Honors Director Presents Invited Paper

An item in the English Department’s newsletter reports that Christie Fox, director of the Honors Program, recently presented an invited paper at the Abbey Theater in Dublin, Ireland.

Fox discussed the “Western emphasis — some might say obsession — with the number three.” She notes that we use the number three to organize our days (three eight-hour segments), our meals (three meals a day) and even our social structure (working, middle, and upper class).

 

Perhaps most interesting is that our obsession with the number three is not universal, she said.

 

“Native American cultures are ‘obsessed’ with the number four, while the numbers six ,eight and nine are important in China. This extends even to the way we create and modify our landscapes, and it is a basic human instinct to seek patterns — just not always threes.”