Carnivals Readings - Essay Example

Carnivals readings Liminality and Communitas Summary: Liminality is ambiguous and non-defined during rites of passage that borders between lifeand death, characterized by total or full nakedness, humility and passivity, which is a symbolic representation of a womb and a grave, life and death (Turner, 1969:359). Liminality is the state that serves to reveal both sides of the society, with one side being that of a fragmented society that is divided between those who have more and those who have less, and the other side of the un-fragmented society, which is bound together by social ties, and comprising of equal individual who participate in the same communion, forming the communitas (Turner, 1969:360). Every social position within a society has sacred attributes, and such attributes are only gained through a rite of passage from one position to the other. The role of liminality is not to simply confer the sacred state of the social positions, but rather to act as the bond that unites society in its different levels and structures. Liminality acts as a bond without which there could be no society, since there could be no high, unless the low existed, while no society could be complete even without the social class like the hippies, who do not observe the rites of passage, but still demonstrate the requisite liminality behaviors (Turner, 1969:370). The state of the rite of passage represents a moment in life during which the lesser in society wields more power than the individuals who are well endowed politically, economically and socially, since the weakness dominates greatness during the rite of passage, denoted by the words, “Even if your child is a chief’s son, tomorrow he will be like a slave”, words spoken to mothers on the day before the initiation of their children (Turner, 1969:367). Liminality and Communitas: Questions What is the relevance of rites of passage within a society? The relevance of the rights of passage within a society is that; the rites of passage serve as the bridge through which men are released from structure into communitas, and will only go back to structure after their experience of the communitas (Turner, 1969:373). What are the characteristics of liminality? The characteristics of liminality include: humility, passivity, nakedness and expression of the power of the weak, where the weak in society are the powerful in rituals, because they are the ones who administer them to the well-endowed, and those seeking to rise into a position of power in the society (Turner, 1969:368). What I the difference between communitas and community? The difference between communitas and community is that; communitas refer to the social bond created by the socio-cultural systems of rites of passage to bond the society together and makes it live as a single unit in communion (Turner, 1969:360). On the other hand, community refers to the wider context of where the people live, in relation to the nature of societal structuring and fragmentation of the society, which is defined by the aspects of the upper and the lower classes (Turner, 1969:371). How is liminality contrasted with the social system? Liminality is contrasted with the social system in that, while liminality works for the society in totality through creating a bond that unites all the structures and classes of the society, social system is partial, comprising of different social classes, most often classified as between those with more and those with less (Turner, 1969:366). What differentiates communitas and hippies? Hippies refers to the section of the society that does not have elaborate rites of passage to transition from one position of the society to the other, although they depict liminality behaviors (Turner, 1969:370) Rabelais & His World Summary: Despite Rabelais being one of the major creators of European literature, through shaping the French literature and the world literature as a whole, he still remains the least understood and the least appreciated (Bakhtin, 1984:2). Many readers and writers alike are repulsed by Rabelais, but a majority of them just do not understand him, and he remains no doubt the most difficult classical author. However, the reason why he will still remain un-understood is because; he a covered a period of literature that was fairly complex; the renaissance realism period, and most have opted to ignore or overlook the grotesque of realism (Bakhtin, 1984:24). Nonetheless, Rabelais has brought the images of such durations in a manner that is not destroyable and completely nonofficial, where there is no narrow mindedness, no dogma and authoritarianism (Bakhtin, 1984:3). Rabelais delved in carnival time, a time during which a special type of communication that cannot be applied in everyday life was devised, and that remains his signature literal characteristic that makes many fail to understand him (Bakhtin, 1984:10). Further, his novels have adopted the marketplace styles, but in it, he has been able to bring out the oneness and meaning of folk humor better than others have done, and managed to bring out the ideological, philosophical and aesthetic essence of folk humor (Bakhtin, 1984:58). Jean Paul and Hugo are some of the writers who have managed to appreciate and see the essence of Rabelais style of writing literature, through managing not to separate grotesque from laughter (Bakhtin, 1984:43). Rabelais & His World: Question What makes Rabelais rank second or the same level with Shakespeare? Rabelais is ranked second or at the same level with Shakespeare, because he was not only a great writer in the sense of the word, but also because he was sort of a sage or a prophet, writing of the society, for what it would become (Bakhtin, 1984:2). What is the characteristic of the marketplace language mostly applied by Rabelais? Rabelais applied the marketplace language of insulting words and expressions, abusive language and lengthy and complex words (Bakhtin, 1984:16). Nevertheless, even while using them, he still managed to preserve and develop the carnival of humor to a full cycle. What makes Rabelais un-understood and repulsed by many? Rabelais has not been understood by a majority, and is even more repulsed, because he applied the renaissance realism style of writing, where laughter and humor were not separated from the grotesque of the realism. Rabelais is the writer who managed to complete the cycle of people’s carnival laughter, and bring it to the world literature, where many others had not succeeded (Bakhtin, 1984:12). What can enhance the understanding of Rabelais work? The understanding of Rabelais work can be achieved through reading it in the modern eye, as opposed to reading it in the 19th century eye, which has always been the case causing its misunderstanding, considering that Rabelais’s work has merely been modernized (Bakhtin, 1984:58). What is the major difference between Rabelais work and the other works of renaissance literature? The major difference that contrasts Rabelais’s work from the other works of renaissance literature is the use of the body in its unfinished form. Rabelais managed to use the body in a form that is not separable from the world, by blending it with the world, and with animals and other objects (Bakhtin, 1984:27). References Bakhtin, M. M. (1984). Rabelais and his world. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Turner, V. (1969).The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Transaction Publishers. Read More