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.
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Breanna Roper
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
English 1003
15 October 2015
Thurber Connection
All throughout Carr, Turkle, and Franzen's arguments they proclaim how technology is taking over the lives of not only young people, but older people as well. Technology began as a means of making things simpler for us (Carr), and conveniencing society further, but it was never imagined that technology would develop into something so powerful and manipulative over the human mind. In Thurber's short fiction piece of 1933, the story is completely different than Carr, Turkle, and Franzen's work, yet it relates. One very short line, "It's got us!" he shouted", holds a large significance. That quote reminds me of the arguments of the other writers, claiming that technology, the internet, and our handheld devices have "got us". They are beginning to consume our thoughts, actions, and even change the way our minds work, which many people fail to realize. As we indulge ourselves more in the newest and best technology available to us, we sacrifice our ability to think deeply and connect with other people.
Gabrielle Tallman
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
ENG 1003
15 October 2015
Thurber
The short story about what people thought to be a flood in Ohio, "The Day The Dam Broke", can be compared to Carr, Turkle, and Franzen's "fear" of technology. Even though Thurber never actually mentions technology nor modern times, he talks about how quickly an idea can spread and how much it affect people. He makes the realization in the middle of his story how, "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." Franzen even talks about the, "transformation of state of mind to action", which, if that one person didn't think the dam had broken, nobody would've started running. This could also be thought of in the way that when the computer was first invented, nobody knew it would evolve and erupt so fast nor how many lives it would affect. That is why, quite simply, authors like Carr, Turkle, and Franzen are scared of technology.
Peter Cote
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
English 1003
15 Oct. 2015
Thurber Connection
James Thurber expresses the fear of people not having control over what happens in life just like Carr, Turkle, and Franzen fear technology is going to advance too far and not be able to be controlled. Thurber points out in his story several times people exclaiming that “The dam has broke!” The fear of the dam actually being broke is like the idea of technology becoming uncontrollable. Like Thurber, Turkle fears that “we have little motivation to say something truly self-reflective.” The constant fear is people losing their humanity because of technology. Technology is catching up to people and like Dr. Mallory says about the dam “It’s got us!” Thurber explains that the dam metaphorical for technology is catching people to where people cannot control it. Carr proves his point by saying that “The Net’s cacophony of stimuli short-circuits both conscious and unconscious thought, preventing our minds from thinking either deeply or creatively.” (119) People are lacking the ability to be able to think for themselves because technology has taken control. Carr shows, like Turkle, that human qualities are going away because of technology. Like Carr, Jonathan Franzen states that “our technology has become extremely adept at creating products that correspond to our fantasy ideal of an erotic relationship.” Franzen shows that technology has made people abandon interaction with others to be with a machine. Like Turkle, Franzen expresses his concern for people losing their ability to reflect and communicate with other people. These authors all express similar fears about technology becoming too powerful to where people cannot control what they are doing.
Devante Wrenn
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
English 1003
15 October 2015
Thurber
In Thurber story he talks about a dam that had broken, but didn’t actually break. It was a rumor that had spread and many people believed it. They all ran east to get away from the so called flood, but they later find out that it was a mistake. A guy had mistaken the sound of roller skates for water trickling out the dam. The odd thing was that people had cars, but nobody used them. They all just took off on foot. I believe that the connection was that when we as people in this world need to do something frantically; we all just go back to the basic life styles. We go back to what we know best and don’t look back. I believe that the connection with Carr and the rest of the talkers is that we all soon will go back to the basic things in life if we can’t access the new technology. An example of this in our life time would be us using computers. Majority of us on earth use computers and we use them for almost anything. It is a new technology that most people use. If we needed a true and reliable source for something we needed then we would all go back to the basic source, which would a book. It is a primary source that would have accurate information and no thoughts form other people such as what the computer does to us. But like in the story why not use the computer. It was not the first thing that came to mind it wasn’t anything natural that we don’t already have. We have the thoughts for everything but we don’t use them until we will really need them. When we panic we use our thoughts because no one else cares as much about us than ourselves.
Anna Newton
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
English 103
October 13, 2015
Connection: James Thurber, Carr, Franzen, Turkle
In the article, The Day the Dam Broke, Thurber expresses anxiety, and fear of the unknown cases, for instance the dam “breaking”. The thought of the dam breaking drove the town crazy to where they all departed, and went east. The dam did not actually break, so this metaphor relates to the fear we have about controlling technology. This story, along with the writings of Carr, Franzen, and Turkle are very different plots, but have the same underlying meaning. These authors listed, all fear that technology will take over today’s society, and the minds of humans.
