Prompt #3
Both of these speeches were presented in front of an audience, one for a graduating class and the other for a room full of people watching Morrison accept her Nobel Prize. Morrison gave a passionate, detailed speech about the one thing she loves and cares for the most; language. In the speech her views on language were that it was dying. She believes the older generation of people can do nothing to help. She personified the bird in her story as language and the children are the ones who need to make sure it doesn't die. The purpose of the story being, it is up to the younger generation of the world to make sure the art of language never dies. Morrison gave her speech in front of thousands of people so her message could be heard. Likewise, in "This is Water", Wallace wants his audience, a graduating class, to know that the world doesn't revolve around just them, even though our "default-setting" seems to think so. I believe he made this speech specifically for the graduating class because he's trying to prepare them for the real world. The purpose of his speech is to let everyone know that although we are self-centered and usually only think about ourselves, there is a world out there in front of us and we need to pay attention. If we don't we could be stuck in the "default-setting", only worrying about ourselves until we're so caught up in our own worlds and problems that we don't see anything else.
I disagree with your statement, "She believes the older generation of people can do nothing to help." The group of young people specifically sought out the old woman renowned for her wisdom. They both tested each other, to see if their hopes would be fulfilled, the old woman wanting someone to give wisdom to, and the young group someone to receive wisdom from. You can tell that the wise woman is pleased with the company and ready to help by the last paragraph, ""Finally", she says, "I trust you now. I trust you with the bird that is not in your hands because you have truly caught it. Look. How lovely it is, this thing we have done - together."" Toni Morrison believes it is the responsibility of the old to teach the young how to use language and ready them for adult life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you state that Toni believes that the language is dying and that she thinks that is up to the younger generation to keep language alive. Something you might want to consider explaining is, which language is she talking about? A specific language? Or all Language? If you remember she got the Noble Prize for literature. Is it possible that she is talking about the written language? Like books, articles and even letters? She wrote this speech in 1993 so computers, TVs and cell phones were just coming into the picture. Maybe she thought that this new technology was going to start making this language obsolete.
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