literature

The Names of Novelists and Their Works

The basic idea of ​​the paper is to demonstrate ethical identity as one of the social aspects involved in Asian American literature. Due to the fact that immigrants have made a great contribution to the formation of cultural heritage, it is necessary to trace the features of visitors’ assimilation and their thoughts on their new way of life. In addition, gender, race, and other factors should be considered in order to receive a comprehensive picture. Among the authors who worked on the topic of ethnic identity are John Okada, Mei Ng, and some other outstanding representatives of the literature of the past era. The use of various images, for example, food ones, are made with the purpose of displaying ethnic identity and is the technique that is typical for that era. The formation of a national idea against the background of cultural, racial, religious, and other disagreements with the local population is most of those authors’ central thought.

The concept of ethnic identity is an essential aspect of social development. It is this term that was one of the foundations in the Asian-American literature. According to Gardaphé and Xu, the formation of ethnic identity is influenced by experiences of “food productions and services, culinary creativities, appetites, desires, hunger, and even vomit” (5). Since the process of inculcating “ethnic inferiority” frequently affects the digestive desires of ethnic people, culinary themes serve as vehicles for restoring ethnic pride and dignity (Gardaphé and Xu 6). Therefore, the topic of food is often raised in the literary works of immigrants who came to America from the East. Their national culture had a significant impact on the history of the development of their creative idea, and many traditions and customs acquired a primary meaning for many authors of the era when the social background was considered an important feature (Kim 139). The topic of food was one of the themes where it was possible to connect national ideas with the desire to preserve the culture and save ethnic identity.

Nevertheless, there were other topics that had a direct impact on the aspiration of visitors to protect their national dignity. The peculiarities of the state migration system functioned in such a way that it was impossible to develop different cultures within one country without experiencing pressure from the local population. Even despite official permission from the authorities, many controversial and tense nuances arose, which caused many disagreements and, as a consequence, reflected the experiences of visitors in literature. The topics of gender, racial, and cultural inequality became central ones in the works of Asian authors who sought to highlight their right to live and not to feel discomfort.

The modern immigration system continues fostering racism, sexism, and classism, and these phenomena degrade the lives of immigrants. “Often written about from the perspectives of race and national origin rather than from the intersection of race, gender, class, and national origin-Asian women’s lives remain at the margins of history” (Fujino 32). For example, Asian women in immigration suffer more than men do. If a Chinese woman’s husband marries an American woman, she will have no social support. The majority of Asian women work in gendered workplace contexts, and their lives are hampered by sexual exploitation. Therefore, the formation of the ethnic identity is formed under the pressure of stereotypes defining women as housecleaners and uneducated individuals.

Moreover, not only women but also men are forced to experience the consequences of prejudices. Despite the settled migration system, visitors from Eastern countries often feel themselves to be people who do not have full rights and freedoms. According to Oyserman and Sakamoto, Asian American culture belongs to the most widely represented ones in the US (435). However, despite the large percentage of immigrants, society is still not ready to accept visitors and treat them as citizens. It shows that even today, gender, religious, cultural, and other stereotypes have a great influence on the formation of social opinion and negatively affect the process of newcomers’ assimilation.

The story of the relationship between a mother and children in unusual living conditions is described in Tan’s novel “The Bonesetter’s Daughter.” This work is the collective image of the family where a woman brings up foster children and, at the same time, tries to be their beloved mother. As Walsh remarks, the difficulty lies in the fact that maintaining a favorable emotional background is complicated in the conditions of social challenges in which the characters of the story live (606). According to Yüksel, Eastern origin leaves an imprint on the nature of the relationship among some family members, and conflicts between parents and children are inevitable (68). In this case, not only domestic but also other difficulties arise, which are of a deeper nature.

Attempts to convey the identity of women through their character and relationships with loved ones is the typical feature of Tan’s works (He 306). The image of strong heroines, which is associated with difficulties and the constant search for a better life, underscores those challenges that visitors face. Despite equal rights, immigrants, including women, were forced to experience moral pressure and worries because of regular inconveniences caused by their status as settlers. The main heroine of Tan’s novel “The Bonesetter’s Daughter” felt even worse since she was forced to establish a family life while coping with all the attendant circumstances. According to Deeb and Deeb, cultural superstitions are the feature of Tan’s works, and a prejudiced attitude toward Chinese culture is often traced in her novels (76). Therefore, the novel under consideration is suitable for the topic of ethnical identity and may be regarded as the means to demonstrate the complexities that migrant women have to face.

The concept of food closely relates to the concept of family culture and traditions. This aspect integrates various interpretations and meanings. Food’s “juices are dripping” into so many life spheres that it is practically impossible not to notice it (Whitt 2). Product representations in different forms of art and culture or various contexts show a wide range of cultural life dimensions (Whitt 2). Therefore, many immigrants resorted to the display of food and cooking as a way of preserving national identity and protecting the interests of their native culture.

The Chu family’s Sunday lunch is one of the vivid scenes of the film “Eat Drink Man Woman” (Eat Drink Man Woman). In the center of the plot, there is the Chinese Chu and his family who are the typical representative of their culture but differ from the majority by their desire for self-development. The head of the family seeks to convey his feelings to his children but does not always succeed and tries to feed them deliciously. As can be seen from the plot, eating is one of the primary cohesive factors that unite the family members. Any manifestations of emotions, including love for one another, disappointment, and other feelings, are reflected in the criticism of products.

The concept of food interprets challenges of parent-child relationships, for instance, in Ng’s “Eating Chinese Food Naked” and Okada’s “No-No Boy.” Foodways are leading threads, which explain to the readers the essence of the characters. According to Ng, the desire to support national cuisine is one of the ways not to forget the ideas of ancestors and to maintain cultural trends (Eating Chinese Food Naked). Okada emphasizes the fact that the tradition of cooking cannot be lost if people regularly resort to national recipes and are ready to tell other people about specific cooking secrets (No-No Boy). Therefore, the examples found in literature help to prove the importance of food culture in Asian American literature.

Works Cited

Deeb, Gehan M. Anwar, and Gehan M. Anwar Esmaiel Deeb. “Between Two Cultures – Finding Meaning in Amy Tan’s Use of Superstitions.” European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, vol. 3, no. 3, 2015, pp. 76-108.

Fujino, Diane Carol. Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama (Critical American Studies). Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2005.

Gardaphé, Fred, and Wenying Xu. “Introduction: Food in Multi-Ethnic Literatures.” MELUS, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 5-10.

He, Jing. “Through the Looking Glass: Female Identity Rediscovery in Chen Ran’s and Amy Tan’s Fictions.” Intercultural Communication Studies, vol. 25, no. 3, 2016, pp. 306-319.

