Response 3

Part 1.)    There are many types of figurative expression in all of the poems we are assigned to read. Skunk Hour, by Robert Lowell displays figurative expression in only a few ways. For example, the poem seems to describe an old sea town, with an economy that has gone down hill. When he says “The season’s ill–we’ve lost our summer millionaire” is used as a vehicle which implies, or is the tenor that this town is going through hard times because a season cannot actually be “ill”. Losing the summer millionaire implies that it is in the winter months and times are tough. The “summer millionaire” implied as a tourist bringing his money into the town, which would in turn help out its economy. Some other vehicles he uses are the graveyard and the love-cars. These “love-cars” refer to people on the hilltop making love in their cars, or something of the sort. Sort of like a “lookout point” that you see in some movies where young people sometimes go on dates to hook up. “He climbs the hills skull in his Tudor Ford” means that he has went to the top of this graveyard looking for couples. Taking all of this in, Him stating that he is going to the graveyard looking for love implies that he is loveless in a way. He did not literally go to a graveyard and stalk people like a voyeur, but instead he yearns for someone to love in his life. I don’t quite understand this part of the poem, but I do not see what else it can imply. Now, the skunks in this poem are used as “vehicles” themselves. The Poem “Sestina” also uses some figures to imply things as well. For example, the teakettle shedding its “tears” as it is on the stove has an implied meaning that the child can sense her grandmothers sadness and that this makes the child sad as well.

Part 2.)    Chapters 3-4 convey a whole bunch of examples of our “society’s consensus at work”. I will take the example of the CIA, and its number of “covert” operations that were taking place during the cold war as an example. These operations were used to help achieve foreign policy objectives, because if necessary, the government would be able to deny any allegations. Back then, covert operations were just starting to become useful and popular. In today’s society, the general myth is that covert operations go on all the time, and that it is not only accepted, but necessary to stay one step ahead of the competition. This is how myths start. One thing happens, which leads to it happening again, and eventually it becomes common. Once it becomes common, people stop questioning it, and it eventually becomes part of the way of life. It is no longer questioned, but just thought of as the way things are. It becomes socially constructed and is agreed upon by the general population. In contrasting figurative expression with consensus discourse, one main difference that can be made is that in figurative expression, many people can have a lot of different interpretations on what is being implied, whereas consensus discourse refers to what is generally accepted by a group. When figurative expression is used, it is meant to make the reader think attentively about what is going on and why. Consensus discourse does not generally involve much though, just acceptance. This totally goes against the doxa and would work as an antidote because it would force people to actually think more about what they are doing, or what they value. This would in turn benefit society in some ways such as force people to think and gauge their own general opinion about general stereotypes. I do not see this ever happening as an alternative because that is just not the way people think. Some people think this way, but most people are not trained to think that attentively.