.org/cgi/content/full/67/9/878 Kleiner, Fred S. Gardener’s Art Through the Ages:The Western Perspective, 13th Edition. Boston, MA: Clark Baxter, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010, 2006. Koppelman, Dorothy. Light and Dark, Hiding and Showing in Joseph Mallord William Turner. 2008. http://www.terraingallery.org/J-M-WTurner/turner-light.htm Pablopicasso.org. Guernica, 1937 by Pablo Picasso. 2009. http://www.pablopicasso.org/guernica.jsp Patrick, William. “Turner’s The Slave Ship.” The Southern Review. 30, no. 3 (Summer 1994): 563. http://search.proquest.com/docview/206037969 Pilla, Dorothy Amore and Shallcross, Gillian. “Turner’s Slave Ship.” School Arts. 100, no.1 (Sept. 2000): 35. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=D ASORT&inPS=true&prodId=AONE&userGroupName=lond95336&tab ID=T002&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegm ent=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentS et=GALE%7CA65014679&&docId=GALE|A65014679&docType=GA LE&role=&docLevel=FULLTEXT_WITH_GRAPHICS Voorhies, James. Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) and the Spanish Enlightenment. 2000-2011. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/goya/hd_goya.htm Waring, Belle and Fee, Elizabeth. “The Disasters of War.” American Journal of Public Health 96, no. 1(Jan 2006): 51. http://search.proquest.com/docview/215090264/fulltext?accountid=1511 5
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Samarra Goldglas Philosophy 1130F December 15, 2011 The Courteous Misogynist To open the door, or not to open the door—that is the question. Dooropening, a simple ritual of the polite and the chauvinistic, is examined in Marilyn Frye’s “Oppression”. The act of a man opening a door for an able bodied woman is deemed as oppressive to women because it asserts the idea that women are weak and incapable. These ideas of women can have grave consequences such as increased victimization. Her take on the subject is clear and compelling, converting people everywhere into a tentative feminist by simple reason. There is no doubt left after reading her essay that this act of chivalry is a tool that is used to oppress women today. The courteous misogynist is duplicitous: hiding behind gallant gestures while executing his oppression. The first thing that must be understood to continue in this endeavour is the term ‘oppression’, here meaning to live “one’s life...confined and shaped by forces and barriers which are not accidental or occasional and hence avoidable, but are systematically related to each other in such a way as to catch one between and among them and restrict or penalize motion in any direction” (Frye 4). In other words, to be oppressed is to live in an inescapable cage, being molded into an ideal that is not one’s own and where both rebellion and placid acceptance are met with penalty. Frye makes it very clear that ‘oppression’ is not synonymous with ‘pain’, ‘suffering’ or ‘restriction’ (11). All of these things can exist without there being oppression, the example she gives is of a rich white man who is stranded in a cold blizzard in Aspen with a broken leg during a skiing trip. He is suffering and in pain but he is not oppressed because the suffering is not caused by a “structure of barriers and forces” (11). Another example is that of lanes on a road. This is a restriction but not an oppression of drivers. The restrictions are put in place for the safety of those on the road and are therefore are not oppressing to the drivers (11). Thus, oppression is a different thing from pain, suffering and restriction. Door-opening is not oppressive in itself; it is oppressive depending on the way that it is executed. If someone is holding a door open for an infirm person, or a person laden down with parcels, opening a door can be quite helpful, but it is when a man, whether or not he is laden with parcels or infirm, goes out of his way to open a door for a woman who is fully capable that it becomes an instance of oppression (5). Frye argues that this is oppression because opening a door is something that would be done for those who are infirm or unable, and opening the door for a seemingly capable woman promotes the idea “that [all] women are