Kim, Jean. “Asian American Racial Identity Development Theory.” New Perspectives on Racial Identity Development: Integrating Emerging Frameworks, edited by Charmaine L. Wijeyesinghe and Bailey W. Jackson III, 2nd ed., New York University Press, 2012, pp. 138-160.

Lee, Ang, director. Eat Drink Man Woman. The Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1994.

Ng, Mei. Eating Chinese Food Naked. Scribner, 1998.

Okada, John. No-No Boy. University of Washington Press, 1976.

Oyserman, Daphna, and Izumi Sakamoto. “Being Asian American: Identity, Cultural Constructs, and Stereotype Perception.” The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, vol. 33, no. 4, 1997, pp. 435-453.

Tan, Amy. The Bonesetter’s Daughter. Random House, 2001.

Walsh, Katie. “Storytelling in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter: Belonging and the Transnationality of Home in Older Age.” Identities, vol. 24, no. 5, 2017, pp. 606-624.

Whitt, Jennifer Burcham. An Appetite for Metaphor: Food Imagery and Cultural Identity in Indian Fiction. MA thesis, East Carolina University, 2011.

Yüksel, Gülden. “Ethnic Anxiety and Identity in Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter.” Idil Sanat ve Dil Dergisi, vol. 6, no. 28, 2016, pp. 65-73.

Introduction

There is probably no more fruitful field for authors describing heroes than fantasy literature. In these stories, good usually fights against bad, the hero is opposed to the villain, and their encounters are so exciting that the reader is fully involved in the events of the book. Most often, the protagonist becomes the audience’s favourite, although the antagonist may sometimes steal the show. English literature is rich in heroic stories.

Some of the most famous are J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1991) and Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (2001). Each of these books has a different plot and characters, but they both have one thing in common: they depict true heroes who make the hero’s journey. These books have become popular with generations of readers.

Heroism and Heroes

Before considering heroes in the two books to be analysed, it is necessary to offer a definition of the hero and the idea of heroism. Heroic acts are ones that require extraordinary courage. Such boldness does not have to be represented only by violent fights or physical strength. Frequently, heroes are the characters that defend the weak even if they are not powerful themselves. In fairy tales, physical power is usually associated with heroism.

However, in the fantasy novels reviewed for this project, it is not their fortitude that makes the heroes what they are. Therefore it is necessary to contemplate the issue of whether heroism is possible and, if so, how. Also, it is necessary to discuss how one becomes a hero in fantasy literature. Finally, the question of how the hero’s journey contributes to this development requires analysis.

There can be no doubt that heroism is possible in people’s lives. More than that, it is frequently necessary: one needs to have faith in something good, noble, kind, and sincere. To become a hero in fantasy literature, the character does not need to fight with evil powers or shed blood for one’s native land. However, one does need to be wise, skilful, and true to one’s goals. In The Hobbit, the hero needs to travel a difficult route to his destination where he eventually defeats the villain not with his hands, but with the help of the ring that he has been carrying (Tolkien, 1991). In American Gods, the hero does not even have a route different from the antagonist (Gaiman, 2001). Thus his heroism lies in his willingness to leave the service of the villain, which he eventually does.

The hero’s journey plays a significant role in shaping the character’s heroism. By completing all stages of this journey, one can be acknowledged as a true role model, a person who should be admired and respected, and someone who is worth remembering for decades or even centuries. Probably the most exemplary element of the hero’s journey is the first one: the ordinary world (“The hero’s journey,” n. d.).

It is at this point that the hero is represented in opposition to other characters. Heroes are frequently regarded as strange or even weird merely because they notice extraordinary things in the world around them. Since other people cannot see these things, they may think that the hero is odd and even mock him or her. However, as it turns out, the true magic, the real kindness, and the genuine spirit of adventure are hidden in the hero’s unusual attitude to the world.

The Hero in The Hobbit

In The Hobbit, the hero is represented by the character of Bilbo Baggins, who does not seem very heroic at the beginning. Bilbo is not willing to go on an adventure when Gandalf invites him to do so (Tolkien, 1991). In addition, the hobbit is not courageous or strong. However, the absence of these features does not make Bilbo less of a hero in the meaning described in the previous section. Bilbo is a hero because he eventually decides to do something for the sake of his native land and friends. As Cooper (2002) remarks, Bilbo is the good that finally drives out the evil and returns to Middle Earth. Thus it is quite possible to regard Bilbo Baggins as the hero in The Hobbit.

One more special feature that helps to identify Bilbo’s character as heroic is the etymology of his name. As Day (2011) emphasises in his article, all titles and names in the book, starting with “the hobbit,” are “quintessentially English” (p. 114). Another aspect playing a crucial role in this case is Bilbo’s love for the Shire (Tolkien, 1991). This willingness to forget one’s own fears and apprehensions for the sake of a beloved land makes Bilbo a real hero.

Even if he is not able to confront the enemy without the support of Gandalf, dwarves, or other friends, Bilbo is a courageous hobbit. Even though he is small and may seem insignificant, he serves as an example for many readers. Even if he has some negative features such as stinginess and an inclination to keep something that does not belong to him, Bilbo is the real hero in Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

The Hero’s Journey of Bilbo Baggins

Whereas Tolkien’s novel is a depiction of a journey that the main character is making, there is also a vivid representation of the hero’s journey in the book. As Atherton (2014) mentions, on many occasions, Bilbo’s return home is the perspective or measure “by which he judges all the events that happen to him on his quest through the Wild” (p. 2). The first stage of the hero’s journey is the ordinary world (“The hero’s journey,” n.d.). For Bilbo, this is the calm life of the Shire, where he enjoys regular meals and friendly neighbours (Tolkien, 1991). The next stage, the call to adventure, is marked by the appearance of Gandalf, who invites Bilbo to take part in a trip. At this point, a direct invitation to participate in an adventure is made.

The third step in the hero’s journey is the refusal of the quest (“The hero’s journey,” n.d.). In The Hobbit, such a rejection occurs when Bilbo tells Gandalf that hobbits enjoy quiet and comfortable living and do not want to participate in any risky endeavours. “We don’t want any adventures here” and “I don’t want any adventures, thank you” are the answers Bilbo gives to Gandalf when he first hears the proposal (Tolkien, 1991, n.p.).

Fortunately for millions of Hobbit fans, the next step of the hero’s journey is accepting the call. Under pressure from Gandalf, the hero agrees to set out on an adventure, and the wizard becomes Bilbo’s mentor, or the personification of supernatural aid. Further, the hero begins the stage of entering the unknown, or crossing the first threshold. For Bilbo, this threshold is leaving the Shire (Tolkien, 1991). This step is rather important for the hero since it is the first time that he will leave his home for such a long time.

