Facebook !

            As if parents did not already have enough to worry about now they need to worry about their children displaying negative psychological effects from over using facebook.

             

Facebook is very popular social networking site over eight hundred million users. As an avid user of facebook myself, I find it hard to believe that at one point it didn’t exist. Infact, it has become so much apart of people’s lives that you can learn their life story just by checking their page. Their friends, likes and dislikes relationship status

Phone numbers address everything.

           Social media like facebook may both positive and negative effects. Talking about positive aspects of facebook, it helps to keeping touch with family and friends making new friends, expressing you.

         As we have many positive aspects of facebook we have many negative aspects and effects of the social media. Use of social media may harm on our creativity and knowledge. Creative power may get generated from social media but it doesn’t make that creative power of learning.

            Facebook has many possibilities of doing well in life. We can find relevant things which we need in our life including authentic knowledge about different application, instant news, word-making games, IQ test, etc. Facebook mainly used by different people having different perception. Some of them used facebook as communication tool, some as the media which is helpful in their daily lives.

            Negative psychological effects of facebook from ‘Overdosing’. Latest research which examines teens and facebook was conducted using 1,000 teen surveys and observation of 300 teens actively studying. It concluded that multiple negative psychological effects could result from spending too much time on facebook and other social media.

            Negative effects of facebook on teens who overuse this social media include; teens whose facebook frequently may became narcissistic, teens who have a strong facebook presence may display psychological disorders, such as anti-social behaviours, and mania and aggressive tendencies.

            Facebook do not only effects on mentally but it also effects in educational aspects. Although this pretty much goes without saying, being connected to technology on a ongoing basis can seriously impact on teen’s education.

            The time has come to determine which should take and which should left for using social media. Parents and families also have the responsibility to lessen the negative effects of facebook and its overuse on their children. Parents should not foster their children to monitoring such software at home.

           Psychological and educational effects of facebook, other technologies and media on children is invaluable. Perhaps attentive family/parents have already take action. But for those that have not, it is the time to wake up to the consequences of facebook and overuse can have on our children and combat it.

Ways of Seeing

Ways of Seeing

-         John Berger

When it comes to art, personal perception of a piece should be the principle driving force to understanding art. In Ways of Seeing, John Berger mentions that a person’s perception of art can be influenced by outside factors, such as captions or information about the artist. Even though this does alter what someone thinks of a piece of art, I believe this has a positive effect rather than a negative one on one’s perception. More information allows the person to understand art at a secondary level; he can delve deeper into the reason why someone created this piece of art and relate it to his own feelings about it.

Berger also states his views on the reproduction of art and while I disagree that it devalues a piece of art, I understand his opinion as well. An original piece of work has its own aura. No matter how many reproductions you see, only the original contains the true artists mark. For example, in the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo, the famous painting God creates Adam is on the ceiling. If you google it, you can find an image of it in a matter of seconds. But if you visit the chapel, the view is completely different; you see the connection of how God created Adam to other paintings on the ceiling of the chapel. It completes the pictures and creates a story for the observer. Plus, the ceiling itself is beautiful because of the immense detail and color scheme created by Michaelangelo. So just like Milana said in a previous post, art is still thrilling even though you saw the reproduction before the original. However, reproductions introduce such great pieces of art to people who cannot readily observe it. I believe Berger is incorrect in saying that reproductions negatively impact art. A teacher once told me that when people copy your work, it means they like it and it has some sort of value. So reproductions actually increase the importance of a certain art.

In the next chapter, Berger speaks about the difference between nudity and nakedness. I agree with him that “men act and women appear”. If we break it down, women want to attract men and men want to find women they are attracted to. A woman in nude makes her body more public and therefore allows men to appreciate her while a woman who is naked is more private with her body.
John Berger brings up a few good points but I believe he generalizes the public too much and even stereotypes them. I look forward to reading more of Ways of Seeing.
            In his book Ways of Seeing, John Berger discusses the ways in which people perceive different works of art, and the ways art has evolved during a time of emerging technological advancements. Berger explains that there is no way of knowing exactly what moment the artist was trying to capture or what he/she wanted to portray by painting the portrait. In this sense, painting are silent and it is up to viewers to decipher what the artist meant when he/she painted the portrait. Viewers can only try to interpret what they see by learning about the backround/history of the artist and by analyzing the techniques used in the portrait. Berger also goes on to say that the way we describe something is preceded by the way we see it, but words cannot do justice to what we see, or explain what we see with our own eyes. I experienced this dumbstruck feeling at the Brooklyn Museum when I saw the breathtaking paintings but could not come up with the words to adequately describe what I saw. Berger explains that a drastic change that has occured as a result of society’s technological advancements is the development of the camera, which allows for easy reproduction of once prized and elite paintings. While paintings used to be signs of status and class and used to be valued and esteemed for their selectivity, they are currently much more accessible to people all over the world. However, because of the reproduction of paintings, art is more widely viewed and advertised through books, posters, and even television. Many people have even neglected to enjoy and experience art for its talent, aesthetics, history, or meaning, and instead see art as a means to make a profit. I agree with Berger that the way art is viewed has evolved dramatically due to technology and social change, and more and more people tend to overlook art’s true meanings instead of appreciating it for its aesthetics and significance.

