«A great burden for human beings is to carry ourselves the way we want others to see us. Though each governed by a private set of beliefs, no man is an island for a reason, as we are subject to natural instinct, which compels us to strive for...» Document abstract
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book review
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23/05/2008
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SummaryA great burden for human beings is to carry ourselves the way we want others to see us. Though each governed by a private set of beliefs, no man is an island for a reason, as we are subject to natural instinct, which compels us to strive for acceptance by others in society. However, though one part of life is about fulfilling the expectations of society in order to fit in, the other reflects how we see ourselves and what we hold our potentials to be. What we expect of ourselves is based upon the desire for self-improvement and attempting to come out of experiences with something we didn’t know before. While expectations give a sense of having something to look forward to, they may also cross the thin line of what is practical into what is idealistic. Having the mindset to act and respond in certain ways can be attributed to core beliefs, but to cultivate the lofty image of ourselves as nobler beings is as unrealistic as it is to hope for wings. The very struggle to straddle the border of reasonable expectations is evident in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, a Bildungsroman that follows the life of orphan Pip Pirrip, who seeks the values of his society as well as his own.
Table of Contents
- Education plays an important role in determining social status.
- Pip wants Joe to improve so that his own image may be improved.
- Because social class clefts the relationship between Pip and his uncle, Pip is faced with a decision.
- Pip attempts to climb the ladder of society in order to make himself worthy of Estella.
- Pride is the byproduct of the natural accumulation of personal successes.
«While considering the time period and by closely evaluating how events and people play against each other, Shakespeare’s Othello can be considered a full bodied and consummate feminist work. In fact, Shakespeare’s close and dramatic critique of a...» Document abstract
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SummaryWhile considering the time period and by closely evaluating how events and people play against each other, Shakespeare’s Othello can be considered a full bodied and consummate feminist work. In fact, Shakespeare’s close and dramatic critique of a system of absolutes in a patriarchal military society makes this work a template or preceding influence on what is known as feminist ethics, or care ethics today. While reading this play again I could not help but evaluate it under a feminist lens, and by scrutinizing how each character reacts in a system of events I feel that Shakespeare moves closer and closer toward an ethic of care, or one based on a personal relationships, individuality, and communal responsibility. This sharply opposes the existing system in the play that is military, justice-based, and overwhelmingly focused on honor.
Table of Contents
- Iago is undoubtedly one of the most finely hewn and crafted characters.
- It would obviously be bombastic to call Iago a care ethicist.
- The play can be considered a richly feminist work.
- Othello's tragic failure to break from the absolute ideas of the importance of chastity, honor, and the military.
- The essential goal of feminism is to destroy all limiting doctrines and templates.
«Being an adult usually implies that you have a power of perspective, that is, to see things in a larger system and then to understand these things as being symptomatic of this system. Naturally, children lack this ability and their sense of reality...» Document abstract
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SummaryBeing an adult usually implies that you have a power of perspective, that is, to see things in a larger system and then to understand these things as being symptomatic of this system. Naturally, children lack this ability and their sense of reality is tenuous and fragmented, and many times their only frame of reference is a shadowy emotional memory itself. Richard Wilbur in the poem “The Writer” and Margaret Atwood in her poem “A Sad Child” both recognize the violence of childhood consciousness and both have written poems suggesting where the child’s line of self and perspective will be or may be under certain conditions. Both poets recognize the severe circumstances, the conceptual intensity, and the wavering devastation of being either too close or far away from the ego.
Table of Contents
- Richard Wilbur begins his poem about his daughter writing a short story in her room.
- Perhaps the most poignant strength of the poem is the subsequent parallelism that he draws between the experience of his daughter to one of a bird that once got caught in her room.
- The poem 'A Sad Child' by Margaret Atwood.
- Atwood is ostensibly less compassionate.
