Put it in writing

It was a little enthralling to interpret some scholar’s philosophy on where writing originated from and how it came about. I read Alexander Marshack’s “The Art and Symbols of Ice Age Man.” Firstly, I thought the first sentence, “Prehistory is mute,” to be unquestionably true and a great beginning for this ongoing study of the origin of writing. Having taken history classes, I remember being taught that in early prehistoric times Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons were the first beings on Earth, and that they communicated by using objects and carvings. Theoretically, their way of communicating inaugurated the onset of language. However, what I gathered from Marshack’s analysis is that there really isn’t any hard evidence confirming this declaration. While archeologists continue to stumble upon artifacts and strenuously study them, the only thing deciphered is theories. Nevertheless, Marshack makes a good argument in regards to the Neanderthal’s carvings. As a contest to them being deemed as a product of “doodling,” quoting directly from the second page of the read, “A baby can babble, but babbling does not lead to speech unless it develops in a culture that uses speech. Similarly, without a cultural context, doodling does not lead to art.” In my opinion, this is a very legitimate statement. Habits, behavior, one’s lifestyle, however you describe it, are all developed by way of cultural traditions. Thus, the supposition of Neanderthals doodling seems as if the way these seemingly natural tendencies are developed is being overlooked. Taking language for example, since we’re on the subject, the use of “ebonics” or “slang” isn’t something that is necessarily taught. Regardless of it being possible, I doubt it if someone deliberately teaches their child to say “ain’t” as a word that should be integrated into their regular vocabulary. Wouldn’t you agree??

Moving on…

So, who began writing, or more importantly, why was it developed?? The title says it all, “Many Theories, Few Answers.” After reading this article I’m curious to know why it was developed too, but to my disappointment, the answers to those questions remain unknown. Suffice it to say the answers can’t be determined?? As amusing as it is to heed scholar’s interpretations and analysis of archeologist’s finds, based on this article, the answers are just simply unobtainable. Nonetheless, the article ended with a quote by Dr. Michalowski, “… I say coercion and control were early writing's first important purpose, a new way to control how people live." I couldn’t help but think hmmmm, doesn’t that sound familiar? This new form of communication, you know, cellular phones, just out of curiosity, wouldn’t you say this is a new way to control how people live??

an oral culture

I found this weeks readings particularly interesting. I actually liked the vulgarity of what I thought were children tales; it complies to the reality of things as well as graphically reveal what these people were subjected to during that time. It's very true that the storytellers "portrayed a world of raw and naked brutality." However, some of the versions of "Little Red Riding Hood" took me by surprise and were rather disturbing. Nonetheless, these readings, for me, created a whole new perspective of folktales and to the oral tradition in general. The connection between the readings were quite fascinating as well, particularly with how completely different cultures created very similar ways of coping with their lives. In class, a question was raised "Do we live in an oral culture?" I immediately began thinking about how much print culture has emerged and how much technology has advanced to where our culture are becoming more and more reliant on it. Thus, my initial reaction was "not really" or as another student said "not exclusively." As discussed in class, our culture is not really fit to practice the same oral traditions that were practiced during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. These were people that underwent serious hardships that are just not likely to happen now. However, during our discussion in class, I remembered how my father would recite some riddles he grew up with that helped better his indigent living conditions. One such riddle goes,

Beans, Beans, they are good for your heart.
The more you eat, the more you fart.
The more you fart, the better you feel.
so eat them bean with every meal.

The riddle came about because my father and his family pretty much grew up on well, beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, navy beans, lima beans, green beans...all kinds of beans. As my father would tell me, my grandmother would cook a hefty amount of beans, enough to last the whole family of 6 an entire week. Surprisingly, my father still enjoys beans and every he or I would fix them, he would recite that riddle.

So, all in all, learning about folktales and how they came about, and thinking about them in relation to today's traditions, it really puts into perspective how much our culture has changed. The original folktales are fun to learn about, and in some cases read and even see on television, but as discussed in class, our culture has graduated to another kind of orality, one that is more fitting for the present time. Now I'm curious to know how it will change in the future...