The Achievement of Desire

The Achievement of Desire

- Richard Rodriguez

This is the story of a man who found himself through education. His whole life he was eager to read books and learn more and more. He was the kid in class who always raised his hand, and would always be caught reading a book at home all by himself. He came from a middle class Mexican family that had struggled to make it to where they were in the social structure. His parents were somewhat educated, but worked hard to make a living. His siblings were also smart, but Richard always felt like he was by himself. He had great parents but hints that there was never that special bond between them, that his family and school were two different worlds he had to learn to live with. He states “But withheld from my mother and father was any mention of what most mattered to me: the extraordinary experience of first learning,” (p. 623) and he shows how he would not just open up to his parents when they asked what was new. He would just reply with the “same old stuff” answer.  His education had culturally seperated him from his parents, the same education that has made him realize this fact and speak out about it.

The “Achievement of Desire”, is a retrospective style essay by Richard Rodriguez. Now, a doctoral graduate in literature from the University of California Berkeley, Rodriguez began his education in the state’s capital, Sacramento. His reflective look at his education, from elementary level to college admittance at Stanford, includes family dynamics, educators, and the introspective self-examination of how these influences affected his childhood…….His success.

        Richard begins his educational experience with memories of the second grade, a hispanic student out of his cultural realm of language and social status. As a “working-class child”, in a private parochial school, he felt completely out-of-place. His parents, hard-working un-educated, placed him in private school so as to give Richard all the opportunities a good education can provide. Their own lack of education resulting in dead-end hard labor employment only, they wanted more for their three children, Richard being the youngest. Very early Richard sees the differences between school and the affiliation of his home life. His parents speech for instance, was filled with mis-pronounced words, incorrect or out-dated facts were corrected by the pretentious second grader. By the third grade he began to alienate his family by creating physical space between himself and the daily commotion attributed to a family of five. Richard makes a comment about shifting  his “allegiance”, from his parents to his teachers with his acts of exclusion from daily family life. As Richard quotes in his essay,”He takes his first step towards academic success, away from his family”. He had chosen school life and its demands, pouring himself solely into his studies. Richard’s older brother and sister were “good students”, with lots of shiny trophies earned by their many academic achievements. Richard mentions an almost “rival” type relationship that exists between he and his siblings. Admitting that he was jealous at the “ease” that his brother and sister portrayed in regards to their academia. Instead, Richard says he felt unconfident and anxious. Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez were supportive of their children, attending each graduation, camera in hand. Meanwhile, Richard gives all the credit of his academic success to his teachers.
           In the search for “dedicated” type people, a convent would surely rank high on the list of places to look. Richard knows he was sent to a good school. He Writes, “My earliest teachers, the nuns, made my success their ambition”. The many praises given by his teachers must have been the affirmation needed by the young Richard Rodriguez. He reports quickly conforming to their every action, diction and direction. Over ambitious, while lacking in self-confidence and self acceptance, he found ways of getting undivided attention from his teachers. His teachers compliments had become more important than those of his parents, a shift in respect had occurred. Richard reflects upon a particular instance on returning home from school with the compliment, “I’m so proud, you have almost completely lost your spanish accent”, from one of the nuns. This conforming compliment, set deep in memory like a turning point. Richard took a greater interest in his english class, reading and writing on everything the nuns suggested. He began to blossom socially, feeling more and sounding more like his classmates. According to his mother, the nuns at the precocial school were the best teachers. The school and its academic reputation had high regards in the capital city of California, a state that has been considered to be trend setting and inventive in its education system. Good teachers create great students. Teachers who look beyond their normal curriculum guidelines, those willing to see their students as individuals with varied interests and talents. Educators that evoke self-reliance, self-identity, and the ability to recognize change and growth within ourselves like Richard’s teachers did for him.
          Richard Rodriguez the man, finally recognizes the effects of his education and school life on the boy. He reflects on the need to separate himself from his parents and their inclusion in school functions like awards ceremonies or any direct contact with his teachers. The embarrassment of the child, became a shameful act when viewed by the adult Richard. His childhood anger misguided at his parents limitations, became shame as he reached adolescence. Finally realizing his parents sacrifice to send their children to a school they could not afford was an important step towards adulthood for Richard. Describing his father as always laid back asleep in front of the television mouth wide open, snoring, unable to help with homework as a child; now reflects as an adult, the long over-time hours worked to pay for his children’s private education. The secretarial jobs his mother spent years at without chance of advancement in pay or professional status to help cover education costs. The adult Richard Rodriguez gives his gratitude and respect to his parents for their support in his success. He thanks them for the push towards english studies, instead of the anger he held earlier as a child. A published, well-respected author, Richard’s parents “Must be proud”!

Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage

Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage

- Renato Rosaldo

In Renato Rosaldo’s “Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage” Rosaldo writes about ritual and the connection it has with emotion, more specifically of the emotions associated with death. the ritual mentioned through this essay is the ritual of Ilongot Headhunting. Rosaldo’s argument is “that ritual in general and Ilongot headhunting in particular form the intersection of multiple coexisting social processes,” but it should also be recognized that those in the center of the ritual will have more feelings aroused from the ritual than those on the outer edges. (594) The way sociologists study cultures should change towards attempting to understand, instead of the traditional attempt to explain.

Rosaldo used these words to describe them: “The Ilongots… number about 3,500 and reside in an upland area some ninety miles northeast of Manila, Philippines. For themselves, their neighbors, and their ethnographers, headhunting stands out as the Ilongots’ most salient cultural practice” (588). The Ilongots of this time practiced headhunting as a means to release the rage created from a devastating loss, as he describes: “He (an Ilongot) says that rage, born of grief, impels him to kill his fellow human beings. He claims that he needs a place… ‘to carry his anger.’ The act of… tossing away the victim’s head enables him… (to) throw away the anger of his bereavement” (588). The Ilongot man is saying that this rage must be vented and focused away from those around him. Here, it become evident that those in the center are in the focus. The Ilongot says how the rage is born of grief, and those in grief (the ones who experienced the loss) will be those in the focus of this ritual. Those outside of the focus will not experience the full emotion of headhunting. Later in the essay, Rosaldo mentions how he just did not understand how the grief and rage was connected, but says he now understands, after a tragic loss of his own, that to an Ilongot they went together in the most obvious manner.

Headhunting is a ritual based on the grief resulting from loss. A ritual with familiar causes, a funeral, helps in relating to the issue. While analyzing funerals, it became paramount to pick a single one and expand from there. It is of the last funeral I attended. It becomes obvious that funerals contain several parts, those of focus may be labeled as; memorial, symbolism, and acceptance. Starting with memorial and symbolism, it become understandable how something seen as normal by some can be outright unusual for others. Within the memorial of the mentioned funeral, the funeral of my friend Kris, there were pictures on display. While varying from wrestling, cross country, navy photos, and a picture of him fishing, the pictures show the presence of memories lessening the blow of the loss. Affirming what they did in life was great, but is this logic obvious to all?Rosaldo describes: “Once the raiders kill their victim, they toss away the head rather than keep it as a trophy. In tossing away the head, they claim by analogy to cast away their life burdens, including the rage in their grief.”(598) Throwing the head away, is how the Ilongots reach acceptance; while acceptance isn’t a part of the ritual, the ritual often forms a catalyst with a product being acceptance. The methods of acceptance are countless. some of the more apparent ones can vary from crying, to punching, and even drinking in excess. Looking from the outside what would someone see when they look at someone sobbing uncontrollably, punching a wall, or an all night drinking binge?, They would see not the feeling of acceptance only what an outsider would see, and those in the very thick of it all the methods of acceptance can become all the more abstract. The afore mentioned funeral caused me to have the urge to fish because it was the main thing Kris and I had done together lately. While someone could say that it made perfect sense that I would have the urge to do so, the question remains: what would be seen by an outsider?

Another key part of a funeral is some symbolism; akin to the Ilongot throwing the head of a victim away, the symbolism is used to express some idea; the thought of them (the dead) being buried or cremated, aside from any specific spiritual beliefs, affirms that they are gone from the living world. This along with the memorial forms the catalyst to acceptance in this case then.

