In the essay, “Blasting Music to Drown Out Reality”, by Sydney J. Harris, the author is determined that people use music as a way to, “keep reality at arm’s length”. “It is not in order to hear the music, but in order that the vacuum in their minds may be soothed by the sound, so that silence does not force them into thinking about themselves or experiencing the real world of perception and sensation. ” This shows how music has be used as earplugs to block away people’s connection to the world around them, to silence their troubles if only for a moment.
This thesis is explicit to make sure the readers can easily identify what the author’s argument is going to be when they are examining the essay. Some examples of how music being used in the text were: the young assistants blasting music from the radio, elevator music in factories and restaurants to keep the workers from falling asleep or complaining about how tedious their jobs are, and in the dentists’ office where it is relatively soft and easy to ignored. Firstly, the writer uses a variety of diction to add interest and meaning to the essay such as pedantic, figurative, and subjective.
Harris strives to illustrate the stupidity of society by writing in an extremely boorish language to show his superiority and higher intelligence. “The tolerance for a high decibel rate, masquerading as “music”, is in my opinion inversely proportional to the level of intelligence. ” This sentence is quite confusing to readers if they were not as well read as the author, which is something he most likely intends to do. Harris chooses these fancy words to insult the young assistants, saying that how their brightness is related to how loud they hear their supposed music, therefore not remarkably smart.
The effect of pedantic diction in the essay is to inflate the importance of the issues discussed, to make sure that only highly educated individuals will comprehend such information. Another form of diction that the author uses is figurative. “But these young men are working in August among grass and flowers and birds and birch trees,with a lovely view of the water and the cliffs and everything you might want to feast you senses on… ” This sentence paints an image of the heavenly oasis which is wasted upon the young assistants who choose to ignore it in exchange for the junky, loud radio.
This further proves the beauty of music, in this case nature’s sound, has been replaced by junk music to keeps reality at bay for these two men. The readers are able to imagine this environment and envision how much beauty is lost. There was also some very personal and emotional language used by Harris. “Call me any ugly word you will, such as snobbish or elitist, it remains my firm and unshakeable opinion that such people are as close to the moronic line as it is possible to get and still function in a social order. This is definitely emotional since it uses words such as “moronic”, which is normally reserved for people whom one dislikes since they could always use a more neutral word like ignorant. While it is also personal since the author actually beckons the reader to call him any unpleasant words like snobbish or elitist, it does not bother him nor will it change his opinion. He prefers that the audience has an opinion towards this essay but still accept his own opinion too.
The effect of subjective diction in the piece that Harris wrote is it gives more familiarity and connection to the audience, something that is lost with the use of many formal and pedantic words. With all of this strong diction choices, the essay will definitely capture the reader’s interest and have deep meaning. Secondly, the kinds of syntax the author used to help give the essay structure and link the diction together are long sentences and declarative sentences. The effect of long sentences are to provide the the author more room to explain and express a train of thought. And nowhere – not even in drugs or booze – can this be more clearly seen then in the kind of music spewing forth portables and automobile radios and most hi-if sets. ” By using a longer sentence like this one, Harris can give greater information about the subject that a short sentence would never be able to express. This sentence shows that, compared to drugs or booze, music’s effect of dulling our reality is even stronger. Then the sentence lists some examples of where that music would typically come from – portables, automobile radios, and most hi-if sets.
Other sentences in the essay include declarative sentences. “Music began as a celebration of nature and an exploration of the human spirit. ” Declarative sentences simply makes a statement, telling the reader a piece of information without them having to think about why it is used. The effect of these sentences is to give knowledge on a subject, without an answer back. The sentence before states how music started out as and why and that is it. Without these two types of syntax, the essay would have no definite structure and interesting statements.
Thirdly, a powerful rhetorical device that Harris used was alliteration. “… instead, they anesthetized themselves with the junkiest of junk music throughout this God-given afternoon in a serenely sylvan setting. ” Alliteration is the repetition of a vowel/constant sound, in this instance the j in junkiest, junk; the t in they, themselves, throughout; the a in anesthetized, afternoon; the g in God-given, and the s in serenely sylvan setting. The effect of alliteration here is to make the sentence more poetic and flow easier while drawing attention to all of those vowel or constant sounds.
By making the comparison of junk music in a serenely sylvan setting, the readers understand how wronged nature has been through alliteration. In addition, there was another example of a rhetorical device used in the essay which was polysyndeton. “Now this great gift has been turned against itself, blasting forth a cacophony to dull and deaden and dehumanize the soul. ” Polysyndeton is deliberate use of many conjunctions, in this case “and”, to exaggerate the length of a group of something. The author used this rhetorical device make sure the audience sees the importance of how music has been warped into noise to destroy our souls.
He also used it in other sentences like the one in the earlier paragraph for the same purpose. He believes that it is “nearly pandemic in our society. By not using commas instead of the “and”, he successfully makes an impact on the readers, creating better flow and connection. One of the most important part of the essay is the tone of the author. Harris is angered at what has happened to music nowadays, it has changed from the beautiful soothing sound to a wicked noise used to mask people’s reality.
For example: “It is not in order to hear the music, but in order that the vacuum in their minds be soothed by sound, so that the silence does not force them into thinking about themselves or experiencing the real world of perception and sensation. ” The subject of music has been “ruined” to Harris and it shows in his writing. He insults the assistants by stating that their heads are empty, there is a “vacuum” where their brains should be, and that music aids them in not thinking about their reality and hurting themselves from thinking so hard.
A quote that the writer used further proves what he thinks of music’s purpose. “Opium is the religion of people. ” Opium – the dulling of any sense of reality – is practiced daily and by everybody, especially through music where it plays virtually everywhere. He writes in a persuasive manner to influence the readers mood and feelings towards the subject. The mood created by the author is quite serious and shocking to the readers. “… such people are as close to the moronic line as it is possible to get and still function in a social order. For the author to use such harsh terms to describe those young men and society as a whole, such as “moronic”, is powerful indeed. Harris states that the people listening to such music are the dimmest individuals that can still work together and endure in society. Together with the sentence, “This urge, almost a compulsion, to keep reality arm’s length us nearly pandemic in our society. ”, the audience truly understand that the author is trying to say how terrible this problem is. The intended audience is teenagers and adults.
The author targets the younger audience because they are the next generation, change starts with them. Although the language is more sphospicated then what they normally read, most of the examples are based around teenagers: the young assistants, automobile radios and junk music blasting loudly. Many teenagers also use music as a form as escape from their life problems. Adults can read this essay easier and identify will the author’s opinion about music nowadays. The purpose of this essay is to bring awareness to this subject.