Hunter Hebert
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
English 1003
15 October 2015
Thurber Connection
In Thurber’s The Day the Dam Broke, he uses the image and story plot of townspeople fearing the breaking of the dam and fleeing to illustrate the fear that people have of the unknown and the lack of control they have over it. This idea relates to the points discussed by Carr, Turkle and Franzen in that people are attracted to the internet because of the idea that we have ultimate control when using it. People, especially in today’s society, begin to panic when they feel they are losing control over a situation. Like the people in the story, they flee to safety, and the safe house in today’s world is technology and the internet. While the threat of the people in the story may have been the breaking of the dam, in today’s world, people fear rejection and not being able to control how people may view us. Turkle states that we, as humans, are “…tempted by machines that offer companionship”. Technology today allows us to avoid the sense of rejection; it allows us to flee from it like the people fleeing from the dam.
Carter Groomes
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
English 1003
15 October 2015
Life is Uncontrollable
In the Story written by James Thurber, he describes s scenario when a man hears a sound that he thinks is water coming over the dam. When in reality it was only someone on roller blades. The man then goes and tells people that the dam is breaking and they need to get out. Those people go on and tell more people, and after a while a whole mob knows about it and they all are running for their lives away from the dam. The whole thing was not real, and they were running for no reason. I believe that this stands for the way that our generation can be affected by just one false statement, and how we believe everything we hear. Also, the illusion of the dam coming down could stand for technology and how once it’s invented its spread and effect on us is uncontrollable. Carr,Turkle, and Franzen all relate to this story is their own way. Carr relates to it because he states that the Internet is transforming the way we think. Turkle belives that people are losing the ability to communicate with people properly. Turkle relates to how the towns people transfer information to each other.
Kaylee Young
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
English 1003
15 October 2015
Thurber Connection
Thurber’s short fiction plot has towns people running amok because they believe the dam has broken. One person began to run because they thought they heard water, which immediately caused a ripple effect, where eventually the entire town joined in. This compares to Carr, Turkle, ad Franzen by touching on the fact that it only takes one person to start a bigger picture. People believe they must follow the crowd, join in with whatever is new, to fit in. Some townspeople did not even know why they were running. They saw numerous people doing the same thing, and figured they must follow the crowd and do it too. Today, on technology, it only takes one new app or one new piece of gossip to create a worldwide riot. Technology has become an unavoidable thing, that we’ve lost all control of, just like the uncontrollable “flood”.
Logan Radwanski
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
English 1003
15 October 2015
Thurber Connection
Carr spoke a lot about how the influence of the Internet is stronger on younger people and then it takes a while for the older generation to be affected by it. Just as in Thurber’s short story when the little girl told the middle-aged man “The dam broke!” Then they both ran as before the middle-aged man wasn’t running before. But the Grandfather in the short story had a lot harder time believing the dam broke until towards the middle end of the story It is easier for the younger generation to adapt as it is new to us while the older generation is used to certain things such as the dam not breaking and simple TVs that don’t connect to the Internet.
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Aidan Bish
ReplyDeleteProfessor Kirk
SWU English 1003
15 October 2015
Connection Between Thurber, Carr, Turkle, and Franzen
A thematic connection can be drawn between the message of Thurber’s short story and those of experts concerned about technology’s effects. In Thurber’s short story, a few people running in a market leads to panicked assumptions of a dam break, and eventually the entire town is evacuating and yelling “run east!” and “the dam has broken!.” It is revealed that there had never been any danger; even if the dam had broken, the East Side would not have been affected at all. Despite the lack of danger, the entire town was thrown into chaos, and when militiamen attempted to dispel the panic people mistook their message and were more panicked still. An especially potent point metaphorically details a doctor’s experience - a character emphasises him as an authority figure by remarking about “what conviction Dr.Mallory’s statements always carried”. The doctor is said to have mistaken the sound of a boy’s rollerskates for the sound of rushing water, and his message of “it’s got us!” is particularly dramatic. More importantly, he continues to run from the supposed flood waters even when he realizes his mistake. One potential metaphorical interpretation of this story as it relates to technology is that technology and other fads can sweep people up into mindless masses. Franzen remarks how easy it is for people to be taken up into technology; it is designed to be “immensely likeable” and much like the people’s panicked cries it spreads rapidly and often without thought of consequence. This relates directly to Carr, who says that neither the inventors nor the users of a technology often stop to think about its potential “side effects”. Replace the panic in the story with, for example, a bandwagon excitement about a new smart phone. It starts off small, but as more people begin to run, more people begin to join the crowd. Eventually even people who had no interest in the phone remotely are caught up and dragged along by the stream of people.