Rosaldo goes on to the criticize on the way anthropologists tried to understand cultural aspects objectively, as many aspects of culture require one to be a part of the culture to understand it: “After being repositioned through a devastating loss of my own [I could] better grasp that Ilongot older men mean precisely what they say… [their] anger and my own overlap, rather like two circles, partially overlaid and partially separate. They are not identical” (589-593). Here he notes that he could grasp that they mean what they say; however, he also understands “All interpretations are provisional; they are made by positioned subjects who are prepared to know certain things and not others. Even when knowledgeable, sensitive, fluent in language, and able to move easily in an alien cultural world, good ethnographers still have their limits, and their analyses always are incomplete” (598). This becomes a reoccurring theme throughout the essay: this idea of understanding a culture to be futile, as cultures are subjective, and only those within it will truly understand.
Further into his essay the “devastating loss” that Rosaldo mentions is explained as the loss of his wife after she fell down a cliff into a river:

Immediately on finding her body I became enraged. How could she abandon me? How could she have been so stupid as to fall?... Going down I find a group of men, maybe seven or eight, standing still, silent, and I heave and sob, but no tears (He describes this later to be a form of rage)…’ Such feelings can be aroused by rituals, but more often they emerge from unexpected reminders. (593)
The loss of his wife allowed him to feel the rage associated with death, and he feels actual rage towards his now dead wife. This is where the anger stems from, the anger that a person Rosaldo cared for is lost forever. Going on further, he explains a denial of rage among Anglo-Americans: “… upper-middle-class Anglo-American culture tends to ignore the rage devastating losses can bring. Paradoxically, this culture’s conventional wisdom usually denies the anger in grief at the same time that therapists encourage members of the invisible community of the bereaved to talk in detail about how angry their losses make them feel” (593). this denial is part of the cultural barrier that keeps us from understand other cultures fully, even outright denial as in the beginning of the essay where Rosaldo writes: “My own inability to conceive the force of anger in grief led me to seek out another level of analysis that could provide a deeper explanation for older Men’s desire to headhunt” (598). This shows that there was just a complete inability to understand, and opens up a real idea of subjective thoughts.

The issue of cultures being studied incorrectly has major implications; Prior to this essay, attempts were only made to explain, not understand; With all explanations being hollow and usually missing the point, Rosaldo shows his own ignorance and labels the source. Ritual is a subjective experience and to those within the purpose is apparent, to those outside of the ritual it is like fitting a square peg through a circular hole. Only those on the inside of the ritual will ever fully understand. Those outside are subject to cultural barriers such as the one described by Rosaldo. In denying rage within grief, one cannot understand these actions, like not understanding love in the matter we as members of culture that includes non-arranged marriage do could cause those that support arranged marriage to ask simply, why? Ultimately though, when talking of emotions, it becomes apparent that they are all subjective. From looking at a ritual from another culture or examining an individual’s emotions within the ritual, everything is subjective. It should then be recognized that sociologists should study cultures in an attempt to understand the cultures and not to just explain.

My little child was died

                                                                     By Shisir Parajuli

I remember that date very well: 9^th September 1999. I was in hospital. The hospital looked very horrified; the environment of the hospital seemed very gloomy as a very wild storm coming very soon. The dogs howling outside. It was Room no: 201 and bed no: 003 looked gloomier than other beds and rooms. The boy who was on the bed laid stiffs, his legs hanged outside from the bed, his body looked curved and static. He was in the pool of blood and he produced the sound of pain as if he got some sharp pin in his heart. And that sound makes me crazy because it was the sound produced by my little son.

            I can’t really imagine that day, when the doctor bended his head by saying that he was no-more. How could he leave me, huh! He promised me that he will always stay with us and cares us. How God could steal our child from us? How God could be selfish? Didn’t he had any idea of our son leave us we were be alone?

            As the doctor said me he was died from tuberculosis. My mind didn’t work at that time, only ears heard something from doctor’s mouth. He murmured something and tried to console me but I was lying in the floor as if I am going too died very soon.

            The doctor helped me to stand and fixed me to the small chair. Then, he said ‘Please sir control yourself and take the dead body of you child.’ ‘NO! MY SON WAS NOT DIED’, I replied toward doctor with loud voice. My son was not died. ‘Look! Look towards his eyes, his eyes says something to me’. He promised me that he will stay with us forever and you doctor said that he was died. How could I believe in your voice? No God can’t be rude like that. How could I give this message to his mother that her son was died? My wife’s prays, her faith upon god can’t be waste and be like garbage. No, I can’t! She will die if she saw her son’s death body.

            No one wants to listen my story so that I told my painful story to you my dear pet. Listen my rest of the story. The people in the hospital tried their best to console me and gave me sympathy but I was doing like obstinacy child and crazy like, the most important things from my life was lost or destroyed.

