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Writing Prompt:
Revise and resubmit
(here on our blog) your first REVISION of your summary of Taylor Mali's
"Totally Like Whatever, You Know?" NOTE: This will be your third
draft--make it count.
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“Totally like whatever, you know?” by Taylor Mali is a sarcastically toned poem that establishes its purpose by introducing the audience to how Mali feels the way society acts foolishly today. It begins by explaining how our generation of today feels that “…it has somehow become uncool / to sound like you know what you’re talking about?” (2-3). Throughout the poem he fires humorous shots at teen slang and beliefs, questioning whether or not ‘conviction’ is even a reality for this generation. It ends with somewhat of a challenge--for the reader to go out and speak confidently and understand what a change that could make. The poem exemplifies the idea that without the gift of uniform speech, one’s good ideas mean nothing because they cannot be taken into account or be fully understood by the normal majority.
ReplyDeleteIn Taylor Mali’s Totally Like Whatever, he communicates the growing need in our society of being confident in the words you say. He stresses the fact, which I strongly agree with, that our generation lacks conviction in the words we say and the way we communicate with each other. He claims that we feel the need to say everything with uncertainty because somehow society has deemed it “uncool”. Being sure about your thoughts is no longer in; instead, acting like a ditz is the popular choice. I felt like Mali was mocking our generation by saying everything in a sarcastic way and with an “interrogative tone”, to illustrate how ignorant we sound when we legitimately speak this way. Mali includes popular phrases that add no value to his poem, such as: like, you know, and okay in order to develop the idea of our culture not realizing the significance and power that our speech holds. Not only do these phrases serve as tools to aid his argument, they further solidify his point that speaking with authority is a much more effective way to get a point across. The last stanza, the one that uses no empty phrases, is the one that really has an impact and leaves an impression on the reader. Mali no longer uses humor and sarcasm to keep the reader from zoning out; he becomes very serious and even a little dramatic. Mali firmly insists that nowadays, people need to not only “question authority, [they] need to speak with it, too”.
ReplyDelete“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts” (Albert Einstein). The generation we live in has forgotten the value of thinking for oneself, or rather having conviction in what we are saying or thinking. Instead we question our thoughts because we are uncertain of them. In Taylor Mali’s “Totally Like Whatever, You Know?” poem he develops this idea as soon as the poem begins, “In case you hadn’t noticed, it has somehow become uncool to sound like you know what you’re talking about? Or believe strongly in what you’re saying?”(Mali) Mali even questions his own thoughts by putting unnecessary question marks at the end of each statement he makes. He does this so he can connect or get on the same level as our generation today. We speak in a questioning tone and it has become ‘not cool’ to speak in a way that makes us responsible for our own thoughts. “I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you, and I challenge you: To speak with conviction.”(Mali) Instead of speaking with uncertainty we should speak with authority and determination, in a firm way so we get our point across to everyone else.
ReplyDeletePeople in the world today have lost all their conviction when they speak, you know? Taylor Mali points out in “Totally Like Whatever” that people question everything they say because it is the new trend. Taylor Mali’s voice shifts from a sarcastic tone to a passionate tone in order to “explore, exhort, and challenge” people to speak with conviction in their everyday life and not question everything they say. “It is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY. You have to speak with it too.”
ReplyDeleteIn Taylor Mali’s poem “Totally Like Whatever, You Know?” he is mocking the way the current generation communicates in conversation. He is trying to challenge us to speak with conviction and believe what we say is important. He desires for our generation to converse with confidence and not question our thoughts with uncertainty. Mali identifies his claim by reusing words such as: like, whatever, totally, so, and you know. He wants us to “say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks / the determination with which you believe it”. Our generation will not be understood until we learn to speak seriously and not second guess ourselves.
