ENGL 200 D: Reading Literature: Literature in the Marketplace

The optional reading, an excerpt from Alain de Botton’s Status Anxiety, is here, as well as being linked on the Course Readings page. It’s a section titled “Meritocracy,” and in it, de Botton writes about the history of how our conventional concepts of what it means to be poor and rich have changed over time. By “what it means to be poor,” I mean our assumptions about whether the poor and rich are useful, and on what basis we say that they deserve their fate.

The whole reading is about 26 pages, but I particularly recomnmend that you read pp. 47-54, which I think you’ll find especially useful and interesting for the coming weeks.

You have a choice between two options for your Week #3 Blog post:

#1: pick two of the authors we’ve read so far (including Duck and Collier), and choose one point of economics (value, labour, property, credit, etc.) that you think they might have a conversation about. Perhaps they would strongly disagree; perhaps they would agree for entirely different reasons. Write about what they would say to each other. (You can be very creative with this if you wish, but you can also be quite straightforward, and say “Duck’s view on using credit would be…while Addison would say…” (The only restriction is that you may not use Swift AND Montagu, or Duck AND Collier — the idea being not to rehash the disagreements in their texts.)

#2: Read the optional reading (de Botton), which is about merit. Write about one place in one of the texts we’ve read so far where consideration of merit is either obviously important, or is strangely lacking.

1. One of the major reasons that both Duck and Collier’s poetry became popular was that it described, in detail, an experience that many of their readers found exotic and unfamiliar: that of working long hours in the field. So: what are some of the details that you see Duck and Collier emphasizing as part of the labour experience?

2. As a follow-up to the first question, are there any details that you see Duck (and to a lesser degree, Collier) glamorizing in any way? Duck is much more likely to invoke aspects of classical mythology or personifications of nature (Winter, the Sun, etc.) in his poem: pick one set of lines where you see hm doing this, and interpret them.

3. In line 125, Duck mentions “sportive Labour” — what IS sportive labour? And what other types of labour show up in the poem?

4. What aspects of labor does Duck like most? What aspects of it does he like least?

5. What do you think that Duck wants his readers to take away from the poem as a message?

6. How does Collier respond to Duck? What specific rebuttals does she make to his points?

7. In “The Grumbling Hive,” Mandeville suggested that some types of value were important to the community at the end of the poem, and others weren’t.  Collier, as a woman, is also dealing with assumptions that some types of value aren’t important. What types of value are those? And how does she argue for them?

8. Would you use the same justifications and arguments that Collier uses to justify your own labour? What others might you use?

These groups are the groups with which you’ll have your first writing conferences in Week 4. I may adjust them after that, but unless otherwise notified, you’ll be working with the same groups for the rest of the quarter.

You need to make sure that you read the blog posts from your group members each week. I think it’s a good idea to read everyone’s, of course — but reading your other group members’ posts is especially important, because reading them will help you give better feedback in conference peer review.

Writing Group 1

Chelsea Hewitt

Becca Prashner

Vivian Yu

Nathan Matson

Writing Group 2

Caitlin Lockhart

Theresa Wang

Inez Tapia

Phillip Leland

Writing Group 3

Ashley Kim

Thomas Gerhardt

David Liang

Averi Kitsch

For tomorrow, I’d like you to create your own discussion questions for our second day of discussing Bernard Mandeville’s “The Grumbling Hive.” What should we be talking about?

Please post at least one question as a comment to this post. Good questions are often about a specific line or section of a text, or about a specific concept that the author is using — but that’s just a general suggestion. If you’d like to ask a question that contrasts or connects “The Grumbling Hive” with other texts we’ve read so far, feel free to do so. If you find a point in the text, or think that Mandeville’s ideas raise a question, problem, or conflict, then that’s definitely worth asking a question about.

And if you think that one of your classmates has asked an especially good question, then feel free to tell them so in comments.

Two words that I have chosen and important are Credit and Virgin from the article Allegory of Publick Credit by Joseph Addison.

