{"id":792,"date":"2017-10-31T14:27:38","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T14:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-introliterature\/?post_type=chapter&p=792"},"modified":"2017-10-31T14:28:02","modified_gmt":"2017-10-31T14:28:02","slug":"binary-patterns","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-introliterature\/chapter\/binary-patterns\/","title":{"raw":"Binary Patterns: A Western Obsession","rendered":"Binary Patterns: A Western Obsession"},"content":{"raw":"

Binary Patterns: A Western Obsession\r\n<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nThis or that?\u00a0 Me or you?\u00a0 I or thou?\u00a0 Subject or object?\r\n\r\nAlong with these basic either\/or questions, Western thought is built on other key binaries.\r\n\r\nA binary is an either\/or choice like the zeroes and ones making up DVDs or other digital codes.\u00a0 While some things lend themselves to \u201cthis or that\u201d choices, we know that the world is often much more complicated.\u00a0 The answer \u201cPepsi or Coke?\u201d\u00a0 might define a person privately, but whether you like one or the other may not carry much public meaning.\u00a0 Ironically, it did carry meaning in the 80s during the Cola Wars.\r\n\r\nThese either\/or choices often have strange histories.\u00a0 For instance, the tragedy\/comedy binary informs genres on television and in literature.\u00a0 It is based on a thinker, Aristotle, who was not even approving of literature.\u00a0 Dig into the history of tragedy and comedy and you will find some strangeness.\u00a0 For instance, tragedy was supposed by Aristotle to feature someone making a choice which leads inevitably to their downfall, which we witness and feel catharsis<\/em>, a sense of purging out of both ends. .\u00a0 .!\u00a0 Weird enough for you?\u00a0 It makes a certain amount of sense, just as listening to a blues song makes us feel happy, but it\u2019s what we\u2019d call contingent<\/em>: based on a quirky, particular set of happenings that did not have to occur.\u00a0 So binaries are contingent.\u00a0 (Call this the non-tragic theory of approaching binaries.)\u00a0 And comedy was supposed to involve a mating and joining offstage in early Greek comedies\u2014which were held at the festival of the god Dionysus, at which, originally, his devotees called Maenads were said to mate with willing victims on mountainsides, after which they would rend apart the sacrificial victim.\u00a0 And this is what informs our genres\u2014and has done so for 2,500 years.\u00a0 So I\u2019d add necessary vs. contingent as a binary that can be useful.\r\n\r\nFor more on the strangeness of binaries, you might do a search for humor theory<\/em> or look at the history of academia (gowns, gavels, graduations. . .).\u00a0 Or if you're talking good or evil, one might look at how evil always comes back (Sauron, Voldemort).\u00a0 Weirdly enough, this even contributes to a type of cannibalism whereby an enemy's body is eaten so that his soul can be erased--for a time--from the eternal battlefield. As the cliche goes, \"The truth is stranger than fiction.\"\u00a0 In fields like literary analysis, there is no \"capital-T Truth.\"\u00a0 That idea of there being one would go back to Plato and his theory of Forms.\r\n\r\nSo these issues have histories of which we should become aware.\u00a0 As a critical reader, it is important for you to take note of binaries and gauge their effects.\u00a0 Though they may exclude other choices, it is the case that humans notice contrasts and oppositions.\r\n\r\nBinaries are crutches, tools.\u00a0 They can work but can put blinders on what we notice.\u00a0 Early in stages of the writing or critical thinking processes, they can be useful.\r\n
\r\n\r\nWhich side of a binary does the author notice or value more?\r\n\r\nWhich views are portrayed as negative?\r\n\r\nWhat is undervalued or missing from a given text?\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nIn a writing course, then, you might create a persuasive essay that argues one side against another.\u00a0 We contribute to these ongoing debates most thoughtfully if we realize that they arguments will continue, however well we write about them!\u00a0 Just don't fall into the trap of thinking that the world is either\/or, comforting as that notion may be.","rendered":"

Binary Patterns: A Western Obsession
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This or that?\u00a0 Me or you?\u00a0 I or thou?\u00a0 Subject or object?<\/p>\n

Along with these basic either\/or questions, Western thought is built on other key binaries.<\/p>\n

A binary is an either\/or choice like the zeroes and ones making up DVDs or other digital codes.\u00a0 While some things lend themselves to \u201cthis or that\u201d choices, we know that the world is often much more complicated.\u00a0 The answer \u201cPepsi or Coke?\u201d\u00a0 might define a person privately, but whether you like one or the other may not carry much public meaning.\u00a0 Ironically, it did carry meaning in the 80s during the Cola Wars.<\/p>\n

These either\/or choices often have strange histories.\u00a0 For instance, the tragedy\/comedy binary informs genres on television and in literature.\u00a0 It is based on a thinker, Aristotle, who was not even approving of literature.\u00a0 Dig into the history of tragedy and comedy and you will find some strangeness.\u00a0 For instance, tragedy was supposed by Aristotle to feature someone making a choice which leads inevitably to their downfall, which we witness and feel catharsis<\/em>, a sense of purging out of both ends. .\u00a0 .!\u00a0 Weird enough for you?\u00a0 It makes a certain amount of sense, just as listening to a blues song makes us feel happy, but it\u2019s what we\u2019d call contingent<\/em>: based on a quirky, particular set of happenings that did not have to occur.\u00a0 So binaries are contingent.\u00a0 (Call this the non-tragic theory of approaching binaries.)\u00a0 And comedy was supposed to involve a mating and joining offstage in early Greek comedies\u2014which were held at the festival of the god Dionysus, at which, originally, his devotees called Maenads were said to mate with willing victims on mountainsides, after which they would rend apart the sacrificial victim.\u00a0 And this is what informs our genres\u2014and has done so for 2,500 years.\u00a0 So I\u2019d add necessary vs. contingent as a binary that can be useful.<\/p>\n

For more on the strangeness of binaries, you might do a search for humor theory<\/em> or look at the history of academia (gowns, gavels, graduations. . .).\u00a0 Or if you’re talking good or evil, one might look at how evil always comes back (Sauron, Voldemort).\u00a0 Weirdly enough, this even contributes to a type of cannibalism whereby an enemy’s body is eaten so that his soul can be erased–for a time–from the eternal battlefield. As the cliche goes, “The truth is stranger than fiction.”\u00a0 In fields like literary analysis, there is no “capital-T Truth.”\u00a0 That idea of there being one would go back to Plato and his theory of Forms.<\/p>\n

So these issues have histories of which we should become aware.\u00a0 As a critical reader, it is important for you to take note of binaries and gauge their effects.\u00a0 Though they may exclude other choices, it is the case that humans notice contrasts and oppositions.<\/p>\n

Binaries are crutches, tools.\u00a0 They can work but can put blinders on what we notice.\u00a0 Early in stages of the writing or critical thinking processes, they can be useful.<\/p>\n

\n

Which side of a binary does the author notice or value more?<\/p>\n

Which views are portrayed as negative?<\/p>\n

What is undervalued or missing from a given text?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In a writing course, then, you might create a persuasive essay that argues one side against another.\u00a0 We contribute to these ongoing debates most thoughtfully if we realize that they arguments will continue, however well we write about them!\u00a0 Just don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the world is either\/or, comforting as that notion may be.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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CC licensed content, Original<\/div>