Month: September 2019

During Julie Beck’s article “Life’s Stories” there were a few moments when her claims really stood out to me. When she says, “In the realm of narrative psychology, a person’s life story is not a Wikipedia biography of the facts and events of a life, but rather the way a person integrates those facts and events internally—picks them apart and weaves them back together to make meaning”. This really got me thinking about how my memories aren’t facts, they are used to help me understand how they built me into who I am now. This caught my eye because she said the realm of narrative psychology. I don’t understand the idea behind narrative psychology, but how she talks about the use of memories helping us create our life stories and meanings behind them.

During the article, she uses a quote from Dan McAdams that really stands out, “When you’re a kid, it’s mostly about plot,” McAdams says. “This happens and this happens. You’re not tuned into the idea that a character develops.” This is really notable because I now understand why, as a kid, my mother never liked watching cartoons with me. Now I like watching shows with more character development, which ended up bringing my mom and I closer together. I think I reacted to this as a believer. I can see how this applies to the narrative of life stories.

This idea that Beck brought up about how narratives soon become blueprints for the culture. The example she used made me think of the possible repercussions of having “blueprints” in a culture, “One such blueprint is your standard ‘go to school, graduate, get a job, get married, have kids.'” This is such a structured thing that a lot of parents and kids growing up really try to make happen, without looking at the overall happiness that you would or wouldn’t experience. I personally feel that this structure will make me happy, and so far has, but for some it may not.

List 4 areas from the rubric that provide you with the greatest learning opportunity. Feel free to include areas that confuse or confound you. Spend a few sentences elaborating on each choice.

Does your conclusion-while rooted in your papers main themes-also introduce new directions for thought?

When working with the conclusion, I will have the most trouble. It will give me the most learning opportunity though. I have always been taught that you should repeat your claims and thesis in the conclusion and thats it. it never sounds quite right like that, so I’m glad to learn how I should actually be writing them.

Do your ideas move the paper forward?

This is a good learning opportunity because it can help me keep my ideas organized and focused. I have a hard time keeping them focused on the topic at hand.

Is your position statement identifiable, with purpose and clear boundaries?

I do have a thesis that is identifiable. I’m not too sure about having clear boundaries. I don’t know what that means.

Have you used synthesis to create new meaning?

I’m not sure what this question is asking. I have used my thesis to explore metaphors in the use of health professions.

I do think that my draft was more about getting everything out of my head than trying to get the message across. When Lamott wrote about the awful descriptions, I related it to my piece. I had sentences that made no sense, descriptions that needed editing, and an idea that need more focus. When she talked about how writers don’t just sit down and fly through their writing, didn’t really surprise me. I remember in middle school when they had writers come to the school to talk about the writing process. They always told us that they procrastinated and couldn’t write the way they wanted to in the beginning. The writing process is the same for everyone, just how you get through it is up to you.

Revision Plan:

My goal for this piece is that my opinion on metaphors in mental and physical health are articulated clearly. 

My steps to complete this goal are to:

1. Rework my thesis (using more of me, my, I) to sound more opinion based and to articulate my stance on the prompt better. 
2. Make sure my thesis is clearly related back to in each paragraph.
3. Try different wording for a stronger impact and a formal essay. 
4. Elaborate on sentences that sound incomplete or choppy. 
5. Add a title. 

My biggest challenge would be to make sure my opinion is clear when it comes to my thesis and the content of the paragraphs. Writing my thesis in the beginning of this process was difficult, and when one of my peers said that it didn’t really show my opinion, it hit hard because I know I’m going to have a difficult time rewriting it. 

I know that when I run into difficulties with any of my steps I can ask my roommates and my peers to help me find a solution or a better route to take. 

End Note: I think the way that you talk throughout the essay about the use of metaphors in the medical field. I do think that the way the essay is organized could be changed so that its not expository and more communicative, like a communication with your opinions. Changing of the format would help with this. I wouldn’t make each paragraph a different article, I would try to integrate the readings together to make the point that they can support your thesis. I also noticed that the citations on your quotes need to be fixed. I also like the use of your opinions and the integration of the facts from the readings. I think your essay is really well written and you have very strong points.

When you’re at the doctors, do you understand what he’s telling you about your diagnosis? It’s most likely because they use metaphors in about two thirds of their conversations with their patients. When it comes to health, I want to know and understand what’s going on. Doctors use metaphors to explain more complex things to their patients. Metaphors help us in everyday life with understanding more complex things, and giving us a new perspective. Micheal Errard first made the connection that metaphors can help give a better understanding and that people have only been looking at only one side. He used the example of a US philosopher, Donald Schon, who was trying to develop a new paint brush and used the metaphor, “A paint brush is a kind of pump”, (Errard, 2).  Dhruv Khullar made the connection from medicine and serious illnesses to the use of military language in the hospital. He explains that many refer to themselves as a fighter and the patients really choose for themselves if they think it’s a battle they’re winning or making them think it’s an endless war. The idea that metaphors can play a role in mental and physical health is something that should be discussed and explored.

“One study, from 2010, found that physicians use metaphors in almost two-thirds of their conversations with patients who have serious illnesses. Physicians who used more metaphors were seen as better communicators. Patients reported less trouble understanding them, and felt as though their doctor made sure they understood their conditions,” (Khullar, 2).

I support this quote, due to the fact that what it’s saying is true. There have been quite a few times where doctors have used metaphors or analogies to help me understand my condition. It is important as a patient to understand what you are being treated for and what the medication that you are being given does. You wouldn’t bring your car to the shop to be fixed and pay for it without knowing what you’re paying them to do. The metaphors that doctors use are helpful and necessary, especially when dealing with patients with serious illnesses.