Addison uses the term credit as a type of money it can also be an I owe you. I think Addison associates credit with pureness and innocence. This pure and innocence relates to age and the adolescence. The younger you are the less creditable you are due to your age and reputation.  As for people of age they are viewed are more creditable, respected with higher authority as opposed to a younger child in this case the virgin. When I hear the term virgin I automatically think of a girl who has not had sex. Someone that is pure and innocent. Addison says,  “She was likewise (as I afterwards found) a greater Valetudinarian than any I had ever met with, even in her own Sex, and subject to such Momentary Consumptions, that in the twinkling of an Eye, she would fall away from the most florid Complexion and the most healthful State of Body, and wither into a Skeleton. Her Recoveries were often as sudden as her Decays, insomuch that she would revive in a Moment out of a wasting Distemper, into a Habit of the highest Health and Vigour.“ Something that is virgin is not only associated with the body but can also be a mental thing. Credit can be clean or dirty depending on the surrounding factors. The way he explains credit here it can also be considered as a virgin.

I picked words from Lady Mary Wortley’s “The Reasons that Induced Dr. S. to write a Poem called “The Lady’s Dressing Room” To pick words from.

I chose the word “Offering” from the poem used near the beginning, when Betty’s maid tells him that he’ll need to bring money if he intends to enjoy her mistress’ company. The word “offering” stuck out to me because I have always considered an offering to be a gift, something that one doesn’t intend to get recompense from; whereas Dr. S in this story is obviously looking to get something out of this arrangement. I think that by using the word “offering” in what is to very soon become a cut and dry business transaction Wortley is foreshadowing the conflict that is to come by almost making light of this transaction.

The second word I chose is from the same poem, down towards the middle where the narrator momentarily leaves the characters after money has  changed hands and you fully expect the services to continue as planned, as do they “Expects the doctor’s warm embrace.” The word is “mad”  from ” With learning mad, with wisdom blind!” Wortley is getting across that mankind is driven crazy with their own learning and are blind with our own wisdom; meaning that we can’t see the answers to things we think are already discovered. I think the line in which this word is used in particular meant for people (and maybe Dr.S)  to open their eyes to what power and value shifts are going on around them.

I chose these two words because they both have to do with a kind of obliviousness in power. The first is used almost satirically, Dr. S ‘offers’ his money fully intending that he’ll get his money’s worth.  “Mad” refers to a state of mind that one reaches when one thinks they know everything, like how Dr. S “knew” he would leave Betty’s fully satisfied. Instead, the economics of the situation didn’t play out the exact way he thought they would. Understanding this connection is important because it helps put into perspective the intentions that Dr. S has going into Betty’s and why things go the way they do when he *ahem* can’t perform.

The words lie and raised  in “The Lady’s Dressing Room” by Jonathan Swift.

The first word from Swift’s poem that I find important is the word “lie”. Swift calls it a lie when other men describe Celia as sweet and cleanly. This one word summarizes the feelings that the main character Strephon is experiencing as he snoops through Celia’s dressing room. He feels betrayed and fooled when he discovers what she must take many disgusting steps to maintain her appearance. Strephon starts believing that female beauty is in fact a lie, and the value he has placed on that trait has been lost.

The second word important word is “raised”. This word is used by the narrator to when they say that Strephon should marvel at the beauty that rises from filth. This represents the exact opposite belief and experience that Strephon is currently going through. By using the word raise, Swift is creating an image that is very positive of women and their beauty. Rather than being as revolting as their dressing rooms, women are able to escape it and overcome the disadvantages of the normal human body to appear perfect.

I chose these two words because they are used in completely opposite manners and yet are both used to communicate the same overall point. Each describes the same discovery, one expressing disappointment and anger while the other displays respect and understanding. I think this contrast between the two is the very essence of this poem. That something that may be of little to no value to one individual can hold great value to another and that value is not an objective quality.

Below are the questions that I’d like you to think about as you read the first part of Bernard Mandeville’s “The Grumbling Hive.”

1. In ll. 1-12, what type of community is the hive? How would you describe their economic situation?
2. In ll. 31-54, Mandeville describes the different types of economic individuals present in the community: what are these, specifically? What are the different ways that people can position themselves in regards to value?
3. What makes the economy flow in this poem, and why? What does that mean for economic individuals?
4. What are the different ways of cheating that you see described? (Cite specific lines!)
5. What role does sociability play in economic activity? (Consider this in regards to the Swift and Montagu poems as well).
6. Mandeville writes, in ll. 155-156: “Thus every part was full of vice, / Yet the whole Mass a Paradise.” If you look at the lines that precede this, and that follow it (up to l. 241), why is this? (according to your interpretation)
7. Here is Mandeville’s prose remark on vice, from “The Fable of the Bees,” the prose work that accompanied “The Grumbling Hive:” According to him, why is vice important? Do you think he’s correct? Why, or why not?

