Language Arts Journal of Michigan Volume 16 Article 7 Issue 2 The Use of Place in Writing and Literature 2000 The seU of Place in Writing and Literature Milford A. Jeremiah Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/lajm Recommended Citation Jeremiah, Milford A. (2000) "The sU e of Place in Writing and Literature," Language Arts Journal of Michigan: Vol. 16: Iss. 2, Article 7. Available at: https://doi.org/10.9707/2168-149X.1352 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language Arts Journal of Michigan by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE USE OF PLACE IN WRITING AND LITERATURE Milford A. Jeremiah Place, in its literary sense, can be defined within writing and literature. Writing in this sense in several ways. For one thing, we may define place pertains to expository forms that students produce as the physical aspect of the environment at hand. in essay classes. For literature, we confine the dis­ In another sense, we may define place as the envi­ cussion ofplace to novels-fiction and non-fiction­ ronment removed from the speaker or writer. In that we assign to students or those that we read for some instances, place is the term used to describe pleasure. Furthermore, the paper is intended to the setting in which issues of writing and other address issues of pedagogy as opposed to those of language-related skills are housed and discussed. theory or of literary Criticism. In the literary world, place is usually combined with time and events to establish what is know as the Place in Expository Writing social setting or the social context ofa literarywork. In examining place in expository writing, An examination ofthe general topic of place there are two avenues. among others, for which place in literature reveals that authors regard place as a has benefits for teachers and for students. In ex­ starting point for their work. Thomas March, for pository writing, place is significant in that it serves example, uses place to show its relationship to such as material for students' themes. In other words, topics as the treatment of myth in the Western part we may consider place as the starting point from of the United States (l06-108). Other Writers see which students can begin their essays. According place as providing the cultural background for a to Halliday, place serves an "ideational function" in specific work (Bowen 49-50; Karamcheti xiii}. Still that it gives writers something to write about (qtd. other writers see place as a basis for comparative in Stillar 20). In another sense, place is significant studies between cultures (Fleming 90-99). In addi­ in that it provides students with information out­ tion, the writings of some authors use the word place side the classroom from which they can discuss is­ as a central feature of the work (Montgomery 46­ sues of grammar, for example, or even vocabulary 53). Finally, the term place is regarded as a mental lists discussed in class. We examine each of these construct for some authors with such titles as "Is views in tum. There a PlaceJor Linguistics in the Foreign language and Literature Curriculum?" A Place for Ideas From what has been observed, place is cen­ Students live, work, and play in the physi­ tral to an understanding of a writer's work since cal environment. The physical environment (e.g., the notion of place contributes to the larger mean­ churches, convenience stores, malls, and so on) ing of what writers intend to convey to readers. The are places that bombard the senses, especially the purpose ofthis paper is to discuss where place falls visual and auditory ones. As researchers have Fa1l2000 23 pOinted out, the visual and auditory pathways are these recordings, too. could be brought to class for responsible for a great deal of information that gets writing purposes. to the brain (Pinel 204-206). Using the information obtained from these sensory pathways, students can A Place for Grammar incorporate these impressions to start, to stimu­ Another use of place in writing pertains to late, or to improve on what they have written. Teach­ the visual stimuli that confronts students by way of ers could use this notion of place in writing to get posters. ads, and messages seen on billboards. on students started in expository writing. If possible, mass tranSit systems, on bumper stickers, and so teachers could take students to a physical setting on. These forms of language have been assigned a and have them write on what they see or hear. This specific place in the physical environment to get type ofwriting pattern would include traditional rhe­ the attention of readers for specific purposes (e.g., torical patterns. For example, at a shopping mall or buy a product, become a member of an organiza­ at the school's cafeteria, students could be directed tion, avoid certain behaviors, and so forth). The ex­ to compare and to contrast the items purchased by amples noted above point to the physical use ofplace teenagers and those purchased by adults or the dif­ in that they serve to draw the readers' attention to ference in meals eaten by some students when com­ a specific message placed at specific locations where pared to others. they can be most visible to observers. It is assumed At this writer's institution, there are several that students and other individuals read these signs food carts located on a side street that is relatively and take action or inaction. However, these language close to the classroom. Faculty, students, and staff stimuli. rather than just being placed in visible are their chiefpatrons. I have been using the activ­ spots, can be used to augment classroom instruc­ ity surrounding the food carts as sources for aug­ tion if they are brought to the attention ofstudents. menting or for reinforcing features ofgrammar and One way in which this information can be used is the essay. For example, if we are discussing pas­ in the area of grammar. Take the case of two ads sive construction. I ask students to form passive seen in specific locations in an urban setting. The structures from activities that are usually conducted ads. for the most part, take the form of full sen­ in the active form (e.g., The vendor sells orange so­ tences or fragments as seen in items (1) and (2): das). On a related topic, teachers could assign 1) Be an Organ and Tissue Donor topics that deal with description and have students write descriptive essays from what they see and hear 2) If Only Kids Came with Instructions in the physical environment. Students could also initiate topicS for writing in that they would bring The responsibility of teachers and students would to class flyers. posters. and other visual stimuli de­ involve bringing these forms of language into a class­ picting people, places, and events. A poster ofa tropi­ room to see how these statements fit into existing cal island, for instance, or one of a winter resort instruction in grammar. Here the term grammar could be used to stimulate the rhetorical pattern of goes beyond the memorization of parts of speech description or ofcomparison and contrast. With this and involves the underlying knowledge that makes type of involvement. students become analysts of such utterances possible. In short. we are dealing language. as opposed to being passive recipients of with grammar within the notion of grammar as ad­ it. This type of active involvement could even be vanced by Noam Chomsky who sees grammar as "a expanded to include the use of media, given the description or theory oflanguage ..." (19) that seeks advanced stage ofvideo recordings today. Students to determine what speakers, in our case writers, could borrow. rent, or use their own video cameras know about their language. This knowledge. when to capture events or people at specific places, and applied to writing, would allow writers to become 24 Language Arts Journal ojMichigan investigators of language. With this knowledge of language seen on the ads. In short. we are extend­ grammar, writers are able to rearrange sentences ing the boundaries of writing in such a way that --or parts of sentences-to expand them. to delete students become critics and analysts that take into them, to determine if they are well formed or are account other factors that contribute to the overall anomalous. Our students are editors in the broad­ message of written communication. In essence, est sense of the word. For purposes of illustration, classroom talk then becomes a feature of writing. let us return to example (2): In example (3), there are certain features of writing that contribute to the message: 2) If Only Kids Came with Instructions 3) Learn to Square Dance This message placed on a billboard at the side of a city street is a sentence fragment in that it requires It is safe to say that example (3) is directed to a other information to complete the author's full in­ certain age group and perhaps to a certain ethnic tention. The writers ofthis billboard message struc­ and SOCioeconomic group, based on the location­ tured the statement above with a humorous tone; a suburban area of a city- and the meaning ofthe however, for purposes ofgrammar, we would like to message. We could also read into the message that know what features of grammar contribute to the not enough persons are square danCing or that the humorous nature ofthe message.