Self Reflection

About a year ago, as I was applying to colleges, I was pretty confident in my writing ability. Perhaps a bit overconfident. Being a strong reader from an early age, I also wrote poems and stories in my spare time. Washington College seemed perfect for me because it stood out as a true liberal arts school with a strong writing background. However, as I have come to spend an entire school year at Washington College, I have realized that there was a need for improvement in my writing. I was fairly used to creative writing; indeed, it still remains a strong aspect of my work. Nonetheless, I had never written a true academic paper, in any true sense of the word. I had never even heard of them. I did not know how to create an argument, properly counter an argument, or even cite sources. By the end of the term, I believe that I have the hang of it- yet there is always room for improvement. For my final paper for English 101, I worked on my third writing project, which focused on the evolution of media, Birkerts’ and McLuhan’s arguments, and my thoughts on their statements. In my final revision, I rewrote my introduction and conclusion paragraphs, because I realized that they did not properly open up or close my initial argument. I also rewrote and expanded upon my thesis, which had not been easy to determine in my first draft. In the body paragraphs, I either deleted unnecessary sentences, or expanded my thoughts. I also tried to create a more powerful counter argument to both of the author’s works I examined, and raise objections that had not been raised before. I also improved on some of my wording,  grammar, and sentence structuring. I believe that I have achieved more control over my writing- my thesis and arguments are clearer, and my paragraphs and thoughts are more structured. This term has provided for a great deal of change for me, particularly in my writing. As I mentioned before, academic papers were new to me, and I had not had a lot of experience with conducting an argument. Now, I know how to cite sources, create and support my own argument, and raise objections to other arguments in a respectful way. In my remaining years at Washington College, I would like to master the art of writing academically, and eventually keep a regular blog in which I will write creatively, and also include journals of my travels. I would either like to major in English, Humanities, or American Studies, with a minor in Creative Writing. I love writing, and I will be happy to expand my interests to writing academic journals. My GRW class, World Religions, and my English 101 class have helped me to improve my writing, and I will use the skills I learned to hopefully make academic writing easier for me in the future. Knowing how to properly write an essay know has made me more confident in my writing.

The Evolution of Media (Revised and Final Draft)

Media is perhaps one of the most controversial forms of gaining knowledge in all of history. It is used to effectively communicate with the watcher; it is created to connect with a person and affect their opinions, thoughts, and actions. In Sven Birkerts’ book, The Gutenberg Elegies, and Marshall McLuhan’s novel, Medium is the Massage, the progression of new technology and media and it’s positive and negative aspects are discussed. From the evolution of oral tradition, to novels, and finally to electronic hypertext, a new world has been created, one open to fresh possibilities and knowledge.

The earliest form of media was drawing. From cave dwelling paintings to Egyptian hieroglyphs, this early art form evolved as time went on. Drawing made it possible for people to sufficiently communicate with each other through images, and has helped historians gain knowledge of their culture. Hundreds of years later, as languages became widely spoken, oral tradition was used to tell stories and legends of years past. The ability to retain such a large quantity of information is perhaps a forgotten art. Then there came the need to write down those stories. People began to write, and books evolved as people were required to preserve more and more information. For thousands of years, books were the main type of media. The written word made it possible for one to read a certain text over and over again. Marshall McLuhan, author of the renowned novel, Medium is the Massage, stated “Until writing was invented, men lived in acoustic space: boundless, directionless, horizonless, in the dark of the mind, in the world of emotion, by primordial intuition, by terror. Speech is a social chart of this bog.”¹ As oral tradition waned, so did the general population’s ability to remember large chunks of information. However, books opened up a new creative outlet, as it became possible for anyone to write, publish, and sell their work. Knowledge was closer at hand for anyone who wanted to learn. The newest type of technology, the computer, took center stage at the end of the 21st century, and changed our society forever. Communicating had never been easier, especially when social networking came into existence. Recently, electronic literature has become popular, and is a definite change from the seemingly old-fashioned way of reading books. Technology has evolved significantly since the first cave drawings. The question still remains: Is one type of media better than another?

