Pay Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain Analysis

Joseph Culler describes literary theory as a tool to understanding the concepts of identity, wherein abstract communities are presented in identifiable groups for analysis. Culler (2011) explains that the schools of “psychoanalysis,”

Identity, the reality of being who or what a being is, however who establishes that? A novel by Toni Morrison, Sula, is a magnificent story about identity. Sula is about two inseparable young ladies “Nel and Sula” trying to find their place in this world,though as they age, they distance. What makes you, you? Who or what gives you a place in this world? How does one know if they have an identity or not? Your identity is established by you, however what if you aren’t yourself, but a part of someone else.

Middle-Eastern and North African clothing culture is distinguished from other cultures by the veil, a clothing that provokes many reactions from authors and debates between the Western and Eastern people.

Amy Tan starts her essay with “I am not a scholar of English or literature” and follows it in the next paragraph with, “I am a writer” to clarify the reason she is writing the text. The difference between the two sentences is to show that she does not believe she is an expert on English or literature; she is simply a woman who writes about both. She uses her own opinions to share with us her knowledge on both topics, but she would not consider herself a “scholar” who would have an array of knowledge full of facts. Tan is simply stating that she is a writer with her own opinions on topics and that the text, Mother Tongue, is simply full of what she has learned and of her own opinions so far in her life on English and literature. When she says these two sentences she appeals to both ethos and pathos. Tan appeals to ethos because as readers we question her

Explore the methods by which writers develop the theme of identity in the light of this statement.

In the paper “Inventing the University” by David Bartholomae, he shows the mistakes that basic writers make in college. It shows us what writers are lacking in writing effectively for an academic community. He compares and contrasts the differences between a mater writer and a basic writer. It shows how an expert writer keeps the audience in mind and a struggling writer does not. Bartholomae says that writers in college need to learn to “invent the university” which means they adapt their writing to writing and speak the ideas of an academic setting. Some students may find it hard to develop these new ways of writing and speaking in an academic setting. One way a master writer and a basis writer is different is

“Additionally, issues of identity and values are important factors in neophytes ' abilities and willingness to learn to write in and for new workplaces, as they must choose between ways of thinking and writing with which they are comfortable and new ways that seem foreign or at odds with their identities and values” (Wardle 285) When I was first accepted into The University of Arkansas, the first thing that came to my mind was to put effort into my grades and into building my resume. Those would be my top priories. Before I knew it I had been accepted into a discourse community of members that were striving for the same ideals that I was-The Greek fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha. Through the proses of being an initiate, I learned life long core values of community between other members. Interviewing the president of Lambda Chi Alpha, Luke Crenshaw, I uncovered the rigorous involvement of academic writing skills and how that plays a giant roll in this discourse community. These benefits are included in the values and beliefs of a discourse community.

Good morning/Afternoon, I’m Tarryn and today I’m going to talk to you about personal identity. Identity is what makes us who we are, everyone has a different identity. Without identity we wouldn’t be human because everyone needs one to exist. Our identity is changing as we progress through life and as we experience new and different things. The texts that I’ve looked at are “Frankenstein”, the graphic novel by Gris Grimly, published in 2013, is an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s original text, about a scientist who creates a ‘monster’ who he’s ashamed of and leaves the ‘monster’ with no knowledge of anything about himself or the world. My second text is “Edward Scissorhands”, a film directed by Tim Burton and released in 1990, which is about a man created by a scientist who dies before he can entirely finish his creation and must live his life with scissors as hands. From these texts, I am going to be talking about how our journey through life changes our identity and how others can affect our identity.

A question that comes to mind when analyzing these writings is, “what kind of discourse does each writing piece fall into?” Discourse can be separated into three categories. Which are judicial, deliberative, and epideictic. Bartholomae uses epideictic discourse as well as deliberative discourse throughout his writing. He says, “He has to invent the university by assembling and mimicking its language” (45). Davis shares a similar concept as Bartholomae, by stating, “They wanted me to make their sense of the literature, to understand the texts as they understood them…I also had to learn a particular way of reading and writing” (80). Both men have the same idea with current academia, but they are on opposite sides. Bartholomae believes that while writing in unfamiliar ways, students learn to become expert writers with practice. Davis explains the same scenario but believes that change isn’t necessarily needed, and certain changes made by students could be devastating in their lives. When analyzing the discourse made by these two authors, it is apparent that both Bartholomae and Davis are speaking from an epideictic and deliberative standpoint. They speak on a current issue that students are having and discuss ways to attack this problem in the future with examples.

Thesis: Identity is constructed through the character’s change/realisation of social ideals and personal experiences throughout the text.

In literary education, from childhood to maturity, individuals are taught how to write not to improve themselves as critical thinkers, but to fulfill the requirements given to them in a prompt. Whether to analyze or argue, this form of writing has led to a cease of literary improvement in students today, making many question the effectiveness of writing classes. Mike Bunns, in his article “To Read like a Writer”, explores this topic and stresses the necessity for young readers to critically examine the author’s choices in order to improve their own pieces of work. Bunns effectively argues to his audience of college students that improved comprehension comes from focusing on the rhetorical choices authors decide to make in their compositions by tying personal narratives with repetitive questioning throughout his article.

Despite being a very diverse literature genre in terms of influence and inspiration, North American literature encompasses many works that share some very common thematic elements. Though there are several themes shared, one in particular can be found in most any work – the importance of identity. Particularly in some selected pieces yet to be named, identity is a very important element, not only because it is a necessity for a main character in any work of literature, but because these works express ideas about identity as being very individualistic – as opposed to being a mere result of cultural surroundings. Zora Neal Hurtson’s Their

Often in literature authors try to explain the concept of identity. Most of these authors have stated that Identity is the life that we live, the source of our pride, and dignity. These authors are correct, as pride and dignity, is the only thing many people live for. Even William Shakespeare, had the pride to make his own coat of arms, to represent his identity after Hamnet, his only heir died. Thomas King the author of the short story “Borders” explains his view of the human condition specifically depicting to readers the reality of comprimization of identity for a version of practicality. Through modulated dialogue, King sets the mood of the short story. King uses both direct and indirect characterization, to exemplify his conceptual idea,

“In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity” (Erik Erikson). In literature, identity is used to establish who a character is and what they believe in. In historical fiction, identity functions as a device utilized to give a character more depth and give the reader more of an idea of what the character stands for and the decisions they might make. In Night, despite being a very devout man, after having his faith taken away from him, Elie Wiesel loses his individual identity proving that, when man loses his most important belief, he loses himself and becomes “a corpse” (Wiesel 115).

One’s identity is something they carry with them their entire life and is important not to let it be affected by the outside world. Rainer Maria Rilke and David Mitchell share the similar central idea of identity in their respective stories. In Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet “Letter One”, Rilke is a thriving poet in the early 1900s. Rilke receives a letter from Franz Kappus, a young aspiring poet seeking aid from Rilke. Rilke’s response includes a lesson on finding your true identity by looking within your soul. David Mitchell also mentions identity in his text, Black Swan Green: “Solarium” where a young boy named Jason Taylor sends who his poems to Madame Crommelynck, a woman who Jason mistook for a vicar. Jason visits Madame weekly and receives critiques on his poems and advice on how to make his poems less dull. Mitchell and Rilke both include the central idea of identity and develop it through direct address and a metaphor.