The Middle Ages: Why They Read

In my last blog post, I reviewed the reason I thought that people today read. Recently, I had a chance to go with my classical traditions class to the special collections section of the library where we were shown different books and papers used in the middle ages. Times were very different, but people read then two, although possibly with different motivations.

To Discover New Places

                As the bible was one of the most copied texts in Europe in the Middle Ages, people who read (the monks and the nuns and the wealthy) definitely learned of new places in the Middle East where Jesus and the prophets lived, the discover of places they would never see and was likely not a priority, although any message communicated by letter (in their nifty wax-filled boxes that could be wiped clean and reused) was likely sent out to people far distance, so reading was done to discover events outside their own home.

To Learn New Things

                This motivation, then and now, are very similar. People learned how to read so they could read the Bible (and other Christian texts) which makes it easy to conclude that people read to learn. It’s possible that reading could have been completely done away with without the education in the church, so while we read texts to learn, its likely they learned to read for the texts.

For a Different Perspective

                In the middle ages there was the church’s opinion and that basically was it. Most of the stories and education was through the church, and everyone knows what happened to heretics, so there wasn't a lot of new perspectives presented, unless you count the contributions of Christian writers. Many people at that time couldn't read anyways, and so the interpretations of the text by their church authorities were all they had to go on and they couldn't double check to interpret the text themselves.

To Keep up

Breaking news took a long time to arrive by letter, and parchment was expensive, and so it’s likely that no one was really “keeping up” with foreign affairs in the middle ages.

For entertainment

                Given the fact that Dante’s works exist, people definitely read to be entertained in the middle ages, although it was likely more oral that anything. Stories, especially biblical ones, where definitely told to entertain though.

Honestly many of the things we read today didn't exist in the Middle Ages, due to limited education, technology, and the censorship of the church. The church was the authority, and so nothing with immoral themes (which are so popular today) were allowed, and information was obtained by going to church, so the people idea, morals, and even behaviors to an extent were produced by what the church deemed was okay.

Why We Read

There are many possible motivations for reading, but here are the main reasons that I believe are why people pick up books:

1. To Discover New Places

In fourth grade I badly wanted live on Prince Edward Island with Anne, in fifth I despaired never going to Hogwarts and in seventh I was relieved to being free of the tyranny of Big Brother in Oceania. Books take your mind on a journey. They let you imagine new places, new experiences, people different than what you find at home.They also bring you on emotional journeys. You know you cried when Dumbledore died, and cried even harder when Dobby did the same. People read because books give you new experiences.  

2. To Learn New Things

A fortnight ago I read several long sections of a 300 page long thesis on the effect that online reviews have on customer's decisions. Granted, this was for a research article I was writing on a related topic for class, but that didn't make it any less interesting. I read that thesis because contained in it was knowledge that I wanted but didn't have. This is the same reasons I read my textbooks, my scriptures, why I click on the silly articles on Facebook. All of these groupings of text have information that I do not, and I want that information. Learning, coming into new knowledge and vocabulary, is definitely a major motivation for why people read.

3. For a Different Perspective

In the third grade, my travel experience was essentially limited to visits along the West Coast. I had not been further east than Nevada, and certainly had no practical experience on any kind of unhilled land, but despite this I could picture life on the Prairie very clearly. The books of Laura Engalls Wilder were the primary source in my imaginations, and without them I would never have thought of what life in the Midwest was like, never mind life in the 1800s. Books give us a whole different perspective. Through a book I could be anyone else, be it a pioneer or a political leader or even an alien. Books let you see life from the point of view outside of your own and I believe that that is a major reason why people read.  

4. To Keep Up

No one likes being left out. We read newspapers to keep informed, diet books to stay on trend, fiction to stay relevant in conversations. In middle school, every girl in the grade didn't read Twilight because it was good literature (it's not. It's actually really awful) but because all of their friends had read it and they needed to be ale to participate in the conversation. Gossip rags would go out of business if the need to be in the know wasn't present, and no one would read a biography for the same reason. One of the motivations behind reading is people hate being left behind.

5. For Entertainment

Books are interesting. They can be funny, or sad, or filled with action. People want diversion from their everyday lives, and books and movies provide that. I will never be in Elizabeth Bennet's situation, but goodness I found the way she handled it humorous. That is the main reason we read. It keeps us interested and entertained and make us think and gives us new ideas and things to day dream about. 

Juvenal's Satire III, and the Problems of Ancient Rome

In the previous post I wrote what, in my opinion, were some of the worst problems facing us domestically as a society currently. Since then, after reading Juvenal's Satire II, which spoke of the problems in Ancient Rome, it became apparent that issues in our society are not entirely unique to us. 

1. Exploitation of the Environment/Natural Resources

Using up much more than needed, to put on a show and prove you social worth was very much thing to a Roman, who "dresses smartly, above his means, and sometimes something more than what is enough is taken out of another man's pocket. This failing is universal here: we all live in a state of pretentious poverty. To put it shortly, nothing can be had in Rome for nothing." While the smaller population meant the overuse of resources, building big houses and dumping waste into rivers, had a much smaller effect than that of our own nation, but there was a reason Rome expanded and conquered so ardently; Ruling may have been their art, but the wealth of other nations was their real paycheck. By using the labor and resources of conquered land to fund themselves, Rome could expand urbanly and not worry about conserving their own supplies, because they could get more elsewhere.

2. Political Partisanship

While Republicans and Democrats didn't divide the political sphere that was Rome, corruption and detestation of their politicians certainly did. As said by Umbricious in paragraph 41, " No man will get my help in robbery, and therefore no governor will take me on his staff."

