This week's blog should begin to prime your mind for the final exam.
Topic: Why educate your imagination?
Please make sure to use textual support from the primary text, Frye's The Educated Imagination.
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In Northrop Frye’s The Educated Imagination the significance of literature is probed. By constantly revolving around the three levels of the human mind, the level of self-expression, the level of social participation, and the level of imagination, the importance of an informed imagination is revealed.
When dealing with what Frye distinguishes as the first level of the human mind, this level entails the “language of consciousness and awareness” (4), a position in which assists a human in deciphering the difference between themselves and the objective world surrounding them. Here is the location where self “necessity and freedom” (6) manifest as the human begins to categorize the aspects that separate a world they would like to experience and the world they currently reside. This level is communicated through the use of “ordinary conversation” (8) as a mode to express the human’s thoughts. Without an educated imagination the tendency of a human surrenders their style of self-response in accordance to the structure suggested by society. As ordinary conversation is a form of human reaction there is a “mechanical element” (90) that taints its authenticity. That is, in a majority of venues, the society is rapidly changing provoking citizens to feel insecure and fear the results of an unstable situation. There is a threatening impression left to hover over the citizens and the easiest method in which to alleviate this chaotic pressure is the safety of a populated group. With the use of simple and appealing symbols or metaphors such as celebrity support or accepted trends aimed towards the public a comforting sense of false reassurance acts as a solution. In turn this system gives rise to group thought. The presence of individuals is disregarded and the occurrence of prejudice increases while the “power of choice” (91) is diminished as it is rendered as unnecessary in the categories of the first level of the mind. The human trades any existing form of freedom for the disappearance of loneliness. The lack of imagination allows the “battleground between…, the speech of a mob and the speech of a free society” (92) to be overcome by the mob, a collective convention. The social imagination is able to “debase [the] language” of a freely expressive human imagination. Regardless of whether the human has the ability to speak intellectually there is no opportunity to create a “basis of what…[the human’s] vision of society” involves. A suffering society desperately requires an educated imagination to witness the suffocation of man’s ability to reason. Moreover, an informed individual possesses the ability to recognize such a situation and oppose it, giving in to the “temptation to tell the truth” (83) and straying from the hypocrisy encouraged by the mob.
The second level of the mind is comprised of a “practical world…where actions speak louder than words.” (7) This state allows a human to choose between adapting to the current world and transforming it to self-interest. It deals with the same identification between what is desired and what is given as with the first level, but here the individual can socially participate. This is where the individual uses what they are knowledgeable of whether it is science or art based in order to “[cultivate a] world with a human shape”(13). This level remains within reasonable distance of either what society has taught or what the imagination offers. According to the previous argument, the individual has a habit of entering into the world amidst a crowd. In this level, if the individual has not yet compiled ideas for a personally generated society, they immediately accept the society presented. It is the only society that the individual knows as it is the first to attract its attention when there is a lack of education to awaken the imagination. Just as mythology “becomes a structural principle of story-telling” (65-66) each society produces a customized social mythology in order to provide stability as a “part of its coherence…to accept…even things that [individuals] don’t believe.” (87) In respect to the efficiency of a society’s mythology, the rate at which the society’s standards change is in direct proportion. A secure society is established due to an appropriate social mythology. As viewed throughout history, all societies are extremely prone to change indicating a recurring problem. An individual with an educated imagination develops a desirable society apart from the one they live in. When this imaginative option is available, an individual will be less likely to fall into the trap of adjusting to a corrupted society, subject to inevitably change. The only society which is not temporary is the “real world” (95) built from the individual’s imagination. Furthermore, it is the “world of what humanity has done, and therefore can do, the world revealed to us in the arts and sciences. This is the world that won’t go away,…” (96) and is the world humans must challenge themselves to attain.
Frye describes the third level of the mind as an amalgamation of the preceding levels. This is “the world of the imagination, [where] anything goes that’s imaginatively possible, but nothing really happens.” (8) as does in the second level. This level acts as the power source for the first and second levels and must be cautiously build. An imagination can only be successfully educated if it is given “possible model[s] of experience” (9) with which to commence from. From an enclosed society that convinces an individual to stand with the mob, there is only one model to view. As time progresses this individual might come across various revelations in their personal experience. In this scenario both sources are not sufficient enough for the growing imagination. As Frye states “No matter how much experience we may gather in life, we can never in life get the dimension of experience that the imagination gives us.” (61) and in this perspective, an individual must be introduced to literature. As “Literature is a human apocalypse, man’s revelation to man,” (64) the possibilities imagined by another individual are shared with other individuals. This technique is imperative as now there are numerous possibilities for one human to choose from. Literature encourages the mind to discover what their own imagination dreams about. In addition an educated imagination must accept the ideas of others and consequently gains “tolerance” (46) and sensitivity instead of dismissive behaviour. Although there are definitely illusions presented in literature these unrealistic situations stimulate an ironic feeling of detachment, prompting an individual to recognize “the reality of proportion and perspective, of seeing what [a situation is] all about,” (46) and from this, allowing the mind to acknowledge what they truly desire. An educated imagination should now be invited to do the same transvaluation in life. As the “suspension of judgment is one of the essential operations of the mind” (71) when mastered, this skill expands what the imagination can produce. As every society is centered around an edited mythology, individuals still return to familiar simple myths. In these stories there is the underlying cycle of what Joyce describes in Finnegan’s Wake as ‘The Monomyth’. The individual secretly desires to model after certain mythological heroes and this enticement should be supported by all. Regardless of which motives propel an individual to search for the loss of identity or to reclaim honour for another, the individual faces an enormous ordeal. This battle ought to be against the social imagination. Every individual should eventually come to a place in their lives where they are given the opportunity to realize what is flawed in social mythologies. The ultimate victory would be that where the individual can decipher a world without a single remnant of a totalitarian society, but any form of revelation is a win. The prime necessity for human nature to strive towards is the abolishment of the “deadlock of rivalries” (98) in which shape nearly all societies.
Evidently, a human’s imagination is the key to creating a better standard with which life should be measured by. In Frye’s The Educated Imagination the levels of consciousness, action, and possibilities compile the ability of the human mind. Without the proper instruction and exercise the human imagination becomes dormant and there is no need for the individual to seek the process to “the loss and regaining of identity.” (30) of the individual or society. The imagination must acquire the skills to enable the individual to bring their specific elixir to share with humanity.
Why should you educate your imagination?
All human being's are blessed with an imagination, so why is it that we should educate it? well, imagination is a mixture of emotion and intellect. If these two area's are not educated we are striped of our ability to think and feel. This important action of the mind would turn mechanical without imagination and we would not be any different then a very powerful computer. People live vicariously through their imagination; therefore, It is absolutely essential to educate it for several reason's: first of all, it will allow your to formulate your own opinion, secondly, with an educated imagination you will be able to understand and create idea's and third of all, it will keep you from falling into the illusions of society and into the mindless following of mob rule.
To formulate an opinion it must be based upon a previous experience, in literature "You keep associating your literary experiences together: you're always being reminded of some other story you read or a movie you saw or character that impressed you." (26) This is the same with anything, top 40 music for example has a large audience tuned into many different radio stations; this is always someone's favourite music to listen to because it is all they are exposed to. This music then influences people to find other music and after exposure to more music they are then able to form an opinion. Although, an opinion is not needed to form an opinion. A person can be exposed to a certain medium and enjoy this medium as a whole, but he/she does not have an opinion of what is actually being presented to them "If we don't know the Bible and the central stories of Greek and Roman literature, we can still read books and see plays, but our knowledge of literature can't grow, just as our knowledge of mathematics can't grow if we don't learn the multiplication table." (40) this being said, it shows that an opinion can only be based upon a previous experience; people who enjoy top 40 music do not actually enjoy top 40 music. They enjoy music as a whole, and after being exposed to new forms of this medium it is likely for a person to dislike the music they so much enjoyed to begin with. This brings us back to the beauty of a well trained imagination because as Frye says "It's important to get the habit of standing back and looking at the total structure of every literary work studied. A student who acquired this habit will see how the comedy of Shakespeare he's studying has the same general structure as the battered old movie he saw on television the night before." (69) this is know as transvaluation and this process can be achieved with the educated imagination; it lets the observer detach themselves from the situation, being able to see the entirety of it all. This is the formula an educated imagination will use to formulate an educated opinion and shape the production of an idea.
