Summary

Frank LePena discusses oral tradition's significance. He continues to talk to all of his readers throughout this essay about his experiences and ideas regarding oral tradition. He says that the term "oral tradition" refers to a type of human communication in which cultural materials, ideas, knowledge, and art are received, preserved, and passed down through the generations orally. To put it another way, oral tradition refers to the oral transmission of cultural and ethical knowledge from one generation to the next. Speech or song, folktales, ball, chants, prose or verse, and other forms are used to convey this information.

The values of the culture are maintained through oral tradition. Sharing tradition is not an easy task. The task of oral tradition transmission appears simple in writing and speech, but it is quite challenging in practice. In this setting, young people as well as elders play a crucial role in upholding the culture's values. Elders and followers play a crucial role. Young people need to pay attention to what their elders have to say about cultures, religions, traditions, and values and follow their advice. The young people learn about the customs and various concepts associated with cultures and values from the elders. Young people must assume responsibility for elderly people whose loved ones have passed away.

In order to preserve their community's values and cultures, they must assume responsibility for passing down oral tradition from elders. This way, cultures and values are passed down through generations through oral tradition. By preserving their concepts of tradition and knowledge of community life, young people can keep elders alive. The idea that elders are immortal is passed down from generation to generation.

If we are aware of our culture, tradition will continue to advance in the right direction. Elders were able to achieve the ideal position in their lives thanks to their way of life and concepts about life, belief, religion, culture, and values, among other things. They continued to oral transmit their tradition for the benefit of humanity from generation to generation. They demonstrated the righteous ways to continue on. They shared tradition for the sake of the generations to come and their own lives.

An educational tool for comprehending this natural world is an oral tradition. It is the proper method for safeguarding the people's values and cultures. The author claims that the transmission of oral tradition from generation to generation is hindered by a number of issues.

The following are the issues:

1. Inability to fill the "niche" of elders:

Oral tradition must be passed down from generation to generation in order to preserve our culture. Young people must obey and listen to their elders in order to attain their ideal position (niche). However, it is very challenging to fill the vacancies left by elders. Young people today don't like to follow tradition and culture and listen to them. It is difficult to fill the void left by seniors.

2. People's fascination to modern technology:

Every generation is confronted with cutting-edge technology that supplants outdated ideas and practices. Along with advancements in technology, the modern world and its inhabitants are undergoing significant transitions in the name of progress. Modern technology has been responsible for the alteration of the climate and the natural world. With modern technology, people are no longer connected to one another because of modern technology and their isolation. Due to the absence of active listeners or followers, it is challenging to maintain traditional and cultural values orally in this setting.

3. Impacts of the modern educational system:

People's minds are diverted by the modern educational system and the way it is perceived. The process of conducting research and gathering data is how knowledge of the present is perceived. Oral tradition-related information is made permanent as a result of printing. However, information passed down through oral tradition can be altered or even corrected. People are made to accept information from printed pages, which are full of mistakes and very hard to fix, as part of the educational process. The published information about cultures and values makes it hard to pass values down from one generation to the next through oral transmission.

4. Information's source and method of perception and dissemination:

Oral means are completely necessary for oral tradition. As a literary tradition, it does not have any writing records. Sometimes, the speakers' information is transmitted incorrectly. Sometimes, the listeners even misinterpret the information. The listeners may mistake the historical information of the elders for fantasy because of the generational gap. Validating oral tradition or traditional tales becomes extremely challenging in this circumstance. The speakers and the listeners need to be able to understand each other correctly. The people who are listening need to have faith in what they are hearing. Keeping faith in our ancestors and traditions must guide how information is perceived and communicated.

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT FOLLOWS

a. What is the significance of oral tradition, according to LaPena? How much do you agree with his points of view, and why?

LaPena asserts that the importance of the oral tradition lies in the transmission of our cultural and social values and collective memory and history from one generation to the next through oral means. I wholeheartedly concur with his views because the age old information and knowledge helps in preserving history and cultural identity.

b. Who safeguards and transmits oral tradition?

Oral tradition stands for transmission of cultural aspects, food, dress, language, knowledge from elder generation to the younger generation. Therefore, it is an obligation of both younger and older generation to protect and transfer information and knowledge through oral tradition. Without youths who are willing to listen and without elders willing to teach, oral tradition cannot be preserved.

c. What are the consequences of not passing on knowledge from one generation to the next?

Knowledge are of different types some are religious, some are cultural, some are related to medicine while others are related to food, clothing, and language. All these make up our identity as a community. Without the knowledge of these we will lose our identity and history along with collective memory.

d. What distinguishes literary tradition from oral tradition?

Literary tradition is based on formal education while the other is based on informal education. The former is in written form which is difficult to edit while another is in verbal form which can be edited or discarded if found faulty. Literary tradition knowledge believes in researches and facts while oral tradition is based on knowledge transferred from generation to generation based on relative application. In Nepali culture we believe that before touching a newly born baby, we should either touch fire or water which is an example of oral tradition.

e. In what manner does LaPena connect art and oral tradition?

