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.

"Generation Like" the Corporation-run Generation

The following is a response to a question inspired by the documentary “Generation Like” which we watched today in class. Amazing documentary, btw.

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How powerful is the connection between the effect of social media and the structure of the Hunger Games?

           

So in the documentary they talk about the world of social media being just like the Hunger Games. A huge arena that is controlled by a bunch of people who act behind a curtain, where young teens are thrown in to fight in order to rise above each other. There’s also a large part of the comparison that is part of the whole idea that in order to survive in the Hunger Games you have to get people to like you. Which came in quite strongly, since the whole documentary talks about Facebook “likes” and likes in pretty much any social network are the key to success. In the Hunger Games this whole idea forces Katniss to act like a person who is the complete opposite of who she really is, in order to adjust to the tastes of the purposely disgusting people of the Capitol. The whole point of this comparison, though, is to put forth the idea that the internet is a horrible battleground. One where the youth of today is destroying themselves. But the internet is a disguised battleground. One where you don’t realize you’re being manipulated. One that isn’t hated by the majority of the population, but loved instead. One that’s seen as a field of opportunities and a chance to express oneself fully. The only problem is, that this field is controlled by people behind the curtains. People who monitor our every move and that are able to push us into where they want us to be. All with just a few clicks. The internet is one huge chessboard and we’re the pawns. Or if you prefer, the internet is one huge arena, and we’re the tributes.

To Be (Condemned) Human

The song “Ser Humano” from the now disbanded Mexican band Natalia y la Forquetina seems to have a deeper meaning than the simple lazy rock song it sounds like. The song’s title can translate to either “Human Being” or “To Be Human” and its lyrics carry a rather significant message about humanity, but when paired with its music video it could be interpreted in a rather depressing way that can show the rather pathetic state humanity is currently in. Even though the video can seem very simple at first sight, a deeper analysis of the images combined with the lyrics of the song, suggests that the song might carry a much more deep meaning than one might think.

Let’s start off with what’s not so obvious in the obvious. The video basically consists of the band performing in front of a huge crowd in a darkly lit space and the crowd consists only of inflated dolls that look like the members of the band. We’ll deal with the dolls later, for now let’s focus on the band itself. It’s quite normal for this band to do actions that seem abnormal and artificial, but in this case doing that portrays them as something that goes beyond just a band. In this video the band does nothing more than what a band does: play music. Not only that, but they seem to be devoid of much emotion while they do it and they just play on without showing much emotion in their faces, and most of the shots are too fast for the audience to be able to tell precisely what their facial expression actually is, since the lighting makes it hard to see anything. This automatically causes a detachment from the members of the band and shows them as something close to a bunch of robots just playing music and shaking their heads on an enlightened stage. This image is strengthened right at the beginning where the singer trots into the stage with a rather null expression on her face; and later on her hair covers her eyes most of the time, so it is too difficult to see what her expressions are.

The audience in the video is the point where anybody watching the video can see that it is indeed an unusual video. The crowd which would be a regular concert crowd where any contemporary music-enthusiast would feel identified if it were not for the fact that they are all just a huge mass of plastic, inflatable dolls with a ridiculed look and performing actions that are stereotypical ofrock-band fans, such as fainting when they see their idols. The chorus of the song says “I can’t complain, I’m a human being. I can’t complain, I’m condemned.” These lyrics, as well as the general themes that are mentioned throughout the whole song seem to express that humanity is a species that is fated to behave in the way that the plastic dolls in the video behave.

Moreover, in the video the inflated dolls admire the band, which could symbolize something bigger than what it is, such as perhaps the entire world of media and entertainment, which so many of us are attached to nowadays, or even so, anybody that we admire. In this sense it’s logical for the band to portray themselves as machines that simply carry out their work. This way they might be trying to portray how even the idols that we admire so much are also just “condemned humans” that, as the lyrics go, “dream the daily routine.” This conveys not only the “insignificant masses” as the condemned humans, but even the big and successful characters of our time as part of this condemnation.

The lyrics also seem to strongly support this idea. The lyrics talk about a “small place where there is only green, blue, coffee, pain” which can quite easily be a reference to the Earth, since green and blue are indeed the colors that are normally used to represent the planet. The part that makes it problematic is where it says coffee and pain. Coffee is a drink that is used to “keep people going,” to prevent them from falling asleep during their boring and tiring jobs that don’t entertain them enough to keep them awake throughout the whole day. So in a sense, coffee in this song is referring to the artificial products that have been made to make our lives progress as if nothing bad is happening. Then the “pain” breaks reality in and shows how we are simply suffering from our lives. Combined with the images of the video, where we are shown just how pathetic we look when we are “having fun at a concert,” the music video manages to convey a rather depressing view on the current state of humanity.

The band is probably trying to portray this in order to try to try to get their view on the world out and perhaps see some improvement in the “condemned humanity.”

FOA Reflection - Ads and Mind Control

My Further Oral Activity was about how anti-advertisements reveal to us the fact that macro-companies are constantly attempting to control our subconscious mind in order to keep us spending. The whole idea was that through the analysis of anti-advertisements that are intended to turn people against the macro-companies and keeping them from buying their products people would be able to realize the fact I already stated: that big companies are controlling our minds and making us spend more money.

