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”.
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