The next stage of the hero’s journey made by Bilbo is meeting his allies and enemies. His friends are the eagles, Beorn, the elves of Rivendell, and the humans of Lake Town (Tolkien, 1991). His rivals are no less numerous: the trolls, giant spiders, and Gollum all interfere with the hero’s plans (Tolkien, 1991). During his encounters with the villains, Bilbo finds the elvish dagger and the magical ring, which will be of great help in the later stages of his journey. The ring will also play the role of the hero’s talisman.

The farthest point in the hero’s journey is approaching the inmost cave. In Bilbo’s case, this is the literal cave in the Lonely Mountain where Smaug is keeping and guarding Thorin’s treasures (Tolkien, 1991). This is also the time for the supreme ordeal of the main character. In The Hobbit, the major suffering of the hero, when he faces death, is the Battle of Five Armies (Tolkien, 1991). The ordeal takes place at the foot of the Lonely Mountain. The final stage of the hero’s journey is the reward and the return home (“The hero’s journey,” n.d.). For Bilbo, the reward consists of treasures presented by the dwarves. Also, he receives the right to keep his elvish dagger and the ring. Bilbo’s completion of the hero’s journey supports the argument that he is a true hero.

The Hero in American Gods

Unlike Bilbo Baggins, Shadow, the main character of American Gods, has an appearance and character that are typical of heroes. The man is brave and courageous, and he seems strong enough to fight evil if needed. However, like Bilbo, Shadow is hesitant in the beginning and does not want to get engaged in the risky deal immediately (Gaiman, 2001). Despite this momentary weakness, all further actions of the main character leave no doubt that he is a true hero.

Not only Shadow’s efforts to stop his enemies’ destructive actions make him a hero. As Slabbert and Viljoen (2006) note, the main character’s journey of self-discovery strengthens the idea of heroism in the novel. Although Carroll (2012) expresses doubt concerning heroism in the story, this author’s arguments do not seem sufficient to reject the evidence offered by other scholars. Therefore, it is viable to conclude that Shadow is a real hero who is depicted in Gaiman’s (2001) book as a wise and courageous character.

The Hero’s Journey of Shadow

Like Bilbo in The Hobbit, Shadow fulfils the stages of the hero’s journey, which demonstrates his right to be considered a hero. The initial phase of the quest, the ordinary world, is represented by the prison (Gaiman, 2001). For Shadow, the prison is his usual locality and community, and he is not aware of what is happening in the world outside the walls in which he is kept. The second stage of the journey is the call to adventure (“The hero’s journey,” n.d.).

For the main character, this call happens when he is released from prison sooner than expected. His early discharge is associated with the death of Shadow’s wife in a car accident (Gaiman, 2001). The next step of the journey is his refusal of the call. In Shadow’s case, this rejection occurs when he encounters Mr. Wednesday on the plane. As soon as the two men meet, Mr. Wednesday offers Shadow a job, which he declines. The refusal of the call is related to Shadow’s indignation at the fact that Mr. Wednesday knows too much about him.

Shadow begins the phase of crossing the threshold and entering the unknown when he realises that there are many gods around him, and when he can finally see them in their true shape. The next important step in the hero’s journey is concerned with allies, enemies, and tests. For Shadow, the first trial happens when Mr. Town mistakenly blames the death of his friends on Shadow (Gaiman, 2001). Mr. Town thus becomes Shadow’s enemy at this point in the journey.

Meanwhile, Mr. Ibis, Mr. Jacquel, Whiskey Jack, and Egyptian gods performing the duties of undertakers may be defined as Shadow’s friends. In addition to them, the hero’s allies are also represented by the idyllic town of Lakeside and the Native American beliefs and traditions (Gaiman, 2001). These friends and enemies all participate in important events of the hero’s journey.

Another crucial phase of the journey is entering the innermost cave. Shadow approaches this stage when he is captured by the new gods for a brief time and they force him to watch Mr. Wednesday being killed (Gaiman, 2001). The next stage, the supreme ordeal, begins when Shadow is tied to a tree and left there without any help. After some time, the ordeal is further heightened by Mr. Town stabbing Shadow in the throat and chest. This scene of suffering is an attempt to copy the transformation of Odin, which is the real name of Mr. Wednesday.

The last few stages of the hero’s journey are concerned with the road back home and resurrection. The return home is not actually performed by Shadow himself, but by his wife, Laura, who has been reincarnated (Gaiman, 2001). Laura takes a ride with Mr. Town to the place where the battle between two groups of gods took place. There she kills Mr. Town and takes the spear with which she will later kill herself. The final stage of the hero’s journey is the resurrection. Upon his death, Shadow is judged by Mr. Jacquel and Mr. Ibis, who deem him good (Gaiman, 2001). The hero makes a choice to return to the world of the living, armed with the vast knowledge that he has gained during the journey. Because of the profound hero’s journey that Shadow has made, it is possible to deem him a true hero.

Conclusion

Fantasy literature is a genre in which heroism is frequently depicted. In the fight between good and evil or even in a character’s refusal to protect others, there is always a hidden element of heroism. Even if not identified as such at the beginning, the hero will eventually become known. Despite some critical arguments concerning heroism and heroes, it seems reasonable to conclude that they do exist. The analysis of two renowned novels — J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1991) and Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (2001) — demonstrates that there is a hero in each of these books. A detailed scrutiny of the hero’s journey proves that both stories are concerned with heroism as the key message to the audience.

References

Atherton, M. (2014). There and back again: J. R. R. Tolkien and the origins of The Hobbit. New York, NY: I. B. Tauris.

Carroll, S. (2012). Imagined nation: Place and identity in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. Extrapolation, 53(3), 307-326.

Cooper, S. (2002). There and back again: Tolkien reconsidered. Horn Book Magazine, 78(2), 143-150.

Day, D. (2011). The genesis of the Hobbit. Queen’s Quarterly, 118(1), 114-129.

Gaiman, N. (2001). American gods: A novel. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

The hero’s journey. (n.d.). Web.

Slabbert, M., & Viljoen, L. (2006). Sustaining the imaginative life: Mythology and fantasy in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. Literator, 27(3), 135-155.

