I know I am crazy late on putting this up, but I wanted to wait until I got a chance to meet with our professor before posting my currently atrocious work.
1. Title:
The Relationship of Attention and Perception as Described in Jonathon Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Proctor and Johnson’s Attention: Theory and Practice
2. Introductory Paragraph:
Many literary works demonstrate the relationship between attention and perception. In the 18th century, attention was defined in Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language as, “The act of attending or heeding; the act of bending the mind upon anything”. The current day definition by Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary reads: “The act or state of applying the mind to something”. Johnson described perception as, “The power of perceiving; knowledge; consciousness; Perception is that act of the mind, or rather a paffion or impreffion, whereby the mind becomes conscious of anything”. Merriam-Webster’s definition is as follows: “The result of perceiving: observation or a mental image”. Overall, perception is the result of attention. To gain a consciousness or knowledge of something, you must first attend to it. As demonstrated by Jonathon Swift in Gulliver’s Travels as well as Proctor and Johnson’s Attention: Theory and Practice, attention is the basis for perception, and more attention is paid to those things that more greatly affect us.
3. First body paragraph sentence:
Jonathan Swift writes a great deal about attention and perception in Gulliver’s Travels. In Chapter Two, Swift describes the way of life of the Laputian citizens. One specific quote that touches on attention and perception is as follows, “It seems the minds of these people are so taken up with intense speculations, that they neither can speak, nor attend to the discourses of others, without being roused by some external taction upon the organs of speech and hearing”.
(Longer than a sentence, I know. But I wanted to give a sense of where I was going instead of just leaving just the first sentence)
4. Second body paragraph sentence:
These quotes not only correlate the attention and perception of the Laputians, it also compares the narrator’s attention to his perception.
5. Third body paragraph sentence:
Swift continues to describe the Laputians throughout the chapter and gives many more examples of attention and perception, such as, “Imagination, fancy, and invention, they are wholly strangers to, nor have any words in their language, by which those ideas can be expressed; the whole compass of their thoughts and mind being shut up within the two forementioned sciences”. This quote also proves that how much attention is paid to something relates how everything else in the world is perceived.
(Again, more than a sentence, yes.)
6. Fourth body paragraph sentence:
Another reading that discusses attention and perception is Proctor and Johnson’s Attention: Theory and Practice. One quote that directly relates to attention and perception is that of Proctor and Johnson quoting Malebranche: “The mind does not pay equal attention to everything it perceives. For it applies itself infinitely more to those things that affect it, that modify it, and that penetrate it, than to those that are present to it but that do not affect it and do not belong to it”.
7. Terrible Conclusion
If both Swift’s and Proctor and Johnson’s works are taken into consideration, it seems safest to assume that how you perceive things is, indeed, based on the amount of attention paid to them, and while perceptions (in the sense of both actual observations and ideas formed after an observation is made) can be unlimited, attention is very finite and is usually only paid to things that are most relatable to our lives.
(It definitely needs work. I just somewhat feel like a good body is needed before a good conclusion can be written ;))
Thanks so much to anyone that is still checking blogs this late and wants to give me some feedback.
:)
2 comments:
1. Read the introduction and then the conclusion. What differences are there between them, if any? Catalogue these differences below:
The topic of the two parts are the same (attention/perception) but the actual basis of the two are different (not bad). The intro tells of a difference in definition and its literary use. The conclusion tells another story of practice and real world functions.
2. Now read the topic sentences. Do they make claims? If not, mark the ones that don’t.
All do but the 4th body's beginning is a bit shaky. Mostly because its claim isn't too forward.
3. Do the topic sentence claims make the connection/progression clear between the intro and the conclusion? What aspects of them do this connecting work? Record below:
The progression is a little rocky but the parts are there. Maybe a rearranging of structure? Start with a relation to the definition (Proctor and Johnson) and then connect that with Swift and finally end with Swift and the audience.
4. What parts of the conclusion are not accounted for in the topic sentences? What parts of the topic sentences are not accounted for in the conclusion? Record below:
Again maybe tell how the actions inspired the definitions or the opposite because of the need to summarize the connection between the two.
Overall very interesting and has great potential.
1. The topic is the same but the approach is different. I personally liked that because I like reading papers where the conclusion goes a little beyond what the body of the paper has discussed, because then it usually isn't just repeating what the paper already discussed. It just needs to be flushed out a little.
2. They make claims, although the 4th paragraph's topic sentence seems to be a little more along the lines of a statement rather than a claim. The second topic sentence makes a claim, but it seems like more of a concluding sentence for the previous paragraph rather than the start to a new paragraph because you reference the quotes in the previous paragraph.
3. I think you're definitely getting there, but it's a little hard to determine because the conclusion isn't fully developed. I see the progression from the introduction to the body paragraphs, but as you broaden the ideas in the conclusion, that leap is a little confusing.
4. Like I said above, the transfer from attention and perception as seen in literature to as seen in life is a little confusing. I would just add a little more of a transition into the new ideas presented in the conclusion.
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