“The office: Not so secret Santa” is a modern day situation exemplifying Marcel Mauss’ theories on the rituals of gift giving in his book “ The Gift”. Marcel Mauss’ refers to the ritual as potlatch that binds the recipient and the giver in a continuous bond of commitment, which both, the recipient and the donor cannot escape. Through the analysis of the clip and the book ‘The Gift’ I have established that a gift plays four important roles, of a present; of poison; as a special ability and of a bond and I verify that there indeed exist no free gifts or as Mary Douglas states, “There are no free gifts; gift cycles engage persons in permanent commitments that articulate the dominant institutions”
Gift plays an important role of a ‘present’
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in the system of potlatch. All gifts given by the donor do not require economic reciprocation because they involve aesthetic emotions. All exchanges cannot be categorized in terms of buying or selling, some hold sentimental values. As seen in the clip from “The office: Not so Secret Santa”, Jim Halpert gifted Pam Beesly a tea pot as a Christmas present put together with extra efforts, he wanted to show her affection and his emotions towards her. This unreciprocated gift might make Pam inferior as Mauss’ puts it, “Charity is still wounding for who accepted it…our morality is to strive to do away with the unconscious and injurious patronage of the rich almsgiver”. Jim, on the other hand displayed his emotions overtly through the presentation of the perfect gift, to make Pam fulfill his sentimental and emotional needs by reciprocating with affection. Gifts therefore play a vital role as ‘presents’. Mauss’ states in his book that a pure gift exists between the spouses in the form of Mapula, “a payment by the husband to his wife for sexual relationships.” In Jim’s case, he acts as the husband and gifts Pam a materialistic gift in return for the emotional satisfaction he wishes to receive from her. The gift henceforth acts as a present within the realms of the private law, of enforcing obligatory praise from the recipient if not blame. A gift can serve to show a special ability of the donor, such as economic, political or social hierarchy. In the clip, “The office: Not so secret Santa”, Michael who is the employer gifted his employee a $400 worth gift exceeding the price limit of $20. Further, he left the price tag on, for the receiver to know the real price of the gift. In this situation, Michael purposely uses the gift as a special ability to shadow his employee with his higher economic status. Mauss in his book ‘The Gift’ states the example of the American Northwest system of potlatch, which revolves around exaggeration, honor and antagonism. The chief of the tribe must give a gift equivalent to his status in order to hold on to his pride; similarly Michael is the employer and felt the need to give an expensive gift to display his economic status and display his prestige. On the other hand, the employee had to accept the gift and subsequently accept the challenge to reciprocate the gift with interest. The unannounced pledge puts the recipient in an inferior position until the gift is returned with its actual value, as seen in the archaic Germanic laws where in gifts form an alliance by taking the form of pledges, to return what was initially taken. While gifts are used to show special ability, they can also turn into poison.
