In a topic-driven, well-developed
paragraph, explain the CONNECTION between the theme of Thurber’s (1933) short fiction
and Carr, Turkle, and Franzen’s expressed “fear” about technology. HINT: How
might Thurber’s general cautionary tale be applied specifically to the dangers
inherent to our technological future
Be specific. Use examples from the text in your response. In your paragraph response, use summary, paraphrase, and quotations.
Be specific. Use examples from the text in your response. In your paragraph response, use summary, paraphrase, and quotations.
NOTE: After posting on the blog, open up the CANVAS assignment (by the same name) and DO copy and paste the URL address into the CANVAS "WEB URL" text box so that I have record of your submission on Canvas. Thanks.
In the short fiction “My Life and Hard Times: ‘The Day the Dam Broke,’” James Thurber tells a story of a flood in 1913 that took place in Ohio. The flood was caused by a broken dam, which created complete havoc in the city—for the moment. However, the next day it was like life went on, but it is still, and always will be, a touchy subject. In the last paragraph, Thurber explains how “The next day, the city went about its business as if nothing had happened, but there was no joking.” In retrospect, this is similar to the phenomenon that Carr, Turkle, and Franzen research about technology—the idea that there could potentially be a technological out lapse. It technically also infers that if it were to happen, it wouldn’t be easily forgotten or persevered.
ReplyDeleteIn James Thurber’s short fiction, “The Day the Dam Broke” he tells the story of the panic a chaos that occurred as people began running and screaming “Go east! Go east! The dam has broke”. This issue ended as the people in the town realized the dam had in fact not broken. This fear and panic, of losing technology, can also be shared in the works of Carr, Turkle, and Franzen. Our generation has the fear of the effects of technology and the risk of losing it compared to the fear of the breaking of the dam in Thurber’s short fiction.
ReplyDeleteIn his short fiction “My Life and Hard Times: ‘The Day the Dam Broke,’” James Thurber portrays a part of the Great Flood of 1913 in Ohio to be caused by breakage in a nearby dam. Although, the "broken-dam" news turned out to be a rumor, it created a huge but temporary fright in people's mind which led the mob to "go east" for survival without being informed of what, exactly, happened. Thurber concludes his story with a thought-provoking argument by his aunt which he quotes, "'A funny thing was that all of them were on foot. Nobody seemed to have had the courage to stop and start his car....'"(Thurber). Even after acknowledging the reason provided by his aunt, I will make the point that if people actually tried to think or confirm the breakage of the dam then there would have been a less terrified mob. Thus, the fear expressed by Carr, Turkle, and Franzen-a constant degradation of our ability to think effectively-is the most important point of correlation between them and Thurber.
ReplyDeleteIn James Thurber's fiction, "The Day the Dam Broke" he tells a story of people creating havoc because they thought that a dam broke in their city. The main point comes when he says, "We were both ennobled and demoralized by the experience." They were demoralized because even the smartest people in the town, who could actually reason, just decided to go with the crowd and become panicked because of the alleged break of the dam. This idea of becoming demoralized is apparent in Carr's, Franzen's, and Turkle's argument. Carr states in The Shallows that technology is becoming our "universal medium." If something is universal, then it applies to everyone. Carr's fear is that everyone is turning into the same person, all who are attached to technology. Turkle also harps on the fear when she is talking about how people are not able to have real face-to-face conversation because "they would rather text than talk." If everyone chooses to text then there will never be another live conversation that takes place on this earth. The fear of demoralization is equivalent to uniformity. People are made to be different, but technology is creating clones.
ReplyDeleteIn James Thurber's short fiction, " The Day The Dam Broke" he explains how fearful the people were when they thought their local dam broke. They broke into a complete meltdown , running and screaming in every direction. This same fear , fear of losing something that is such a necessity like technology is also shared in the different works of Carr, Turkle, and Franzen. If our generation was to lose our technology we'd have a complete meltdown. It shows how much we as a whole rely on such a small thing and we allow it to control us in every way possible.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn Thurber’s article, “My Life and Hard Times: The Day the Dam Broke”, Thurber is speaking on the topic of a flood in Ohio. He goes on by saying how people were in such a fear because they thought the dam broke. Everyone was screaming and running through the streets saying, “Go east! Was the cry of that arose – east away from the river, east to safety. Go east! Go east! Go east!” (3). Thurber ends up by saying that an old man he introduced in the beginning, heard a boy who was riding behind him on skates and he thought his skates sounded like rushing water. This article relates to Carr, Turkle, and Franzen, on the idea that they are all speaking on how technology is improving or affecting our society. They think that technology has such an impact on us that it seems as if they have a sort of fear like the old man in Thurber’s article, fear of something way worse than what it really is.
