Blog 3

Christopher Caruso

Blog #3

In terms of what Shaggy Dog stories do, it is almost impossible to deem one of Gee's building tools as more relevant than the other due to the fact that each Shaggy Dog story is different. One Shaggy Dog story may rely entirely on the receiver of the story understanding a reference from something pre-existing (intertextuality), while another story may be poking fun at a certain hot-button topic (Conversations). With this in mind, it is my belief that every one of Gee's tools is equally important to one another, and it is only within the context of a specific Shaggy Dog story that one building tool may take priority over the others.

In order to obtain more concrete answers, the third story in the list, the one about the string and the beer, shall be looked at in depth. The kind of research questions that would come to mind include "Why does this story 'work?’” and  "Which of Gee's building tools are incorporated into this story and why are they effective?". We decided to explore two of Gee’s building tools, Social Languages and Discourses, to see how they contributed to making the joke “work”. In essence, we wanted to know what factors helped this story to be funny.

What sorts of social languages are involved in the story and what purposes do they serve?
The Frayed Knot joke uses a couple of different Social Languages. The language of the String, for example is laid back and represents an average Joe type of character. His line, “Bartender, Gimme a beer” is repeated four times in the story. The use of the of word “gimme” is an intentional misuse of the term “give me” and is used to help develop his character as an average Joe at the bar. It shows us that the String is laid back, perhaps uneducated, and just wants to get straight to his beer with no chitchat. The bartender’s response is always, “I’m sorry sir, we don’t serve strings here”. The use of the word ‘Sir’gives the statement a formal feel, as does the sentence structure. The phrase is recognizable as one that any usual customer service representative might use when giving bad news to the customer. It is slightly more formal than a bartender should sound. The purpose of this might be to help the bartender’s final remark, “aren’t you that string that was in here a few minutes ago?” to sound even stronger. Where the bartender was previously polite and distant, he now takes on characteristics of a typical disgruntled bartender. The result is that the audience tunes in more closely for the string’s response, and are gratified with the pun joke answer.

What Discourses are involved? How do they help develop the socially situated identities & activities?
In order to understand the joke, the audience is required to have familiarity with certain discourses. The Bar is a type of discourse: people look, speak, and act a certain way in bars. The reader needs to fill in these details with their imagination. Particular phrases in the joke help them to do this. The String’s style of speech, (“gimme a beer”) brings to mind the average Joe type of person who would be in a bar (characters). Also the phrase “hopped onto a barstool” helps develop the mental picture of a bar with barstools lined up in front of it (setting). The Discourse of a Bar (bar people, bar sayings, bar activities) is the backdrop of the joke and is part of what makes the joke funny. It is humorous that this is a “typical” bar setting but there is an absurd character, a String, walking around it, yet no one points out that this is not normal. If the audience member is not familiar with the Bar Discourse, the joke will not be as effective.

Of course in order to fully understand the joke and get humor from it we have to, as stated, be part of the  have a background of the basis of what a bar joke is. Our conclusion would be that most people will be able to figure out the punch line of the joke even if someone doesn't necessarily know what the word Frayed is because the phrase “Afraid not” is commonly used daily and it is easy to analyze. To answer these questions, the story "works" because of its play on words at the end between "I'm a frayed knot" and "I'm afraid not". In order to make the joke at the end of the story relevant to the reader, the reader must have a sense of familiarity with "bar jokes" as well as knowledge of what a frayed knot is.

In regards to the patterns which occurred within the story, we found that there were a lot of repetitions of phrases. The dialogue “Bartender, gimme a beer” and “I’m sorry sir, we don’t serve strings here”  was repeated three times in the story. (A classic 3 part pattern common from Oral tradition) I think that the repetition contributes to “What makes the joke work”. People understand by being able to hear things more than once.

To conclude on what made the joke work, we saw that it is necessary to have the background knowledge of a bar as well as “bar jokes”. This is a type of Discourse community involving not only the language of bars, but the other “stuff” that goes with it. The String story also uses Social languages to make the story “work”. The social languages of the average Joe at a bar and of a bartender help to develop the characters of the story, the absurdity of the situation, and to emphasize the final punchline.

Blog 2

Christopher Caruso

Blog #2

Analysis is the process of using data to study a large subject or problem in order to break it down into its smallest basic elements as a means to learn more about it, and by extension gather more data.  In order to perform a proper analysis on something, one must first gather as much existing data on the subject as possible through the process of making observations before actual analysis begins.  Once enough data is gathered, one might make a hypothesis about the outcome of whatever it is they are trying to analyze.  This will be immediately followed by a series of tests which may or may not conclude in with successful results.  It is through both these successes and failures in the hypothesis, and seeing how the subject is affected by each test, that more data about the subject is gathered.  Several more hypotheses may be created until a desired result is finally reached.  It takes more than just having a desired outcome however; the individual testing the subject must have a sound hypothesis for the outcome that works every single time without fail.  At the current time, however, I am finding it difficult to take these guidelines of analysis and apply them to any of the five possible study projects that I suggested in my first blog entry.  I find this to be extremely concerning, and feel as if I am going to have to tweak or adjust my possible study projects somehow in order to fit within these guidelines.

Blog 1

Christopher Caruso

Blog # 1

Due to the fact that it is so early in the semester, I really have no idea what would qualify as a good writing studies research topic.  Because of the fact that this blog was created for an English course, I find it appropriate that my research must be related to literature somehow.  If possible, or if proven not to be too difficult to research, might be interested in researching the following:

1) The experience that one has when reading a story vs. watching a film adaptation of said story

2) How movie adaptations of stories might effect book sales of original story (or vice versa)

3) How the environment or life style of a person influences tastes in literature

4) Do authors or stories from previous generations or time periods remain relevant to modern day readers?

5) The experience one has while reading literature from previous time periods (i.e. Mark Twain, Frank L. Baum, F. Scott Fitzgerald) vs. reading literature written today (i.e. Stephenie Meyer, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling).

Before I come up with any more possible topics, I must first make sure that the topics I have already listed are relevant to the course and would be possible to study.  I look forward to eventually narrowing these topics down to one that is both plausible and enjoyable to do.

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