Category: Postmodernism

Jean-Francois Lyotard was a French sociologist, philosopher and a literary theorist. He remains one of the most prominent philosophers of the twentieth century. This scholar was interested in defining the current society in the context of modernity. This scholar noted that the world has changed a greatly, and there are factors that did not exist before which exist in the modern society. This scholar focused his study on post modernity.

The world today, according to this scholar, has advanced in various fronts. He looks at the factors that are brought about by post modernity. Modernity has brought about a number of changes in society. In fact, social problems in society today are attributed to modernity. A modern society is full of technological changes implying that humanity relies on technology heavily. In this regard, all aspects of life rely on technology.

This scholar defines postmodernism in respect to modernity. When the world adopted the aspects of modernity, a number of factors came into existence. Of interest was the fact that the society came to accept the importance of painting. Painting was considered an extremely valuable art that was used to pass given information. Such prestigious places as the church heavily depended on paintings to communicate to its audience.

This scholar notes that leaders of the church could explain their ideas through the word of mouth. However, other details could only be explained through painting. For instance, people were convinced that God was a significant being that was seen by a few exceptional individuals in the past.

Moreover, it is recorded that he came in different forms and, therefore, it was impossible to come up with his image. However, it was recorded in the bible that Jesus lived amongst us. People would want to see an image of Jesus and other saints. It was only through paintings that such an image could be reproduced.

Postmodernism seems to change this pierce of art. The world is no longer a place where people cherish painting. Photography seems to have thoroughly overtaken painting as a form of imaging. People currently rely on photos to present their images. It is not only easy and less time consuming, but also more accurate than the baroques that existed in the old era.

Another factor that has characterized postmodernism, according to Lyotard is literature. Modernity saw a rise in literature. Literature was becoming particularly relevant in society in different fronts. Children needed literature as a form of entertainment. Listening to a piece of literature to them was a very good experience.

They found it not only funny, but also scary at times. Parents, therefore, realized that they could use literature as a way of guiding their children. Literature could be used to discourage undesirable behavior in children. In high schools, literature became even more powerful.

Teachers used literature to gauge whether children had the capacity to comprehend a given volume of information. Literature was also used as a way of taking children through a rite of passage. During modernity, parents did not have the opportunity to teach their children some values that were expected of them when they became adults. This task was pushed to teachers. To achieve this objective, literature became exceedingly crucial.

Lyotard says that postmodernism did not come to change the above facts. He states that postmodernism did not come to end artistry. Painting was not to vanish because of photography. It was supposed to advance painting. Movies and the film industry in general were not supposed to end literature. It was supposed to be the period when literature would be advanced. It was a time when literature would flourish because technology would make it easy to write.

According to Lyotard, postmodernism is part of the modern society. He says that postmodernism is not the end of modernism. It is not a new era whereby modernity can be brought to an end. However, this scholar says that postmodernism is part of modernism. He defines it as a stage of modernism. It is advanced modernism characterized by a host of new approaches of doing things. According to this scholar, postmodernism is a new approach of addressing issues that are already in existence.

In the current society, it is extremely rare to see children listening to tales from their parents or reading books. This is because of two main factors. The first factor is that the current society has both parents earning a living for the family and, therefore, they have limited time with their children. The time for telling tales is not available to these parents. The emergence of television and such programs as cartoons have attracted attention of children so much. Reading books is boring to them and hectic.

Despite this apparent change, nothing has changed. The cartoons and the movies still have the narrative that existed in literature only that their presentation has enhanced. Photography remains as advanced painting. It is, therefore, true according to Lyotard that nothing has changed amidst the perceived massive changes in the environment.

Subversion of Gender and Sexual Norms in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

Shakespeare’s literatures remain extremely popular several centuries after his death. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is one of the most thrilling plays that were tremendously popular in 1600s. This play brings to focus subversion of gender and sexual norm during this period. Shakespeare has written many books where gender identity of an individual would be concealed from others and the dramatic turn of events that would follow this disguise.

In the play Twelfth Night, we are presented with Viola, who is the protagonist of the play. Viola and her brother Sebastian were on high seas when their ship was wrecked by a bad weather. A captain, who later helps her find a job as a pager of Duke Orsino, helps her. She believes that her brother Sebastian perished in the wreckage.

Luckily, Antonio, who becomes fond of him, rescues Sebastian. Duke Orsino is deeply in love with Olivia, a beautiful rich maiden whose father and brother passed on recently. Orsino is convinced that one day he will win the heart of Olivia. While working as a pager for Duke Orsino, Viola is frequently sent to Olivia with messages of love. Orsino believes that Viola is a man. He takes her as his confidant and reveals to her how much he loves Olivia.

Olivia becomes exceedingly fond of Viola because she is a frequent visitor. Olivia knows that Viola is a man. She considers Viola as a remarkably handsome man. As Viola continues to visit her, a new twist springs up in the play. Olivia falls in love with Viola, the pager. Orsino does not realize this fact. He continues sending Viola to Olivia, and the more this happens, the more Olivia develops strong love for Viola.

This brings a serious subversion of gender. Viola has presented herself as a man. Save for the captain who rescued her in the high seas, everyone else in this land knows that Viola is a man. The intrigue about the sexual norm surrounding Viola comes in two ways. As a pager of Duke Orsino, Viola becomes so close to the Duke. She falls in love with him. This is extremely natural because she is a woman who has fallen in love with a handsome man.

To Duke Orsino, however, Viola is a man. Despite this, the Duke develops exceptionally strong feelings for her. This is particularly evident when he confides in her. The way Orsino talks to Viola is not a normal way that a master would talk to a servant. He betrays his emotion towards her. This is subversive to the cultural norm. Although the audience knows that falling in love with Viola is normal because she is a woman, to the eye of Orsino, Viola was a man.

It is normal for Olivia to have fallen in love with Viola because she (Viola) disguised herself as a man. Olivia was, therefore, seeing her beauty and considered her a remarkably handsome man. However, Viola knows that she cannot fall in love with her. She knows that Viola has mistaken her for a man, and therefore does not return the affection given to her by Olivia.

Another intrigue comes between Sebastian, the brother to Viola, and Antonio the captain. Antonio rescued Sebastian from the wreckage at the high seas. He takes good care of Sebastian and provides him with all his needs. The fondness becomes so intense that Antonio decides to accompany him to Illyria.

Although Antonio is not directly saying that he is in love with Sebastian, his actions betray this strong love. This is confirmed when Sebastian marries Olivia at last. He is melancholic after this marriage. He resigns s to his fate, a sign that he has lost a battle he was sure of wining.

The marriage between Sebastian and Olivia was purely out of mistaken identity. As explained above, the mistaken identity started when Viola concealed her real identity. Olivia had tried to suppress her love for her and could not withstand it anymore.

Emotion overwhelmed her, and she decided to tell her that she loved her. When she meets Sebastian by a coincident, she professes her love to him and demands that he should marry her. She knew that she was talking to Cesario, who is Viola. Sebastian is a little shocked at the act of this beautiful but strange woman.

The Duke finally realizes that her servant, Cesario is beautiful woman Viola. He instantly professes to her that he had always developed strong feelings towards her, but could not speak out because he believed that she was a man. The two plan to marry as the play comes to its end.

Early Modern Ideas about Marriage Portrayed In the Play

The play Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare clearly portrays ideas about marriage during this time. One of the most common factors about marriage that comes out clearly is that it was made from a decision of two consenting adults. One could not force marriage on the other partner if the partner did not wish.

The society that Shakespeare portrays in this play is one, which every member of the society has a right to choose his or her partner. Duke Orsino could not use his power to force Olivia into marriage. He had to convince her. He had to use every available means to attract her attention and win her heart.

This even includes using his servant to pass his message to her. This freedom is further demonstrated in the actions of Olivia. She refused his charms and made it clear to him that she was not ready for any serious relationship for the next seven years. Funny enough, she falls for Cesario (Viola) the messenger. This demonstrates that the argument that she was not ready for a relationship for the next seven years was an excuse.

Another factor about marriage in during this time in this society was that there was no form of discrimination based on the social class. His fellow workers that his mistress, Olivia, was in love with him convinced Malvolio. When he received a letter purported to be written by Olivia, she strongly believes it. This shows that the social class was not an issue. This is further confirmed when Duke Orsino finally makes the decision to marry Viola who had served him for some time.

Another clear fact that comes out in this play is that marriage was considered as normal when it was between a man and a woman. A relationship between a woman and a woman was considered abnormal and unacceptable. Antonio developed strong emotions towards Sebastian. The fondness was near romance, and that is why he had some sense of nostalgia when he realized that Sebastian was marrying fair Olivia. Viola liked Olivia because of her attitude towards her.

She was kind to her, and she always felt particularly comfortable in her presence. When she realized that it was getting romantic, she started sympathizing with her. She knew that they could not get romantic at all because of their gender. Both were women, and the love that Olivia had for her was misplaced. She knew that they could not have any relationship because the society considered such acts unnatural.

Ways in Which Early Modern Ideas about Marriage and Same-Sex Desire Differ From the Modern Society

Same sex marriages or what is commonly referred to as homosexuality remains one of the most controversial issues in the current society. Same sex desires are increasingly becoming extremely common. Men marrying other men or women marrying other women is common phenomena in the current society. This trend is exceedingly common in the west.

This play presents some form of the same sex desires. Sebastian was uncommonly handsome man. He resembled her fair sister Viola. When Antonio rescued him in the high seas, Antonio developed a serious fondness towards him. Antonio was well aware that Sebastian was a man, and the best that could come out from the relationship could not be anything than best friends.

However, the captain developed a strong urge to be near him always. He did not want to lose sight of him, a fact that made him follow Sebastian to Illyria. It would make one guess that Antonio wanted to get romantic with Sebastian.

Some facts in this play make same sex desires, as one expressed by Antonio, different from what it is in the present society. Antonio’s motive was driven by his need for a companion. He needed someone who could always be with him and share his feelings. He saw this person in Sebastian.

This is different from the drive that is witnessed today. In the current society, individuals are motivated by the desires for sex. A new crop of individuals has emerged who are not sexually attracted to people of the opposite sex. They are men who want to get intimate with fellow men, or women who have such desired. In the current society, it is common to get scenarios where people in authority rapping those who trusted them the most that they can never do such an act.

Scenarios where fathers sexually molest heir sons are very common in the contemporary society. This proves beyond any reasonable doubt that in the current word, the drive for same sex desires is to have sex.

The play demonstrates this in two main ways. First, for all the time that Antonio was with Sebastian, he never gave any indication that he wanted to get intimate with him. He had power over him, especially after rescuing him from the high seas. Sebastian also liked him much, but knew that to get intimate, he needed a woman, and Olivia was the one he desired.

The second proof is the relationship between Orsino and Viola. Orsino knew that Viola was a man. Although he developed some serious fondness towards her, he never made any serious move to show that he wanted to get intimate with her. He could not understand how a man could get intimate with a fellow man. Orsino had Viola within his rich. However, no attempts were made towards being intimate.

The play presents a society that respects the institution of marriage. Marriage in this society is purely based on love. This love had to be based on mutual agreement between the involved parties.

Olivia did not have any romantic feelings towards Duke Orlando. She therefore turned down his proposal despite the status and amount of wealth commanded by Duke Orlando. This is a little different from what is taking place in the current society. People in the current society are very materialistic. They put a lot of emphasis on material benefits than on emotions.

