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The Tao of Pooh - Online Term Paper

The Tao of Pooh

Francis Kral
English 101
Ms. Libet Y23
24 September 2013

Topic One: The Something About Nothing

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff is a story explaining Taoism to the reader through Pooh, the classic childhood icon. Using Pooh to explain Taoism allows Hoff to use simple words and concepts to get the purpose of Taoism across to the reader. Although Hoff makes the story as simple as he can there is still a great deal of complexity in his story. In order to truly understand Hoff's quote "to the Taoist, nothing is something and something -- at least the sort of thing that many consider to be important -- is really nothing at all" (447), the reader must break the quote down into three ...

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(Hoff 447) is a contradictory quote that introduces the Taoist view on life. Taoists strive for Nothingness. Nothingness is something because of the worth a Taoist puts into the nothingness. Taoists value nothingness and the clarity it brings to the mind. According to Hoff "An empty sort of mind is valuable for finding pearls and tails and things because it can see what's in front of it. An Overstuffed mind is unable to." (448) Hoff argues that the more stuff in one's head the more distracted they are from the situation in front of them. The stuff distracting someone is important to them, but the Taoist learns to erase those things from their heads.
Hoff's first-referenced quote transitions as the focus moves from the Taoist to the everyday person when Hoff writes "...and something -- at least the sort of thing many consider to be important..." (447) Hoff shows he is referring to the everyday person by using an exclusive tone when he says this quote, clearly excluding Taoists from ...

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 10/9/2013 05:12:38 PM
Submitted By: baseball
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 826
Pages: 4

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