My Literate Presuppositions

Dr. Sexson asked us to think about things that we take for granted in out literate society... For sure I take for granted that I can pretty much find out whatever I have questions about. I can go to the Internet or an Encyclopedia, a dictionary, a book on the subject...If I can't find it, it probably has not been documented yet! I suppose that's something that I take for granted because even though all of that knowledge is at my fingertips, I often choose not to look for it. I don't know how a television works or how to put a computer together, or why volcanic eruptions happen but I could find out in a second if I wanted to. It's pretty sad that I don't take advantage of our technology and written information because I'm sure that in an oral culture things that are a part of everyday life (like TV and computers are to us) are always understood and explained. Certainly natural phenomena are given explanation, usually through story, but that's an explanation.

As (I think) Valerie was saying in class one day, we all take advantage of the fact that we have stories right in front of us for us to enjoy at anytime. Those stories, although our experiences of them might be different every time we come back to them, do not change in plot or character. The story is concrete and one that can be counted on every time. Therefore, we can take a reading quiz on Dickens's Tale of Two Cities because I KNOW and can argue that on page one it says "It was the best of times..." It gives a sense of certainty.

I think that one of the most striking differences between written and oral cultures is in the idea of a "contract." It is interesting that in our time, nothing except the signature is valid in a contract or agreement. The spoken promise or vow or oath is nothing in court or in most people's minds whereas it seems that in oral cultures (and certainly in children's lit) the oral promise is everything. Think about "Rapunzel", her dad and the witch next door never signed a contract, but she expected him to hand over the baby just the same. I find that shift really interesting and potentially problematic for a literate and an oral culture co-existing. I do my best not to promise what I can't deliver, but, as I'm sure happens to others of you, sometimes it doesn't happen. In our society though the promise has been devalued a bit for this very reason.

Related to this, I think that we are sometimes careless with our speech but careful with our writing because we have the two different ways to communicate. If orality was our only way to express ourselves we might be a little more careful with our speech.