Literature Analysis of Genesis Chapter 7, Verses 11 to 29 of the Old Testament - Research Paper Example

Written Text Principles and Patterns Assessed Assignment 2 Essay Biblical text taken from Genesis Chapter 7, Verses 11 to 29 of the Old Testament. Introduction According to linguist Roland Barthes, "language is never innocent" (Irena 1993, p.245). Every oral and written discourse inevitably has a purpose. It is this purpose or goal to put in front of the listener or reader what the speaker or the writer wants to convey which makes language a web of symbols; often understood or imposed on the listener with a purpose of establishing a position in the discourse. Knowing this, the text in question is a written religious discourse taken from Genesis Chapter 7, The Old Testament. The language used in this text is meshed with metaphors, cohesions and tropes which act to give it the necessary tint of a religious discourse. However, like every text, it is unique in its own way and this essay will try to critically analyze and decipher how the features mentioned above help the text fulfill its purpose. While discussing these issues, it should be kept in mind that the book of Genesis was written by an anonymous writer in approximately 580 years B.C. in Hebrew. It was around 1611 that the writings were fully imbibed into the King James Bible. Summary of the text Before getting deep into the text and deciphering the features, summarizing the content of the text is essential. This will give a clear idea of the subject, the characters and the purpose the text is dealing with. Written in verse form, the text talks about the wrath of God and the great flood myth. It tells how Noah and his family along with other animals and beasts, who followed the instructions of God, were led into the ark by Lord and saved from the great flood that washed the "evil" out of earth. It also mentions how after heaven had unleashed its wrath that people who didnt believe in Noah tried to enter the Ark. However, denied entry into the Ark by God, the evil perished in flood which continued for "forty days and forty nights" (verse 14). The text stops (not ends) at a point where the ark is being tossed by the flood "And great anxiety seized all the living creatures that were in the ark, and the ark was like to be broken." According to Goldingay, " the Bible likes to do theology by telling a story" and there is no denying the fact that it does it convincingly, employing every art of creative literature. "The first rule of creative writing, is to write a gripping opening line" Goldingay mentions (Goldingay 2010, p.5) and this text does exactly the same. It grasps the attention of the reader with a sudden beginning: "and on that day" and then with the help of powerful metaphors, it paints a vivid picture in front of the readers. Use of Doctrine The text begins at a point where God shows his wrath to the sons of men. The description is of utter destruction and against the image of God as a peace-loving soul. The writer tries to justify the act of God as, "and God did this mighty act, in order to terrify the sons of men, that there might be no more evil upon earth" (verse 11). It is interesting to note that this part of the text tries to portray the almighty God through the description of all the destructive forces his rage can unleash on earth. The face of God that the reader gets to see is one of anger. As pointed out by Goldingay, “the flood story is repetitive, which underlines the horror of the destruction.” (Goldingay 2010, p.104). However, there is undoubtedly a "belief" that God can never be "wrong" to people who follow the path of good. This belief is actually the work of doctrine preached to the readers from time unknown. The reader does not accumulate an idea from the text but actually relates to an idea already present in his mind. It therefore, reads a text in light of his knowledge that he has gathered from other similar discourses before. This aspect of a discourse is pointed out by Michael Hoey,who mentions, "When writers compose their texts, they draw upon models that have become normal within their culture; when readers read the texts, they do the same" (Michael 2000, 12). This justifies the point that even when the reader reads about the destruction brought by the wrath of Lord in this text, it relates to the image of God as all good from other readings and doctrines. The implications behind the Lords actions are thoroughly understood both by the writer and the reader. Use of Metaphors John A. Grimes in the Preface of his book Problems and Perspectives in Religious Discourse: Advaita Vedanta Implications mentions the paradoxical and self contradictory nature of the traditional religious discourse. According to him, while on one hand the religious discourse tries to portray a "promised land" where the God acts as the "other", the "foreign" it also simultaneously tries to find a relation to the unknown (1994). It is this paradoxical nature of a traditional discourse that gives rise to metaphors which, in its own way, tries to bridge the gap between the real and the celestial. Also, Joseph Campbell in Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor writes, "There seem to be only two kinds of people: Those who think that metaphors are facts, and those who know that they are not facts. Those who know they are not facts are what we call "atheists," and those who think they are facts are "religious" (Joseph 2012, p.75). This suggests the importance of metaphor in religious text and the purpose it serves. In verse 11, which begins, "And on that day, the Lord...evil upon earth", the inanimate objects are referred to as animate. While the Sun darkens responding to the call of God, the foundation of the world is raged. Here the word "raged" which means "feel or express violent uncontrollable anger" is attributed to the foundation of the world which is therefore