Research Proposal

Benjamin Dorin

“Women and Children First?:” A Critique of the Chivalry of the Twentieth Century 

Introduction 

I conjecture that Chivalry, known as being a gentleman, has suffered greatly in the past 100 years. From the sinking of the Titanic until now, we have seen a decline in how men view women, treat women, and behave in regards to women. This can been seen in the many television ads and newspaper advertisements that have elevated the woman to the status of objects, as if that was an elevation at all. Furthermore, as you progress from the early twentieth century until now, from the rise of the industrial revolution to the sixties and seventies, you can see a shift in how woman want to be treated and seen by men. Thus, as I look at the trends of the past 100 years and read several articles dealing with the subject, it seems to me that chivalry has become a thing of the past in today’s world.

For my research, I will be asking and exploring several questions: How have events in the past changed how we treat women? How do women want to be treated by men? Have we actually seen a change of how men view women in the past 100 years.

Method 

In order to accomplish this goal, I will first be sitting and watching people interact at the mall as well as at the store. While I observe, I will be looking to see if men carry their women’s groceries, push their carts, and hold the door open for them. I will also be looking to see how men respond in a crisis, such as something going missing, a purse being stolen, a jammed finger. Are the men nurturing, protecting, loving, or are they missive, uninterested, or expect the women to take care of it on their own? 

Next, I will interview several “random” men and women on campus and at other campuses around the area, as well as in down town Ames to see what the culture says on the subject. This will help broaden my viewpoint and help me gain incite into the culture’s perspective. 

Furthermore, I will be talking to some social historians to see what trends they have seen. These approaches will help give me a more well rounded view of my topic and help me develop a better argument and thesis statement. 

Lastly, I will consult articles of newspapers and books that have been written either as a history of different events in the past or as topical analyses of my research project. In doing this, I hope to find out what men and women of the past have seen in their era on the subject of chivalry.

Sources 

To begin, I will be looking at the artifact written by Henry Moseman titled, “The Science of Chivalry.” This is an article that looks at the sinking of the Titanic and asks, “what happened there and why? Why do we not see men saying, ‘woman and children first’ today? After that, I will examine a book written by Walter Lord (1917 – 2002) titled, “A Night to Remember.” It is written like a fictional piece but instead is quite historic. Walter Lord interviewed over fifty survivors of the Titanic before writing it. In addition to these sources, I will examine newspapers from the 1920’s to the 1970’s. 

Timeline: 

June 24: Research proposal is due 

June 24: Observe people interact at the store. Set up two interviews on Iowa State’s campus.

June 25: Go to down town Ames and observe men and women’s behavior towards each other. 

June 26: Begin writing and formulating my argument on paper.

June 28: Video record people as I interview them.

June 29: Begin setting up my power point presentation

July 1: First Draft Done 

Significance: 

In society, we have seen a progression of how women and men treat each other. For 100 years, society has been on a general decline as to how women are portrayed. These ideas and practices, such as advertisements using women’s bodies or the sexual harassment directed at women, are a direct result of not treating women as someone to nurture, take care of, protect. Moseman points out in his article, "The Science of Chivalry," that what was seen on the Titanic in allowing women and children off the boat first was social norms triumphing over selfishness. Thus, it is crucial to ask the questions, what happened to those social norms and why do they not prevail today?

Reflection: Rhetorical Analysis

I chose to do my rhetorical analysis assignment on “Jesus Is A Brand of Jeans” by Dr. Jean Kilbourne. This major assignment came after practicing rhetorically analyzing material with five other smaller assignments. Through this process, I have learned how to look at the context, style, delivery, organization, and persuasiveness of what I am analyzing.

In addition to doing a rhetorical analysis, I was required to do a presentation on the subject of my analysis. During the process of preparing the speech, it became evident that I did not necessarily know how to organize my slide into a unique, concise manner that would attract my audience. While I chose a pattern for the power-point presentation I would do, I knew I was an amateur. That said, I am looking forward to the opportunity to further develop my skills in the future.

In presenting the following are things I need to work on:

•           Having more control over my voice, the pitch, and the tone of it. ( I came across very loud during this presentation.)
•           Creating a more concise, more descriptive power-point
•            Utilizing audio and other forms of media to convey my message

Overall, I felt the presentation went well and was good practice for the future.

During the process of rhetorical analysis, I have grown in some ways and still need much improvement in others.

Things to Work On:

•         Starting more broad and moving to narrow
•         Recommending the piece I am analyzing for its strength of argument and not its subject.
•         Not being so focused on details that I miss the main message.

Things I am better at than before:

•         Looking at a piece, knowing how to pick out the main idea, analyze it and ask questions like, “Did the author accomplish his or her goal,” “Was the argument clear and effective,” etc.
•         I am becoming increasingly comfortable writing.
•         Also, the things I listed above as things I need to work on are things I am able to do, but not able to do necessarily well.

Furthermore, I have learned to interact with my peers in group projects as well as receive constructive criticism on the essay I was writing to fulfill my assignment. During a peer response session, Katey Sapp gave me helpful points as to how to improve my piece in clarity, organization, and general structure. I utilized most of what she suggested.