They can therefore, fake emotions in order to benefit materially. Same sex desires is flourishing in the current society because people are easily swayed with money. For this reason, a person who is wealthy and his sexual orientation is towards an individual of the same sex will always have his way. They will use their wealth to convince those whom they desire to be their partners. This is one of the strongest pillars of same sex relationship today.

The modern day society has changed in various fronts. People are always busy trying to meet specific targets in life. Women in the modern society have become breadwinners in their families, and they will always prepare for this even before marriage.

Romance is beautifully portrayed in this play, something that is on the decline in the current society because everyone is busy. People in the modern day work six hours in a week. They have limited time to socialize with others. Decisions about marriage are therefore made in a rush. People get into marriage only to realize that they cannot withstand each other.

This emphasis on climbing the social ladder in the society is slowly killing romance in the modern day marriages. Couples have limited time to share together as husband and wife, or lovers. One may argue that the marriage between Olivia and Sebastian was rushed up. However, to the eyes of Olivia, Sebastian was Cesario whom she had known for a long time as a messenger of Duke Orsino.

Sebastian agreed to the marriage based on two factors. First, his sister Viola had confirmed to him that Olivia was a good person who could make a good wife. Because of the trust he had towards the sister, she believed her. The second reason was that he was attracted to her and was convinced that they could make a family.

He fell in love with her. When Olivia came to know of the identity of Sebastian, she did not change her mind. To her, Sebastian was the Cesario that she had admired for a very long time. The fact that he was a brother to Viola made it even easy to internalize this fact.

It can be concluded that poetry is an imitation employed by writers to express views ad opinions in society. In many fictional poems, characters are portrayed with either better or worse behaviors as compared to behaviors of real characters. Other writers try as much as possible to match the objects of poetic imitation with real life events.

In his works, Aristotle differentiates between humor and tragedy. He notes that tragedy entails presenting objects of poetic imitation in a better way than they would appear in real life. In other words, tragedy is the presentation of characters in an idealized form. Therefore, a tragic poet tries to present better life as compared to real life. This would mean that tragic poetry criticizes the existing form of life. The characters in a tragic poem have better qualities as compared to the qualities of characters in real life.

Introduction

Society is constantly undergoing a change which is reflected in its products of creative activity and attitudes. Since the beginning of the creation of human culture the peculiarities of the way people treated themselves, their origin, their lives, etc. were different, thus marking the epochs in human thinking. After the flourishing culture, arts, and philosophy of Ancient times began the dark Middle Ages when the culture became secular, thus prohibiting any love of life, and creativity and imagination, etc.

The Renaissance became the real resurrection of optimism, freedom, and flourishing of creation and arts – this was the sign of returning cultivation of the human body and the human spirit. After the Renaissance there were other epochs that always signaled the end of one philosophy and the beginning of another one – for example, Realism and Romanticism had absolutely different grounding for the events, the human life, and motives, the philosophy of human conduct and ideology of human aspirations. These epochs were first of all directly reflected in the products of human activity, i.e. the works of art – sculpture, literature, music paintings, and others.

Anyway, it is necessary to admit that any shift in the artistic tendency was indispensably connected with the society – it was its product, so it could not help influencing the way the society perceived and studied itself. Thus, the change of epochs in the human philosophy was also the shift in the scientific focus on society, i.e. the social sciences could not escape the influence of the shift and followed it, adjusting the examination techniques to the patterns of contemporary social philosophy and perception.

Anthropology as a science about people can be a vivid example in the discussed context – plainly speaking, it is a science about people. But it is a commonly understood fact that nobody but people may conduct the research in the world – this is why the way research may be conducted is also determined by people doing this. Consequently, anthropology is also subject to change and the purpose of the present paper is to define in which way the shift in the philosophy of human beings has influenced anthropology and anthropological research, background, and activities.

Postmodernism as a Cultural Tendency

The first stage necessary to follow while discussing postmodernism is to define its essence and difference from modernism, the cultural tendency that it chronologically follows. Modernism was concentrated on the contemporary studies of all subjects taking place or existing now and here, but which, however, became there and then with the flow of time. Thus, modernist thinking was highly temporary and quickly became outdated. “The fundamental act of modernity is to question the foundations of past knowledge” (Weiss and Wesley, 2009).

The major shift happened as a result of the further development of modernity, as the scientists and cultural researchers did not stop on the achieved and went further, proceeding to the postmodern type of thinking. The impact of postmodernism is widely recognized in modern society –

A school that originated in French and U.S. American philosophy in the late 1970s, and had a profound influence on various branches of art and esthetics (architecture, cinema, literature, etc.) (Postmodernism, 2009).

The most outstanding activists in the sphere of postmodernism are Jean-Francois Lyotard (who stated that the studies of culture cannot be accomplished because of the subjectivity of reality), Jean Baudrillard (who considered the world as a set of models and stated that nothing new would be produced by the society; he also attributed the shift from modernism from postmodernism to the emergency of mass media and creation of artificial reality in the world), Jacques Derrida (who dealt with the issues and meaning and reasoning employed in texts), Michel Foucault (who studied patterns of power and the change of experience throughout the course of history) and Nancy Scheper-Hughes (argue the initial meaning of culture as compared to other deriving notions of ethics and morality) (Weiss and Wesley, 2009). The ideologists of postmodernism were divided into skeptical and affirmative postmodernists – the former is more radical about modernism and deny the importance of theory in any science, considering it excessive as well as abundant, while the latter is less radical, criticize theory but do not oppose it so strictly and are obsessed by actual problems of the contemporary reality (Weiss and Wesley, 2009).

In terms of general understanding, the philosophy of postmodernism may be regarded as pessimistic since with the development of mass media, mass culture and artificial reality the creative spirit diminished and the faith in the power of human creation weakened. Postmodernists argued that humanity has already created all it had and everything new emerging in this world was nothing more but a compilation of something that has already been made.

In fact, the debates over what postmodernism actually means and how it was implemented in the aesthetic and cultural life of humanity are still going – the phenomenon was too complex to be identified explicitly. It was too unlike modernism for any parallels to be drawn between them. Nevertheless, as its direct follower, it can be compared to modernism to a certain extent.

Postmodernism emerged as a rebellious reply to the rationality of modernism – it was the tendency that involved irrationality as the main clue to understand reality and to find out the truth. Postmodernism rejected the meaning of reason and relied heavily on intuition; it refused from applying the experience of the past and insisted on direct participation, living through events, and taking part in the experience. The philosophy of the postmodern movement consisted in rejecting novelty, annihilating the belief in the power of human creation, and trying to create something new out of pieces of something that has already been created in the past.

Postmodernism has at least two meanings: (a) as a descriptive label for a specific historical era, characterized by fragmentation of dominant Western myths and collage-like assemblages of meaning… and (b) as a term for the above-mentioned academic and artistic schools, which consider fragmentation and collage as esthetic or intellectual ideals (Postmodernism, 2009).

Postmodernism and modernism are different in many terms, so the detailed comparison of movements may essentially help in the understanding of the philosophy as well and the ability to apply this understanding to the shift in anthropological perspective that took place with the rise of postmodernism.

The first point worth paying attention to is the way philosophical thinking was organized under both aesthetic directions. Reasoning during modernism was arranged in chronological order, raising from the beginning of times and raising upwards to the contemporary reality. In contrast to it, postmodernism is arranged in multiple realities, basing its judgment on multiple thinking. The distinguishing feature of postmodernism is also its mass media background and is web-based. Science also takes a significant place in the peculiarities of thinking – modernism heavily relied on universal optimism while postmodernism shifted to the realism of limitations (i.e. modernism accepted the continuity of experience and cohesion of scientific findings, while postmodernism did not accept these foundations and limited the scope of human cognition) (Weiss and Wesley, 2009).

Another interesting issue pertaining to the perception of the world by modernists and postmodernists is their attitude to the part and the whole – modernists believed that the construction of the whole is simple, being comprised of its constituent parts. In their turn, postmodernists looked at the matter deeper and further, believing that the whole is more than its parts, possessing something else but the pure composite structure (Weiss and Wesley, 2009).

The attitude to God was varied as well: modernists considered God in terms of violation of natural laws and immanence of everything in the world. The attitude of postmodernists includes the vision of God as “top-down causation”. The language of postmodernism is referential, in contrast to one of the postmodernist’s attributes meaning in a social context through usage (Weiss and Wesley, 2009).

Among other significant differences, one should keep in mind the issues of strategic importance differing for modernism and postmodernism. The theoretical foundations of both theories are basically different, marking the substantial difference distinguishing them. First of all, it is necessary to pay attention to a more standardized outlook of modernism – it rests on the principles of precise design while postmodernism relies on chance rather than structuralism. The structure of both theories is also differing in the way they systematize knowledge and human activity – modernism uses the principles of hierarchy, which again implies the explicitly based structure of modernism, while postmodernism prefers anarchy, attributing more power to improvisation and randomness (Weiss and Wesley, 2009).

Another share of contrasts is the distance modernists preferred to keep in relation to the subject they studied, i.e. humanity, history, philosophy, creation, etc. In addition to the distanced observation, they use interpretation, which implies that they make inferences based on objective knowledge. Looking at the postmodernist attitude to the subject of consideration it is necessary to define their attitudes as participation in the action rather than observing it, together with the rejection of interpretation relying solely on the results of action (Weiss and Wesley, 2009).

Creation is juxtaposed with deconstruction, metaphysics is opposed to irony – this is the gap that divided the thinking patterns of humanity in the course of the 20^th century and marked the change of humanity’s perception of itself – the opinion about the shift is not unanimously positive, however, nobody can deny its existence. Following the opinion of one of the researchers of postmodernism, Frederic Jameson,

The standardization of our environment, a saturation of our consciences by mass media, and local dislocations caused by the globalization of production have produced a new dominant consciousness: a postmodern schizo-fragmentation characterized by floating emotions, inability to “organize… past and future into coherent experience” (Strauss, 1997).

It is not proved to which extent science may have been influenced by postmodernism being a detached study of different spheres of human activity; however, some sciences have not been affected as they deal with pure knowledge, for example, such as biology, chemistry, economics, physics, etc. The main reason for this may be that these sciences are not considered connected with the aesthetical and moral considerations of human beings. No doubt the effect of postmodernism on contemporary social sciences, namely, the impact on anthropology is indisputable:

there are postmodernist strains in cultural and social anthropology, none at all in physical anthropology. This, of course, has resulted in the bifurcation of Anthropology Departments at some universities (Leiter, 2008).

In general, judging postmodernism from the point of its being the way to organize the reasoning and the human philosophy of perception, it is necessary to note that modernism was more optimistic than the tendency that came as a shift of focus – people who denied the reality and looked for meaning in symbolism, started to pay more attention to inter-textual and hyper-textual meanings transformed their understanding of reality into postmodern one, refusing from a part of the rational beginning of everything existing in the world.

Refusing from rationality and adopting chaos and improvisation as a scientific method of analysis they supported their attitude to reality as a set of chaotic implications of their selves, proving the crisis into which the creative spirit of humanity sadly got. It is hard to say definitely whether the impact of postmodernism on the development of society is negative or positive because of its huge influence produced on many spheres of human activity; however, inter-contextuality and hypothesis about the repeated patterns of creativity also have sense, in other way the tendency would not be recognized all over the world.

