Thursday, May 7, 2009
Chapter 25 - Don't Read with Your Eyes
After reading this chapter, choose a scene or episode from a novel, play or epic written before the twentieth century. Contrast how it could be viewed by a reader from the twenty-first century with how it might be viewed by a contemporary reader. Focus on specific assumptions that the author makes, assumptions that would not make it in this century.
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I believe this would be the perfect opportunity to use my favorite nineteenth century author, Charles Dickens and his literary works, notably David Copperfield. One aspect of Dickens' work that people of today's day and age might not grasp quite as well, is that of travel. Dickens assumes that all of his readers are going to connect with the concept of travel as he does. This however is not the case due to the way we travel today. Modern readers often overlook the struggle and effort put into travel. We can get in out cars and travel 200 miles comfortably, where the characters in Dickens' books have to make a long journey out of only 20. He assumes that the reader will understand the magnitude of the journey. So when Charles talks about Oliver running off to London or David going from home to Yarmouth and London and all over the place, there is meaning that is lost by the contemporary reader. The distance, though seeming short to us, is supposed to represent separation and an running away. It would be equivalent of us hopping on a plane ad flying to Australia to run away, quite a feat.
Wuthering Heights is a novel that was written exceptionally well in the 1800s. Emily Bronte wrote for the people at that time. When people today read it, there are some things that can’t necessarily be related to. For example, the maid wasn’t able to walk down to the front gates of Wuthering Heights unattended. In the 1800’s women didn’t have equal rights as men. Fortunately, now the rights are equal. If a woman were to be reading and came to this scene they might find it absurd that the women at this time couldn’t even come out of the house. Emily Bronte assumed that the women would be able to understand where she was coming from with the whole women and rights issue. Also, Katherine is always mad and you’d think that she would just go do something to make her happy. Well, since women didn’t have much say at this time, she was left to deal with her problems and go back to doing what she has always done. The main message here is that Emily Bronte wrote this book in the 1800s and there weren’t as many laws allowing women to have rights. Now, there are laws that make men and women equal, so sometimes the readers can’t relate to different scenes in the book as well. The mood of these scenes that Bronte intended for can't be reached as easily.
Edgar Allan Poe is one of the greates writers of all time. During his nineteenth century reign over literature, Poe wrote a very famous short story called, The Masque of the Red Death. Published in 1842, it was a huge sucess a midst its time period. Today, it doesn't have the same volume as it might once have had. We interpret things a little differntly in today's world. Poe's story involves a deathly plague sweeping the city. To someone reading this in 1842, they could relate to the troubles of having to stay away from people and stay indoors consitently. In today's society, there is a cure for almost every disease. Plagues don't strike anymore, so we could not of understood the severity of the situation. Also in the story, a few nobles take refuge in a castle. Back then a castle was a symbol of protection, strength and safety. It seems impossible that the plague broke into the mighty castle. But viewed by today's people, castles are fallen apart and made of weak material. We don't see it as hard for the plague to sneak through the cracks of the castle. The Masque of the Red Death still holds a great moral in today's society, but the story doesn't have the same magnitude as it did in 1842.
Shakespeare’s, The Taming of A Shrew, written around 1590 displays many ideas that would be considered sexist by anyone reading it today. The whole idea of the story is a young man trying to ‘tame’ his young wife into doing everything that he wants her to. He expects her to meet all of his needed desires and agree with anything that he says or does. During Shakespeare’s time this was very common for women to be treated more like a servant rather than an actual wife or daughter. Today, of course, people (especially women) would not comply with the idea of men being the boss of everything and woman dutifully following their orders.
