Yesterday in class, we revisited Tetsuya Ishida‘s Seedlings and examined the sample summary and commentary that follow.
Summary
Tetsuya Ashida’s painting Seedlings depicts a classroom of uniformed Asian teenagers, all males, whose teacher, seen only from the shoulders down, holds a textbook in one hand. He drapes his other hand on the head of one of the pupils, one of two students presented as microscopes with human faces.
Commentary
Although the subject at hand is biology, the study of living organisms, the student seedlings barely seem alive themselves as they stare blankly into the distance. The uniformity Ishida depicts with their haircuts, crested blazers, striped neck ties, and rows of desks, takes a surrealistic twist with the images of two pupils who have transformed into microscopes. By placing the teacher’s hand on one of the students-turned-microscope, Ishida indicates that the instructor—himself objectified by the absence of his head—approves of the metamorphosis, that for him, the goal of education is for the individual to be consumed by the subject itself, becoming merely a cold metallic instrument.
Takeaways
- A summary of a text, whether the text is a written or visual one, is a third-person objective overview. In the sample summary above, I did not comment on the students’ facial expressions because a summary by definition is free of commentary.
- The commentary could simply begin, although the subject is biology, I chose instead to write, “Although the subject at hand is biology” to return to the image of the hand that appears in the summary. Repeating a word or concept from the previous paragraph is one way to create a graceful transition.
- Using adjectives, such as “uniformed” and “Asian” to describe the students gives the commentary both specificity and brevity. Those adjectives offer readers details with far fewer words than these statements: The students are wearing uniforms. The students are Asian.
- Though the information about the instructor set off with em dashes is nonessential, I include it because it demonstrates how the students-turned-microscopes and the teacher are objectified in different ways. The students are literally becoming objects (microscopes). The artist, Tetsuya Ishida, objectifies the instructor by depicting him only from the shoulders down.
Check, Please! and Current Events
Last week’s news featured a story that presents a twist on a concept Mike Caulfield introduces in the second lesson of Check, Please! The story involves the sale of a bankrupt company. Posting the correct answer as a comment on this blog post will earn you five bonus points for tomorrow’s Wordplay day assignment/Scrabble score sheet.
Directions
- Compose a comment that identifies the related concept (introduced in lesson two), briefly summarizes the story, and names the companies involved.
- Post your comment as a reply to this blog entry no later than 9 a.m. tomorrow, Friday, November 22. (To post your comment, click on the post’s title, and scroll down to the bottom of the page. You will then see the image of an airmail envelope with a leave comment option.)
I will approve your responses (make your comments visible) after the 9 a.m. deadline. Commenters will receive five bonus points for their November 22 Scrabble assignment.
Next Up
Wordplay Day! To prepare for class, revisit the Dictionary and World Builder pages on the Scrabble website, and review the posts on my blog devoted to Scrabble tips.
Jane Lucas 