When thinking about what object to write about on my final essay, I started thinking of objects with deeper meanings. How can a can of soup epitomize an artistic movement? How can an apple pie portray the values of a nation? How can a website characterize a generation? In our society, everyday objects gain deeper meaning based on their connotation.
As i thought of these objects, I found a reoccurring theme of celebration. Confetti is thrown on new years, beads are used in Mardi Gras, balloons are the perfect party decoration and great for sending your congratulations and cake is a sweet treat for birthdays and wedding alike. However, out of all of the objects pertaining to celebration, I find fireworks to be the most iconic. Whether it be the Fourth of July, New years, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games or the Superbowl halftime, fireworks not only captivate but dazzle audiences.
Fireworks, which were invented in 7th century china, come in all types: colorful, loud, big, small, bright, dull, smiley faces and stars . The brilliant colors in fireworks come from the burning metal compounds. vivid strontium forms a vivid red, calcium burns orange, sodium burns yellow, barium burns green, copper burns blue, cesium burns indigo, potassium/rubidium burn violet and iron burns gold. But the mechanics is not what makes them special. It is their symbolic meaning and history that sets them apart from party favors like balloons or cake.
In the novel, Kafka Was the Rage - A Greenwich Village Memoir, books have a strong symbolic undertone (like fireworks on the 4th of July). After World War II there was an obsession with the immersion of literature by the people of Greenwich Village. Books were so revered, "To open a bookshop is one of the persistent romances, like living off the land or sailing around the world." (page 28) When choosing an object for my research paper, it is vital to pick one with the same strength of symbolic undertones. Rubber ducks symbolize childhood and innocence and fireworks symbolize freedom, independence, nationality and pride. By choosing an object with deep societal meaning, I will not only have much more to write about, but it will make my essay more interesting and meaningful.
Dear Andrew Roth,
ReplyDeleteI find some flaws in this post. First of all you say, "Rubber ducks symbolize childhood and innocence and fireworks symbolize freedom, independence, nationality and pride. By choosing an object with deep societal meaning, I will not only have much more to write about. . ." I don't understand how you will have "much more to write about." For example, the symbolism of the rubber ducks in Hohn's book is just one "lens" that he looks through. He looks through several other lenses, including the environment, manufacturing, etc. The fact that he chose to write about the symbolism did not give Hohn "much more to write about." It only gave him one other thing to write about.
You also say, "It is their symbolic meaning and history that sets them apart from party favors like balloons or cake." I thought you were talking about how the symbolism of certain objects will enhance your essay? Now you're saying how the history of that object can better your essay? The fact of the matter is this: many things that the writer chooses to write about will make the essay "interesting and meaningful." The writer does not necessarily have to choose a symbolic object, because "symbolism" is just one angle at which an object can be looked. I think if you focus your whole paper on the symbolism of an object, you will in fact do the opposite of what the paper is asking you to do, and that is look at an object from several perspectives.
Love,
Nick Frontera
The point of this essay is to look at common objects through different lenses/ perspectives. If you were to choose something as monotonous as say.... the greek underworld. you will end up writing solely about mythology and a few novels and movies that have used adaptations of the idea. I think the point of the assignment is to not merely write a research paper, but to emulate the style Donovan Hohn used when writing his novel. Objects should have societal importance (not just saying that there was a three headed dog in harry potter) just as the ducks symbolized modern consumerism and ecological impact.
ReplyDeleteI think that there's two ways to look at an object symbolically. You can look at an object in terms of how it's symbolic to you, and you can look at an object in terms of how it's stereotypically symbolic. I think that this creates a really interesting set of lenses.
ReplyDeleteFor example, you talk about fireworks as an example. I would agree that the stereotype is that fireworks represent celebration and joy. However, that isn't really what fireworks mean to me. When I was little, my uncle and cousins (who enjoy buying and setting off illegal fireworks during the summer) convinced me that there was a man somewhere hosing down the sparks that fell from the fireworks. They said that if the man with the hose ever stopped protecting us from the sparks, they'd fall on me and burn me alive. My family is a little twisted, but that's not my point. My point is that there are different types of symbolism. I wouldn't say that fireworks represent fear to me, exactly, seeing as I'm older now and understand that there is no man with a hose, but I've never really understood why fireworks fascinate people so much. Yes, they're pretty. But at the same time, they're kind of just loud and obnoxious. And most firework shows tend to be almost exactly the same. However, that's just my perspective, there are many different lenses.
When I chose my object (the Pink Pearl eraser) I took a slightly different approach. Instead of looking at and pinpointing exactly what this object symbolizes, I was more curious about what it says about our culture. Erasers get rid of mistakes, so is society aiming for perfection? In elementary school I would always look forward to school supply shopping and having a fresh Pink Pearl eraser. It was so perfect and clean, and I never wanted to use it. However, I always ended up using it. At parent- teacher conferences, my teachers would always tell my parents that everything I did took so much longer than the other kids because I was a perfectionist. Each year it was the same thing, my teachers would say, "Even if just a T was not crossed correctly, Taylor erases the whole word and rewrites it." By the end of each year, my eraser was only a scrap of the Pink Pearl that is started out as. Do erasers say that our culture is striving for perfection?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the object has to be symbolic and have a deeper meaning than meets the eye. However, like andrew said, if you use an object that is universally agreed upon to have a lot of symbolism (like the Greek Underworld) you aren't bringing anything "new" to the table. You aren't showing the readers/ your audience a new way to look at an object that people do not normally see it.
ReplyDeleteDespite the idea-bashing going on here, I think that this argument in many ways relates to my earlier blog about the trustworthiness of the written word. As we each try to approach our subject matter with varying lenses, our ability to express our subject is going to be dependent on our theses. Even if we analyze our subject matter through impartial lenses, our main intent (or mine at least) is to support the claim. Consider the implications of the lenses that we CHOOSE to include. Isn't that choice (to include some lenses and not others) by itself another lens through which we can view our respective subjective matters? Hence, I really don't think it is fair to criticize someone else's subject without understanding what it is they are trying to prove.
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