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incapable” (6). Women are perfectly capable of opening a door. The help is unneeded, sometimes even irksome, and, because men do not take this into consideration, this furthers the idea “that women’s actual needs and interests are unimportant or irrelevant” (6). She also likens the opening of a door to the behaviour of a servant to their master, which she claims mocks women because of their reality of being, in many ways, “the servants and caretakers of men” (6). They are given no help when they are potential victims of assault, merely told to “stay indoors after dark” or to “be chaperoned by a man”, both of which suggest inferiority and that women are unable to handle themselves (6). The ideas that spring from this can be dangerous for women. Frye notes that oppression can be hard to see when it is examined myopically: a close examination of individual parts. She likens this to the examination of a birdcage. Not one wire alone will keep a bird from flying away, but it is the systematic relationship between all of the wires that create the cage from which the bird cannot escape. One can only see this relationship when viewing the cage macroscopically, not focusing on any one wire, but seeing the whole picture (4-5). The act of a man opening a door is not oppression; it is merely an example of it. Not every instance of door-opening is oppression, it is not in a single event that oppression occurs, but in their relations to each other. Frye urges readers to look at the big picture and not to focus on one wire of the birdcage (7). Myopically, a man holding a door open for a woman is a polite occurrence, but macroscopically, it is oppressive to the gender. It is pretending to be helpful, but holding open a door does nothing for an able bodied person. If men truly wanted to be helpful they would do the laundry, help with a report late at night or help keep peace within the family—they would not be performing superfluous tasks for the sake of chivalry (6-7). In her essay, Frye pointed out that by not caring whether or not the help is actually needed one is shown that the true needs of women are insignificant. This seems to be an extreme stance when examined independently, but when seen in the big picture, it is not nearly as extreme. By ignoring the needs of women and performing unnecessary tasks for them instead, men are ignoring the thoughts and ideas of women while imposing their own. It is unimportant to a man whether or not a woman needs help with the laundry, but something simple, such as opening a door can be, and is, easily done as a gallant example of chivalry and kindness, though it means nothing. Her next point, about the mockery of women as servants to men, strikes a chord of truth at first glance—the women are most likely to be doing the cooking and cleaning within a household while the men are catered to. The idea of women as ‘weak’ that is enforced by the door-opening is
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dangerous. Women are more commonly the victims of crime, such as rape, and assault because of this idea. Also, because they are merely told to “stay indoors” or “be chaperoned by a man” as a means of staying safe (6), many are not taught how to defend themselves. This ensures that women remain the victims, that they remain weak and defenseless. Staying indoors is depriving oneself of the outside world, and this is an unfair punishment inflicted simply because of gender. Being in the constant company of men ‘for one’s own protection’ is also making the statement that women are secondary citizens and are unable to venture outside without a man to keep them in check. In a perfect world, a woman would be capable of leaving her own house after dark alone without the worry of being assaulted, but in this world that is impossible, and so they should be taught how to defend themselves. Society is hesitant to do this because women are seen as ‘soft’ and ‘weak’ and any form of bodily training would make them more masculine. Society wants women to stay weak under the control of men, and so this is why doors are still being opened and women are still being oppressed. Frye is not saying that door-opening is the reason women are oppressed, she is showing this as one wire on the birdcage that is oppression. She believes that the male ritual of opening doors for women is an instance of oppression because the act is superfluous; it ignores women’s actual needs while mocking their traditional role. If women are seen as weak and incapable by society then they are sure to be seen as weak and incapable by those who wish to do them harm. Society’s ideas need to change and women need to be seen as the capable and strong individuals that they are. Gallant and unnecessary gestures need to be done away with to leave room for useful actions. Women should be free to open their own doors if they so wish. Let the courteous misogynist live no more.
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Works Cited Frye, Marilyn. “Oppression” The Politics of Reality. Trumansburg, N.Y.: The Crossing Press, 1983. Web.
