Hi Everyone!
Hope you are having a great weekend!
As we discussed in class, satire is the literary are of diminishing or derogating a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking towards it attitudes of amusement, contempt, scorn or indignation. Satire does not attempt to harm or damage by ridicule, but rather to shock to gain attention and begin social change. The themes of satire are maintenance of standards, reaffirmation of values, and the necessity of reform. That being said, I asked you each to take a literary device, define it, and explain why/how it is used in satire. These devices are: tone, irony, exaggeration, distortion, understatement, innuendo, ambiguity, catalog, simile and metaphor, oxymoron, parable, and allegory. I'm interested to see your answers below. I'd also love to see what you have to say in response to Plato's Allegory of the Cave in comparison to the world established in Hard Times.
These two literary devices are used in satire because they help create a powerful mental picture of the situation, which in turn exaggerates the subject a little. This is important in satire because it helps the author compare an object to something ridiculous to gain attention to the subject.
ReplyDeleteIn Hard Times, there were many similes and metaphor that helped with the satire. For example, in the beginning of the book (pg. 9), Dickens compares the Gradgrind children to "little hares". This evokes an attitude of amusement because it makes the children seem defenseless and open to any subjugation. Another example is on pg. 67: "The fairy palaces burst into illumination before pale morning showed the monstrous serpents of smoke trailing themselves over Coketown." Dickens uses this metaphor of smoke to convey the pollution and evilness of the industrialized town. Through out the novel, Dickens criticizes the industrial life, and by using this metaphor, it helps the reader understand Dicken's attitude.
Now to Plato's Allegory of the Cave...after reading it, I could definitely see the relationship between the story and Hard Times. In the Allegory, Plato addresses how uneducated people who learn from their senses do not know the reality of things. The prisoners in the cave always that the figures they saw on the walls were reality, but instead there were just shadows that puppeteers made. This shows how our senses can mislead us, which is also similar to the idea the Mr. Gradgrind tries to implant into his children's minds. In the novel, Mr. Gradgrind disapproves of any emotions and makes sure his children live a monotonous life devoid of pleasure because he thinks this is the only way to learn.
The Encarta Dictionary that so handily comes with Word defines “innuendo” as an “indirect remark or gesture that usually carries a suggestion of impropriety,” or in an alternative, law-based definition, an “interpretation of words that are claimed to be libelous where the meaning is not obvious.” A Merriam-Webster dictionary says innuendo is a veiled reflection on character or reputation. In my own words, innuendo is a comment that hints that someone else is or has committed something scandalous or indecent.
ReplyDeleteInnuendo can be used in satire for the purpose of reflecting the attitudes of the common person and what they would deem scandalous or indecent. Most likely, the author will also show dislike for the characters who use innuendo, thereby commenting on the stupidity or wrongness of the social norms, preferences, or beliefs of the people in that era of which the author is writing about. Change must occur to change such mindsets and reform society. The author may show his or her dislike by befalling some unfortunate fate upon the innuendo users and having a better fate for he or she who is “innuendoed.” The author might also sculpt the plot in a way that makes the reader also dislike the innuendo users. This would be the best way to bring about actual change: appealing to the reader.
I noted above that the author would show dislike for certain characters. Innuendo is a great way for the author to issue commentary on those characters he dislikes. If the reader catches the innuendo, the reader can determine who the author does not like and who or what the author is satirizing.
In Hard Times, innuendo can be seen in the remarks about Stephen Blackpool, especially in Part 2, Chapter 4. Already Dickens establishes his dislike for the orator by noting the “froth and fume he had in him,” then goes on to say that the orator was actually below the crowd, in a figurative sense. “He was not so honest, he was not so manly, he was not so good-humoured…” (137). In fact, Dickens is using innuendo with the orator. He is speaking lowly of this impulsive, “ill-made” man so as to direct the reader’s attention towards him as the object Dickens is satirizing.
So, when this orator Slackbridge comes to use innuendo with Stephen, the reader knows that Dickens is actually satirizing Slackbridge’s argument/beliefs, even satirizing the kind of person that Slackbridge is. Dickens refers to “the manner of all Slackbridges,” indicating that the character Slackbridge is a representation of such orators obsessed with power in real life. His satirizing Slackbridge is a commentary on such people.
To quote Slackbridge, “that working-man… who, at such a time, deserts his post, and sells his flag; who, at such a time, turns a traitor and a craven and a recreant…” (139). Slackbridge has not yet explained how Stephen is these things, yet he is making all of these derogatory comments. Slackbridge even admits that he finds it “necessary so to libel the glorious name” of the “working-man.” While Slackbridge is outright criticizing Stephen, thereby ignoring the “veiled reflection” part of the definition of innuendo, Slackbridge’s comments are the culmination of previous innuendo made, what’s already been spoken about Stephen, of which Stephen admits he is aware (140).
The world of Plato’s allegory and Dickens’s Coketown are similar and different in several ways. Whereas Plato speaks of an ideal republic where people’s minds are illuminated by the beautiful truth, the majority of Coketown’s residents is ignorant and stuck in this ignorant state. Their ignorance comes in different forms. For example, Thomas Gradgrind speaks of nothing but the facts. This is NOT the same as Plato’s truths. Gradgrind’s facts are simply reiterations of what is in the world around him. Plato speaks of a revealing truth that supplies a greater knowledge, one that is applicable and that can help society through true understanding of the world.
