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Society vs Author

Writers often highlight the values of a culture or a society by using characters who are alienated from that culture or society because of gender, race, class, or creed. Explain how the character’s alienation reveals the surrounding society’s assumptions and moral values.

In this excerpt, the alienation of two different characters both reveal a different aspect of the society in which the story is set. The reason for which they both are alienated speaks to the authors opinion of churchly figures at that time misusing their power and being hypocritical in their application of their faith.

First to be alienated in this excerpt is Julia Severn, which the author is able to do through Mr. Brocklehurst's harsh criticism of her hair. Julia's hair is described as "red hair, curled all over" by Mr. Brocklehurst. Despite any negative connotation in the modern day with red, curly hair, the reader is able to assume through the negative diction used by Mr. Brocklehurst that having that hair type is seen as a bad thing in his eyes. Due to the fact that Mr. Brocklehurst is implied to be a dedicated Christian, the reader is drawn to understanding his beliefs as an extension of the church's at this time. The alienation of Julia continues further as Mr. Brocklehurst deems  "that girl's hair must be cut off entirely" due to her hair's natural tendency to not appear to be "arranged closely, modestly, plainly". This demand is justified with religious implications that it is a girls responsibility to remain modest. In this way the author is highlighting what she sees as a flaw in that society under the church, that girls are shamed and forced into attempting to be modest by the church's definition. Reading this in our current time makes Mr. Brocklehurst's demand of chopping off all of her hair seem ridiculous to the point of being humorous, further demonstrating the authors intent of highlighting what she sees as a problem with this society.

The second alienation occurs with the young student Jane, who draws Mr. Brocklehurst's attention to her by dropping and breaking her slate. Upon realizing who this girl is, Mr. Brocklehurst begins to isolate her by stating that she "is a little castaway: not a member of the true flock, but evidently an interloper and an alien". Yet again Mr. Brocklehurst uses religious references to act as justification for how he belittles Jane through saying how she is not in the true flock of God's lamb, in other words she is not a follower of God. As if this was not enough to separate her classmates and teacher from her, Mr. Brocklehurst continues on to address Jane's class by saying "you must be on your guard against her; you must shun her example; if necessary, avoid her company, exclude her from your sports, and shut her out from your converse". His attempts to exclude and alienate her are the opposite of subtle as he declares to her class that she is dangerous. This exclusion stems from her previous misbehavior, as Mr. Brocklehurst continues on to say that she has "an ingratitude so bad, so dreadful, that at last her excellent patroness was obliged to separate her from her own young". This is another way in which the author is speaking towards hypocritical aspects of the church during this time period in which she disagrees with. In this case, the author is criticizing the church's hypocritical stance towards forgiving sins of others. Jane is used as an example of one who has sinned in the past yet is trying to now to follow the rules and the will of God. Though the message of the church should be that she is forgiven, she instead receives harsh judgment and isolation. In this way the author is yet again criticizing the church in the society at this time.

"The Man your Man could smell like"

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

Directed by Tom Kuntz, this ad stars Isaiah Mustafa, an indisputably good looking man. Released on February 7th, 2010, this ad was broadcasted on popular television stations in the United States. This ad was made to sell Old Spice body wash. on the surface, it is evident that the ad is thriving off of the idea that if this amazing man uses this body wash he must smell good therefore if another man uses that body wash he will also accomplish such things. This is obvious when Mustafa is beginning the ad and tells the audience to compare their man to him, and then he states "sadly, he isn't me". This implies the audience would be happier if their man was as similar to Mustafa as possible, including using the same body wash. Additionally, on the surface this ad also uses comedy to make a lasting impression on their audience. The ridiculous and unrealistic change of setting and the dialogue he uses portrays this comedy and is very unique.
Upon looking further, a combination of two of the seven deadly sins can be seen at work in this ad. The audience for this ad, which I will go more in-depth about later, is women with male significant others. In this way the ad takes advantage of lust to make this product seem more appealing to women and hence ideally lead to them suggesting their significant other purchase this product. The main avenue the ad uses to achieve this technique is placing an attractive man with no shirt on as the main character of this ad. This visually promotes lust from the female audience. Another important yet small aspect of this ad which suggests lust is how he maintains constant eye-contact with the camera in a nonchalant demeanor. This eye contact is an engaging visually for a female viewer as eye contact makes people feel closer to each other. The other deadly sin I saw utilized here was envy, yet again with the intent of persuading the female audience. This envy was promoted both visually and linguistically to persuade the viewer to purchase their product. Visually, a man is presented to female viewers in romantically inclined settings such as on a boat or on a horse that are stereotypically pleasing to a female. In addition, the language used by the main actor is prompting envy through its suggestive and aggressively straightforward style. The actor suggests that he is "the man your man could smell like", which not subtly suggests the female viewer should envy the good smelling man in the ad.
The ad targets female viewers, despite the product's target market being male, as the company determined that women frequently make purchasing decisions in respect of hygiene products for male household members. The audience could then be considered females who live with their male significant other (or moms who want their son to catch a date). Old Spice is a product that is attainable for most of the middle class, so it can be assumed that the intended audience is the middle class who are well-off enough to desire to buy slightly more expensive body wash to be appealing to women, yet who are also not well-off enough to afford very high caliber hygiene products. In addition the intended audience must have knowledge of and interest in popular culture to have seen this ad appear on common television stations.