Tolkien, J. R. R. (1991). The Hobbit, or There and back again. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Eyeglasses

For some you are a mask
Disguising their true self.
For some – a fashion choice
Residing on a shelf.
A window’s what you are to me,
Through which I see the world.
Without you it’s so unclear,
And shapeless, and all burred.
Group Surrealist Poem
I would kill for some Chick-fil-A right now”
“The lights are so bright”
“Power Naps”
“I want to go back to the Bahama’s”
“I really want to take a nap right now”

In this paper, I will discuss my calligramme and the surrealistic poem created by our group in connection with the works of Guillaume Apollinaire. In some of his poems, Apollinaire focuses on simple objects, such as a tie or a pocket watch to demonstrate what these objects may symbolize or represent to their owners or observers. In my calligramme, I focus on eyeglasses and different meanings they may carry for people. The poem is written as a brief thought one may have by simply looking at this object. In turn, the group poem presents a collection of such thoughts people may have while zoning out during the day. Just like the works of Apollinaire, these poems explore one’s thoughts as the reflection of the material world.

For this project, I created a calligramme that is shaped like a pair of eyeglasses. I specifically wanted to incorporate a simple day-to-day object into my poem. My intention as an author was to present a basic item and demonstrate how it can be much more meaningful than it seems. Planning my calligramme, I thought of things people use on a daily basis. I chose a plain object that is taken for granted by the majority of users. In my calligramme, I never mentioned this object; instead, I addressed it. I spoke to it as if it was alive and could hear me. Also, since the object was never named, I shaped by poem accordingly so that the reader could understand that I was talking about eyeglasses in it. Calling eyeglasses “a mask”, “a fashion choice”, and “a window”, I intended to show the multidimensional meaning they can carry in social, psychological, and physical domains. Expressing my perception of eyeglasses as something else, I made connections between the reality and thoughts.

In his poem The Tie and The Pocket-Watch, Apollinaire also uses day-to-day objects and assigns them with deep and emotional meanings. For example, the author calls a tie “painful” and addresses the man wearing it by writing, “take it off if you want to breathe “. In these lines, a tie is associated with social conformity and restrictions people have to follow willing to fit in various norms. Writing about the pocket watch, Apollinaire associates this object with fun people “have passing the hours”. He describes several happy memories thus juxtaposing the two objects as the tie represents restriction and the watch – freedom. In my calligramme, eyeglasses are described as an object with multiple meanings. This approach is different from the one chosen by Apollinaire because his objects have a strict line of associations.

The surrealist poem created by my group also focused on the reflection of people’s thoughts. Reading this poem, it is easy to notice that only the most common thoughts and desires that most people tend to experience throughout the day were included. Specifically, two lines mention naps: “Power Naps” and “I really want to take a nap right now”; and the first line is about hunger: “I would kill for some Chick-fil-A right now”. Using these themes, the authors made the poem ultimately relatable for any reader. At the same time, an image that definitely pops out in the poem is that of the Chick-fil-A. I believe that incorporating this image, the authors tested the limits of what is considered an artwork. In other words, a technique similar to those employed in modern art was used. The artists of the 1960s and 70s liked to transform day-to-day objects into works of art demonstrating that the consumerist tendencies of the modern world are to be reflected in art.

Breton’s All Paradise Is Not Lost is different from the group surrealist poem. Specifically, Breton’s work focuses on unrealistic images while the group poem engages down-to-earth ideas and thoughts. At the same time, I’ve Dreamed of You So Much by Desnos revolves around the author’s desires and thoughts that he experiences on a daily basis. Of course, those thoughts would land much higher on the hierarchy of needs than the ones presented in the group poem. Specifically, in the poem by Desnos, the author is deeply and passionately in love with someone and seeks the response to his feelings and some affection – “I’ve dreamed of you so much that you’re losing your reality”. In the group poem, the authors express their basic desires for food, sleep, and rest – “”I would kill for some Chick-fil-A right now”, “I want to go back to the Bahama’s”, “I really want to take a nap right now”. The differences between the group poem and the works of Desnos and Breton are based on the connection with reality, which is weaker in the poets’ masterpieces and stronger in the creation of my peers. This difference means that the ultimate objectives of the authors did not match. Desnos and Breton wanted to describe sophisticated thoughts, while my group collected common and primitive desires and built the poem around them.

This assignment included a number of challenging and engaging aspects. In particular, for me, the challenging part was to select a unique topic and shape for my calligramme. It was quite difficult to plan and organize its appearance and then consider its size, word count, and shape so that it looked simple and, at the same time, had deep and thoughtful contents. Additionally, when the poem was ready, and the shape thought through, I would it challenging to organize the lines and their directions so that the calligramme was easy to follow for the readers. Overall, creating the poem was extremely engaging, satisfying, and rewarding because, in the end, I had a decent-looking product which I made all by myself. It makes me a little proud, to be honest. Working on this project, I learned to read deeper into the thoughts of other people attempting to capture the original meaning and provide a careful interpretation. Also, I learned to watch my handwriting preventing it from becoming a presentational problem. Finally, I revised my understanding of poetry as a stiff genre with the fixed structure that limited the author’s creativity. Calligrammes allow more freedom, which is a captivating challenge for a creative mind.

In their works, Foer, Griffin, and Doyle chose to explore rather abstract subjects such as memory and remembering that resonate quite strongly in the age of information and the written word the society experiences these days. The three authors preferred different approaches to present their arguments. While Foer’s essay is straight to the point with clearly expressed points of view, those by Griffin and Doyle take the reader on an emotional journey supported by numerous of complex metaphors before arriving at the conclusions.

Unlike Griffin and Doyle, Foer selected a formal approach to the subject and did not transform his essay in a historical narrative research or descriptive report about wildlife. However, this statement does not mean that Foer’s work is juxtaposed to the other two. Foer’s main idea about the “humankind’s collective memory” (160) relates closely to the essay of Griffin who wonders if one is “ever really free of the fate of others?” (235), and has common points with the work by Doyle that emphasizes the total disconnectedness of humans from one another in our highly connected world.

In his essay “The End of Remembering”, Foer declares that to some level, memory has evolved into a less indispensable phenomenon in people’s everyday existence. In the contemporary domain that is endemic with technological developments, life has been made tranquil through a lot of methods. The author advances his idea of the procedure of reading and remembering with the help of particular philosophers from before the present epoch.

For instance, for Socrates, reading and writing was a “cue for memory”, and the philosopher stressed the importance of passing knowledge through these means (Foer 161). As the human society evolved, and the scope of knowledge increased, people started being preoccupied with the development of particular techniques to train one’s memory. One of the most famous ‘trainers’ was Peter of Ravenna, who wrote a book on the matter (Foer 167). These instances show that humans have always valued memory as it was regarded as a tool of connectedness to each other as well as previous generations.