ReplyDeleteLouisa’s life is ruined because of Gradgrind’s teaching. Gradgrind intended to use his philosophy to help her succeed in life by making the right decisions. However, he did nothing to cultivate her ability to recognize other’s emotions or even her own, having barred her from displaying much of them as a child. As such she is confused when Mr. Harthouse appeals to her, and she is ignorant of his intentions. Louisa, then, is comparable to the prisoners in Plato’s allegory who have not been exposed to the light and who are still looking at shadows, grasping at their true meaning. Harthouse, conversely, has been exposed to the light, but he is one who uses this knowledge for selfish gain. Instead of helping society, he preys on the ignorant such as Louisa. The end of Part 2 represents Louisa’s exposure to the light, and as Plato describes, the initial exposure can be blinding, confusing. Louisa collapses in front of her father. Still, Louisa is able to transition from ignorance to knowledge.
Irony is a mode of expression in which the intended meaning is opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light sarcasm. There are multiple kinds of sarcasm including verbal, dramatic, situational and cosmic. Verbal irony is when a character says one thing, but means another. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something that the character does not. Situational irony is when there is difference between appearance and reality or what is expected and what actually happens. Lastly, cosmic irony (irony of fate) is when luck, fate, or chance is deliberately frustrating human efforts. Satires employ the use of irony because both are used to achieve the same goal – saying something without directly saying it. A satire makes a social commentary and advocates some sort of change from the status quo by ridiculing some aspect of society with humor. It can use a fictional situation to illustrate real problems and impacts. Similarly, irony conveys a masked message to the audience criticism and humor. In addition, irony (especially dramatic irony) can be used to further the plot and create conflict in the story.
ReplyDeleteHard Times employs a significant amount of irony and a variety of different types. There are two important examples of situational irony of this story. The first example is the role of Sissy Jupe. At the beginning of the novel, it is concluded that she is hopeless and has no chance of living a successful life because she cannot live only through facts and silence her emotions. By the end of the novel, however, Sissy triumphs when every other character is met with conflict – she is the only one who retained her own feelings, values, and integrity. Sissy helps Louisa and the entire Gradgrind family and she has the only “happily ever after” of all the characters even though she was supposed to be the one with no promising future. The second example is the past of Mr. Bounderby. Throughout the entire novel, he makes of point of it being known that he achieved all of his success from humble beginnings – he was orphaned, poor, and abused as a child. Despite all of this adversity, however, he claims that his strong character and determination allowed him to become so wealthy and powerful. We eventually discover that he has been lying about his childhood and he actually came from a modest household with loving parents.
Dickens also uses dramatic irony in Hard Times. The situation between Stephen Blackpool and Thomas Gradgrind Jr. is an example in which the audience knows something, but other characters in the story do not. Mrs. Sparsit and Bitzer do not understand why Stephen Blackpool is suspiciously standing outside of the bank late at night, while the audience knows it is because of a conversation that occurred between Stephen and Tom Jr. Tom acts oddly and almost guiltily throughout the bank robbery situation and accusation that it was Stephen Blackpool – only the audience has an idea of why he is acting so strangely. The use of dramatic irony in this situation also helps the novel progress, add conflict, and connect all of the characters.
I also believe that cosmic irony is used with the character of Stephen Blackpool. His initial description explains that he is an unlucky person; he is always in a “peck of trouble” (62). The narrator states that Stephen is case “whereby somebody else had become possessed of his roses and he had become possessed of the same somebody else’s thorns in addition to his own” (62). It’s established that he is an unlucky person from his poverty, crazy wife, and forbidden love to getting fired from the factory and shunned by Coketown for supporting his beliefs regarding unions. No matter what Stephen does he always winds up worse off – even when he tries to come back to Coketown to clear his name he ultimately dies in a mineshaft. Stephen’s life seems to have luck deliberately frustrating his efforts to be happy.
Lastly, Dickens uses verbal irony especially with the characters of Louisa and Thomas Jr. Gradgrind. Both of these characters had a tendency to “say one thing but mean another” because of the environment they grew up in. They were forced to believe only fact and suppress all of their emotions so the only way they could try to convey what they actually wanted to say was by using verbal irony. This is prevalent when Louisa addresses her father and Tom addresses Mr. Bounderby.
ReplyDeleteAllegory of the Cave
The world described in the “Allegory of the Cave” relates to the world described by Dickens in multiple ways. First, the most obvious example of a “prisoner” in the cave meeting the light (reality) is Louisa. She has been trapped in the confinement of monotony, fact, and unfeeling impressed on her by her father that when she faces emotion and the reality of other people she is confused and pained. Louisa falls prey to the manipulation of her brother, Mr. Harthouse, Mr. Bounderby and her father until she finally realizes she has her own free will and understands the grim aspects of reality and her own unhappiness and ignorance. In a broader example, I also believe that the “Allegory of the Cave” embodies the situation of the Hands of Coketown. The Hands are these prisoners living in poverty, squalor, and misery, but they are content that this is the only reality. They are unaware of the power they could have if they banded together to fight the tyranny of the small upper class – they have not yet been exposed to the light. This is why people such as Bounderby are trying to prevent unionizers from talking to his workers – he does not want them to understand the true reality of the situation.
