In my last post, I wrote of the Absurd - how it powers sentences to make the mastery of Latin (in specific), and the understanding of language (in general), readily accessible. Students tend to progress to the point where they either accept the sentence on its own terms, or provide a context wherein the sentence has meaning for them. Or both.
This is a story about how some of my students opted for the latter path.
When I was in high school, that brilliant, technologically revolutionary masterpiece Star Wars came out, with its (no longer) cryptic moniker, "Episode IV - A New Hope". My friends and I learned the meaning of true devotion. We would wait on line - a line that went all the way down and around the block - to see that movie.
Not once.
Not twice.
I saw it twelve times.
My cousin (friend and fellow SW devotee) and I would write each other often (by snail-mail, the only type then available, unless you wanted FedEx) from our respective boarding schools. In those letters, a couple of lines addressed how life away from home was going; the rest was devoted to lines from Star Wars.
The letters would go on for pages.
Flash forward thirty or so years. In the interim, Episodes V and VI came out, followed by Episodes I, II, and III (these last regarded by SW purists to be uncanonical).
Yoda's manner of speech is readily recognized, predicate complements leading the way:
"Your father he is."
"Gone is young Skywalker, consumed by Darth Vader."
"Only pain will you find."
"Surprised are you?"
"Failed have I."
"Judge me by my size do you?"
"Remember what you have learned. Save you it can."
In their struggle in the Force, Masters Yoda, Windu, Kwaigon, Obi-Wan, and Darths Mogg, Sithius (good second declension Latinate ending) and Vader, bring to the fore the critical role that choice plays in a person's life: it will shape your destiny.
As a linguist and Classicist, I particularly appreciate that Yoda's speech patterns raise our awareness of word order, of syntax, of how language establishes meaning. Our effort to understand him is itself a linguistic exercise.
"If once down the path to the Dark Side you start, forever will it hold you."
"Anger, fear, hatred - the Dark Side are these."
Now in 2007 there has emerged another die-hard, ardent Star Wars following.
These are kids who saw all the Star Wars movies, maybe even in Episode I to VI order. They probably own the dvds and listen to the theme music on i-pods. As for us seasoned Star Warriors, we saw IV through VI first. Then, if we could get over our contempt - and ourselves - Episodes I through III. Or not.
I have seen them all.
That Yoda is one heck of a teacher.
Anyone could learn from him.
"Do. Or do not. There is no try."
So what?
This is what.
In the building blocks of chapter 7 of my Latin text, the final set of sentences translate as follows:
"The skill of the boy conquers his anger."
"The skill of the boy is conquered by anger."
"The boy's anger is conquered by skill."
"They are conquered by the the boy's skill and anger."
"Skill and anger are conquered by the boy."
These sentences could qualify as absurd.
A context would be helpful.
Student, help thyself.
This year, my seventh grade students did.
And what might their context of choice be?
Star Wars
Of course.
Yoda, Master of Jedi Masters, whose favorite metaphor for a padawan's progression in the Force is Path or Road.
Anakin Skywalker, possessed of skill and anger in massive measure.
His was a journey from the Dark Side into Light.
Even the Emperor, Sith though he be, uses similar language:
"I feel your anger. Good. Gooood. I am unarmed. Go ahead. Take your light sabre. Strike me down, and your journey to the Dark Side will be complete."
The Road.
An apt metaphor.
Star Wars.
An unexpected context.
An old and welcome friend.
Even if one seventh grader does think that he's one of the Sand People.
And that I'm the Emperor.