Birkerts exclaims that media has overgrown, covering the old-fashioned tradition of reading and writing and erasing knowledge and language. He writes that the act of reading is a private art form where one can lose themselves in a world of imagination and the written word. “Work of imagination bleed together with the world they extrapolate from. The writing process begins in the writer, the life; it branches off onto paper, into artifice; but the final restless resting place of every written thing is the solitary life of the reader. There it hibernates, a cluster of stray images, forgotten incitements and conversational asides, a mass of shadow wrapping itself around the thoughts and gestures of the self.”² Here, I agree with Birkerts, because books held a special place for me as a young child. Every two weeks during the summer, my mother would take me to the local library, and there I would sit in an aisle and pore over the colored rectangles staring back at me from the shelves. Then we would head home, her with a stack of mystery novels and me, struggling to carry an extensive pile of children’s books to the car. I remember spending my summer getting lost in an imaginary world, in which no one else was allowed in. McLuhan also took Birkerts’ stance on reading the written word. “Printing, a ditto device, confirmed and extended the new visual stress…it created the portable book, which men could read in privacy and in isolation from others. Man could now inspire- and conspire.”³ However, he does not remember that media is any sort of content that ignites the five senses. Anything you can feel, touch, taste, see, or hear is a type of media. Anything that we come in contact with shapes and forms who we are. Just as cave paintings, a primitive way of communication, developed into hieroglyphs, books came from oral tradition, and books paved the way for electronic media. He fears the growing use of hypertext, thinking that it will ruin the intellectual aspect of learning. He also says that reading is something you can do privately, and that is the only good way to learn. I agree that reading is a private art form that greatly expands your creative mind, but he is going too far when he says that it is the only art form worth knowing. One can benefit from any type of creative outlet, whether it be painting, writing, or even singing.

Hypertext expands the spectrum of art, allowing for more diversity in writing styles. A writer could use images, jumbled words, and links to allow the reader to fully get lost in the electronic world. Birkerts, however, expresses concern and dislike over the format of hypertext; he says that it is too confusing and allows the reader to direct their own plot, more or less, instead of the writer being in complete power over the readers. “The reader was invited to proceed by inclination, choosing a character, focusing on a relationship, engaging(or not) a relevant subplot, and deciding whether to snap backward or forward in time. A kind of paralysis crept over me.”⁴ I agree with Birkerts because electronic literature can be somewhat daunting; it gives the reader so many choices on which direction to take that one might spend too much time unraveling the links and subplots instead of paying attention to the main plot (if there is one). For example, “The Museum” by Adam Kenney is an engaging hypertext that keeps the reader interested by having the choice of many rooms to click on. That is, however, sometimes confusing when one has to choose between three or more links to move on to the next section. The freedom of being able to shape the plot is a new concept in the world of writing; it almost allows the readers to become writers themselves. Birkerts criticizes this aspect of hypertext because it takes the power away from the writer and puts it in the hands of the reader. Another example of hypertext that I enjoyed was called “Accounts of the Glass Sky” by M.D. Coverley. There were pictures one could click on to reveal an account of the sky at a certain time. The sky served as a reflection of what was happening in the plot. The use of images and sounds can greatly increase a reader’s understanding of a text if used properly. In this way, hypertext is effective because pictures can stay in a person’s memory far longer than words can. In this excerpt, Birkerts expresses his concern that hypertext lacks a deeper meaning than a novel. “We are experiencing in our times a loss of depth- a loss, that is, of the very paradigm of depth.”⁵ I disagree; “Accounts of the Glass Sky did have a deeper meaning; the sky served as a mirror of what was happening in the world. Although a novel has ample room to expand upon a message that the author is trying to communicate, an electronic text usually has less wording, and this can give the reader room to reflect on what the author is trying to convey. It also seems to even expand upon the reader’s mind, particularly because one must really think about what is happening, instead of having the purpose of the story handed to them. Electronic literature sometimes proves more engaging to the reader, which provides for more entertainment and enjoyment of reading the text.

