Telling is Listening

In the article "Telling is Listening: Ursula K. Le Guin on the Magic of Real Human Conversation," the author stressed the importance of real human communication and the methods of how conversation is received by other humans. However, when I was reading Le Guin's analogy about the two boxes, Box A and Box B, I couldn't help but make connections to the HBO series "Westworld." In Le Guin's analogy, she states that communication between the two boxes are connected by a transmitter. When Box A sends a message, it must carefully code the information so the transmitter may act as a medium to carry the message to Box B. On the other end, Box B is programmed to receive and decode the message. While Box A and Box B are meant to symbolize human consciousness and the ability to code and decode verbal or nonverbal messages, Le Guin also states that one box could symbolize a human and the other a computer. Later in the article, Le Guin also relates communication to sex between amoebas -- each unicellular organism is able to swap internal genetic information with another amoeba, unlike human reproduction, a one-way system. This relates back to the example of human consciousness versus a computer, which brings me back to my connection of this to "Westworld." In the series, communication is pre-programmed for the Hosts (Hosts in the show are essentially "robots" controlled by artificial intelligence). The Hosts are shown to be inferior to the Guests (human visitors to the park) because they are programmed to be at the disposal of the Guests. However, although the Hosts are programmed to give and receive information in specific ways, therefore following specific patterns in their day-to-day lives. This reveals how the Hosts and Guests are not much different in the way each functions. This reminds me, like the article did, the importance of genuine human conversation and connection. Furthermore, it brought to light how the way communication is received and deciphered by another determines consciousness and humanity.

Cormac McCarthy Punctuation Rules

In the article "Cormac McCarthy's Three Punctuation Rules," there is a discussion about how the use of punctuation can overcomplicate writing. Cormac McCarthy, author of The Orchard Tree, is said to be highly influenced Neoclassicism English writers. However, unlike the style of many authors of this period, he believes that punctuation is often unnecessary. While punctuation is often used to provide clarity of who is speaking and to separate items or thoughts, McCarthy keeps punctuation to a minimum to provide clarity. In his writing, he never uses semicolons and has only used a colon once in all of his published works; McCarthy even omits the use of quotation marks entirely, forcing him to reimagine the way dialogue should be presented. Although his minimal use of punctuation is "to make it easier, not to make it harder," some of his works have been met by frustration by his audience and literary critics. Nonetheless, McCarthy's unconventional simplified syntax has surely challenged readers to rethink the way that punctuation is used in modern literature.

GoST - Anti-Bildungsroman

I was reading a New York Times article, "A Silver Thimble in Her Fist" by Alice Truax, and she brought up an interesting point that The God of Small Things is actually an "Anti-Bildungsroman "because Estha and Rahel are never able to live a proper childhood or experience a genuine coming-of-age. Though the twins have escapist techniques to remove themselves from the family's overall discontent -- Rahel's imagination and Estha's love for Elvis Presley and The Sound of Music -- their childhood wonder is exploited early in their lives. The catalyst of this loss of innocence is Estha's molestation by the Orangedrink Lemondrink man. After this event, Estha's outlook on life becomes much too pessimistic for a child of his age, however, because Estha is cognizant of the unpredictability and horrors that life can bring he tries to protect Rahel's innocence. Estha's fear of the Orangedrink Lemondrink man coming to find him in Ayemenem leads to him trying to protect Rahel by crossing the river to the History House -- the scene in which Sophie Mol dies. Sophie Mol's death is also a factor of the twins' loss of innocence, but not only because of the responsibility and guilt they feel. Because Baby Kochamma blames Velutha for kidnapping the twins -- leading to Velutha being beat to death -- the twins also feel responsibility for Velutha's death. The God of Small Things as an "Anti-Bildungsroman" brings to light the dangers of the exploitation of childhood and the effects it can have on a family.

NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/25/reviews/970525.25truaxt.html