Overall, I feel that even though my presentation didn’t go too badly, it was not the best it could have been. I felt that, even though my speech flowed logically I didn’t stick to the plan that I had in mind. I forgot to use the statistics that I had planned to use properly and ended up reducing them to just a simple “fun fact” at the end of an analysis instead of being a part of my arguments and analysis. I also got some feedback from my classmates and they told me that I was speaking way too fast in the beginning, which I was actually planning on doing since while I was rehearsing it seemed that I was going to go over the time limit. If I had rehearsed it with an audience I think I might have been able to control that better since when I’m on my own I can’t really articulate what I’m saying too well. If I had known what it would feel to perform live in the first place maybe I would have been able to balance it out, because as a matter of fact I think that in the end I actually finished about two or three minutes below the time limit, so I could have used some better organization of time throughout my speech. All of this might actually have an impact in my use of language and organization criteria. Next time it might be a good idea to rehearse my speech much more and maybe even stick to a pre-written script, just to make sure that my organization is flawless and that my natural speech organization “imperfections” do not haunt me while I’m presenting.

The advertisement that I feel I did the best on was the first one about Christmas. I felt that my argument came out quite strongly for it while I was still able to analyze the language in the ad. My only issue with it is that I think I forgot to explicitly say that they used the second person in the ad to bring the audience into the “plot” of the ad and thus make it more personal for them. Asides from that, I’m quite satisfied with what I said regarding that ad.

The second advertisement I felt brought me down a bit. The advertisement did not really perfectly fit in with the entire concept of my presentation and I had to go to the point where I extrapolated the meaning of the ad to relate it to how that aims to keep you away from the myriad of advertisements there are in all those apps. However, nothing regarding advertisements in iOS applications was actually mentioned in this ad, so I might have gone to the point where I said something that was not truly meant to be said at all. I also spoke about how the word “addictive” was a weasel word in that ad, which actually felt contradictory to say, because since it is an anti-ad it should break the conventions of a normal ad and stray away from using such tactics, but that was not the case and I felt that that might have caused the ad to come across as weak and thus it took away impact from my presentation. I think at this point I also used the slang word “legit” when talking about all the Apple products that are mentioned in the ad, which might end u lowering my marks in the Use of Language criterion.

The final ad was perhaps the weakest of them all. In the end one of my classmates questioned me to the point where he asked whether my thoughts on it were accurate or not, so I’m guessing the things that I said might have not been as convincing. Most of the points I said regarding the ad had a good foundation, but I failed to deliver them in a clear and concise manner, which must have caused some confusion for my classmates. Asides from that, I don’t really feel that I missed much when analyzing that ad, now that I think about it. Maybe the fact that I never related the message of the ad to the title of the article it was in.

Overall, I would not say that my FOA went really bad; but I will say that it was not the best that it could be. Next time I will have to practice more and be sure to structure my language in a more effective way so that my Organization and Language criteria can be as high as possible. For this case, I feel that my criteria A and B were quite strong, but could also use some improvement; especially from the fact that these criteria could have suffered from my poor Language and Organization. As an overall improvement for my next FOA, I should spend more time practicing what I will say so that I make sure the message is conveyed in a clear and concise manner.

Anti-smoking ad: Portrait of our culture?

The ad's main objective is to encourage parents to speak to their kids about not smoking. In doing so, the ad could also be allowing kids to become aware of the damage that they do to their parents and any other adults who they may love. Another possible secondary objective of the ad could be to make companies aware of the damage they cause to families and thus place them under even more social pressure than they already have from all the media. The calm image that covers most of the ad avoids a visual overload of information that could make the ad unattractive to the eyes and the emphasis on the words "Help me" and "kids" triggers a caring response in the people reading the ad, and accompanied by the also emphasized word "cigarettes" the ad gives the viewer a quick overview of what the problem is and hooks the audience so that they close in and read the more specific information at the bottom. Since the ad is in English and it shows an image of a father and a child fishing together (a stereotypical father-child activity in western culture) the ad is most likely to be from a western English-speaking country.

The ad makes emphasis on the value of the family, by using an image that can easily be associated with a family activity and by constantly saying "your kids" at the bottom, triggering the thought of one's own children. The ad takes a rather unusual approach to the problem of smoking: instead of talking about all the negative effects of smoking, it assumes that one already knows them (thus revealing that the ad is most likely from a developed society, where media has usually already widespread what the problem with smoking is). The fact that the ad targets the value of the family suggests that in the place where this ad was placed people hold that in a high regard, people care about their families. If this was not the case then the advertisers would not have chosen to emphasize in this value. The ad not only makes reference to the family, but also attempts to make family bonds stronger, since speaking to one's children about not smoking and thus impacting their lives is a good way to strengthen them. The image and the whole "atmosphere" of the ad is very calm and serene, which means that the people targeted by the ad are likely to be the kind that value these characteristics. For this reason, children and teenagers are an unlikely primary audience of the ad since at that age it is not as common to value calm and serenity in such high regard. Also regarding the values highlighted in the ad, as I mentioned before the ad is part of the entire anti-smoking movement, which shows that the people of that place are publicly against smoking.

The ad not only empowers parents who wish to speak to their children about not smoking, but pretty much empowers any adult that might feel motivated to do this. The ad places the children and the entire family as a whole in a very high regard. Smoking companies would be the ones being marginalized in this situation, since they are the root of the problem that is being addressed. As a matter of fact, the entire group of people who smoke are being marginalized in this ad since the ad is encouraging families to stay away from that "vibe." This just shows how much that society is against smoking and how they reject people that are related to it.