The Skylight Room: A comment on Gender and Language

The following is an analysis of "The Skylight Room". Short story by O. Henry, from the turn of the 20^th century. http://americanliterature.com/author/o-henry/short-story/the-skylight-room

Even though the author of this short story probably had no gender discrimination issues in mind when he wrote the short story “The Skylight Room,” the clear evidence of the inherent gender-wise discrimination present in his culture.

The story starts off with a Mrs. Parker, showing someone around a set of apartments where they may possibly live. The job of Mrs. Parker, which seems to be taking care of the apartments, is a job that seems to be inherently feminine when thought of. Mrs. Parker represents a sort of motherly authority, and she is put up as a nagging figure (“If you survived Mrs. Parker’s scorn”) who does not really have any real authority over the men that own the rooms. Right on the very first paragraph the author already creates a sexist image that places men on top by saying “the merits of the gentleman who had occupied them for eight years.” Right off the start he creates a hypothetical male character that has a higher status than the nagging-authoritarian Mrs. Parker.

All of the other female characters in the story also make use of this negative comparison. Even the main character, Miss Leeson, is rather objectified and does not have much depth to her. For starters she is a typewriter, a job that is inherently feminine, but she is also represented as a character of not many brains and just looks. The fact that she decides to name a star Billy Jackson is proof of that. She is also reduced to a simple object of beauty, by dedicating a large part of the narrative into how she would captivate all the men on the stairs while the other two ladies sobbed on the edges of the stairs.

The character that seems to have the most depth is the writer, Mr. Skidder, who is a man. However, the author still makes use of negative masculine views, such as the “forty-five, fat, flush and foolish” Mr. Hoover, who seems to fall in love with Miss Leeson for no apparent reason other than plain beauty. Mr. Hoover, who comes across as a disgusting character, actually asks Miss Leeson to marry him, but she is unwilling and runs away into the safety of her room, which is a rather feminist act to occur because it means that she was standing up to the man.

We can see that from the author’s perspective, even though there seem to be inherent gender roles and discrimination, it is not as strong as it could be. Being written in the turn of the 20^th century, in the United States, right when the Feminist movement was about to start, meaning that women had already reached a point in society where they could stand up for their rights, that is understandable. It shows how at that time genders were not really as discriminated and men did not reduce women to any kind of stereotype intentionally. However, his writing still reveals that there is an inherent “masculine superiority” in his culture which is still not completely gone.

Why Learn a Foreign Language and Kill your own?

In our rapidly globalizing world of today, minority languages are disappearing at a faster rate than ever. This is mostly due to the fact that the bigger, more “useful” languages are starting to become the choice of the younger populations; and once the children stop speaking a language, it is on a straight route to extinction. But, what makes these more widespread languages more “useful” than the minority languages? Well, there are many reasons, including the economic situation of an individual or community, migrations, pop-culture, etc. However, for this case let’s focus specifically on one major one: Education.

A better education is perhaps the key to a better lifestyle in pretty much any case. Having a good education can impact individuals in the fact that it will be easier for them to find jobs, especially if they studied at big, prestigious universities (which, by the way, mostly speak the bigger languages). Having a better education can also allow individuals that come from a small community to support that community more easily, whether it’s just by sending money back home or actually going back to help people out. A better education can indeed help both individuals and communities grow stronger, however there is one big issue that remains and perhaps it can’t even be solved. This is the fact that in order to get a higher education, one must learn the language that education will be in, thus people are forced to learn bigger languages.

Take a look at the top 10 universities from here onto perhaps more than 50 years into the future and I can assure you that at least 8 of them will be English-speaking universities. The top 5 universities nowadays are all in either the UK or the USA and majority of the top 100 universities in the world are also English-speaking universities. And if they aren’t English-Speaking, then they speak another major language, like French or German. This not only implies that people seeking to get a better education will have to learn the languages spoken in these universities, but also that all the academic research will be in those languages, meaning that even in order to simply access information one needs to learn these languages. When people learn other languages like this they often lose proficiency in their own language, since they are no longer using it for the more complicated aspects of their life (their studies) and also since the majority of the social interactions in that place will be in that foreign language. When people lose proficiency in their native language, they might also lose some interest of going back home and relearning it. This is also due to the fact that they can probably find a better-paying job wherever they are studying than back in their home town or country. This also increases the likelihood of the person getting married and settling in one of those countries for good, meaning that their children will grow up learning the language of that place instead of their native language and thus the language will eventually go extinct…

It’s pretty sad, isn’t it?