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Christina Venier Visual Art History 1040-001 November 18, 2011 The Depiction of Grief in The Lamentation Over the Dead Christ The church dedicated to Saint Pantaleimon in Nerezi, Macedonia houses frescoes painted in 116431 depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ, each conveying powerful emotion. The most notable of these frescoes is the Lamentation Over the Dead Christ (Figure 1), which, unfortunately, has been subject to some damage. This wall painting portrays the dead Jesus being held by his grieving mother, with Saint John holding his hand, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus bowing at his feet, and weeping angels mirroring their sadness. The painting’s background is a dark blue sky, yellow mountains and dark green grass. The artist skillfully manipulates the characters, the landscape and the colours to convey the emotion of intense sorrow while also infusing them with symbolic value. The composition of the painting is one element that emphasizes grief. The most obvious sources of emotion are the figures, which include Jesus, Mary, Saint John, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus as well as four angels (one of whom is missing due to damage), and “their inclusion here [...] intensified for the viewer the emotional impact of Christ’s death.”32 These figures are more stylized rather than naturalistic, evident in the “strange elongation of forms”33, which allow the painter to show exaggerated grief on their faces as well as in their body language, as “every line and curve is fraught with sensitive life and tension”34. Each figure has their own independent pose, with Saint John clutching Christ’s left hand, Nicodemus and Joseph kneel at his feet, the angels weeping and a distraught Mary cradling a limp Jesus. Together, “these figures are woven into lyrically intimate and realistic depictions of mood”35, but it is Mary who expresses the most intense emotion. Not only is “her face distorted with sorrow”36, but she has her legs open in order to hold his lifeless form in her
31
1 Fred S. Kleiner, Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective, 13th edition. (Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010), 254. 32 2 Ibid., 254.
33 3 John Beckwith, Early Christian & Byzantine Art, (Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., 1970), 129.
34 Irmgard Hutter, Early Christian and Byzantine Art (New York: Universe Books, 1971), 143. 35 36
Ibid., 143. John Beckwith, Early Christian & Byzantine Art, (Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., 1970), 129.
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lap. This serves two functions: first, it “makes a direct reference to his birth”37, reminding us of his humanity, and; second the “tender pressing of her cheek against his [...] reminds us of her icons where she lovingly cuddles the ChristChild [...] combin[ing] the simultaneous emotional feelings of motherly love and suffocating pain.”38 The characters’ display of emotion elicits an emotional response in the viewer, reminding them of “Christ’s humanity”39 and the family who suffered along with him. This makes his sacrifice for the world even more poignant, reinforcing people’s Christian beliefs. The pot on the ground next to Jesus’ head refers to embalming , indicating that nobody knew he would be resurrected, so their grief is intensified by the way his death left them hopeless. The natural landscape of hills and a blue sky also places this emotional scene in a real-world context, making it easier for viewers to imagine the scene, leading to greater empathy for the characters’ suffering . 40
41
Colour is another important aspect of the wall painting. Light was a key element of medieval aesthetics and it is no coincidence that “Byzantine use of colour demonstrates a belief in colour as a form of light” and a recognition of its “light-bearing quality” . It is important to notice there is no light source in the painting itself, so light and dark are represented solely through the colours used. Liz James writes in Light and Colour in Byzantine Art that: 42
43
The selection of colour is not random and motiveless. [...] Because colour is conceived less as hue and rather more as reflections of light and darkness on a black-white scale, then its relation to this scale provides its hue. However, meaning is provided not by the position on this colour scale alone, but by context44. With this in mind, the blue background can be interpreted as a symbol. Blue can
37
Maria Vassilaki, Mother of God: Representations of the Virgin in Byzantine Art (Milan: Skira Editore S.p.A., 2000), 43. 38 Ibid., 43.
39 Henry Maguire, “The Depiction of Sorrow in Middle Byzantine Art,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 31 (1977): 164. 40
Gertrud Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, trans. Janet Seligman (Greenwich: New York Graphic Society Ltd.), 174. Fred S. Kleiner, Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective, 13th edition. (Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010), 254. 42 Cynthia Freeland, Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 23. 41
43 44
Liz James, Light and Colour in Byzantine Art (New York: Clarendon Press, 1996), 99. Ibid., 104.