            After three hour, I controlled myself and came to the real world where my child leaves us, where I can’t imagine anything about this artificial world. I went near to my little child’s death body as doctor said that he was died but his eyes says something towards me. I can’t see that eyes in taking longer times. I was not able to read his eyes because I was also the part of his ultimate death because I can’t manage proper money and medicine for him. We basically belong to poor family, you know. But nobody wanted to listen my painful story that, ‘my child was died’.

            ‘Not everyone in this world has the fate to cherish the fullest form of love. Some are born, just to experience the abbreviation of it’. My child, my boy leaves us. That time…that moment… that second… I… I… I just thought…

‘My little child was died’

Analysis of Austin’s Irony and Richards’s Emotive Language

                                                            By: Shisir Parajuli

            Every word has a meaning. This meaning is correlated with words. Word’s meaning has been different through out different context. Meaning of words differs from person to person, culture to culture, society to society and country to country. Word’s meanings have different types, it can function somewhere as irony, somewhere as literal meaning, somewhere as emotive meaning. Meaning of words can be subjective because determination of the meaning can be fixed only by the critical role of readers. Meaning of one words will be common for one but that meaning can be uncommon for others because it is the effect of alternatives view of language system which is the series that deals with discontinuous games, or games of language; fixing of the meaning of the text is not absolutely specific but contextually determined by the readers of the text. And as a reader of the theories of Austin and Richards; I am dealing with each of the theories with three stories.

Austin theory of speech act rejects the old logical positivist view of language as description of a state of affairs in the world. Austin theory of speech act is closely related with irony because performance of an act in saying something. He further defines different types of speech act, including constative and performative. As Austin defines speech act in one hand and Richards defines his emotive theory through literal and emotive meaning. Where literal meaning closely related with referential meaning which is related with an idea of an object and emotive meaning related with context or emotions.

            Austin’s theory of the speech act and Richards’s theory of emotive language resembles with each others. Speech act distinguishes between constative and performative, the former begin an ‘assertion’ or ‘description’ the latter being an ‘utterance which allows us to do something by means of speech itself.’ A performative is a way of doing things with words, as in the example of promise, baptising or christening, the naming of ships, or the priest saying ‘I now pronounce you man and wife,’ whereby the words enforce a social reality within a given and common understood cultural context. The act of public exhibition that results in a transactions between performer and audience; an utterance that, via its public display, causes a linguistic interaction with the exhibition’s object.

I.A. Richards’s emotive theories distinguish between emotive and referential meaning. Emotive meaning functions as a dynamic rather than description. Referential meaning on the other hand relates with descriptive. Emotive meaning ‘express’ rather than ‘inform.’ Marguerite H. Foster in his ‘Poetry and Emotive meaning’ also defines same as I.A. Richards in his ‘The meaning of meaning’ defines ‘emotive terms’ as the use of words to express or excite feelings and attitude, and ‘the symbolic use of words is statement; the recording, the support, the organization and the communication of references’ (657).

Austin’s speech act and Richards’s emotive theories seem similar in the perception of meaning as; constative meaning relates with referential meaning or direct meaning and performative meaning relates with emotive meaning or contextual meaning. These two theories related with irony because irony means something that meaning is different from our perception it means that the meaning of irony closely related with the Austin’s speech act where irony can perform as constative and performative as well. Then the meaning of one words differ from context to context and reader to reader that meaning also deals with emotive theories of Richards’s which is also related with the meaning of words with literal and emotive meaning.

David J. Amante in his ‘The Theory of Ironic Speech’ defines " Ironic speech acts have three participants: an ironist (or eiron, henceforth both terms will be used), one or more observers of irony, and a target for irony"  (77). Irony is the matter of perception and it must, to become manifest, be seen by an observer or it does not exist. Observer means the audience who participants of the related text. Who observes the text care fully and justified the text through dealing with different context as historically, socially and in the terms of religious aspect.

Firstly, Sadat Hasan Manto’s story ‘Open it’ has also these three participants of ironic speech act where an ironist is the writer or author of the story, observers are audiences of the text and targets of the text are the suffering women representing Sakina. Secondly, Richards mayne’s story F**D has also three aspect of participants where ironist is the author, observers are audiences and targets are that the setting of the story and husband and wife who are struggling for preparing chicken.

Ted Cohen in his ‘Figurative Speech and Figurative Acts’ argues that "Austin’s speech act consist of three kinds of acts- three way of doing things with words" (669). He generated the abbreviated formula- which he qualifies extensively-

            Acts of saying something: locutions (L)

            Acts done in saying something: illocutions (I)

            Acts done by saying something: perlocutions (P)

We can apply the Manto’s story to this formula as in this way:

            (L): Soldier said to her Open it.