- Though the voice of each poem distinctively carries its own spiritual energy
«The Great Gatsby relates Nick Carraway's experiences with a disillusioned assortment of wealthy individuals following his move to West Egg, the "less fashionable" counterpart to East egg, the home of antiquated affluence (5). In this harsh region of...» Document abstract
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literature
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date published
22/05/2008
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SummaryThe Great Gatsby relates Nick Carraway's experiences with a disillusioned assortment of wealthy individuals following his move to West Egg, the "less fashionable" counterpart to East egg, the home of antiquated affluence (5). In this harsh region of unlikely opposites, the 1915 Yale graduate encounters Tom Buchanan, a rich W.A.S.P who contently lives with a prideful lack of conscience; Daisy, his flighty wife; Jordan Baker, a low-down golfing champion; and, most importantly, the mysterious Jay Gatsby, who possesses a talented "gift for hope," which ultimately leads to his destruction. Through these characters, Fitzgerald criticizes the American Dream, which is founded on the material principle of wealth instead of inner success. The disastrous effects of such an aspiration in life are shown to come at a heavy cost to the individual, demanding for remuneration the loss of essence, worth, and substance- all the distinctive features which make us unique, significant, and human.
Table of Contents
- Often criticized in this novel is the inhibition of honest expression.
- Her luster comes from a life imbued in carelessness.
- The unbelievable extent to which materialism is pursued is astounding.
- The American Dream, swallowed wholeheartedly, also leads to spiritual decay.
- Gatsby's purpose is ultimately empty and he could have seen this if he took time to look ahead.
«If a producer was to make an adaptation of Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird and wanted to extricate Miss Maudie’s role from the film, not only would the dynamic of the characters be irreparably damaged, but the film would also be excluding one of...» Document abstract
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21/05/2008
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SummaryIf a producer was to make an adaptation of Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird and wanted to extricate Miss Maudie’s role from the film, not only would the dynamic of the characters be irreparably damaged, but the film would also be excluding one of the most powerful humanizing forces in the novel. The novel is fundamentally about perspectives within a whole interconnected system of personal and societal forces, and Miss Maudie offers one of the only sensitive voices in the novel that enables Jem and Scout to develop this skill. Additionally, Miss Maudie is one of the only progressive female voices in the novel and her very presence can be used to counterpoint the other oppressive doctrines in the novel, adding an entirely singular and rich layer to the theme of the novel.
Table of Contents
- Miss Maudie plays an important role in introducing different traits and facts about the other characters.
- The fact that there is a woman as progressive as Miss Maudie to explain the ironies of Christianity to Scout is incredibly important.
- Aunt Alexandra's vision of my deportment involved playing with small stoves, tea sets, and wearing the Add-A-Pearl necklace.
- Flowers themselves play a pervasive symbolic role throughout the novel.
- The female perspective in To Kill a Mockingbird would not have been possible without Miss Maudie.
«American literature reveals a counter-culture of identity which undermines and even contradicts the popular optimism of national identity. Part of this undermining takes place in the ideologies of American literary characters, or in their “imaginary...» Document abstract
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SummaryAmerican literature reveals a counter-culture of identity which undermines and even contradicts the popular optimism of national identity. Part of this undermining takes place in the ideologies of American literary characters, or in their “imaginary relationships…to the real conditions of existence,” as defined by Althusser. These ideologies, rather than confirming the identities of the characters to which they belong, serve as a means of warping their perception of reality. I believe that this void of understanding (of the self, of the nation) can be attributed to an undercurrent of racism, solipsism, and immaturity, as seen in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.
Table of Contents
- As Sal and Dean take on America, their reactions to the world around them are filtered through a lens given to them by the romantic fictions of Hollywood.
- Feeling the pull of her own life calling her back is a luxury that Terry simply never has.
- Dean's nostalgia is much more personal than Sal?s.
- Sal loses himself in Blackness.
- Pausing would also mean becoming familiar with the agency accessible to him in his time and place.
- Sal, unlike Dean, is able through his role as narrator to offer, the saddened wisdom of hindsight.
«Humbert, throughout Lolita, creates an inescapable defeat through his interactions with Lolita and his antagonist, Clare Quilty. These interactions contradict his early confidence in possessing Lolita. These characters consciously threat Humbert’s...» Document abstract
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SummaryHumbert, throughout Lolita, creates an inescapable defeat through his interactions with Lolita and his antagonist, Clare Quilty. These interactions contradict his early confidence in possessing Lolita. These characters consciously threat Humbert’s exclusive relationship with Lolita. Their successful efforts, especially those of Lolita herself, against Humbert’s idealized romance with Lolita stand as manifestations of inherent vulnerabilities within committed relationships, exposing a common thread between masochism and monogamy.
Table of Contents
- Humbert loses his control over Lolita when he leaves opportunities for her to take initiative to help herself out of his authority.
- Wanda confesses that she can only love for a finite amount of time.