Almost all the cultures around the world have their own painting style such as Mithila art, songs such as folk music, dances, food, workmanship or designs on cloths. Oral speech, folktales, ball, chants, prose or verse, and other forms of oral communication are all very artistic ways to convey tradition-related information. All these are art forms and skills that are transformed verbally from elder generation to the next. These are form are not transferred in the form of documentation but parents teach their children. Therefore, in this way La Pena connects art as a part of oral tradition.

REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT

a. According to La Pena, oral tradition contributes to the preservation of a culture's values. Assuming you accept that the oral custom is significant, how might you keep up with it?

I would follow oral tradition by engaging in the following actions:

1. I would do everything in my power to inform the people orally about culture and values.

2. I would make an effort to educate people about the significance of oral tradition.

3. Being responsible, I would impart information verbally.

4. I would form a group in my neighborhood to promote our oral tradition and culture's values.

5. I would educate my people about the advantages of oral tradition.

6. I would even ask members of my team to relay genuine information to everyone orally.

b. "Not everyone can fulfill the roles of the elders"; using the essay as a reference, explain this statement.

Actual elders are those people who are wise. People are classified as elders either because of their age or their wisdom and contribution to the society. The vacant space created by those people, who are considered elders because of their age, can be fulfilled by anyone of that age. However, the second types of elders leave a lasting memory in the society due to their work and knowledge. The vacant space left by them after their death is difficult to fulfill. For example, Narayan Gopal, Sanduk Ruit, Mahabir Pun, Issac Newton, Nikola Tesla are some of the elders who cannot be replaced.

c. What is this essay's controlling concept or thesis?

Literary tradition, inability to fulfill the niche left by elders, fascination towards modernity and technology has been dismantling age old knowledge and information which are really valuable for the mankind to survive and live as a community. The gap between human beings and nature is widening, literary tradition has been overtaking ethnic identity from people are some of the main themes discussed in the essay.

d. How do the essay's topic sentences direct the reader's attention? Without them, what would be lost?

The topic sentences in any essay serves as the opening thought that is going to be discussed in the particular paragraph. Therefore, the topic sentences in this essay provide a hint to the reader about the topics La Pena is going to discuss in each paragraph. It helps the reader to anticipate what is coming and form a raw idea and as the reading progresses, it makes it easier for the reader to understand the idea discussed. It also helps to grab the attention of the readers. Without those topic sentences, organization of ideas would be lost and the clear progression of the ideas could not be attained.

e. In terms of keeping the oral tradition alive, what are the four main issues that LaPena identified? What role do they play in the essay's structure?

LaPena identified the following four major issues related to the preservation of the oral tradition:

• Difficulty filling the void left by elders when it comes to passing on oral tradition.

• The consequences of current technology.

• The effects of the contemporary educational system.

• Information's source and method of perception and dissemination.

These four main points are discussed chronologically with an intension to not confuse the readers. These issues are inter-linked carefully so that after reading the essay none of these issues are forgotten. It helps to organize the essay.

REFERENCE OUTSIDE THE CONTEXT

a. Describe your perspective on the oral tradition of information transmission in a paragraph or two.

Indus valley civilization, Roman civilization or Egyptian civilization depended on oral tradition initially. It is only in later centuries, literary tradition emerged. In all these civilization, we still can find traces of oral tradition. In the yester years all the knowledge was transferred from gurus to their students in the form of verbal messages. For example, rishi-munis in Hindu civilization, Socrates and Aristotle in Roman civilization, Buddha or Chanakya all of them disseminated information by talking to their disciples. We are now where we are because of the knowledge passed down by these people orally. Therefore, I believe that oral tradition of information transmission is crucial to our survival because it teaches us the importance of community, history, actions (karma) among other thing that preserves our identity and culture.

b. Our identity is our culture. Describe in a few paragraphs how you intend to preserve your cultural norms, values, and culture.

When anyone sees a person from another culture or country, he or she can be recognized because of their eating styles, clothing or language. Therefore, it is essential that we preserve our culture in order to protect our identity. If a Magar, Tharu, Limbu or a Brahmin forget their language, do not wear cultural dresses or do not sing their cultural songs, then it is very difficult to identify them according to the community they belong. For example, if we do not speak our language or wear a Dhaka topi or our cultural dress we cannot be called Nepali because we look and sound like millions of other people from any country. Therefore, preserving our culture is preserving our identity.

In order to protect my cultural norms and values and tradition I would do following things:

1. I would educate the younger generation about the cultural history

2. I would participate in cultural events and not feel shy to wear cultural dress or speak native language.

3. I would document the language, tradition and art forms.

4. I would conduct cultural events and celebrations.

5. I would promote unity and diversity; I would respect others cultures too.

6. I would try to incorporate traditional practices in my modern lifestyle.