Alli Kope

A genre is a map, it gives the writer an idea of what goes into a certain piece of
literature and what does not. Writers are not required to follow an exact plan of a genre.
The best writings come out of the alterations of certain genres to elaborate and create
stories that will be memorable. A genre creates a base for a work of art to be created
around. When the author has a clear direction, the work of literature is often better
understood and easily interpreted by an audience. In the novel Brave New World by
Aldous Huxley there are two clear genres running through the text. Huxley creates a
world of mind controlled, dependent people. The place these people live in is called the
World State, in the World State citizens have absolutely no freedom or choices. The
citizens of the World State must take a tablet of soma every day to regulate their
emotions and thoughts to match the ideal vision of the Director of the World State. The
World State goes by the motto Community, identity, stability (Ch. 1.) The people in the
state dont understand that something is wrong with the way the government is
controlling them. Any change in the community and the identity of the World State is
believed to drastically affect the stability of the colony. The only person that truly
understands the madness is named John. Because John was not a full blooded indian he
could not partake in activities on the reservation, when he finally arrives to the World
State he realizes he does not fit in here either. John grew up on the reservation outside of
the World State but then visits the World State and he sees that he is the only one apart
from the Director that understands what is going on. Books, art and emotions are all
prohibited in the World State because the Director of the World State understands
knowledge is power. Not only does Huxley clearly illustrate a dystopia, he creates a story
of identity crisis. Both of these genres of writing have had very successful pieces of
literature. The Hunger Games, The Giver, and 1984 are all examples of dystopian novels
that have become very popular. The Giver and Brave New World are very closely related.
In both works of literature the government controls its people by injecting them or using
oral medication to sedate their thought and their individuality. The idea of identity is
completely erased. Due to the fact that individuality is non existent, when John is in the
World State he feels like he does not belong there or on the reservation either. John has
intelligence and understanding of the world that the citizens on the World State do not
have. In the genres of identity crisis and dystopian works The Giver and The Hunger
Games were both popular enough to be turned into movies. By looking at the latest
releases of movies, one could create a popular genre. What do the people like? Based
on ratings and sales a person can establish a mock group of the most popular movies out.
Sorting through the popular movies to find the genre of each could surprise you. The
Hunger Games is one of the most popular movies, it perfectly shows the idea of a
dystopia just like Huxley is presenting. Huxley uses the genre of dystopia well, but when
he incorporates the genre of identity crisis as well it makes it a memorable work of art.
Huxley creates a world that we as readers and human beings cannot relate to. We are not
mind controlled or required to think a certain way, but when we begin to see Johns
identity crisis, some readers may be able to relate to the novel in that way. Huxley creates
a world that we cannot relate to, but he also creates a character that a lot of people can
sympathize with. The mixing of these two genres has allowed readers to feel conflicted
but intrigued because of it.

Audrey Golden
Dirk, Kerry. "Navigating Genres." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. By
Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor, 2010. N. pag. Print.
In Kerry Dirks chapter, she explains everything there is to know about genres
directly to student readers. She addresses the reader in an informal manner in hopes of
creating an interesting and informative explanation on the element, genre. Dirk begins the
chapter by addressing the commonly known definition of what a genre is. She then goes
on to explain that the common idea of what all genre entails is very limited (Dirk 250).
Dirk explains how genres originated and their relationship to audience and rhetorical
situation. She discusses different genres and how to write to different audiences in
different circumstances. Dirks relaxed article about genre provides examples and
explanations for every point brought up that makes understanding genre quite simple. All
it takes for a genre to be created is a response to a situation, then recurring reciprocation.
In Dirks chapter, her main goal is to break students close-minded thoughts about
what a genre is, that being comedy, horror, mystery, etc. being the only type of genres
(Dirk 250). Genre is a much broader literary element than most people believe. Dirk
defines genre as a response to a certain situation. When a situation arises, a response is
generated. This same situation may occur again, and the first response will be used as a
reference until a new genre is born from repeated responses worded in similar formats
due to the recurring situation. Genres provide writers with a quick template of how to
respond to a situation, instead of starting from scratch and creating a completely new
piece of writing every time one wrote something. Dirk uses several examples of
completely different genres and how they were formed to explain how different genres
came into existence. The first example she uses is the State of the Union Address. The
first president, George Washington, decided how to write the State of the Union Address
and what it must include (Dirk 252). Every president after that then had a guide on what
they must include in their addresses. Thus a new genre was born. Every genre must
consider the audience that is being addressed. A State of the Union Address must be very
formal, where as a Facebook status can be completely informal.
Dirk recognizes the relationship between genre, audience, and rhetorical situation.
Dirks chapter is an example of its own genre. In the beginning of the chapter she
discusses her thought process on how she wanted to approach speaking to students (Dirk
250). She explains how she researched other articles written primarily for English
students. Those articles she researched and read begun a new genre. The audiences are
composition students. Dirk speaks to her audience in a comfortable, easy, conversational
tone as did the authors who wrote to similar audiences. The audience is always
considered when writing in different genres so the tone of the writer is appropriate. Dirks
explanation of the relationship between genre and rhetorical situation is that genre does
more than just duplicate a rhetorical situation.
When Dirk gives examples of all of the different genres, it becomes apparent that
the previously thought genres consisting of comedy, horror, mystery, etc. were not all that
the writing world had to offer. Genres come in many different forms and all apply to a
vast amount of varied audiences. All it takes to start a genre is one reply to a situation,
then recurring reciprocation. Dirk emphasizes that it is more important to learn how
genres work in general than to know exactly how to write one specific genre (DIrk 259).

Julia Anzano Draft 2

Gloria Anzaldua How to Tame a Wild Tongue
Anzaldua writes How to Tame a Wild Tongue as she enters a dual culture society. The
two genres that she is presented with are the American English language culture and the
Spanish Chicano culture. In this piece of writing the genre is culture, and Anzaldua faces
the struggle of affiliating with the American culture and her original Spanish culture. The
narrator is expected to stay true to her original Spanish culture, but adhere to her new
genre; the American ways and speak clear English. She is also pressured by Mexicans
along with Americans to speak a certain way and when she tries to develop her American
language she struggles with annunciation and speech. She states, If you really want to
insult me, talk badly about my language (Anzaldua 112). As the American culture tests
her ability to reform from her Latino ways, this is both a mental and physical struggle.
When she presents her writing in multiple languages these references she is discussing
contain various value to genres with specific audiences. Regardless of the genre and
cultural struggle, the main message that Gloria is trying to get across is that for any
young individual going through an identity crisis they are not alone. Being a Mexican is
a state of soul-not one of mind. Anzaldua makes this statement as a realization that her
heritage will always be a part of her, even if she is taught and educated as a newfound
American. She also states, I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will
have my voice; Indian, Spanish, white. I will have my serpents tongue- my womans
voice, my sexual voice, my poets voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.
Ultimately, Glorias strong quote relates to genre due to the values that each culture
possesses.
Genre in my opinion, is defined as a category of artistic composition, as in music
or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter and audience is
categorized as the assembled spectators or listeners at a public event, such as seen in a
movie, play, and other literature forms. Anzaldua has represented my definition of genre
through connection to her audience by preaching her struggles between the American
language and her Spanish language. As the cultures clash, she is slowly testing her
strength and the type of person both her cultures develop her to become. The
significance of genre and audience in writing is that the author or writer of a specific
piece needs to understand their target market through what they write and how they write
it. Generally, one is able to read a small description on the inside or back cover of a book
to understand what the book is about if the title isnt specific. In other forms of writing
such as essays and speeches the thesis is what directs the audience to the genre at hand.
Genres attract audiences that are interested in the topic. Gloria Anzaldua explains how
she relates to the two definitions by her wild tongue and her transition to the North
American culture. She explained how regardless of the scolding her north American
audience provided her with, back in her original culture, her wild tongue defines her
interests and original belonging to her specific culture.
Julia Anzano Draft 2
Sherman Alexie The Lone Ranger and Tonto fistfight in Heaven
Gloria Anzalduas writing reminds me of The Lone Ranger and Tonto fistfight in Heaven
by Sherman Alexie. The Lone Ranger is a Native American who in his homeland is
viewed as a famous figure, but in the rest of the American world and culture where for
part of the time he leaves the range and lives with his white girlfriend in Seattle he is

viewed as a stranger. The context is from the view point of Native Americans in the
twentieth century that were involved in the World War II national defense as employed
natives, natives who have been forced to moved due to patriotism and westernization.
Native Americans during this time have been building economically and culturally
against overall society and the process is slow and dispiriting. Unfortunately, due to the
narrators appearance and color he is a stranger to the culture and looked at as a criminal.
He is going through an identity crisis where he is in between his native culture and the
western American culture. This story relates to genre because the struggle to relate to
both of his native and western cultures that capture values that relate to genres which
allow the narrator to connect with each of his audiences in the story; those who he lives
on the range with and those who he encounters in his new culture such as his white
girlfriend. The fights that the narrator and his girl friend go through also hint at the
struggle he is facing with identifying with the western white culture and how is heritage
clashes as to why their relationship ends poorly. Ultimately, the lone ranger is unable to
truly connect with his new culture so he returns to the range where he resides. When the
narrator encounters people such as authority they look at him as if he does not belong in
the store and the town and the narrator thinks, I wanted to tell him I didnt really fit the
profile of the country (Alexie 108). This short story reminds us that Gloria was not the
only one facing an identity crisis and those who are faced with one are able to connect to
this genre of writing which in the big picture relates to identity, but can also be
compartmentalized into types of culture such as native American and white. The relation
between Anzaldua and Alexie allows us to see in their writing that they both struggled
with culture and their values, languages, and other aspects that conflict with two cultures.
The lone ranger eventually goes back to the reservation with his family after breaking
up with his girlfriend and states, Indians can reside in the city, but never live there
(Alexie 110). This quote is a primary example of the two conflicting genres as they are
two cultures, where a native American can exist in the city, but not truly live there
because they are deemed as not belonging and there was a lack of belonging for the
narrator, because even though he was educated enough to belong in the city, his native
roots and comfort level were on the reservation. The Indian reservation is his primary
culture and when he refers to his home, he refers to it as being a distant venture for him
as well as his future; he is truly unsure where he belongs. Stereotypes that come along
with the Native American identity crisis of the twentieth century consist of alcoholism,
access to education lacks, and poverty. As the story later continues with Tonto at the very
end of the story a white mother has a baby with an Indian father and she says, both
sides of this baby are beautiful, which identifies the two cultures and genres the baby
will soon be inner twinned with.

Annotated Bibliography
"THIS IS WATER." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKYJVV7HuZw
There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish
swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, Morning, boys, how's the water?
And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at
the other and goes, What the hell is water?- David Foster Wallace. By starting his
commencement speech with this statement Wallace is giving the audience an idea of what
the speech will entail. The quote is informal and says hell at the end of it, which also
adds to the informality because in a formal speech there would not be any profanities
necessarily. The audience can almost tell immediately that the speech is going to be
somewhat relaxed, but not too relaxed because Wallace is a professional novelist and it is
a commencement speech. Wallace created his own version of the commencement speech
genre, in the sense that yes, it is a commencement speech, but it is one that deviates
from the routine commencement speech. By involving informality and a tone that more
relates to the audience, Wallace is isolating himself from the other the commencement
speakers giving his speech a certain twist. He forces his audience to reflect on their lives
and how they are living their lives through his words and rhetorical devices; such devices
include the anecdote about the fish in the water oblivious to their surroundings and the
man going through tedious adult life routines. He is also very blunt. Throughout the
entire video he is very clear what point he is trying to get across. Here's one example of
the utter wrongness of something I tend to be automatically sure of: everything in my
own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the
universe, the realest, most vivid and important person in existence (This Is Water). He
has no intention of coming across as a person who is different from everyone else and is
actually aware that he needs to take other peoples lives into account. By stating this hes
empathizing with the audience, letting them know theyre not the only ones who may see
themselves as the center of the universe. This also adds to the genre; he is connecting
with the audience, where as normally the commencement speaker would give a lesson to
the graduate college students that he/she has already learned and is passing on the
wisdom from that experience, Wallace is giving them a lesson that he also needs to take
wisdom from. By giving the example of the scenario about the man with the tedious job
who is grudgingly forced to go to the grocery to buy food because he does not have any
in his home. He is annoyed with the people around him because they seem to be just
putting around while he actually is in a rush because all he wants to do is relax after a
long day at work. Everyone, especially the parents and older adults, in the audience can
relate to the scenario. They have all been in a situation like that. After going through the
scenario he goes through it again, with a different viewpoint. If I choose to think this
way, fine, lots of us do - except that thinking this way tends to be so easy and automatic it
doesn't have to be a choice(This Is Water). This is the climax. Now Wallace is going to
give them what they are going to remember most from this speech. He rewinds and goes
through each event with a fine-toothed comb, introducing the alternative way of thinking.
With the adjusted scenarios he presents, the audience reflect on their own lives. Again,

please don't think that I'm giving you moral advice, or that I'm saying you're "supposed
to" think this way, or that anyone expects you to just automatically do it, because it's
hard, it takes will and mental effort, and if you're like me, some days you won't be able to
do it, or you just flat-out won't want to(This Is Water).Wallaces revised commencement
speech genre is appropriate for the commencement address and somewhat informal at the
same time with a perfect ending going back to the water concept. His genre is that of
reflection and reevaluating the way a person may go about living their life, and that
despite the popular opinion, there are other people to take into account. His diction and
language make it seem that mundane task to just think about other people, however, the
devices he utilizes causes the audience to turn inwards and examine themselves. It is
about real value of a real education, which has nothing to do with knowledge, and
everything to do with the simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so
hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves
over and over: This is water. This is water (Wallace).