Wednesday, July 16, 2008
???
Perhaps I am being ignorant or perhaps I don't see what is right in front of my face. After reading the chapters and a after a little bit of research on the candidates I have failed to see any type of connection of worthwhile comparison. It seems to me that trying to find some analytical, meaningful passageway between English characters based in the 70s to two U.S. presidential candidates in 2008 is a little farfetched. Yes, of course, some surface similarities do arise as the previous posts have mentioned, but do these similarities actually offer any type of insightful analysis or are they just strictly observation? I understand that being in an analytical English class it is our job to try and make comparisons among different ideas and relate them to bigger issues or grandeur ideas. Moreover, we practice making connections between abstract ideas and force analysis on their principles and underlying meanings. But possibly sometimes we lose clarity of our focus and all together compromise the integrity of our two ideas in question. If you look hard enough into anything a connection and comparison can be made, but that doesn't mean it makes it intellectually worthwhile to investigate, it may just mean it’s simply there, it just exists. If through this specific exercise we are trying to bring to light that people, in general, act in the same manner and share the same experiences, just in different ways, then yeah... we can do that. However, that is not the kind of profound argument that interests me very much. I don't think there is any connection between these characters that will somehow open up our analytical minds and bestow some sort of greater enlightenment. I’m not saying this type of work is useless, just from a 100% logically thinking perspective; I have a hard time grasping these concepts. Then again, I could just be ignorant and closed minded and be the one who is missing the point entirely.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I agree that at first, I didn't really see any connections worth mentioning. I still don't know if the connections I found and posted about are worth mentioning, but I guess if we are "constructing knowledge" every little thing we say may get us, or someone else, thinking. I think your post does just that. Makes you think. Thanks :)
I had already read the four chapters when the assignment was posted but had to scan through them again and think about the connections because, as one of the other bloggers stated, "I don't really know the candidates that well." Like you, I feel that 'If you look hard enough into anything a connection... can be made...' and question the intellectual validity of some of what we are being asked to do (this blog, the horror movie pitch assignment, Project 1, etc.), but, my approach to it is, this is a class so, I have to do the best that I can and HOPE that I will gain some new skill/ability from this type of analysis. I have to say, thus far, these assignments have made me exercise a different part of my analytical side. I think that is why the assignment said, 'Get beyond the obvious... and look for more interesting connections.' All I (or any of us) can do is hope we did that.
Post a Comment