If the recipient is not in a financial position to reciprocate the gift of the donor with similar or more value, then the receiver is put under continuous debt to repay the amount until accomplished. The fact that the gift is something that is given, received and dangerous to accept as it must be reciprocated makes it poison. Ryan, who is the receiver of Michael’s expensive gift, finds it difficult to accept the gift from his employer, as he is certain he will not be able to reciprocate with the same value causing the gift to become a poison. The recipient is in a state of dependence upon the donor. Moreover Michael mentions at the beginning of the clip that a gift is a way to show how many dollars a person means to someone. He explicitly states that money can buy people; Ryan, as a result will always be indebted to Michael until repayment of the poisonous gift. Similar to the Germanic contract, where in, “the Wadiatio ritual proves the presence of the creation of obligations and acts as a binding force that engages authority and Mana (prestige) of the man who hands it over.” The recipient of the gift remains in an inferior position until they are not freed from the engagement wager. Further, when Michael was disappointed by Phyllis’ handcrafted mitten, Phyllis’ gift turned in to poison not only for her but also for Michael as the latter explicitly showed his disapproval by introducing the ‘Yankee swap’ to exchange gifts and hurt Phyllis’ emotions. As stated in “ The Gift”, “Communism and too much generosity is as harmful to him and society as the selfishness of our cotemporaries or the individualism of our laws. Michael caused his gift to turn into poison for himself, as he expected more from the
recipient. As a form of present, special ability and poison, gifts engage the giver and receiver in a continuous bond of commitment. Similar to the system of Kula that exists in the Trobriand islands where the tribe along with their chief undertake sea expeditions to the land of other tribes and only receive gifts, which are usually non-use items of trade and wait for the tribe to arrive at their land in order to reciprocate what they received with interest. The system forms a continuous bond. Similarly, in the clip all of the donors and recipients are bind together in a permanent establishment of gift giving, which they cannot escape. Gifts are vicious institutions, ones that not only tie the receiver and donor into a permanent bond but also take shape of a present, poison or special ability. Gifts intertwine the various social institutions through the process of exchange and are imbued in the public and private spheres, such as marriage, laws, tribal expeditions, and e.tc. Mauss in his extensive work on ‘The Gift’ explains the meaning of gifts and how even though they are voluntary, they still imbibe a sense of obligation and reciprocation from the recipient. He thus establishes the fact that, “All these phenomena are at the same time juridical, economic, religious, and even aesthetic and morphological, etc. They are juridical because they concern private and public law, and a morality that is organized and diffused throughout society; they are strictly obligatory or merely an occasion for praise or blame; they are political and domestic at the same time, relating to social classes as well as clans and families.” Citations The Gift. (2002). London: Routledge Classics.
Steven Herrick’s verse novel ‘The Simple Gift’ and Tame Impala’s ‘Yes I’m changing’ incorporate a variety of effective language techniques and textual forms to centralise the notion of transitions. In these texts transitions are portrayed through the transformation of the characters. This transformation is displayed through themes of acceptance, realisation and embracing change.
The Simple Gift is a free verse novel and a compelling story of a 16 year old boy, Billy who leaves his abusive fathers home and dull schooling life, anticipating for something better than what he left behind. He finds a home in an abandoned freight train outside a small town. He falls in love with a wealthy girl Caitlin and befriends a fellow train resident, Old Bill. Billy is voluntarily homeless but now has a future that he did not have before. This book is a life-affirming look at the characteristics of humanity, generosity and love.
At the end of the story, Scrooge sends the Cratchit family a huge turkey and for the first time he does not care about announcing who gave this wonderful gift. Scrooge has learned that “giving is more important than receiving and the gift is one of profound pleasure” (English works). Finally, Scrooge has learned the true meaning of being a compassionate and loveable
The Simple Gift by Steven Herrick explores the causes and challenges of homelessness in today's youth. It highlights the struggles that a victim of homelessness would go through, such as finding a place to sleep every night, and finding a source of food and money. The Simple Gift also showed some causes of homelessness, which were demonstrated in the book through out the story.
What about other countries though? Is the Christmas season all about giving and receiving gifts? Are children in Spain rewarded by Santa with gifts and toys on Christmas Eve? In this essay we will look at what Christmas season means in Spain, and what traditions are prevalent in their culture. We will also look at the Christmas related traditions of Americans, and how those compare and contrast to those in Spain.
However, as may be expected from our modern society, the custom of giving gifts quickly turned into the practice of exchanging them. If one gives gifts to loved ones at Christmas, the reasoning goes, then those who do not receive gifts from a person are obviously not loved by him/her. So each individual now is required to give a gift to all of his/her friends, or risk communicating to them that s/he no longer loves them -- or perhaps never did! Also, there arises another problem when someone gets a gift from a person to whom they did not give one. The logic here is that the one who gave the gift obviously has a greater love for or places a greater value on the friendship than the one who did not. A decidedly awkward situation arises from this, one can imagine.
