After reading A Philosophy to Live by is a Healing Thing I was not suprised to find that it was aired in 1952, nor that it was written by someone so accomplished in the movie business; the word choice and the flow of the sentences give the letter a wisdom that only someone like this could accomplish. Even without knowing the context of the letter, it would not be difficult to assume this letter encompassed the "wise words" of a father to his son. Despite this fact, I find it interesting further that if this letter had been directed to his 14 year old daughter instead of son, the article could remain more or less exactly how it was written.
Aside from the obvious, that no 14 year old girl would rightly be named Jonathon, there are no true distinctions in the letter that would differentiate being written to a boy or girl. "Men" is used throughout the article when referring to the general population instead of, for instance, "men and women" or "everyone"; which may have possibly been done to appeal to Cromwell's son. That being said his (imaginary) daughter may have connected to the letter more in a way if the term men was substituted by women or a more versatile term, but I do not feel it would be of major siginificance if this was not done.
I think the fact that this letter's aim is so centered around the encoder is what makes its audience so versatile. Though it's obvious that Cromwell had an audience in mind, his son, the author seems to almost reminisce, that he is essentially having a conversation with himself in the letter and telling this son, "Do with it what you will." This contextual conversation is what makes it so likely a daughter would be just as likely to accept the letter as the son.
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4 comments:
I had never thought about possibly aiming this article towards a daughter as well. I simply thought about the other people who would be reading it. I like how you bring this idea up because it really makes me consider how impersonal the letter is, when it could have a more manly tone to it to possibly make the Jonathan feel like they are having boy talk or something. Good evaluation. I enjoyed the different point of view.
I agree with Kelsie. I found it interesting that you chose to look at the idea of a daughter reading it as opposed to a son. Although it does reference men throughout the letter, the ideas and values addressed in the letter can be applied to anyone who would be interested in learning from his experiences and what he has to say whether it is a male or a female.
LOVE that you brought up the idea of the letter being directed towards a daughter. I completely agree with the other girls. Aside from the article actually stating the age of the child, is there any signs of "Jonathon" age in the letter? Would that change how the audience read the letter if he was an adult? or a young child?
I also wanted to comment that the idea of substituting the son for a daughter never occurred to me. I think that's an interesting take on the article. I thought, however, that Cromwell was reasserting this personal letter (addressed to his son) to a wider audience (those listening to NPR). I might have been totally off- but that's the direction my analysis took. I really liked your analysis, it was something that would not have occurred to me otherwise. Thanks!
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