ReplyDeleteWithin the poem “Totally like whatever, you know?” composed by Taylor Mali, a sort of humorous tone is being used while explaining where this generation of American language and writing has gone. However, his tone is shifted later into the poem to press his main idea. To start off, he expresses how weak we have gotten when it comes to the way we try to express important things through our words or even writing. As you read or listen to his poem he continues with the theme of using excessive question marks and words such as; “you know”, “totally”, and “like” to imitate how uneducated and inarticulate we sound. As he has made his point, he wraps his poem up by challenging the readers to speak with conviction, knowing the hard task that he has asked.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Mali, in his Totally like whatever, you know? introduces the idea that today’s generation has traded intelligent discourse for open ended statements spoken completely without authority. Throughout the poem Mali pokes fun of the modern style of communication by overloading the text with it, so much so that the reader is immediately hooked and intrigued. He starts off the poem by explaining many different examples of this new interrogative tone, to all of which the reader can immediately relate. Mali then questions why and how this form of communication has become so prominent in today’s culture, and wonders what has happened to the conviction and power we used to speak with. He even goes so far as to suggest that we have become the most “inarticulate generation.” Mali finishes the poem by challenging the reader to “speak with conviction,” and to communicate with such power and enthusiasm that your audience can fully understand the determination you have for your own ideas.
ReplyDeleteIn Taylor Mali’s Totally Like Whatever, Mali is wondering and questioning why we have stopped believing in our intuition. Mali states that it has become uncool by the looks of it, to act like you know what you’re talking about or believe strongly in what you’re saying. This is giving such a downgrading impression on our generation because we have so much potential; yet fail to show it just by the way we speak. If we would stop constantly questioning ourselves and show that we do indeed know what we are speaking about, it would make us seem more like the intelligent people we are.
ReplyDeleteIn Taylor Mali’s poem, “Totally like whatever, you know?” he talks about how our generation has changed the way we communicate towards each other. Throughout the poem Mali talks about how we have added our own style of speaking and takes shots at the different ways it has changed. Mali uses several examples throughout the poem on how society has changed the rules of speaking. We have been taught to act like we do not know a lot about what we are saying so we add “you know?” to the end of our sentences to cover it up. He also talks about how we have restructured the way some sentences are supposed to be written to make them more hip and cool to fit into society. Towards the end of the poem Mali encourages us to speak with conviction again and to say what we believe. Mali believes we should question authority and go back to the way society use to speak but knows that it will never happen unless we speak the right way.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Mali in his conversational tone provides us with his critical perspective of the introverted generation of today. Mali describes the incapability of the individuals to have sensible conversations. Present society lacks the ability to express its thoughts with complete authority. Individuals today fail to declare their decisions because they sound more confused as opposed to being declarative. They spend more time observing others than to work on their own uniqueness. I believe that the present day individuals are uncertain about their thoughts and even their actions. They tend to place ‘invisible question marks’ in every sentence they frame. These individuals tend to ignore the most important part of communication process- to understand what the other person has to say. They listen just to reply. Even their replies fail to declare their control over their own words. Thus, Mali urges the individuals of the society to have conviction in every word they say.
ReplyDeleteIn Taylor Mali’s “Totally like whatever, you know?” the author emphasizes the need to speak with Conviction . He dislikes the way that our generation ends all of our statements in unsure questions. Mali expresses his dislike of the lack of declarative sentences in our dialogue and states that it makes us seem like we lack intelligence, which is considered to be “cool”. He urges the readers to speak with authority and conviction not only in writing but also in everyday dialogue. I agree with Mali’s claims that this “hip” or “cool” way of speaking makes us sound unintelligent. Also i agree that we must speak with conviction and authority if we want what we say to be truly heard.
ReplyDeleteIn Taylor Mali's, "Totally Like Whatever, You Know", Mali reveals his claim that in today's society it is "uncool" to "know what you are talking about" or speak with conviction. Mali develops his idea, in a very humorous way, by mocking how he hears people with no conviction speak. He went out of his way to do this but it is what gives his poem its fortitude. After showing the reader what it is like to speak with no conviction, he challenges his audience to speak with more determination and vigor than one might actually have
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