Monday, May 14, 2012
Reflection
My time in Eng 102 has been interesting to say the least. I’ve gotten a lot out of the class but if anything I’ve learned a lot about myself. My favorite lesson was the one about post modernism; my family is a big Italian family so there big on family values loyalty and religion things that don’t really correlate with the people I see around me. Its hard sometimes to keep my values in line because my generation is the biggest example of post modernism.
Blog 1
In the play Antigone by Sophocles two opposing themes are written law vs. moral law. Written laws are supposed to be a set of rules that the citizens of that city/ nation must abide by. On the other hand moral laws is ones believes in his/ hers own heart on what they think is the right thing to do.
In the play, Creon expresses the importance of his laws to not touch the body of Polyneices and to leave him dead in the middle of the city “You shall leave him without burial; you shall watch him chewed up by birds and dogs and violated”(Creon 224-225). Here he shows his power even though it is unmoral to most to leave a body without burial. Antigone on the other hand shows a great deal of self-moral law; she disobeys Creon’s law and continues to bury her brother. This does not prove the fact that she is disobedient but in fact shows her loyalty to her family and her morals. When caught by the sentry Antigone does not shy away from her actions when confronted, she shows a great deal of pride in them “I knew it; of course I did. For it was public”(Antigone 492). She knew of the consequences yet her morals couldn’t let her leave her brother unburied.
Many people in life grow up following a set of rules that are obeyed; others follow their own rules based off their morals. In the play Antigone is a firm believer in her moral laws and what she thinks is right, but Creon is the opposite he believe everyone should obey his written law and respect his leadership.
Blog 4
Within the past few decades we live as what is known as the post modernistic age, where certain values that a past generation may have once seen as a top priority we now put on the backburner and focus on other things that we few as “important” like the media and other material things. In the story “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri this concept of post modernism is applied in different aspects of the story.
The loss of family values is a big argument in post modernism and the fact that in the story Mrs. Das has a child with a man who is not her husband exemplifies the loss of loyalty and family values in a post modernistic day. Respect I feel is also lost with the post modernism generation, this is shown when Mr. Das is speaking to his daughter Tina and refers to his wife as Mina “Mr. Kapasi found it strange that Mr. Das should refer to his wife by her first name when speaking to the little girl”(Lahiri 45). I see this as disrespect because growing up in a very traditional household your elders always had a label and should never be called by their first name
Blog 3
Over the course of history many people have fought for what they thought was right, and fought for what they thought would make a difference. Martin Luther King once said “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” He is stating that if one wants to gain there freedom it is not going to be handed over by the oppressor, it must be demanded and fought for by the oppressed. This is directly tied to MLK’s civil rights movement during the 1960’s, he lead African Americans to demand their freedoms from the oppressor.
In “The Yellow Wall Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman the main character (narrator) suffers from temporary nervous depression and is moved into a mansion over three months with her husband. Her husband also being her physician thinks he knows what is best for her and tells her what to do constantly being the oppressor. During this time period women did not have many rights as the men ran the world and controlled what they did. She doesn’t want john to know of her writings for he may further think she is mentally unstable “I believe John is beginning to notice, I don’t like looking into his eyes.” (Gilman 326). She is very secretive about her obsession with the wallpaper and her writings. She asks john to change the room or tear down the paper but he refuses which symbolically denies her of freedom from the room. She ultimately take her own freedom when she tears down the wallpaper when john is not home and when he sees what she has done he faints, she walks over his body showing that she has gotten her freedom and overcame the oppressor.
Chuck Palahniuk shows oppression in the movie Fight Club when the main character is oppressed by him having schizophrenia so himself rules him. Throughout the movie he continues to try to treat his insomnia by going to different seminars so he can sleep at night but what he doesn’t realize is when he “sleeps” at night he becomes a completely different person and in time befriends his alter ego (Tyler Durden) but on the outside he is talking to himself. Finally when he realizes that Tyler is in fact himself Tyler attempts to take over his body, in failed attempts to get rid of him he takes his freedom from himself by force by shooting himself and killing Tyler ultimately.
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