Mass Media And Technology / B A 2nd Year

Mass Media And Technology

A writers technique : figures of speech core reading -1

Computer and the pursuit of happiness

                                      David Gelernter

·        This essay refuses the fact that 21st century is the age of information technology. The writer puts there questions:

a)     Are computer and the internet really responsible for the revolution of information technology.

b)    Whether the computer and the internet has really helped the human being over 50 years.

c)     Will the computer and the internet play significant change in the next fifty years.

In this essay the writer is writing the public opinion that the writers have brought revolution in information technology. According to the writer it is not only the computer and the internet that has played a significant roll is making the age as information is but the other means like radio and television are equally responsible.

                   The writer clearly says that neither we are in information nor the computers and internet have brought revolutionary development in human history. The people claim that what counts in 21^st century is the information but they have been mistaken. In fact the materials which were important in the 20^th century are equally important even in the present time. The writer says ,” virtual food make you feel full but it does not prevent from starting.” It clearifies that the artificial world or the abstract ideas can never help the human beings to live a natural life.

                   It is generally claimed that we have got sophisticated machines to create stone and deliver the information. However this claim is not able to process that the present generation are much happen that the precious ones. No doubt the children of the present time enjoy their self in play with computers. But it don’t not necessary mean that the part generations were not happy.

                   The writer believe that the computers and the internet have brought a redical change in science and engineering however it is just and evolution of the industrial age in other sector. Therefore 21th century is not a revolution but it is an evolution of the 20^th century.

                   Have computers been good or bad for making seems they were invented 50 years ago. Obviously information has inriched the life a moral human beings but it doesn't necessarily mean that wealthy people are happy. The writer compares the information technology with plumbing. In the industrial age the common place was the well where face to face communication was possible. But in 21st  century the water has been brought to  home with the help of plumbing. Un doubtey, it is easy but not healthy. Truly speaking the compacter and the internet have ignored help benefit. Moreover human desires are the same although the ways of fulfill them might be differed. Therefore the life of the marking hasn’t been changed by the computers and the internet.

# Will the computers and internet bring significant changes in the next 50 years?

          The writer doesn't cleared that the computers and the internet have brought changes in the present time. This main argument is that the development of the information technology is continuous and there is no revolution yet all. He compares the development of information technology which breathing. Just as breathing supports the life, so does information technology. Besides there is no significant change in the structure of human desires but here might be in the days to come. Although the writer criticizes the role of the computers and the internet in his first 2 paints he argues that the whole pectic should not be give only to the computes and the internet. But we have to see the contribution of the industrial age for the progress of the 21st  century.

Themes

-         Possibilities and limitations of technology.

-         The nature of technological change.

-         The pros (adv) and cons (disadv) of the internet

-         Online shopping and education.

-         The difference between information and knowledge

-         The distinction between reality and virtual reality.

Three Questions

I.            Whether thanks to the computers and the internet.

II.            Whether computes have been beneficial or determental (harmful)

III.            Whether computers are likely to have positive or negative influence.

David Gelernter is this argumentative essay raises three question about the use of computers and internet and address them an his own way. First question he raises is his whether thanks to computer and internet we are now giving in a new information age. He answer this question negatively and says that we aren’t in a information age and computer and the internet aren’t a revolutionary development in human history except in science and engineering. He opines that we need food, clothing, sheltered and possession and this thing are need now. There is not any change in this matters. Brought by information age he says information age is the revolutionary development of industrial age.

The second question is whither computer have been beneficial, detrimental( harmful) to humanity over the last 50 years. Even this question, answers negatively. Through computers have generated lots of information and much wealth, human happiness has increased on the whole. New technology have came into existence but social structure. They have engendered haven’t necessarily improved and the human element associated with old structure has decreased.

          The third question is whither computes or likely to have positive or negative influences. Over next half centuries ( 50 years). This question is answered rather positively. He says that technology will have little to do with human happiness in the future. Respite the new possibilities that new technologies introduce human uniqueness and happiness lie between technological strength, sped and intellect.

Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter: The Range Of Three Major Problems

By

Markandeswar Dani

            The Scarlet Letter presents before a reader three major problems. The first is Hawthorne’s view of sin. The reader is not certain whether Hawthorne supports the Puritanic view of sin. In this paper I have made an attempt to find out whether the author justifies Hester’s stand point of her being a sinner in the eyes of the Puritans.it may be that Hawthorne attempts Psychological analysis of the conflict in the minds of the characters who believe themselves to be sinners. The problem of sin provokes n endless debate, but remains unsolved. Secondly, Hawthorne’s attitude towards Puritanism poses a question for the reader of The Scarlet Letter: he does not know exactly how Hawthorne opposes the quintessence of the Puritan way of life. As he goes through the novel he is puzzled by Hawthorne’s attachment to it. Hwthorne seems to be product of Puritanism and lso reaction against it. Thirdly, the reader wonders whether Hawthorne is an allegorist or a symbolist. Hawthorne was fascinated by allegories and his symbolic imagination was obvious to all. Here is an attempt to find some of the emblems Hawthorne makes use of here and there in the novel, and to suggest whether he was also an ‘emblematist’ in the old sense of the term.

While wandering without any clue in the subtleties of the novel, what puzzles the reader most is the problem of the sin. What is sin after all? Is it the act of adultery committed by Hester and Arthur, or the violation of what Hawthorne calls “the sanctity of a human heart?” Hawthorne does not seem explicit at all. He is more concerned with the consequences of sin rather than with the nature of sin. He seems to explore, explain, and assuage the lifelong torment of a mind in conflict.

