Lectures Of Interest

Civil Decree Vs. Moral Decree:
In one of the classes first lectures the theme we discussed was civil decree vs. moral decree, decree being the meaning of law. This lesson was tied into with the play "Antigone", by Sophocles. The meaning of civil law is what society as a whole agrees with and moral lay is what we ourselves believe in. This was used with "Antigone" because of the concept of the play which was how Antigone wanted to do what was right and disagreed with society while her sister Ismene had the opposite perspective. I enjoyed this topic because it was somewhat relatable to some present day situations.

Desire Vs. Reality:
Life in itself is all about desire and reality. Everyone wants to have the perfect life, being rich and famous but that's not always possible. These wants can ruin ones life causing them to do things that they shouldn't. This lesson was used in conjunction with "A Streetcar Name Desire" because of Blanche's want of living in perfection, in which it then greatly penalized her. I enjoyed this lesson because once again it was something Professor Brady brought to us so that we could connect it with the real world.

Idealism Vs. Transcendentalism:
In reading "Interpreter of Maladies" and "The Birth-Mark" these ideas of idealism and transcendentalism were portrayed. In this lecture we spoke about how the heart cannot keep up with what the mind thinks. This relates to the short story "Interpreter of Maladies" and the idea of misconception. This story also ties into "The Birth-Mark" because of the idea of having to come into reality. I enjoyed this lecture because it was one of our last and it was an interesting one.

A Chapter In Life

         In registering for classes for this semester I never thought I would have chosen this English 102 class with Professor Brady and was a bit iffy about it. I made the decision of choosing this class because it was what fit well into my schedule. When I first started this class I thought there was going to be so much work and that it would be horrible. I was wrong though, because Professor Brady explains things well and makes life so much easier with these assignments. I have to admit, there was a lot of work to do but it was all worth it in the end.
         Since beginning this class with Professor Brady a bit has changed with my perception and writing. My creativity did not change much but my use of mechanics did a bit. I learned how to properly compare and contrast works of literature and with all of the reading I have done, I have also become better at understanding literature. I am now also able to think more clearly when it comes for brainstorming for outlines and such.
         One thing that I enjoyed about this class were the fishbowls we did. For those who may not know a fishbowl was when the whole class formed a circle with their desks and had a discussion. In these fishbowls we would discus our current assignments, new topics, ideas, we would give opinions to each other and have group presentations. It was a time when the whole class bonded and got to know each other better. These fishbowls were how I learned the names of almost everybody in my class.
         In leaving this class there is honestly not much that I will be taking from it. The only thing that I would say is to my benefit is being able to write a bit more professionally and organized. In about five years from now I would be two years graduated from college and one of my fathers project managers and engineer for his business.

Comparison Basod on Idealism

            The theme idealism is portrayed very well in the short story “Interpreter of Maladies”, by Jhumpa Lahiri and “Hills Like White Elephants”, by Ernest Hemingway. Idealism is the pursuit of something unrealistically unattainable and these two literary works are perfect examples. A very recent example from present day society would be the rioting occurring in Baltimore, Maryland due to the unexpected death of an African American man. Mr. Kapasi, the taxi driver realizes that he had no chance with the unhappily married lady, Mrs. Das from America. The wife in the couple from “Hills like White Elephants” tries to change herself and make actions such as abortion to make her husband happy but their happiness is no longer attainable. In Maryland, hundreds of people rioted the streets, destroying the city for unattainable revenge on the police force for the death of the African American man. Mr. Kapasi, the couple, and the violent rioters of Baltimore all have something in common, and that is the pursuit of an unattainable product.

