This week, the first topic I wanted to touch on was why we turn to history. History has many uses. The average person may develop an interest in history for any number of reasons. I think that in a way, as humans, we find comfort in history. While the future is untold, and many people would agree, unpredictable, history has already occurred, been recorded, and observed by many. We can of course, still be cynical regarding the actions taken by historical figures, but I think we find a sense of comfort in reading a story in which the ending is concrete, and understood by many. Someone like a politician, or lawyer, however, may look at history for a different reason. For instance, a lawyer may look to history for precedence regarding a case they’re working on. To create a stronger argument, they may draw your attention to a similar case that already happened. A politician, may look to history to draw a quote from a great historical figure. They may even compare themselves to said figure, like Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill etc. To me, a politician looks to history to brand themselves. There are so many uses for history beyond just another course for students to take. My discussion question for this topic is how does the way we study history impact the way we understand it?
The second topic I wanted to cover was why Martí writes the way he does. As covered in the lecture, his letter is chock-full of metaphors and allegories. I think the reason he uses so many allegories is because he thinks it’s the easiest way to get his point across. Often times, people of a high intelligence, while they may be smart, struggle to teach, or communicate their thoughts. I think the way he communicates that the Americas are a “sleepy hometown” helps to emphasize the point he’s trying to make. Communicating through letters can also bring more struggles than talking to someone. While you have more time to perfect what you’re saying, it’s not always as easy to predict the other persons response. I think his excessive use of allegories is meant to paint a picture of Latin America. Sometimes, however, I think that the overuse of allegories can hurt more than help. For eventually, the entire text becomes an allegory, and it gets harder to understand rather than easier. My discussion question for this section is how do we balance out the amount of metaphors/allegories used so that our text still makes sense?
The second topic I wanted to cover was why Martí writes the way he does. As covered in the lecture, his letter is chock-full of metaphors and allegories. I think the reason he uses so many allegories is because he thinks it’s the easiest way to get his point across. Often times, people of a high intelligence, while they may be smart, struggle to teach, or communicate their thoughts. I think the way he communicates that the Americas are a “sleepy hometown” helps to emphasize the point he’s trying to make. Communicating through letters can also bring more struggles than talking to someone. While you have more time to perfect what you’re saying, it’s not always as easy to predict the other persons response. I think his excessive use of allegories is meant to paint a picture of Latin America. Sometimes, however, I think that the overuse of allegories can hurt more than help. For eventually, the entire text becomes an allegory, and it gets harder to understand rather than easier. My discussion question for this section is how do we balance out the amount of metaphors/allegories used so that our text still makes sense?
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI found your first topic about why we turn to history really interesting and I've never thought about that before. I guess, like you said, learning history is like reading a book which always has a certain ending. I think the way we learn history really does affects the way we understand it. For example, studying about war from the perspective of the winners and of the losers can drastically change the way a person views the events which happened.
I think for your second discussion question, metaphors/allegories should be used to help grasp complex ideas and so, the two should come after the idea worded in literal terms(if that makes sense). Unless the authors goal is to make the reader freely interpret the text from various different angles, I personally prefer the amount of explanations and metaphors/allegories to be half and half.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to ponder about new ideas!
Hi! I personally found it quite difficult to read Martí’s letter. While it’s a super interesting piece to analyze because of the metaphors and allegories, I think they also make it a little bit confusing to follow. In other words, instead of thinking about Martí’s main points, I found myself trying to analyze the metaphors and make sense of them. Of course, maybe I am saying all this because I like reading texts when the message is clear and direct! haha
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ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post and I thought your points were really interesting! I think the way we study history is always through some sort of lens whether it be through the time period in which we live, our life experiences, gender, race, etc. I think it can be difficult to look at history through a solely objective point of view without imparting some piece of us in it. How we come understand is relating it to us in some way.- Madeleine k.