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refer to Christ’s “heavenly calm” , but the dark, flat hue of the blue can indicate sadness. Therefore, from the sky alone we can find emotion, possibly from the artist trying to convey the idea that even heaven itself was saddened by Christ’s death. The green grass Christ is lying on can be a symbol for his work on Earth , and its dark hue can represent the loss felt by mortal beings on Earth. Mary wears a robe of purple and blue, representing her royal status in heaven, further emphasizing her position as mother of God. Jesus is surrounded by white fabric, and is wearing a sheer white loincloth. White is the lightest and therefore most light-like colour, which is another symbol for his pureness and holiness. 45
46
The painter uses relatively realistic colours in the painting, probably because of the Byzantine belief that “it is not until the colours are put together that the true likeness is gained, which on a spiritual level must be Christ. It is through colour that the imitation of Christ is achieved.” While on the subject of colour, the lack of blood in the painting should be noted. By leaving out the striking red, the painter was trying to place an emphasis on the emotional rather than physical pain. The yellow mountains and the white cloth surrounding Christ illuminate his figure, reinforcing the idea of him being the “light of the world” and serving as one source of divine light in the church were it is housed. This light or claritas as Aquinas would describe it, denotes the painting’s internal brightness and design, making the painting beautiful in terms of medieval aesthetics. 47
The tragedy contained in this painting and expressed through the figures and colours serves as a source of katharsis. The tragedy depicted in the painting was clearly an important image in Christian culture because of The readiness to separate off an independent image of the Lamentation from the Bearing of the Body – regardless of the fact that the Gospels mention no lamenting of the dead – may derive from funeral customs in the east and west; it fulfills one of the spiritual needs of mourners and found a place spontaneously in those meditations on the Passion that grew out of an intensified Piety. 48
If one did not know anything about Christian tradition, the figures’ faces and poses as well as the use of colour would tell them that this is a solemn, tragic scene and it would be following Aristotle’s idea that “if a tragedy shows how a
45 Ibid.,105. 46 47 48
Ibid.,105. Ibid., 129.
Gertrud Schiller, Iconography of Christian Art, trans. Janet Seligman (Greenwich: New York Graphic Society Ltd.), 174.
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good person confronts adversity, it elicits a cleansing or ‘katharsis’ through emotions of fear and pity” . Therefore, the imitation of the tragedy emphasizes the viewer’s duty as a Christian to empathize with the characters. This makes the characters more human in their mind, and then by seeing their human suffering feel “cleansed”, resulting in positive feelings toward the Christian religion. 49
The Lamentation Over the Dead Christ wall painting in Nerezi is notable for its wrenching depiction of human grief. However, only when one analyzes the use of colour, style and composition can one appreciate the painting fully. Though it is damaged, the painting still conveys emotion as strongly today as it once did for the viewer in 1164. The fact that it is still written about in the twenty-first century speaks to the artist’s success in depicting the grief associated with Christ’s death.
49
Cynthia Freeland, Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 21.
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Bibliography Beckwith, John. Early Christian & Byzantine Art. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., 1970. Durand, Jannic. Byzantine Art. Translated by Murray Wyllie. Paris: Bayard Presse SA, 1999. Freeland, Cynthia. Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Hoddinott, R.F.. Early Byzantine Churches in Macedonia and Southern Serbia: A Study of the Origins and the Initial Development of East Christian Art. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1963. Hutter, Irmgard. Early Christian and Byzantine Art. New York: Universe Books, 1971. James, Liz. Light and Colour in Byzantine Art. New York: Clarendon Press, 1996. Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. 13th edition. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010. Lamentation over the dead Christ. Wall painting, 1164. Hammon-Art. November 17, 2011. http://apah.lakegeneva.badger.groupfusion.net/modules/groups/group_pag es.phtml?&gid=87537&nid=59175&openSubNav=14999&sessionid=33a 13716747813bc5f4cb67696b0026f&printable=TRUE&sessionid=fab2ded 4d076c7cded378be54a060ca7&portrait_or_landscape=portrait&sessionid =fab2ded4d076c7cded378be54a060ca7. Maguire, Henry. “The Depiction of Sorrow in Middle Byzantine Art.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 31 (1977): 164. Schiller, Gertrud. Iconography of Christian Art. Translated by Janet Seligman. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society Ltd., 1972. Vassilaki, Maria, ed. Mother of God: Representations of the Virgin in Byzantine Art. Milan: Skira Editore S.p.A., 2000.
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Figure 1. The Lamentation over the dead Christ 1164 Wall painting Saint Pantaleimon, Nerezi, Macedonia
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