Thoughts from Madison Nef
In this chapter, Yutang starts off by stating that man’s dignity is something to be questioned. “Man is indeed the best animal, if we are going to call ourselves that.” I agree with Yutang- as he puts it, we started our own civilization from scratch and brought it up. Out of all animals, we are also the ones with the best form: we have almost all things that animals have only one of per species. For example, horses are strong, peacocks and parrots are well-dressed, doves are gentle and loving, larks are good singers, and so on and so forth- but humans have all good things in one package.
Yutang goes on to say that however out of all animals besides humans, he finds the monkey so intriguing. There is something about monkeys that shows him that while clever, they are still foolish and proud of their so-called “intelligence”. This makes him thankful to be human, but it also leads him to say that if we are so similar to monkeys, just on a more advanced level- we shouldn’t be so proud of our intelligence and discoveries until we are certain of what we have.
Here is where I disagree with Yutang: I think we, as a race, SHOULD be proud of our intelligence and how far we’ve come! He states on the very first page of the chapter that humans are the best animal, yet now says we should not take pride in it. I think that we SHOULD! Even monkeys are oblivious to their own stupidity because they don’t KNOW BETTER- and neither do we. If there is a species that we don’t know about that is even smarter than we ourselves are, then we are just living in oblivion to them anyway. So, while we are alive, why not be proud of who we are and what we’ve accomplished!?!
Moving right along, Yutang then starts contemplating how man even STARTED to form his own civilization- and once again, related us back to monkeys by saying that like them, we have a playful and insatiable curiosity and we experiment with what we are given. While this is true to some extent, I think constantly referring to monkeys isn’t the best way to go about things. I get that they are a good metaphor, but GEEZ! Every single line is saying something about monkeys. We get it; we’re all related to them and we were modeled after them and at times, we act like them. Now stop.
It was Yutang’s belief that if not for our monkey ancestors, we wouldn’t have good fine motor skills- saying that what helped monkeys and apes learn these motor skills was the lice that they had. He also said that in the monkeys, the larger differences between male and female could be seen. For example, female apes realize that the males are stronger and can win in fights. So, instead of fighting, female apes use more charm to get what they want by grooming their faces and plucking hair from them. They also raise the children and teach them to walk.
Today, females in society are formed like this as well. Men are stronger and generally women are sweeter and more… gentle. Females generally do care more about their appearance, and do use their compassion and looks to get their way. Yutang believed that our female ancestors were also the ones who started off the English language and formed words through communication. Using a stereotypical approach of women loving to talk amongst each other and gossip, Yutang said that likely the first communication was between two females and from there, language sprung forth.
Well, I have no reason to NOT believe Yutang, and language had to start somewhere- and pinning it on females is as good as anything else. To this day, women do seem to be more social and “chatty” than men, so it makes a little bit of sense. How do you think human language started? Let me know in the comments.
Maddie
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