Question

An Exercise for Your Imagination

Imagine you have been following a path for what seems time without measure during a morning of swirling mists and diffused light when you feel the ground give softly under your leading foot. As your momentum carries you forward, wet ribbon-like strands hit your face before rubbing along either side, some few catching under your arms and between the fingers of your hands. Surprised, you stop and try to orient yourself, failing until a moment when the mists separate to reveal tall grasses before you and your path dividing to the left and right. All signs along the way having appeared meaningless, feeling a sense of dread and quite lost, you see off in the distance and on both sides of the divide someone approaching. Each looks at you without a glance at the other, eventually coming so close as to feel their breath, and begins to speak, their words converging in garbled nonsense until you discover that you can listen to one at a time. Listening to the person on the left you hear something resembling mathematical formulae; listening to the person on the right you hear something resembling a narrative tale. Neither by itself seems able to offer you the understanding you seek, but as you listen more closely, you begin to grasp how the narrative explains the formulae and the formulae concern the narrative…

With your head nearly spinning you begin to realize that both roads lead to your destination.

Your Writing Assignment

Write from the perspective of the lost traveler in the imaginative exercise above.

Which way you would go: Left or Right? Explain your choice.

Who do you think the “travelers” are in relation to the Gilligan article: The one on the left; the one on the right; and, the one seeking their way?

Referring directly to the Gilligan selection (using quotations), relate the imaginary scene of the above exercise to her idea of “…Two views of morality which are complementary rather than sequential or opposed” (p. 6 & 7).

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) (1) Based on the story in the exercise, the traveler is weary and concerned about reaching his destination as soon as he possibly can. Since the narrative mentions at the end that “both roads lead to your destination”, it is irrelevant what road the traveler picks. He might pick the road of the storyteller or the mathematician, based on whichever he finds most comprehensive. The goal is to reach the destination and in the story, both roads will lead him to the same destination but probably through varied experiences along the way.

(2) The traveler represents a human being in pursuit of a solution. Here the traveler is clearly feeling rather drained from a seemingly never-ending journey and he has finally come to a standpoint where he had to pick sides in order to meet his destination. The road he travels could be an allegory for life or even the difficulties one might face in order to come across the solutions to our problems.

The traveler on the left and the right represent two facets of the same solution. The mathematician represents a solution that is solved by the mind and through logic. The storyteller represents a solution that is found through an emotional response from the heart. The traveler here must pick at least one path in order to have the courage to take the leap and solve his problem. Although the finding of solutions might seem chaotic and even incomprehensible at first, upon patient consideration, the traveler is able to understand the situation better. Furthermore, the traveler had to decide on a solution that would lead him to the same destination of a solved problem.

(3) If one might take a coin and observe it, there is a side for ‘heads’ and one for ‘tails’. These sides have very different representations and markings on each side. One side will have a number and the other might have an image. However, both sides are equally necessary to form and coin and are rather inseparable.

This is similar to the man on the left and the one on the right in the story. They lead to the same destination and offer two very different perspectives. However, they are both representatives of the same idea. The reason why the traveler has a choice here is because he must decide between his heart or his mind as the tool for reaching the solution. This is why the two views of morality are complementary to each other.