An Allegory is a form of an extended metaphor, objects, people, and or actions in the narrative are equated to something else not necessarily stated in the text. Usually the real meaning of the allegory has to do with social, political, or religious ideas. Characters are also used as a personification of a abstract idea, ex: greed. The allegory is the hidden or second meaning of a stroy, of characters, or of events. There is a literal meaning and then a sympolic meaning.
ReplyDeleteDickens uses many allegories in Hard Times to tell his readers about the social/political climate and world in which his characters live in. One allegory that I thought was very interesting or someone who was an allegory was Thomas Grindgrad. Grindgrad is a man who seemingly has no emotion. He is cold, believes in strict fact, and lives a monstrous life. He lives in Stone Lodge, which by just saying the name has an automatic cold feel. Gridgrad also seems to repress or grind down the children's happy-normal childlike thoughts of his children and the children in his school. He name along with his character and his home represent coldness and repression-that is what his character is there for- to display what people should not act like. He is a cold factory man, and when he changes in the end it serves to illustrate to the readers that people should not want to grind people down to no emotion or feeling, that they should live life full of happiness and content, and that strict fact is not always the answer.
The literary device I am defining is "catalog." We've all seen this device used before; it is when the author includes a long list of objects (inventory) in his or her writing. If any of you have read The Pine Barrens, you have been exposed to catalog. Traditionally, catalog is used in epics (i.e. The Odyssey) for poetic or rhetorical effect. Cataloging is used very specifically by authors; by having long lists in the text, the reader is forced to slow down and really examine what he or she is reading.
ReplyDeleteCatalog can be used effectively in satire. Often, cataloging is used to emphasize a point. This emphasis can be focused on ridiculing or mocking a point. Satirists take advantage of the overwhelming nature of a list to use said list to generate a feeling of contempt or scorn towards a certain topic. By listing all of the bad things associated with a subject, as ridiculous as the points may be, the reader is forced to reject whatever topic the author is presenting. Satirists use catalog as one of the principal literary devices to achieve their ridicule of a subject. Readers appreciate concise language. So satirists use catalog as a mechanism to un-appeal to the reader, making the reader hate whatever topic they are "cataloging" about.
An example of catalog is found in the first pages of Hard Times. Dickens describes the intense preparation Mr. McChoakumchild has undergone to prepare for his teaching lesson: "He had been put through an immense variety of paces, and had answered volumes of head-breaking questions. Orthography, etymology, syntax, and prosody, biography, astronomy, geography, and general cosmography, the sciences of compound proportion, algebra, land-surveying and levelling, vocal music, and drawing from models..." (7-8). This is a commentary on the absurd amount of fact the teachers are forced to memorize. Dickens is obviously ridiculing the teaching-style of the industrial revolution society. Later, at the end of that chapter, Dickens says, "Ah, rather overdone, Mr. McChoakumchild. If he had only learnt a little less, how infinitely better he might have taught much more!" (8). In this case, Dickens used catalog to highlight the absurd amount of information the school-teachers knew, and Dickens later pointed out (in case it wasn't already clear) how ridiculous he thought it was.
The Allegory of the Cave definitely relates to Hard Times. One theme of Plato's Allegory is that the wise and enlightened have an obligation to the rest of society. I think this idea is used by Dickens in Hard Times. Coketown is a very stratified society, one in which the wise merchants have the most power and control. They are responsible for the well-being and education of the rest of the Coketown members. People like Mr. Bounderby and Mr. Gradgrind assume a moral superiority, and they are in charge of preserving the morality of Coketown. This may be where the obsession with facts (that Dickens attributes to Gradgrind) stems from. Knowledge, to Gradgrind, is concrete and must be passed on from teacher to student. This is slightly different from the concept Plato addressed, however, in which he believed that the knowledge a student acquired must be molded by a teacher but ultimately gained by the student.
ReplyDeleteThere are many different types of irony that Hard Times employees:
ReplyDeleteThe dictionary states that verbal irony is "a technique of indicating, as through character or plot development, an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated."
The shorter version of this definition is saying one thing and doing the opposite.
Dramatic irony is when the readers of the novel know something that the characters do not.
Then there is the irony that is an outcome of events contrary to what was, or might have been, expected.
In Hard Times, Dickens uses situational irony, most frequently, in the character Bounderby. Bounderby claims to have made his fortune by starting from nothing and becoming great, when in reality he was actually brought up with means and wanted for nothing. Bounderby is completely ridiculous in most of his claims because he believes that he needs to make no apologies because he denotes all of his crudeness and obstinacy to the fact that he had a poor upbringing, which is completely false.
Dickens also employees situational irony with Sissy's story. Sissy was a character who was completely different from the others because she was ruled by emotions, not facts. Through the eyes of the characters, she would have been the most likely to end up unhappy, but at the end of the novel, she is the only one who emerges happily.
