Oh Sh...t?!?!

Carmen Solis

After reading Mr. Bakhtin’s novel, it gave me a much deeper knowledge of the words. While I was reading his novel, a sentence grabbed my attention. It said: “…he rushes madly on, across the puddles, besmirching passerby with mud and laughing merely when lumps of clay cover his legs and face, ruddy with springlike, animal gaiety” (Bakhtin 241). The word besmirching with mud caught my attention. I have never heard the word besmirching in my life and I try to find a synonym for the word and it said “damage.” My first impression was that the “boy” was throwing mud at the crowd but after reading the novel, I was surprised that it meant something else. This is where Mr. Bakhtin’s opening quote came handily when he said: “I want to understand you, I study your obscure language.” He is examining language, more specifically words and their meanings. Words have meanings, but their meaning always change as time passes by. Like in the sentence above, the word besmirching with mud does not mean throwing mud, but debasement with excrement. Specifically, it means that the boy was throwing excrement and urine at the crowd. It was their tradition. Mr. Bakhtin wanted to take a step further beyond the obvious and try to connect with their culture, which he did. He reached his goal when he understood the word, but also the culture that had behind it.
Mr. Ammon also used excrement in his story and poem. The story was passed orally to teach the little ones a lesson. Excrement or urine was thought, back then, that it was connected with the cycle of life: Death and Birth. To understand the story about Trickster, I believe that the reader has to understand in what period was the story passed down. We as the readers have to acknowledge those people’s thoughts and understand the words as Mr. Bakhtin said. For me, I only can see that the story is entertaining and talks about poop. But, in reality, it is talking about that we do not have to be prideful and think that we rule the world. They said this but in a funny way. In Mr. Ammon’s poem, I only see that he is talking about shit. Maybe it has a meaning behind it, but I just cannot see it. I know that he uses sarcasm and the words between the parentheses add a little more humorous meanings. In general, I really enjoy the stories and poems and I got the chance to comprehend the words even though some of them did not make sense.