An Essay of Man 06/25/13

Man's Role in the Divine Order

Universally, mankind has struggled to comprehend the existence of evil and disorder in a divinely created and ordered world. How could God, who is all knowing and good, be responsible for atrocities and injustices that take place in his perfect creation? In An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope seeks to illuminate the “Wisdom infinite” (Line 44) of God’s divinely ordered universe and persuade humanity to accept its limited comprehension of the order of God’s plan. Man is prone to taking tragedies personally and using his unique power of reason to try to make sense of wrongs in the world. His reasoning leads him to question how God could allow such wrongs to exist, and to this question Pope responds, “whatever wrong we call, May, must be right, as relative to all” (51-52).

Pope asserts that man’s pride fuels his reasoning but “to reason right is to submit” (165) to the mysterious will of the divine and accept that each individual is simply a part of “the amazing Whole” (248). It is absurd and narcissistic to assume that the universe should revolve around man or for man to challenge the divine Order. Pope compares the “stupendous whole” (265) of the world to existing of nature as its body and God as its soul. In this sense, man is but a miniscule part of nature, and everything in the universe is as perfect as it was designed to be. Pope commands man to accept his limited scope of the “mighty maze” (6) and to “Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear” (295). Man’s purpose is to attain happiness in this life, not to use his power of reason to try to grasp knowledge that is beyond his realm of comprehension. To achieve happiness, man must surrender his pride and acknowledge that “Whatever Is, Is Right” (293). 

Pope’s arguments certainly seem legitimate when one considers humanity’s limited understanding of the universe and all of its scientific functions. Though man would like to believe he is the most intelligent creature, he is limited in his ability to fully access the complex workings of nature. Man still hasn’t mastered science; humanity is constantly researching, inventing, and progressing, but it is still far from ever uncovering all the secrets of physics, biology, and chemistry. If man struggles to comprehend science and nature, how can he ever comprehend or think to question God, the “soul” of the world, and his divine will? 

Work Cited

Pope, Alexander. An Essay of Man.  The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin  Puchner. Vol. 1.  New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. 90-97. Print.

"Barbarism" of Cultures 06/20/13

Montaigne

In his book, Essays, Michel de Montaigne examines what it means to be human and how the “mind works” (1649). Rather than focusing on differences in civilizations, Montaigne argues that “cultural norms are relative and should be free from judgment” (1649).  Montaigne boldly asserts that the term barbarism is defined as anything that is not “in one’s own practice,” (1653) and his views are corroborated by the judgments held by technologically advanced civilizations which perceive simplistic and primitive lives as being barbaric. For instance, many people find it difficult to relate to the lives of the Amish, many of whom refuse to utilize the luxury of electricity and have maintained an isolated existence despite being surrounded by advanced civilization. 

The ideologies of the Amish differ from those of the dominant culture in their preference for simplistic and domestic life. The Amish stand out immediately in a crowd, clad in what many would refer to as outdated garb. Children are schooled at home or in small school houses and are sheltered from most of popular culture. What might be the most “barbaric” feature of the Amish is their use of a horse and buggy for commuting rather than a motorized vehicle. Some may struggle to understand how or why a group would choose to live such an old-fashioned way of life amidst the technological advancements of the twenty-first century, but similar to the barbaric civilizations in Montaigne’s essay, “Of Cannibals,” those living an old-fashioned way of life actually “retain…their genuine, their most useful and natural, virtues and properties, which we have debased…in adapting them to gratify our corrupted taste” (1653).  The Amish rely on nature and one another for survival; they do not need to conform to the dominant culture’s use of technology, and they actively protect their children from many of the corruptions that accompany modern life. In doing so, it may be said that it is not they who are barbaric, but rather the majority of Westerners who have lost their ability to fend for themselves and instead rely solely on technology and the labor of others in order to survive. 

Works cited

 “Michel de Montaigne.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin  Puchner. Vol.

            1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. 1647-1650. Print.

Montaigne, Michel de. Essays. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin

Puchner. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. 1650-1665. Print.

