I decided to analyze a fig for this assignment. I love figs and they are special to me because I did not discover them until I was in college. Before I had my first fresh fig I only associated figs with Fig Newtons, which I hated. One of my friends introduced me to fresh figs when we were traveling and I still feel like it is such a treat every time I have them. Being here in Berkeley, I wait eagerly for them to be available at the grocery store during fig season. I sometimes find them out of season but they seem to be one of the few foods that are hard to find for much of the year and then plentiful for a few months.
We do not spend much time analyzing or dissecting most of the objects or concepts we encounter on a daily basis. Once we learn what an object or concept is, we use it as a building block for understanding other objects or concepts. If we did not do this, if we dissected and analyzed every object and concept that we came across, we would not be able to move forward or develop complex understandings of the world very quickly. We would also have more experiences of wonder since we would look closely at everything around us and engage with it.
In some cases, it is crucial that we look at things in this detailed and critical way because it allows us to question our common sense understandings. While in many cases these common sense understandings are useful shortcuts, they also limit our perspective and inscribe particular dominant readings of objects, concepts, or people.
While I am aware that I have individual and societal associations with foods, I chose the fig because it has special meaning to me in a way that an apple, for example, does not. By dissecting the fig, I discovered that many people share my sense of mystery and wonder for the fig. In a sense, I was already more conscious and critical in my interactions with figs than with other foods but this exercise has lead me to another, and perhaps, deeper set of questions about the values that figs are associated with for me and why I, and it seems many others, see these values as important or good.