Dramatic irony is used frequently throughout the bank robbery with Stephen Blackpool and Thomas Grandgrind Jr. The audience is aware of Thomas's treachery and framing of Stephen but the characters in the novel are convinced of Stephen's guilt.
Allegory of the Cave:
Allegory of the Cave definitely relates to Hard Times in the idea of what is perceived vs. what is real. The people of Allegory of the Cave believe that the shadows on the cave walls are what would appear in reality but when they actually see the actual vision of the world, they can see just how different their perceptions were as opposed to reality.
This is very similar to Hard Times' idea of fact vs. feeling. The characters who had lived soley by fact (Thomas, Louisa, etc.) had never realized how limited their views were until they actually felt their emotions. Fact is their shadows on the cave walls and emotions are their reality.
My device was distortion. The best way to define this, in my mind, is to give an example: the mirrors at a carnival which stretch and shrink our images. Distortion pulls and twists characteristics, events, people out of their original form. A good example of distortion is political cartoons. The cartoonist will distort the politician or political event to make his point. He doesn’t distort the intended person or event too much, we can still recognize what the subject is about, but he distorts it enough to be absurd and amusing. When we laugh at a political cartoon, we laugh because we recognize both the original person/event and the cartoonists distortion of said original. If we didn’t recognize the distortion, the cartoon wouldn’t be funny. This device is often used in satire to make the target that the author wants to focus on more ridiculous and obvious. Distortion allows the author to change the subject from a normal, boring rendition to a more amusing, ridiculous example.
ReplyDelete*Important note: this technique is different from exaggeration. Exaggeration is making something seem worse, better, larger than it really is. Distortion is transforming the mundane into ridiculousness.
In Hard Times, this distortion can be seen with Gradgrind. First, when we are introduced to him, it his through his “Facts” speech. Gradgrind believes, and teaches his kids, that to be successful in life, one must only be swayed by facts and not by emotions. He appears to the reader as monotonic and mechanical. Dickens distorts Gradgrind’s feelings and emotions – making him appear to be a machine and lack emotions entirely (until the very end of the novel). Dickens distortion of Gradgrind is both a commentary on the industrial revolution and politicians. His distorted mechanical ways show how the industrial revolution treats people no longer as humans but as machines. Gradgrind also becomes a member of Parliament, so Gradgrind’s machine personality represents the Government as a gigantic machine, working to secure the financial situation of a small group of elite Englishmen.
Ok so Allegory of the cave. Plato imagines this cave where prisoners are tied up, can’t look around, and, to them, the truth is the shadows they see in front of them. It’s only until the prisoner’s are released and see the sun, can they realize how misled they were. But getting accustomed to such sublime brightness takes time and patience. In Hard Times, Dickens portrays a world of darkness – much like the cave. Chimney stacks surround the inhabitants of coke town and the lies they hear from their politicians, is what they believe (i.e. from Bounderby who lies about his upbringing). At one point, Coketown is even described as lying “shrouded in a haze of its own, which appeared impervious to the sun’s rays” (Book 2, Reaping, Chapter 1, pg 85). Then, the escaped prisoner that Dickens creates, is Louisa. Louisa constantly watches the fires and the smokestacks in Coketown. These ambers are the sun of the prisoner from the cave. Louisa is the character who realizes the need for emotions and through her companionship with Rachel, realizes that poverty cannot just be overcome by a will of spirit or effort alone. Louisa is becoming accustomed to the light (the sun in the allegory) and will come back down to the cave, dragging people back up towards the light/sun thing.
Tone:
ReplyDeleteThe definition of tone as a literary device is the writer's attitude toward the subject matter and his or her audience. Tone is the shade of feelings that readers detect as they complete a story, and it generally carries throughout an entire work. However, the tone can also change or develop, thus setting a mood or allowing the mood to evolve throughout a piece. The author demonstrates tone through the use of words, syntax, imagery, and detail. All pieces of writing, whether it be poetry, novels, or even formal documents, have a certain tone.
A satire uses a condescending, almost-mocking tone in order to allow the reader to infer that a certain subject matter is ridiculous, shocking, or disdainful. A satirical tone usually brings the reader a playful or sassy attitude toward the writing that pokes fun at characters or situations. In doing so, the author shows that the character/situation has faults, and possibly calls the reader to progressive action in order to reform or at least take note of these flaws.
Satirical tone is used in Hard Times to show how absurd many of the characters have become in this time period due to their sole ambition of prospering. They wrongly believe that cold, hard fact will make them fulfilled. By using irony and a mocking attitude, Dickens sets the mood of the story as dreary and monotonous for those who think that a fact-driven life will be satisfying and lead to happiness. His tone is conveyed through irony when Sissy Jupe, who feels emotions and has a wandering imagination, is one of the only characters to end up happy. Despite her resistance of an ambitious life, she finds a loving husband and creates a big, joyful family. Dickens produces a satirical tone through his diction for specific characters, such as Bounderby: “A man made out of coarse material, which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him…A man with a pervading appearance on him of being inflated like a balloon, and read to start” (14). Using these almost-comical expressions in order to describe Bounderby’s largeness, Dickens implies the character’s aloofness and excessive hunger for wealth. He provides similarly patronizing imagery for the pretentious characters of Mrs. Sparsit, Gradgrind, and Harthouse. Through tone, Dickens sets a mood in the story of subtle contempt for disrespectful, greedy characters.
