Corn-Pone Opinions
The significance of corn-pone opinions is evident in past and present societies. Renowned novelist, Mark Twain, in his essay, “Corn-Pone Opinions,” incorporates the rhetorical devices of anaphora and allusion to help the readers acknowledge the power of social influence on behavior. The artistic effects of Twain's writing are constructive to establishing the purpose of his essay. Twain first uses anaphora while telling his story about a past encounter with a young black man and he introduces the idea of public opinions. He reveals the idea that if a black man were to prosper, “he must train with the majority...he must think and feel with the bulk of his neighbors...He must restrict himself to corn-pone opinions...He must get his opinions from other people, he must reason out none for himself; he must have no first-hand views.” The repetition of the words, “he must” emphasizes that because of public opinions, people think they have to act or behave a particular way. The accentuation of these words conveys to Twain’s readers that people only do what the public approves of.
Later on in the essay, Twain moves on to using allusion in an example that allows the readers to further examine how corn-pone opinions affect people’s actions. While explaining how people “merely notice and conform,” Twain dives into a deeper, more specific example demonstrating that “...we only imitate...Shakespeare is a standard, and fifty years ago we used to write tragedies which we couldn't tell from -- from someone else's.” Twain’s reference to Shakespeare provides a past example of how people widely accepted Shakespeare’s writing style, and therefore people attempted to follow it. Looking back at these works of literature helps the reader to notice the power of the public’s opinion on how the world views things.
Corn-pone opinions or public opinions seem to be a hot topic of debate between many people. Nonetheless, I do think that it is inevitable and that even if more people acknowledged this issue, it would still be a daily occurrence in our societies. Public opinion greatly affects everyone’s actions, thoughts, and behaviors. Social influence is conspicuous everywhere in modern societies, and it is difficult to not notice its impact. Today, new trends are constantly being set, especially by celebrities, and if the public approves of it, then many people follow the trend, but if it not, then almost nobody follows it. By following this system, many people lose their sense of self-approval and independence.
Later on in the essay, Twain moves on to using allusion in an example that allows the readers to further examine how corn-pone opinions affect people’s actions. While explaining how people “merely notice and conform,” Twain dives into a deeper, more specific example demonstrating that “...we only imitate...Shakespeare is a standard, and fifty years ago we used to write tragedies which we couldn't tell from -- from someone else's.” Twain’s reference to Shakespeare provides a past example of how people widely accepted Shakespeare’s writing style, and therefore people attempted to follow it. Looking back at these works of literature helps the reader to notice the power of the public’s opinion on how the world views things.
Corn-pone opinions or public opinions seem to be a hot topic of debate between many people. Nonetheless, I do think that it is inevitable and that even if more people acknowledged this issue, it would still be a daily occurrence in our societies. Public opinion greatly affects everyone’s actions, thoughts, and behaviors. Social influence is conspicuous everywhere in modern societies, and it is difficult to not notice its impact. Today, new trends are constantly being set, especially by celebrities, and if the public approves of it, then many people follow the trend, but if it not, then almost nobody follows it. By following this system, many people lose their sense of self-approval and independence.
By mentioning Twain's allusion, you made it easier for the reader to understand Twain's purpose. Your analysis of how Twain alluded to Shakespeare made it easy for me to grasp Twain's main point. As you have written, many follow Shakespeare's writing and imitate it. These people are just an example of how important social influence is on behavior.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your response to Twain's essay. It was detailed beautifully with a touch of your opinion embedded into every sentence. Referring to your argument, I also agree with the idea that the issue of conformity has no solution, however we can try to acknowledge and understand this complex system.
ReplyDeleteI agree that public opinions are now inevitable. I like how you used celebrities in our modern day society as an example to show how conformity can apply to even us. I also agree that this is a cause of our loss of independence as a person.
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