Monthly Archives: February 2022

A recent ‘wild’ song that I’ve heard is ‘The Rumbling’ from the band SiM. The band is composed of Japanese musicians and singers and mostly performs heavy metal and rock songs. The TV edit of the song was released last month on 10 January 2022 and the full version is now available on spotify since 7 February 2022. The TV edit of the song was also used as the opening theme for the final season of the currently airing hit anime called ‘Attack on Titan’.‘The Rumbling’ is a hard rock/metal song with english lyrics, which is rare for japanese bands. It ranked No. 1 at the US Hot Hard Rock Songs chart and brought this band to the limelight for a lot of people in the west.

The reason I think the song is wild is not because of the lyrics by themselves but from the conjunction of the lyrics and events taking place during the final season. The lyrics provide a new perspective to our protagonist, Eren Jaeger’s tumultuous and eventually flawed way of thinking. Since the last season of the show, we’ve seen Eren progress from the relatable protagonist to an insensitive monster. The lyrics ‘All I ever wanted to do was do right things, I never wanted to be the king’ show us that even when committing atrocious crimes like genocide, Eren thought that he was doing right by his people. This way of thinking is just unthinkable and ‘wild’. The later lyrics ‘If I lose it all, slip and fall. I will never look away’, given context from the show, seem to denote that even if Eren loses himself, his family, and his humanity trying to save his people by committing more atrocities, he won’t budge from the path he has adopted. That kind of determination, even if it is for all the wrong reasons, seems ‘wild’ to me. The metal/rock genre, along with the lyrics and visuals of the video make it a truly ‘wild’ experience for me.

For the topic of wild sports, I wanted to talk about Cricket, which I grew up with. Cricket is like a souped up version of baseball that goes on for longer and is much more physically taxing. It’s a bat and ball game where one team gets to bat and score as many runs as they can without getting ‘out’ while the bowling team throws the ball at the batsman in hopes of hitting the wicket behind him and getting the player ‘out’. The teams consist of 11 players on each side and the roles are decided by a coin toss. In addition, there are commentators and  an umpire in the field who works as a mediator between the teams and gives the green signal on whether the batsman was ‘out’ or not. The amazing thing about cricket is that it isn’t divided based on socio-economic backgrounds at all. That means the game is unanimously enjoyed by everyone. The roots of cricket though, have been defined by male dominance. Called the ‘Gentleman’s Game’, cricket is heavily saturated by male players and even though women’s leagues exist, they are often overshadowed by men’s cricket. Regarding my chosen video that highlights a male player, Yuvraj Singh, scores six sixes in an over, even though everyone playing in the field is a man, the crowd is a mix of all kinds of people – men and women. My view about playing sports and gender in cricket is that even though women’s cricket may not be enjoyed by the masses, atleast men’s cricket isn’t undergoing gatekeeping and is enjoyed by men and women alike. In my opinion, cricket is literally the definition of the phrase ‘crowd going wild’. As you can see from the clip, cricket isn’t a contact sport like football so wild encounters among players are rare. But the crowds watching the big cricket matches are some of the loudest, craziest, and yes ‘wildest’ people I have been around. I think that the wildness in cricket doesn’t come from the players but from the cheers of the crowd itself.

The “Wizard of Oz”is a story written by the author L. Frank Baum and published in 1900. The book features a young girl named Dorthey who is lifted up into a tornado and transported to the land of Oz. There she meets a lion, a tinman, and a scarecrow who all decide to travel together to see the wizard to ask for their desires. Frank Baum communicates this story to children but gives an underlying message for the adult audience. The story presents a fantastical world for children to read but conveys to adults a commentary on American Politics at the time. The wizard behind the curtain in the story represents how leaders and politicians are really not doing anything to help the people and are just hiding the truth behind closed doors. The Wizard of Oz is certainly written as a children’s story and is targeted to them as the audience due to the nature of the story and how the book itself is written but it gives a deeper message for adults who are also reading the book to pick up on. 

The word “wild” in the Wizard of Oz is used mainly in relation to nature and wild animals. Frank Baum uses the word “wild” in the book multiple times “full of bogs and marshes and covered with tall, rank grass…But here the country seemed wilder than ever”. In this quote, the author uses the word “wild” to describe the landscape. He uses the word to describe how disorganized, uncivilized, and untamed the area was. This word is used to describe how far away from civilization and how fantastical the land of Oz is. 

-Stephanie Wilhite

New Attempt

The Wizard of Oz is written by Frank Baum who communicates his messages and ideas through the narration of the main character Dorothy. Reading the introduction of the Wizard of Oz yields some insight into Frank Baum’s motivation for writing the story. He discusses the joy and wondrous nature of children and his desire to “please children of today” by providing a story that does not include the scary and negative parts of other fairy tales. In obvious terms it seems that Baum chose to write for children; however, closer analysis and examination of the different themes present in the story reveal ideas that a more mature age group could grasp. The messages the story emparts regarding appreciating where you are and seeing the good in people apply to all as timeless lessons. 

In chapter 21, The Lion Becomes the King of Beats, Baum chooses words filled with imagery to allow the reader to visualize what Dorothy and her companions are seeing. In this passage the word wild is used to depict wilderness and untamed land. The imagery of “tall, rank grass” occurring in a “disagreeable country” supports this definition of wild. With this being the opening of a new chapter, the reader can immediately picture the setting of the story as the journey continues. A careful selection of words can do this expertly and makes reading a story such as this quite enticing. This definition of wild is common in many languages other than English especially when used to describe wild animals. 