When Shakespeare wrote his play Othello in the 1603, to him and his readers of that time would have picked up quite notably that Othello was a black man. Though today, I think it proves rather difficult for a reader to pick up on that on their own. In English 10 Honors we had the advantage of our teacher providing us with that information, and without it I believe the play would have made much less sense. Today we accept the different races that live in the United States, so for many of us who are friends or coworkers or even family members of people from different races it may be hard to understand why Othello being black was so significant. In Shakespeare’s play, however, it mattered a great deal, because Othello being black gave the readers perspective on where he stood in a society of that time. He was already looked down upon by many (though still holding a position of authority), and Desdomona’s father heavily discouraged the marriage between the two simply because of his race. Today, interracial marriages are maybe not really common but they certainly aren’t unheard of. Being invoked with the emotions Shakespeare wanted his readers to have may prove more difficult because we are of today, not of his time.
Well like Chris I have picked an Edgar Alan Poe story. Poe's story "The Black Cat" is about a man who loves cats and dogs, yet he ends up killing his wife and attempting to kill his cat. At the beginning, Poe says this man is an alcoholic. A person today would read this story and assume the reason the guy is acting violent and strange is because of his drinking problem. A person living before the twenty-first century would read this story, and not focus on his alcohol problem. They would say he lost a part of himself or his soul. Once he did wrong, it was as if he turned evil. In the story, the man abused his wife and cat when he became drunk. Today, a reader would consider abusing a wife unacceptable, but not before the twentieth century. Women were more often abused such as in Taming of the Shrew, no said anything when Petruchio abused Katherine. The second cat that came along had white patch of fur that looked like the gallows. Now the gallows were used to kill people in those early times, but a reader today would not get the same terrifying effect because we do not use them anymore. A reader before the twenty-first would understand Poe’s writing better.
The story the Cask of Amontillado is one of those that would be looked at differently if read years ago. How many people know what an amontillado is? When I read this story I had no idea what this title meant. Even after reading the story it was hard for me to figure it out. If people before the twenty-first century were to read this they would know just by reading the title. They were well aware of what this was and familiar with these types of terms.
Carley- When we read that in class I had never thought or made the connection about how the title could have confused contemporary readers, even though I too hate no idea what it meant. Still, there are a lot of other subjects within the book that a contemporary reader would probably fail to recognize. For example, many could have completely overlooked the silly clothing of Poe’s enemy in the piece, the meaning of Carnival, and what a catacomb is. Plus, the way the man was murdered is totally unheard of and a barbaric idea in our time.
Where the Red Fern Grows is a perfect example for this. In the beginning of the story Billy wants some hound pups really bad. It's all he wants in his young life. But they cost 50 dollars, which back then is a lot of money, and it takes him a long time to save up that money. But after two years of hard work and odd jobs he finally gets the money. In today's world it would be hard for someone to understand that you would have to save up for two whole years in order to make 50 bucks. especially since money is so easy to come by nowadays.
Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore (also sometimes referred to as The Lass that Loved a Sailor) debuted on the Britain stage in 1878. In the 131 years since then, it’s lost some of its thunder for today’s contemporary readers especially in the opening scene when the characters are first introduced. Specifically, the problem as to why it isn’t always understood is because of the navy jargon as well as a mix of British words and phrases that is quite varied and possibly scary to those who currently reside in England and surrounding Europe. Let me give you a few examples. When Buttercup arrives on board the Pinafore she has in her basket jacky and tommy. Now, what could that possibly mean? (For those who are truly wondering these are not little kids. Jacky is a twist of tobacco soaked in rum and tommy is a loaf of brown bread). Even the sailors on board have names that don’t make the most sense such as Dick Deadeye and Billy Bobstay. Though the names aren’t that important in the course of the story, the surnames all somehow refer to a ship’s rigging. To someone in 1878 who went to see this play, they would probably be laughing (or whatever British people do) and quoting lines from the play just as much as we today quote our favorite movies. Today, that would be next to impossible in this opening scene, and this is only natural because at the time Gilbert and Sullivan were writing for their common Englishmen and so they had to assume that everyone viewing their play would understand. One could also argue that the emphasis put on the class system in that time would not be noticed by contemporary viewers but since the work is comic and satirical, most anyone can tell, even those who view H.M.S. Pinafore today in revivals, that it is an easily picked-up upon aspect of the work.