            (I): Soldier urged her Open it.

            (P): Soldier persuaded her to Open it.

Austin thinks that illocutions are related to locutions by conventions (whatever exactly that may mean) and that perlocutions are not connected in this way. The commission of a locution leads to the occurrence of an illocution, but it does so automatically by means of the rules of language. Austin thought that sentences were either performative or constative that a clean distinction could be made between them. Austin language of illocutionary and perlocutionary effects allows us to analyze every text’s orientation towards affecting an audience rather than committing ourselves to the debilitating either/ or taxonomy of persuasive versus referential discourse that is the product of the related text.

            Irony is one of the influential device which is used in the literary works for different perceptive. Mainly irony is used in literary works to makes meaning of one text different from one another. Using of irony makes the text more interesting. As Manto and Mayne also use irony in their text to make that text strong in both emotionally and intellectually. On the basis of that idea; Jack C. Gray in his ‘Irony: A Practical Definition’ defines "Irony is widely employed literary device. There are almost as many different kinds of irony as there are instances of it, and it can produce emotional and intellectual effects in endless variety" (220). Irony makes the readers quite aware about the hidden meaning of the text. If the reader observes the text carefully then their emotional and intellectual effects affect the text.

            Gray further says "Irony can be a figure of speech, an effect, an attention, an outcome, a pretended ignorance, and merely a vague sort of quality" (220). Irony makes the text more exasperating and perplexing. Short glance of looking toward the text is not sufficient to understand the irony of the text. The figure of speech as metaphor and simile makes the irony more stronger. As in the Mayne’s story F**D we can’t understand the text for the first time. Using of sensual images like ‘full curves of her breast and leg, lips parted, her head thrown back’ etc in the story makes our perception different than the actual meaning of the story.

            Irony means showing one thing but telling another thing. The text which have irony makes the meaning of one thing different in literally and actually or textually so as Brooks and Warren in their book ‘Modern Rhetoric’ give an amended and enlarged discussion of irony as "Irony always involves a discrepancy between the literal meaning of a statement and its actual meaning" (363). Manto’s story Open it has also irony. If we go through the story we can find the meaning of Open it different literal level and actual level. The text shows irony toward the action of volunteer, father happiness and doctor sweat. In the last moment of story the victim girl Sakina is in her death bed where she is motionless. The doctor checks her pulse and said ‘The window, open it!’ At the sound of the words, Sakina’s death body moves and undid her salwar and lowered it. Her father is happy but doctor drenched with sweat from head to toe. The utterance ‘Open it’ makes the irony here where Sakina is habituated with gang rape by volunteer and understand the order same as she used to do it before coming to hospital.

            From the middle 19^th century the pornography has been widely used in the text. Actually the very term pornography refers the explicit depiction of sexual subject matter; a display of material of an erotic nature. Pornography uses sensual images and erotic feelings by using female characters. Jennifer Saul in her book ‘Pornography, Speech Acts and Context’ argues with Catharine Mackinnon idea as "The pornography is the subordination of women" (230). Speech act works of pornography are little attention has been devoted to the more general idea that works of pornography can be understood.

            Mackinnon claims that pornography silences women. Langton defends this claim as well, arguing that works of pornography can be understood as illocutionary acts of silencing women.  Both Manto’s and Mayne’s stories have pornographic sense. In the both story women are silencing. In the manto’s Open it; main character Sakina is being victim and being silence and Mayne’s story F**D the women who works in the kitchen presenting as a pornographic sense. Viewers of these two stories surface mean the pornographic sense that dealing with women. Pornography also deals with Austin’s speech act and Richards’s emotive theories because the meaning of pornography in the text seems related with speech act as in the story Open it where the doctor’s utterance makes the different sense toward Sakina that resembles with both irony and pornography and in the story F**D the readers find out different meaning as different from actual meaning and emotive meaning. The text is actually deals with preparing the meal in the kitchen but we found different meaning than the textual meaning.

            In conclusion, Austin’s speech act and Richards’s emotive theories concerns with the different meaning of one text. Pornography also talks with Austin’s speech act and Richards’s emotive theories because the meaning of pornography in the text seems related with speech act and emotive theories in terms of meaning. Irony always involves a discrepancy between the literal meaning of a statement and its actual meaning or textual meaning. Irony develops with the development of figure of speech, an effect, an attention, an outcome, a pretended ignorance, and merely a vague sort of quality. Literary device needs the irony. There are almost as many different kinds of irony as there are instances of it, and it can produce emotional and intellectual effects in endless variety. Austin’s speech act and Richards’s emotive theories effects allows us to analyze every text’s orientation towards affecting an reader rather than committing ourselves to the debilitating either/ or taxonomy of persuasive versus referential discourse that is the product of the related text. Both theories perform with the meaning of text that meaning of words can be subjective because determination of the meaning can be fixed only by the critical role of readers. Word’s meanings have different types, it can function somewhere as irony, somewhere as literal meaning, somewhere as emotive meaning and that all types of meaning deals with both speech acts and emotive theories. 