The Wizard of Oz, a story communicated by author L. Frank Baum in a third-person point of view manner, entails the story of a girl who gets stuck in the middle of a tornado which ends up taking her to the land of Oz. Along her way, she encounters different people being a lion, tinman, scarecrow, and witch along with magical events giving this experience a dream-like feeling. Although this appears to speak to a younger audience and comes across like a children’s book, once analyzed and paid attention to, this story has deeper meanings and messages which speak to an older audience and can be considered an adult story.

In chapter 18, they use the word wild to refer to a beast. ” I am really a wild beast,” says the character and, throughout the other chapters as well, wild is used when describing animals which would be in a way dangerous since they have not been tamed and act to survive. Similarly, in another case, the author writes “wild crows”. In this paragraph, we can see logos when they say “there are wild beasts in the woods” since the woods can be seen as a dangerous place that contains dangerous animals, and in this place that would be beasts. We see ethos because himself the character is saying “I am a wild beast” so we know he is a credible source.

The Wizard of Oz is an interesting novel because it’s usually considered a children’s story due to the funky characters and magic, even though some believe the story actually alludes to further hidden meanings that only mature adults can comprehend. The communicator of this piece would be the author, Frank Baum, because he is using third-person point of view to narrate this story. The audience to which this book is marketed towards would be children because of the whimsical characters, however, this piece speaks to mature adults on a deeper level through its hidden metaphors and symbolism. 

A passage in this novel that contains the word “wild” would be the second paragraph in chapter 6. Here, the author is describing Dorothy’s and her friends’ journey through the woods as they walk along the yellow brick road. They hear sounds of various animals and the narrator notes, “But now and then there came a deep growl from some wild animal hidden among the trees. These sounds made the little girl’s heart beat fast, for she did not know what made them; but Toto knew, and he walked close to Dorothy’s side, and did not even bark in return.” In the context of this sentence, the word “wild” is describing animals that reside in the woods as untamed and ferocious. The rhetorical appeal of ethos is used when Dorothy’s small dog, Toto, is given credibility in knowing that the wild growls they heard belong to larger, more dangerous animals. The rhetorical appeal of logos is also used when Toto relies on reasoning and decides to not mess with the unknown beasts by barking back at them. Finally, the rhetorical appeal of pathos is also seen in this passage when Dorothy’s feelings are clearly portrayed as her heart starts to beat super fast because she is afraid of the wild animals.

Katsiaryna Aliashkevich

The Wizard of Oz is a popular classic novel written and published in 1900. It features a young girl who gets stuck in a tornado that takes her to the land of Oz. In Oz, the girl gains several friends and companions in her adventure. The communicator of this novel is the author of the book, L. Frank Baum. Baum is best known as a popular author for children’s books at this time. I believe that the audience of this book can be a number of people. At the surface level, the story is appealing to children as the main character is a child and features many themes (magics) and characters (witches and wizards) that are common in children’s stories. Though the story may seem childish, the deeper recurring themes and allegorical significance of the Wizard of Oz make it a story for adults. The story features many themes about the state of American politics at the time which could only truly be understood by an adult. 

A passage in the novel that contains the word “wild” in it is at the beginning of Chapter 6 when The Cowardly Lion is introduced into the story. The word is used when Dorthy, Toto, and the Tinman are walking through the woods and she hears the sound of a wild animal in the bushes. This sound scares Dorthy and she describes her heart racing and her fear for Toto, her dog as she walks through the words. In this passage, wild means something animalistic and dangerous is there. This is further exemplified by describing Dorthy’s emotional reaction to the sound and appealing to the reader’s pathos. 

The communicator of The Wizard of Oz is Frank Baum, the author, and Dorothy, the protagonist. I believe the text truly speaks to adults, because if you analyze it deep enough, the characters and themes have a much deeper level than what is seen on the surface. Children aren’t able to pick up on this, but adults are able to process and analyze the deeper meaning within the story. 

Quote from chapter 18: “The road is straight to the South,” he answered, “but it is said to be full of dangers to travelers. There are wild beasts in the woods.” 

Dorothy is with her newly found friends, such as the Scarecrow and the Woodman, and they are looking for a way to cross the desert to go South. The soldier tells them that know one knows, except for the Witch of the South. The soldier tells them that they will have to follow the road “straight to the South” to find her. The soldier has ethos, or credibility because he has been living there for a long time, and he knows of the castle. There is pathos by giving fear to the audience in the line, “it is said to be full of dangers to travelers.” Finally, there is a sense of logos in the term “wild beasts.” The animals that dwell on the road to the south are considered both wild and beasts. Both of these terms, especially wild, can appeal to the audience logically, as they understand the dangers that Dorothy will face can be very uncontrollable and unexpected.

-Major Wheless

The Wizard of Oz is an interesting story because it blurs the line between the genres of children’s novels and adult/young adult novels. At face value, the story appears to be meant for children, with its whimsical characters and life lessons that appear to be fairly simple at first, but some may argue that it is meant for young adults, and that the lessons behind it may be deeper than they first appear. I think the communicator of this novel, Frank Baum, meant to blur this line and allow for a story to be written that could be meant for all ages. The audience of this novel is, I think, mostly children and young adults, although I think there are messages within the story that older adults could enjoy as well. 

Towards the end of the novel, Baum uses the word wild in the passage, “I shall go with Dorothy,” declared the Lion, “for I am tired of your city and long for the woods and the country again. I am really a wild beast, you know. Besides, Dorothy will need someone to protect her” (Baum, ch 18). In this passage, the Lion, after having felt insecure and considering himself a cowardly lion, finally accepts and embraces himself by labeling himself a “wild beast.” The Lion’s use of this word “wild” in describing himself has a positive connotation. He is embracing himself as a lion and allowing himself to feel “wild” instead of cowardly and tame. This positive connotation of the word “wild” is one of the fewer instances of the word being used in a very positive light, since in previous instances, the word was often used to describe the scary creatures that meant to hurt Dorothy.

Anna Ranslem