Anthropology and Postmodernism

Anthropology is the science that studies people; this is why postmodernism could not help affecting the course of research and study of this science. It has a long history of existence and has accumulated the experience that guides its development nowadays:

As an academic subject, anthropology traces its roots back to the nineteenth century, when the first systematic comparative studies of human cultures world-wide were published. Four national traditions soon became dominant within the discipline – the British, French, German and American schools. Today, after more than a century of dialogue between these traditions, there is a broad consensus as to the subject’s analytical goals and methodology (Anthropology, 2009).

Anthropology is a social science studying the society and tendencies that prevail in its development, the rules they follow and the customs according to which they co-ordinate their relations. The subject of anthropology has always been studying of other cultures, so postmodernism with its denial of observation and systematization produced the direct effect on the way of conducting research in anthropology.

The central factor influencing the development of anthropology is the postmodernist opinion that no objective knowledge may be derived from the detached observation of the subject:

The theoretical school of postmodernism claims that it is impossible for anyone to have objective and neutral knowledge of another culture. This view comes from the notion that we all interpret the world around us in our own way according to our language, cultural background, and personal experiences (McGee and Warms, 2004).

For the reason of objectivity being denied by postmodernism the shift was towards the anthropologists’ participation in the experiment they conduct to find out the truth and to achieve empirical results. The result of the shift was that the observer may never be unbiased- this is what postmodernists assumed to prove the inconsistency of the traditional approach to anthropological studies. The new view of anthropology is the assumption that the observations are always influenced by political or social contexts – for this reason the results can never be substantiated by objectivity. This main shift resulted in a change in the procedure of collecting and sorting out the information – other types of information became relevant in the course of making conclusions pertaining to anthropological studies.

It is hard to say that the shift is equally well and positively accept the change in the perception of the shift:

Some anthropologists claim that the postmodernists rely on a particular moral model rather than empirical data or scientific methods. This moral model is structured by sympathy to those who do not possess the same privilege that the mainstream has in Western societies (McGee and Warms, 2004).

One more challenge encountered by the postmodern anthropology is the assumption made by some scientists that anthropology in the postmodern understanding is too biased and influenced by the philosophical tradition of postmodernism. For example, Sidky argues that anthropology is based on “ideological foundations” and causes only “distortions and misrepresentations” in the classical science of anthropology. The conclusion he makes is that “science and scientific method are defunct and immoral and must be discarded” (Sidky, 2009).

The attitude of Sidky signifies that the scientists should base their judgment on the structured, objective and scientifically grounded information, which contradicts the main assumptions of postmodernism about the chaotic, improvising and subjective observations that a researcher may obtain. Nevertheless, one should keep in mind while studying the peculiarities of the change anthropology went through in the course of transforming to postmodernism that the social science like anthropology is more subject to the influence of postmodernism than any other science or sphere of scientific activity:

While few anthropologists as such have been regarded as seminal in the larger postmodernist field, anthropology in general has been viewed as a particularly sympathetic arena of the human sciences within which to pursue the postmodernist agenda, especially with regard to issues of ‘otherness’, critiques of the programs of the Enlightenment and elaborations of the notion of culture (Postmodernism, 2002).

Anthropology is an object of direct influence of postmodernism, which can be seen from the changes that appeared in the course of anthropological attention – one of the pieces of evidence for this assumption may be found in the postmodernist attitude to the concept of the part and the whole – modernist attitude to it was regular for anthropology and suited the whole profile of the science: to conduct research, to make inferences and base the judgments on the received materials:

But for anthropologists (and to their credit, most likely) the relation between part and whole has been made problematic by the nature of the anthropological object itself: that is, the ethnographer clearly has more often than other kinds of observer to recognize that the conception of the whole is a construct of the observer, and that the part is not readily assimilated to that construct: specific evidence still does not contain its own theorization into a totality (Smith, 2009).

The basic set of differences between the two philosophic directions is underlying the change that happened in anthropology with the introduction of postmodernist changes into it. The detailed information about the core differences in philosophies may be found in the following table:

Note: From Weiss, S. and K. Wesley (2009). Postmodernism and Its Critics. Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences. The University of Alabama.

The table clearly shows the way postmodernism affected the human perception of facts, events taking place on the Earth, the human activity, past, present and future – all this is explicitly described there. Anyway, with the purpose of further clarification it is necessary to mind some most significant peculiarities that have not been discussed yet.

First of all, one should pay particular attention to the issue of design juxtaposed with chance and presence juxtaposed with absence. Again, returning to the essence of anthropological research, which is field research, it is evident how the influence of postmodernism changed the course of anthropological studies. The researcher used to follow a clearly stipulated plan which he or she designed before conducting field research or analyzing the received data. Nowadays, under the influence of postmodernism, it is more preferable to follow chaotic research in the context of a community the researcher focuses his or her attention at and becoming the spontaneous witness of the unexpected events. Under the condition that postmodernism in general does not accept subjectivity of the anthropological research and implies a heavy bias researchers usually have, such conditions of conducting the research include a greater measure of objectivity than the pattern they used to follow.

One more emphasis should be made on the difference of perception based on depth or superficiality in research or, in general, in perception of information. The postmodernist vision argues that surface is more preferable than depth, because all in-depth analysis has already been done before, nothing new may be researched and found out, this is why there is no need to conduct it.

Summing everything up on considering the received information, it is possible to say that despite the debate over the propriety of postmodern influence on anthropology it is evident in many aspects. They are understandable and can even be systematized. For example, Sybil Amber (2008) in her work on the critique of the change in anthropology considers the evidence of the change in the works of other scientists and theoreticians:

Andre Gingrich names three prerequisites of this postmodern change in anthropology, 1 the reforms within the discipline concerning structuralism and functionalism, 2 the phase of stagnation and descent of anthropology in North America and the German-speaking countries, and 3 the new perspectives introduced by the 1960ies, women’s liberation (Amber, 2008).

Thus, the change is clear and unavoidable – despite the fact that many scientists deny the evolution of anthropological scientific thinking and want to avoid it, it has already come and been introduced in the theoretical and practical research in anthropology. The impact of the changing philosophy changes the way research is conducted, making scientists closer to the studied objects, adding improvisation but in addition to it – credibility to the research and obtained results.

Conclusion

Postmodernism has come to substitute modernism in the sphere of aesthetics and morality, philosophy of human conduct and perception of themselves. Postmodernism is the ideology that denies all possible theorization, standardization and hierarchy; it is the flow in culture that refuses from norms, principles and guidance by some outer forces – it is focused on chaos, participation, absence of interpretation but pure use of received data. This shift seriously undermines the basics of every science introducing changes in the core perception of data and questioning the very means of collecting information.

Looking closer at anthropology in its essence it is clear that the science could not help experiencing the influence of postmodernism on the way it develops and they way its achievements are considered, as well as gained. The philosophy of anthropologists used to imply that a person getting into a strange social context was able to become a detached observer, thus being able to understand all peculiarities of the society’s functioning, the hidden rules that restricted the members’ behavior, imposed penalties or shaped the profile of communication.

In comparison with other sciences, anthropology experiences relatively much pressure and influence from the side of postmodernism – however, there is still some hope that the influence will soon become selective and will only improve and enrich anthropological experience.

References

Amber, S. (2008). Postmodern Anthropology – Positioning. Web.

Anthropology (2009). Online Dictionary of Anthropology. Web.

Leiter, B. (2008). The Myth of the Postmodern University. Web.

McGee, R. J and Richard L. W. (2004). Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History. New York: McGraw Hill.

Postmodernism (2002). Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology. Web.

Postmodernism (2009). Web.

Sidky, H. (2009). A Critique of Postmodern Anthropology – In Defense of Disciplinary Origins and Traditions. Web.

Smith, P. (2009). Writing, General Knowledge, and Postmodern Anthropology. Web.

Strauss, C. (1997). Partly Fragmented, Partly Integrated: An Anthropological Examination of “Postmodern Fragmented Subjects”. American Anthropological Association. Cultural Anthropology, 12(3): 362-404.

Weiss, S. and K. Wesley (2009). Postmodernism and Its Critics. Department of Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences. The University of Alabama. Web.

The task of preaching to a broader audience and promoting the Christian faith has become significantly more complicated over the past several decades, mostly due to the change in cultural perceptions and the resulting shift in values. In the present-day environment of post-modernism, a phenomenon that is very difficult to define, the task of spreading the word of Christ has become particularly challenging. Nonetheless, preaching the Word of God in the formal sense not only still has a place in the ministry, but also is required as it has never been before due to the changes caused by revisiting and challenging the traditional concepts through the Postmodern lens.

The propensity toward secularism is another sign that can be interpreted as the reason for concerns and the urgency of faith integration in the community. With the introduction of numerous opinions on the issue of Christianity, Christian values, and their place in contemporary society, Christians will be exposed to multiple ideas that may tamper with their beliefs, ultimately undermining them (Savarino 161). Among the key trends that raise concerns, the tendency to glorify secularism needs to be brought up as a serious threat to the Christian community.

Therefore, the focus on traditional Christian values as the stronghold of the Christian faith and the quintessence of it needs to be maintained. Moreover, nowadays, it is as important as it has never been to spread the word of Christ and convert people into the Christian belief. Due to the increase in the extent of exposure to numerous threats to the integrity of faith and their virtue, people need the guidance of an effective leader and the support of a faithful community. Therefore, as a minister, one has to channel critical beliefs and ideas across the community to enhance the strength of the influence that the Christian philosophy currently has on believers. The role of reinforcement of Christian ideas and concepts amidst the environment of secularism and pluralism has been proven multiple times, such as in the case of Paul preaching to Galatians (Lose, 2013). The combination of Postmodernism, Pluralist, and Secularist ideas creates a barrier that some people might find excessively hard to overcome when following their need to seek salvation and shape their Christian identity.

Since the Postmodern culture implies challenging the traditional perspectives, thus creating the threat of eroding the foundational human values, it is critical for Christian leaders to uphold the principles of faith integration and focus on reinforcing the need for holding onto crucial Christian values. Otherwise, the concepts such as unity, compassion, thankfulness, peace, wisdom, and endurance will be ultimately lost in a nihilistic attempt at subverting the traditional philosophy without offering anything of substance. Thus, Christian leaders need to build on the traditional concepts mentioned above, as well as the principle of Christlikeness as the ideal that people will have to uphold. Thus, the foundational values needed to manage the clashing forces of Postmodernism, secularism, and pluralism will be established.

Social media has doubtlessly changed the world significantly, entering every aspect of people’s lives and transforming their communication. The described alteration in the management of the interpersonal dialogue has changed the interactions within the Christian community and especially the Church significantly (Kim 38). Examining the changes that social media has produced in the Christian church, one will have to notice greater opportunities for reaching out to a broader audience. Therefore, the current technological advances, including informational technologies and especially information and communication ones, allow expanding the audience that a pastor can embrace. Thus, the application of social media in church allows for the inclusion of an entirely new paradigm for preaching.