To understand and create idea's there has to be a basic level of experience with emotion and intellectual idea's " In practically everything we do it's the combination of emotion and intellect we call imagination that goes to work." (82) this is why a child does not understand certain emotional concepts and words; this lack of knowledge and experience translates into a detachment from reality. An educated adult although will use this imagination to their benefit. Unlike a child whose imagination is detached from reality and educated adults imagination will be implemented in all aspect's of his/her life. Creativity is usually not associated with logic but the imagination does bridge these two concepts together "Imagination is certainly essential to science applied or pure. Without a constructive power in the mind to make models of experience, get hunches and follow them out, play freely around with hypotheses, and so forth, no scientist could get anywhere" (56) imagination is obviously this constructive power, and just like anything else, the more fuel provided--the more power that is produced. An educated imagination will also decrease the following of mob rule, a following due to an lack of opinion and ignorance of possibility "In the imagination our own beliefs are also only possibilities, but we can also see the possibilities in the beliefs of others. Bigots and fanatics seldom have any use for the arts, because they're so preoccupied with their beliefs and actions that they can't see them as also possibilities" (46) this is a dangerous way to live, and the ignorance of a Bigot or fanatic is just as ignorant as the child who does not understand the world at all. One Has never experienced anything else and the other has rejected all of it, both are out of touch with reality and with no influence are not able to understand and create idea's. This is the basis of what is known as mob rule.
People are gregarious by nature and therefore feel secure in group's. Unfortunate the majority of people are joining the group of the uneducated "In these days we're in a hare-and-tortoise race between mob rule and education: to avoid collapsing into mob rule we have to try and educate a minority that'll stand out against it. The fable says the tortoise won in the end, which is consoling but the hare shows a good deal of speed and few signs of tiring." (79-80) people tend to take the easy way out of most situations and when one does this the others follow. This is the safety of the mob, but it is one of the illusions of society many people fall into. Advertisers know this and try to lure you into buying their product by pandering to the basic human desires "The central place of the imagination in social life is something that the advertisers suddenly woke up to a few years ago. Ever since, they've been doing what they call projecting the image, hiring psychologists to tell them what makes the most direct appeal to the imagination." (84-85) and with an uneducated imagination many people will be seduced by these advertisements and consequently bound by their gregarious nature tell there friends about it as well, this is influence, one the basic principals of mob rule. This is all junk food for the imagination and not what it is intended to do "The fundamental job of the imagination in ordinary life, then, is to produce, out of the society we have to live in, a vision of the society we want to live in." (86) This requires opinion, and in mob rule there is no opinion; this is why we educated our imagination, so we may become individuals.
All of us want to belong and we all try to find out who we are and why we are here. There is no one answer to apply to all people but there is one sure way of finding out our individual answers. The way to do this is through the education of the imagination "You're not free to move unless you've learned how to walk, and not free to play the piano unless you practise." (93) and therefore are not able to imagine without an imagination; everyone is an individual but if you fall into the illusions of society and mob rule you will waste your imagination and you will never have an opinion. People live vicariously through their imagination and without it we are not any different then a very powerful computer.
The human imagination is arguably the cornerstone of human civilization and innovation. Yet even though this incredible thing is the keystone of human nature, it also is most questioned and has no definite definition. The human imagination is the most mysterious subject yet the most used and most important to everyday life. A life without imagination is a life not yet explored and fully understood. In order to use the human imagination does the human imagination have to be educated of trained? This is a question brought to the forefront by Dr. Northrop Frye in this works entitled The Educated Imagination. Here Dr. Frye explores the importance of an educated imagination and its necessity to the function of the imagination. In this novel Dr. Frye's total life works are compressed into a series of 6 essays outlining the various reasons and explanation of the importance of an educated imagination.
In Frey's first talk he discusses the most primary of concepts to help define the basis on which literature and language is based from. While explaining the basis concepts and principles of the English language Frye also focus on the importance of literature in relation to human experience. Frye makes a simple yet complex statement when describing literature; he says " the simple point is that literature belongs to the world man constructs, not to the world he sees."(12) This statement may seem simple yet the underlying complexity can be found in the meaning of Frye's words. Frye is saying that literature is a product of the world that the human construct not the world he lives in, which is profound mainly because the general assumption is that the world we see as a construct of human nature and human imagination. However Frye is suggesting that literature is in fact the world that humans construct not the physical world. Frye also tackles poetry in this essay saying that literature world is a concrete human world of immediate experience. The poet uses images and objects and sensations much more that he uses abstract ideas;"(12) this statement clearly defines the role of poetry and helps define poetry as a more practical concept and not as abstract as perceived by the general public. When Frye is explaining the importance of literature and defining literature he also comments upon the concept of imagination stating, "in the imagination anything goes that can be imagined, and the limit of the imagination is a totally human world"(13), helping define the concept of the imagination yet still not defining the imagination as a whole. This statement helps in supporting the importance of an educated imagination. Here Frye is arguing the limits of the human imagination and what the human imagination is capable, therefore the only limit of the human imagination is the human world. A persons understanding of the human world in which they live in, is impacted by education and knowledge. Another quotation where Frye exhibits this theory is found in his next talk when Frye says, "the reason for that is the you're not a genuine primitive; your imagination couldn't operate on such a world except in terms of the world you know"(18) suggesting further that the human imagination is a construct of the world around them. Thus an educated imagination can have few or no limits as compared to an uneducated imagination.
When trying to determine the reason for an educated imagination literature and its many forms are very important. If arguing that an educated imagination is of the up most importance that first the literature must be defined in order to have a better understand of how and why literature is so important to the development of the imagination. Frye makes a bold statement when saying, "that literature can only derive its forms form itself: they can't exist outside literature,"(22) suggesting the limitation of literature is a causes of the limitation of the imagination. However Frye is not saying that nothing is new is saying that all the works follow certain recognizable patterns in which human life and nature can be defined. Therefore the imagination is not limited if educated by the many works of art by many of peoples, by learning about many different peoples interpretations of the main focus and questions of human life and nature the reader may be able to develop their own imagination and determine their own concept, and answers to the universal questions using his educated imagination. Many of the principle questions however change over time when, "civilization develops, we become more preoccupied with human life, and less conscious of our relation to the non-human nature'(31) which can be clearly seen in human's everyday actions, and is also seen in literature. While Frye is continuing to define literature he discusses the importance of allegory's, metaphors as well as references to other works of art. Frye says that, "if we don’t know the Bible and the central stories of Greek and Roman literature, we can still read books and see plays, but our knowledge of literature can't grow,"(40) and without this grow in knowledge here can be no growth in the imagination. Frye makes a very important statement when he says that a person must understand the basis of literature before being able to properly understand the literature of works of art they are observing. This knowledge can develop an imagination further by having many different references in which to refer.
In the later parts of Dr. Frye's talks he begins to discuss the important of the imagination as a whole and the importance in everyday life as well. Dr. Frye comments on the importance by saying, "what produces the tolerance is the power of detachment in the imagination, where things are removed just out of reach of belief and action,(46) such as the functions and principles of the imagination and literature. In the next couple of talks Frye also convinces the reader of the importance of literature to each person on a more emotional and personal level saying that, "what we'd never see except in a book is often what we got to books to find."(53) This statement seems logical however when the statement is thoroughly examined when using the example of love or hope as something that we go to books to find it can also be said that this is where hope and love are found. These sorts of things can be found in novels because in the novels the reader can objectively see the entire situation and can therefore find answers to the basic human problems found in novels as well as everyday life. Frye touches more upon the concept of the imagination and the real world saying that "the world of literature is a world where there is no reality that of the human imagination."(57), suggesting that in literature the lines of reality and falsity are blurred which helps develop the imagination.
When trying to explain the importance of an educated imagination first the importance of literature must be present. Also the definition of the two worlds must be defined such as," imagination gives us both a better and worse world than one we usually live with, and demands that we keep looking steadily at them both."(58) which is a primary and constant difficulty that human face when trying to use their imagination. Throughout the novel the main concept in which Frye is trying to convey is that an educated imagination is far more useful and more important than a uneducated one, suggesting that, " we have only the choice between a badly trained imagination and a well trained one, whether we ever read a poem or not."(82) This clearly shows the reader that the imagination is uses in everyday life for many different reasons however if the imagination is not properly trained by education that they will still have an imagination yet be left in complete darkness as to the real possibilities of their imagination. This last quote really sums up and accurately defines Frye's ambitions and message of these essays, to try and convey the true value of an educated imagination.
Why Educate the Imagination?
What would the world be like without any sense of imagination? What is imagination anyway? According to dictionary.com, imagination is “the faculty of producing ideal creations consistent with reality, as in literature, as distinct from the power of creating illustrative or decorative imagery＂. Without imagination, the world would be filled with dull and plain objects. White walls, perfect squared architectures, or is that even too creative for humans to create without any vision of their own? Imagination is what makes our society a better place to live. With imaginations humans are able to make a mental image in their virtual world and transfer it over to the actual world we live in . As Northrop Frye quotes, “imagination is doing with words without seeing how it operates with some of these other units”(73). Imagination is what hold up this place we live in a better place to live in.
