The passages of This is Water and Morrison Noble Lecture are interesting and they have a lot of similarities and differences. One thing they both have in common is their use of figurative language to convey the messages in their writings. For example in This is Water Wallace starts off with a fish metaphor before going off into his speech and Morrison Noble Lecture starts off with a the metaphor of an old blind woman being asked by some adolescents if the bird in their hand is alive or dead.
One of the main differences between these two passages is that This is Water is a commencement speech and Morrison Noble Lecture is more, in my opinion, a lecture given by a college professor to an incoming freshman class. They are similar because they both are inspirational and they deal with real world issues however This Is Water deals with more everyday issues such as waiting in traffic and having to go grocery shopping and how our attitude and perception changes the way we feel in this situation. I also realized that This is Water talked more about our attitude and perception affect us and Morrison Noble Lecture focused more on the concept of how language affects us in our everyday lives and it portrayed language as an art and an effective way of communication.
Lastly, their endings are similar in that they both are trying to deliver an "ah-ha" moment to their audience so that they learn an important lesson that they can apply in the real world. I enjoyed reading both of these texts and I feel that I learned a lot from them.
I totally agree with what you noticed as the similarities and differences between the two speeches especially the point you made about one being focused on perception and the other on language. And yes language is an effective way of communication but to a certain extent and this can be seen in Morrison's speech that the practiced writer (the old woman) can both be the law and transgression at the same time and language is also a method of violence and oppression even though it can bring about peace also.
ReplyDeleteI really like the fact that you noticed the "ah-ha" moment at the end of each speeches. Both writers made a connection to the anecdote they started with and it seemed like they were both trying to say something like: " I've said all i have to say to you young ones,shared my wisdom,made it clear that you all have a lot of important choices to make in life but at this point, the power is all in your hands and i trust you will make the right choice that will benefit you and those that surround you...goodbye."
I believe this is a great blog post, simply because you addressed a few main keys in both, Morrison's "Nobel Lecture" and Wallace's "This is Water." One thing most blogs did not state is that both of the speeches begin using a metaphor. One thing I did not agree with is that Morrison's "Nobel Lecture" was targeting an incoming freshman class. I believe it is targeted more towards the African American race or possibly targeting minorities in general. However, I do agree that both are similar because they deal with real world issues yet they still have a different meaning or perspective. Another thing that stood out to me in your blog is that both speeches end with an "ah-ha" moment that the audience can apply to the real world. Overall your blog was great and I enjoyed reading it.
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