Finding Associations
cross - treasure - X marks the spot
Jesus Christ - crucifixion - torture - ignorance -
mistakes - errors
Our cultural background means that the religious elements are the strongest for the cross and the most loaded - seeing a cross in literature or in art MEANS something
Find CHAINS of associations - THIS is how essays, reports, presentations and good answers are written
Following these chains of associations should come to some kind of understanding about the use of the word and the power of it
wheel - cycle - life - circle of life - infinity
- movement - commerce - transport - business - daily routine
light - Heaven - God - Death - purity - presence
sight -
ideas - knowledge - understanding -
We need to find a way (a method or a mind set) to be able to dig into subject areas and come up with possibilities for meaning that can be discussed.
What does X mean? What COULD X mean? What does X make me think of? What COULD X make me think of?
This is where Level 4 lives.
You need to bring your own thinking and knowledge into the material that you read.
A key part of this process is in looking for those POWER WORDS.
Power words are words that link to culturally significant ideas and meanings and feelings and so on.
Sorry is a power word - why? to some, sorry means I was wrong. To admit wrongdoing is to feel less and to be threatened and to be less confident.
Love - people overuse it (which means that other people think it’s to be carefully used) - it’s the “something else” of the word that makes it powerful
The words are only symbols of things that are much, much more powerful. And those things are what we want to talk about.
The N word is so negatively loaded because of its history - its intent - its effect on a population - its meaning sociologically
However, it’s constantly used in hip hop. Why?
eg - “bitch” - Jay Z - not using it anymore because he had a daughter, but what about when he was born? He had a mom. He had a wife. Didn’t they matter?
Perspective - what does this mean?
an individual’s viewpoint
opinion - thought - idea - belief - an understanding about the way everything is in relation to myself - and vice versa
what does Perspective do? What does it come from? What does it mean? How does it come into use in life? Is it valuable or is it negative?
can you speak, write, sing, behave or otherwise engage in the world WITHOUT reflecting your perspective?
we don’t really SEE reality, we create it in our minds
we don’t really write/speak TRUTH, we reveal our thoughts and perspectives
everything is the tip of an iceberg, where there is a whole bunch of ice under the surface
If we can begin to process everything in this way, where we look at the possibilities and the layers of meaning around everything, we can be much more successful.
Context - the situation around something -
the where, the when, the what’s happening
context could be Goderich, 2012, school, A4a, English class, Friday, 2:00
context is significant - it has a huge effect on anything that could be studied, examined, etc.
in literature, studying CONTEXT gives us a great deal of information that we can use
There is a whole world of added material that can be applied to situations, to literature, to a poem, to a song, to anything, and this added material MIGHT be the crucial element to understanding.
A few strategies to help in analysing things with context, perspective and associations in mind.
research - google it up - who wrote? where? when? situation? life story? etc.
similarities - what is this like? what is it different from? what might be linking these things?
allusions and references - you might see names, places, dates and so on that give you added info
think about yourself - what would YOU do? What is your opinion?
what could be underneath? what are the motivations of the characters/the writers/these people/these leaders, whatever
Watching Sigur Ros’ Glosoli video and looking for symbolic layers and meanings.
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