Specifically, the use of networking helps to build stronger connections between a pastor and the community, at the same time reinforcing the ties within it. As a result, sermons have a much greater and longer-lasting impact on the target audiences, and the weight of the statements made by the pastor increase significantly in the target Christian setting. As a result, new opportunities for convincing people to accept Christian values and open their minds to the idea of salvation emerge. Therefore, the opportunities for connecting with the community and understanding the needs of every member will allow priests to appeal to the target demographic more naturally and effectively (Sweet, 2014). In addition, social media can be used by the Christian church to educate those who have not yet accepted Christ in their lives, thus creating new opportunities for their enlightenment and spiritual development.

At the same time, it is important to remember that, as a Christian leader, one needs to maintain a balance between the preaching style that appears to be accessible and easily understandable to all community members, and the approach to preaching that has strong connections to the Bible. Although on-tap preaching has been a popular framework that has helped to reach particular effects, it is still crucial for a Christian leader to return to the Biblical roots. Otherwise, the spiritual weight of a sermon will be watered down and, eventually, lost in favor of an easily digestible speech. Although preaching needs to be palatable, it has to contain the essential grain of Biblical wisdom, which cannot be reached when simplifying the preaching process and its message extensively.

There can be no doubt that the modern content to which both pastors and community members have been exposed has given a strong impetus for change in the preaching manner. The very message of preaching may have been altered slightly in an attempt at adjusting to the rapid changes in the sociocultural context and the perception of religion and faith by target audiences (Sweet, 2014). Although the described changes are fascinating in terms of the opportunities for the exploration of one’s spirituality and Christian identity, it may come at the cost of losing the traditional perception of Christian philosophe, as well as the role of a Christian leader and the methods used to direct the target audience on the path of salvation.

Preaching in the postmodernist context implies dealing with the idea of denying the traditional values without having any tangibly useful substitute in their place. Indeed, when considering the effects of Postmodernism and the Postmodern culture on the evolution of preaching, one will notice that the role of a leader has been altered from that one of a guiding force to that one of a support system for Christians. On the one hand, the specified change has allowed for the promotion of individualism and the focus on culture-specific needs of community members when preaching crucial ideas to the crowd (Poythress 127.). On the other hand, the described alterations may have weakened the impact that a pastor has on the community, as well as the extent of change that a pastor can inspire in an individual.

Furthermore, the contemporary Postmodern culture tends to view religious beliefs as absolutist and not allowing for a discussion, which is why a range of people tend to dismiss religious beliefs as constraining free speech. The described opinion has become quite popular among general audiences, which has led to people refusing to accept Christian beliefs and values. As a result, the notions of unity, empathy, collaboration, support, and other instrumental principles required for peace and cooperation within a community are dismissed (Gair and Vlacos 133). Thus, the specified mindset needs to be challenged so that more people could accept Christian ideas as positive and promote love and acceptance.

Finally, the cultural diversity of the Postmodern era has also affected the preaching process, as well as its core goals and frameworks used to reach out to the target audience. Specifically, the notion of preaching has gained the sense of speaking to a broad range of people from all types of cultural backgrounds. Arguably, the specified environment has defined the changes in preaching toward an overly simplified introduction to critical ideas and values (Lose, 2013). Thus, one could claim that, in the Postmodern era, the process of preaching may have been watered down to communicating only basic truths without challenging the target public intellectually.

However, on the other hand, the described alterations in the type and range of audiences may have created opportunities for introducing new ideas into the preaching process and trying new strategies for addressing people. By borrowing approaches to communication, as well as specific aspects of it, such as unique metaphors, symbols, and imagery, a pastor can create the lingua franca that will be palatable to any Christian churchgoer, at the same time inviting people to contemplate new ideas (Chiroma 2). The creation of the common language that every member of the church can understand will allow transcending the linguistic barrier that is often mentioned when communicating key challenges of preaching in the Postmodern context.

Thus, making God’s message comprehensible while leaving opportunities for a discussion and a profound analysis remains one of the key challenges that the current postmodern environment sets for preaching. The task of conveying a nuanced idea to fellow Christians becomes even more challenging due to the restrictions of the medium. While social media and tools for telecommunication offer a strategy for embracing a wider population, they also imply using a different format, which may make the preaching process more rushed and, unfortunately, more shallow (Khlyscheva et al. 127). The problem of the shallowness of the discourse in online media is a crucial one since it represents a major obstacle in the way of shaping people’s idea of Christianity, its foundational values, and the philosophy that stands behind it. Without proper discourse, one is likely to fail in encompassing the complexity and versatility of the issue.

The problem outlined above can be approached by focusing on the traditional Christian values and encouraging discussions concerning Christian ideas and philosophy. By challenging the preconceptions and prejudices shaped by general audiences, a Christian leader can convince the target demographic that Christianity promotes love and acceptance, as well as a peaceful and virtuous life. Thus, a broader range of people will be able to accept the Christian faith and contribute to the promotion of Christian values across the community.

References

Chiroma, Nathan H. “Theological Education and the Challenges of Postmodernism.” International Journal of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, vol. 2, no. 11, 2017, pp. 1-7.

Gair, Christopher, and Sophie Vlacos. “From Poe to Post-Postmodernism: Symbiosis, 1997–2018.” Symbiosis: A Journal of Transatlantic Literary and Cultural Relations, vol. 22, no. 2, 2019, pp. 125-145.

Khlyscheva, Elena Vladislavovna, et al. “Postmodern Rhizome and Models of Religious Identity.” European Journal of Science and Theology, vol. 16, no. 1, 2020, pp. 119-130.

Kim, Eunjoo Mary. Christian Preaching and Worship in Multicultural Contexts: A Practical Theological Approach. Liturgical Press, 2017.

Lose, D. J. (2013). Preaching at the Crossroads. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press Publications, Inc.

Poythress, Vern S. “Paul’s Preaching and Postmodern Skepticism.” Unio Cum Christo: International Journal of Reformed Theology and Life, vol. 2, no. 2, 2016, p. 127.

Savarino, Luca. “Moral Pluralism and Christian Bioethics: On HT Engelhardt Jr.’s After God.” Christian Bioethics: Non-Ecumenical Studies in Medical Morality, vol. 23, no. 2, 2017, pp. 169-182.

Sweet, L. I. (2014). Giving Blood. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publications, Inc.

To start with, Wehmeier et al. (2006), he defines postmodernism as “a style and movement in art, architecture, and literature, etc. in the late 20th century that reacts against modern styles, for instance by mixing features from traditional and modern styles”(p 113). This means that postmodernism is an outcome of modernism.

Postmodernism as described by Hartman (1996), snubs the ideals of modernist thinking such as that of virility, individualism, rationality and is rather bound to radical social equality. He believes that everything is in the mind of the beholder and that anything perceived as a fact is just something that has been influenced by cultural beliefs — hence making it seem factual beyond any doubt.

The BBC (2009) explains this term as a theory that tries to disregard many of the beliefs that religious people consider to be of paramount importance. Moreso, it claims that societies are ever changing and that there is nothing like absolute values or truths. Consequently, this has led rendered the “religions” fragile. The universality of religions in postmodernism is rather nonexistent; this includes ethical laws.

Therefore the assumption of this ideology is that religion is wholly a man-made phenomenon. Postmodernism to a large extent tends to critique science in some interrelated arguments which are either epistemological or ideological. Wilce (2005), mentions that the human object subjectivity cannot be a science; this is according to the epistemological explanation.

In addition to this, the ideological argument claims that objectivity is a deception and that it is aimed at undermining the minority groups in all parts of the world and especially in the third world nations. It is important to know the roots of postmodernism which have been clearly illustrated by many scholars who find this ideology rather interesting.

Hartman (2006), for instance, traces its origin to the French-speaking community in the early 1960s and 1970s when structuralism and post-structuralism were taking root. Structuralism must have been the latter stage to modernism. Much later modernism paved the way for postmodernism.

The theory has been divided into two broad categories which are affirmative postmodernism and skeptical postmodernism. The latter claims that the theory only needs a few minor changes rather than be rejected altogether. Affirmative postmodernism, on the other hand, states that the scholars are allowed to critique the theory severely or reject it once and for all.

Some of the scholars who have gone the extra mile of critiquing this particular theory include Melford Spiro and Roy D’ Andrade among others. Postmodernism is a very important theory for various reasons. First and foremost, it has opened up people’s minds. This especially applies to the religious individuals or those subjected to spiritual beliefs they never wanted to part of.

The theory explains that the truth has been shaped by man in various circumstances and environments and then labeled name truth. Since there are things that have not been proven yet, say for instance the existence of heaven and hell, doesn’t this theory have a point? It also states the cultural setting of a people has led to the development of what people claim to be true. Unless the truth has been proven, then the truth does not exist.

Postmodernism as a very complicated theory has created jobs the world over. There are lecturers who are paid to teach this theory. Furthermore, there are researchers who earn good money just to research and clarify on this theory. Therefore it is true to say that it has contributed economically to the various individuals as well as interest groups.

It is a dynamic world. Therefore things change from time to time. Advancements have been made, and theories have been created to explain human achievements and so on. Therefore, postmodernism tends to explain exactly what is taking place in this day and age and as a matter of fact, it is a development of other theories such as modernism.

In other words, critics or not, documentation of human activity has to take place. Adjustments to the theory can still take place since it is still under development anyway. Many scholars have claimed that this theory is rather ambiguous; hence there are several criticisms about it. One of these criticisms is from Roy D’ Andrade who looks at the definition of subjectivity as well as objectivity.

While doing so, he observes the ethical nature of their respective models which according to him they appear to be wholly subjective. Since postmodernism tends to argue against any form of objectivity, Roy defends it by claiming that it is not degrading and neither is it unachievable He goes ahead to explain that, never has it been mentioned that science cannot be tested for objectivity’s sake, but that whatever science discovers, it can be proved or disproved (D’Andrade 1995, p. 404).

Murphy (2010) also comes up strongly mentioning that the postmodernists should not dare to disregard scientific methods. This is simply because it is going to be a study that concentrates on meanings rather than discovering the causes of humanity in mankind. In addition to this, he also claims that “knowledge is objective.” Which means that accuracy of a claim in knowledge is detatched from gender, culture as well as cause or motive.

McKinley (2000), another scholar strongly believes that this theory is a result of western imperialism. He goes ahead to mention that western society has not or does not want want to come into terms with reality. This reality he describes is the existence of diverse numerous individual cultures. This he adds, makes the postmodernists reluctant to accept the existence of these cultures (p.16).

Another criticism from an anonymous source is that postmodernism tends to concentrate more on unreasonable tendencies which it seems to acclaim. The perplexing fact is that it uses reason and other rational tools. A theory has to have its own stand beliefs and practices and abide by them. But this particular one seems to be on shaky ground since it is preaching what it does not do at all.

Christian religious leaders have objected this theory strongly. This is because all it stands for is a complete contrast of the christian beliefs. The loudest noisemakers so far are the Catholic leaders. They simply do not understand how theory can go ahead and proclaim that there is no God in heaven. Moreso, how can they claim that there is no heaven or hell.

This has raised a lot of debates on whether this theory is viable for modern society or not. In a nutshell, postmodernism is a complicated theory given that it is still being developed; we can only anticipate that its principles will be more well defined.

References

BBC. (2009). Religions: Postmodernism. [Online].

D’Andrade, R. (1995). Moral Models in Anthropology In Current Anthropology, 36(3), 399-407.

Hartman, P. V. (1996).What is “postmodernism?” [Online].

McKinley, B. (2000). Postmodernism certainly is not science, but could it be Religion? CSAS Bulletin, 36(1), 16-18.

