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Samuel James Conroy

Comparison Progymnasmata

            Frow’s writing, Tourism and the Semiotics of Nostalgia, is a very intricate piece that goes into great deal about the different between a tourist and a traveler, as well as the minutiae of semiotics. This pleases me as in our previous reading by Culler, he also went into the differences between the two rather than lumping them together as one, which I had previously complained about.

Culler makes the distinction between the two based on how they perceive the culture of the country in which they are travelling to. The traveler will try his best to adapt to that culture and be there to experience what they have to offer. However, a tourist will want to experience what they believe to be the culture, aka a French guy speaking English with a French accent as opposed to just speaking French. Frow goes into more why the tourist is demonized. He provides a list of three moves:

  1. Criticism of tourism as inauthentic activity
    1. This is where the tourist is contrasted against the more heroic traveler and targeted as a cultural appropriator.
  2. The narrative of tourism is a much more complicated and ambivalent one
    1. A paradox is presented here as the tourist is valued positively as attempting to have an authentic experience, however in the post-industrial world this is not possible and ends up losing its authenticity.
  3. Follows from the internal condition of paradox progressively revealed in the playing out of the second
    1. A similar case to the second move, here authentic forms of travel are compared to inauthentic ones and an attempt to make a distinction is made.

This is a very complicated analysis yet makes a distinct point about the issue of authenticity. As with many things in modern times, travel has been done on just about every corner of the planet. Countries have established tourism divisions and the internet has made it possible to go just about everywhere. This makes me question, is authentic travel possible anymore? Everyone has been just about everywhere and done just about everything. In my opinion there may never be another authentic travel experience with the current connection the world has.

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Samuel James Conroy

Confirmation Progymnasmata

            Jonathan Culler puts out a very interesting piece regarding travelers versus tourists. I have read numerous pieces for this class thus far regarding tourism and the negatives surrounding it. So far, we have read about the appropriation of cultures through and the degradation of environments in certain countries due to overpacking tourists. However, I found myself disagreeing with many of the points suggested as I did not think all people traveled for the sole purpose of seeing the “big” tourist attractions. I argued in previous pieces how it was lazy to stereotype all tourists into one category as the ones who have no intention of learning the culture of the place, they travel to but rather see something, take a picture, and then leave. At my high school we used to have a spirit week where one of the days were tacky tourist day, this reminds me of slapping a stereotype on a group. Here is a picture for reference:

Culler does a good job and splits these two types of people, travelers and tourists.

Culler describes the difference in these two by talking about the semiotics of travel. Tourists are those who are not interested in what the culture has to offer but rather the idea of what their culture has to offer. Culler describes it perfectly, “The French chanteuse singing English with a French accent seems more charmingly French than one who simply sings in French” (Culler). These tourists are not interested in what France has to offer culturally, but rather what the perceived image of France has to offer, hence French people speaking English with French accents rather than actually speaking French. Then, the traveler is one who goes to various destinations for getting lost in that nation. As stated in the reading, “to drive through Roumania or Afghanistan without hotel reservations and to get by on terrible French” (Culler). Travel has become too much of becoming something you are not, such as traveling to a foreign country to become part of a social class that you are not part of back home or to simply take pictures of nice locations to brag about on social media. This piece is logical as it describes the fine line that differentiates the stereotypical “tourist” versus the more serious “traveler.” Culler has in-depth reasoning as to why both exist, the issues that arise from tourism, and why becoming a traveler needs to become the new normal so cultures do not get degraded.

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Samuel James Conroy

Refutation Progymnasmata

Refutation Progymnasmata

            John Urry’s article, “The Tourist Gaze Revisited,” is an interesting piece breaking down why he believes that people travel and the cultural appropriation that these travelers bring with them intentionally or unintentionally. However, this is a highly critical piece on tourists that talks about how their “tourist gaze” is actually aesthetic appropriation. I find this to be an interesting take as I quite disagree with his overall opinion.