- There are a countless number of examples of Humbert's humiliations throughout Lolita including the example of the lollipop and the mechanic.
- Severin is able to maintain a last glimpse of empowerment.
- From the very start Quilty understands Humbert's attraction to nymphettes.
«Dostoevsky’s Underground Man is an attempt to offer an example of the true result of egoism, as opposed to the rational egoism of Western European Enlightenment literature. It became the intellectual fashion at this time to believe that natural law...» Document abstract
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humanities/philosophy
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date published
29/04/2008
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SummaryDostoevsky’s Underground Man is an attempt to offer an example of the true result of egoism, as opposed to the rational egoism of Western European Enlightenment literature. It became the intellectual fashion at this time to believe that natural law was the only law, and that if men acted according to what was in their natural best interests, society would be better off. With Notes From Underground, Dostoevsky sought to fight against the moral corruption of the Russian people by these naturalist European theories. The Underground Man is a true egoist who makes full use of the free will that the rational egoists deny, and because of that is shown to be morally reprehensible. I think it is a mistake to read the Underground Man as being in intellectual agreement with the rational egoists, with emotional contradictions. It seems to me that he feels his form of egoism to be truer and fuller than the form represented by the “good men” who (claim to) act according to the laws of nature. Even a man as sick and wicked as the Underground Man wouldn’t be believably human unless he had a moral conscience, even if he doesn’t behave according to it.
Table of Contents
- He is fully isolated, and his self-solicitousness is apparent in his preoccupation with his own aims and satisfactions.
- All that being said, it is clear that the Underground Man acts strictly according to his will in the moment.
- Another case for his growth is a fair understanding of reality, despite his continued inability to interact with it properly.
- It is clear that his younger self was not nearly as conscious as his current self.
«The Earle Perry Charlton biography, the Charlton Story, is about one of America’s greatest entrepreneurs, in the early 1900’s. The book chronicles Charlton’s life from birth to death, and explains in detail his business relationships and tactics....» Document abstract
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SummaryThe Earle Perry Charlton biography, the Charlton Story, is about one of America’s greatest entrepreneurs, in the early 1900’s. The book chronicles Charlton’s life from birth to death, and explains in detail his business relationships and tactics. Overall the main topic of the book was how Charlton amassed an empire out of virtually nothing and how he became one of the five founders of the F.W. Woolworth Company.
Table of Contents
- Earle Perry Charlton grew up just outside of Hartford CT.
- Earle Perry Charlton was an unbiased, demanding boss and owner.
- harlton was a great owner and boss because he treated everyone fairly.
- Charlton was a very hardworking and dedicated businessman.
- All of Charlton's characteristics played a major role in his success.
- Kapstein had just graduated High School when he went out looking for a job.
- Earle P. Charlton was a philanthropist.
- The part of the book that had the biggest impact on me had to have been the beginning chapter.
«The abolitionist movement in slave-era America was clear-cut and its ethos was simple: Free all slaves in the name of human rights. Looking back centuries later at those who argued for slavery, most would find holes in their argument that Africans...» Document abstract
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SummaryThe abolitionist movement in slave-era America was clear-cut and its ethos was simple: Free all slaves in the name of human rights. Looking back centuries later at those who argued for slavery, most would find holes in their argument that Africans were meant to be slaves because of their racial inferiority and lack of civilization. The great golden empires of Mali were obviously ignored, as well as the fact that mothers were screaming and crying for their children as they were thrown into nets and hauled away from their villages. Africa had numerous political systems and governments before the age of slavery, and it’s obvious that an African person can feel physical and emotional pain and distress like any other human being. As for intelligence, Africans and African-Americans merely needed to be given a chance to produce such minds as George Washington Carver and Thurgood Marshall. Can any argument on so-called racial inferiority be offered today that can’t be refuted by a non-Eurocentric look at history and biology?
Table of Contents
- Tom Regan, author of 'Animal Rights, Human Wrongs', is a different sort of abolitionist.
- Regan points out the numerous health benefits of a vegetarian or vegan diet.
- Why should animals be excluded from suffering pain?
- Religions disagree on whether or not a sentient being has a soul or not.
- Food safety laws have been argued for thousands of years.
- Decades ago, fast food started as just another post-war development of convenience.
- While on the subject of the environment, slash-and-burn farming may be discussed as a further violation of animal rights.
- I stand with Tom Regan on his abolitionist stance on using animals for meat, dairy, and fur.
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