He presents the use of voice topic as a Either/Or Battle. When contraries appear in theories, people tend to look for the right one, this means that one side has to be wrong for the other to be right. What Elbow suggests, regarding to the use of Voice in texts, is that both competing positions are valuable and necessary. They are different lenses through which we can think about writing.
Elbow suggests that we add a Both/And thinking to the Either/Or Battle by embracing contraries that are logically contradictory. He thinks that "we need the different and complementary insights we get from each kind of reading.
Personally, I agree with Elbow's Both/And thinking. I believe that there's not need for everything to be black or white and in this case, his theory is fairly applicable. I think that writers need to find how to use voice in texts to help us get a more rhetorical sense without forgetting about the content of their texts. It's all a matter of finding the perfect combination of both theories.
GETTING READY TO READ
When I construct my identity on Facebook, I get to choose what information I'm providing to the site and what I'm keeping for myself. In my case, I don't like having strange people knowing my stuff so I only "befriend" people who I actually know. My identity is constructed based not only on the personal information I provide to the site, but also through the pages I "like," the photos and videos I post and the updates of my status.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND JOURNALING
1. I would define voice as the way writers express their own particular thoughts into their texts. Elbow defines it as the true self and the rhetorical power of writing because he believes that it helps writers to make contact with the readers.
2. Elbow thinks that it's necessary to play the believing game "because
it can show us good ideas or virtues in discredited ideas that we remain blind to it if we use only critical thinking or the doubting game."
APPLYING AND EXPLORING IDEAS
2. When I read out loud and I hear myself saying those words, it doesn't only make it easier to understand what their saying but also it helps me remember them better. When I think about that passage I hear in my voice reproducing those words as opposed to getting an image of the words in the text.
META MOMENT
Elbow argues that both competing positions are valuable and necessary but instead of get them to agree in a middle point, we need them in all their strength, so we learn to think about written language through the lens of text as much as the lens of voice. I think it's a complicated process to learn how to play the "believing and doubting game" but the results you get from it make it worth trying it.
Hi Luciana,
ReplyDeleteI really like how thorough and effective your summary is here, but you're missing the synthesis. You need to address all the elements of the assignment to get credit. I also like that you're doing some quoting- but don't forget to put the number of the page in parenthesis at the end of your sentence. Like this:
He thinks that "we need the different and complementary insights we get from each kind of reading" (67).