personified in turn. Only a human being or a beast can show its anger. Similarly, the metaphor "thunder roared" suggests a comparison with lion. In Verse 12, evil is seen as a path towards destruction which the "sons of men" would not forsake. Here evil, an adjective, is presented as a noun "path" which in turn implies that it is not something "intrinsic" to human nature but an "external" path from which men, if they will, can return. Similarly, the heart cannot be "directed" but the metaphor of it being a vehicle governed by mind makes it something controllable. Thus the metaphors here serve the purpose of externalizing a problem intrinsic to man and imagining that man always has a will which it can use to "direct" its heart to "return" from its "evil ways". Apart from these, the heaven is compared to a house of God that opens its "windows" to flood the earth with water which again is compared to a violent creature in verse 16. Interestingly, the Lord or God has once again been described as a human form which "shut him [Noah] in". Use of lexis and syntax Apart from its reliance on doctrines and metaphors, the discourse also follows the archaic lexis and syntax. Verse 12, did not even direct their hearts to all this, verse 13 in the six hundredth year of the life of Noah and verse 29 the ark was like to be broken all represent the archaic syntax. The words like behold, pottage and cauldron have become obsolete and not in common use in present day. Another very striking feature of this text is its lexical cohesion. The conjunction and is used 54 times in the extracted verse with each verse starting with an "And". According to Widdowson, " the theme could signal the main topic that the writer wants to talk about and is centered from a perspective of the writer asserting his position of this is what I am going to talk about"(Widdowson 2007, p.43). This way, with the use of additive conjunction and, the individual verses actually seem to be a part of a whole Divine plan that is being narrated. Every action, apparently chaotic, seems to get a structure under the cohesive and. Apart from and, the other words that have been repetitively used in the text are, lord, earth, ark, water and rain. In addition to them, the article the is used around 78 times in the verses. Cohesion can also be found in the repetition of phrases like the sons of men which has been used 5 times and " forty days and forty nights, which appears twice in verse 14 and 26. This repetitive nature removes the need for other linguistic features like ellipsis and substitution. The writer adopts a simple style which through repetition leaves very little space for imagination. Antithesis between good and evil Another feature of religious discourse that can be found in this text is the stark antithesis between good and evil, heaven and hell. Noah along with his household and all other living creatures following him, represent the Good that obeys the instructions of God. The sons of men, who never paid a heed to Gods instructions are repeatedly referred to as evil, "became exhausted through evil on account of the rain". Use of tropes Written in a highly formal tone, the text employs links between the spiritual entity, the God and human form by mentioning, "the Lord shut him in". The discourse also works its way through rhetoric, figures of speech are used to convey the limit of the Lords wrath. The most common figure of speech used is personification. The text not only personifies God but also water by using the pronoun "they". As is common with religious texts, simile is used to describe the situation within the ark which was tossed by the water, " And the ark floated upon the face of the waters, and it was tossed upon the waters so that all the living creatures within were turned about like pottage in a cauldron". This simile provides an important reference to the society to which the author belonged to. This culture could readily relate to pottage in a cauldron which according to sources, was a staple English peasant diet. Structure and narrative of the text While discussing theoretical framework, Ward and Birner claim that "It is often observed that many languages show a tendency to order given information before new information in an utterance." (Ward & Birner 1998, p.9). This biblical text also follows the same pattern with verse 11 presenting the theme and the following verses continuing to branch from that central theme. Conclusion Although the present day reader of the text might doubt the age of Noah and how he managed to convince all the animals and beasts to enter into the ark, there is no doubt about the fact that this religious discourse was able to convey its message to its audience and serve the purpose of its creation. Employing strong metaphors, the writer has been able to create a vivid picture of the consequence of not obeying God. Although it might seem absurd to the present reader, it definitely was able to create fear in the minds of God-fearing people who knew but little science. Reference List Birner, Betty J. & Ward,G. (1998) Information Status and Noncanonical Word Order in English. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing. Campbell, J. (2012) Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor. California: New World Library. Goldingay, J. (2010) Genesis for Everyone: Chapters 17-50: Your Name Will Be Abraham, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. Grimes, J. (1994) Problems and Perspectives in Religious Discourse: Advaita Vedanta Implications. Hoey, M. (2000) Textual Interaction: An Introduction to Written Discourse Analysis, NewYork: Routledge. Makaryk, I. (1993) Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory: Approaches, Scholars, Terms (Theory / Culture), Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Widdowson, H. (2007) Discourse Analysis (Oxford Introductions to Language Study). Oxford Read More