PR: Brainstorming

In William Gibson's novel, Patter Recognition, there is always a concentration on the internet and online social network. Whenever Cayce has the chance, she checks F:F:F to see if she gets any messages from Parkaboy or just to see what's going on in there. For example, she sees "that her friend Parkaboy is back in Chicago, home from an Amtrak vacation, California" (4). The forum is her mean of knowing what's happening, especially when it comes to the footages that are posted there by the maker and with all of the attention that they are obtaining. The forum is also her mean of networking and communicating with other people. When Cayce needs help with tracking down the maker of the footages that are posted, she seeks help from Parkaboy, thinking that he could really help her. "The forum has become one of the most consistent places in her life" (4), demonstrating the way that the internet is being used through the forum. Cayce says that she has told Parkaboy about her phobia. It's not something she can just tell anyone; yet, she tells it to someone she's never even met but has only talked to either through email or by phone. Plus, with the internet, it's basically accessible anywhere.

There is also a relationship between style and culture in Pattern Recognition. When Cayce is in London, she see three men gathered around what turns out to be calculators, two of whom are trying to sell them and the other being Voytek. "As to why she notices them [now], these three, she later may not be able to say" (27), but it may as well be due to what they are wearing. Hobbes, one of the two men selling the calculators, "is zipped like a sausage into something shiny, black, and only approximately leather like" (27). Then the other man is "hunched within greasy folds of an ancient Barbour waterproof, its waxed cotton gone the sheen and shade of day-old horse dung" (27). Then there's Voytek, who's in "baggy black skater shorts and frayed jean jacket" (27-28). Cayce then thinks that shorts "are somehow always wrong in London" (28), suggesting the relationship between style and culture. There are styles in places that just doesn't go or suit one another. The characters are in London, a place of British/English culture; yet, there are so many variations of style, though there may be many rising trends that seem to be dominating. Then, there's Japan. There Cayce sees "whole seas of Burberry plaid...Mont Blanc...even Gucci" (127). These trademarks/brands "have no effects on her" (127). They are only somewhat in Japan more now. She's different from the Japanese and has moved on with newer, different brands due to culture, leading to the relationship between style and culture and its differences.

From Tobe's POV

In William Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily," the point of view can be shifted to first person singular, instead of it being first person plural. Having said this, it can either be told from Tobe or Homer's point of view.

If it were to be told from Tobe's point of view, there would be many changes. Some of the most drastic changes would be that the reader might not be able to get a taste of what society thinks and how they act when it comes to Emily, especially with all of the things that they are saying about her. This is the thing that will become more hidden. This is because the attention may be directed towards what Emily does in her house while she isolates herself from the rest of society. Tobe may be describing everything that Emily does and how she feels about what she's going through; therefore, the reader would know what she does everyday and there won't be a kind of mystery going on as when it's being told in first person plural.

With the story being told from Tobe's view, the reader will actually know what Emily did to the arsenic that she bought from the druggist, rather than having to guess and guess wrong. The reader will also be able to comprehend that Emily poisoned Homer Barron and the reason(s) for her actions, rather than thinking that Homer ran away. This then will change the reader's thoughts about her. There will be a better understanding of her and desires due to Tobe's point of view. There will also be an understanding of why Emily is always looking through her window and why her house smelled. The reader then will also understand why Emily wasn't paying her taxes. Is it that she doesn't know that Colonel Sartoris is dead or is she just ignoring what society is trying to make her do? Everything that was in question from when the story is told from first person plural would be answered. Things will surely be revealed, leaving no mysteries.

Despite the many changes that can occur if the story was to be told from Tobe's point of view, the theme itself wouldn't change. The story will still have that idea of human growth, of growing old, and eventually decaying, no matter how beautiful it once was.

Brautigan's poem: Anti-technology or Pro-technology?

 Brautigan's poem has an anti-technology tone and message due to his usages of images, similes, and diction. Even though Brautigan starts off his poem with the images of a "cybernetic meadow where mammals and computers live together in mutually programming harmony" (3-6), the poem goes on to mention a "cybernetic ecology where we are free from our labors and joined back to nature, returned to our mammal brothers and sisters" (19-23) suggesting that due to the advancement of technology, humans will soon loose their jobs and be thrown into nature with no way of survival. The poem then compares mammals and computers, saying that they are like "pure water touching clear sky" (7-8). This is just an attempt to put the two together, yet we all know that the" pure water" can never touch the "clear sky" suggesting that humans can never fit together with technology. And with the other simile in lines 15-16 the poem, it is suggested that technology is of no importance. Technology will eventually be forgotten. And from the use of "I like to think" (1), it is suggesting that what is being thought may never happen, so trying to put technology and humans together is impossible. And when it says "all watched over by machines of loving grace" (24-25), there is the meaning that humans depend too much on technology that they're even putting technology at a higher level and in some ways has become some sort of god and that shouldn't be how it is.

Brautigan also uses images, similes, and diction to argue that the poem has a pro-technology tone and message. In lines 3-6, he is suggesting that it's all right for mammals and computers to live together. And as the poem goes on to talk about "our labors" in lines 20-23, it is saying that because of technology, we are able to enjoy life more, or more specifically nature. We are able to relax and not have to worry about anything, for technology will have it all covered for us. We will be "free of our labors," not having any worries. And in the simile in lines 7-8, there is a sense of blending. As for the other simile in lines 15-16, it is saying that technology doesn't matter and that it can go with human life. And with this, there is the author's choice of adding in the phrases in the parentheses, showing to the reader that it should be a world where technology and humans work together. Plus, the machines are portrayed as having "loving grace" (25), telling us that technology is something that we should all care about.

With these two arguments, the anti-technology seems to be more convincing. This is because of the words choice that Brautigan uses. They don't seem to go together. "Cybernetic" doesn't go with either "meadow," "forest", or "ecology." And, machines can't be explained containing "loving grace." "Pure water" can't touch the "clear sky." Brautigan is putting things together that don't belong together, furthering the idea that humans shouldn't live together with technology; therefore the anti-technology tone and message.

But Brautigan leaves us to define for ourselves which one is better, leaving his poem full of ambiguity.