Boastful Speech
English 21 Speech re: Boastful Father Spider
There’s always that thin line between being sincerely proud and being unreasonably boastful. Being sincerely proud means that you have achieved that satisfaction or gratifying feeling over a person’s effort and accomplishment, like when parents feel proud of their children’s success or when we feel proud that we got a high score in the exam. Being boastful, on the other hand, comes from excessive pride. It is being big-headed, cocky and conceited, and often an air of unnecessary and unwarranted bragging. Never is boastfulness a good thing because it creates misinterpretation and opens conflict. The story tells us that Father Spider is gifted in building webs. However, he takes the time to go out to other people and tell them about his feats. Why does he do this? Why do people feel the need to brag? Let me go full on ‘sciencey’ with you guys on this. A recent study conducted by Harvard University reveals that bragging triggers the same sensation of pleasure in the brain as food, money or sex. We feel a sense of reward or satisfaction out of it. So in short, we brag or boast because it makes us feel good. All of us are guilty of being boastful at some point in our lives, even if we only meant it as a joke. This explains why we come to do it. This might explain why Father Spider does it. We feel good whenever we talk about ourselves, what we feel, what we think and what we accomplish. Father Spider gets this rush from telling others about his accomplishments. On top of being boastful, Father Spider goes on and says self-patronizing expressions like “that’s nothing”, “it’s no big deal” and “that’s a piece of cake”. So when he was challenged for catching a tiger, he accepted it in order to save face even though the task was easier said than done. He took on this impossible dare just to prove to others that he’s capable of it. In the end though, the consequences of Father Spider’s actions hit him hard. He was
There’s always that thin line between being sincerely proud and being unreasonably boastful. Being sincerely proud means that you have achieved that satisfaction or gratifying feeling over a person’s effort and accomplishment, like when parents feel proud of their children’s success or when we feel proud that we got a high score in the exam. Being boastful, on the other hand, comes from excessive pride. It is being big-headed, cocky and conceited, and often an air of unnecessary and unwarranted bragging. Never is boastfulness a good thing because it creates misinterpretation and opens conflict. The story tells us that Father Spider is gifted in building webs. However, he takes the time to go out to other people and tell them about his feats. Why does he do this? Why do people feel the need to brag? Let me go full on ‘sciencey’ with you guys on this. A recent study conducted by Harvard University reveals that bragging triggers the same sensation of pleasure in the brain as food, money or sex. We feel a sense of reward or satisfaction out of it. So in short, we brag or boast because it makes us feel good. All of us are guilty of being boastful at some point in our lives, even if we only meant it as a joke. This explains why we come to do it. This might explain why Father Spider does it. We feel good whenever we talk about ourselves, what we feel, what we think and what we accomplish. Father Spider gets this rush from telling others about his accomplishments. On top of being boastful, Father Spider goes on and says self-patronizing expressions like “that’s nothing”, “it’s no big deal” and “that’s a piece of cake”. So when he was challenged for catching a tiger, he accepted it in order to save face even though the task was easier said than done. He took on this impossible dare just to prove to others that he’s capable of it. In the end though, the consequences of Father Spider’s actions hit him hard. He was
References: Hotz, R.L. (2012). Science Reveals Why We Brag So Much. [online] Available: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304451104577390392329291890.html (August 21, 2012)