Wedding Traditions Around the World 06/13/13

Sunjata

The bride-carrying ceremony in the West African epic, “Sunjata,” originated from the fact that the feet of the new bride, Sologon Conde, are twisted, so whenever she tries to walk toward the home of her new husband, Maghan Konfara, she kicks dust onto the other women in the town. As a result, the women carry her while singing a humiliating song to her the entire way. The women begin first by making light of the fact that Sologon’s feet kick up dust as they sing, “Walk well. Do not put us in the dust” (Sunjata 761-762) and then continue their taunt by singing about her bald head by comparing it to a “Heron-head” (780). Upon arriving at Maghan Konfara’s home, the women stick their heads in and out of the house three times before sending the bride inside in order to avert the sorcery with which her husband uses to battle his wife’s own use of magic. 

In Zulu wedding tradition, The Zulu people of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa follow a song-filled wedding ritual by going to the groom's home where a cow is slaughtered as a sign that the bride is welcomed in her new home. The marriage finally becomes official when the bride puts money in the cow's stomach (Pappas). The wedding traditions in “Sunjata” and in Zulu culture are similar in their incorporation of song into the wedding ceremony, though they vary in the fact that Zulu culture is deeply rooted in animal sacrifice and precise rituals whereas “Sunjata” emphasizes the use of dalilu (magic). From a Western perspective, animal sacrifice is typically viewed as barbaric, but because it has been written about and studied in several other civilizations, its effect is not necessarily horrifying to most Westerners. However, the image of a bride inserting her hand into a dead cow’s stomach is certainly a gruesome one, and it is not an activity in which the typical Western woman would choose to participate---especially on her wedding day.  

Works Cited

Pappas, Stephanie. “10 Wedding Traditions from Around the World." LiveScience.com. Live

Science, 01 Nov. 2011. Web. 12 June 2013.

“Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples.” Trans. David C. Conrad.  The Norton

Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton,

2013. 1517-1576. Print.

Images and Japanese Poetry 06/09/2013

Basho

The video, “Matsuo Basho,” created by Raul Santiago Sabazco juxtaposes images, the majority of which include landscapes depicting water, with lines of Basho’s haiku poetry. The natural world and simplistic scenes of everyday life are conveyed through haiku, and the images presented in the video seem to mirror the various scenes Basho may have encountered on his journey as depicted in The Narrow Road to the Deep North (324). The video begins by showing a map titled, “Basho’s Journey,” and is followed by simple scenes such as a Japanese woman combing her hair. This image is coupled with the lines, “wrapping rice dumplings in bamboo leaves/ with one hand she fingers / the hair over her forehead.” The combination of the image and the poem allows readers to experience a moment of everyday life for Japanese women through two mediums, which ultimately reinforces the significance of the moment itself.

The video presents an image of a boat in the water which further demonstrates the connection to Basho’s journey. A picture of a snowy hilltop is coupled with the lines, “with an air of a century past / the fallen leaves on the garden,” and the combination of the landscape and the poetry seems to signify a change in seasons. A progression through both time and space is noted throughout the video as the images of boats in the water suggest the progression of Basho’s journey, while the poetry and images depicting seasonal landscapes demonstrate the passage of time. An image of people carrying things along the shoreline and the subsequent lines, “The sweet spring night / of cherry blossom viewing / has ended” suggest that the seasons are again changing, and there appears to be a sense of something significant coming to an end. The lines, “on a withered branch / a crow has settled- / autumn night fall,” paired with an image of a trail suggest yet another change in seasons, and the word “settled” seems to imply that the journey has ended.

The selected lines of poetry paired with the images produces a heightened awareness of the cyclical nature of both Basho’s physical journey and the natural world around him. The lines of poetry suggest Basho’s contemplative thoughts as he continues on his journey, while the changing of seasons implies a passage of time, and the intermittent images of boats and water remind the viewer of the progression of the journey.

Works Cited

Basho, Matsuo. The Narrow Road to the Deep North.  The Norton Anthology of World Literature.

Ed. Martin Puchner. Vol. I. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2013. 325-336. Print.

Sabaczo, Raul Santiago. "Mashuo Basho." Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 09 Apr. 2010. Web. 08

               

                June 2013.