“I’ve long wondered whether that word -fighter – and the other military language used to help her conceptualize her disease did more harm than good,” (Khullar, 1).

I know a lot of people who, when dealing with a serious condition or disease, have used military terms to help them either come to terms with how it will end, or help them pull through just fine. When using military terms with diagnosis’s, it is truly up to the patient how they perceive it. They can think of their journey as a fight or a battle, rather than an enemy that must be defeated.

“Metaphors are a fundamental mechanism through which our minds conceptualize the world around us, especially in the face of complexity. But evidence suggests they do more than explain similarities- they can invent them where they don’t exist, and blur the lines between the literal and the figurative,” (Khullar, 2).

Sometimes blurring the lines is needed when discussing a persons mental or physical health. Metaphors are there to help expand and broaden a persons mental capabilities when discussing issues involving mental health. I feel that blurring the lines for someone with anxiety or depression would be beneficial so that they can look at their decisions and issues from other angles.

“They’re meant to make someone realize that they’ve only been looking at one side of a thing,” (Erard, 2).

I feel that this quote shows the other ways that metaphors can contribute to mental health. When someone’s struggling with anxiety or depression they only see one side of things. They get stuck on minute details, and never look at the big picture. Using metaphors can help some to see either the big picture or another way to look at whatever is bothering them.

“But whenever we give a thing a name that belongs to something else, we give it a whole network of analogies too…. And metaphor gives us a much more vivid understanding of Juliet than if Shakespeare had literally described what she looks like,” (Geary, 2).

When I read this quote, I knew what it meant. It gave me that distinct understanding that, hopefully, can be passed on into my paper. When it says that there is a whole network of analogies, it means that it can help people make their own understanding of the metaphor. For mental health, it can help people understand their own meanings of things. It can help people with social disabilities understand what people mean when they talk to them in a figurative way, or a metaphorical way.

When reading the article for a second time, I found that my views didn’t change. I still looked at the windows and doors to be thought of as a perspective change. I still feel that metaphors are meant to help people learn and understand. I can’t help but wonder if the changes that one could witness with the same text comes from the way it is presented. For example, the TED Talk that I wrote about for blog one. After listening and reading it, I got two different things out of it. compared to this assignment, I only noticed certain things, and nothing new the second time I read it. I still believe with what I wrote about. The emotions that metaphors spark are quite powerful, and the use of metaphors for better understanding is quite noticeable throughout the piece.

When reading this piece I noticed that the word apt was being used a lot. Apt means appropriate or suitable in the circumstances. This helped me understand the part of the article where he talks about how people interpret metaphors differently, and that when there is a comparison between two different things it helps direct the understanding of the metaphor to what the writer wants them to see.

When the article started talking about the battle among scholars about whether a “metaphor as category” or “metaphor as mapping”, I ran across ‘inconsequential‘. The article goes into explanation on how the argument is trying to figure out which way to go for metaphorical invention. The argument was then described as inconsequential, which means unimportant or insignificant. this helped me understand if the argument was an intellectual one or one for just bickering sake. The article points out that both are sources for metaphorical invention.

Windows and doors. Very simple things we have in every day life. But when we create a metaphor with them, they become more than just windows and doors. They become a frame of view, showing different perspectives. See Through Words by Micheal Erard talks about windows and doors compared to metaphors. The way he talks about the doors and windows showing different perspectives makes me think about the fact that metaphors can change the perspective of the reader or be interpreted differently. With metaphors you sometimes have to ‘help’ the reader see what you want them too. To do this you have to spell things out for the reader, giving them more context.

The way emotions get involved in metaphors, especially for the reader, is amazing to read about. The example that Erard gave was the dandelion and orchid metaphor. He spoke that the metaphor was supposed to show the difference between children who did well under a narrow set of circumstances and children who did well under a range of circumstances. The metaphor didn’t go over well because parents never want to think of their child as a sturdy weed that people are trying to get rid of. Erard made the point of, “When people won’t use a term to describe their own kids, thats a give away that the metaphor won’t work”. This point made sense because parents are always protective of their kids, so when looking at either comparing them to a beautiful flower, or a weed, they’ll pick the flower each time.

When listening to the TED Talk, I was able to understand the references better than when reading the transcript. Listening and watching him talk made me understand the impact of metaphors in our everyday life better. When reading the transcript, I was able to clarify the use of synesthesia in metaphors. It is interesting to think people who experience synesthesia are rare, but everyone referencing it in metaphors is so common.

I had a text to self connections while reading and watching the TED Talk. One of the tests that Geary talked about, the Stroop Test. There are names of colors on a sheet of paper, but the ink that they’re printed in is different from the name. I have done the experiment before and not many people were able to complete it without messing up at least once. When he explains the test at the end saying, “The test shows we cannot ignore the literal meaning of words even when the literal meaning gives the wrong answer”, this resonates with me because it shows the human condition. The idea that even when we are instructed that something is wrong, we cannot break from what we were originally taught. 

When Geary talks about metaphors creating expectations, I started to think about all of the expectations that could be thought of with the metaphor, “My life is the dark tunnel leading to the light”. The expectations of this metaphor can be that there has to be dark times to have a good time. People may think that there has to be a light coming soon, but in reality the light can come as fast or as slow as you want it to. There are many perspectives to metaphors, so when writing in them you cannot know how someone would perceive them.