Sharing Tradition Exercise Class 11 English: Summary | Question Answers | Frank LaPena

CLICK HERE 👇 TO SELECT CHAPTERS

NEB ENGLISH GUIDE CLASS 11: ALL NOTES [ C. ENGLISH |M. ENGLISH] NEB ENGLISH SUPPORT

Neb English Notes

            Sharing Tradition Exercise 

                      Frank LaPena

         Summary | Question Answers

                     Class 11 English

                   Neb English Notes

Sharing Tradition by Frank LaPena

ABOUT ESSAY 

Sharing Tradition by Frank LaPena

What is the essay "Sharing Tradition" by Frank LaPena about?

This essay "Sharing Tradition" has been written by American writer Frank LaPena. Here in this essay, we can find the concept of sharing tradition through oral means, which is oral tradition. This essay is about passing on culture and values from generation to generation through oral tradition to maintain our traditional and cultural values in our lives. In this essay, the writer presents the importance of tradition for the people of this world and its preservation through oral tradition, which is an art form. Here, LaPena has emphasised our traditional and cultural values, which are very important for our bright future. According to him, we must listen to our elders to maintain our cultural and traditional norms and values.

In this essay, LaPena has put forward his opinions in favour of oral tradition and its preservation. He has even talked about different factors that have affected oral tradition and created problems for maintaining our culture and values.

DETAILED SUMMARY 

Sharing Tradition by Frank LaPena

Write the summary of the essay "Sharing Tradition" by Frank LaPena.

Frank LePena talks about the importance of oral tradition. In this essay, he keeps on telling all his readers about his experiences and thoughts related to oral tradition. According to him, oral tradition refers to a form of human communication where knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material are received, preserved and transmitted orally from generation to generation. In other words, oral tradition is about passing on information related to cultures and values from generation to generation through oral means. This transmission is made through speech or song, folktales, ballads, chants, prose or verses etc. Oral tradition helps to maintain the values of the culture. The task of sharing traditions isn't minor. The task of sharing tradition through oral means seems easy to talk about and write about but quite hard to practice. Here, both the elders and young people play a very vital role in maintaining and preserving the values of the culture. The role of speakers (elders) and listeners (young people or followers) is very important. The knowledge of elders related to cultures, traditions, religions, and values must be listened to and followed properly by young people. The elders share the traditions and various concepts related to cultures and values with the young people. After the deaths of elderly people, young people have to fill up their places by being responsible. They have to take responsibility for sharing tradition with elders through oral tradition to maintain cultures and values in their community. In this way, the oral tradition keeps on moving from generation to generation, preserving cultures and values. Young people are able to keep elders alive by maintaining their concepts of tradition and knowledge of life in the community. The concept of elders moving from generation to generation as being immortal.

Tradition keeps on moving ahead properly if we are aware of our culture. The lifestyle of elders and their concepts related to life, belief, religion, culture, values, etc. made them capable of acquiring the ideal position in their lives. They kept on sharing their tradition orally from generation to generation for the welfare of humanity. They showed the righteous paths to survive ahead. Their acts of sharing tradition were for the future of the coming generation and their lives.

An oral tradition is an educational tool for understanding the natural world. It is the proper way to secure the cultures and values of the people.

According to the writer, there are some problems with maintaining oral tradition from generation to generation. These problems are as follows:

1. Difficulty in filling up the 'niche' of elders:

To maintain our culture, it is necessary to pass on the oral tradition from generation to generation. The young people have to listen, follow their elders, and fill their ideal position (niche). But the task of filling elders' places is very difficult. The young people and their interests in their culture seem weak because the elders' religious obligations, such as religions, ceremonies, dance, etc., are related to their culture. In modern times, young people don't prefer to listen to them and maintain culture and tradition. The niche of elders has become hard to fill. Due to this, a problem has been seen in passing oral tradition from generation to generation to maintain culture and values.

 

2. Impacts of modern technology on people:

Every generation faces new and modern technology that replaces old things and concepts. The modern world and its people are moving on with drastic changes ahead, along with modern technology. In the name of development, various changes are being made in this natural world. Traditional things are replaced with new things. The change in climate and the natural world has been seen due to modern technology. People are seen as very busy with modern technology. Modern technology and their loneliness have separated them from each other. In this situation, it is difficult to maintain traditional and cultural values through oral means due to the lack of active listeners or followers.