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ReplyDeleteDickens produces a satirical tone through his diction for specific characters, such as Bounderby: “A man made out of coarse material, which seemed to have been stretched to make so much of him…A man with a pervading appearance on him of being inflated like a balloon, and read to start” (14). Using these almost-comical expressions in order to describe Bounderby’s largeness, Dickens implies the character’s aloofness and excessive hunger for wealth. He provides similarly patronizing imagery for the pretentious characters of Mrs. Sparsit, Gradgrind, and Harthouse. Through tone, Dickens sets a mood in the story of subtle contempt for disrespectful, greedy characters.
ReplyDeleteThe Allegory of the Cave:
Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” relates well to Hard Times because both works assess the themes of reality versus misconception and the ascent for power. “The Hands” is an epithet given to the laborers in Hard Times; they are the industrial workers that toil under harsh conditions for extensive hours, reaping only meager rewards. “The Hands” are similar to the prisoners in “The Allegory of the Cave” because both groups have skewed perceptions of life and reality due to their limited, repressed view of the world. “The Hands” wake up each morning and go to work, where they complete monotonous tasks until they go to sleep, prepared to complete the same tasks the following day. The prisoners are a metaphorical representation of “The Hands” because they feel the same lifeless sentiment through the course of each day; chained down in a dark cave, they are solely given permission to look in one direction, towards a cave wall that projects shadows created by veiled puppeteers. The prisoners perceive reality through this narrow perspective, just as “The Hands” only perceive reality through their employers (such as Thomas Gradgrind, who relentlessly preaches the importance of cold, hard fact) and Slackbridge, the leader of the workers looking to form a union. Stuck in a state of physical and mental captivity, “The Hands” know no better than to numbly follow the plans of Slackbridge, who manipulates the group just as the puppeteers warp the prisoners’ reality. The only character to go against the flow is Stephen Blackpool, who I believe has stepped out of the cave that Plato describes, and has reached a deeper understanding than that of fact and hardship. While not exactly following Plato’s idea of becoming a leader among his group due to his ripened imagination and sudden understanding, Blackpool still shows his ability to see past the cave wall’s shadows by standing up to Slackbridge, stating that unionizing will just create further hostility between the workers and employers. Blackpool looks beyond concrete fact and instead, experiences emotion and happiness through his love for a fellow worker, Rachael. Both Rachael and Stephen represent the goodness and virtue found through understanding. “The Hands” follow Slackbridge’s twisted words out of their lack of understanding for the reality and truths that Blackpool sees, and they consequently agree to shun him from their industrial unity (or prison-like confinement).
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteUnderstatement, as defined by dictionary.com, is defined as stating something in restrained terms, often to obtain an ironic effect. A modern day example would be "Those Nom Noms from the Great Food Truck Race are good". This is an understatement because the Nom Noms were godly and won almost every single contest in the TV show. By using an understatement, the author forces the reader to re-read the sentence and re-evaluate the noun at hand because the description does not correctly fit the noun. For example, if someone scored a 2400 on the SATs and I commented on them by saying "yeah, they did only okay on them", the reader or listener would be shocked and refocus on the person who scored the 2400. In this way, an understatement is a form of satire because an understatement draws attention to the noun or topic at hand.
ReplyDeleteDickens used understatements within his novel Hard Times.
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ReplyDeleteAn example of an understatement can be found on page 2 in the first paragraph describing Thomas Gradgrind (Sr.), "It is a mere question of figures, a case of simple arithmetic". This line comes right after Dickens describes Gradgrind as person who is obsessed with facts. This line is an understatement because Gradgrind's life is not just a mere question of simple math, it is a disease and sickly obsession focused on only facts. the use of understatement here causes the reader to look at Gradgrind's actual personality and lifestyle.
Cave Time:
Plato's world in Allegory of a Cave is similar to the world created by Dickens in Hard Times. The main idea of Plato's great work is that a person can be easily fooled into a type of "reality". In the cave, the chained people believe that the shadows are the only reality within the world. However, as readers, we know that the puppeteers, controlling the prisoner's reality, have a different type of reality. This world relates to Dickens' world two fold. One parallel is the idea that someone can control the world of someone else. In Hard Times, the wealthy business owners, such as Gradgrind and Bunderby, control the world of the poor Hands. The second connection was how a person can be duped into a reality. Gradgrind and Bunderby are both fooled into thinking their reality, one consisting of facts, facts, facts and more facts, is the best reality. Clearly Dickens does not agree with this type of reality because the happiest character at the end of the novel is Sissy, the one character who never quite grasped the idea of facts facts facts.