Murphy, D. (2009). Anthropological Theories: A guide by students for students. Web.

Wehmeier, S., Mclntosh, C., &Turnbull,J. (Eds.).(2006). Oxford advanced learners Dictionary (7th ed).New York: Oxford University Press.

Wilce, J.M. (2005). Traditional laments and postmodern regrets. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 15(1), 60-71.

Modernism is a school of thought that is believed to have begun during the period of Renaissance. This movement marked the age of Enlightenment in the early 20^th century, as it led to rejection of traditional ideals and principles. This philosophical term looked for new perspectives to act as foundation for their knowledge, that is, it aimed at disapproving the irrational and subjective mind of man.

It supported personal ideologies on issues like religious beliefs; for instance, one does not have to accept an idea because it is religious. Self consciousness was meant to assist in criticizing an idea, then arriving at a conclusion at last.

In modernism, one has to identify, evaluate, criticize, and understand a concept, then, choose without external interference. The need for premises/ reasons to attain truth remained fundamental during this time (Johnson, 2007).

Notably, Karl Marx (1818-1883), Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) were influential thinkers during the modern era. Specifically, Freud invented the subconscious part of the mind, the superego, which helps in analyzing how one thinks, in other words, evaluating the correctness of the thinking.

Together with the superego, were the Id and the ego. In addition, this concept of the subconscious mind dimension analyzes how people think about realistic situations/ideas and how we view our selves. Our thinking starts with the Id, where we do anything necessary to satisfy the impending need for survival (Sigmund Freud n.d.).

The next level is the ego, which keeps us with the reality of external world, that is, the world consists of others and, therefore, we are not alone. The ego helps us to adapt to the physical environment and store our experiences. The above theory that analyzes the human consciousness was called the Psycho-Analysis.

From these dimensions, Freud insisted that things should not be construed to be true as they appear, the reality lies beyond what we can physically see. Therefore, to unearth the truth we have to conduct some complex and perverted actions.

Clearly, modernism tried to eliminate subjectivity as a means of thinking and arriving at conclusions. Modernism tried to eliminate fixed concepts and ideas on varied issues; therefore, one has to have reasons to support his/her claims.

Moreover, in Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams 1900, he reveals that dreams have displaced meanings and abstract symbols that calls for an in depth analysis and recollection in order to find the true meanings or complete validity. His proclamation that one only dreams whatever he/she encounters in life shows that a human being is largely a product of his/her environment and experience.

Freud links how the brain functions with the nature of dreams. Therefore, one should reflexively be aware of these biases in order to free himself/herself from them and aim to be objective in his/her decisions. In general, the society becomes increasingly more reflective and self-aware of new ideas.

Markedly, modernism movement instituted inquisitive minds in people. It begins with self-doubt, which reveals the methodology of justifying mind consciousness in accepting truth (Johnson, 2007). However, the control of unconscious and irrational desires of human beings is contradictive to the enlightenment philosophy that supports man’s reasoning as guidance to truth, yet human beings are essentially irrational beings.

This weakness of Freud’s assertion led to criticism of some philosophers like Anouchka Grose. He disagreed with Freud’s Oedipus complex of socialization claiming that it was quite embarrassing as this act increases immoral behaviours and it is universally forbidden.

The French scholar Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) supported the existentialism themes in the middle of the 20^th century through his pieces of work that touched on nothingness, freedom, alienation and boredom (Mastin, 2008). His cornerstones were the self and ethical interests. Therefore, he reflected on understanding the existence of man by using phenomenological methods.

He characterised the human condition with drastic freedom and groundlessness (Mastin, 2008). In his book, Being Nothingness, he outlines various forms of consciousness that lie beyond people’s experience, which involves investigating what is meant to be human. To be conscious means that one must be conscious of something; therefore, the definition depends on another thing.

In an in depth study of human, he comes up with two types of beings, which are ‘for-itself’ and ‘in-itself’. The later signifies autonomy and non-relational manner. This methodology gives one the power to create an extrinsic self identity. Sartre’s work gave people freedom of creating values for their own lives. On the part of the ego, Sartre acknowledges the existence of consciousness of the world and the ego.

Sartre proposes a high levelled procedure of understanding human consciousness, involving pre-reflective and reflective level. He further agrees that people tend to construe that the self is never present prior to a reflective consciousness (Mastin, 2008).

When a person thinks of anything, he/she forms a picture in the mind. In case the picture does not exist, then, there does not exist a universal structure thus the intention to be conscious is still unsuccessful.

Ethically, Sartre noted that conscious proceedings are spontaneous; therefore, emotional consciousness is pre-reflective consciousness. As a result, voluntary act is different from the pre-reflective act; it has the will, which exists in the reflective act.

This complex way of thinking discloses the key to understanding of the self, which has negating powers in it. Upon reflection, instability within the self is created, leading to the lack of self identity. Surely, the methodology supported a complex and valid distinction between two transcendence phenomena of beings (Mastin, 2008).

The two analyses of ‘for-itself’ and ‘in-itself’ reveal what is meant by being a human. Sartre’s philosophical methods give people an unlimited freedom of making varied choices, which are not due to their bad faith. But, the freedom has limitations, social and physical constraints. The life of an individual is similar to a project that is unfolding as one makes choices amidst the challenges that constrain the freedom.

In the end, a proper coordination of facts and transcendences help disclose an authentic man. One has to avoid pitfalls like bad faith and exercise his/her freedom diligently to continue understanding the nature of consciousness.

Man is what he makes of himself; he then realizes his existence first before using his ‘will’ in making choices that he/she can be held responsible for (Existentialism is a Humanism, n.d.). Since man cannot change everything, that is, power to change things is limited, despair arises. In addition, the future is fully controlled by someone else.

Postmodernism is a recent school of thought that claims that there is no clear reality that can be known objectively; it a relativistic approach that does not depend on absolute truth and objectivity. However, its way of thinking proved that reality can be experienced through objectivity. Manifestly, modernism highly objected subjectivity in arriving at decisions.

However, postmodernism does not agree with most of modernity aspects. Postmodernism believes in New Age thinking in arriving at truth (Introduction to Postmodern Philosophy, n.d.). Notably, after the renaissance, the use of scientific method changed the perception of understanding the world.

Then enlightenment (modernism) followed. The doubts on the ability to understand reality objectively by David Hume led to some instability in modernism. This in turn led to transition from modernism to postmodernism.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was instrumental in this transition, as he out rightly rejected Kant’s theory that believed that all people perceive the world (reality) similarly; he supported the objective truth. Philosophers had to first grapple with textual interpretation.

On interpretation, the postmodernism philosophers agreed that objectivity cannot be applied in understanding the correct meaning of any written script. Therefore, meaning comes out through engagement in a dialogue with the original author.

Again, there was a problem on whether language could objectively reveal the truth. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) concluded that this could not happen as language development is socially habituated; therefore, the truth is socially constructed, just like language.

Modernism recognised humans’ capabilities to find solutions that had been perennial since the medieval times. In addition, it respected human rights of expression. It did not also define the limits of objectivism and reasoning.

Postmodernism, on the other hand, came up to correct the already existing imbalance; for instance, by convincing us that we have a limited potential to comprehend and change the universe. In essence, postmodernism corrects the problems, but it over-corrects the problems (Introduction to Postmodern Philosophy, n.d.).

In the 20^th century Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was among the great philosophical figures who defined the key issues of postmodernism. For example, a close scrutiny of the correspondence theory of truth that made people believe that scientific truths were equal to absolute truths was altered by removing the equivalency since no scientific researcher made an unlimited number of observations to show that such exceptions exist.

Postmodernism, actually, helps man in knowing that knowledge acquisition and explanations have limits. This reveals the cause for the drastic shift from modernism to postmodernism. Further, it holds on the coherence theory of truth, which supports that an idea remains true to man if it also coheres with other internal perceptions that man holds about the world (Introduction to Postmodern Philosophy, n.d.).

Nonetheless, scientists can still invent new methods of making people understand how the world works. For example, just as the discovery of the spherical nature of the earth was disapproved, early scientists believed that the earth is flat.

Although postmodernism overreacts on the coherence theory, the philosophers were correct in summing up that correspondence theory has its boundaries, being contrary to what modernism held.

Postmodernism promoted the willingness to borrow information from earlier movements and openness to diverse ideas from all places. It did not hold fixed definition to all terms. This movement promotes self-thinking, which can make people rebel following a defined curriculum and divert to their own understandings.

Social epoch affects one’s way of thinking. For example, sociologists make assumptions that humans have room to make their own choices and that social forces can shape the behaviour of people within a society. Clearly, social environments influence the way one thinks and possible course of action.

In the 18^th century, Western Europe underwent social and technical changes that forever changed the whole world. For example, the invention of steam engine by James Watt in the year 1769 and invention of antiseptic barrier by Joseph Lister in 1865 impelled social changes in the entire world with the aim of solving some social and economic problems (Epochs in Philosophy and Socio-Economic Epochs, 2010).

Remarkably, this social group altered people’s thinking towards looking for solutions to the then world problems since massive inventions took place during the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Later, industrial revolution took centre stage in Britain, which prompted rural urban migration of people to secure jobs in the newly created industries.

This shows how social epoch affects the way of thinking of human beings in the entire world. From the historical perspective of the epoch, the global problems seem to be similar. A historical problem/issue will divert people’s attention in order to find solutions to it.

For example, researchers on HIV/AIDS have been receiving support from other new researchers who aim at discovering the new drug that can cure the disease (Epochs in Philosophy and Socio-Economic Epochs, 2010). The research has influenced the thinking of doctors, medical lecturers and their students from a historical perspective.

Both the social and historical epoch increases the thinking perspectives in the philosophical aspect, since every research has to be doubted, tested, understood, and then approved/verified for application in its respective field. Lastly, philosophical theories also base their assumptions on the culture or history of any given group.

References

Epochs in Philosophy and Socio-Economic Epochs 2010, Problems of the History of Philosophy. Web.

Existentialism is a Humanism, alexvermeer.com — understanding and mastering our brains to do cool stuff. Web.

Introduction to Postmodern Philosophy, Postmodern preaching. Web.

Johnson, L, 2007, The Enlightenment to Modernism: A Brief Examination of this Revolution in Thought and Society, Socyberty. Web.

Mastin, L, 2008, Existentialism: By Movement / School, The Basics of Philosophy: A huge subject broken down into manageable chunks. Web.

Postmodernism: Philosophy, Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web.

Sigmund Freud, Letters, Arts & Social Sciences. Web.

Introduction. Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a philosophy of critical thinking that explains how logical thinking can be used to maintain relationships. For example, the ideology that every romantic relationship is unique can be used to foster intimate relationships. Unlike in the past when lovers used to compare their love story with others, criticizing knowledge gives a better view. The philosophy is based on the assumption that no person is neutral, human reasoning can be regarded as subjective, and the objectivity of knowledge is viewed as a myth (Selvi & Thilagavathi, 2018). No one can claim to explain intimacy because it is complex to be explained from a person’s viewpoint.

Social Constructivism

Nations do not exist in the absence of people as they construct each other’s identity. The concept of social constructivism gives people the power to create and encourages them to create a positive world that they will exist in peace. Since no money, books, or nations exist without humans, every person has the power to create a world that is conducive to themselves. Different socially contracted identities may counter the opinion of others. A social group understands who they are through the values they create. The concept of intimacy applies skepticism, suspicion of specified reasons, and the role of ideology in maintaining the relationship.