I agree with Urry on how advertising and certain rhetorical imagery has painted certain places to be these wild landscapes that one must see. This paints a picture that you should just travel to these places to see the view which causes a domination of the other culture. However, I believe that the general populous does not travel just to go see some view that is advertised throughout the country, rather, they just enjoy going to explore places for what they are. A majority of people travel either to just get away or to find themselves in some way they feel they’ve been lacking; it seems quite stereotypical to assume that people are traveling just to see some great view and then use it to appropriate an entire culture.  Urry states,

“Much tourism becomes in effect a search for the photogenic, it is a strategy for the accumulation of photographs.”

While back in the 1900s I believe travel was more directed towards this feeling, nowadays it seems the sentiment has changed. Travel is more widely available, and people can see photos online of the most beautiful areas they want to see, so traveling has evolved more into getting to escape from your current life in my opinion.

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Samuel James Conroy

Proverb Progymnasmata

Proverb Progymnasmata

            The writing in the article, “Breaking Down an Image,” is quite superb. Rhetoric images are not talked about a lot in the world of literature due to there not being many images typically instilled in writings. In this piece the author breaks down a system to decipher images in text to understand their true meaning. This is done by breaking down the analyzation into numerous categories. These categories are: Audience, Context, Purpose, Tone, Arrangement, Location, Scale, Text, Typography, Font Size, Font Type, Color, Connotation, and finally Readability. This was done because many people do not typically think about why images are placed where they are and how it persuades us. The main thing to consider when viewing an image is the visual rhetoric that it gives off, or the effect that is has on someone.

It is best to be in touch with the images that you are viewing or else you are putting yourself in a bubble of ignorance. This is the equivalent of not reading the news, so you don’t have to face the realities of life and view what is truly going on around you. Some may choose to live like this as that way they can go about thinking all is good and be a living embodiment of ignorance is bliss. One cannot hope to understand what is trying to be said to them unless they can accurately analyze what is being shown whether it is through images or writing, which “Breaking Down an Image” tries to service.

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Samuel James Conroy

Confirmation Progymnasmata

Confirmation Progymnasmata

Jenae Cohn’s piece “Understanding Visual Rhetoric” is a great writing about using imagery to your advantage in writing and to show how something as simple as an image can change opinions drastically. Cohn does a fantastic job of describing rhetorical imagery in a way that most can relate to.

The piece is started by giving an example of going out to get food with your friends. Since you are trying to decide where you want to go out you research various places and see the imagery that is present to determine where you go. You end up finding a burger place online that has some pictures that are simply making you salivate. However, the next picture that you stumble upon is significantly worse than the ones you just viewed. All of a sudden, the burgers look cheap, greasy, and unappetizing. Your liking of this restaurant just decreased heavily, and you no longer feel that it is the choice for you and your friends. Cohn then goes on to explain that the use of these images is all visual rhetoric. These images are used to display information in a way that words cannot.

This piece is unquestionably logical as anyone who has wanted to gain info on something is profoundly influenced by the imagery on display. Say you are attempting to purchase a boat. You go online and find a boat that appears to be the one:

Looks to be in great condition and is reasonably in your price range. Upon further investigation you find this image of the boat from a top angle:

All of a sudden that boat is not looking like you thought it would. The visual rhetoric has changed your mind completely and you stop pursuing this boat despite the fact it could just have been not cleaned at the time of that picture.

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Samuel James Conroy

Encomium about William Murray

Encomium about William H.H. Murray

            William H.H. Murray was a, “handsome young preacher from Boston,” (Perrottet) who was successful in increasing the interest in American travel. Murray was born as a poor farm boy in Guilford, Connecticut who ended up attending Yale with nothing more than his handmade clothes and $4.68 in his pocket. Murray was quite different from the common man for the late 1800s. People would often consider the great nature spots of America hurdles to their lifestyles and areas that needed to be conquered. He would start to enjoy nature and specifically the Adirondacks at a young age. A good friend of Murray’s growing up got him into traveling to the Adirondacks, where he would write stories about it for a local newspaper. The congregations that Murray would minister were often confused by his love for nature, one time, “he arrived to give a sermon while still wearing his shooting jacket and hunting breeches, and leaned his rifle against the pulpit” (Perrottet).