On a side note,
It was good that I read the Allegory of a Cave because someone referenced this piece a hundred times on this one TV show on Bravo called The World's Next Great Artist (yeah, Pain Killers cause me to watch intense marathons of weird Artsy Bravo Shows). Anyway, on this show, one artist claimed to get inspiration from a piece of literature called Allegory by the Cave by Aristotle and he said that name several times throughout the episode until finally, another artist at the judging scene calls him out on it....Just throwing it out there.
oh my god, i am so mad, i typed this entire response and then it asked for my email, ok so i typed in my email, ok no big deal yet, its refreshing, i'm getting back to what i wrote, then BAM. error message.ugh so angry.
ReplyDeleteanyway, now that you all know..
OXYMORON
1-Oxymoron: well based on what dictionary.com, it's "a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in “cruel kindness” or “to make haste slowly.”."
2- It's satire because it's almost mocking. It contrast two opposing things to each other. If we were to turn this into an analogy, hypothetically speaking, let say two robbers are trying to sneak out of a house, but the floor is squeaky wood, one of the guy would say "hurry up! they are coming home!", but the other, knowing that there's an angry dog sleeping 5 meters away from him, he might just say "quickly! make haste slowly". If you didn't understand what it implied, you would assume he's not speaking improper english, and accidently confused words up, but really he's saying hurry up, i don't want to be eaten by this dog, yet do it slow, because if this floor squeaks were both dead.
3- Now that the word oxymoron is defined and exemplified, it is also demonstrated in Hard Times. If you look on page 125, Book II, Chapter 2, named; Mr. James Harthouse, it states "If you want to bring in, for any place, a handsome dog who can make a DEVILISH GOOD speech, look after my brother, Jem, For he's your man." The use of oxymoron to describe the speech ability of a dog's speech is an example of satire. It's mocking dogs's inability to speak in general, and comparing it to his brother. Yet the use of "devilish good", two words that completely contrast each other part takes in this satire. Devilish would insinuate something bad, yet good is well...good. Being that these two words completely contrast each other, its an oxymoron, yet also implying the definitions of devil and good, which contrast each other and don't fit meaning-wise into the sentence. It brings attention to the description and lets the reader in on information that is not stated, just insinuated.
4- Allegory of the cave.
ReplyDeleteI liked it, i thought it was really interesting. Almost inspirational. Pretty much, these "prisoners" are forced to face one direction; one of the cave's wall. Behind them, there are these "puppeters" who create shadows onto the wall the "prisoners" are seeing. Being that the "prisoners" cannot turn around, nor escape, their whole life and beliefs are centered on what is presented to them by the "puppeters". What is presented to them could resemble something, and thus be understood as that object, but really if the prisoner was to turn around, the object could be something completely different and just be a simple appearance of what was insinuated when cast as a shadow.
This is definitely parallel to what is presented in the novel Hard Times. Throughout the story, the characters live in a life of appearances, where what they know are but just images, and reality has not hit them just yet. For example, Louisa, whose entire life is governed by facts, does not know anything that falls into the category of feelings, love, friendships and the other complexities of social life. Like a prisoner, her entire life is shadows of what her father the "puppeter" teaches her. Once she is able to finally see reality and indulge in it, she realizes the falseness of everything she has ever learned or understood.
This allegory also parallel Mr. Bounderby. In this case the people that surround him are like the "prisoners", and Mr. Bounderby is the "puppeter". Throughout the majority of the novel, Mr. Bounderby presents himself as the poor boy who had a rough childhood and was abandoned by his mother. This "shadow", to which all that surround him see him as is shattered when they finally turn around and see who he really is. Like the allegory, the "prisoner" can see what he really is and not what he is just trying to be.
This allegory represents what is demonstrated in the novel, the contrast between reality and what is inferred.
Plato's Allegory of the Cave is a satire much like Dicken's Hard Times. Plato uses the device of satire to comment on political society. He says that the uneducated people of the lower class should not be allowed to participate in politics because "they cannot be expected to show any gratitude for a culture which they have never received." He believes that poor, uneducated people will not understand politics and therefore should not be allowed to participate. Conversely, Plato believes that the educated members of government and the political class should go and assimilate themselves into the life of those in poverty. He says, "when you have acquired the habit you will see ten thousand times better than the inhabitants of the den." He is saying this because he wants the poor to be represented by people who understand their situation and can address their problems in an educated way. Therefore, the intelligent people in society will represent the poor better than the poor themselves so long as the intelligent members of society have taken a walk in the shoes of the poor. Plato uses the description of the cave and the shadows to show that the lower class are blind to the truth and are trapped in their position. Allegory of the Cave relates to Hard Times with respect to the social class system. The lower class in Hard Times are represented as prisoners who have no escape from their social status, much like Stephen Blackpool was trapped in his lower class situation and accused as the bank theif.
ReplyDeleteA hyperbole is an obvious and intentional exaggeration. Hyperbole is used in satire in order to make the subject in question ridiculous enough for people to notice a problem. By exaggerating the topic of the Industial Revolution and its impact on society, Dickens, through Hard Times, makes it obvious that the Industial Revolution is causing problems for people living in England during this time. On page 14, Dicken’s describes Bounderby by saying, “A man who was always proclaiming himself, through that brassy speaking-trumpet of a voice of his, his old ignorance and his old poverty. A man who was the Bully of humility.” Dickens is exaggerating the fact that Bounderby is a self-made man so as to evoke questions from the reader as to how honest this description of Bounderby really is. In doing this, Dickens is satirizing the fascination over the self made man and how true this phenomenon is.
Ambiguity is uncertainty in meaning or intention. Ambiguity is used in satire so as not to upset any of the people being criticized. By not flat out saying what they want to say, the author is avoiding possible criminal punishment for their words. Also, ambiguity leaves some of the work to the reader. By concealing some of what their saying, the author leaves some interpretation up to the reader which makes the reader feel like they discovered some of this corruption in society and are going to want to do something about it. Dickens shows ambiguity on page 1, Mr. Gradgrind is describing his philosophy based on facts and that “facts alone are wanted in life.” There is ambiguity to this statement, not only in the novel but in the readers’ lives. In the novel Gradgrind’s children rebel against this philosophy eventually and Gradgrind says that he uses the philosophy to raise his children. This will cause the reader to question the integrity of Gradgrind’s philosophy. Also, when the readers think about Gradgrind’s philosophy and how it could fit into their own lives they cannot because life truly isn’t based on the facts so there must be an underlying meaning. That meaning comes out in the sense that Dickens is trying to satirize this Industrial time period and along with all of these new ideas for machinery that change the way people work, there are also these new thoughts swirling about that are turning people into emotionless machines. Gradgrind’s philosophy is more focused on creating machines than on creating people; therefore, Dickens is commenting that through the Industrial Revolution, people are beginning to be replaced by machines and if it continues the transition might take full effect.
ReplyDeleteIrony is defined as the use of language in a specific way that usually indicates the opposite meaning of what is said for a humorous effect. There are three types of irony: verbal irony, dramatic irony, and situational irony. Verbal irony is the contrast between what is said and what is meant. Dramatic irony is the contrast between what the character thinks to be true and what the reader thinks to be true. Situational irony is the contrast between what happens and what was expected. Irony can be used in satire to poke fun at a particular situation, character, or idea. For example, in Hard Times irony is found throughout. There is of course irony in the fact that Bounderby trusts Tom more than anyone, while Tom was the one who stole from the bank and irony rooted in Tom and Louisa’s relationship versus Louisa and Bounderby’s. Yet, the most important case of irony is in the dispute between fact and morality. Gradgrind tries to teach his children and others that one must only value facts in life. One cannot have a vast imagination, but must devise only completely rational plans and ideas. Gradgrind takes Sissy in trying to teach her the way of the world through facts, but she has an incredible moral compass. On the other hand, his student Bitzer masters the art of living life through facts. Dickens displays the true irony rooted in this relationship though near the end of the novel. Gradgrind took Sissy in to try and teach her fact, but by the end of the novel Sissy teaches the Gradgrind family how to live life with love, kindness, and morality, while Bitzer, Gradgrind’s favorite student, only betrays him. Ironically, while Gradgrind was trying to give Sissy a rightful education, the clown’s daughter was educating the Parliamentary member on how to be a human. Through this ironic situation, Dickens proves that in life sometimes it is more important to have integrity and honesty than to be wealthy, educated, and technically always accurate.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the Allegory of the Cave, I think that in the beginning, the prisoners chained to the wall are much like Louisa and Tom. They are told what is reality and must accept this reality to be true, regardless of whether or not it is a reflection of reality. Then when the prisoners are released from the cave, at first they believe that the reality they were provided within the cave is more real than reality, but as they progress they realize what is truly real. This is similar to Louisa's progression in life. She soon realizes that her life can not be controlled by facts but must be guided by morality.
Furthermore, I think an interesting quote from the Allegory of the Cave is: "But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must have his eye fixed." I think this directly relates to Sissy. By the end of the novel, Sissy is considered the center of morality and the voice of reason, and finally the Gradgrind's understand that life is not dependent on facts and books, but on morals and honesty.
ReplyDeleteSimiles are figures of speech in which two seemingly different things are compared by using conjunctions such as "like" or "as". They are usually employed by writers in order to make a description more colorful and vehement. Similarly, metaphors are another form of comparison used by writers to vitalize description. However, unlike similes, metaphors are usually regarded as symbolic.
ReplyDeleteDickens uses a myriad of similes and metaphors throughout Hard Times in order to convey his contempt towards the monotonous pace of life in Coketown. For instance, when describing the chimneys of the town, he notes that the "serpents of smoke trailed themselves forever and ever and never go uncoiled" (21). In this metaphor, the "serpents of smoke", can be assimilated to the workers, and how they are stuck in a cyclic pattern of factory life of which they can never escape. Additionally, Dickens continues this description of the tiresome monotonous life of the factory workers when he describes the steam-engines, which " worked monotonously up and down like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness" (22). Dickens portrays the desperation and frustration felt by the factory workers, and also hints to his audience the need for improved factory conditions.