ReplyDeleteIn Thurber’s article, “My Life and Hard Times: The Day the Dam Broke”, he talks about the flood in Ohio. Thurber explains how people were running in the streets shorting “Go East! Go East! Go East!” (3). People were panicking because everyone had thought the dam had broken. Carr, Turkle, and Franzen parallel this by their ideas about technology. The stories correlate because they think we depend on technology so much that when something goes wrong we freak out and don’t know what to do.
ReplyDeleteIn James Thurber’s fictional piece, “My life and hard times: The day the dam broke” he describes and incident in 1913 in which people of the town he lived in believed that the dam had broken and all fleed for their lives when all in all the dam had never broken in the first place. A very comical yet truthful story that actually represents the way the human mind works and how technology works on our minds. Thurbur quotes “ What is it? What is it? Demanded a fat, waddling man who intercepted the colonel. The officer dropped behind and asked the little child what it was. “the dam has broke! Roared the colonel. “Go east! Go east!” The colonel, like many other people running, didn’t even know why they were fleeing they just did it because everyone else did. Carr, Turkle, and Franzen all talk about how easy it is for technology to manipulate us and Thurber’s fiction substantiates their claims. Technology can spread news in an instant. But is it the right and most accurate news? Who knows…
ReplyDeleteIn Thurber's article "My life and Hard Times: 'The day the dam broke'" the author tells the story of how a dam in Ohio was rumored to be broken. Although it wasn't broken people still ran from the danger screaming "Go East! Go East!" The mob mentality that the people in this story portray is what relates it to Carr, Turkle, and others. The idea that the human nature in us doesn't want us to go against others. If we see others doing something we don't question it, instead we just follow along mindless to what we are doing it why we are doing it.
ReplyDeleteIn James Thurber’s, “The Day the Dam Broke” he tells a story about chaos that breaks loose after the dam that keeps the village from flooding is broken. The town is immediately sent into a state of panic and fright. It is later learned however that the dam is still intact and the town returns back to everyday life. Carr, Franzen, and Turkle, also share this form of chaos and fright in their works. People in today’s time are frightened by the potential loss if the internet and its infinite power, somewhat like the people of the village are afraid for their lives and the town.
ReplyDeleteIn James Thurber's "The Day The Dam Broke", he shows how people completely lost their minds when they thought that the town's dam had broken. If they had stopped to find out what the problem was, they would have realized that it was all a misunderstanding. He states "The fact that we were all as safe as kittens under a cookstove did not, however, assuage in the least the fine despair and the grotesque desperation which seized upon the residents of the East Side when the cry spread like a grass fire that the dam had given way". Although nobody was in any danger, the whole town was in an uproar. This is a lot like our generation. Although we wouldn't be in any physical danger if we lost the Internet, we would all go into meltdown mode. Yes it would screw up a lot of things, but we could survive. However, we probably wouldn't know how to function. This proves what Carr, Turkle, and Franzen fear- humans have become far too dependent on technology and the Internet. We act as if it is a necessity for life, and we wouldn't know what to do if we lost it.
ReplyDeleteIn James Thurber's short fiction piece, "The Day the Dame Broke" he is telling a story on the crazy chaotic uproar that occurred because the dam broke in his town. The incantations of the people all screaming "Go East, Go East" and the eruption of chaos was crazy. However Thurber's point in composing this piece was to point out that if the people would of stopped going crazy that they would understand that it was just a misunderstanding. To relate this to our current generation, Carr and Turkle believe that most people in this era are the people of Thurber's town, acting wild and chaotic over technology. Although if we would just slow down and learn to unplug we could maybe understand that technology does not have to be a second nature possession and that we intact can unplug and can get back to being able to create "Deep thinking" and "critical readings."
ReplyDeleteIn James Thurbers "The Day the Dam Broke" Thurber talks of a dam that collapsed and was destroyed in Ohio. He continues to talk of the distraction that was dealt to the village from the flooding of the destruction of the dam. The town later realizes that the dam is still intact and every thing continues like it was yesterday. Nicholas Carr shows similarities in his writing how a sudden change in regular daily life has a profound effect on the human mind, this change in Carrs writing is the sudden loss of technology and if it happens and how it would dramatically effect how humans operate. With sudden loss or gain of anything humans can perceive it differently and that happens according to person and how it effects them on a personal level these feelings my differ from person person and no matter what there will be some sort of outcome effecting the person.
ReplyDelete