Murray would write a book titled, Adventures in the Wilderness; or, Camp-Life in the Adirondacks, that would become hugely successful in convincing people to get out into nature. Europeans had already been interested in travel and nature, yet Americans had not yet been turned to these ideas. His book would become a best seller post-civil war. Unfortunately for Murray, the summer after his book would happen to be one of the worst in Adirondack history. This wet season would ruin many travelers’ experiences making people question Murray and nature.

Murray was forced to defend himself in the New York Tribune to which he stated it was not his fault for the poor weather. Murray would go on to state the travel to the region would only grow, and he would happen to be correct as the next summer the Adirondack region flooded with travelers. Murray would be described as, “the right person, in the right place, with the right words, at the right time” (Engelhart). This meant that despite previous famous writers like Emerson or Thoreau also encouraging going into nature, they were too niche and did not reach a broad audience like Murray did. Murray did a great job in encouraging the common American to get out into nature allowing us to see just how great a vacation can be for the body and mind. Many travel industries and people have Murray to thank for their current successes.

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Samuel James Conroy

Chreia Progymnasmata

Chreia Progymnasmata

            Pico Iyer has put out great work on not only his personal travels but traveling as a whole. His experience as being a foreigner in multiple countries has given a great insight on the intricacies of travel.

In his article, “The Foreign Spell,” Iyer goes into the life of being a foreigner and what it truly means. He gives his personal experience of being a foreigner in Britain and America due to his family originally coming from India. He states,

“I was a foreigner on all three of the continents that might have claimed me—a little Indian boy with an English accent and an American green card” (Iyer Para. 1).

Iyer would even be considered a foreigner in his “home” country of India due to not being born there and having an English accent.

Iyer goes into the minutiae of what it means to be a foreigner due to the ever-growing number of foreigners in the world. Iyer mentions about how there will soon be more foreigners on earth than there will be Americans. He also describes how in most major cities you will find people on just about every corner speaking a different language and dealing with different customs than yourself. Due to this growing population Iyer wants to give his insight on what it means to be a foreigner in order to bring more familiarity to the matter and explain the benefits rather than draw on the negatives.

Iyer warns of not assuming we have common values or feelings in our global world just because we are simply more connected than ever. He relates his own life to this sentiment by explaining his travels growing up. Iyer was able to travel between England and California numerous times a year unlike most humans had ever traveled before, yet, he never felt comfortable settling in just one place due to this constant movement. This is not all bad as Iyer says,

“all I thought then was that nearly everywhere I knew was foreign, which meant that nearly everywhere had the power to unsettle and surprise me, forever” (Iyer Para. 29).

 

 

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Samuel James Conroy

Theme Progymnasmata

Samuel Conroy

Professor Comstock

September 8, 2020

Rhetoric of Travel

Wordsworth Theme Progymnasmata

            William Wordsworth, one of the greatest poets in history, describes his disappointment with the modern world through his poem, “The World is Too much With Us.” During Wordsworth’s time, the world was undergoing a mass transition due to the industrial revolution taking place. The world was moving away from nature and becoming entrenched in material items being produced by the revolution.  Wordsworth uses a sonnet system in iambic pentameter to lay out his frustrations. His vexations can be heard through,

“Little we see that nature is ours; We have given our hearts away” (Wordsworth 3-4).

Wordsworth drives the theme of communion with nature, which he does in many of his poems to express his annoyance with the current times. His use of rhetoric through theme is brilliantly done throughout this poem allowing him to engage the reader with his line of thought and lay out his emotions in an effective manner.

 

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Samuel James Conroy

Creative Narrative Progymnasmata Post

Samuel Conroy

Rhetoric of Travel

September 4, 2020

Professor Comstock

Creative Narrative Progymnasmata

In “An Autumn Effect,” the author departs his town and goes on an adventure into the woods. Upon his travels, the season has changed to fall and is providing a beautiful ambience for the author to travel through. He states, “my whole view brightened considerably in colour, for it was the distance only that was grey and cold, and the distance I could see no longer” (Stevenson 4). Fall is described to be the best time of the year due to the change in color, the calmness of the insects, the movement of certain animals, and the aura of serenity that seemed to come over the land. The story continues of the author’s adventures throughout Great Britain taking in all of the autumnal force, before returning to London on a train to go back to everyday life.

 

Below is my best attempt to draw the author departing town to go into nature and experience fall: