Upon reading, “Satire
as Rhetorical Play”, by Harriet Deer and Irving Deer I was most struck by
discussion of fact and fiction. As Deer writes, “The postmodern believes that
there is no essential difference between the structures we call “historical fact”
and the structures we call “fantasy”” (717). This relates directly to Slaughterhouse-Five with Billy Pilgrim
and Tralfamadorians. It is a struggle to determine whether Bill’s interactions
with the Tralfamadorians are reality or fantasy and it shows the blurring of
fact with reality. To go along with this is the concept is how real is our
reality?
How
we see the world is biased through the lenses we look through. Our view of the
world is greatly skewed and not seen in an objective sense, thus the world we
see is not exactly reality but more a blurring of reality and fantasy. An
example pointed out in the Deer piece is the British soldiers, “The British
have a fantasy of what the Americans will be like and they insist on sticking
to it” (717). The British have a preconceived notion of what Americans soldiers
should be like and when they meet the Americans they are disappointed. The fantasy
of the American soldier does not live up to the reality and so the British,
even after seeing the Americans, want to stick to their fantasies because that
is what they believe is true.
The
idea of social lenses is very important for service. Going into service is
important to note that the way people see the world can vastly differ. For
example when serving at Tunbridge I sometimes question how the after-school
program is run. A big reason for this is because the after school programs I
have been to have been very different. Therefore, my lens is skewed to what I
know and what I have experienced. My life experiences have altered the way I
see reality. I do not see reality for what it is but what I see is more of a
fantasy seen through my own personal lenses. Everything I see is seen through a
biased view and is a mix of fantasy and reality.
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