IT may be said, that Virtue is made Friends with Vice, when industrious good People, who maintain their Families and bring up their Children handsomely, pay Taxes, and are several ways useful Members of the Society, get a Livelihood by something that chiefly depends on, or is very much influenc’d by the Vices of others, without being themselves guilty of, or accessary to them, any otherwise than by way of Trade, as a Druggist may be to Poisoning, or a Sword-Cutler to Blood-shed.

Thus the Merchant, that sends Corn or Cloth into Foreign Parts to purchase Wines and Brandies, encourages the Growth or Manufactury of his own Country; he is a Benefactor to Navigation, increases the Customs, and is many ways beneficial to the Publick; yet it is not to be denied but that his greatest Dependence is Lavishness and Drunkenness: For if none were to drink Wine but such only as stand in need of it, nor any Body more than his Health requir’d, that Multitude of Wine-Merchants, Vintners, Coopers, &c. that make such a considerable Shew in this flourishing City, would be in a miserable Condition. The same may be said not only of Card and Dice-makers, that are the immediate Ministers to a Legion of Vices; but of Mercers, Upholsterers, Tailors, and many others, that would be starv’d in half a Year’s time, if Pride and Luxury were at once to be banished the Nation.

8. In the last section of this first part (ll. 205-242), what’s the value of honesty? Why do the rogues think they need it? (ll. 224-226)

9. What do you think will happen in the second half of the poem?

The “virgin” is the center of attention of Joseph Addison’s “Allegory of Public Credit.” Addison makes sure to carefully depict her health and her surroundings as time passes, for she is the symbol of publick credit. The denotation of the word is unhelpful while the connotation enhances the conflict and resolution in the text. The first goal is to directly represent the qualities of delicacy and timidity that is related to damsels in distress or the classical graceful virgin. This leads into the idea of being easily affected by her surroundings. Purity is another theme that is associated with the term and value. Purity greatly increases the value of our most cherished items such as gold and diamonds. In addition, purity gives her the right to sit on the throne because she is uncorrupted by others.

The virgin observes the “dances” of a variety of phantoms. Addison uses “dance” to describe the behavior of the incoming spectres and apparitions. This is fitting word based the distraction rather than direct contact with the virgin. Dance becomes a term to replace the flow of the economy. The intentions were to show the interaction between the phantoms or different beliefs that could hurt or help the health of publick credit; increasing the complexity of the conflict.

“Virgin” and “dance” refer to the main idea and conflict, which helps the reader understand the action. In this particular text, the action is directly related to the variance of value through the resolution of the virgin’s health. Credit, money, labor and more are all correlated through the rises and falls, or dance, of the economy. The dance can refer to different combinations or patterns that affect the success of public credit. This idea is in contrast to Defoe’s “on Credit,” where personal credit is not virginal. The use of these terms helps the reader understand large effectors on the economy they come into contact with daily.

I would like to discuss Addison’s Allegory of Public Credit and the opposing words “decay” and “revive” used to describe the varying state of the virgin of the Great Hall.

Described as beautiful, a valetudinarian,  and timorous, the woman reacts to any bad news or phantoms by decaying from her health to take the form of a skeleton. Here, Addison shows how fragile the woman/credit is and how she/it can go from splendor to ruin quickly and easily. This contrasts with the way I normally think of decay, as a slow process of losing strength and viability. Such a state implies that the woman is weakened to the point of death, putting public credit in danger of collapse.

Instead of remaining withered, Addison describes the woman’s immediate revival back to full health upon arrival of the specters. Here he shows how the woman/credit may be weakened by conflict, but can return to her/its former self within a short time when given the right conditions. It is interesting that this revival brings about her exact state of health as is was before, whereas revival can imply a chronic weakness following the recovery. This hope for a reliable public credit is what brings about such joy as Addison sees her come back to life in the presence of the specters.

These words “decay” and “revive” are interesting in this text because they oppose one another, emphasizing the fragile state of public credit. While the woman can be in a very healthy state at one point, the next she could be very near death, and she jumps between these quickly. While credit can decay quickly, it is very important that she is able to revive quickly from even the worst antagonists.