Clearly, contemporary people are also concerned with memories. Foer defines a number of approaches that help to advance memory, which according to him, have been effective in supporting him and others to recollect high amounts of material in the memory. Foer implies that exploiting the memory methods he defined in his work had a constructive influence on his life. In general, he was able to success in a mental athletics championship game, as well as surpass in his GCSE evaluations. He also infatuated an extraordinary capability to learn French and German.

Importantly, Foer’s points of view appear to be factual signs that the world is developing to the end of remembering. “Today; when we live amid a deluge of printed words – would you believe that ten billion volumes were printed last year?” (Foer 164). Foer highlights on the idea of remembering details about one’s life, those of others around them, and the environment as a fragment of living a rewarding life. He declares that remembering information makes a person more independent from the devices and notebooks that are already freely available.

In his work, Foer explores the philosophical meaning of knowledge and wonders whether or not it should be considered as such if it exists outside of people’s memory. Foer contemplates on the essence of the “external memories” in people’s lives and their connectedness to others as well as their own past (172). The author uses the examples from a day-to-day life of the contemporary individuals to emphasize how tightly they are connected to one another sharing the common information kept in a storage everyone can access. While Foer speaks of the collective bank of data, Griffin practices a different approach to discussing memory and people’s connectedness.

In “Our Secret”, Griffin is concerned with a private aspect of memory – secrets of persons and the state in general and how these secrets influence the society. In her work presented in a form of a narrative research with two main dimensions – the story of the speaker, and the researcher’s comments, the author tries to define the primary concentration of the essay, strategy of data collection, writing method, rhetorical strategy, and connections convoluted that the author presents.

The reader may select to approve or be injurious to her judgment, but that does not stop her from telling her point of view. Despite these reimbursements, such writing approaches may have thoughtful undesirable influences on the perception of the reader. In every part of an investigation, it is very precarious to establish the legitimacy and dependability of the discoveries. One way of doing this is to notify the readers that the author eradicated all practices of prejudices. They should be conversant that personal thoughts and moods did not affect the discoveries. However, Griffin does nothing to improve the legitimacy of her research.

Instead, the author presents her individual views and reports the outcomes in a style communal for writing a fiction story. In this example, the paper needs a stronger articulation of focus in order to help the readers, as the writer uses personal opinions to express the point. Moreover, the author implements the technique of rhetorical strategies in order to guarantee that her readers continue to be attentive while going through her research. For instance, the author inquires, “But is one ever really free of the fate of others?” (235). These tools make the reader focus on the reading and analyze every passage. It is noteworthy that the author explores the concept of connectedness through the analysis of particular historical facts.

Griffin’s associates in her research are decoratively exemplified not only in her evidence but also straight declarations that she presents. She mentions that the present and the past are entangled. Griffin stresses that when she “looked back into” her past, she found that “some old, hardly recollected feelings fit into a larger pattern of meaning” (234). More so, the more a person stares into the upcoming, the more he will discover the earlier experience in that future. According to the author, the previous experience will always remain a consecration or an obscenity to a person, and no one can escape from this fact. She establishes the relations between the state’s mysteries and enigmas detained by persons as well.

Hence, when comparing Griffin’s work with the essay of Foer, one may notice that Foer’s emphasis on the collective memory is expanded by Griffin’s statement that even though everyone has unique experiences and personal life, no one is ever free from the fate of others and everyone’s life is “bound up with the lives of those who lived and died in this time” (235). The two authors speak of memories as abstract reflections of people’s material lives, something that connects the present moment to those from the past. This statement positions memories not just as an abstract concept but as a physical impact. Contrasting with the two discussed essays, the work by Doyle reflects on memory taking a very special approach.

It is noteworthy that the first part of the essay is very materialistic and has little to do with the conceptual framework and the main idea of the essay. The first part of Doyle’s short essay, “Joyas Valadoras”, emphasizes numerous features of the heart in both animals and humans. In his research built in a form of a descriptive report, Doyle focuses on exemplifying the implication of the role of the heart in living creatures. For instance, the author notes that each “creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime” (Doyle 148). The essay also includes rather specific data on dimensions and some other peculiarities of hearts of different creatures. This naturalistic description serves as an introduction, background and a strong intensifier of the main idea of the writing.

When he approaches the major idea of the essay, the author proposes vibrant illustrations by means of allegories and flowing from the corporeal aspect of the heart to its profound psychological importance. The author delivers multiple characteristic attitudes when explaining connotative and denotative dimensions of the heart as a concept. The author provides metaphors ingeniously to decipher detailed particulars that escalate the credibility of his work. This reliability ranges throughout the entire work as the commonly known facts support every postulation.

As for the stylistic and writing techniques that are implemented by the author in the research, he creates a broad usage of connectives. In detail, he guides his thoughtfulness to the practice of transformational or indistinguishable recurrences. The author adds the metaphor of the hummingbird in his work in order to present the meaning that a person might consider to be at the top of a state of affairs, but any time they can experience a collapse the same way as a hummingbird. The method adds some aesthetic understanding to the narration and emphasizes that hummingbirds fit into the group of the hindmost and magnificent birds that are susceptible to numerous intimidations.

Thus, the author stresses that these birds are in “the war against gravity and inertia, the mad search of life” and the “price of their ambition is a life closer to death” (Doyle 147). The author stresses that the beauty of the bird and the miracle of its life are among numerous secrets of the universe. The usage of simple vocabulary and commonly acceptable details retains the reader enthusiastic to read further from end to end of the narration. The final part of the essay is where the work takes its major turn and begins discussing heart not as an organ, but as the place where humans store their feelings and memories saying , “So much held in a heart in a lifetime. So much held in a heart in a day; an hour, a moment” (Doyle 148).

That way, the main aspect that makes Doyle’s work stand out from the other two essays is dissolved in the conclusion and incorporated in the idea that memory is what distinguishes the individuals from one another, connecting them and throwing them apart at the same time. It is possible to note that Doyle’s essay is a highly metaphorical summary of the concepts of memory and connectedness, which are central to the three writings in question. Importantly, the author does not explicitly speak about memory or even memories, but he draws the reader’s attention to something that is beyond memories. This is people’s past, hopes, feelings. Basically, this is what makes humans.

To sum up, the essays by Foer, Griffin, and Doyle discuss memories and remembering as an essential part of everyday life of a human being. The three authors choose different approaches to this multidimensional subject. While Foer lays out his arguments in a form of a standard essay supporting them with examples from common experiences of every modern individual, Griffin emphasizes the emotional side of the memories, and Doyle refers to their corporeal aspect. Regardless of the versatility of persuasion strategies, the three authors agree that even though memories and feelings are the notions that allow people to relate to one another on a deeper level, they also contribute to the fact how extremely lonely we all are in this globally connected world.