In his novel, The Gutenberg Elegies, Birkerts denies the effectiveness of technology, saying that much of the old fashioned way of reading books has been lost in the rush to create modern skills. McLuhan provides for us an effective argument by following the progression of media through the ages, and the negative ways media can affect us all. Nevertheless, to state that only one right type of useable information exists is illogical, because there are many things we can learn from the different types of knowledge made available to us. Media, in some guise, has always existed, but as our society has evolved, it has developed into many varieties. Whether one loses himself in a book, an art museum, or an electronic text, any type of media can shape our minds, and who we are as a human being. It has certainly shaped our world.

 

¹Marshall McLuhan, Medium is the Massage (Berkley, CA: Jerome Agel, 1967), 48.

²Sven Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies (New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 1994).

³McLuhan, Medium is the Massage, 50.

⁴Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies, 151.

⁵Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies, 74.

 

I pledge my honor that I have completed this work in accordance with the Honor Code.

The Evolution of Media (unrevised version)

Media is any form of propaganda that one reads, listens to, or watches, and gains knowledge from. From drawing, to oral tradition, to writing, these forms of media effectively create a new world, one open to possibilities and knowledge. It has been around since the beginning of time, and one might find that determining what defines media is a difficult task to carry out. Media is used to effectively communicate with the watcher; it is created to connect with a person and affect their opinions, thoughts, and actions.

The earliest form of media was drawing. From cave dwelling paintings to Egyptian hieroglyphs, this early art form evolved as time went on. Drawing made it possible for people to sufficiently communicate with each other through images, and has helped historians gain knowledge of their culture. Hundreds of years later, as languages became widely spoken, oral tradition was used to tell stories and legends of years past. Then there came the need to write down those stories. People began to write, and books evolved as people needed to retain more and more information. For thousands of years, books were the main type of media that was used. The written word made it possible for one to read a certain text over and over again. Marshall McLuhan, author of the renowned novel, Medium is the Massage, stated “Until writing was invented, men lived in acoustic space: boundless, directionless, horizonless, in the dark of the mind, in the world of emotion, by primordial intuition, by terror. Speech is a social chart of this bog.”¹ As oral tradition waned, so did the general population’s ability to remember large chunks of information. However, books opened up a new creative outlet, as it became possible for anyone to write, publish, and sell their work. Knowledge was closer at hand for anyone who wanted to learn. The newest type of technology, the computer, took center stage at the end of the 21st century, and changed our society forever. Communicating had never been easier, especially when social networking came into existence. Recently, electronic literature has become popular, and is a definite change from the seemingly old-fashioned way of reading books. Technology has evolved significantly since the first cave drawings. The question still remains: Is one type of media better than another?

Birkerts exclaims that media has overgrown, covering the old-fashioned tradition of reading and writing and erasing knowledge and language. The act of reading is a private art form where one can lose themselves in a world of imagination and the written word. “Work of imagination bleed together with the world they extrapolate from. The writing process begins in the writer, the life; it branches off onto paper, into artifice; but the final restless resting place of every written thing is the solitary life of the reader. There it hibernates, a cluster of stray images, forgotten incitements and conversational asides, a mass of shadow wrapping itself around the thoughts and gestures of the self.”² I agree with Birkerts, because books held a special place for me as a young child. Every week during the summer, my mother would take me to the local library, and there I would sit in an aisle and pore over the colored rectangles staring back at me from the shelves. Then we would head home, her with a stack of mystery novels and me, struggling to carry a pile of children’s books to the car. I remember spending my summer getting lost in an imaginary world, in which no one else was allowed in. McLuhan also took Birkerts’ stance on reading the written word. “Printing, a ditto device, confirmed and extended the new visual stress…it created the portable book, which men could read in privacy and in isolation from others. Man could now inspire- and conspire.”³ However, he does not remember that media is any sort of content that ignites the five senses. Anything you can feel, touch, taste, see, or hear is a type of media. Books are a type of media, too, and are still widely in use today. To say that they are disappearing would be foolish. Just as cave paintings, a primitive way of communication, developed into hieroglyphs, books came from oral tradition, and books paved the way to electronic media. He fears the growing use of electronic media, thinking that it will ruin the intellectual aspect of learning. He also says that reading is something you can do privately, and that is the only good way to learn. I agree that reading is a private art form that greatly expands your creative mind, but he is going too far when he says that it is the only art form worth knowing. One can benefit from any type of creative outlet, whether it be painting, writing, or even singing.