Features of Social Constructivism

The “us” and “them” attitudes are formulated as people relate with each other in the society. People formed all the solutions and concepts present today to solve some of their problems (Trochmann, 2021). The people in the present world also have a chance to create ideologies and laws that solves their problems. People must therefore stop being enslaved by ideologies that were relevant in other times. The following points illustrate the Uniqueness of Social constructionists in the world.

The family, for example, was differently constructed during the patriarchy.

Men were breadwinners, while women were homemakers.

Blacks fought for their rights in the USA.

Social Constructionism and Current Events

Whenever people compare themselves with others, the comparison leads to inferiority complex leading to conflicts and war as people want to be treated equally. Current events, such as family composition and political systems, can be identified using social constructivism. Families were patriarchal formulated in the 18th and 19th centuries, and women were not entitled to benefits and decision-making roles. However, as the women understood their rights, they started advocating for them, and affirmative action became the result of their efforts to get better results (Trochmann, 2021). As people understand themselves, they associate with people of similar features and seek equality for their group.

All the provided aspects above are socially constructed and reflect reality. Today, women and men share equal rights in the USA because women refused to be guided by patriarchal ideologies, and they constructed their identities. Further, the blacks created their identity to overcome the discrimination against them. When discussing non-verbal cues, each social group has a different way of expressing themselves. Identity can be said to be performed because it involves using other means. If a person belongs to the African American group in the USA, some values are likely to express identities using things such as hip-hop music and other social identities.

Personal Identity

Personal identity differentiate people based on their beliefs, and social construction e.g. rich or poor. It is imperative to note that each personal identity has a created identity that people are expected to conform to failure, to which one may be considered an imposter (Selvi & Thilagavathi, 2018). In some religions, a religious person who does not forgive is considered less spirit. Every person has the capacity to charter an identity that is beneficial and helps them improve their quality of life.

Dialogue topic: How have women constructed their identities and fought for their rights? How can couples today form their identities to have stronger marriages?

Personal Identity and Development

The prerequisite to positive construction is self-identity as it informs people’s views. Discussion: How have these personal identity elements affected your thinking, way of life, and reasoning? Personal identity is not only a personal choice but can be informed by other external factors. For example, education affects people’s thinking and evaluation of daily life activities. Further, religion identifies what is considered a guide to how people should relate to each other. A decision made from a religious point of view may differ from a decision made from one based on a person who relies on their education and critical thinking to make their decisions.

Identity as Relational and Distributed

Identity has different facets that can make people join or feel part of the team and belong to a group. However, it is imperative to note that identity is relational and distributed. Identity is relational because it shows that a person must relate to others to form a relationship. For example, nationality can be found by determining the parent’s place of birth (Wight, 2018). Even if a person is born in a foreign land, if their parents belonged to a particular nation, they become nationals due to their relationship. Distributed identity is possible, especially when the person chooses a professional to belong to for a better quality of life.

Identity as Performed and Fluid

As time changes, new philosophies come, and people must conform to them for a better outcome. Identity can also be regarded as performance and fluid because it is experienced through people’s actions and performance. It is imperative to note that identity is fluid and keeps changing. Identity is therefore considered fluid as people change their identities to ensure they are relevant in the present-day challenges (Selvi & Thilagavathi, 2018). For example, during the coronavirus pandemic, people had to change their identities to remain safe. Further, as people move from one place to another in the world, they may need to change their identity to survive in the new environment.

Personal Responsibility and Commitment

Clinicians serve people from different parts of the world with different traditions and must understand various identities to achieve high-quality service delivery. The clinicians must therefore commit all matters of identity that affect other people to ensure that every person is treated according to their identity. The clinicians can be encouraged to be conscious through various techniques such as training and award systems to have all clinicians perform better (Wight, 2018). It is imperative to note that constant training and appraisal are crucial to improving how people live in a society. Since clinicians serve diverse clients, they must be well trained.

References

Selvi, C. T., & Thilagavathi, T. (2018). Study of Post-Modernism and Post-Structuralism. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 3(6), 268-322. Web.

Trochmann, M. (2021). Identities, intersectionality, and otherness: The social constructions of deservedness in American housing policy. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 43(1), 97-116. Web.

Wight, C. (2018). Post-truth, postmodernism, and alternative facts. New Perspectives, 26(3). 17-29. Web.

The Babysitter is a wonderful short story by Robert Coover written in 1969 that helps readers understand the complexity of the post-war period and the people’s readiness to comprehend and adopt new streams of literature and other aspects of art. The book is a skillful embodiment of postmodernism streams in literature of 1960’s.

Postmodernism is a school of social theory that emerged on the basis of modernism. In order to understand what postmodernism was it is to be defined what modernism represented. Modernism theory was based upon the new vision of social, political, and all other spheres of life. The church’s oppression was finally objected. Modernism made it possible for art and literature to flourish within Enlightenment. However, Modernism was limited in its own way – it represented the idea of everything being measured to only one possible truth that could be observed. Therefore, there appeared a necessity for another tendency afterwards – postmodernism, that did not limit everything to only one possible idea, single definition for things. It was somewhat entirely-encompassing; it offered many explanations of phenomena. Therefore it is to be noticed that people of post-war period were thirsty for innovations in arts, literature, and social life in general. The Modernism can now be observed as years of stagnation for the Americans’ minds, whereas Postmodernism and its features in literature aroused new controversial feelings and renewed image about the world overall.

The Babysitter should be a nice representation of the Americans’ views changing through time and postmodernist culture. The foremost feature of postmodernism – challenging Enlightenment – that arouses in the text is the attempt of the author to show the subconscious behavior of the characters. Of course, now we know and understand clearly that a person has conscious and subconscious ideas, however, during the period of post-war art development it was a newly discovered feature founded in literature. Moreover, I have to admit it was somewhat audacious of Coover to unveil this trait of human nature in the book, besides so boldly, as modernist culture did not dare to do so. Also, subsequently, we can observe how the versatile approach to different life and art aspects was implemented, unlike modernistic tendencies, as was explained above.

Also, one of the postmodernist features is somewhat parodying the quests of the meaning of this world. This is why the narrations are often fiction-based because it was the authors’ purpose to avoid talking about one particular idea about our being and surprising the reader through the unlinked plot; undoubtedly, this is a characteristic feature of Postmodernism in The Babysitter. Namely, Coover presented the plot in several storyline fragments that end differently. Due to such incoherent narration, a reader has a hard time dealing with the plot. This is a plot that goes well beyond the storyline and gives a great opportunity to the reader to fantasize and give a new meaning to the reading.

The Babysitter is a professionally written story about people’s hidden desires. What is very compelling about the plot of the book is that the author touched upon the feelings different people have. Among depicted ones were fear and raw lust. Talking about Postmodernism techniques, the book here represents the simple desires people have every day throughout their entire life. Unlike Enlightenment postmodernistic features included here are unearthing the hunger for sexual relations of every character of the book except in different ways.

Of course, it was somewhat shocking how Coover decided to describe the temptation of husband, babysitter herself, and babysitter’s boyfriend and his friend: Mark is kissing her. Jack is under the blanket, easing her panties down over her squirming hips. Still, disregarding a somewhat obsessive sexual approach the storyline’s curves amaze with their unexpectedness. The scene with a babysitter, taking a bath is described in three different variations, which makes the book exciting, though a little confusing in terms of repetition of actions and their variability. The babysitter, while taking a bath, is caught by Jimmy, Mr. Tucker, and Jack with his friend Mark in three different scenes; though, it is definite that within the three separate scenes she takes one single bath. This makes a story very interesting to read because you watch the plot forking in three directions, having an opportunity to imagine the plot development differently and, also, to see how different people’s subconsciousness works.

There is another scene that is shown in differently developed ways. When Jack comes over to play is the scene where Robert Coover depicts the possibility of Jack to come alone, or with Mark, to come with permission or without it, to get caught by Mr. Tucker or not. It seems like Coover simply provided a reader with a bunch of stories that could have happened to the characters and let the readers decide what the actual meanings of those were.

One of the amazing traits of the story is the author’s ability to make the story vague by mixing the truth and fantasy, ultimately bringing the reader to the point where it is impossible to tell one from another. Of course, this, by all means, can be claimed as a characteristic feature of Postmodernism that truly challenged the Modernism way of representation. The book tells us about true aspects of human nature, whereas Modernism simply focused on family traditions and another decent life basis. Needless to say, the post-war period was a nice field for authors to sow the seeds of such literature because this way the readers could develop imagination due to the incoherent and conclusion-demanding plot.

The Babysitter is definitely worth reading because it is a book that could offer the American society of those years a new perspective of the world’s meaning, so can it do the same nowadays since readers have various views and perceptions of the same readings. Moreover, it has to be said that the book’s various possible plots progress are the author’s view on this life. We get to learn how the same exact situations that take place anywhere daily could have developed in different ways because different people do not act the same way. The story explicitly tells us about the variants of our lives being changed under unexpected circumstances. Moreover, it is hard to deny that people do think in completely different ways since we are the personalities raised in various families, which enables us to force the situations to develop differently.

This is what The Babysitter is about influenced by Postmodernism. The author talked about the babysitter’s evening spent at her employers’ house watching after kids. And what a surprise should a reader experience when getting acquainted with the story’s several elaborations that took place between 7:40 and 10:30 p.m. In other words, Robert Coover expressed his point of view on the same exact situation from the perspective of his protagonists whose inner world influenced reality. The question that the Postmodernism features of the short story pose are what could have possibly happened with the world if the fantasies of every character came true? Subsequently, this proves the aim of Postmodernism evolution theory – the right of versatile explanations to exist. To be more exact, the literature did not focus on one-sided explanations of the objective reality anymore. People had a wonderful chance to read something new, something completely different that aroused controversial feelings and made people think about the reality and its different sides seen through many characters’ eyes.

One more aspect that has to be touched upon besides the sexual nature of the short story The Babysitter is the image of a woman depicted within the narration, one of which: …that sweet odour that girls have. The softness of her blouse. He catches a glimpse of the gentle shadows amid her thighs, as she curls her legs up under her. He stares hard at her. Of course, it is well-known that the period of Modernism is characterized by modest beliefs that could not be trespassed. The main objects of the Enlightenment literature were decent topics, such as family values, that were observed as only possible and the only proper ones, unlike the woman depicture within the Postmodernistic Babysitter. If we take the family values for consideration within Modernism literature it has to be said there was no place for lust, adultery, or other seducements, indeed; and even if there was – the focus was clear enough to only condemn all of the above.

Therefore, for the sake of justice, it needs to be stressed that Postmodernism is not a period of dissipation. It just unveils humans’ nature and stands on the grounds that every person has a right to self-expression and also that every situation can be regarded differently depending on the way we view it. Namely, depending upon the way a specific person wants a specific situation to be developed according to own desire, breeding, and morality. Hence, Robert Coover dared to describe the woman as a nubile young babysitter who unconsciously and instinctively seduced male characters.

