The Waltz of Death

I am afraid that I was mistaken about what Professor Sexon meant by the nature of "diamonds" in James Joyce's "The Dead". However, due to this mornings class I believe that I have corrected my mistake and I am better prepared to speak/write about the "diamond" that I found.

In "The Dead" Gabriel is hesitant to read some of the poetry that he had prepared for the night in fear that his audience simply was too ignorant to understand him. Joyce writes "The indelicate clacking of the men's heels and the shuffling of their soles reminded him that their grade of culture differed from his. He would only make himself ridiculous by quoting poetry to them which they could not understand. (121-22)" Here we can see how his outlook is very similar to that of his wife's when she is hesitant to tell him about a song. A song that would make her seem ridicoulous to herself. Joyce writes that "He halted a few paces from and said: "What about the song? Why does that make you cry? (149)" Gretta answers by explaining about a boy by the name of Michael who gave his life for her . What we see here is that Gabriel didn't reveal some selected poetry out of fear that it would go over his audiences head and then when he is finally told about his wife's relation to the song The Lass of Aughrim Gabriel finally realizes that despite all his intelligence that he has be in the dark for so long about so many things - especially in regards to his wife.

This is the great epiphany of the novel where Gretta finally admits the truth of her past and Gabriel realizes that he just might have, well most likely at any rate, witnessed the death of his marriage especially since her heart has always belonged to another. What an epiphany - what a shame.

The Power of the Written Word

When I lived in Pennsylvania one of my favorite things to do was to visit the numerous bookstores in the area and read/explore books for hours on end. Naturally when I moved to Montana I tried to restore this hobby of mine. However what I found was that Montana did not really have any national bookstores, oh sure there were plenty of small bookstores in Bozeman and in Montana and aside from Hastings my options, in book titles and genres, were extremely limited. I was rather depressed and as an escape I would drive to Spokane Washington and spend the weekend there so that I could visit the bookstores that I grew up around and frequented often.

However, that all changed when Bozeman opened up a Barnes and Noble and shortly after that a Borders Books store. No longer would I have to make a four plus hour drive to Spokane in order to browse books now I could do it at my whim. This freed up a lot of my time and I took full advantage of it. Before I used to purposely spend all day in the bookstores of Spokane, and in PA, because well that was what I was there for. To waste time doing other things was not an option - for me it was books, books, and more books. After I bought the books that I wanted then and only then I would leave the bookstores, sometimes I would sit in the coffee shops and read them, and find a scenic spot to read. But now, in Bozeman, I could just go to a decent bookstore select a title, or more than one, buy it and go home and read it. I would plan to go to the bookstore and spend no more than an hour or two there looking for anything of interest.

But I remember one instance above all others. I planned to spend only an hour at Borders Books one day and I found the book "The 48 Laws of Power" by Robert Greene. I don't know why this book possessed me so much but I went to the bookstore when it opened and I ended up spending over 6 + hours there reading (I believe I read the whole book and I read some sections twice). The book has over 400 pages and well 48 chapters, one for each law. The book has examples of each law being observed, along with the rewards of those who followed the law, and counter-examples of each law being transgressed, and the punishments that were sure to be followed. The book also had the occasional interesting examples of "reversals" of the laws in which in some instances there are occasions when one should purposely violate a law because following the law will spell disaster. An example of this came in the form of a man who was a con man who presented himself as an honest low level government official trying to sell the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The man played the part perfectly but when the person attempting to buy the Eiffel Tower became suspicious the con man started to complain that he was underpaid and under appreciated - he was in effect asking for a bribe - and that sealed the deal. By acting like a corrupt government official, after all aren't all government employees corrupt, the con man was able to pull off one off the greatest cons in history.

And just when you thought that a book couldn't find a way to pack anymore information into it the author/publishers put even more examples/counterexamples in the margins of the book and in eye catching red letters. This book is just packed with historical information about how to rise above ones birth or to prosper in situations that may be inherently against you due to your station in life. Also, the book allows one to notice when someone may be trying to get the best of you and then gives you the keys of power in order to defeat your foes. This book is usually found in the psychology section of a bookstore and I highly recommend it.

On a side note, a sequel to this book "The 33 Rules of War" had the same effect on me as this book. I was in Borders Books in Bozeman and I was browsing the psychology section again when I came across Robert Greene's sequel. I had no idea that he had written a follow up to "The 48 Laws of Power" and I ended up spending most of the day reading it in the bookstore before I too bought the book. And for those who are interested in trying to win the heart of one's affection Robert Green also wrote a book titled "The Art of Seduction" while it, in my opinion, is not as good as "48" and "33" it is still a very good read and one that is written in the same format as "48" and "33". And to this day, probably due to my experiences with "48", Robert Greene is still one of my, if not my, favorite author.

The Induction of an Epiphany

Professor Sexton asked us to reread chapter 7 in The Wind in the Willows and write a working definition of an epiphany using inductive reason. Like Professor Sexton said, inductive reasoning reasons from the specific to the general, which is the exact opposite of deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning begins with making a rule by using a small number of observations. For example if I notice that in the Autumn the leaves fall off of deciduous trees then I can use inductive reasoning to say that every Autumn the leaves on deciduous trees will fall off.