Imagination is an excellent way to improve on one’s self. Without the people who are not afraid to express their inner images to the public, the society will not evolve in the future. When the public eye is first approached with a new idea, the first reaction we receive is that the public will go against it. This is because the public does not want change in their system. New ideas are often hard to be recognized because when the society meets a radical idea, they do not know how to accept and react to it. Therefore, to not show their inner thought, instead of giving it an approach, what they do is close their mind and reject it. They refuse to learn and explore about it. A great example of people who were shut down would be one of the greatest scientist Thomas Edison. Yes, he is a well-known scientist in our history now, but he also did not have a stable start. He had to be home schooled at an early age because he would ask random questions such as : “why is the sky blue?”, or “why is the apple red?”, during his class time. His teacher, who was never faced with such question, could not answer him. Instead of admitting that they were unfamiliar with such questions and answer, the teacher simply requested for Edison to be home schooled. Curiosity often triggers a person to play with their imagination. And it often converts into such images which sound completely impossible. As Frye states, “the central place of the imagination in social life is something that … suddenly woke up to a few years a go”(84). Now the society is slowly accepting to new ideas which will help more people with curiosity to explore their inner thoughts.
How about the case of literature? How were all the fiction novels created if we did not have any imagination? Imagination is “a social and moral development” (95) which affects everybody in every way. The “imaginative world is more important” (95) then the world we live in. This is true since the imaginative world allows us to do more inside our head. There are tremendous activities the human would like to do in the actual world, but is currently not possible. In times of these, many of us turn to our imagination and draw out what an experience it would be like to fly or eat chocolate everyday. By doing this, we can envision what would it feel like to do such activities, and use words to write down our feelings. If the authors could not visualize the event in their novel, how can they describe it with words? What makes a good writer from a poorly trained writer is their lack of experience with the activity they are writing about. If there were no imagination, all we could do is probably use few nouns to describe, which does not send the virtual feeling for the readers. This is another reason why people must read and be educated. Without knowledge and imagination, without them, when a person is faced with an event, they will only perceive it as what they see. All they would say about an event is good and bad. And they would not be able to describe why it was good or bad. This can be reference back to the novel nineteen eighty-four by George Orwell, where the society is trying to steal away the language, which limit’s the people to express with their personal touch. Therefore, without good use of imagination, the person would only see things in one point of view. As they are exposed to more literature and explore their mind, they will be able to comprehend an event with numerous perspectives. This gives them an advantage to choose the best view of the event. The more exposure a person gets, the more they benefit by knowing more. This perhaps is the key to achieve the impossible.
Imagination is quintessence to our lives and is utmost the important fact in our society. Without it, we will be nothing more then a solid object. We will not feel the triumph of anything but to do what is laid out for us. It is our own imagination which creates new ideas. New ideas are converted into new asset which will form new system to further improve the world. Without it, a human’s life would be worthless. It gives us the chance to picture out the incredible notions and make it possible in our minds. By doing so, we can all achieve and satisfy our mind.
Educating your imagination is key for you to be able to function in a social society that has literature. Your imagination is the center of all you do and think, and if it is not educated, you will have no basis to all you do. You must know and understand the past and where everything comes from to be able to function in society. An educated imagination is important and you need to so you will be able to deal with the world around you, be able to create literature and be able to understand all past references made in literature.
Without an educated imagination, you will be unable to deal with the world around you. An educated imagination allows you to think in the highest level which is, “the third level…a vision or model in your mind of what you want to construct.”(7) This stage allows you the power to construct models of human experience and sets us apart from the animal kingdom. The language of this stage allows us to function in society. In the third level, “there’s the level of imagination which produces the literature languages of poems and plays and novels.”(7) Without an educated imagination we would not be able to put our feelings and thoughts down onto paper. We would also not be able to relate the world around us to the world we want to live in, leaving us lonely and frightened.
Since we need to make a world of human experience, so we are not left lonely and frightened so we must use conventionalism and refer to what we already know. All people must write from their own experience and the more an imagination is educated it allows for a broader view for you to work with. So all writings “can only come from previous experience of literature and hell start by imitating what ever he’s read.”(19) With the constant use of what is already written, conventionalism is born and it is the base of all literature. With an educated imagination broadening writers view, “this provides for him what is called a convention, a certain typical a socially accepted way of writing.”(19) We can only get literature from itself so when we educate our imagination we grow our basis for our own literacy. We see with this that, “our principle is, then, that literature can only derive its forms from itself: they can’t exist outside literature.”(22) If we do not educate our imagination with other literature around us we will not be able to write literature ourselves.
With conventionalism in all literature, it is important to educate your imagination so you are able to understand past references and where the literature you read comes form. We see the same stories reoccurring throughout the years and we must be able to identify this. You can see great examples of this in the bible, “you’ll soon come to the story of the finding of the infant Moses by Pharaohs daughter. That’s a conventional type of story, the mysterious birth of the hero.”(21) Your modern day stories are also depicted over and over again. If you do not know, the basis of where they come from you will not understand them. You see that,” If you read the fiction in women’s magazines you read the story of Cinderella over and over again.”(21) This constant reuse of stories throughout the years challenges you to educate your imagination so you can understand where everything came form in the past.
An educated imagination is the key to the understanding of all literature and to life itself. With it, we can understand the literature that is written around us. With this ability, we are able to write our own literature for future writers to gain an educated imagination from. An educated imagination also allows us to see and change the world around you to a human world in which you want to live. We always use the human experience we have to create a new world we want to live in. An educated imagination is the key to social existence and it is important to educate it to be successful and understand the world around you.
Throughout The Educated Imagination Frye stresses through his series of six essays that an educated imagination should be a significant part of every education. We must educate our imagination to be able to understand and appreciate the arts, to make our own uninfluenced decisions, and relate with the world around us. Frye uses many examples in his talks to make The Educated Imagination relevant to everyone in the world today.
In order to understand and appreciate the arts we must educate our imagination. Frye talks about this throughout his talks and reveals if we know arts, we will be able to appreciate ideas that can be thought as pointless to the person without an educated imagination. To educate our imagination we read literature, to advance our society we use literature. Frye shows this to us without literature our society is primitive and will not advance “No human society is too primitive to have some kind of literature.”(19). If we do not educate our imaginations we are not able to appreciate other work because we have no basis to compare it to. “Literature gives us an experience that stretches us vertically to the heights and depths of what the human mind can conceive,”(61) Frye is showing us here that literature gives our minds depth, which helps us understand other pieces of literature and appreciate the greatness of literature. By educating our imagination through literature and creating our own literature we can leave a footprint on society that cannot be erased.
Throughout The Educated Imagination Frye talks about the importance of an educated imagination and how we can be misled in to believing false by opinions if we do not have one. If we have not experienced different pieces of literature we can be misled in to thinking phony work is real. “If our experience is limited, we can be roused to enthusiasm or carried away by something that we later can see to have been second-rate or even phony.”(63) If we are not conscious about what we read or watch make false interpretations and can also be misled. With experience or judgments have value without experience our judgments have no value because we have no basis to compare them to. “Then there is the conscious, critical response we make after we’ve finished reading or left the theater, where we compare what we’ve experienced with other things of the same kind, and form a judgment of value and proportion on it.”(63) Without an educated imagination we are mindless drones who will believe everything we are told and can be controlled without question, education prevents this from happening.
Without an educated imagination we are left with a feeling of isolation. We use our educated imagination to relate with the world around us by creating literature. This type we create is call myth which is a primitive type of literature, “The simple point is that literature belongs to the world man constructs, not to the world he sees; to his home, not his environment. Literature’s world is a concrete human world or immediate experience.”(12). Frye tells us we use what we already know to create the work. “the only inspiration worth having is an inspiration that clarifies the form of what’s being written, and that’s more likely to come from something that already has a literary form.”(39) To complete the feeling of isolation humans create literature to relate with the world around them even though they will never get any closer.
Throughout Frye’s talks we learn the importance of an educated imagination. We must educate our imagination to be able to understand and appreciate the arts, to make our own uninfluenced decisions, and relate with the world around us. Frye helps us understand The Educated Imagination by stating “educated imagination, and education is something that affects the whole person, not bits and pieces of him.”(95) To become a better overall person we must educate our imagination with the use of various forms of literature this will help advance society as a whole.
There are many theories as to how exactly humans, as a race, gain knowledge and how they apply it. The question has been asked ever since the dawn of man and to this day no solid answer has come about, but what has come about is many different theories. A theory that can fall under this category is the Dr. Northrop Frye’s theory as to whether or not an educated imagination will benefit us or not. Dr. Frye examines this theory through examining the three levels of the human mind. In terms of if an educated imagination would benefit the population or not, I believe it is necessary to have an educated imagination.
