What are master-pieces and why are there so few of them (Gertrude Stein)

What are master-pieces and why are there so few of them

 

Famous for her unconventional writing style, Gertrude Stein explores the depth and origin of what people called “master-pieces” in this particular essay and explains this concept to all those educated who ponders on the topic. Though the world was troubled by financial depression and threats of war, Stein decided to focus her attention on human nature and human identity, or maybe that was the reason why she did so.

Stein herself had already lived an impressive life compared to many others: she studied psychology and medicine at Harvard and Johns Hopkins, in addition to her renowned literature works. However, in this particular piece, she purposely cautions her readers of the destructiveness of human nature and identity to the creation of a master-piece. In her words, “…no use in being a boy if you are going to grow up to be a man”(Oates 137). Memories and identities are but what constitute as limit of self, of human nature. They are mere aspects of “time” and “knowing”. To Stein, a true masterpiece should trespass all time and knowing; it should create entity, something that does not have an end or beginning in human society.

In presenting her argument of what a master-piece is, Stein does an extremely well job despite the ambiguity results from her lack of punctuations. She uses a classification structure to govern her whole essay, classifying what master-pieces are and are not. She makes allusions to well-known master-pieces, such as Hamlet, and explores the innate nature of its timelessness. Honestly, the repetition she uses alone can persuade many readers of her argument. It is hard not to as the ideas of identity and time are just continually hammered into one’s mind. Most importantly, the coherent and logical syntax makes this essay seem very authentic. Words such as “therefore” and “to come back” connect the paragraphs and formalize them. Therefore, because of these rhetorical devices she used, I believe the author has accomplished her purpose, which is to persuade the reader of the definition of “master-piece”.

Timelessness

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Illumination round (Michael Herr)

Illumination round

“War” is simply a term people read about nowadays; a term people know but do not comprehend. Yet, only several decades ago, war is quite real for many people. There are the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and the World Wars. Each one is a nightmare beyond imagination: a nightmare not just physical but also mental. To help the people living in the comfortable parts of this world to truly understand war and to help reveal a little about war itself is why Michael Herr wrote this essay.

A former war correspondent and a talented writer, Michael Herr wrote about his experience of the Vietnam War. His words perfectly describes his feelings when he arrived, “…It’s not real, it’s just some thing they’re going through that isn’t real…”(Oates 328).

War is a terrible thing; a terrible thing that not just take away lives but also people’s humanity. Through anecdotes, imagery, a somber tone, and refusal toward euphemism, Herr shows the readers just that. His writing with stories after stories of confused soldiers and bloodlust shakes the readers’ soul. Furthermore, there is no playfulness. He writes what the soldiers said, sometimes necessarily inappropriate for children. He writes how a soldier married to a Vietnamese woman commented in just months after their marriage that “[he] think [he is] going to get out of there”(Oates 335); how a Marine lost his leg and cried, “you lied to me, Father… you…sucker” (Oates 333), and how an major commented about the blood and horrors of war, “I sort of miss them now” (Oates 341). These experiences are not all necessarily tragic, but they are all abnormal to many of the contemporary people enjoying long years of peace. Many families don’t easily break apart, many people don’t get amputated, and many humans don’t grow senseless. Yet, many do during war. Herr vividly hammers the image of “war” into readers’ mind, and her serious tone makes the imagery she created ever so convincing to many people, including me.

Guernica

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picasso

 

Corn-pone opinion (Mark Twain)

Corn-pone Opinions

Though America had become united and slavery had been abolished, Mark Twain’s conception of the meagerness of humanity was only slightly shaken. His essay serves as a caution to all people who feel too highly of themselves; his essay serves as a declaration for those who cannot, or are too busy, to reason; his essay serves as a manifesto for the nature of change in a society.

Human conformity is the main topic surrounding Twain’s interesting essay. In his terms, the rational explanation for the desire of conformity is self-approval, and everybody has the need for self-approval.

Twain himself also lived an interesting life. Though his early writings could be categorized as “light”, his later writings were overshadowed by a mood of despair toward mankind. Although he was widely acknowledged as a great thinker and writer, some even gave him the title “father of American literature”, his shift in tone could also possibly be attributed to his financial troubles and family deaths later in his life. Nevertheless, the strategies and rhetoric Twain used to convince his readers in the essay is powerfully gripping.

       With amusing anecdotes, both historical and personal, Twain proves his idea of human conformity by slowly moving from the basis of an individual to a nation. At first, Twain only uses interesting personal stories, such as how a slave preached and said, “…gits his corn pone, tell you his ‘opinion”(Oates 1), but the reference becomes bigger as the essay goes, and by the end it is about nations, and how their parties operate: not because of rational, but because of personal feelings and the desire for self-approval.

       Twain has deeply persuaded me of conforming to his opinion, and therefore achieves his purpose. The first anecdote in his essay has already aroused my interest to move on, and as numerous other examples are listed afterwards, I cannot help comparing my experiences with those. Microsoft was overcome by Apple; tablets gradually replaced laptops… How many people can really list the improvements between these products? Not many, probably.

 

 

Homogeneous society

 

 

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