By using the events of chapter 7 we can see that Mole and Rat go on a quest to find Otters missing child, Portly. As they look for Portly, Rat and Mole hear beautiful awe inspiring music. The two animals are filled with extreme bliss and eventually come into contact with the divine being Pan and worship him. Portly is given over to Rat and Mole so that he can be returned to Otter and Pan, knowing that Rat and Mole will eventually go mad over their meeting with him, allows them to forget their encounter with the god.

Therefore by using Rat and Mole's encounter with Pan in chapter 7 we can, by using inductive reasoning, make the rule that an epiphany is manifestation of an extremely joyous and emotional occasion of contact with a supernatural being, a god, while on a quest to rescue a lost soul, a child. And as used in chapter 7 an epiphany is also being given the gift forgetting the experience due to the benevolence of a god after being worshiped.

Rhetorical Me

I believe that I was wandering around aimlessly during my first two years as a English major. I did not have a focus I did not have a goal other than graduating in 2010. I did not particularly feel ecstatic about being an English major and there was a time that I seriously considered switching to another discipline.

That all changed for me when I took English 450 Rhetoric/Composition. For the first time as an English major I really looked forward to learning more about the English language. Everywhere we look we are being persuaded, or at least someone is attempting to persuade us, to buy, read, sell, or feel one way or another about any given topic or item. How do we persuade others into taking our side of a story. How are we persuaded into buying one product over another. How do logos, pathos, and ethos come into play with rhetoric and how do the five canons of rhetoric move there audiences into action.

To me rhetoric was an epiphany of the the AH variety. Suddenly I had a new purpose and a new take on written and oral arguments and this in turn allowed me to view the English language in a manner that I had never even conceived of before. And the thing of it was I seriously considered dropping the class because rhetoric initially bored me to tears.

While many see rhetoric as being "full of hot air" or being "an empty/pointless art" I see as an art full of promise and excitement. Ever since I discovered rhetoric I looked at arguments and epistemology in a whole new light. With my new found rhetorical skills I attempted to discover what method that the writer is using to attempt to convince her/his audience that they are correct or at the very least should be given the chance to prove that they are correct. And what particularly interests me is why an argument works or fails. What could the writer have done differently to persuade her/his audience that they were correct?

Also I find it interesting that we are all rhetoricians, philosophers may not like the sound of that though, whether we like that lable or not after rhetoricians are concerned with human discourse and knowledge. When someone has a message and they have an audience then what we have is a rhetorical situation. It is particularly interesting to me that there are be many truths out there in the universe at large but if enough people can't be convinced of the validity of those truths then those truths won't be recognized as truths. After all everything we think that we know was successfully communicated as a truth to enough people to eventually began to believe it as a truth. The world was once thought to be the center of the universe. The earth was once believed to be flat. People once thought the sun revolved around the earth. It took a brave and clever orator to convince enough people that these views were incorrect and not only that their views were correct. Fascinating.

Je ne sais pas ca.

I became an English major because I knew that I wanted to be a writer. I figured that a college degree would better enable me to find a decent job while writing novels on the side and perhaps even getting published by a major, or minor, publication company. Looking back on my expectations I see that in many ways I was very naive. I remember an old saying, I forget who said it though, that if you want to be a write then write. I did not necessarily need a college degree to become a writer. My own personal epiphany came when I was asked a question by a skeptic of the whole college educational system. The skeptic asked "What did you learn in college that you could not have learned on your own?" I must admit that this question threw me for a loop. After all what did I learn in college that I could not have learned on my own? The answer was nothing - at least that is what I thought at the time. But as I dwelled on this question further I started to regret going to college and in the process apparently wasting a lot of money. This line of reasoning led to another epiphany. The real answer was not what I could not have learned on but what I would not have learned on my own. Being an English major has lead me to books, articles, essays, and blogs that I would most likely not have encountered on my own. For example, I probably would not have learned about several aspects of literary theory had I not take English 300. I would not have encountered the creative works of William Blake if I didn't take Professor Lansverk's English 342 class or learned to appreciate poetry had I not take English 372/English 428 from Professor Keeler or learned as much about professional writing/rhetoric if I had not taken English 450 from Professor Downs and English 326 from Professor Branch. And last but not least I would not have learned about blogging or even created this blog had it not been for this class. So needless to say I have had several epiphanies throughout my career as a English major at MSU and as I end my career here and perhaps head off to graduate school I know that I will have more epiphanies though perhaps not as many with such frequency as I had here and that is something that no skeptic can take from especially if they themselves never experienced the joys and hardships of the college experience. So to really answer my doubting skeptic the real answer is that I learned a lot from my professors and from their professional experience and what I personally learned from them is something that I could not have learned on my own. Throughout my time I have constantly been saying to myself "I didn't know that" and that in itself is a wonderful feeling.