A reader of The Scarlet Letter, who is reminded of Hawthorne’s “home feeling” and belief that his family ws ccursed, may feel that Hwthorne is trying to dismiss the problem of sin in The Scarlet Letter. He may find that the sins of Author, Hester and Roger are “assumptions merely” and is appalled to watch “the slow, relentless fires of subsequent remorse and revenge sear them all.” We are, however, not certain if the sins of Author, Hester and Roger are assumptions.

A reader, who believes in the orthodox Puritan concept of sin and Predestination, feels that the motive of sin is central to The Scarlet Letter. He perceives that sin corrupts not only the body and the mind but also the soul. He emphasizes the inherent sinfulness of human nature and believes that only with the example of Arthur Dimmesdle who falls victim to the sin of passion, leads his entire life through intolerable self –torture, and finally seems to be relived when he confesses his sin while dying on the scaffold.

For another reader who believes that suffering is also a part of human education, the problem of sin is not so puzzling. He views sin as the source of all knowledge, wisdom, power, and spiritual happiness. For “Hester and Dimmesdle not only expiate their sins but through them achieve wisdom, self knowledge, spiritual power in short, greatness which repay their suffering.” Sin led to suffering and isolation through which the characters gain knowledge, Hester commits adultery, suffers for it and finally reaches the pedestal of a saint to assure the wretched and wronged women that at some brighter period, when the world should have grown ripe for it, in Heaven’s own time, a new truth would be revealed, in order to establish the whole relation between man and woman on surer ground of mutual happiness.

A romantic reader of the Scarlet Letter receives the impression that no absolute sin is committed by Hester or Arthur. It is the Puritan society which is guilty of imposing, what O.P. Grewl says, the “red hot brand of Puritan punishment” upon them. And “the tension,” says Randall Stewert,” is tautly drawn between the Puritan (or Christian) respect for law and conscience and the ‘Romantic insistence’ but Hester never feels any sense of guilt. Hawthorne does not seem to condemn Hester or author, their love “had a consecration of its own” and it had never caused them to suffer. He seems to allow the romantic position its full weight and the romantic reader feels that sin is but the outcome of society’s imposition of a guilt consciousness upon the minds of the individuals.

A reader who thinks from a psychological point of view believes with Professor David Levin that “Hawthorne, like his ancestors, was pre-occupied with the normal life, with questions of responsibility and motivation, and with the moral and psychological effects of sin or misfortune.” He believes sin as something which disturbs the balance of the mind. He feels the conflict in Arthur’s mind between his terrible urge to confess his sin and his inability to do so. A mind perturbed by such a conflict gives way to endless self torture physical and psychological.

A reader who does not believe in the Puritan, the Romantic or the Psychological reading of The Scarlet Letter may feel that “sin in The Scarlet Letter is a violation of only that which the sinner thinks he violates. To one character, adultery is transgression against God’s law, to another no more than a violation of the natural order of things. According to him sin means essentially something different to each character. Hester feels to her own nature.” Arthur feels his sin in his lack of confession. Roger never feels that he sins. Hwthorne views his sin in the deliberate surrender of his intellect to the spirit of his revenge.

It seems that “there is almost always in Hawthorne a radical difference between the sin actually committed and the sin that the characters believe they have committed.” For instance, it is Arthur Dimmesdle and not Hawthorne for whom the sin of adultery is the most important fact of The Scarlet Letter. Mark Van Doren observes: “sin for him, for Haster, and for the people who punish her is equally a solemn fact, a problem for which there is no solution in life.” The problems of sin provide wide scope for endless debater. But, does The Scarlet Letterprovide a solution to this problem?

Where the Mind is Without Fear

Apply the four levels of meaning to “Where the Mind is Without Fear”

literal Comprehension: The speaker of this poem hopes where on feels fearless and honoured, where knowledge is free where whole world is united, where true words come from real heart, where smooth ideas are not disturbed by dead habit, etc. such land of freedom the speaker wants to be awoken. In the world our mind should be ever respected and should be honoured. The people should not be divided rather united and go for common objectives. Our motherland should be such ever widening developing and uprising country.

Interpretation: Actually the poem is trying to clarify the value of Knowledge., courage, self-dignity sincere and reasonable thoughts. If these all qualities were found in the countrymen of any country, that country would be heavenly place. There will be ever peace, progress and development. As the citizen of any country one must have discussed qualities and make nation a paradise.

Critical Thinking:  Rabindranath Tagore had vision of a country, which is full of all qualities of ideal nation. The honour, self-respect, dignity hardworking subjects, business relation, modern conscious society, absence of traditional taboos, superstitions and dead habits. According to the poet fearlessness, Knowledge, honour truth, reason are very much important to any country and people. I am completely agreed with these ideas. I can share the worries (that ) the speaker is expressing. New knowledge of awareness, reason, truth, self respect, honour, etc. are compulsory qualities to any good citizen and ideal country. The request of poet seems urging any people to be wide-minded, full of knowledge consciousness, etc. would it be possible to create such ideal national on earth? How can we fight to avoid everyday evil? Can such ideal desire of the speaker be materialized really?

Assimilation: The poem taught me about how to live in the world we should be fearless and proud of our existing nation. It has also focused on the causes of war among nations and communities and has also given the solutions. The dead habits disturb the progress of any nation in general and personal progress in particular.