Oxfam International and the Predicted 2012 Food Crisis: Paper 1 Practice Text

-The text is an article on an online website written by the humanitarian company Oxfam International. This can be seen in the fact that there is search bar at the top of the text, under a banner of the company. The text also shows a “box” with the word search, which is likely to be an interactive element of the website that can be used to search other documents in the website. This would suggest that the company actively publishes articles in their website. The short paragraphs, the bolded synopsis at the beginning and the single image at the top are also common conventions of online articles, used by various publishers, such as online newspapers. The text itself addresses the concern of Oxfam International of an impending food shortage in various countries of West and Central Africa. It is meant to inform people with a considerable amount of education about the issue and Oxfam’s participation in helping those that might be affected. It aims to make the audience realize the gravity of the situation perhaps in the hope that the company may receive help from some readers, while at the same time putting forth a positive image of Oxfam International. The article also aims at delivering the information in a short and concise manner, but fails to become attractive enough to appeal to the larger portion of the population, since its style is too conventional and formal to be actively grasped by people who are not fully interested in the topic. Overall, the text aims to be shocking and make the readers worry, but fails to do so because it lacks relevance.

-The intended audience of the text is people with at least a moderate level of education that allows them to read mildly long texts in English and have a certain degree of awareness of global issues. The readers will be likely to have a good quality of life, since most English-speaking countries have a high Human Development Index. The text is also online, meaning that the person must be able to access a computer. That increases the likelihood that this article is addressed to overall mildly wealthy people, since people from poorer countries are unlikely to have this leisure. The article is also most likely directed at adults, since it is unlikely that someone who is very young would have the interest of learning about the possible future of a country that is miles away from their own. The length of the article, however, adapts to the short attention span of the modern-day human population. The short paragraphs make it easy to read, and thus it can reach a larger audience. The article aims to inform people about a possible crisis that may occur in West and Central African countries in the year 2012. The article also possibly aims to shock the readers, by using large statistics of how problematic the issue might be. This would bring more attention to the issue and more supporters to their cause as well. The article also aims to put forth a good and professional image of Oxfam International, by using language that is as accurate as possible and by explaining what Oxfam International is doing to address this issue. By doing this, the article may be aiming to advertise Oxfam International, in order to attract people’s support. However, due to the placement of the text, which is in the Oxfam International website, it is unlikely that a large number of people will see the text, unless they already know Oxfam International, so the text might only work to reinforce the knowledge of the company to people that already know it.

-The article talks about the possibility of a food crisis in West and Central Africa in 2012 (the article was written on December of the previous year). It gives an overview of the possible situation and explains what the origin of the problem would be. It also talks about what Oxfam International is doing to address the situation. The article speaks about the specific actions that Oxfam is doing in certain countries. It mentions that the origin of the problem will be the fact that these countries are unable to produce their own food and that the solution would be to provide direct support to these people so that they are able to produce, rather than just providing them with food when they need it. Oxfam International claims that this way the problem will not arise ever, because its cause will no longer be there.

-The text itself has a very serious and, to some extent, academic tone. It aims to be as accurate, clear and concise as possible, by stating the blunt facts without dawdling too much in details. The article even neglects to use emotional phrases to attempt at making the reader feel empathy for the people who would be in the described situation, and the single image does not really relate much to the text, since it only shows a woman on a donkey with a background of with what seems to be cattle. However, by stating various statistics with the large amounts of numbers of people that could be affected by the problem, it the text might evoke a sense of a big impending danger on the horizon. There is nothing in the image that alludes to the fact that there might be a food shortage. Some of the themes of the text are poverty and the current situation of economic inequality around the world, focusing specifically on West and Central Africa. The text also evokes a feeling of safety, of solidarity, of knowing that this company will be there to take care of these kinds of problems when they arise.

-The text makes heavy use of pathos to have an impact on the reader and persuade the reader into thinking that there is indeed a big famine on its way to Central and West Africa. All of the statistics of people who might be affected are a good example of this, and since most of the numbers are big, they help in making the audience feel that it is a big problem. The use of Pathos also strengthens the image of professionalism that the article puts forth of Oxfam International. This professional image that is put forth of the company also strengthens the ethos that the company gives the article. That ethos makes the message more believable, because people are more likely to believe a professional article supported by a big company like Oxfam International.

-The overall structure of the text is meant to adapt to the short attention span of the modern-day population. It has short paragraphs, which allow the reader to quickly flow through the text and it is less tiring and intimidating to the eye, which makes people more likely to read it. There are also various sub-headings in order to help the reader understand the text and also to make it looked more spaced out, thus making it even less tiring to the eye. The text only has one image, however for reasons mentioned above the image does not contribute too much to the text. It does, however, help the reader place the scene in terms of location and, due to the stereotype of the “poor African farmer” might give the reader some insight of what the text is about before they start reading.

-This article may be written by a humanitarian corporation; however, it does little to help raise awareness about the situation and instead serves as a way to bolster the image of Oxfam International. This can be seen in the mere fact that the article does not even deal with a real issue, but rather talks about a prediction that seems to have no author (the text only says “Recent evaluations suggest”). With a better placement and more emotional focus on the actual issue, rather than referring mostly to what Oxfam International’s involvement is this text could be an effective humanitarian advertisement that would raise awareness of the food shortages in Central and West Africa, but this text only makes Oxfam International look good.