      Works Cited

Amante, David J. "The Theory of Ironic Speech Acts." Poetics Today 2.2

            (Winter, 1981). 77-96

Cohen, Ted. "Figurative Speech and Figurative Acts." The Journal of Philosophy

           72.19 (Nov.6, 1975). 669-684

Foster, Marguerite H. "Poetry and Emotive Meaning." The Journal of Philosophy

           47. 3 (Nov.9, 1950). 657-660

Saul, Jennifer. "Pornography, Speech Acts and Context." Proceedings of the

           Aristotelian Society 106 (2006). 229-248

               

           

Defining Literature

                                                                           By: Bipin Karki

             Literature is the reflection of socio-historical, political, cultural, economic aspects of the society.  It is the mirror of the society. Specially, literature is in written form. It can be further distinguished according to major form of it such as novel, poetry, story and drama. Literature does not have the fixed, final, single meaning. It differs according to sex, gender, education, class, nationality, belief and so on. In literature, writers use the figurative language such as irony, metaphor, pun, paradox, ambiguity, simile, conceit, etc. In literature, there is an artistic expression. It conveys ideas, feelings, view, ambitions, and emotions of a writer in a beautiful language. It is imaginative because writer changes the name, character, place and so on and modifies them in different ways. In literature, the literary writers show their creativity. In literature, human life and society are colored with the polished language of literary writers. It is larger than life and more powerful than the real.

Different critics have different opinions regarding the origin and definition of literature. There are also contradictions among different critics but their main argument seems to be somehow similar. Widdowson states that “the origin of literature started along with some oral performances like folk songs, ballets, speeches, hymns and so on. These are the essentials aspects of ancient period. To make the god happy they used to perform drama. They think that, if drama will not perform god will be unhappy and plague may occur” Widdowson 29. According to him, literature originated in oral forms such as folk songs, hymas and so on. Later, with the origin of different writer, the form of literature changed and it got a written form. Literature is that form of art which not only pleases human being; it also draws the attention of god and pleases the god. Literary art touches the platonic ideas which are presented in a realist form. In ancient time also, it was supposed that literary performance can solve different kinds of riddles and accordingly drama is performed taking it as a means of solution of the riddles.

Plato accuses the literary writer as imitators. He says that literature is twice removed from the reality. All human beings are copied from the nature, whatever they write is also copied so, there is twice copy          .                                                                                  

In this brief survey of the originating classical discourse of ‘literature’; the Neo-Platonist tradition, beginning with Plotinus (third century A.D), took the Aristotelian position in imitation much further. For platinum, poets had a truly noble role- almost god like in their ability to create- since their art touched the realm of platonic ‘ideas’ on which, as we have heard, the created world was modeled. Ironically, then, Plato’s own ideas about the unsatisfactoriness of the poet and poetry in the pursuit of truth wear turned back against him by the Neo-Platonists: poetic imitation was regarded as the highest of all imitations because it offered access to the divine archetypes rather than merely copying existing materialities. (Widdowson 29)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Plato was negative towards poetry, he criticize poetry. He believed that poetry as mimetic art. He believed that poets simply copy the word of appearance. He says that poets should be banished from the nation. But the neo Platonists and Aristotle are in favor of literature or poetry. ‘Neo-Platonist views were profoundly influential throughout the Renaissance (Widdiwson 30).’

Literature changes from the folk songs, oral myths to the English word literature. Widdoson argues that “The English word literature dories either directly or by way of the Acognate French literature from the Latin literature. The root word from which is littera meaning is letter of the alphabet” (31). After a while it is not only a word. It is like to read and write. In this sense the definition of literature is gradually wide. 

In the late eighteenth century the literature development lead it to the professional. During this period literature get professionalized which help in the commercialization of literature almost at the end of eighteenth century.  Widdowson states that:

This self conscious pride in the paid professional status of the individual author or writer word which themselves become more frequent in the later part of the eighteenth century reveals the shift from aristocratic patronage as the matrix for the production of literary writing to the commercial environment in which individuals author sell different kinds of written wares in different kinds of market. (33)

As this, literature became more professional. Coming the eighteenth century, literature got new enlighten it is because it became more professional genre expanding its area. It started to cover all the aspects of the world. By covering every aspects of human being, literature became more realistic.