The reason why we need an educated imagination is to express our selves not only through ordinary conversation and preaching but also to express our imagination with, “… the literary language of poems and plays and novels” (8). Without the ability to transfer inner thoughts, ideas and overall imaginative premises onto paper, the rest of the world would be at a great loss not being able to experience the pure imaginative genius of those that take the time to transfer these ideas onto to paper for others to witness.
When examining the first level of the mind as indicated by Dr. Frye we begin by reviewing the language of consciousness and awareness. According to Dr. Frye, “It’s largely a language of nouns and adjectives” (4). Dr. Frye expands upon the first level of the mind stating that there is a difference between consciousness and awareness. You can be conscious and not aware of your surroundings and this all depends on two main things, “The emotions are unreasonable: for them it’s what they like and what they don’t like” (5). In terms of science which does not use emotion when figuring out all aspects of the scientific field, it does not matter whether or not you like what you or studying or not, you are still going to study it. “We’d be naturally inclined to think that the arts follow the path of emotion, in contrast to the sciences. Up to a point they do, but there’s a complicating factor” (5). The complicating factor is the contrast between what the person likes and what they don’t like.
The second level is the language of practical sense, which includes “… verbs or words of action and movement” (7). This level shows that actions speak louder then words, but this level is on a much more primitive scale than the previous. Dr. Frye describes it as, “… the process of adapting to the environment in the interest of ones species…” (7). Dr. Frye then compares the actions of humans to that of an insect or beaver to show that all of these life forms all adapt to their surroundings and in turn replace an environment with a “home”.
Finally, in the third level it is where both the first and second level come together, where consciousness and practicality combine into one, “The third level is a vision or model in your mind of what you want to construct”. (7) It just so happens that man is fueled by a combination of many desires and one of these desires is the natural social desire of man. This desire ultimately is what pushes man to turn their imagination from just that, into a reality of sorts. Because of the desire which starts in the mind or imagination, this is what motivates man to act in order to achieve the desire. Without action these desires would never be fulfilled and man would be forever stagnant which is exactly what we do not want.
The simple fact is that we need to educate our imagination in order to carry out the three levels of the mind, and in order for our race as humans to advance in every possible way. This is ultimately what man strives for, to fulfill the inner desires and put them into action to make them a reality.
In Northrop Frye’s series of essays in The Educated Imagination, Frye explores the significance of literature in civilization from the early ages to postmodern times and explains the importance of the possibility that exists in the imagination. It is with the imagination that humans identify with the exterior world. An imagination that is well educated is one that forms opinions, sees from every possible angle and shows us what it is we like and dislike about ourselves, others and the society in which we live. An ‘educated imagination’ creates infinite possibilities that are attainable in reality, while an imagination used merely for day dreaming and fantastical purposes leads only to an existence of thinking and never doing, of ignorance and indifference.
In the same sense that you cannot understand sadness without first feeling happiness, you cannot know what you desire out of life without the imagination to visualize what it is you want. An imagination allows you to envision something better, something stronger, faster, “It’s the power of constructing possible models of human experience,” (8). When that imagination is educated, the tools necessary to achieve those dreams are revealed. In order for society to advance, an informed, educated individual with a powerful imagination is essential because while it is an emotional factor that tells you you dislike something, it is an intellectual factor that is required to change it. Thus, it can be said that without an educated imagination, there would be an absence in human innovation. The intellectual and emotional states must combine to produce valid opinions and methods of altering or embracing aspects of life that appeal or disturb us, “…it’s nonsense to think of the scientist as a cold unemotional reasoner and the artist as somebody who’s in a perpetual emotional tizzy,” (9). In the way imagination is needed to improve civilization, science and the arts, it is used in literature not to improve it, but to compare and consider all works with what is possible in your own imagination and what your imagination has been exposed to previously.
Though Frye says, “…literature can only derive its forms from itself,” (22) those archetypical stories, styles and characters can be endlessly imagined differently and altered by those that employ an educated imagination. In order to educate your imagination, one must start from the beginning, mythology for example, and form a foundation for developing the imagination. With an overall knowledge of literature comes an imagination that is expanded and more infinite than ever before, “…just as our knowledge of mathematics can’t grow if we don’t learn the multiplication table,” (40).. Furthermore, seeing from eyes that are supported by such an educated imagination, allow for the consideration of every possibility, opposition and agreement. With the study of literature, we gain a reference bank that entitles us to fair criticism and comparison. Even further, through educating our imagination with literature, we use our growing imagination to identify an relate with the novels we read and the plays we enjoy. The more you can imagine, the more you can find identification and feel belonging with the world and with the characters you read and write about, “The gods and heroes of the old myths fade away and give place to people like ourselves,” (31).
The development of a taste for something, whether it be films, literature, drama or art comes with time and experience in that area. The first novel you read produces an uncritical reaction- an emotional response, as you have nothing to compare it to but your own life experiences, “…then there is the conscious, critical response …where we compare what we’ve experienced with other things of the same kind, and form judgment of value and proportion,” (61). When you educate your imagination, you discover what you like and dislike without being prejudice or naïve. You form legitimate opinions and gradually improve your taste.
An educated imagination is truly limitless. The ignorant imagination, while it can fantasize limitless ideas, it lacks the ability to create. It lacks the knowledge that should go hand in hand with the imagination to compile valid, reasonable opinions and it leaves no opportunity for transvaluation or opposing the conformities presented to us by society.
Society must educate its imagination in order to survive. To function in any human way, individuals must understand themselves, their emotions and intellect, in order to relate to or create anything else in the world. The importance of an educated imagination is examined by Northrop Frye in his series of six essays, titled The Educated Imagination. The imagination is used as a tool to help an individual develop and to understand them self, the world around them, and also to dream of a world better than the one they reside in. This allows for progress in the modern world and the evolution of the human mind.
The first level of the human mind, according to Frye is “the level of consciousness and awareness” (8), this is the most primitive of all levels simply because it deals with the difference between the individual and everything else in the world. The basic understanding of the difference between oneself and other elements is necessary to survive in any situation, whether it includes other humans or not. The importance of this level is that it creates a barrier between society and the individual, this level then allows for the individual to grasp that their own ideas and values can be different from others’. This level leads to self examination and self awareness, the most important understanding a human can have. The imagination is the tool that humans use in order to think, in order to distinguish themselves from others. The first level of the human mind is an example of an individual using his imagination, by speaking in “ordinary conversation” (8) one must use their imagination to form words to express their emotions or thoughts. In order to have these words in the mind, and use them in the appropriate manner one must have an educated mind. To be conscious and aware of one’s self and comprehend the difference between oneself and everything else is only the first level of the human mind, one that excludes the detailed understanding of what the world actually is. The problem with remaining at the first level, awareness and consciousness, is that the understanding of the world cannot fully develop. Frye explains this in an example of his own, "If we don't know the Bible and the central stories of Greek and Roman literature, we can still read books and see plays, but our knowledge of literature can't grow, just as our knowledge of mathematics can't grow if we don't learn the multiplication table." (40). One may see the difference between the television and them self but may not understand the actual concept of a television. Understanding the concept of ‘a television’ comes in the second stage, the level of social participation.
The second level of the human mind, according to Frye is the level of social participation; this can only be reached after the first level because the first level is the basis for understanding humans. A human is a social creature and is drawn towards a group of people. This society of people has its own set of values, values that the individual is now prone to lean toward after entering into this crowd. The second language is one of practical sense, the dangers in this level is that an individual does not merely participate in society but that the individual takes on all of society’s values. This is a problem because it can lead to ‘mob mentality’ in which a whole group of people adopt a mentality simply because they are following the crowd. The practical language of the second level of the human mind does not leave much room for different kinds of ideas, just as mob mentality does not, “…there’s a large automatic or mechanical element. And if our only aim is to say what gets by in society, our reactions will become almost completely mechanical.” (90). This level seems to be a challenge to the individual to step out of the society, but it can also be a trap that individuals get caught up in. In Educated Imagination, Frye refers to this level in relation to his present day, "In these days we're in a hare-and-tortoise race between mob rule and education: to avoid collapsing into mob rule we have to try and educate a minority that'll stand out against it.” (79). Without educating the imagination of the population the ‘mob rule’ will always win out which is a negative outcome because it will eventually abolish creative thought and creations like art and poetry. By failing to educate the imagination, one is left to blend into a mob and live for ever huddled into this mob, whereas with an educated imagination, the individual can dream of a world better than the mob they are stuck in.