Shounlikenoun...

I mean, my blog name in itself is derived from my last name, Shoun. As I typed that a red line appeared underneath it, and I have mixed feelings about that. It means my name is unique, not many people have it, which I think is really cool. On the other hand, it means that my name is unknown to many, so it's mispronounced and autocorrected. I've learned to embrace it, though the use of the catchy saying "Shoun like noun". Yet sometimes it can have a negative effective on me, such as when it is mispronounced at important events like when receiving awards or at varsity athletic games. When that occurs it makes me feel as if I am being improperly recognized and sometimes it creates a humorous situation when my friends know it was mispronounced. The humor takes away from the reason I am being recognized. Yet, I hope that these traits of my name do define me. I hope that I am as unique as my last name is, and that I stand out from the crowd. I also strive to remain strong and confident in the face of adversity, and though my resilience may not be represented with a catchy slogan. I want my last name to be representative of who I am.
As individual this year I have been a captain of the volleyball team, yet as a group I have two other captains that hold equal power. This has been hard because sometimes I disagree with them and what they think is best for our team, but then as a unit we have to come to a decision. I as an individual have had to learn to balance my personal opinions of what I think is right for our team with what the captains has decided is right for the team. At times it can be incredibly challenging, or at times it can feel as if the power held between us as three captains is unequal. Yet it has revealed to me the positive lessons that can be learned by having to work with a group to maintain authority over an even larger group, which in this case was just a team of eleven people.

The photograph I chose was taken by Wing Young Huie and published in his "We are the Other" collection published in 2012-2013 on his website. In the photograph is pictured a high school aged boy and girl in the foreground and a teacher and a peer of the male and female student are in the background. The setting is that of a high school classroom. Both the featured male and female student are holding up chalk boards with different messages. The girl's message reads "I'm not black, I'm African American". The boy's message reads "I have depression. I'm not sad".  These things are evident without analyzing much of the photograph. Upon looking deeper into the meaning behind the photograph it displays a powerful message of the negative affects of labeling people, and especially the affect on young people. The photograph is displayed in black and white to suggest that there is only two ways in which these young people can be seen, and that there is no gray area in-between. The color of the photograph also is used to emphasize the unhappiness that is being portrayed in the photograph. The teacher in the background is not directly guarding the door but is standing in front of it in such a way to suggest that even though the door is open the students are not allowed to leave. The messages that are on the chalkboards are the messages that are supposed to be portrayed to the audience and be the main point of focus in the shot. In the case of the African American girl, her chalkboard is implying that she often feels as if the people around her view her as just black, which often times carries a negative connotation, when instead she views herself as African-American, which is a much more inclusive term. This speaks to the high school experience, when everyone is being labeled as something by their peers. In addition the chalkboard the boy is holding is very powerful. It seeks to send the message that their is a difference between experiencing sadness and having a mental illness. Though much progress has been made in the realm of mental health, there is still a problem with people trying to belittle a mentally ill persons illness by comparing it to an emotion that everyone has undergone at some point in their live. The boy in this photograph is declaring that he has this mental illness and through his message hence implying that his peers have before accused him of just being sad.
In The Handmaid's Tale and the aforementioned photograph language is a critical aspect of the message that is being sent by the text about "others". In the photograph, the two teenagers who are holding chalkboards both write about what they are not and what they are. By using the word "not" in such contexts it implies that both of these teenagers have had people assume they are what they are saying they are  not. The language is being used to show that they are different than what their peers assume them to be and hence they are separate from the their peers. In this way the photograph is able to portray how these two students fall into the category of "others" at their high school because they do not conform to the expectations of their peers. Language is utilized in a similar way in The Handmaid's Tale when compared to the photograph. In the novel, the term "unwoman" is used to describe a feminist, or a women who refuses to fit into her prescribed role in Gilead. This language suggests that the person is not a women due to her choice to defy fitting into the womanly roles in the new society, this term is used to separate these people. Hence, similarly to the photograph, the language used in The Handmaid's Tale is used to signal a person who is not seen to fit in and falls into the category of "other". An important difference to note is that in the photograph the language comes from the individual who is being discriminated against as an "other" whereas in the novel the society created the language that discriminates against the group of people to be seen as "others".
-mk shoun