Hypertext expands the spectrum of art, allowing for more diversity in writing styles. A writer could use images, jumbled words, and links to allow the reader to fully get lost in the electronic world. Birkerts, however, expresses concern and dislike over the format of hypertext; he says that it is too confusing and allows the reader to direct their own plot, more or less, instead of the writer being in complete power over the readers. “The reader was invited to proceed by inclination, choosing a character, focusing on a relationship, engaging(or not) a relevant subplot, and deciding whether to snap backward or forward in time. A kind of paralysis crept over me.”⁴ I somewhat agree with Birkerts because electronic literature can be somewhat daunting; it gives the reader so many choices on which direction to take that one might spend too much time unraveling the links and subplots instead of paying attention to the main plot(if there is one). For example, “The Museum” by Adam Kenney is an engaging hypertext that keeps the reader interested by having the choice of many rooms to click on. That is, however, sometimes confusing when one has to choose between three or more links to move on to the next section. The freedom of being able to shape the plot is a new concept in the world of writing; it almost allows the readers to become writers themselves. Birkerts criticizes this aspect of hypertext because it takes the power away from the writer and puts it in the hands of the reader. Another example of hypertext that I enjoyed was called “Accounts of the Glass Sky” by M.D. Coverley. There were pictures one could click on to reveal an account of the sky at a certain time. The sky served as a reflection of what was happening in the plot. The use of images and sounds can greatly increase a reader’s understanding of a text if used properly. In this way, hypertext is effective because pictures can stay in a person’s memory far longer than words can. In this excerpt, Birkerts expresses his concern that hypertext lacks a deeper meaning than a novel. “We are experiencing in our times a loss of depth- a loss, that is, of the very paradigm of depth.”⁵ I disagree; although a novel has ample room to expand upon a message that the author is trying to communicate, an electronic text usually has less wording, and this can give the reader room to reflect on what the author is trying to convey.

Media can take any form. To say that there is only one right type of knowledge is irrational, because there are many things we can learn from the world. Media, in some guise, has always existed, but as our society has evolved it has developed into many forms. Whether one loses himself in a book, an art museum, or an electronic text, any type of media can shape our minds, and who we are as a human being.

¹Marshall McLuhan, Medium is the Massage (Berkley, CA: Jerome Agel, 1967), 48.

²Sven Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies (New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 1994),

³McLuhan, Medium is the Massage, 50.

⁴Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies, 151.

⁵Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies, 74.

Reflection:

What’s working? My argument and topic is strong.

What else? I need to develop my thesis more.

What’s next? Develop my argument further.

I pledge my honor that I have completed this work in accordance with the Honor Code.

The Evolution of Media

Media is any form of propaganda that one reads, listens to, or watches, and gains knowledge from. From drawing, to oral tradition, to writing, these forms of media effectively create a new world, one open to possibilities and knowledge. It has been around since the beginning of time, and one might find that determining what defines media is a difficult task to carry out. Media is used to effectively communicate with the watcher; it is created to connect with a person and affect their opinions, thoughts, and actions.

The earliest form of media was drawing. From cave dwelling paintings to Egyptian hieroglyphs, this early art form evolved as time went on. Drawing made it possible for people to sufficiently communicate with each other through images, and has helped historians gain knowledge of their culture. Hundreds of years later, as languages became widely spoken, oral tradition was used to tell stories and legends of years past. Then there came the need to write down those stories. People began to write, and books evolved as people needed to retain more and more information. For thousands of years, books were the main type of media that was used. The written word made it possible for one to read a certain text over and over again. Marshall McLuhan, author of the renowned novel, Medium is the Massage, stated “Until writing was invented, men lived in acoustic space: boundless, directionless, horizonless, in the dark of the mind, in the world of emotion, by primordial intuition, by terror. Speech is a social chart of this bog.”¹ As oral tradition waned, so did the general population’s ability to remember large chunks of information. However, books opened up a new creative outlet, as it became possible for anyone to write, publish, and sell their work. Knowledge was closer at hand for anyone who wanted to learn. The newest type of technology, the computer, took center stage at the end of the 21st century, and changed our society forever. Communicating had never been easier, especially when social networking came into existence. Recently, electronic literature has become popular, and is a definite change from the seemingly old-fashioned way of reading books. Technology has evolved significantly since the first cave drawings. The question still remains: Is one type of media better than another?

