Motif Madness

In the Literary World a motif can be defined as "a conspicuous element which occurs frequently in works of literature." Motifs are sometimes misunderstood or overinflated or confused with other elements like theme; and therefore we, gentle reader, treat them as a bigger difficulty than what they are intended to be.

And what they are intended to be is an easily identifiable trigger. Something we are meant to see, without much digging. To simply announce something else about to happen. No heavy lifting, then.

These conspicuous elements might include a type of incident, like the prince encountering the "loathly lady" who later turns out to be a beautiful princess in folklore.

Or a device, like Old King Hamlet visiting Hamlet to whet his appetite or memory or resolve or whatever. In fact, Elizabethan ghosts of any kind typical stand as a device to inform or advance the plot.

Or a reference. A conspicuous reference. Like anytime the Sandlot kids bring up The Great Bambino to Smalls, who has no clue about baseball. Every time the kids talk about The Babe is a reference to the greatest ballplayer of all time, but it's really a nod to how Smalls has a lot to learn. And he does.

Or a formula. Man/Woman bewitched by sorcerer/bad guy (think Snow White and the Witch or Hawkeye and Loki). We know they are coming back, right? Three strikes and you're done (think 3 pigs or 3 bears or 3 cries wolf or 3 movies against the Empire or 3 swings against the Green Knight). Formulas need solving. The motifs trigger our conclusion. That sounds like foreshadowing, and there's nothing too fancypants about that.

Music is another source of practice. Just pop in Marvel's The Avengers, close your eyes and let the music tell you who just stepped on screen. Each character carries with him/her a unique musical motif. Patriotic horns for Captain America; cool hard rock for Iron Man; other-worldly strings for Thor; you get the picture.

Or how about the Joker's motif from Dark Knight? A single, wavering, dissonant note played on a cello. Subtle and uncomfortable. Good groundwork to lay before the Joker even jumps on screen. Escalating in dissonance and volume as he becomes more agitated on screen.

Back to print. Motifs aren't fancy, and they aren't meant to be difficult. In fact, we sometimes skip over them because we feel that this thing is so obvious. It can't possibly be what we're looking for in English class. But that's the very nature of being conspicuous. So keep those eyes (and ears) wide open.

Because We Should Be Curious

Dear AP Crowd,

We just took a practice multiple choice test. In case you want to plug in some phantom scores: http://appass.com/calculators/englishliterature.

That Old Dystopian Chestnut

So, it's that mandatory time in any dystopian unit when I, the teacher, assign you, gentle student, to go out and find articles.


That's right. You need to find articles. Two of them. On the following topics:


Polity, Education, Religion, Economy, Family


The assignment is simple. Find articles. And then bring them to class tomorrow.


You've done this before. Go forth, you have been told, by every teacher ever who wanted to make a "real world connection" between the assigned text and, you know, the real world. Find articles. And the bring them to class.


Hey what did you do last night for English homework?


I finded articles.


That's it? What was the assignment?


To find articles.


What are you doing with them, now that you've found them?


Don't know. Don't suppose we'll specify much in class tomorrow either. If reading Atwood or Bradbury or Orwell or Huxley doesn't already hint at what we're doing with them, then the answer is, nothing.


To quote the board: Ominous Tendencies.

Observation #41

I've looked into it. Some really were born to sing the blues.

Best $100 Spent in Literature

 

"Celestial Eyes" by Francis Cugat

The (Frightening?) Lower Frequencies

"Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?"

Awesome line, Invisible Man. Well played. But now for us, gentle reader, the audience, context matters.

"Who knows"

Implying a gray area, an unknown. Possibly rhetorical? We need context.

"Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies"

Just the lower frequencies, down there where the wavelengths exist under the noise, the chaos, the hubbub of the imperfect, justified world. Just like where he resides, in his hole. Underneath. Context?

"Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?"

Are you okay with him speaking for you? Am I?

Context matters. It's not even the quote that needs deconstructing. It is the sentence that precedes it.

"And it is this which frightens me: Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?"

I apologize for the party trick. No need to omit the most crucial part except for some cheap drama. (Do you feel shocked?) But let us consider now what is frightening about this final line, this last idea of one man speaking for another. Let us consider why this frightens our introspective, level-headed, universalist, unnamed, narrator. After all, it is he who is frightened by this, not us. So is it because of what it means for him? Or for us? Or for all of us?

So consider it.

Hey, AP crowd:

Schmoop is not your friend.