Most works of literature that were written before our century aren’t interpreted as they were intended to be in the time they were written. People today don’t understand some of the things that were going on hundreds of years ago. They don’t understand some of the issues of that time. I am going to use an example from one of William Shakespeare’s most famous works of literature, Romeo and Juliet. People of modern times might not pick up on the fact that there was still a class system in effect at the time Shakespeare wrote this. He assumed that everyone would understand why the servants got treated the way they did. People of modern times might think that Romeo, or whoever is talking to a servant, is just being a jerk. In all reality, that is how the servants got treated back then. They were looked at as less than a person in a higher class. Things have changed since the time of William Shakespeare. The things he assumed people understood back then, people don’t understand anymore. This will make contemporary readers today view this play differently than people back in the 1500’s.
After much thought, I have decided to use The Odyssey by Homer. It tells of Odysseus' great journey on the way home from Troy. In modern society we can understand the Odyssey but it seems too farfetched to believe. Contemporaries of Homer would find this as a totally believable story. In the twenty-first century there would be no need to go on a sea voyage to make it home because we have planes. In ancient Greece ships were the standard mode of transportation. We also cannot grasp a ten year voyage because we can fly anywhere in a matter of hours. Other aspects are the mystical creatures such as the Cyclops and the witch Circe. In modern culture we don't believe in such things while on the other hand the ancient Greeks were firm believers creatures like this. Throughout the Odyssey Odysseus frequently comes in contact with the Greek gods which was considered normal for heroes of the time. We don't get experiences like this and they aren't in our stories and movies which make this hard to comprehend.
Although The Taming of the Shrew is still read quite often today, the assumptions in the book are viewed differently now than when it was written. Today, many people assume that The Taming of the Shrew is an extremely sexist play. It would be sexist if it were written in today’s time but because it was written hundreds of years before the 2000’s, the ideas expressed by Shakespeare aren’t sexist at all. The way Shakespeare portrayed women as property would be highly frowned upon in today’s society. Written before the women’s rights movement, all of the author-made-assumptions about women were accepted and expected. Even the title of the play, The Taming of the Shrew, would be considered sexist if not written before our time period. Some husband trying to tame his wife wouldn’t go over well with anyone today.
When you read a story from a different time period or culture than your own, it is often difficult to get the full effect of it. As Atticus wisely advises Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, you should stand inside the shoes of the person you’re trying to read like. You need to try to use the perspective of the people the author was writing to. For example, in Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel, the epic poetry is lost on most modern-day readers. When it was written (or maybe more accurately, created), it was intended to be told or performed, not necessarily read (so it’s not in your usual book-style format). Also, the author assumes that the reader (or listener) is used to a life with war and battle in it. To those people, average battle scenes would be of no particular interest (in fact, they’d probably be boring to the intended audience), so the author made the focus-of-interest in the conversations between various major characters. However, to a modern audience, all that talking is about as boring as the fighting was to Old English warriors. Also, traditions were very different back then, common governing bodies were very unlike today’s, and what is considered polite (or even normal) to us is not much like what was typical to people of the sixteenth century (or whenever you want to attribute to the time period of Beowulf’s original audience). All in all, I’d bet that the people who were told the story a good few hundreds of years ago enjoyed the story more than I did while reading it for Academic Team (which could be my fault, I probably had the wrong attitude about it).
A story of punishment that modern-day readers would find unfair is The Crucible. As unjust as some of the punishments were during that time period, they were considered to be good punishments during the seventeenth century. Although, if you read The Crucible thinking like people did back then, then the effect of the story would be ruined. The story is supposed to pull modern day readers into the unfairness of the law of the past.
Many works of literature that were written before the twentieth century are viewed very differently today. A perfect example is Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. The play today is considered extremely sexist, yet, the way women were treated back then was considered completely normal. The whole plot of the play is for Petruchio to tame his wife, Kate. To any woman today this would be considered outrageous. Men were always considered more dominate than women in society, only recently have things begun to change. The style of writing has significantly changed in the past years and will continue to strength and grow.
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