Importantly, the authors encourage the reader to contemplate on their own memories and connectedness to their close ones, people around them as well as the past. It becomes clear that memories are an integral part of the human life, and although they are often associated with the past, they often define the person’s present and future. The three essays show various ways this transition happens. Thus, readers may or may not agree with the authors’ conclusions and statements, but they will think of the way their memories affect their lives. They will see the ties between different dimensions of the being. In this way, the major goal of the three authors is achieved as the essays are aimed at making people stop and think as well as find the answer to an important question. What we are and where are we heading?

Works Cited

Doyle, Brian. “Joyas Voladoras.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. David Barthlomae, Anthony Petrosky, and Stacey Waite. New York, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2014. 147-149. Print.

Foer, Joshua. “The End of Remembering.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. David Barthlomae, Anthony Petrosky, and Stacey Waite. New York, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2014. 160-175. Print.

Griffin, Susan. “Our Secret.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. David.

Barthlomae, Anthony Petrosky, and Stacey Waite. New York, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2014. 233-263. Print.

Joshua Foer declares that to some level, memory has evolved into a less indispensable phenomenon in people’s everyday existence. In the contemporary domain that is endemic with technological developments, life has been made tranquil in a lot of methods. The author advances his idea of the procedure of reading and remembering with the help of particular philosophers from before the present epoch. Foer defines a number of approaches that help to advance memory, which according to him, have been effective in supporting him and others to recollect high amounts of material in the memory. Foer implies that exploiting the memory methods he defined in his work had a constructive influence on his life.

In general, he was able to success in a mental athletics championship game as well as surpasses in his GCSE evaluations. He also infatuated an extraordinary capability to learn French and German. The points of view by Joshua Foer appear to be factual signs that the world is developing to the end of remembering. “Today; when we live amid a deluge of printed words – would you believe that ten billion volumes were printed last year?” (Foer 164). Joshua Foer highlights on the idea of remembering details about one’s lives, those of others around them and the environment as a fragment of living a rewarding life.

He declares that remembering information makes a person more independent from the devices and notebooks that are already freely available. The author implies that the method of person action object system includes programming a person, the activities they execute and particular objects by the means of the numbers that are later deposited in the memory palace. Figures with two digits encrypt reminiscence for an individual, act, and object in that directive. The material will be stowed in a method of imageries and regained when wanted.

Susan Griffin is concerned with a private aspect, secrets, of persons and the state and how these secrets influence the society. In her work, the author tries to define the primary concentration of the essay, strategy of data collection, writing method, rhetorical strategy, and connections convoluted that the author presents. The reader may select to approve or be injurious to her judgment, but that does not stop her from telling her point of view. Despite these reimbursements, such writing approaches may have thoughtful undesirable influences on the perception of the reader.

In every part of an investigation, it is very precarious to establish the legitimacy and dependability of the discoveries. One way of doing this is to notify the readers that the author eradicated all practices of prejudices. They should be conversant that personal thoughts and moods did not affect the discoveries. However, Griffin does nothing to improve the legitimacy of her research. She presents her individual views and reports the outcomes in a style communal for writing a fiction story. In this example, the paper needs a stronger articulation of focus in order to help the readers, as the writer uses personal opinions to express the topic.

Moreover, the author implements the technique of rhetorical strategies in order to guarantee that her readers continue to be attentive while going through her research. Griffin’s associates in her research are decoratively exemplified not only in her evidence but also straight declarations that she presents. She mentions that the present and the past are entangled. The more a person stares into the upcoming, the more he will discover the earlier experience in that future. According to the author, the previous experience will always remain a consecration or an obscenity to a person, and no one can escape from this fact. She states the relations between the state’s mysteries and enigmas detained by persons as well (Barthlomae, Petrosky, and Waite 41).

Brian Doyle’s short essay, Joyas Valadoras, emphases on the numerous features of the heart in both animals and humans. In his research, Doyle focuses on exemplifying the implication of the role of the heart in living creatures. He proposes vibrant illustrations by the means of allegories and flowing from the corporeal aspect of the heart to its profound psychological importance. The author delivers numerous characteristic attitudes when carrying out the impression of the heart stretching from a sincere tone to a more regular one. The author provides metaphors ingeniously to decipher detailed particulars that escalate the credibility of his work. This reliability ranges throughout the entire work as the commonly known facts support every postulation.

As for the stylistic and writing techniques that are implemented by the author in the research, he creates a broad usage of connectives. In detail, he guides his thoughtfulness to the practice of transformational or indistinguishable recurrences. The author adds the metaphor of the hummingbird in his work in order to present the meaning that a person might consider to be at the top of a state of affairs, but any time they can experience a collapse the same way as a hummingbird. The method adds some aesthetic understanding to the narration and emphasizes that hummingbird fit into the group of the hindmost and magnificent birds that are susceptible to numerous intimidations. The usage of simple vocabulary and commonly acceptable details retains the reader enthusiastic to read further from end to end of the narration.

Works Cited

Barthlomae, David, Anthony Petrosky, and Stacey Waite. Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers, New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2014. Print.

Foer, Joshua. The End of Remembering, London, United Kingdom: Penguin Books, 2012. Print.

Introduction

The introduction of African American heritage and cultural studies in the curriculums has had a lot of support as well as disapprovals regarding the content coverage. This paper forms an analysis of the challenges and the right Trans or multi-disciplinary approaches required to contribute to growth and development of the studies.

Challenges affecting the African American Literature

The first challenges the researchers of these studies have to face include the Geographical boundaries. Evidently, most analysis and writings of the studies have dealt with the African Americans in the United States thus losing the discipline’s global significance. Studying the Heritage and culture of African Americans, comes with various possible shuts of historical truth and compromise of social and cultural influences of African heritage outside the U.S.A. The studies ought to apply distinctive and appropriate analytical techniques that assist in studying of specific circumstances in order to capture and account for experiences of all the major societies of the African Diaspora especially outside the American social setting (Green, 31).

Secondly, the worldview of African-American studies need well representation and understanding. African worldview consists of values and believes of people with African descent. There studies ought to dwell upon the relationship of people and the environment without denying the wide variation regarding values and believes that assist to distinguish them from people of different origin and to shape their inter-personal relationship. According to Irele (7), the notion regarding African worldview entails the mode of expression for the shared values or believes without uniformly basing the studies upon particular system or a set of practices. The challenge most Africana researchers and writers have to tackle today entails ways of combating a notion that “traditional African beliefs are historical relics for the pre-modern life” (Irele, 7).

