Assignment 7

Choices

Taxidermy Developed Into an Art
1. Why does Orlean choose to play  on her reader's emotion over the controversial art of Taxidermy?

   I personally was confused as Orlean was going back and forth between loving and hating Taxidermy.
"The deer came in heards, in carloads, and on pallets" and "There were millions of eyes, boxes, and bowls; of them some as small as a lentil, and some as big as a poached egg" (Orlean 1). Orlean's tone as she describes what she saw felt like disgust and repulsiveness especially through the discription of those details. She uses words like "carloads" and "pallets" to describe the excessive amount of dead animal carcases and hides that she had witnessed coming into the Taxidermy Convention (Orlean 1). She also uses comparative words like "as small as" and "as big as" in order for her readers to make a connection between the size and details of the body parts that these Taxidermist's used. Also thoroughout the text, Orlean includes a part that showed the growing popularity of Taxidermy as an art and  not for sport. "In 1971, the National Taxidermy Association was formed" (Orlean 2). This quote illustraes Taxidermy as an art and its growing popularity within the common culture. Orlean, throughout this texts also describes the beauty for such winderful pieces of art including two- tree sparrows that were going to stop building their nest and fly away" (6). It is almost inevitable that an individual will assume an art such as Taxidermy as a dark art because of how they percieve it based on what they learned before. Not every person or the same culture oercieves Taxidermy in this way.  Orlean, in her text, has immersed herself in an environment full of Taxidermy to explore  the side of Taxidermy as agrowing art in the popular culure by exploring the different elements and amount of work it takes to create such a lifelike work of art.  I think that Orlean is pulling the attention of the readers who share feelings of disgust for making models with dead animals in order to pull the readers interest back in by persuading them that Taxidermy is an art of admiration for nature.


2. How does Orlean's choice to play on her reader's emotions contributes to her purpose?
   Orlean's choice to play on her reader's emotions is a conscious decision made in order to keep puling their attention back to the text so that they want to know and read more about it. She shared similar feelings of disgust and admiration as she analyzed what she saw while and the conversations she had with some of the Taxidermists at the convention. Taxidermy as an art takes a steady hand and tteious work to produce great pieces of art. It also takes an individual who is willing to get their hands dirty and possibly mess with dead animals that some individuals who dislike the idea of Taxidermy constitute that as a taboo and therefore has a negative implication towards it. "To be good at Taxidermy, you have to be good at sewing, sculpting, painting, and hairdressing and mostly you have to be a little bit of a zoology nerd" (Orlean 2). This quote describes the kind of work that it takes when taking part in an art such as Taxidermy. Orlean is giving the idea, in this quote, that Taxidermy does not necessarily have to be something that you have to like. It shows the similarities, skills, and growing admiartion for what they love to do. Orlean also explains this while using the term nerd. Using the term nerd allows the readers to make that connection they have something that they are really good at and enjoy doing similar to those who love and enjoy taking part in Taxidermy.

3. Why do you think that Orlean includes eccentricity about Taxidermy in the text?
    After reading the first two paragraphs of Orlean's essay "Lifelike," I automatically envisioned the mental image of dead animals killed and carelessly thrown into a pile to make sport with them. "The deer came in heards, in carloads, and on pallets" (Orlean 1). I personally do not agree with killing or even messing with the dead but as I read "Lifelike", my perception of Taxidermy as a taboo began to change. I think that Orlean was trying to persuade her readers that Taxidermy is considered to be an art shown by Taxidermist's love of animals. A quote that I found to be interesting was a woman that said, "I love deer. They're my babies" (Orlean 2). This quote made me think that this woman was crazy and out of her mind. When I read it again, I began to understand the connection that Taxidermists have with animals and creating them into works of art that would be around for a long time. This quote showed the eccentricity that this woman had for animals which I can see develop in many Taxidermists to some degree. One becomes so invested and makes a connection with their pets and other animals that they want something that will constantly give them that memory.

History of Taxidermy

1. How does the history of Taxidermy allow the reader to understand Orlean's essay?
    Being given the context of Taxidermy, it allows the reader to understand how it has grown into an art and perhaps why people have chosen to do it. "Taxidermy has been around and has grown in popoularity sincethe Victorian times"(Orlean 1). "There was a Soiety of American Taxidermists which hekd annual meetings and published scholarly reports" (Orlean 2). This quote alone shows the growth of Taxidermy as it was introduced to the culture at the time. It also shows that the members of that culture began to show a litle bit more acceptance of such a messy and unclean art of Taxidermy. "In 1971, the National Taxidermy Association was formed" (Orlean 2). This quote caught my attention because I think that Orlean is showing her readers how fast the interest pf Taxidermy took root and the amount of attention it has brought to this new and still growing popular form of art. Being given the history of Taxidermy and the growing admiration of what is now considered as an art allows the reader to understand why people do it and also why it has slowly grown away from the negative notions that people who are for animal rights may have.

2. Given the background for the history of Taxidermy, does it allow the reader to better understand Orlean's purpose?
   Given the history of Taxidermy it does allow me, as the reader to understand, Orlean's purpose. Orlean is trying to persuade her readers that Taxidermy is a form of artistry that is essentially reconstructing animals in the image of the Taxidermists in such a lifelike way. I think that Orlean did accomplish her purpose because she gives the context of Taxidermy and makes connections between the Taxidermists and those who detest it. A quote that I believe shows a connection that Orlean was making between the reader and the Taxidermists says "To be good at Taxidermy, you have to be good at sewing, sculpting, painting, and hairdressing and mostly you have to be a little bit of a zoology nerd" (Orlean 2). This quote shows a connection of the similarities between Taxidermists and people who are skilled at different things which most people consider nerds to be. Orleans includes this quote to make the connection that each person are all skilled at one thing or another and it does not have to necessarily be the same thing. Taxidermy takes just as much interest and skill just like any other hobby or subject that one takes pride in and are really good at.