February 28, 2011 Assignments
Reading: Essays that Analyze a Process
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| Pimpla inquisitor |
The Spider and the Wasp by Alexander Petrunkevitch
In a journal entry or short essay, describe what you perceive as the interdependencies of the natural world: consider humans, animals, insects, etc., and how their living (and dying) together creates an intricate web of mutual relationships. Be sure to use specific examples with which you are familiar.
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In a formal essay, describe a natural process with which you are very familiar, such as a bird building its nest, a dog burying a bone, a cat cleaning itself, etc. Be sure to provide plenty of details, and be sure to clearly delineate each stage/substage.
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| Trantula | | |
March 1, 2011 Assignments
"Barrier Signals" by Desmond Morris
“Barrier Signals” is a complete section from
Manwatching. It is about the gestures we unconsciously use to say no. This essay is in the form of an extended definition, developed largely by the use of examples. Morris begins his essay with the example of childhood hiding, which helps he define what is barrier signal. Then he uses three examples to illustrate that the disguise camouflaging barrier signal varies from person to person. Morris describes that some barriers are incomplete in some sense and explains the phenomenon that in a greeting situation it is always the new arrival that makes the body-cross movement.
The Secret Language of Barrier Signals by Desmond Morris
People feel safer behind some kind of physical barrier. If a social situation is in any way threatening, then there is an immediate urge to set up such a barricade. For a tiny child faced with a stranger, the problem is usually solved by hiding behind its mother’s body and peeping out at the intruder to see what he or she will do next. If the mother’s body is not available, then a chair or some other piece of solid furniture will do. If the stranger insists on coming closer, then the peeping face must be hidden too. If the insensitive intruder continues to approach despite these obvious signals of fear, then there is nothing for it but to scream or flee.
This pattern is gradually reduced as the child matures. In teenage girls it may still be detected in the giggling cover-up of the face, with hands or papers, when embarrassed. But by the time we are adult, the childhood hiding, which decreased to adolescent shyness, is expected to disappear altogether, as we bravely stride out to meet our guests, hosts, companions, relatives, colleagues, customers, clients, or friends. Each social occasion involves us, once again, in encounters similar to the ones which made us hide as scared infants and, as then each encounter is slightly threatening. In other words, the fears are still there, but their expression is blocked. Our adult roles demand control and suppression of any primitive urge to withdraw and hide ourselves away. The more formal the occasion and the more dominant or unfamiliar our social companions, the more worrying the moment of encounter becomes. Watching people under these conditions, it is possible to observe the many small ways in which they continue to “hide” behind their mother’s skirts. The actions are still there, but they are transformed into less obvious movements and postures. It is these that are the Barrier Signals of adult life.
The most popular form of Barrier Signal is the Body-cross. In this, the hands or arms are brought into contact with one another in front of the body, forming a temporary “bar” across the trunk. This is not done as a physical act offending off the other person. It is done, usually at quite a distance, as a nervous guest approaches a dominant host. The action is performed unconsciously and, if asked about it immediately afterwards, the guest will not be able to remember having made the gesture. It is always disguised in some way, because if it were performed as a primitive fending-off or covering-up action it would obviously be too transparent. The disguise it wears varies from person to person. Here are some examples:
The special guest on a ceremonial occasion is getting off his official limousine. Before he can meet and shake hands with the reception committee, he has to walk alone across the open space in front of the main entrance to the building where the function is being held. A large crowd has come to watch his arrival and the press cameras are flashing. Even for the most experienced of celebrities this is a slightly nervous moment, and the mild fear that is felt expresses itself just as he is halfway across the “greeting-space”. As he walks forward, his right hand reaches across his body and makes a last-minute adjustment to his left cuff-link. It pauses there momentarily as he takes a few more steps, and then, at last, he is close enough to reach out his hand for the first of the many hand-shakes.
()n a similar occasion, the special guest is a female. At just the point where a male would have fiddled with his cuff, she reaches across her body with her right hand and slightly shifts the position of her handbag, which is hanging from her left forearm.
There are other variations on this theme. A male may finger a button or the strap of a wristwatch instead of his cuff. A female may smooth out an imaginary crease in a sleeve, or reposition a scarf or coat held over her left arm. But in all cases there is one essential feature: at the peak moment of nervousness there is a Body-cross, in which one arm makes contact with the other across the front of the body, constructing a barrier between the guest and the reception committee.
Sometimes the barrier is incomplete. One arm swings across but does not actually make contact with the other. Instead it deals with some trivial clothing-adjustment task on the opposite side of the body. With even heavier disguise, the hand comes up and across, but goes no further than the far side of the head or face, with a mild stroking or touching action.
Such are the Barrier Signals of the greeting situation, where one person is advancing on another. Interestingly, field observations reveal that it is most unlikely that both the greeter and the greeted will perform such actions. Regardless of status, it is nearly always the new arrival who makes the body-cross movement, because it is he who is invading the home territory of the greeters. They are on their own ground or, even if they are not, they were there first and have at least temporary territorial “rights” over the place. This gives them an indisputable dominance at the moment of the greeting. Only if they are extremely subordinate to the new arrival, and perhaps in serious trouble with him, will there be a likelihood of them taking the “body-cross role”.
These observations tell us something about the secret language of Barrier Signals, and indicate that, although the sending and receiving of the signals are both unconsciously done the message gets across, none the less. The message says: “I am nervous but I will not retreat”, and this makes it into an act of subordination which automatically makes the other person feel slightly more dominant and more comfortable.
The situation is different after greetings are over and people are standing about talking to one another. Now, if one man edges too close to another, perhaps to hear better in all the noise of chattering voices, the boxed—in companion may feel the same sort of threatening sensation that the arriving celebrity felt as he walked towards the reception committee. What is needed now, however, is something more long-lasting than a mere cuff-fumble. The favorite Body-cross employed in this situation is the arm-fold, in which the left and right arms interweave themselves across the front of the chest. This posture, a perfect, frontal Barrier Signal, can be held for a very long time without appearing strange. Unconsciously it transmits a “come-no-farther” message and is used a great deal at crowded gatherings. It is rather formally employed by bodyguards when standing outside a protected doorway.
The same device of arm-folding can be used in a sitting relationship where the companion is approaching too close, and it can be amplified by a crossing of the legs away from the companion. But perhaps the major Barrier Signal for the seated person is that universal device, the desk. Many a businessman would feel naked without one and hides behind it gratefully every day. Sitting beyond it he feels fully protected from the visitor exposed on the far side. It is supreme barrier, both physical and psychological, giving him an immediate and lasting comfort while he remains in its solid embrace.
Writing Assignments:
What is meant by the term “Barrier Signal” as defined by Morris?
Stereotypes may be understood as “Barrier Signals.” Are they created by the human need to belong to a group or the human need identify and group individuals into categories?
Questions on the text:
Where in his essay does Morris define the term: “barrier signals?”
Sentence 1: “People feel safer behind some kind of physical barrier.”
Last sentence Paragraph 2: “It is these that are the Barrier Signals of adult life.”
Explain Morris’s technique of "If...then" statements in the first paragraph.
How does Morris use examples to help define the term "barrier signal" in the second paragraph.