So, in order to conclude, it has to be said that The Babysitter really challenged the Enlightenment era with its restrained literature. The writing style affected the meaning greatly. Being colorful and vivid the descriptions take you to the point where the author brings you closer to the conclusion though makes it possible to think up what is missing. Though the interrupted plot confuses a bit, it only happens at first. Once you understand that the situation is all the same viewed from the sight of different protagonists, everything becomes clearer and even more thrilling. A reader gets a chance to understand how various people imagine reality and how exciting it is to see this reality changing through fiction.

So, whether it is decent or not, the story is certainly worth reading for it is a perfect implementation of the ideas of Postmodernism: incoherent plot, irony, and pastiche way of representation. The author made his way to challenge the Modernism culture for the sake of people’s evolution in terms of literary tastes. No wonder Robert Coover gained such popularity among sophisticated readers. The Babysitter is a breakthrough in the world of literature because it teaches the reader of the post-war period to think and fantasize beyond the limited plot.

Yours is a short story published in The New Yorker by Mary Robinson. It describes a family who celebrates Halloween, despite it being neither mentioned directly nor indirectly. There are mentioned that the night weather in Virginia is still warm; thus, it can be guessed that there is the end of October. The family consists of Clark and Allison, where Clark is almost twice older as Allison. It is mentioned that Clark is a doctor and painter in his free time, and Allison is engaged in charity. There is mentioned that Allison had known that she was dying for several weeks before the plot’s time of action; it is not mentioned directly, but one can guess, again, that she has lethal cancer. The story has a style close to Postmodernism, with its bright symbolism and other attributes, such as the open ending and grim atmosphere.

The pumpkin is the first symbol in this story, which is also the symbol of Halloween. Jack-o’-lanterns, made on holiday, are mentioned in conclusion as watching on Clark who is talking on the phone (Robison). One can remember that Halloween is dedicated to death and to those who are dead. Thus, its pumpkin symbolizes death and, perhaps, the connection between living and dead. Clark and Allison make jack-o’-lanterns from pumpkins together, which symbolize their connection. The final scene, where jack-o’-lantern was watching at Clark, symbolizes the eventual death of Allison. Perhaps it is the reason for Clark’s call, despite the story tells nothing about Clark’s state of mind and emotions, offering the reader to guess, which is the trait typical for Postmodernism.

The second symbol is a terrible letter to Clark from his daughter, where she directly accuses Allison. She wrote that he is an old fool, implying that Allison wants to deceive him for her own profit (Robison). As Robinson mentions in Yours, Allison volunteers in the children’s day-care center. By reading the story, one can see that she is friendly and polite with Clark, encouraging him that his pumpkin is no worse than hers. In that way, according to the story, Allison is kind, honest, and eager to help, which directly contradicts Clark’s daughter’s slander. The story, narrating from Allison’s point of view, tells that this letter is both the worst and the funniest thing. This letter may symbolize public opinion in general and how wrong and even stupid it can be, which, again, brings the story to Postmodernism, which rejects the absolute value of public opinion.

The last symbol is the situation of Allison itself: she is supposed to die, but she seems to have no worries about it. When Clark comes to comfort her, seeing that she is sitting in the bathroom with her pulse beating hardly, she rejects him (Robison). She says that he would better not see her without clothes, immediately changing the conversation’s subject. During the story, Allison did not think about the inevitable death, talking with her husband, doing routine, and volunteering as usual. She has the courage to face the death and be ready for it, and the problems, such as slander from Clark’s daughter, only amused her.

Overall, this short story is similar to Postmodernist literature, characterized by symbolism, a non-linear plot, unusual descriptions of usual things, and an open ending. All they are present in this work: the symbolism of Halloween’s jack-o’-lanterns is the first example mentioned throughout the story. Another symbol is the letter, the symbol of public opinion’s stupidity. The story describes the usual situation, the celebration of Halloween, but does this in an unusual way, with many hints and symbols. The plot is non-linear: the situation when Allison found out that she is dying had been before the main plot’s events. Lastly, it has an open ending and overall grim atmosphere, expressed by pumpkins.

Works Cited

Robison, Mary. “Yours.” The New Yorker. 1982. Web.

Reading the Notes of Desolate Man: Zhu Tianwen and Her Postmodernist Talent

Because of the fact that most people prefer to live detached from the rest, as if separated from the troubles and miseries of the rest of the mankind, most of us have no idea of what makes the people living next door. However close people can explore the life of the other and predict the deeds of the rest of the people, there will always be a certain element of secrecy about the other personality and the character of a different person, just because he or she is different – not the same.

It is not a part of you, not someone whose mind you can read like an open book, and not the one whose emotions will lay open to you, like a guiding map to the most distanced corners of the soul. On the other hand, another personality is another riddle, which can be hardly solved by the owner of the soul in question, not to mention the rest of the mankind.

Although the truth which is being spoken about is rather old and well-known, there are very few people who apply it to their everyday life, while most prefer to treat it like a distanced idea, a variation of a mathematical theorem. Most people take this idea for granted, thinking that allowing it exist is the best they can do. Forgetting the basis of what makes understanding and socializing, people lose the touch with each other, still thinking that they are perfectly aware for what is going on right behind their back.

Such self-assurance! Indeed, a man, as a social creature, needs communication, yet he fears it almost to the same extent. This is the point where all misunderstandings root from. The world’s most terrible misconceptions start where a man loses the touch with the reality and starts applying the same evaluation criteria to every person that he or she encounters.

People’s woes rising from the problem of misunderstanding and mistreating people, supposing that they should all be the same is the topic of Zhu Tianwen’s world famous book called Notes of a Desolated Man. exploring the depth of the solitude ocean, the writer gives the audience the idea of what it makes to be different, and what it makes to be in general, the mere human existence comes into question.

The writer tries to see the hidden connections between the world and the personality, unraveling the prejudice of the century and making the simple life truths obvious.

Zhu Tianwen, a Woman Who Sees the Unseen

However hard one might try, it will always be impossible to find out the tiniest fact about a writer. for a writer is a person who is an artist of hiding facts, twisting them so that the rest of the world will never find the loose end and will never be able to pull through the mystic screen of what’s and where’s. The same goes for the Taiwanese writer named Zhu Tianwen, or Chu Tien-wen, she has suggested a new view of the eastern prose for the western countries and the western culture.

Quite unusual picture of the world has put the western philosophy in the limelight for quite a long period of time, which results in the unceasing interest to what the eastern culture suggests, including mostly literature. Gladly accepting the fresh style and enjoying the new impressions, the western audience seems to get more and more involved into solving the mystery of the East, which has been troubling the minds of the Europeans for centuries.

However, Zhu does not make a mess with the reader’s mind. On the contrary, she suggests sincere and open pieces of her heart to the grateful people, sharing her ideas with them as far as she can. Every single work of hers is a small masterpiece which carries the readers away to the place where reality crosses fantasy, and where the problems of the modern world meet the most incredible suggestions of the postmodernist world. Indeed, quite a picture!

The author defines herself as the one who writes simply because there is no other way she can exist. Used to be alone, she does not like much of a crowd, calling herself a caveman who was forced to come into the daylight.

In front of the admiring public, she is the very cavewoman whom she describes herself as. “This all feels so unusual and new to me, and I used to think that only a rock star could create such a big scene,” said Zhu. “But a writer? You know, when you do literature you cannot be farther away from this.” (CriEnglish.com) The prehistoric piece of mankind, she calls the spirits of the ancestors to help her make the people see the obvious. There is no other way she can do it, and she knows it perfectly well.

Living on a Desolate Island: What Is It Like Being Alone?

Since the writer knows so much of what it is like to be alone and desolated even standing in front of the crowd, there could be no other way for her than to write Notes of a Desolated Man. To pit it in other words, she was destined to write the book. Exploring the idea of being left all alone, she goes deeper into the subject, expanding it to the scale of the mankind world in general, applying the idea of desolation to each and every person living on the Earth.

Indeed, the leading character is actually a projection of the writer’s personality. A living protest to the society, the lead is a man condemned yet struggling for his own life, for a piece of world which will make him happier and more humanlike. As a matter of fact, desolating from the society is far from being the sentence passed to the outcast – on the contrary, it is his conscious decision.

With regard to the work of Zhu, it must be well noticed that she makes an accent on the fact that it is actually natural for people to be isolated from each other. The state which her character gets into does not signify something out of the ordinary. It was just that he was unlucky enough to be a man of different sexual orientation, and that made his sufferings of non-belonging to the world unbearable.

In fact, the aspect of being separated from the mankind and the individual loneliness as a part of the total craziness is one of the aspects of postmodernism, as the literary movement which reprints the state of perplexity in which people have trapped in the end of the twentieth century. Fearing the unknown and not willing to accept the absurdity of life, postmodernists tend to create the parallel reality where they can twist the twisted world even more, enjoying the chaos. As it has been noticed,

Postmodernism is much fuzzier in the ECE area, with recent literature emphasizing both continuities and ruptures with Modernism and the historical avant-garde. (Cornis-Pope 546)

The Leading Character: The Splendor and Misery of Being an Outcast

Although the modern world is in fact much netter than, say, the Middle Ages, there are still terrible misconceptions happening between people and peoples, and even between two parts of one and the same man.

The narrator’s opening phrase, which sets the start for the story, runs the following: “This is an age of decadence.” Rather pessimistic statement, it still makes the fact that the mankind has taken off its pink glasses clear. The short phrase sets the right mood for the story straightaway, preparing the reader for a postmodernist journey on a runaway train.

The narrator, Xiao Chao, is quite a complicated person to consider. It is a weird feature of the book that the very first chapters do not even tell his name, or his origin, or his point in general. It is only about his endless motion. Xiao is heading for some destination unknown, and this makes him look in the most post-modernist way, like a man who is detached from the rest of the world by the powerful force of speed, and now exists beyond the time context.

However, that does not mean that Xiao does not depend on the world and its events – on the contrary, the vulnerability of his, increased times because of his being so unusual to the rest of the people and because he feels his being detached from the rest of the mankind is what makes the story whole and complete. It is the specific character who determines the float of the novel in this case.

This character is extremely complicated. On the one hand, his determination to be understood and to breathe in unison with the rest of the people is clear-cut. However, the more insistent his attempts are, the less effect they have, for the more he approaches the destination, the further it detaches from Xiao. Like a prisoner caught in the cell of a size of a carton box, he tries to push through the limits which he has cornered himself.

It becomes clear from the very beginning that the postmodernist mood is what the whole novel is sewn through. The utter denial pushes through the lines of the story, making it clear that Xiao’s character is complicated to the halt, his soul twisted in such a way so that its natural needs and urges should be left way back, while what lies on the surface is the response to the demands of society.

Trying to depict her character in the very best way, polishing every single line of her book so that with each sentence it could describe Xiao better, Tianwen creates a specific spirit of liberty around him, yet emphasizes that this liberty was chosen by the lead unwillingly, just because his nature, craving for more experience, demanded so. It is clear that Tianwen is trying to create the image of a man who gets lost in the modern world, a man who is constantly on the road in search for a better life, for a better fate and for some differences in his life.

The struggle within the character makes him move further and further, as if he was trying to escape from himself. Pursuing his own shadow, Xiao finally finds himself lost and scared, like a child in the woods. With such postmodernist picture of a man as a specimen of humanity, it is no wonder that Tianwen as considered a writer following the postmodernist postulates strictly, though in her own unique eastern manner.