After overcoming the second level of social participation, the individual enters the third stage, the stage of imagination. Imagination allows for anything to happen and opens up doors for all possibilities, in this stage the individual can imagine something better. The world of imagination obviously allows for creative thought and ideas which are more open minded than the ‘mob mentality’ of the second level. In The Educated Imagination, Frye explains the purpose of the imagination, "The fundamental job of the imagination in ordinary life, then, is to produce, out of the society we have to live in, a vision of the society we want to live in." (86). In ‘ordinary life’ the imagination must still have a place since it can create hope for a better life and a better world. This is the reason for rebelling against the ‘mob mentality’, the reason to educate the imagination, in order to out run the stifling affects of a mob rule, even the words that are used in ordinary life must rebel against a mob rule society. The English language is in danger of collapsing if individuals fail to educate the imagination because, as it was mentioned earlier, words are found in the mind and it takes an educated imagination to use them appropriately. By destroying the English language, society will not have to think before speaking, they would only have to automatically reply; this is the point in which civilization would be in danger of collapsing as well. An imagination would be useless if it was not educated, uneducated imaginations stunt human progress, keeping civilization in a stagnant state since nothing can be created in any art, science or other study without a free and open mind.
In The Educated Imagination by Northrop Frye, it is explained that civilization educates the imagination because an educated imagination is necessary in order to survive in the world. Without educating the imagination, an individual could not understand them self, the world around them or even strive for anything better. Life would be lacking in almost every area because without understanding one’s self, relationships could not be formed and there would be no self expression. A world like that could not be able to survive because it would not progress or develop; an educated imagination is a tool for evolution and society must learn to use it.
Throughout Northrop Frye’s “The Educated Imagination” it shares the understanding of the human mind and the unknown aspect of its greater imagination. The imagination of a mind is far more ingenious than anything else that’s humanly possible. It can go beyond any measures that life pursues. The only thing that stops it is its incompatibility to render itself. Those who live in society today are fed the food for their mind therefore have no need to think for themselves and are ignorant with the unheard and untaught. The imagination is slowing loosing its purpose for humanity because of the lack of effort to keep it. The question is why educate your imagination? And the answer is so humanity doesn’t fall. If everyone doesn’t educate their minds then life will have no purpose. There would be no understanding of society and where it has come from. If the educated imagination is lost then so is man. “Ignorance is Bliss” is a saying well known that comes from Thomas Gray; everyone has heard it and is well aware of what it means. The one thing that people aren’t aware of is they are the ignorance. But then again civilization doesn’t know any better because that is what has been taught and that is all anyone knows. “The essential thing is power of choice.”(91) Learning is bigger than anyone, no one can stop it, but they can choose to not pay attention to the unknown and focus on what has been already been given, and if so then fear is the controller. If the imagination is not educated then there will be no purpose to human life. It will be isolated and therefore controlled and anything given and shown will be believed. “The more you read the more you learn about literature as a whole.”(26) There is no tunnel vision to education it shoots out in every parts of the world; there are positives and negatives to every lesson that is told, it’s a full round understanding of everything and anything that can come one way or another. There is no limit to educating the imagination; to educate it is probably the most important fixation that comes between citizens and their civilization. “Everything man does that’s worth doing is some kind of construction, and the imagination is the constructive power of the mind set free to work on pure construction, construction for its own sake.”(73) Man will be lost without Religion because Religion is the base of life and the meaning to why things are done. To understand the society that is being lived in everyone must be educated. Life would have no meaning and will soon have no meaning if the imagination is not being used, with no education human existence would not be re-born.
The Educated Imagination is an incredible collection of 6 talks by Northrop Frye which raise’s the question why educate your imagination? Frye eloquently answer’s this question through the three levels of the human mind: the level of self-expression, the level of social participation, and the level of imagination. These three levels of the mind are the key to educating our imaginations.
The first of three levels of the mind laid out bye Frye is the level of self-expression (awareness/consciousness). This level of the mind is concerned with what the reader can relate to. Reading is what you make out of it, not what the author sees. The reader won’t want to read if they can’t relate to the writing. You can’t relate to sand or tree’s because they don’t respond to you. Frye goes on to split the human mind it two, “You have an intellect that feels curios about it and wants to study it and you have feelings or emotions that see it as beautiful or austere or terrible,” (4). Although these two aspects are contained in your mind, they can never be put together, only alternate. When reading, we truly tap into our emotions quite sparingly, and those times are in instances of identification, a sense of understanding and acceptance. We cant take literature entirely literally. When reading Macbeth, you would ask about the history of Scotland, and When you read Dickens, you should find qualities of Micawber in everyone, no just one person in particular. Literature isn’t what you want, but what you build out of it.
Level two of the mind, the level of social participation, is concerned with where does science stop and art begin. As level one was more of a speculative level, the level of social participation is one of action. When looking at a building, how can one distinguish between the art and science? Frye goes on to say that each level has its own language, and “..there’s the level of social participation, the working or technological language of teachers and preachers and politicians and advertisers and lawyers and journalists and scientists. We’ve already called this the language of practical sense,” (9) Science begins with the world we live in, then moves towards the arts as a mental construct and a way of interpreting. Literature is concerned with symbolic action, that literary or mythological characters are typical.
The third and final level of the mind is the level of imagination. This level is where consciousness and practical skill meet, a combination of level one and two. Frye makes it a point to distinguish imaginary from imaginative, “We have two words, imaginary, meaning unreal, and imaginative, meaning what the writer produces, and they mean entirely different things,” (34) The third level of the mind is what really makes our practical life human.
In the beginning, and simple questions was posed, why educate your imagination? As Frye states, “I think now that the simplest questions are not only the hardest to answer, but the most important to ask,” (1). Simply, if you don’t read you can’t relate to the world you live. Literature doesn’t progress; it reinvents itself for a new audience to appreciate, one myth inspires another. The only way an audience can truly appreciate it is if they know and understands it origins, otherwise it’s just a hollow reference. These reference originate from the bottom, the bible and mythology. They are all the same stories and same characters. Literature can be taught the same as science and math, as long as you use the right language.
Frye has answered his own question through the three levels of the mind: the level of self-expression, the level of social participation, and the level of imagination. Frye states in “The Keys to Dreamland”, "But Shakespeare's plays weren't produced by his experience: they were produced by his imagination, and the way to develop the imagination is to read a good book or two." This stresses the importance of reading and is just further evidence that great writers need to educate their imaginations just as much as the reader does. We educate our imagination so we can understand and belong to the world that has been constructed for us.
Blog Response #9
Why educate the imagination?
Our imagination is what has allowed us to evolve into the society we have become today. In Northorp Frye’s Educated Imagination, there is an evident dominant theme that is to educate the imagination. Dr.Frye illustrated the importance of educating the imagination in each of his six talks / essays. If we do not educate our imagination we strip ourselves form the ability to think for our selves. Northorp Frye discusses three important reasons to educate our imagination, first is the importance of the three levels of the mind. The second argument Northorp Frye discusses is that with an educated imagination one is able to form an opinion. Finally what is the most important reason to educate the imagination is to gain intelligence., to understand literature and to understand the world we live in. Educating our imagination is one of the most important things we can do, to better ourselves.
Northorp Frye begins the six talks with The Motive for Metaphor. He introduces the readers to three levels of the mind that describe the way the imagination and the mind work. The first level is the “language of consciousness and awareness” (4), this is the most basic level for the mind and the imagination, where it looks at the world around you and begins to study it. “…You find that looking at the world, as something set over against you, splits your mind in two. You have intellect that feels curious about it and wants to study it, and you have feelings or emotions that see it as beautiful as terrible..” (4) Dr.Frye describes this level as the very basic level where the mind begins to comprehend the environment around it, but has not yet understood it. As one educates the imagination, they also educate themselves. Dr.Frye continues to explain that the first level is “a language of noun and adjectives…” (6) The mind is unintelligent and unable to grasp the environment around it. One is only able to distinguish between “I like this” and I “don’t like this”(6). As the imagination is educated and the mind begins to explore the environment, one becomes more intelligent and evolves into the second level of the mind; it begins to “realize the difference between the world you’re living in and the world you want to live in.” you begin to construct the world around you to fit your imagination, this is were innovation and progress’s in technology and society begin. As the imagination continues to become more educated, humans begin to construct the world around them accordingly. Advances in our society begin to develop and the imagination continues to grow. “The language you use on this level is the language of practical sense, a language of verbs or words of actions and movement.” (7) This level is acting on the word we know it to be, to change it to make it a better place to live in. AS the imagination and the mind continue to grow, the mind reaches the third level, which “ is a level where consciousness and practical skill come together” (7). We begin to articulate the world we want and the world we have made using metaphors and actions to produce a imaginative world. “Its [the imagination] the power of constructing possible models of human experience. In the world of the imagination, anything goes that’s imaginatively possible, but nothing really happens. If it did happen, it would move out of the world of imagination into the world of action” (9). This is the highest level of the mind. Where the mind constructs a world that is impossible in the physical world, it constructs this in the imaginative world. As the imagination and the mind grow and are educated one is able to transform the world he lives in from the very basic level of likes and dislikes to a articulate and complex world and society. It is important to educate the imagination so that human society is able to evolve.
