"Time and Distance Overcome" At Klage eller ikke at klage?

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Her sidder man er og en smule chokeret over karaktergivningen af ens skriftlige eksamen i engelsk. - fik 4. Er der, efter jeres mening, incitament til at indgive en klage over den bedømmelse? Det ville være rart hvis i ville være så venlige at skimme og komme med jeres meninger;

”Time and Distance Overcome”
The essay of “Time and Distance Overcome” by Eula Biss, begins with taking us back to the hallow antiquity of the year 1876. Here follows the account of Graham Bell and his revolutionary invention: The telephone – soon to become one of the greatest and most revolutionary inventions that have ever seen the light of day. The telephone inarguably yielded a massive benefit, and played a major part in thrusting the human race into the modern age. The essay tells of how, like all inventions incompatible with their time, faced massive resistance from contemporaries. Obstacles were in place, but nonetheless overcome with time, after all, you’ll find that it is useless to resist progress in name of coveting the old and familiar. Later on, however, having overcome the peoples’ fear of radical change and thus reluctance to embrace the telephone, the essay tells of how the telephone, an invention destined and designed for serving good and civil purposes, was deemed, by the human race, to serve the more vicious and thus malicious agenda of “Lynching”. The phenomenon known as “Lynching” was like the telephone, an American invention, involved hanging the body of an accused or convicted, usually someone of black skin, from any object with a acceptable height from the ground, be it: Bridges, archways, trees, or more relevantly: Telephone poles.
The essay, using very informative contents, with the including of smaller facts of occurrences and circumstances, tells the story of the Telephone and its Endeavour. The composition includes many quotes, taken from several different sources, and a structure that is quite distinguishable, as it tends to switch between event-telling, quotes and the bringing up of included facts that appear seemingly random. Furthermore, event wise, Eula Biss makes a habit of jumping in-between stories, events and most of all: time, with accounts of the past followed by reflections from the present. (see page 1, line 0-10)

“Now I have become death – the destroyer of worlds” – Those were the words of Oppenheimer , shortly after having witnessed the destructive potential of the Nuclear Bomb – an invention, which’s creation was largely owed to his orchestration of the “Manhattan Project”. I’m sure you’re wondering why I would consider bringing this up, but there is a specific aspect of human nature I wish to highlight in doing so. After all the point I wish to draw could be considered invisible to the naked eye. Fission was thus originally invented for warfare, and became a weapon of immeasurable destructive power, but in time, it found its civil purposes in form of utilized nuclear power. You’ll find that many of the civil inventions that we have today are the offspring of military origins: Rocketry, Satellites, the Internet and perhaps the most important – The computer on which I write the very words that you now rest your eyes upon. The Telephone, however, was not invented to serve a military agenda, but in time it nevertheless became a tool to carry out sheer malice, as it served a significant role as a suitable location to place gallows in before-mentioned Lynching. Using Telephone poles to hang people – atrocious isn’t it? Humans are after all, as this essay is also bearing testament of, curious creations with the ability to see a potential destructive use in everything we invent, even though they were not made for that purpose. One might be as bold as to suggest that it is the intentions of author, Eula Biss, to grant us an account of how humans, given a seemingly harmless and peace-serving tool, can make great use of it in the school of violence. It’s a sad fact, but there is much truth in it, and I quote:
“The poles, of course, were not to blame. It was only coincidence that they became convenient as gallows, because they were tall and straight, with a crossbar and because they stood in public placed. And it was only coincidence that the telephone pole so closely resembled a crucifix”
Look around you – can you not see a potential use of violence for every object around you? If not, think me not wicked, I merely try to maintain a realistic approach to the evil I might roam within this fleshy exterior of mine. Evil is to be found within after all.
The essay tells of how Lynching of numerous black men is carried out across the country of the U.S., from Lake Comorant in Mississippi to Weir City in Kansas. However, having said that, the essay mostly tells the story of Lynching being carried out in the states of the south, or the notoriously known Bible-belt, as it’s also known as. Being an American myself, I cannot help but relate to this, you see I’m what you might consider quite prejudiced toward the population inhabiting those areas, as I consider them to be primitive, vicious, ignorant, racist, bible fanatic, Republican tax thieving morons. There is quite a wonderful expression to describe these individuals: “White Trash Rednecks/Hillbillies”. Although Lynching is all but a memory in the past at this point, and would hardly ever reoccur, I cannot help but trace the same mentality in contemporary south state citizens. Naturally I’m wrong to some degree and I should not generalize to such an extent. Furthermore, there is yet another aspect of the essay I wish to highlight, by making use of the quote beneath:
“The war on Telephone Poles was fueled in part, by that terribly American concern for private property and a reluctance to surrender it to a shared utility”
The American mentality, especially many of the radical and South State inhabiting individuals, above all else fears the action of state intervention. Further on, the essay, later on mentions how the construction of Telephone poles was brought under governmental utility management. Is use of Telephone poles for Lynching a reaction of state ownership? After all, for all things in the universe: “Every action will produce an equal and opposing reaction” – Newton.
Integrated into the mentality of contemporaries, their actions might also be a reaction to Telephones de-mystifying of the world as we know it.
“And then perhaps there was also a fear that distance, as it had always been known and measured, was collapsing”
It’s always hard to accept the coming of new things, especially those who turn our perspective on the world upside-down. We are after all creatures of habit, and find tranquility as well as security in the boundaries of the familiar. What we used to know of. I reckon humans tend to fit into the analog of a broken Victorian Clock – The clock is broken and time for it stands still, but all around it things are in constant motion, for while times and things change, people do not. We will thus always resist the future, and feel compelled to seek high ground in the past, as we put down palisades to fight off the upcoming inventions that might rip the world, as we know it, into shreds. Perhaps this can be boiled down to the fact of the matter: Humans fear the unknown. Should I understand that this is the true message of the author? The title “Time and Distance Overcome” seems to bear testament to this statement. After all, the Telephone completely revoked the way we ought to fathom time and distance. Suddenly, they had become entities of lesser significance, where they beforehand, had been taken up a very large part of the world.