Birkerts exclaims that media has overgrown, covering the old-fashioned tradition of reading and writing and erasing knowledge and language. The act of reading is a private art form where one can lose themselves in a world of imagination and the written word. “Work of imagination bleed together with the world they extrapolate from. The writing process begins in the writer, the life; it branches off onto paper, into artifice; but the final restless resting place of every written thing is the solitary life of the reader. There it hibernates, a cluster of stray images, forgotten incitements and conversational asides, a mass of shadow wrapping itself around the thoughts and gestures of the self.”² I agree with Birkerts, because books held a special place for me as a young child. Every week during the summer, my mother would take me to the local library, and there I would sit in an aisle and pore over the colored rectangles staring back at me from the shelves. Then we would head home, her with a stack of mystery novels and me, struggling to carry a pile of children’s books to the car. I remember spending my summer getting lost in an imaginary world, in which no one else was allowed in. McLuhan also took Birkerts’ stance on reading the written word. “Printing, a ditto device, confirmed and extended the new visual stress…it created the portable book, which men could read in privacy and in isolation from others. Man could now inspire- and conspire.”³ However, he does not remember that media is any sort of content that ignites the five senses. Anything you can feel, touch, taste, see, or hear is a type of media. Books are a type of media, too, and are still widely in use today. To say that they are disappearing would be foolish. Just as cave paintings, a primitive way of communication, developed into hieroglyphs, books came from oral tradition, and books paved the way to electronic media. He fears the growing use of electronic media, thinking that it will ruin the intellectual aspect of learning. He also says that reading is something you can do privately, and that is the only good way to learn. I agree that reading is a private art form that greatly expands your creative mind, but he is going too far when he says that it is the only art form worth knowing. One can benefit from any type of creative outlet, whether it be painting, writing, or even singing.

Hypertext expands the spectrum of art, allowing for more diversity in writing styles. A writer could use images, jumbled words, and links to allow the reader to fully get lost in the electronic world. Birkerts, however, expresses concern and dislike over the format of hypertext; he says that it is too confusing and allows the reader to direct their own plot, more or less, instead of the writer being in complete power over the readers. “The reader was invited to proceed by inclination, choosing a character, focusing on a relationship, engaging(or not) a relevant subplot, and deciding whether to snap backward or forward in time. A kind of paralysis crept over me.”⁴ I somewhat agree with Birkerts because electronic literature can be somewhat daunting; it gives the reader so many choices on which direction to take that one might spend too much time unraveling the links and subplots instead of paying attention to the main plot(if there is one). For example, “The Museum” by Adam Kenney is an engaging hypertext that keeps the reader interested by having the choice of many rooms to click on. That is, however, sometimes confusing when one has to choose between three or more links to move on to the next section. The freedom of being able to shape the plot is a new concept in the world of writing; it almost allows the readers to become writers themselves. Birkerts criticizes this aspect of hypertext because it takes the power away from the writer and puts it in the hands of the reader. Another example of hypertext that I enjoyed was called “Accounts of the Glass Sky” by M.D. Coverley. There were pictures one could click on to reveal an account of the sky at a certain time. The sky served as a reflection of what was happening in the plot. The use of images and sounds can greatly increase a reader’s understanding of a text if used properly. In this way, hypertext is effective because pictures can stay in a person’s memory far longer than words can. In this excerpt, Birkerts expresses his concern that hypertext lacks a deeper meaning than a novel. “We are experiencing in our times a loss of depth- a loss, that is, of the very paradigm of depth.”⁵ I disagree; although a novel has ample room to expand upon a message that the author is trying to communicate, an electronic text usually has less wording, and this can give the reader room to reflect on what the author is trying to convey.