As the imagination continues to grow, the mind also grows and one becomes more intellectual and begins to understand what is happening around them. AS one continues to go through experiences he or she begin to develop an opinion and an educated thought about certain experiences they have witnessed. One does the same with literature. Literature is all conventional, each author writes about experiences they are able to relate to, which can only come through other literature that had been already written, which is also based on something written before “ I said earlier that there’s nothing new in literature that isn’t old reshaped.”(40). These forms of literature all date back to the bible and the central stories of Greek and roman literature. “If we don’t know the bible and the central stories of Greek and Roman literature, we can still read books and see plays, but our knowledge of literature cant grow…”(40). As a way of educating our imagination is though reading, where one is able to learn about different experiences and relate ones experiences to literature. If our knowledge of literature does not grow, our imagination also suffers and is unable to grow. The more educated ones imagination is, the more of an educated opinion they are able to form. A small example of this is movies; if one does not watch movies they will think the first movie they’ve seen was outstanding or amazing, when in reality it was a terrible movie. However as they continue to watch movies and compare the movies they are seeing with the first movie, they’re opinion may change, this is because there experiences with movies have grow and they have become more educated in the movie area. The same is applied to the imagination, as it grows through reading on is able to develop a educated and intelligent opinion.
Finally Dr.Frye explains that educating ones imagination is important because as a result we educate ourselves. Dr.Frye spends much of the later talks convincing the readers and listeners the importance of literature in ones life.“ We relate the poems and the plays and novels we read and see, not to the men who wrote them, nor even directly to ourselves; we relate them to each other. Literature is a world that we try to build up and enter at the same time” (42) Literature becomes a form of knowledge where, ones imagination grows as the relate different forms of literature together. As we continue to read and understand literature, we form opinions that change and grow that differ from others, this is what it means to be intelligent. As we educate our imagination we in return educate our minds and learn the importance of literature in our society.
As one continues to educate their imagination they also educate themselves, as they are able to form educated opinions and they are able to understand what is happening in the world around them. In conclusion Dr.Frye explains the importance of an educated imagination in three main points If we do not educate our imagination we go back to t he basics of our society, and find ourselves lost in a world we don’t understand or relate to. We use three levels of the mind to relate to the world and to change it to a world we can relate with using metaphors. The second argument Northorp Frye discusses is that with an educated imagination one is able to form an opinion. Finally what is the most important reason to educate the imagination is to gain intelligence., to understand literature and to understand the world we live in. Educating our imagination is one of the most important things we can do, to better ourselves.
Given that, new concepts, theories and works of art are derived from the imagination’s interpretation and processing of what it perceives by sense perception, the imagination is crucial to not only the individual, but society. Indeed, man is able to express his intellect, desires and emotions through the imagination. As in Northrop Frye’s The Educated Imagination, the imagination exemplifies its significance, as it gives people a larger dimension of experience than how much one can gather in life. Thus, it is beneficial to educate the imagination so that there is more depth to the person’s perception of the world, to create a social impact and for man to excel in their accomplishments.
Firstly, by educating and exercising the imagination, people can interpret the world beyond what they see. That is, rather than simply just looking at the world, a person with an educated imagination is bestowed with the ability to view his or her surroundings in depth -using their knowledge to put outer concepts into introspection. Then, with a sufficient degree of knowledge, the person can use their imagination to form their own opinions and thus, express themselves. Northrop Frye even says, “Then there is the conscious, critical response we make after we’ve experienced with other things of the same kind, and form a judgment of value and proportion on it” (63). In addition, with a greater amount of experience, the person’s interpretation of life is altered. As Northrop Frye says, “no matter how much experience we may gather in life, we can never in life get the dimensions of experience that the imagination gives us” (61), hence that literature grants the person with more experience. In fact, Northrop Frye also states that “If our experience is limited, we can be roused to enthusiasm or carried away by something that we can later see to have been second-rate or even phony” (63), as a result, educating the imagination is substantial. Further, by educating the imagination, people are granted with the ability to see and interpret the false claims and illusions of society. “The central place of the imagination in social life is something that the advertisers suddenly woke up to a few years ago. Ever since, they’ve been doing what they call projecting the image, and hiring psychologists to tell them what makes the more direct appeal to the imagination” (84). As advertisers intentionally appeal to the imagination, an educated imagination must realize when society is creating a false image.
As an educated imagination allows a person to see through society’s illusions, it is beneficial to educate the imagination to allow citizens of society to realize that they can each make a difference and create an impact upon society. As people tend to find comfort in numbers, it is easy to say that these people will ultimately develop the same values of this group.” In these days we're in a hare-and-tortoise race between mob rule and education: to avoid collapsing into mob rule we have to try and educate a minority that'll stand out against it. The fable says the tortoise won in the end, which is consoling but the hare shows a good deal of speed and few signs of tiring." (79-80). That is, educating the imagination is highly necessary to avoid becoming like the mob and losing individuality-as people are unable to express their own thoughts. Also, with an educated imagination, one will see themselves as a very tiny part of society and have the urge to do more –to feel purpose. “And no mentally healthy man wants to be a parasite: he wants to feel he has some function, something to contribute to the world (94). Therefore, an educated imagination is what allows a person to think for themselves and wanting to do more for society.
Finally, it is beneficial to educating the imagination for man to excel in their accomplishments. Meaning that, with a better educated imagination, man can better construct what he imagines. “Many animals and insects have this social form too, but man knows that he has it: he can compare what he does with what he can imagine being done” (7). Moreover, since man belongs to the world that he constructs, it is clear that with an educated imagination he will be enriched with more knowledge, having more to build from and be capable of accomplishing more. “The simple point is that literature belongs to the world man constructs, not to the world he sees; to his home, not his environment Literature’s world is a concrete human world of immediate experience” (12). Thus, with an educated imagination, the individual will have the capability to accomplish what he has imagined.
In conclusion, it is beneficial to educate the imagination so that there is more depth to the person’s perception of the world, to create a social impact and for man to excel in their accomplishments.
Throughout time literature has possessed a greater meaning than just reading for enjoyment; the true meaning of literature is to educate ourselves and in doing so educate our imagination. In Northrop Frye’s Educated Imagination the reader learns through Northrop the meaning of literature to humans. Northrop talks about how literature is conventional; the reader perceives literature with the emotions or feelings they want to bring and without language a human is not capable of being human.
Throughout time authors have used the same techniques; such as theme to portray the meaning that he or she is trying to get across in the message to the readers. “the actual technical or formal problems of composition … have remained constant from the beginning” (20) This quote is referring to the techniques used and the problem of articulating the author’s imagination to paper that have remained the same since writing was first used. This creates a sense of conventionalism in literature because everything is the same. People like to read conventional literature, especially when it comes to relaxation. “Popular literature, the kind of stories that are read for relaxation, is always very highly conventionalized.” (21) In mystery books the last couple of pages are different in terms of how it ends however; the body of the book is generally the same. People enjoy this conventionalism because they already know what is going to happen therefore they are not taken outside of their comfort zone. “Inside it comes the story of the hero with a thousand faces, as one critic calls him, whose adventures, death, disappearance and marriage or resurrection are the focal points of what later become romance and tragedy and satire and comedy in fiction, …”(30-31) One story is the base or roots for every other story. The themes are repeated throughout time and seen over and over again until the extent that a writer cannot write a literary art form without referencing these themes because that is all they know.
As a reader reads a book he or she sees the book completely differently than someone else who reads it; this is due to the fact, “your intellect and emotions are now both engaged in the same activity, …” (5-6) One interprets literature with the intellect and emotions that they have and to the extent that they are willing let the literature capture their imagination. “Your habitual state of mind is the feeling of separation with goes with being conscious, and the feeling ‘this is not a part of me’ soon becomes ‘this is not what I want.’” (5) A reader can only get from literature what he or she puts into it. A reader should not dismiss any idea or concept just because it does not fit the world they are living in. The reader is only allowed to dismiss an idea after he or she has educated themselves in the topic, therefore, allowing a rational decision to be made whether to accept or decline the idea that was brought before him or her. “The complicating factor is the contrast between ‘I like this’ and ‘I don’t like this.’” (5) This is a problem for most readers. Once a reader has made a decision that he or she does not like something it is very difficult to embrace the idea they just threw away.
