TOW #4 - The Tao of Pooh (IRB Part 1)

INTRODUCTION
     In his book The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff uses allusions to old texts and Winnie-the-Pooh, builds a narrative structure, and make Taoist analogies to Pooh to show that in Taoism, the seemingly clueless and dumb people can be the best teachers of its deep and meaningful principles.
     Benjamin Hoff often refers to not only Taoist texts but also other texts from East Asian religions like Confucianism and Buddhism. This allows readers to both understand Taoist teachings as wells as establish ethos as a credible writer on this subject. He also includes certain excerpts and quotes from Winnie-the-Pooh to show how Winnie-the-Pooh closely related to Taoism. Hoff quotes a poem from Winnie-the-Pooh:

"Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,

A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly,

Ask me a riddle and I reply:

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie..." (Hoff 39).

     He then compares it to a Chinese philosopher Chuang-tse, who said, "You complain that your tree is not valuable as lumber... It is useless to you only because you want to make it into something else and do not use it in its proper way" (Hoff 42). It's obvious that a fly can't bird but a bird can fly, but people don't really remember this fact and try to hard to wedge in things into places they don't belong. By alluding to both texts, Hoff first shows the nature of Pooh and Taoism to his readers.
     Along with alluding to both texts, Hoff uses these allusion to draw parallels between them to now actually show his purpose. As said above, Pooh seems to perfectly realize deep Taoist principles and recognizing that everything in nature has its specific purpose, and people shouldn't be desperate to try to alter that or deem something worthless because it doesn't do what they want it to do. Saying things like "A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly" may make one seem empty-headed, but this actually represents Taoist teachings and shows that people who seem this empty-headed can be the best teachers of Taoist principles.
     Hoff's text is structured in a narrative style that makes it seem like a story of Hoff and Pooh's conversation while walking around Pooh's village. Most Winnie-the-Pooh stories follow a similar structure where Pooh is faced with a problem and he walks casually around places with his friends or to his friends and eventually stumbles across the solution along the way. By following this pattern, Hoff stays loyal to Winnie-the-Pooh's general spirit and the Taoist way of not purposefully scrambling to find a solution to a problem but rather allowing things to flow until a situation unfolds itself. Although Pooh's way of floating around to reach a conclusion may seem naïve or empty-headed, Pooh's way teaches the fundamental Taoist way to others.