Every single word Tianwen leaves reminds of the grotesque and the misery of the world without a shield, – a postmodernist world where she places her characters. Since she understands perfectly well that a world is a vacuum, she provides a perfect environment for Xiao to live in, a brave new world, where the leading character feels so strange. In fact, Xiao does not belong to the world of the modern people at all. The conflict between the society and a single man has been depicted in a most postmodern style.

Seen as “the showcase for postmodernism East Asian style” (Hillenbrand 58), the story makes the reader feel with every vein and bone that the fears which one faces as he or she treads into the open arms of society are so intense that at rimes they become unbearable. Why cannot the world accept the leading character in Tianwen’s story?

Is it merely because of his non-traditional sexual orientation? Or can there be something else lurking behind the puny face of social morals and beliefs? Once proved to be worth nothing, these morals hunt the unusual people again and again, and there seems no end to this closed disk of injustice.

Such are the specific features of the way Tianwen presents the story that they make the reader forget about the twists of the plot and turn to analyzing the main character’s problems more closely. Indeed, from the very beginning it becomes clear that Xiao knows no rest in his constant traveling. He is doomed to wander in the world in search for the people who can support him, and just as is he doomed to fail his search.

It seems that there is not a single person who can see the depth of his sufferings and his misery. With every single line of his on-the-road notes, Xiao makes it clear that he is as lonely as a man can be, though he is constantly mixing with different people and learning the new things about the new places of his visit. Something that keeps him going makes him remember that he is not the same as the rest of the dwellers, and there is nothing left for him but to grin and bear it.

The Muffled Cries of the Society: Seeing Things

Since there have always been those who adhere to the so-called norms of society and those who either tended to break those rules imposed on them or were unable to keep to these rules, the conflict between the conservative part of the society and the non-conformists will go on for centuries. Despite the topic of the debatable problems changing, the core issue will remain the same, with the society very unwilling to accept those who differ from the rest.

Even the aspects of personal life are taken into consideration when passing a verdict of belonging or non-belonging to the system – or, should I have said better, especially the aspects of personal life? One of them, the question of the sexual orientation, is especially topical for the modern world. As a matter of fact, the fuss about the problem of homosexuality id rather weird to have been risen now, for the modern times are supposed to be known for their tolerance and are even reproached fro the permissiveness and the lack of restraint.

It seems as though the tolerance so appreciated was only a neon signboard for the gullible people to follow. Instead of treating people right whenever they kept with the postulates of the society or not, the people start hunting the ones who do not fit into the frame of their minds.

The book leads the readers through the thoughts of a man suffering from the fear that the specific trait of his will not let him become a member of the society. It is peculiar that Tainwen seems to be one of the first people who have raised the issue of homosexuality in the eastern literature. Finding the term for the phenomenon so that it could sound less sharp, Tainwen explores the image of her character and his woes in detail, allowing the reader sink into the soul of Xiao as well.

Xiao’s melancholic voice narrates his inner contemplations on the loss of Ah Yao, on his relations as homosexual man to the institutions of family and nation, on an extravagant range of euro-American Philosophy and culture – and on Xiao Chao’s own peregrinations through a very contemporary New Park and Taipei City. (Martin 102)

The aspect of desolation comes at this very point. Being unlike the rest of the people and at the same time being forced to communicate with them makes the leading character suffer a serious emotional breach. Xiao feels that he is not one of his kind, and this makes him the outcast.

Torn apart by the death of his only friend and the person who could understand him and take him the way he is, Xiao is no longer connected to the world in which he exists. Indeed, he goes on existing, but this is only the shell of Xiao which eats, drinks and sleeps, while the rest of him has been buried long before he started out on his trip to nowhere.

Digging deeper into the hidden idea of the novel, one can discover the new interpretation of the aspect of homosexuality, which is an idea completely new to the Asian literature and culture. Thus, Tianwen deepens the storyline, discovering the new facets of the life of an outcast in the modern society.

She emphasizes the shattering loneliness of the man who cannot even confine his thoughts to his own relatives, fearing the same monster called misunderstanding. Tianwen has shown how miserable this sort of life can be, a constant hiding from the reality and the social prejudice, which can be substituted only by bringing one’s ideas to the judgment of the society and thus passing him or herself a verdict of death penalty.

Such is the scorn of the righteous that one simply cannot bear it for long. The desolation comes together with indifference to the others, which is bound to broaden into the indifference to the entire life.

Finally, one will stop feeling that there is some sense in his or her life, and the latter will turn into a pathetic existence, which is not worth the woes suffered. As Martin emphasized, “Notes of a Desolate Man constitutes a key site for the public representation of tongxinglian in Taiwan’s contemporary period” (102), and this signifies the social importance of the book.

Like the stories of Zhu Tianwen which possess certain feministic traits, the novel about a homosexual man also explores the problems if the modern society much deeper than they have ever been. It is still unclear what has made the problem so topical for the Taiwan writers, but still there is something that unites every story written by Zhu with the novel about a man who is trying to handle his own loneliness and his being so different from the rest.

Why and how gendering becomes an issue in the history of Taiwan literature is a vastly interesting question from which to approach women’s literature. (Peng-Hsiang 45)

On the contrary, the writer is trying to find the unique way to depict the peculiarities of separate people, transferring these unique features to the entire mankind to make it clear that each person possesses a tint of loneliness in his or her soul. The means which she seeks is the gender literature, where she investigates the problems so acute and topical that one could hardly imagine an Asian woman daring to explore such delicate and ticklish subject.

The fact that Zhu des not hesitate to present her own opinion, but manages to do it in such a tender way that it seems elegant and natural; she and her book “Notes of a Desolated Man” have opened a new door to the people who have been trapped in the dead end of their own specific features.

Among Zhang’s followers, Zhu Tianwen (b. 1956) is probably the most well-known woman writer who has gone through rather different stages to achieve her popularity. Unlike other Taiwanese women writers, she never enacts familiar feminist motifs such as selfhood, economic autonomy, sexual awakening, patriarchal domination motherhood or sisterhood. These issues for her are no longer problems as they are already subsumed under the spectacular decadence termed as ‘postmodern’ by the writer herself. (Peng-Hsiang, 46)

Since the problem of a man with specific background or features of character and physiology finding his or her place in the world has gained the scale of a worldwide problem, what Zhu Tianwen is writing about is of crucial importance. the author has helped the people understand that searching for a piece of one’s own is the task which is not so useless, and even in case nothing has been found, one can be quite satisfied with the process of search. As Wang said,

Works by Zhu Tianwen allow us to assess the way in which native literature actively engages with the psycho-cultural issues of globalization in spite of its apparent aesthetic detachment. This will bring intimate expressions of literary writing to the public sphere of cultural formation. Owing to Zhu’s style and critics’ proponensy to valorize the belles-lettres, the aesthetic and the social dimensions of her writing have typically been kept apart. (371)

Once the story where the key points are the exotic items and the question of struggling for equal rights of all people, the novel turns now into a social drama with the ideas of human’s equality blown into a serious problem which needs decision because of being so acute. While the book deals with the imaginary world, such strong is its imagery that it is transferred into the reality and seen there as one more case of cultural conflicts.

Although the characteristics of exoticism and narcissism have been consistently present in Zhu Tianwen’s fiction since the late 1980s, it is in Notes of a Desolate Man that these two characteristics come to pervade the narrative and become significant elements in the formation of a coherent sense of the self for the novel’s gay protagonist, whose sexual identity is not yet accepted by the society (Mostow 587)

With the efforts of all people joined to protect the rights of those who cannot defend themselves, it is possible to dream of the world of equal opportunities. However, at times building such world can pose certain problems. After all, it is really hard to forget the basics of the humanity and follow the principle of those who are the strongest, not the ones who have the point. Differentiating the latter from the former makes the life experience which each of us has to obtain and to rake into his or her life pattern.

Works Cited

Hillenbrand, Margaret. Literature, Modernity and the Practice of Resistance: Japanese and Taiwanese Fiction, 1960-1990. Leiden: BRILL, 2007. Print.

Martin, Fran. Situating Sexualities: Queer Representation in Taiwanese Fiction, film and Public Culture. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2003. Print.

Mostow, Joshua. S. The Columbia Companion to Modern East Asian Literature. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2003. Print.

Peng-Hsiang Chen and Dilley Crothers Whitney. Feminism/Femininity in Chinese Literature. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2002. Print.

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O. J. Simpson trial was widely publicized and highly controversial. One of the issues that it raised among researchers was the emergence of myths about the criminal justice that can affect the justice system. Another important aspect of the trial is its postmodern nature which provoked a discussion about the relevancy of existing criminal justice theories to the postmodern world.

O. J. Simpson, an American football player and popular actor, was accused of murdering his ex-wife and her friend in her house in 1994. The investigation and the trial were widely covered in media and provoked an active discussion on different levels of the society. According to the decision of the jury, Simpson was pronounced innocent and released despite the evidence of his crime that was deemed by many rather convincing (Jimenez, 2014). Later, however, Simpson was found responsible for the two deaths. The case drew much attention of researchers who addressed the issues of myths associated with the case and analyzed it from the perspective of criminal justice theories.

Fist of all, the O. J. Simpson case shaped certain myths about the criminal justice system. Particularly, the widespread idea that he had been acquitted by mistake created the concept of positive discrimination. Positive discrimination is about whitewashing someone’s action, protecting him or her, or mitigating their punishments for illegal activities due to the person’s race, religion, or ethnicity. Many people in the United States after the Simpson trial believed that the justice system practiced such discrimination (Simon, 2015). These people thought that O. J. Simpson had been acquitted because of the pressure of his lawyers and the African-American community who had claimed that Simpson had been unjustly prosecuted because of his race. A way to dispel the myth and ensure that it does not affect the criminal justice system is to communicate to the public the actualities of certain controversial cases. Effective communication and transparency of trials will help build the trust in the justice system.

An important perspective on such myths, strategies to dispel them, and their impact on the society and the justice system is the perspective of the postmodern world (Brown, 2011). The Simpson trial featured the active involvement of media. Analyzing how the case was covered and represented by mass media and then perceived and interpreted by the public can help understand the postmodern and postindustrial framework of justice. The process of communication in the postmodern world is complicated. Along with broadening the channels of information and increasing its amount, it provides more space for distortion, manipulation, and misunderstanding.

Postmodern criminal justice trends resist being put into certain theoretical frames because they unfold too rapidly and with the involvement of too many parties (Simon, 2015). Existing theories of criminal justice fail to work in the postmodern-world cases because the role of media and the community feedback is more significant now than it has ever been before. There is an ongoing debate on whether existing theories of criminal justice can be adjusted and modified to apply to the postmodern world or new ones should be created to address the unique characteristics of criminal justice today. Although there is no agreement among specialists and researchers, the most widespread view is that criminal justice theories should be combined with the theoretical achievements of other areas of knowledge, particularly sociology and communication studies. Incorporating the theories of community processes and communication into the theoretical understanding of justice can help create theoretical approaches to criminal justice that are more viable today than old ones.

References

Brown, S. (2011). Media/crime/millennium: Where are we now? A reflective review of research and theory directions in the 21st century. Sociology Compass, 5(6), 413-425.

Jimenez, M. A. (2014). Media review: Television deconstructing the OJ Simpson trial. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 1(3), 68-69.

Simon, J. (2015). From a tight place: Crime, punishment, and American liberalism. Yale Law & Policy Review, 17(2), 853-876.