A lot of writing has distorted heritage and culture of African Americans. The procedure of examining the extent of evolution involving variants of African origin would be a strategy of addressing the human problems among people of African origin without confinement to a specific dissimilarity such as religion, race age, gender, or ethnical group. Considering an example of Walker’s writing titled ‘The color purple,’ it was a chronicle revelation of how black rural women struggled in Georgia in the early twentieth century.

The publication however brought about a heated debate and controversy over the issue of black representation. The male African-Americans also criticized the writing over reaffirming the old position of typecast manifestation against black communities as well as black men. The arguments against the writing were that Walker was fighting racial discrimination but equally focusing greatly on sexism (3). She was trying to address the issue of racism at the expense of sexism. Nevertheless, the text also had supporters especially among black women who were proud of her representation of feminism.

The differences of opinion are a clear indication of the effects of various heritage and cultural disclosures about the African-American literature in United States. Walker was trying to address various plights that both the black American and African woman has to undergo by exploring the unique problems they face, such as female circumcision. Although there are critics against such writings, her novel is still an academically rich source of material that burgeons on the traditional and African heritage and culture analysis for writers.

The main query is whether the study of this culture and heritage cause diversion from the subject matter to other obviously conflicting researches. In an analysis of this conflict, there is need for a more accurate understanding of the complexity involved in the experiences of the African people. This is a measure to understand the history and contemporary efforts of people. Possibly the literature is failing to clearly depict that from analysis of their heritage and cultural practice, Africa-Americans are shaping their destiny, as opposed to the perception that they are waiting to consume the western ideas or products.

Concurrences Concerning the Study of African American Literature

The paradigm of unity is an important aspect of the studies involving the culture and heritage of African American literature. Many writers/researchers have taken it as a major contributor to this social studies discipline. It is an important feature that offers periodical perspective of black people. The adequacy of the paradigm requires great thoughts due to the flow required in a text and the fact that the literature requires constant updating thus continuous research findings.

In line with Green (30), study of the African American literature especially the subjects concern with cultural heritage requires clear thesis in order to embrace the interdisciplinary approach and enabling a foundation that supports major expansions studies. The current curriculum follows teaching based structure especially history, social science, or politics. The conventional wisdom is not enough to acquaint the readers with all the required details. The alternative ways such as hypothesis and other data sourcing procedures can assist in interpreting experiences not considered within the boundaries of the subject.

The ‘Rising in the sun’ is writing about an African family in southern side of Chicago during mid twentieth century (Hansberry, 1). The writer tries to address the issue of segregation along the racial and economic lines. Witten initially as a play, ‘Rising in the sun’ portrays various challenges the black underwent in a more natural and realistic manner arguably due to its autobiographical style of writing. As revolutionary piece of writing, the play brings the plight of most black people and their struggle towards independence from colonial injustice, the writer therefore provides a strong background for the African-American Literature.

There is a wide distinction between the various approaches used by scholars with respect to the studies of African American literature. However, there is need to differentiate between interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary procedures of blending or integrating theories of a study. Multidisciplinary process of studying entails a conscious effort to examine the subject matter using various approaches either sequentially or in a comparable format as if dealing with a research topic tackled by various contributors form different disciplines.

On the other hand, interdisciplinary approach entails blending of theories and methods from various disciplines to form an individual study. Both the methods are reactive in relation to the boundaries set by the traditional disciplines. Today, decision to adopt trans-disciplinary approach that rejects the existing disciplinary boundaries is important. This diversifies the subject and synthesizes various approaches of understanding literature concerning African-American heritage and culture to acquire extra information. This is a big achievement because the current trends of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches continue to shape the African American Literature as a study having progressive interpretation of heritage and culture (Green, 31).

Feminism in the Study of African American Literature

Criticizing against study of culture from the feminine side of literature is not necessary since there have been great omissions of literature concerning women in the past African-American literature. Current research studies ought to address appropriate strategies to enhance the contributions or manifests of women. The contribution should not be gender biased but treated in parallel by fully integrating the women side of events rather than picking their study as an add-on to that of male. Women have widely contributed to the liberation struggle and today it is evident that they equally and possibly playing the role of leadership in a better way especially in areas pertaining education, maintenance of the family, working and politics.

Conclusion

The biggest challenge concerning the heritage and culture of African American literature is need for clear articulation. Current literature assigns these studies different titles such as Blacks studies, African studies, Afro-American studies, Africana, Africa-logy and the most common African American studies. These different terms mostly portray different meaning while they cater for the same discipline. Lingual perceptions of suffixes and prefixes of the title bring about wide differences and give people too much room to diversify the studies beyond the requirements thus leading to conflicts.

Works Cited

Hansberry, Lorraine. A raisin in the sun. New York, NY: Random House Publishers. 1959. Print

Green, Charles. Manufacturing powerlessness in the black Diaspora: inner-City youth and the new global frontier. California, CA: AltaMira press Publishers. 2001. Print

Irele, Abiola. The African imagination: literature in Africa & the Black Diaspora. Oxford, UK: Oxford University press Publishers.2001. Print.

Walker, Alice. Possessing the secret of joy. New York, NY: Amistad press. 1992. Print.

The use of words that give different but related meaning to the actual one is regarded as an abuse of language. The meaning derived when language is manipulated can be vague at times, but for people with a common agenda, for instance, opponents to a particular cause, it may not. I do not approve Orwell’s statement that language should share the general decadency as a civilization, and that fighting against its abuse is mere sentimental archaism because manipulation of language does not automatically lead to language collapse (Orwell and Gessen 270).

However, this manipulation can result in distorted imagery and meaning that may be misperceived by the reader. Abuse of language has been conceived as a new development that is similar to electric light as opposed to candles. The fight against abuse of language should not be viewed as a fight against development; rather it is a fight that aims at maintaining and enhancing the structure and meaning of language. It has been shown that some instances of manipulation of language distort the meaning while others don’t. This paper aims at creating an understanding of the manipulation of language by discussing both positive and negative outcomes.

Language manipulation is very useful when a speaker does not wish to be held accountable for bad talk. In this case, language is manipulated to favor the speaker, who leaves the masses to guess what he or she actually intends to mean. Orwell has discussed a literal approach to language manipulation. He states that abuse of language is as a result of poor thoughts that further intensify the abuse of language resulting in ugly passages.