            English language and literature got the value of academic subject in nineteenth century. “This subject is offered by the University college of London in 1820” (Widdowson 42). Its purpose of teaching literature and language is to make people civilized, moral or of having good human quality.

            According to OED’s definition “Literature is the pieces of writing that are valued as work of art, especially novels, plays and poems (in contrast to technical books and newspaper, magazines etc.)” (898).It focuses on the written documents not in the visual text.

            By the means of written literary works, it provides us pleasure, fun and entertainment. The literary works without pleasure, entertainment are not considered as literary work. It is the characteristics of literature as literary work. Widdowson argues “It has in it an element of entertaining display and surely we expect literature to be in some sense entertaining, or, to put it in slightly different terms to afford pleasure. That literature is an adult game, a sort of make- believe, is suggested in some of the words we applied to pieces of literature- “fiction”, “story”, “tale”, ‘play’” (1).By means of literature, people become free from irritation, boredom, anxiety, sufferings,  pain and so on. It shows that literature provides pleasure, entertainment and it works as a medicine of irritation, anxiety, pain, suffering etc.

             Literary devices have mainly four kinds of genre (forms). They are different on its characteristics. They are play, essay, poem and story.

             The play is performed on the stage by the characters. The characters perform their role through dialogue. That is why dialogue is the core quality of play. “The distinctive appearance of a script, with its stage directions, character parts and divisions into acts and scenes, identifies drama as a unique form of literature. A play is written to be performed in front of an audience by characters and presents the story through and action” (908). It is made for performance. It is to be seen, dialogue and acted

            In the essay, the essayist puts main idea and  tries to support those main ideas with details and arguments. The essayist expresses his/her ideas, feelings, views, emotions in a convincing way. In this sense, persuasion is the major feature of essay. It is directly addressed to the readers. “The essay in its pure form uses words to establish ideas that are addressed directly by the essayist to the reader. Thus, it’s essential quality is persuasion” (5). Essay attempts the reader to persuade something by means of argument which is directly addressed to the reader by the author.

            In a poem a poet uses personal feelings, emotions and views which are not directly addressed to any reader rather they are overheard by the reader. In the poem the poet speaks himself/ herself rather than to any reader while speaking. The poet thinks deeply or meditates and discloses his/her feelings. Poets use the figurative language, such as irony, metaphor, simile, pun and so on.

            A story is narrated through a narrator. It is the inner quality of the story. The words of a story are directly addressed towards reader. It gives moral lesson. The elements of a story are plot, characters, point of view, style, tone and language, symbolism etc.

            Literature has got the direct relation to readers. It cannot exist without reader. Literature is made by the reader. There is a great role of reader. Literature has not the single, final, fix meaning it depends upon the readers’ social, economic, historical age gender knowledge etc. “Every literary work has somewhat different meanings to different people depending on their age, gender, nationality … and experiences” (8).so there are multiples meaning of literary texts. If any writer writes any literary works and if there is not any reader it is meaningless, but if there is reader then it is fruitful, and then only it get success. Literature speaks through the ideas of reader. In literary text readers have to create meaning. For, them what is said is equally important to what is not said in the text. It represents what is not said in the society.                                           In conclusion, literature having different genres tends to reflect the society. It explores the class, gender, race conflict, exploitation, discrimination and so on by the means of its different forms. It visualizes the society, the socio-economic condition, political, historical etc. It tries to minimize the problems of the society and have an ideal society. Literature provides delight, pleasure, entertainment, fun, romance and so on. It decreases irritation, boredom, anxiety, pain and sufferings. It tries to explore the problems of the society by using figurative language. It is said that women should read literature. It teaches moral lesson. It provides lesson to be moral and ideal women guides the family and if females are ideal, their family become moral. If it is moral then the society becomes moral. So women should be taught literature. By the means of literature, society can be changed, developed and idealized. It is a means of development. Hence, literature visualizes, reflects the economic, political, historical and political condition of the society.  

                                                                  Works cited

            Berman, Morto and  William, Borto.  An Introduction to Literature. Second Edition.

Kirszner,G. Laurie and Mandell, R. Stephin. Literature, Fourth Edition, United states       of America, Heinle and Heinle:1991.

            Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of current English, Seventh Edition.

Scholes, Robert. Comley, R, Nancy. Klaus and H Carl,Silverman. Michael, Elements         of Literature. New Delhi: Oxford University press, 1998.

Widdowson, Peter. Literature. London: Routledge, 1999.