Media can take any form. To say that there is only one right type of knowledge is irrational, because there are many things we can learn from the world. Media, in some guise, has always existed, but as our society has evolved it has developed into many forms. Whether one loses himself in a book, an art museum, or an electronic text, any type of media can shape our minds, and who we are as a human being.

 

¹Marshall McLuhan, Medium is the Massage (Berkley, CA: Jerome Agel, 1967), 48.

²Sven Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies (New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 1994),

³McLuhan, Medium is the Massage, 50.

⁴Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies, 151.

⁵Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies, 74.

 

Reflection:

What’s working? My argument and topic is strong.

What else? I need to develop my thesis more.

What’s next? Develop my argument further.

I pledge my honor that I have completed this work in accordance with the Honor Code.

Paper Rough Draft

The Evolution of Media

            Media is any form of propaganda that one reads, listens to, or watches, and gains knowledge from. From drawing, to oral tradition, to writing, these forms of media effectively create a new world, one open to possibilities and knowledge. It has been around since the beginning of time, and one might find that determining what defines media is a difficult task to carry out. Media is used to effectively communicate with the watcher; it is created to connect with a person and effect their opinions, thoughts, and actions.

            The earliest form of media was drawing. From cave dwelling paintings to Egyptian hieroglyphs, this early art form evolved as time went on. It made it possible for people to sufficiently communicate with each other through images, and has helped historians gain knowledge of the past. Hundreds of years later, as languages became widely spoken, oral tradition was used to tell stories and legends of years past. Then there came the need to write down those stories. People began to write, and books evolved as people needed more and more information. For thousands of years, books were the main type of media that was used. The written word made it possible for one to read a certain text over and over again. As oral tradition waned, so did the general population’s ability to remember large chunks of information. However, books opened up a new creative outlet, as it became possible for anyone to write, publish, and sell their work. Knowledge was closer at hand for anyone who wanted to learn. The newest type of technology, the computer, took center stage at the end of the 21st century, and changed our society forever. Communicating had never been easier, especially when social networking came into existence.

            Birkerts exclaims that media has overgrown, covering the old-fashioned tradition of reading and writing and erasing knowledge and language. However, he does not remember that media is any sort of content that excites the five senses. Anything you can feel, touch, taste, see, or hear is a type of media. Books are a type of media, too, and are still widely in use today. To say that they are disappearing would be foolish. Just as cave paintings, a primitive way of communication, developed into hieroglyphs, books came from oral tradition, and books paved the way to electronic media. He fears the growing use of electronic media, thinking that it will ruin the intellectual aspect of learning. He says that reading is something you can do privately, and that is the only good way to learn. I agree that reading is a private art form that greatly expands your creative mind, but he is going too far when he says that it is the only art form worth knowing. One can benefit from any type of creative outlet, whether it be painting, writing, or even singing. Hypertext expands the spectrum of art, allowing for more diversity in writing styles. A writer could use images, jumbled words, and links to allow the reader to fully get lost in the electronic world. Birkerts, however, expresses concern and dislike over the format of hypertext; he says that it is too confusing and allows the reader to direct their own plot, more or less, instead of the writer being in complete power over the readers. I somewhat agree with Birkerts because electronic literature can be somewhat daunting; it gives the reader so many choices on which direction to take that one might spend too much time unraveling the links instead of paying attention to the plot. The Museum is an engaging hypertext that keeps the reader interested. It is, however, sometimes confusing when one has to choose between three or more links to move on to the next section. The freedom of being able to shape the plot is a new concept in the world of writing; it allows the readers to become writers themselves.

           

Electronic Literature Archive Response

For our class on Friday, we had to read four examples of Electronic Literature. They were all very interesting, but one that really stood out to me was a type of fiction called “Accounts of the Glass Sky.” Like all electronic literature, it was very unusual, and at some parts rather difficult to understand, but it turned out to be a satisfying and interesting experience. Once you clicked into the link, it opened to a picture of a skyscraper with the sky reflecting off the windows. There were pictures you could click on the view another webpage. It took me a while to figure it out, but each picture led to a paragraph or so about what the sky looked like at a certain period of time. Looking deeper into the writing, I concluded that maybe the author was trying to convey that the ”glass sky” reflected upon the world,. It is an interesting concept, and really stood out to me as something different and unique.