3. Poverty

Poverty is ubiquitous, from the derision of poor foreigners, like in paragraph 10, which says "but now the holy fount and grove and shrine are let out to Jews, who possess a basket and a truss of hay for all their furnishings." This is an attitude seen frequently in America, against migrant workers or new immigrants. Those in a better place financially scorn instead of reaching out to help, bitter about sharing their abundant resources with those who have less. Additionally,  in paragraph 126 it states "A man's word is believed in exact proportion to the amount of cash which he keeps in his strong-box." With a country ruled by the rich, those with little means to improve themselves don't really get a say in what is going on, especially with the client-patron relationship in Rome that had them voting for the interests of  the rich man helping to feed in on trade for the most basic of necessities.

4. Lack of family Values

Immoral behavior spans across all cultures, like that described in paragraph 109 of Satire III  which describes those seeking power through connections at a powerful family as such" "there is nothing sacred to his lusts: not the matron of the family, nor the maiden daughter, not the as yet unbearded son-in-law to be, not even the as yet unpolluted son; if none of these be there, he will debauch his friend's grandmother." Pursuing something as important as a family connection for something as shallow as wealth shows a lack of true priorities that characterized both the ancient Romans and modern Americans. Furthermore, if connections are based on power and not on respect, they are fragile and easily broken, allowing for deceit to be more common. 

5. Social Disconnect

Obviously, the Roman's did not have twitter, or Facebook, or even Myspace. The attitudes built by excessive social media, however, like trading fake empathy or exaggerating emotions for the purpose of cultivating the attention of others without ever really connecting to them, is an old game. Like it says in paragraph 86 "If you smile, your Greek will split his sides with laughter; if he sees his friend drop a tear, he weeps, though without grieving; if you call for a bit of fire in winter-time, he puts on his cloak; if you say 'I am hot,' he breaks into a sweat. Thus we are not upon a level, he and I; he has always the best of it, being ready at any moment, by night or by day, to take his expression from another man's face". The term hypocrite comes from Roman actors, which makes it ironic that the Greeks are being described as the ones putting on the show. Nevertheless, trusting more in the words of the emotionally distant, be it that of someone on the internet or on the streets of Rome, causes a lack of connection between the people that hurts those involved no matter the time period.

Modern Social Problems

Romans, as a rule, were very practical. They built more roads and bridges then art. In fact, we can still observe, and often replicate in a modern sense, a lot of the infrastructure that came from the ancient Romans. Infrastructure, however, is not the only innovation out of Rome we still build on today; Satire is also a device that originated in Rome, with the writings of Juvenal. One of the key parts of satire is that it takes societal problems and exaggerates them to prove a point. As such, I will be recounting, in no particular order, what I believe are the biggest problems in American society today.

1. Exploitation of the Environment/Natural Resources 

VS

Being from the pacific northwest, I love trees and rivers and mountains and basically nature in general. While I understand why we need all of the resources we get from the Earth, it makes me very sad for areas in the US with smoggy air and not a lot of nature around (so basically anywhere urban), because I think being in a forest (or canyon or lake) brings a sense of peace, and the lack thereof influence people negatively. It's easier to see the big picture when you can climb a a trail to see the horizon, and the lack of access people have to that definitely contributes to an inflated sense of self. 

2. Political Partisanship

It's a prevailing notion that nothing gets done in Congress, and what is passed half the population is dissatisfied by. While our legislature was designed to be inefficient, our political system wasn't. The fact that our elected leader are so divided that issues become "us vs them" and not about the people they effect is a real problem, and not only leads to dissatisfaction without government, but an unreasonable divide between two groups of otherwise reasonable people. Hatred, no matter what difference cause them, is impractical and creates tension where there should be cohesion in both our government and the people it governs.

3.Poverty

Rarely is it the individual's fault that they are impoverished. We are taught that charity and service are very important, and neglecting the poor of the country does nothing to fulfill that order. All people should have access to good food, clothing that fits, opportunities to advance and a safe shelter. Prevalent poverty hurts those effected, and gives them no room to advance or improve and the stress of that hurts the mentality of our society as a whole. Poverty is definitely a problem in American that we should be doing whatever is within our means to help correct. 

4.Lack of Family Values

                                      The following paragraph has nothing to do with Urkel.

Families are the building block of society. They are important, and everyone deserves one, yet the hedonistic trend our society has taken in the last 50 years means that kids are often left without the role models parents should be providing. Things like honesty, self-worth, and hard work should all be taught in the home, but kids pick up on how the parents act and the parents learned form their parents and it just seems to degrade with every generation. I worked this summer feeding children from low income housing, and I would argue that, some behavioral issues aside, all of those kids are good kids. The majority of the issues we had were with some of the parents, They encouraged kids to break rules, or act disrespectfully, and it was really sad and frustrating to see. Parents teach the children and a lack of a good parental figure does no one any favors.

5.Social Disconnect

The fact that I know the details of the lives of friends that I haven't talked to since middle school is a cool one. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites has made knowing of others easier, but in my opinion it has made connecting harder. Emoticons are popular because they make texting more personal. They are necessary because texting is impersonal. While the ability to perform a video job interview from several states away is laudable, the fact that many roommates would rather text then talk in person shows how these instant connector have left us disconnected as a people. I read an article yesterday about how people don't want to even take the time to listen to a voicemail anymore, they would rather read someone's words than hear the person's voice. Being able to communicate is a key element in civilized society, which is why the unwillingness to communicate in person by the current generation is so sad.