On another note, opposing thoughts can lead to language manipulation that further intensifies these thoughts, which finally result in change; but if this change is not attained, mental distress sets in. According to examples given by Orwell (Orwell and Gessen 271-272), abuse of language is the reason for the imprecise and stale passages. When metaphorical words or phrases are overused in a sentence, that sentence loses its meaning and becomes redundant.

The modern English prose is losing its concreteness as vagueness and sheer incompetence sets in (Orwell and Gessen 273). In addition, prose-construction has been dodged to result in meaningless tacked phrases that are a mere cliché. The saying that “one man’s meat is another man’s poison” can be used to justify the importance of language manipulation to only some people but not to others.

It is because of language manipulation that the world changed in form from totalitarianism to communism and capitalism. People were able to communicate publicly without using direct and rude verbatim. Language manipulation in the form of cognitive interaction and semantic extension models, which have been discussed later on, is the means by which transformations of the social and political world took place.

Development in the English language is defined as a way of coming up with new phrases that evoke a new image instead of using the worn-out ones, whose vividness has been lost. The meaning of these worn-out phrases or metaphors is hardly understood by the writers themselves as manifested in their poor usage. These dumped phrases are merely used to avoid the daunting task of coming up with new ones. It is ironical how the abuse of language has been construed as new development. For example, writers use “tow the line” instead of “toe the line” in writing indicating that they either do not know the meaning or are frivolous.

Such abuse of language confuses the reader instead of enlightening him or her. Linguistically, this is not correct. On the other hand, playing with words and especially with not often used words is an appropriate approach for creating a semantic extension. Orwell is right in his views, but in instances where a certain group of people intend to push for change, such manipulation can be used to create vagueness and confusion among the opponents.

Linguistic errors should be differently understood by language manipulation. Whereas linguistic errors entail the wrong usage of words or wrong spelling, language manipulation is deriving various connotative meanings from words that have been systematically picked and combined to give a particular meaning. These meanings can be used metaphorically or contrastingly to give the intended message depending on the context.

The extended semantic to a word should have at least one similar feature with its core (Buchowski et al. 560). When a metaphorical claim is associated with a word, listeners will associate the core with the metaphor based on the one feature these two words at least share and the significance essence to the speaker. This can, however, be misconstrued as with Bush’s case described below.

It is important to note that not all words are subject to change in the case of dissonance. Language manipulation presupposes that language is a process but not merely assembled terms. It is very important that words are selected skilfully to derive their intended meaning. Particular words are used to refer to particular scenarios in certain contexts. Hence, the intersection of a communicative need determines the semantic of signifiers. Also, it can be determined by an intersection of the communicative function with opposing patterns of other signifiers. Thus, this shows that language manipulation aimed at giving a certain meaning is not a frivolous exercise.

The abuse of language in the case of operators as described by Orwell is deemed a means of dodging the use of simple verbs (Orwell and Gessen 274). Under such circumstances, the meaning of the phrases is vivid despite the fact that it involves a mixture of different forms of words. However, it is worth noting that in such situations, the combination of words to create a symmetrical appearance is cautiously done to bring out the intended meaning.

For example, the use of the phrase “render inoperative” instead of “cause inoperative”. In addition, the phrase “render inoperative” is a simplified version of saying that a thing or person is dysfunctional. In addition, the phrase “render inoperative” has a more polite tone compared with saying that a person or thing is not functional. This kind of language can be used by opponents to a particular cause to amicably assert their stand.

According to Buchowski et al. (557), the Czechs used the phrase “People open your eyes” which had an attached moral connotation as opposed to the denotation of seeing what everyone else could see. As stated by Orwell that thoughts trigger outcome in language use, so were the thoughts of communism intensified to achieve this cause. The mind is powerful enough and governs how humans behave, hence the reason for the cycle of language manipulation leading to change.

Manipulation of language to give a certain meaning should be articulate to avoid misconceptions. For example, as indicated by Buchowski et al. (560), when an opponent addressing a crowd on the Persian Gulf crisis refers to George Bush as “another Benedict Arnold”, the perceived meaning may be different from the intended meaning. People being addressed would assume that George Bush was being accused of treason while the speaker might have been talking in terms of shared wealth, origin, or the B’s in their names is an indication of what happens when language is manipulated, vagueness and imprecision arise.

Manipulation of language results in contrast due to the different cognitive perceptions that people have. People, who have grown up and endured a repressive regime compared with the founders and instigators of such a regime, would not be convinced that such a regime could have been benevolent. In the same way, people who have grown up associating a similar meaning to a certain word cannot change their perceptions all too suddenly by being forced to believe in a different meaning. For example, the word “free” can never mean anything apart from its meaning.

Manipulation of language was one reason why totalitarianism collapsed because the twisted language was used to misguide, manipulate, and delude the masses (Buchowski et al. 559). Cognitive dissonance is used to help the masses understand the ironies of a situation. There is no way someone can claim to be one’s best friend if all they do is to talk behind their backs.

When such a scenario is presented to the masses, they are able to see the connotative picture and, therefore, seek to have a change in accordance with Festinger’s ideology, which aimed at shedding light on the triggering factors of cognitive dissonance (Buchowski et al. 562). Festinger indicated that cognitive dissonance was a driver for the state of affairs. Hence, just the same way a hungry person is compelled to change his situation by looking for something to eat so does dissonance impels change of opinions or demeanor.

Long-term cognitive dissonance has been deemed to result in mental distress due to the resistance of language to long-term manipulation. When people in a repressive regime for a long time are using language manipulation to describe their plight and seek for change, the quest for change and improved life turns out to be a nightmare. Therefore, manipulation of language in such a case should take the shortest time possible which is achievable by taking action aimed at foreseeing change as per the semantic extension.

Manipulation of language is seen as the reason why revolutions of 1989 occurred because the people were not fixated on a particular meaning of constructs. Communism was previously a schema of brotherhood, freedom, and democracy (Buchowski et al. 556). Language manipulation resulted in perceiving freedom as freedom instead of the actual intended meaning of personal and political independence which resulted in further change and capitalism emergence.

It is apparent that the current use of language is based on what already exists. This paper shows that words are mixed or tacked together to create some new meaning that is usually vague. Manipulation of language is being passed from one person to another and is also being taught in areas where English is the second language. Language manipulation, however, is ideal in situations that call for mass action without seemingly doing so. When a particular phrase is vague, it is easy for one to meander around it without being accused of any offense.

Works Cited

Buchowski, Michał, David B. Kronefield, William Peterman, and Lynn Thomas. “Language, Nineteen eighty-four, and 1989.” Language in Society 23.4 (1994): 555-578. Print.

Orwell, George, and Keith Gessen. All art is propaganda. New York: Mariner Books, 2008. Print.