As for Plato's "Allegory of the Cave", it is quite clear that the chained human beings living in the cave can be linked to characters such as Thomas and Louisa Gradgrind, who spent the majority of their lives constrained by their father's harsh philosophy of rationalism and fact. Like the prisoners, Thomas and Louisa spend their whole lives shielded from anything that was not factual. Thus, the shadows which the prisoners can be assimilated to the facts which Mr. Thomas Gradgrind spoon feeds his children, and forces them to digest. In , the "Allegory of the Cave", the prisoners are eventually dragged out of the cave, and faced with reality. However, because they have been forced into believing the shadows they saw were "reality", they could not come to terms with the fact that they had been living a lie. Thus, this situation is similar to the end of Hard Times when Louisa Gradgrind realizes her unhappiness and blames her father for her misery.
The "Allegory of the Cave" along with being somewhat confusing at times, shares various similarities to "Hard Times". In both, the characters that are addressed seem to be repressed, or prisoners, in Hard Times, Louisa, the Hands, and everyone who is not exposed to freedom. In the Allegory, the person being described is also prisoner and can only escape, or gain freedoms when seen the light. In both cases the characters want to know the freedoms/or be shown the light so that they can escape their imprisonment. Both describe lives that know one would really want to live without coming out and saying, "this life stinks" or "who would want to live like this".
ReplyDeleteAn oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines two words that have opposite meanings to create a witty contradiction. There are two groups of oxymorons. The first is the classical oxymoron, which is what DIckens uses, and the second is the popular modern oxymoron. An example of a popular modern oxymoron is "JUMBO SHRIMP" or "you are pretty...PRETTY UGLY". When used deliberately in academic writing, oxymoron examples are considered to be classical oxymorons. Charles Dickens used oxymoron's to illustrate their twofold plots and characters complex emotions.Oxymorons can be satirical because both devices use the element of contradiction to bring attention to a particular thing. While satire often uses contradictions to point out societal flaws, oxymorons can be seen as a type of contradiction that leads to the overall satirical effect. At the end of the novel, Louisa dedicates her life to “trying hard to know her humbler fellow-creatures, and to beautify their lives of machinery and reality with those imaginative graces and delights, without which the heart of infancy will wither up, the sturdiest physical manhood will be morally stark death, and the plainest national prosperity figures can show, will be the Writing on the Wall.” From this sentence, there are many contradictory phrases like humble creatures, and beautiful lives of machinery. The phrase is also satirical because it calls on the readers to take progressive action in order to fix a societal flaw.
ReplyDeleteIn the "Allegory of the Cave" people are incapable of seeing anything other than what they are told to see. The shadows, like the lessons taught at Gradgrind's school, reflect superficial knowledge and the lack of any self exploration of thought. Like the people in "Allegory of the Cave" the people in Hard Times see only what they are told to see and think within the restrictions of the Victorian era. They all see shadows and outlines and facts, but never use creativity to fill in the darkness. Dickens and Plato portray the same kind of society-one in which people lose sight of their individuality and succumb to conventional practices.
So... who is ceb? Anyways... I got innuendos and although Derek did a good job defining it, I might as well add to it. Well, I'll start that saying that in today's society, innuendos are pretty much associated with sexual innuendos, which is only a tiny portion of the story. An innuendo is pretty much just a slanderous remark on a person. It could perhaps talk about the person's body.
ReplyDeleteInnuendos help add to satire by creating remarks that may describe a person, but really talk about something as a whole. Innuendos could be used to show thoughts of the time and they can also be used to show and hint towards the tints of bias that the author has. If he starts talking about nobles and talks about their skinny legs, or their fat asses or whatever, you could really start to guess that this person doesn't seem to like nobles as a whole.
In Dickens, he uses an innuendo on page 42, describing Mrs. Sparsit. "when Sparsit was of age, and chiefly noticeable for her slender body... surmounted by a head not worth mentioning." We see here that he is describing her as being rather hot, but really she has nothing more than that. She could be lacking a pure mind or she could be lacking the intellect that others might be attracted to. Here we do see the bias of the good old Dickens.
Might I add that all these comments that are piling on top of eachother and getting deleted makes it hard for me to look up and read other people's blogs as I write this? :/
Moving on to Plato... Glaucon is a tool... He is pretty much that dude staring at his own shadow, blindly agreeing with it. Sure he's supposed to represent out thinking process and sure Socrates is pretty deductive here, but I mean come on... Say something other than sure, that's the same as me saying ok ok ok, which just pisses my brother off... But I digress...
We do see a bit of this theory in things like the Matrix (props to http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-allegory-of-the-cave.htm which helped me understand this thing after I got sick of listening to Socrates and fricking Glaucon and just tuned out of my reading...). This sort of idea relates to Gradgrind and his philosophy, but slowly and painfully realizes the error of his philosophy and thus changes. He walks out of the shadow which was his fact and goes into the light, seeing those who continue to stare at the shadow with so much pity. Hard Times really does follow this Platonic thought by having this sort of change in thought in so many of the characters. Sadly enough though, few beat the Matrix in having this though, not even kdramas.
BTW, I saw this amazing commercial from Korean TV where all these guys all over the world were watching kdramas. Africans were crying cause of a scene, we had some Asians getting hyped up, some Americans cuddling like the horny little bastards they are (mini innuendo attempt!) and there were some Indians too, pretty enlightening if you ask me!