Language and Mores in winesburg, ohio
Language and literature lead parallel lives. What changes most often and most dramatically is the language we use to describe events and feelings that are common to all times. Language shifts, stretches, adopts, and absorbs -- it drops antiquated terms and picks up a few new ones, and you don't have to look far to find novels and short stories grown stale from shaky, outdated prose, from too many neo-tropisms, catch-phrases, and slang with a short shelf-life. Literature, though inseparable from language, endures. Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio encapsulates both the changes that have swept up language from 1919 till the present, and the endurance of certain themes.
The question concerning language is, at heart, a question of mores: How do you talk about yourself and others? What are we allowed to say, and how? The question posed by literature is moral in nature, but it is phrased differently: What is it about myself and others? The constraints in literature reflect the constraints in language, but the former apply to morality, the latter to mores. Morality, broadly defined, refers to a sense of decency inherent in everyone. Mores refer to the set of constraints, a sort of value table, that a society has placed on itself and on its members.
Morality and literature have hardly changed -- their central concerns remain the same (man's place in the universe, death, love, everything in between). Mores and language have changed -- their central concerns have adapted to suit the shifting times. It's no surprise that morality often comes into conflict with mores (segregation was never moral, but it was, for a time, a more), and that literature often comes into ...
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Winesburg seems less threatening now mostly because of its language, its timidity and overuse of euphemisms (particularly the word "adventure," used throughout to designate a sexual escapade, and Anderson's proclivity to drawing the blinds on his readers when things get too hot), not because it is any less a work of literature. Our mores have changed in much the same way. There is a tendency these days to spell everything out, moles and all, the more explicit the confessional the better, and this tendency will most likely pass. Our current mores are consistent enough with morality -- they are, in fact, outward signs that we are moral people -- but they are not inflexible. It is through the filters of language and mores that we look at literature and morality. And Anderson's Winesburg seems to be doing fine on both counts. It's still standing.
The Big Three met first in Iran’s capital, Tehran, where they covered four main problems (Naden and Blue 187-188). They had to make a plan of attack against the Nazis, so FDR planned D-Day with Churchill’s help and Stalin helped by attacking the Nazis. The second issue was if the Soviets would fight Japan in the Pacific. The Allies were losing and if the Soviets hadn’t stepped in they probably would’ve lost that front of the war (Teheran Conference 2505-2506). The next problem the Big Three talked about was how the boundaries of Poland, Germany and the USSR would be set up after the war. FDR liked the idea moving the Soviet border forward, taking parts of Poland, and of course Stalin wanted more territory. They also approved moving Poland’s border farther into Germany (Teheran Conference 2505-2506). They also discussed how they would keep the peace in the future. Because this was the Second World War after only a 21-year gap, Roosevelt wanted a new mediating group to stop another war from ever happening. He called it the “United Nations” (Naden and Blue 187).
Thomas Hardy's Use off Verbs to Convey that Lizzy is Spirited and in Control in Distracted Preacher
Roberts, Edgar V., Jacobs, Henry E. “Literature.” The Lesson. 470-475. Toni Cade Bambara. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. 2001
One of FDR’s first orders of business was to respond to the need of reforming the banking system. FDR created the Emergency Banking Act that shut down all banks across the US and only allowed them to reopen upon government inspection. This proved effective as Americans began to restore their trust in the banking system. The EBA also demonstrated how government power was expanding, as the program allowed the government to ignore states’ and businesses’ rights to shut down the banks. In Document G, John L. Lewis praises the Wagner Act, which was FDR’s response to the “widespread labor unrest”. The Wagner Act addressed the concerns of workers over their rights as union members and ability to collectively bargain. The act proved effective as labor unrest began to dwindle. FDR took this chance to once again increase the government’s power by creating the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB enforced the terms of the Wagner Act. The Wagner Act changed the role of the government by implying that social justice was now also on the government’s agenda of what to provide to citizens, in addition to ...
The EMC Masterpiece Series. (2005). Literature and the language arts: Understanding literature (2nd ed.). St. Paul, MN: EMC: Paradigm Publishing.
Neutrality in the early stages of the war prevented America from lending a hand. It basically allowed Germany to invade more land,
The Treaty of Versailles was a violation of Wilson’s ideals. The Treaty is one of the most important agreements (or disagreements) that shaped 20th century Europe socially and physically. Woodrow Wilson on January 22, 1917 in an address to the United States Senate called for a peace without victors, but the Treaty signed by the participating nations was everything but that. The blame for the war was placed on Germany and justified the reparations that were outlined by the treaty for the war. The terms of the treaty were very harsh to the Germans and they took on great resentment. It was a fragile peace agreement that would be used as fuel to keep hostilities going 20 years later.
Some major terms of the Treaty of Versailles affected Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The most notable was the treaty signed by Germany. They were forced to sign the war-guilt clause, pinning all the blame on Germany for starting the war which led to Germany having to pay for all the damages caused by the Allies being subjected to the casualties of the imposed aggression of Germany and its allies. Germany considered this too harsh.
When President Roosevelt took office, he had to fulfill his ideas he had proposed to the citizens while campaigning for presidency. One of his ideas and that he fulfilled, was the Works Progress Administrati...
Diction plays a critical role in the development of the tone in a story. The type of words the author uses directly leads to the tone of the entire literary work. If ...
The power of literature over our beliefs as a society is unquestionable. E.B. White could not declare this on his own, so he depicted it through his character, Charlotte: "'But Charlotte,' said Wilbur, 'I'm not terrific.' 'That doesn't make a particle of difference,' replied Charlotte. 'Not a particle. People believe almost anything they see in print...'" (89). E.B. White was aware of his influences over our culture: the gender roles and the barnyard society. We judge, as a society, what is right and wrong or what is acceptable and unacceptable. Literature and media helps guide
"Neoclassicism." A Guide to the Study of Literature: A Companion Text for Core Studies. Comp. English Department Brooklyn College. 6th ed. Landmarks of Literature. Brooklyn College. Web. 9 Dec. 2013. .
Abcarian, Richard, Marvin Klotz, and Samuel Cohen. Literature: the Human Experience. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print.
As long as the world changes, literature and writings will change. Whether to adjust to certain trends, political issues, or as the reflection of American culture changes.
Literature is an essential part of society in the present day and enables the communication between multiple parties in a written form. Texts can provide a vast knowledge on subjects dependent on content whereas novels are often seen as being purely for leisure and enjoyment. However it can often be seen that prose