The general Argument made by Christella Morris in her work “The Gift of Not Giving a Thing” is that Morris Appreciate all the gift that they’ve been receiving from their family and friends. More specifically, Morris argues that It's better if the children had some experience outside rather than staying at home playing their toys. She writes “So, starting now, this year before the holiday season begins I'm beginning a new tradition. Although we’ll always be grateful for the presents received” (Paragraph 4). In this passage, Morriss is suggesting that why doesn't she start a new tradition that will let her children learn new things and experience but still she is is still thankful for the tangible things that they've been receiving. In conclusion,
In Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Who Stole Christmas the main theme, of the conflicting opinions about Christmas, is understood when understanding the emotions of the grinch. At such a joyful and merry time, how is one soul not feeling the love without a solid emotional excuse? It is clear that at some point the grinch suffered through a memory that may be directly or indirectly related to Christmas. While the grinch is much different than all the whos in whoville, he must have felt lonely during a time when everyone else is feeling welcomed. This has resulted in the grinch not believing in the ‘joys’ of Christmas, as he never experienced them himself. The grinch, being isolated and far from everyone else, views Christmas as only being of gift exchanges
...essage displaying that Santa is just like everyone else can help people to see the good in themselves. It is drunken Santa that has taken a wrong turn somewhere down candy cane lane. The metamorphosis from gift giver to conman is humorous, but nonetheless preposterous.
“Christmas is nothing less than a Humbug, bah, nothing but a humbug”, said an old man by the name of Ebenezer Scrooge not knowing that his attitude and mistreatment of the poor and his co-works would ultimately lead to himself being trile for his actions and him messing behaving with the spirit of christmas. Old man Scrooge who beyond all means was quite wealthy and could afford to give higher wages plus christmas bonus but doesn’t due to him not seeing the point of doing so, so he just does give anything to anyone on christmas. Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, pays his uncle (Scrooge) a visit and invites him to his annual Christmas party but declined the offer and when off with his day with a bitter heart and bah humbug to anyone who mention christmas.
One way the influence of Christmas present shows scrooge a lesson. Scrooge realizes that he doesn't want to leave a bad reputation.with his family. In the scene present shows his family is talking about him poorly.His Family member Fred says " What's the consequence, he don't lose much of a dinner by it, I can tell you
Although Santa has become the main staple of the Christmas season it is important to remember the true reason for the season. Jesus’ birth is what December 25 began as until Saint Nicholas day merged with it. Even though the character that has developed and encountered extremely drastic changes, he has almost always been a giving generous figure in society. “Santa is ‘an invention of the advertising industry’ and ‘a representative of consumer society,’ according to Bonifatiuswerk der deutschen Katholiken [Boniface of German Catholics], which seeks to restore St. Nicholas to his proper place in the Christmas season” (Sweas).
The well known holiday of Christmas today is far from what it was in it’s former being. Many aspects led to the change in Christmas, however Charles Dickens, a Victorian era author was arguably the most influential in the change. There was a time when christmas was not much more important than your average holiday. Without the work of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Regency Christmas would not have changed to be the way it is today. As we examine the Regency Christmas, the Christmas events in A Christmas Carol, new Christmas ideas, and today’s new christmas we will form the true Christmas.
In Charles Dickens’, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge lives as the unhappy owner of an accounting office who mistreats those around him. Scrooge has not lived life in a satisfying manner and now resides in isolation, in no hurry to right the wrongs of his past. Through the intercession of three ghosts, Scrooge journeys to Christmases of the past, present, and future and transforms from a man of greed into one of care and compassion. In the beginning of the story, Dickens contrasts the harsh personality of Scrooge with, “Gentlemen of the free-and-easy sort” (Dickens 31). Scrooge’s treatment of others is not easy to overlook, but he must seek forgiveness and set himself free.
Sherman, Amy L. “Expectant Giving.” The Christian Century 116.6 (1999): 206. Academic OneFile. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.