A common theme I got from both of these readings, was how words can define or influence us and how other people perceive us. In Words Become Us, the focus seems to be mainly on how words can influence our lives. Imbrie was influenced by the words of poets that Gordan introduced her to. That influence shaped her life. She speaks of how words helped her define herself as a person and grow. They also influenced Gordan and his life; in school he loved literature, but when he left school, he seemed to loose that love and the person he once was. I thought the connections Imbrie made between self discovery and literature were great and can be connected back to everyone in some way or another. While my history with literature isn't anything close to Imbrie's, I can honestly say that some of the literature I read in middle and high school, and even some of the kids books from elementary school, have had lasting impressions on me.
In Mother Tongue I saw similar examples of how words can influence our definitions of ourselves, but I was more focused on the idea that words can influence how others define us. I think this is why I found this piece so interesting. It made me think of the influence language has on perception. I guess it should have been obvious, but I never really thought about how a persons language influences how I judge or perceive them. In Mother Tongue, Amy talks about how people would degrade her mother just because she didn't speak perfect english. This really made me think about all the times when I might have done the same thing to someone. Just because Amy's mother spoke in 'broken' english that didn't mean she was any less intelligent than any else. The whole piece just really made me think about how native speakers of a language use their knowledge of that particular language to make themselves seem superior. After reading this, I started to realize all the different ways a person's knowledge of language can affect how others perceive them.
Hey Caity,
ReplyDeleteI agree totally with you when you said that things we read have lasting impressions on us! There are books that I have read as far back as elementary school that I still remember exactly what happened in them! I agree with you completely when you say that whatever we read has a lasting impression on us. I also believe it changes how we think after we read them!
I agree with everything you stated here. I wish you would have spoke up more when we were in our groups to give some of these imputs! And yes, I think a lot of what we read, and see (as in TV) can really leave lasting impressions. There are many books I tend to think about here and there, and many TV shows and movies, or even lyrics in songs that have touched me and stayed with me since I've seen/heard/read them.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, language does really influence our perception on people. We view how someone speaks as how intelligent they are. But I know I have trouble putting my thoughts into words sometimes, and that just might be the case for some who don't know how to say theirs, as well.
Good job! :)
I agree 100% here! I found it really interesting the think about how much our speech affects people's perception of us, too. You're right about that being obvious. I just never took the time to think about it before. Anyways, I loved your post and I couldn't agree more :)
ReplyDeleteCaity, Thanks for taking up the topic of language here and for analyzing not only the texts but your responses to them.
ReplyDeleteI think when you talk about how language is used to create superiority you are naming something HUGE and important about power and language work together.
This will be a great topic to keep exploring in different ways this semester.