Out of Class, Pearls Before Breakfast

There are many definitions provided in Gene Weingarten’s “Pearls before Breakfast”. One definition that Weingarten refers to many times throughout the article is the definition of “beauty”. Towards the beginning of his article, Weingarten asks the reader if we have time for beauty. But his definition of beauty can be completely different than the reader’s definition of beauty. To Weingarten, he defines beauty as the classical music that Joshua Bell plays. Although it is great to have a talent like Bell, I do not define beauty with music. Later in the article, Weingarten goes back to the idea of beauty. He asks, “What is beauty?” He says some people define it as a measurable fact, or some define it as merely an opinion. Weingarten defines beauty as a little bit of both fact and opinion, colored by the immediate state of mind of the observer. Beauty is a very complex definition and Weingarten finds the middle road between two differing ideas of beauty.

Weingarten provides many other definitions in his article that are not as prevalent as the definition of “beauty”. One definition Weingarten provides is “violin”. He defines the violin as “an instrument that is said to be much like the human voice”. Yes the violin is an instrument, but I do not agree that it is much like the human voice. Weingarten also describes Bell as a “heartthrob”. He goes on to describe Bell’s heartthrob features. Not everyone has the same definition of a heartthrob. Another definition that Gene Weingarten writes about is “genius”. They want to test ordinary people to see if they recognize genius, referring to Bell’s musical talent. Bell says that “genius” is an overused word that can be applied to some composers whose work he plays, but not him. I agree that many composers are geniuses.