Without language humans would live a very secluded life because they cannot relate to anything. “Suppose you’re shipwrecked on an uninhabited island … you notice two things about this objective world. In the first place, it doesn’t have any conversation. Nothing that responds to you: it has no morals and no intelligence, or at least none that you can grasp.” (3) If a human has no language then he or she might as will live on an uninhabited island because one cannot relate to another and absolutely no conversation could arise. If there is no language then nothing can relate to you and nothing is able to affect your morals and or behaviour because you cannot understand what is happening. “Even if there’s enough to eat and no dangerous animals, you feel lonely and frightened and unwanted in such a world.” (3) Language is what connects all humans; even if one person does not speak the same dialect as another one can relate to the other through actions that each other received through their own dialect. If one cannot converse with another person he or she feels unwanted and unneeded because they are on their own. If someone is on an island with one other person or a couple of people but they were only concerned with survival the only language that would be synthesized is a dialect of verbs or actions words in order to get this done. “The language you use on this level is the language of practical sense, a language of verbs or words of action and movement.” (7) This is the beauty of being human, people will create whatever is needed in order to sustain life and or to make life easier. Nothing is impossible and if the something such as language is in the way of a group, a dialect is created in order to perform efficiently.
Language is very flexible and is able to adapt to the needs of the society that use it. The techniques and forms of writing have not changed, this allows conventionalism to become evident and others are able to relate and comprehend the meaning of the literature. Example of this can be MSN lingo or text message short forms no matter the purpose people will always find a way to connect and relate to each other.
In Dr. Northrop Frye's "The Educated Imagination", we are taken through a series of six essays that deliver the significance of an educated imagination. If imagination were to be subtracted from education, society would consist of bland, plain, and tasteless ideas. Society is like the houses we live in, where imagination is like the structural support keeping them together. Without it, our houses cave in and we are left praying for a miracle.
There are many interesting reasons to why people of today's society require an educated imagination. According to Dr. Frye, we have three levels of the mind: the level of consciousness and awareness, the level of social participation, and "...the level of imagination, which produces the literary language of poems and plays and novels." (8) Without the imagination, creators of today's movies, books and music would not provide the satisfaction to those who choose to view them. People would continuously question the purpose of the arts, and why it doesn't appeal to them. Quoted from Dr. Frye's "The Motive for Metaphor", he states, "Art, on the other hand, begins with the world we construct, not with the world we see. It starts with the imagination, and then works towards ordinary experience: that is, it tries to make itself as convincing and recognizable as it can." (9) We use art as a method to express our ideas, but in order to do so we must develop an imagination. This is important because in order to understand anything else around us we must understand ourselves as individuals.
As humans we are gifted with the imagination, and as individuals we must learn to educate that imagination. This includes a mixture of both emotion and intellect which we must evolve into a certain sense of development. If we are unable to do so, we lose the ability to sympathize, think and feel. We are literally spoon-fed ideas from other people, and therefore we choose to take these ideas and apply it towards our own theories and creations. "Our ordinary experience, where everything dissolves into the past, and where we never know what's coming next, can't give us any sense of reality, although we call it real life." (47) Dr. Frye used this quote as a reference from Marcel Proust, creator of the series of novels "In Search of Lost Time", which in opinion explains that we live in a world where we live a repetitive life, where we disregard a lot of experiences, and move on to a lineup of unexpected events.
In conclusion, an educated imagination is a significant aspect of life. Society is lost without an educated imagination, and so is the existence of man. We would be referred to as zombies walking on Earth, searching for a purpose in life.
Why should we educate our imagination? The answer is simple, we need to develop our sense of reality, based upon the knowledge we have received. Without such knowledge, we become simply pylons, people moving like robots with no real purpose. An educated imagination changes all this. We give ourselves information so that we can make informed decisions, so we do not plainly follow the crowd. As we read books, the things we read slowly leave an imprint on our lives, be it in speech, thought, look, and in this case imagination. This is why we are the dominate species on this planet, the imagination helps us think as a “vision or model in your mind of what you want to construct” (7). When people create something, they must be able to shape there emotions in such away that it becomes, hence the being of imagination comes into play. A question does come up however. How does one educate their imagination? If asked on a street corner, can you teach you imagination, the response a person would give that it isn’t very likely. In reality, every time we read, watch a movie, or a T.V. show, we are teaching ourselves something new. Since the days of the Greeks to the post-modern era, we have based most of our imagination in literature. Throughout time, people have used literature to convey feelings that may otherwise become a target of ridicule. The ancient peoples of the Mesopotamian world started us off with myths, such as Gilgamesh, to the biblical Jesus. To see how literature has affected history, it makes Frye’s comment, “No human society is too primitive to have some kind of literature.”(19), true at this point. An important thing to remember is that people today don’t read much into myths. The only thing that could come close is the Catholic bible. The bible helps us understand and cope with something we lost, and in the bible, it would be the bashing from Eden. The bible has many stories such as this, and is why, as Frye puts it, “the most complete form of […] myth is given in the Christian Bible” (66), and it helps us develop a sense of reality, so that we can strengthen our reality. With that being said, myths are the foundation for our imagination. Another important factor in our sense of imagination is the society we live in. For example, as Frye states, “In a totalitarian state, the competition in propaganda largely disappears, and consequently the power of imagination choice is sealed off.” (91) This is the reason why we do not allow states to be run like this, as it crushes our imagination. Frye uses the example of Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell, that the best way to rid of the imagination is to get rid of our language and turn it into “automatic gabble” (92) therefore limiting our ability to understand our world. The imagination is an important tool, the hammer and nail in building human civilization. We are constantly faced with warfare on CNN, the lies of the politicians, and many other things than dampen the human spirit. Our minds, bombarded with this, slow retreat to a place where we can make sense of reality, our imagination. To educate it, helps us cope with this problem of loneliness, something that we may not even realize we have. We can do many things, but the most important thing to arm ourselves with to combat this reality, it with an educated imagination.
Throughout all of time one common feature has connected humanity together, the imagination. The imagination serves many important uses in each human’s life. The imagination forms the basis of every human’s social life, frees humanity from a world of illusions, and promotes free speech.
The imagination forms the basis of the social life of every human. According to Northrop Frye, humans have feelings that “can’t be directly conveyed by words” (82) and intelligence that people “almost never get a chance to use by itself.” (82) Emotions and intelligence form a basic component of human nature. However, when the two are combined a resultant imagination is constructed. Many events involve the use of the imagination. One, for example, is the study of literature. When someone reads a form of literature, they encounter various archetypal characters. The imagination comes into play when they encounter these characters. In the case of Achilles, he represents “a great smouldering force of human desire and frustration and discontent.” (36) “Achilles is greater than any man could ever be,” (36) men look up to this character and view him as a god. Thus, Achilles becomes the focus of man’s imagination as the literature is read. Scientific developments also rely on the use of the imagination. The scientist must use the imagination to “make models of experience, get hunches and follow them out, play freely around with hypotheses, and so forth.” (56) Thus the scientist relies on the imagination for his source of scientific breakthroughs. Finally, the imagination plays a major role in the use of speech. Conversation is rooted in the imagination. Speech is divided between “things we can say and certain things we can’t say.” (83) The imagination must be used in order to differentiate between the socially acceptable and socially not acceptable. The imagination must be educated in order to multiply the effects of its uses in everyday life. Since people must use their imagination in everyday life they “have only the choice between a badly trained imagination and a well trained one.” (82)
The social world is shrouded with illusions. Many lies and secrets exist and not all can determinably be separated between truth and lie. Emotions cannot be used to precisely separate fact from falsehood. Also, intellect cannot account for all of the facts required to finally make the decision in choosing to believe which is the truth and which is the lie. “The responsible citizen really uses… his imagination” (86) to choose which statement to believe. Frye uses the example of a politician shrouding the country with illusions through his campaign. It is the duty of the citizen to use his imagination to “vote for the party that corresponds most closely… to his vision of society.” (86) An educated imagination can be used to distinguish between the social environment presented and the social environment that is desired by the individual. The imagination is used to develop the vision of the society that is desired, and thus allows the individual to make the appropriate decision in electing the leader.
