A Projection on Paper… Essay?
I wrote a rather alternative paper for my Argumentation and Advocacy class. It would seem the teacher liked it because I managed an “A” for the course. I’d like to post it here. For the funny/creative stuff, see the intro, conclusion and the text and analysis. If you’d like some somewhat reliable information on spheres of argumentation, read the spheres section. I put the spheres section at the end even though it came first in the paper, because it’s far less interesting of a post (and looks worse therefore when I have to use a “more” tag).
Introduction
Imagine a world where we are forced to consume footwear against our will. That footwear, completely representational of culture and conquest, stuffed down our throat and forced into our gullets until we begin to walk and talk like those whose shoes we have eaten. That is what happened to a fictional old Peruvian man when the Spanish Government took over his Personal Sphere.
The Text
“There was an old man from Peru,
Who dreamed he was eating his shoe.
He woke in the night with a terrible fright,
And found it was perfectly true.”
This poem is a symbolic representation of the struggle between the political sphere and the personal sphere, as well as being symbolic of the conquest and revolutions that humans embrace in order to maintain their control over the personal sphere. The shoe is representative of walking, which is how the human race has historically spread from one region of the world to the next and sought conquest, and of culture, because the shoes of a culture vary from one to the next so distinctly. Consuming a shoe is to become like the ones it belonged to. By mentioning Peru, the poem references the revolutions in Peru as well as control from other countries during their revolution-heavy timeline. This is further supported by mention of consuming shoes, as Spanish cloth shoes and Japanese sandals would be significantly easier to consume than the American sneaker, and these cultures have controlled Peru in both the recent and distant past. In finding it true that he was eating his shoe, the old man from Peru has essentially consumed the culture of Spain, which is clear today as Peru has a Spanish culture. What is even more significant is that the limerick tells of an old man, not a young man, suggesting that the control of the personal sphere by Spain and Spanish culture has not only effected the youth and new generations, but the old generations as well, which is a powerful feat for a government to accomplish.
Analysis
The personal sphere speaks to personal control and influence over our own lives, workplaces and families. Ancient Peruvian culture was primarily composed of Incan family values, such as respecting Viracocha for his gift of life, praying to Apu Illapu for rain when the weather was dry and never insulting the Sapa In, or emperor. Inca men and women instilled their children with these values, these shoes, and thus had control over their personal sphere. In a second way to look at the poem, place it into the time of the Incas. An old Incan man awakes one night from his dreams to find he is eating his shoe, and is frightened. It should be noted that not all Incans owned shoes, so he may have at first been afraid to have a shoe in his mouth at all. But it would have been an Incan shoe, representative of Incan culture and still possessing control over the personal sphere of influence. The personal sphere argument is made through this symbolic representation of consuming your own culture and thus maintaining control over yourselves.
However, the poem was also written to be read from a modern-day perspective, after Spain’s influence and their shoes. The Government Sphere involves the Social Contract, which essentially exchanges some of your control over your personal actions in exchange for protection. In the case of this limerick, Peru did not sign a social contract. The Incan Empire was overthrown and had shoes and culture forced upon them. No longer were they free to awaken and consume their own shoes. No, now they must eat Spanish shoes, worship the Spanish God and teach their children to obey the Spanish rule. This is emphasized in the final line of the limerick, where the old man from Peru wakes up in the night and has found it is perfectly true that he has eaten his shoe, just as he dreamed–his Spanish shoe that is–and is frightened. This fear is representative of loss of control, one of the primal fears of mankind along with confinement and death. This government imposed culture in turn reduces the influence the individual old Peruvian man holds over his own life and the Personal Sphere.
In order to maintain control of the Personal Sphere, the old man deigns to eat his shoe despite it being Spanish. By consuming the Spanish culture and assimilating into the new Political Sphere, the old man from Peru can maintain control over the Personal Sphere in a new way; he now has control to teach the youth about Spanish culture and how to worship Spanish God and obey Spanish rule. Although the old man from Peru has assimilated he now has control over being a puppet to the government. How the Government Sphere accomplished this is through fear, which is something politicians can often be seen using in order to gain control over listeners. The old man from Peru is afraid, so he not only consumes his shoe, but after the limerick he no doubt feeds the shoe to his children so that he can feel some sort of control over his life in post-Spanish conquest Peru.
Conclusion
It is very clear to see that the poem, “There once was an old man from Peru who ate his shoe” is a deep and thorough investigation into Incan/Spanish politics and the struggle to maintain control over the Personal Sphere. From this poem we learn a new way to keep control over one’s self; to conform. By conforming, although you have given in or sold-out, you now gain the power that is being offered to you. Examine how the individual old American man may have conformed. He has given up some of his rights in exchange for protections. By conforming and giving up those rights, he gives up a portion of his Personal Sphere to the Government Sphere. The same is true of the old Peruvian man who ate his shoe with great fear after having an eerily similar dream and awakening to it coming true. The dream was of him, eating his own shoe. The reality was far, far different; it was a Spanish shoe. Afraid, the old Peruvian man is left with nothing to do but conform. Yes, he has found it perfectly true he was eating his shoe; only now, the shoe belonged to Spain.
Spheres
The spheres to be examined for the sake of this paper are the government sphere and the personal or private sphere. Both spheres entail to an area or breadth of control held. The personal sphere is of control one has over the family, themselves and their homes. This is important control to have. It preserves individuality and enables to individual to have power over the world around them. The government sphere of influence is a bit farther reaching, often limiting the powers of an individual in order to protect the public as a whole. This is the concept of the Social Contract, where the People exchange some of their power for protection. Thus, in this model, the purpose of government is to protect its people, which is a vague and often disputed goal. The two spheres are at odds with one another in a way. One is the control over our own lives, the other the control we give up and the safety net that comes with it. The personal sphere also, as such, must accept similar arguments to the Government/Political sphere, as the Political sphere’s critical decision makers are often the individual. Fears, in the form of negative arguments against an opponent, are often found in Government and are happily eaten up by the Personal Sphere who often bases their votes on such terrors. The Government Sphere also can be found stressing debate, which the Personal Sphere also accepts and listens to. The Government Sphere may also be found telling stories to sway listeners, and their listeners are part of the Personal Sphere. However, the Personal Sphere, by way of being comprised of individuals, accepts all forms of argumentation. Should an individual more value science, he or she may ignore any argument that does not include statistics, a cornerstone of the Scientific Sphere. Should an individual be highly religious he or she may need arguments to be backed up by religious text. Should an individual be more business-minded, they may need to hear the probabilities and facts that back up a plan to support and respect the individual. Because of the nature of the Personal Sphere, it is difficult to examine it the same way as other spheres; it must be kept in mind that the sphere is about control over one’s direct life and thus themselves.