Pattern Recognition Topics

Internet and the prospects of online social networks:
In today’s culture, the Internet and concept of social networking sites are everywhere and everyone seems dependent on it—if not addicted.  However when this novel is set, the concept of social network is just introduced.  But the culture is still very dependent on the Internet.

There are also dangers with the Internet and the social networking world, and Gibson definitely discusses the in his novel.  Someone once told me that the Internet is “written in ink.”  I definitely agree with them because with the Internet and especially the social networking sites, once something is written, it cannot be taken back.  Also with the Internet, everything can be traced back to its origin, and that is an idea that Gibson focuses in on his novel.  Then as the story and plot progresses, many of the characters, Cayce in particular, become more aware of the possibility for people to read everything they write—even when it is a personal email.  

Relationships between style and culture:

The relationship between style and culture is probably significantly stronger than most people would assume.  In Pattern Recognition, Cayce is a design consultant, but she is ironically allergic to brand products and basically popular logos in general.  So while she searches for the next “cool” thing in style and culture, she herself actually stays away from most trendy items.  And while this seems unusual especially for a design consultant, Cayce still recognizes the importance of patterns in style and how that dramatically affects our culture.

Our current culture is definitely driven by style and trends.  For starters, part of every culture is characterized by their fashions: different cultures have different fashions.  From a trends perspective, our culture is also based off of what is “cool” or “trendy.”  Ranging from the “cool” restaurants, to the “trendy” coffee shop, they all characterize culture.  Even in terms of pop culture, music, and movies, the trendiest usually do the best and will define our culture and how others see us.

A Rose for Emily

Faulkner uses first person plural to narrate “A Rose for Emily.”  However the first person point of view is very limited and the people telling the story honestly know very little about the main character, Emily.  Out of all of the characters in Faulkner’s essay, only two have real interaction and create relationships with Emily: Homer Barron and her servant, Tobe.

If the point of view was shifted to be told from either Homer Barron’s or Tobe’s point of view, not only would Emily’s character be more developed, but the mystery and suspense level of the story would be alleviated.  The majority of the plot is centered on the relationship between Homer Barron and Emily, and how his “disappearance” affects her.  However in this situation, the narrators knows very little about the two of them.  The only thing mentioned is that the entire town expected them to get married—yet at other times, he writes that he was “not surprised when Homer Barron… was gone.”  If the story was told in his perspective, we, as the audience, would not only know his reasoning for “leaving,” but we would also inevitably find out Emily’s biggest secret: she murdered Homer. 

If Tobe were narrating the story, the entire tone would also be different.  In the actual version, Faulkner points out that the townspeople always tried to question Tobe to figure out what was going inside that closed house of hers.  But if Tobe were telling the story, there would be fewer secrets because he had to have known what was going on.

In general, with the point of view from either of these characters, the town’s perspective of Emily would have been less obvious.  Tobe especially was a character that rarely even came out of Emily’s house, much less had real interaction with the townspeople.

All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace

Brautigan’s “All Watched over by machines of loving grace” is about a society that is surrounded by technology as well as nature.  However his opinion of this simultaneous coexistence is debatable since he appears to take both sides throughout the poem. 

The majority of the second stanza hints to me that perhaps Brautigan’s tone and message is anti-technology.  When describing the deer that are “stroll[ing]” in this “cybernetic forest,” Brautigan points out that they are not only “peacefully” walking, but they are walking “past the computers as if they were flowers with spinning blossoms.”  I recognized this as implying that perhaps these computers were unnecessary.  The deer pay no attention to the computers and Brautigan practically refers to it as simple “blossoms.”  All of these similes and metaphors seem to make me believe that this poem is pretty anti-technology.

Then in the final stanza, he refers to a time “where we are free of our labors and joined back to nature.”  Assuming that these “labors” are connected with technology, the poem’s anti-technology theme comes out yet again.  Here he also brings up his desire to be joined back into nature, to perhaps a world with less technology.

But then again, if you look at the first stanza and the opening lines, Brautigan writes, “I like to think (and the sooner the better!) of a cybernetic meadow where mammals and computer live together.”  This as an opening thought actually seems to be pretty pro-technology.  The speaker here is imagining and hoping for a world with nature and technology co-existing “harmon[iously].”  Not to mention, he believes that this world should exist as soon as possible.

Then look again at the final stanza—but this time in Brautigan’s final lines, he points out that while we may be “joined back to nature,” we are still “all watched over by machines of loving grace.”  For me, this is the reason why I think that Brautigan’s pro-technology tone and message is more convincing than the anti-technology message.  First of all, he chose to start the poem with the idea of technology and nature existing together.  And while he arguably changes his message in certain parts of the poem, he finishes with the idea that technology still is “watching over” all of society with “loving grace.”