The imagination promotes free speech. Free speech, as defined by Frye, is “the speech of a free society” (92). Frye also describes free speech as “cultivated speech.” (93) Free speech is the ability to speak out against a mob. The mob is a highly conventionalized group. It has become common for humans to congregate into mobs, mobs which “stand for cliché, ready-made idea and automatic babble.” (92) Free speech is used as a defense against this automatic babble. Free speech is cultivated speech, which represents an educated imagination. When the imagination is educated, free speech is possible. This enables the battle against the mob, the battle against uniformity. The mob is “pressing towards uniformity or likeness” (50) and free speech must be cultivated in order to take a stand against it. In the end the mob must not consume the entirety of the human population. In the end the educated imagination must prevail. If the mob dominates society, “our reactions will become almost completely mechanical.” (90) Without free speech or the educated imagination, situations exemplified through Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four become possible. A society of oppression, without the accepted use of the imagination, is a world that does not comply with many people’s view of how society should be run. The authoritarian society is only possible when there is no one to stand against it; and the only way someone will stand against it is if they know that it is wrong. In order for someone to view the society as wrong, the must be able to compare it with the society they want to live in. The citizen must assume the role of a literary critic by “[interpreting] every work of literature in the light of all the literature he knows.” (64) The citizen must judge the society based on all of the others that he knows.
The imagination must be educated to preserve one’s view of social life. The imagination forms the basis of social life, protects humanity from the illusion of lies, and preserves ones life through the promotion of free speech. Social life revolves around the imagination, thus in order to attain the true benefits of social life one must educate their imagination. An educated imagination allows an individual to see through the veil of lies presented in society. An educated imagination allows each citizen of a society to form their own views on their social environment, and it allows the rampage against the mob.
The human imagination, being a liaison between the emotion and the intellect provides the basis of social life, constructing man’s response towards the world he lives in. Having a well-trained imagination enables man to liberate himself from the civilization he is accustomed to and gradually establish a free society. In Northrop Frye’s The Educated Imagination, Frye elaborates how essential it is for man to educate his imagination. The main purpose of educating the imagination is to confront man with nature, generate a feeling of freedom and develop a sense of reality with in us, all through the use of literary experience, creating a better understanding of mankind by mankind.
In able for man relate to the world he lives in, he must have a considerable knowledge of what it is. Through literature, we learn to distinguish the objective world, where in we struggle to belong, from the human world, which is an artifact of our desires. “The world you want to live in is the human world, not an objective one: it’s not an environment but a home; it’s not the world you see but the world you build out of what you see” (5). We soon realize that the world we want to live in is an ideal world, a world that will suit our wants and needs. Therefore, we can never relate to the society because we all have different necessities. Man’s yearning to live in a human world is evidently perceived in literature using figurative language. In his first talk, Frye states how vital figurative language is to our conception of our world. “Literature belongs to the world man constructs, not to the world he sees” (12). We realize that literature is not something we think but rather a product of how we think, a result of our imagination. We see ourselves react to nature, turning the objective world into human so we can relate to it.
The boundless capacity of the human mind is also capable of re-creating physical reality into man’s own perception. Writers produce literature, inventing their own fictional versions o what we consider real that enables us to see the world as we imagine it based on our desires. “what we meet in literature is neither real nor unreal” (34).This version of reality encourages us to seek after the truth, forming relevance to life. “The poet’s job is not to tell you what happened, but the kind of thing that always takes place” (35). Our imagination allows us to explore alternative models of human experience, fulfilling our desire to associate our inner experiences and the external world. Through fictional characters, we recognize ourselves and learn more about the way we think and react to certain circumstances. These characters allow us to experience what they portray, transforming art into life. “You feel that there’s a bit of Micawber in almost everybody you know, including you” (35). Through literature, our imagination provides us with general examples using literary devices that evoke an impartial response on all people.
The imagination also permits man to re-shape the world, so it conforms with his needs, just as writers create a stimulating mode allowing us to invent a world that we can relate to. “The society around us looks like the real world, but we’ve just seen that there’s a great deal of illusion in it, the kind of illusion that propaganda and slanted news and prejudice and a great deal of advertising appeal to” (95). Frye talks about the significance of free speech in a society, that enables man to detach himself from the world produced by media and advertising, which leaves people mentally enslaved. “There can be no free speech in a mob: free speech is something a mob can’t stand” (92). Frye talks about the freedom that the human imagination holds, and how it can contribute in a more rational society.
The human mind is so powerful that it escapes our grasp through imagination, the reason why educating the imagination is necessary. Education is essential for it hones man’s perception of the world and himself, basing everything not from what he sees and what is taught to him, but what he learns from his experiences. Training your imagination through literature is humanizing your thoughts, discovering the language of education and hearing the eloquent voice of truth.
The imagination can be described in two ways; the imaginary and the imaginative, fake verse dream. In this case of educating the imagination we try to separate the fake stuff from the dreams society places in our minds. For this reason we educate the imagination to; protect us, for attitude and to help produce a society.
When educating the imagination we are seeing the difference in fake verse dream. Our imagination battles to do well in helping us plunge out of the trap society attempts to catch its population around it. “First thing our imaginations have to do for us, is to fight to protect us from falling into the illusions that society threaten us with” (87). Dr. Frye describes our imagination as being a vulnerable part of our identity because it helps us from falling into the illusions that society has set up for people to metaphorically speaking walk right into the illusions blind folded. An example of an illusion that our society has today would be the idea of the human population being cloned in the future. With the illusion in peoples mind that one day themselves or their children may be cloned can create a chaotic society with people worried and then on the other hand you can have a relaxed society because they think life is going to be handed to them when there are clones and no more work will have to be done by actually “human” beings. When we educate out imagination we prevent such horrific illusions to be present in individual’s minds.
The imagination is part of our mind that needs to be educated because without learning about society or life in general, your imagination could not function on such a world except in terms of the world in which each individual knows. Our imagination would not be able to operate for the reason that there would not be anything for our understandings to imagine. “The world of the imagination is a world of unborn or embryonic beliefs: if you believe what you read in literature, you can, quite literally, believe anything” (45). Northrop Frye describes the imaginative world as unborn and developing beliefs because if you are not taught anything, what would your imagination imagine? There is nothing to compare reality and dream, when there has been nothing taught to the population.
After the imagination has been educated, it is able to produces an image of a society in which the individual wants to live in compared to the society he/she already lives in. “the fundamental job of the imagination in ordinary life, then, is to produce, out of the society we have to live in, a vision of the society we want to live in. Obviously that can’t be a separated society, so we have to understand how to relate the two” (86). This quote from The Educated Imagination is the key concept of the whole CBC Massey lecture taught by Dr. Frye.
The imagination is educated in order for the population living in the society to be able to determine real from fake. As an individual you are still able to determine what is real and what an illusion of the imagination is.
In Northorp Frye’s Educated Imagination, Frye enlightens us through a series of talks upon the significance and the possibilities of our own imagination. Frye with expert precision dissects many aspects of literature allowing readers to relish and appreciate this invaluable gift of imagination. Frye uses careful analysis of the English language and literature to reach the reader. Dr. Frye expressively exaggerates his view that without imagination we have no identity, therefore educating ourselves and our imagination is the only way we are able to transcend through a generic state of thinking.
To begin our ascendance into educating our imagination Dr. Frye brings the imagination back to its basics. Starting off with a blank slate and slowly rebuilding our imagination. Dr. Frye begins with the “complicating factor [as] the contrast between ‘I like this’ and ‘I don’t like this.’” (5) In doing so Frye develops our consciousness and awareness for the world around us. At this stage of our imagination dealing with the horizontal state of mind is something that we are not accustomed to. In a world where we begin with nothing we are allowed see how our mind is separated into 2 parts: one of curiosity and one of emotions. The importance of this is that we have to be able to see a world where we have to use our imagination to develop and with the human mind search for something outside of it.
As Dr. Frye elevates the imagination to the next level, he introduces us to the language of literature as seen in his second talk “The Singing School.” The use of similes and metaphors exerts the imagination to the next level. As our imagination stands the understanding of the world around us is far out of reach. “They are all products of an impulse to identify human and natural worlds that they’re really metaphors, and become purely metaphors, part of the language of poetry.” (18) Comprehending the world that we live in is only approached as we understand it in terms that we have familiarized ourselves with. If we had no use of metaphors or similes we wouldn’t be able to operate in the world around us.
Dr. Frye speaks of the language we have and use to exist within this world and advances our understanding of the language of literature through nurturing us with where and how literature comes to be. To understand where it all comes from Frye begins with the understanding that “every form in literature has a pedigree, and we can trace its descent back to the earliest times.” (19) We have to be able to understand that “impressions of human life are picked up one by one, and remain for most of us loose and disorganized.” (35) by educating ourselves through literature we are able to slowly organize and focus ourselves.
Educating someone’s imagination exposes and elevates a person to a level of thinking which separates them from someone of an uneducated imagination. The uneducated imagination is one of which is at a standstill, someone who is vulnerable and oblivious. With an educated imagination one is able to fend for themselves in the world of reality, understanding, comprehending and applying what they know to understanding what they don’t. The importance of an educated imagination boils down to the understanding the existence of yourself and the things around you.
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