Voice

Adam Kilwine
Instructor: Wayne Berg
English 121-12
Due: 5/4/07

Voice in its Many Different Forms

How does a person really define a concept like “voice?” Sure, a person could probably look up the word voice in the dictionary and come up with some kind of answer that has to do with a person’s speaking voice, but the “concept” of voice can be shown in many different ways, shapes, or forms. Although some people may not let it surface as much as others, everyone has their own voice and they portray that voice in many different ways. It might be through some kind of visual or performing arts, it may be through writing or just the way that a person speaks in front of others, or it might just have something to do with the way that people act in everyday life. There are infinite ways in which a person can show their own form of voice, privately or out loud for all the world to hear.
In the movie “Smoke Signals” and the story “The Toughest Indian in the World,” Sherman Alexis seems to show certain types of voice through the cultural and traditional qualities that his characters seem to hold so close. In both cases the main characters seem pretty racist toward whites; not to say that that is how all Indians feel. He almost seems to play up this racist behavior a little more than it really should be. Maybe the reason he does this is that it is the way that he was raised or just some past experiences that have given him that racist attitude. Who knows, maybe that observation is very accurate for Indians like these characters. The main idea here isn’t actually where this racism is coming from, but just that it is there and through this racism that Alexis is planting in these characters he is trying to get some point across. He uses these characters and their thoughts and actions to bring out concepts and ideas and in doing so he is building up this major form of voice in his stories.
The other big idea that comes out of both “Smoke Signals” and “The Toughest Indian in the World” is just how the certain cultural and traditional differences can have a big effect on the thinking of these different characters. In both of these stories Alexis mentions the reservations that these Indians have been raised on and they seem to have had a big impact on the lives of certain characters and what is more is that he goes even further in his stories in that throughout he seems to bring up events that compare cultures like life on the reservations with life elsewhere such as in the cities for example. They may seem to be insignificant little changes, but its presence is definitely shown and just having this kind of a presence shows that there is probably some significance higher even, than anyone probably realizes. Again, however, this is just another form of voice that is coming out of these different stories. These forms of voice may not always be as evident, but it is definitely there and much of the time it can make a bigger impact on a person than things that are much more evident.
I am actually starting to see more of these little elements that can actually help me to show some kind of voice through the projects that I have been working on in my first year of architecture. It is often the smallest elements that make the biggest difference. Through the projects that architects design they can show voice through the certain shapes and forms of their buildings whether it is more linear or radial or in some kind of a grid pattern. Then they use methods such as gestalt to add smaller, deeper connections between different parts of their designs. The designs are often influenced by things like time, light, movement through the space and many other variables in order to almost tell a story. These are the kinds of things that help to show an architect’s voice.
Also, this whole idea of culture and tradition showing voice in the two Sherman Alexis stories is an idea that has a huge influence on an architect’s design. This is why buildings are often much different in different countries and even throughout the United States. This is why a building in the city is going to be much different from a building in a place like a little farm town and why something like and apartment building is so much different from something like a church. A successful design should usually have some kind of relationship to the location and the purpose that they have been made for. For example, in some of the latest projects that I have done the landscape and location of that landscape had a huge influence on the design. Architects take what information that they have and use it to their advantage, then they add a personal touch. Looking around an architecture class shows how different one persons voice can be so much different even with the exact same site and information that they are provided with.
These are just a few of the many, many ways that a person can show voice. Everyone has their own form of voice whether they are some kind of influential writer or just some average person in a low paying job trying to get by in everyday life and there is no one way that these many forms of voice can be shown.