 

3. The modern educational system and its impacts:

The modern educational system and the way people perceive it divert people's minds. Knowledge in the present time is perceived through conducting research and collecting data. The oral materials that researchers get in the field related to tradition may not be correct. The information related to oral tradition is even modified while printing. But the information in oral tradition can be modified or even corrected through oral means. The educational process forces people to accept the information from printed pages, which are full of errors and very difficult to correct. The published information related to cultures and values creates a kind of problem in passing on cultures and values from generation to generation through oral means.

 4. Source of information and way of perceiving and sharing it:

Oral tradition is fully dependent on oral means. It doesn't have any writing records as a literary tradition. The provided information by the speakers is sometimes transmitted mistakenly. Sometimes, the information is even perceived mistakenly by the listeners. Due to the gap between generations, the truth of the elders' historical information might turn into fantasy for the listeners. In this situation, it becomes quite difficult to validate oral tradition or traditional stories. There must be a proper understanding between the speakers and the listeners. The listeners must have belief in what they are listening to. The way of perceiving and transmitting information must be made with trust in our traditions and elders.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS   

1. According to LaPena, what is the importance of the oral tradition? To what extent do you agree with his opinions and why?

Answer:

According to LaPena, the importance of oral tradition is the security of culture and values. It keeps culture and values alive as an art form through telling stories, singing songs and conversations. It connects generations and preserves various aspects such as history, identity and morals. I fully agree with his opinions because oral tradition builds personal bonds and adapts easily, unlike written or printed records.  

2. Who preserve and pass on the oral tradition?

Answer:

Elders preserve and pass on oral tradition by sharing stories, songs and knowledge. By passing traditional norms and values to the younger generation, they ensure the continuity of tradition and culture.

3. What is the danger of not passing on information from generation to generation?

Answer:

The danger of not passing on information from generation to generation is loss of culture, identity and history. These valuable aspects can be lost which can lead to a meaningless life without traditional values.  

4. What is the difference between oral tradition and literary tradition?  

Answer:

Both Oral tradition and literary tradition are so important. Oral tradition is a fine process where stories are shared verbally. The mistakes in the stories can be easily fixed, while literary tradition is quite rigid. These are written or printed records that are hard to change once published.  

5. How does LaPena establish a relationship between art and the oral tradition?

Answer: 

LaPena establishes the relationship by saying elders' stories give artists designs, colors, and characters, but modern art faces the challenge of balancing old and new, requiring respect for tradition.  

6. LaPena states that the oral tradition helps maintain the values of a culture. If you believe that the oral tradition is important, how would you maintain it?

Answer: 

I believe that oral tradition is important because it really helps in preserving cultural norms and values. In my case, I would maintain it by listening to elders' stories, sharing with youths, organizing community events and passing on true information to all.  

7. "Not everyone is capable of fulfilling the roles of the elders." Explain this statement with reference to the essay.

Answer:

This statement by Frank LaPena simply means that while everyone becomes an elder with age, not all can fulfill elders roles because some elders' unique knowledge and impact - like leading in various rituals - are hard to replace after their death.  

8. What is the controlling idea or thesis of this essay?

Answer:

The controlling idea or thesis of this essay is oral tradition which is so essential for passing down culture and values and also the collective responsibility, which is required to overcome challenges of modernity and preserve heritage.  

9. What are the four major problems developed by LaPena with regard to maintaining the oral tradition? How are they used to structure the essay?

Answer:

The four major problems are: (1) difficulty replacing elders' unique roles, (2) impact of modern technology, (3) pressure from modern education, and (4) risk of wrong information. These problems structure the essay by building from the loss of elder knowledge to modern challenges, then to differences in tradition types, and finally to art's role, strengthening the case for preserving oral tradition.  

CLICK HERE 👇 TO READ 

SHARING TRADITION BY FRANK LAPENA SHORT SUMMARY & QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (DETAILED INFORMATION)

CLICK HERE 👇 TO READ

NEXT CHAPTER: HOW TO LIVE BEFORE YOU DIE BY STEVE JOBS SUMMARY AND SOLUTION

Thanks for Visiting my Website: Suraj Bhatt