In the oral culture, the individual derives identity from
the group. Members act with the group, as representatives of the larger body, not as individuals. They follow a leader (Ong 54-5).
The individual in a literate culture forges identity from the influence
of significant individuals and teachings in the literary and artistic
cultural, formal and informal canons. The person is advised not to be a lemming, not to be a follower. The individual seeks not just to be different, but to be different in a productive way. He or she is urged to find the method of operation that benefits him or her personally (in addition to the family, the community, and the society), not just the path of least resistance.
Example
• Breaking the confines of the shell that more or less
encases each individual, literature allows readers' minds to emerge
into the imaginations of the most thoughtful writers who have ever
lived. I, personally feel deeply grateful, privileged, and ennobled
to count Yeats, Plato, Shakespeare, and Dostoevsky among my mentors.
I am who I am because of alphabet literacy. To bring this charge
against the written word, I had to use the written word to assist
me in solving this complex whodunit--an irony not lost on me.
--Dr.
Leonard Shlain
• In the 2002 film, The Time Machine, Dr. Alex Hartdegen, Columbia University
professor of applied mechanics and engineering, criticizes the students he sees on the street for wearing the same kind of headware, a bowler hat, which is a symbol for something much more important. In the clip available here on YouTube, the dialogue below takes place in the segment that goes from 2:30 - 3:23.
[In discussing a negative a rejected proposal with colleague, Dr. David Philby as they walk] Alex: The dean suggests I focus on something that might actually help mankind, like his study on the benefits of tobacco consumption.
Philby: Alex, the problem is, your ideas are a bit too, radical.
Alex: The problem is with the faculty! They're dinosaurs! They're already extinct; they just dont'know it. You know, one day, they'll be discovered by some future archeologist, and he won't know what to make of them, their dimwit lives devoid of any curiosity.
Philby: This is your first year as associate professor. You might want to play things a little bit more conservatively.
Alex: You sound just like my father. Look at them, Philby, all alike - all in identical bowler hats. Do you want your students to turn out like that?
Philby: I want my students to be prepared for the realities of the world they are about to greet.
Alex: I don't! I want them to run along this street and knock off every bowler they see!
• In this example from the New Testament, Christ challenges the people listening to distinguish themselves by a higher standard.
43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
6
1 "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.
3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 5 "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 "When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. -- Matthew 5:43-6:1-8 (NRSV)