Overall, I have enjoyed the process of learning to write rhetorically and present my work to others. That said, I still have a lot of work to do and will be seeking to not only complete the assignments for English 250 but do rhetorical analysis throughout the rest of my life

Peer Response 2

I wrote my rhetorical analysis on the article by Jean Kilbourne titled, Jesus is A Brand of Jeans. My peer that gave me a response was Katey Sapp. She gave me several important comments that I can utilize in making my write up better. She included helpful quotes to include in my piece as well as pointed out that I need incite - citations. Katey did her rhetorical analysis on the exact same subject. This was helpful, because she knew what I was talking about and could provide helpful insight. I will be utilizing a majority of her comments.

Summary/Reading Response 1: The Cult You're In

Kalle Lasn in his article The Cult You’re In (Common Culture, 49-53) presents a startling assertion that the members of society are members of a cult that has been around for many generations. It is not a religious fanaticism, or even being a zealot of some sect. It is the cult of everyday life, the cult of everyone “dreaming the same dream.” Lasn argues that when we were very young, we joined whether willingly or unknowingly, a cult that would define our lives. Lasn says it started when we were young, begging our moms to bye us the cool little gadget at the store and progresses until all we can think about when we get older is “wealth, power, fame, plenty of sex and exciting recreational opportunities.” We see this in the poorest area of town to the richest from the uneducated to the educated. It is the eight year old that feels powerful after receiving an allowance being able to buy whatever he wants. The majority of society runs down a path, the path of a cult in one direction, the direction of materialism.  

Lasn starts the article by illustrating man’s desire for wealth writing as if he was the man experiencing and being apart of this cult, a man that couldn’t even pay his bills, a man that lives in a self created society, dreaming of BMWs, trips to New York with his girlfriend, and luxury. He then progresses and talks about those that don’t contribute to society, referring to them as the “slacker camp.” These, to Lasn, contribute to the cult stating, “The cult members aren’t really even citizens because they are merely consumers.” All of these categories help contribute to the general drive and similar dream of everyone, the dream to possess. This, to Lasn, is the cult we are in.

Collaborative Writing: "Breaking Down Borders"

Set at Borders cafe in Westwood, CA, Robert Samuels observes how technology has taken down the borders between the public and the private sectors and between work and play. Samuels argues that these "commercial public squares," such as the cafe, have become neither public nor private but more of a blurred domain of our social and personal lives. In conclusion, Samuels states that the way technology has transformed our culture is not necessarily a bad thing but allows us to shift and switch between the boundaries in society. 


Reflection: Collaborative Writing

For the Collaborative writing assignment, I teamed up with Sirui, Ruiman, and Jian. After reading the selected article together in class, we broke it down into four sections – a beginning thesis and three supporting points. Each person took a section. We then wrote summaries for each section on our own. In class on Friday, we combined these summaries into one succinct paragraph that summarized the article.

We chose to divide the labor as stated above because it would give everyone an equal opportunity to reflect on the material, have practice writing a summary, and give everyone a chance to communicate what they thought about the article. Since we had discussed it some in class, our opinions were quite similar. Thus, the succinct final paragraph that we submitted was much easier to write.

Despite working on this summary, I still have a lot to work on. For me, the writing of a summary is not easy. I am either two lengthy in my summary and pay way too much attention to the details or I miss the main point entirely. Therefore, I am thankful for the practice this assignment provided, but I am also looking forward to the upcoming assignments where I can build my skills in the area of writing summaries.

 

Reflection: Portfolio Design

This was a very enjoyable project. I tried things I have never done and learned some things about the Blogger interface. From what I have read, it appears that Blogger is a little more complex to use. It required some basic knowledge of code to be able to customize the Blog. For example, the drop down menus you see on the right are because I used template codes and changed them for my purposes. This didn't necessarily require basic knowledge of computer code; however, it did help.

I would like to go step by step through each function of the site:

- The home page is a chronological list of all the posts I put up; however, the tabs in the drop down menu will take you to the specific page of each assignment. This will prove to be more useful as I have more content.

- I chose the different tabs based on the several assignments that we will have to complete during this course. They are labeled in such a way as to communicate exactly what they are for.

- The drop down menus to the right will link each individual assignment as I complete them. Instead of having to scroll through pages and pages of content, you will be able to go directly to each assignment, read it, and comment on it without any trouble.

- In addition to the drop down menus, I have provided a way to search the site. I will be labeling each post with searchable tags. This will also allow you to find what you are looking for specifically without having to look through content.

Note: Each of the widgets is for ease of use. The easier the content is to find, the happier the reader.

- The picture in the background was chosen because of this being a communication course as well as a writing course. I found the notebook background to be quite fitting. 

I have never coded a drop down menu before; so, I now have a basic knowledge of changing code to fit my needs. I will not say getting everything the way I wanted it was easy, but I greatly enjoyed designing my webpage.

The following is a list of goals I need to work on in the area of portfolio design:

1. Appearance: The design could be better. In the drop down menu, the words don't all line up with the menu background.

2. Navigation: While I feel the website is easy to navigate, it may not be to my viewer. I would like all ages to be able to navigate the website. The tabs are not easy to understand. They don't necessarily communicate what they need to.

I am happy with what progress I have made in this project, but I look forward to improving the site as I get suggestions and comments on how to make it a better blog.