Electronic literature is not something I, nor anyone I know of, is particularly used to, but in becoming acquainted with it, I have come to enjoy it. In fact, I had never heard of electronic literature before. I am a member on multiple fanfiction websites, but none of them are quite like this. At times hard to understand, electronic literature is a modern way to write. Though I personally prefer reading books, there is something all of us can learn by reading different kinds of texts. In his book, Birkerts complains about electronic literature and hypertexts and says there is no intellectual gain from them, but I really do not think they should be compared to books. They are, in my opinion, two very different things. A book is something you can physically hold; it is something you can come back to multiple times and read privately, escaping into your own little world for an hour or two. Electronic literature is virtual; it is set within the confines of a screen just like words are anchored within the pages of a book. Yet it is open to more freedom, and appears in my different forms, words, pictures, and sounds. It applies to all the senses. It is many times confusing, but perhaps that is beneficial, because it allows for our minds to be active whilst we read. Perhaps electronic literature mirrors our own desires of freedom, yet we are still confined in a black and white world governed by words.

Hamlet on the the Holodeck

Hamlet on the Holodeck, a book by Janet Murray, is about the author’s views on the cyber world that is now consuming the world of literature. Unlike Birkerts and McLuhan, Murray longs for more “cyberdrama.” She mentions that she was an employee at IBM while studying English literature at a university. It seems as though she experienced both worlds, unlike the other writers we have discussed. A particular quote that stood out to me was: “Yet the more I read, the clearer it became that stories did not tell the whole truth about the world…Although my faith in the deeper powers of literature was unshaken, I learned from the feminist movement that some truths about the world are beyond the reach of a particular art form at a particular moment in time. Before the novel could tell the stories of women who did not wind up either happily married or dead, it would have to change in form as well as in content”( Murray, 4 ). This statement helped me understand that even literature could be seen as a form of media. Just as we have computers now, a hundred years ago they had books. Books were a form of persuasion, a form of media that became the biggest type of propaganda. Murray’s experiences with novels of the Victorian time are positive, but she mentions that women either ended up dead or married. This is a significant sign of the times, because back then a woman basically had to end up married to have a place in society. Therefore, the books written at that time were a form of propaganda, warning young women of the consequences of not finding a suitable, well-to-do husband. Perhaps we have always had persuasive media since the beginning of time, yet we are too blinded by our own society to realize it.

Medium is the Massage Response

                Marshall McLuhan’s essay, The Medium is the Massage, is a dynamic, unusually presented book discussing the effects media has on the world. I was thoroughly entranced by this book. Unlike Birkerts’, who takes a more argumentative, pouting tone, McLuhan uses the history of the world and society as a whole to make his point. His argument is very believable and relatable to the reader. A particular quote stood out to me. “Today’s child is growing up absurd, because he lives in two worlds, and neither of them inclines him to grow up”(18). One of these worlds is of the “television child,” one who is kept up to date on the worlds, problems, wars, and news. This can hardly be called a childhood. The other world is a period that can be perceived as a childhood; the child is constantly sheltered and is slow to grow up. In this case, which is better? The first world is a complete immersion in world issues. The second is an immersion in a padded room. Both could be called brainwashing.

                “All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the massage”(26). In this viewpoint, one considers his own perception of identity, thoughts, and mind. What would we be like if we grew up in a world completely free of media persuasion? How would we be the same; how would we be different? Would we still think the same way if our minds were totally unaltered by outside forces? For example, as a child, if one’s parents listened to Mozart, the child would be more inclined to listen to Mozart than they would be if their parents listened to Lady Gaga instead. Given this example, are we truly individuals, or are we a compiled jumble of mankind’s persuasions?

                In the book, McLuhan put pictures to use. On one page, there would be a thumbprint of an image, and on the next, one could see the whole picture. It was interesting to realize how our minds saw one part of an image and we perceived it as one thing, but when we finally saw the whole picture it was not what we previously thought. McLuhan did this to show us that our minds, perceptions, and thoughts are severely limited to what is given to us. In the overall picture, our minds are corrupted by ourselves, as we allow ourselves to become warped by what is seen, heard, and felt.

Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick is a colorful, infamous novel that was recently made into a film. It is a very unusual story because most of the content is pictures. Going back to Birkerts’ argument, our class was discussing whether or not the future of reading is marred by so-called “young adult novels” or the media. As mentioned in class, illustrations might limit our imagination, providing us with the imagery instead of allowing us to imagine it. I recall that it was called almost cheating. Most children’s books provide pictures for the reader, and Hugo is certainly more of a children’s book; however, there is something more present in the novel than simply a shallow kid’s book. The use of the images every few pages in the book is rather engaging because pictures are not usually seen in a young adult novel. This could possibly be the start of other similar books. Many people have turned away from reading because some think it is actually boring, but if there were pictures to expand their imagination, they would possibly enjoy reading more. I am not sure if the use of pictures is necessarily the future of literature, but it certainly works for what it is. Hugo is purely a young adult novel, but the pictures add meaning to the plot of the story. It is said that ”a picture is worth a thousand words.” Perhaps Hugo doesn’t need pages and pages of simple words. It is a story that everyone can enjoy.

The Flaw of Creation

                        Mary Shelley’s novel, her self-proclaimed “greatest project,” titled Frankenstein, is a complex novel full of connections to other classic writings of that time. The basis of her story refers to the Bible, namely the Book of Genesis. Genesis, the Greek word for “beginning” or “birth,” plays a large role in the plot of the novel. Frankenstein explores the ethical and moral aspects of playing God, and the consequences in reversing a force of nature.

            The protagonist, Victor Frankenstein, regenerates a human corpse and ultimately creates a monster. The creature was like a newborn baby at first, not knowing between right and wrong; but later commits horrible acts, including murder. Had he received some guidance from Victor, his creator, perhaps his fate might have been different. However, the reader is led to sympathize with the monster once he tells his own story. “‘Hateful day when I received life!’ I exclaimed in agony. ‘Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow-devils, to admire and encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred’”(Shelley). In this quote, the monster refers to Genesis, the first book of the Bible. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth”(Gen. 1:27-28, NKJV). In this excerpt from the Bible, God created man in His own image. Man was beautiful, alluring; but God knew man would eventually commit sin. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein also had a creation, a very similar one. He played God in many aspects, and paid the consequences.

            Shelley often referred to Genesis when writing of the creation. Both books are similar because they each feature a creation, and the hardships related to disobeying superiority.  The monster, similar to man in spirit but not in appearance, was cast away by those who should have loved him. He states that he is a “filthy type of yours;” implicating that he is less than man. “Filthy” is an attention-grabbing word because it gives the reader a feeling of repulsion. Men treated the monster with disgust, but the monster was really a decelerated form of man; it’s as if what lay on the inside of one’s soul was on the outside for everyone to see. The monster was the same as man, but its appearance was so appalling to everyone that they did not realize that they were just as flawed as he was. Perhaps Shelley was trying to unveil the greatest sin: pride.

            “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken”(Gen. 3:22-23, NKJV). In this excerpt from Genesis, man betrayed God, and God threw him out of the Garden of Eden. This punishment seems harsh, as Eden was Adam’s home. Victor threw out his own creation to fend for himself also, like a child without a home. The creation became a monster, unfit for life, just as Adam did not deserve life after his betrayal. God, however, was merciful and gave mankind many chances of forgiveness. Victor did not.

            Frankenstein and Genesis are two stories intertwined with each other. They both feature a creation, different in form, but similar in nature. Denying the forces of nature resulted with a monster. There is a lot to learn about morality, forgiveness, and life from Frankenstein.

What’s working? – My argument is clear; I have sufficient excerpts.

What else? – My argument needs to be stronger and I need to clarify my thoughts.

What’s next? – Improve my thesis and add more detail.

Reflection: My argument is that man is really not so different than Frankenstein’s monster and Shelley was trying to show that the monster is what man would really look like if what was on the inside showed on the outside.