            Firstly, in the short story Interpreter of Maladies, Mr. Kapasi grows a passion for the unhappily married mother of three, Mrs. Das. While driving the family and having a conversation, he noticed that Mrs. Das had some sort of an interest in him because of his other job translating for a doctor. He believed that her interest in him would lead up to more than just a friendship eventually to escape from his current wife. Mr. Kapasi thought this was possible event though he was old enough to be her father. Another obvious clue that made him think this was the lack of interest Mrs. Ds showed for her husband. At one stop through a detour of their trip Mrs. Das stayed in the car with Mr. Kapasi and waited while her husband and children went for a walk. She opened up to him during this time explaining why she showed such a lack of interest for her family. After she confessed to him about cheating on her husband with his best friend and how her youngest son was of that man, she turned to Mr. Kapasi for an opinion considering he would know what to tell her. Lahiri then stated, “She opened her mouth to say something, but as she glared at Mr. Kapasi some certain knowledge seemed to pass before her eyes and she stopped. It crushed him; he knew that at that moment he was not even important enough to be properly insulted”(351). It was at this moment that Mr. Kapasi realized that whom he thought he possibly had a chance with in the long run was just and unattainable goal.

To continue, another literary work that is similar and in common with Interpreter of Maladies referring to the theme idealism is the short story Hills like White elephants. This story involves a couple, in which the husband wants his wife to get an abortion so that they can continue their fun, world traveling life. As per the previous paragraph, idealism is the pursuit of something unattainable. That unattainable object was this couple’s happiness. The wife attempts to do what she can to make him happy but she lost her love for him due to his mindset of wanting to kill the baby they were expected to have. Abortion is something rough to go through as a couple because one parent, usually the mother does not want to lose the baby as opposed to the father who wants to go to bars and just enjoy himself.  Abortions are usually always a time of disagreement between couples and can change a relationship quickly. As opposed to having a baby and enjoying life with him or her, the husband would rather travel and do other things besides settling down. He states, “We can have the whole world”, she then responded “No we cant. It isn’t ours anymore” (117). That is her response while her husband was continuously trying to convince her for an abortion. The love in this relationship has diminished due to the realistically unattainable future that he wants.

            Finally, another useful example of idealism would be the present day riots that occurred on April 27^th of 2015. This occurrence in Baltimore, Maryland was due to the unexpected death of an African American man while in police custody. The man died due to a severed spinal cord. No one knows how this man’s spine was severed and there was no information released by police. These riots were insane because they burnt stores, and stole merchandise, and especially tried to harm and injure police officers. The police eventually tamed everyone involved and took the necessary violators into custody. This was all unnecessary and unrealistic actions made by these people as an attempt to get revenge on the officers who had the man who died in custody. This did nothing for the rioters because it got them into so much trouble they did not need.

            As a summation, attempting to do or get something realistically unattainable done is known as idealism. By using the two short stories, “Interpreter of Maladies” and “Hills like White Elephants”, non-fictional yet realistic examples were provided and explained to clearly define the term. Present day examples such as the Baltimore riot was used to show another example of idealism just portrayed on the streets of Maryland. These three sourced are valuable, useful, and rather easy to comprehend.

Essay on "Antigone" by Sophocles

The play writer Sophocles once stated, “The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves”, meaning some choices we make in life are the ones we will greatly regret such as committing murder, or not having a very good background from a previous town. In both the plays Antigone, and A Streetcar Named Desire the main characters face the conflict being man verses society. Such conflicts lead to downfall showing the inner being of the characters Antigone and Blanche. These downfalls are frankly due to quite opposite reasons being that one is from being a hero and the other is from attempting to be one.

            In the play “Antigone”, Antigone technically faces the problem of having to go against the king in order to provide a proper burial for her unfortunately deceased brother. This problem is due to her brother having gone against the kings will and now his body is to rot in public. King Creon declared the body to be untouched and those who disturb it will be punished by execution. Antigone knows of this but does not and will not think of her actions due to being a brother. Sister of Antigone, Ismene states, “At least do not speak of this act to anyone else; bury him in secret, I will be silent too” (97-98). Occasions such as this one prove the tragic hero Antigone is, specifically because she tells her sister to tell the city of what she has done to prove a point. All civilians would never dare go against the kings ruling and Antigone proudly did by wanting everyone to know and proudly admitting to the king of what she had done by stating, “Yes, I confess; I will not deny my deed.” (487). Knowing the consequences that would be faced, bringing her to the downfall of her death. Antigone was very strong with her actions making her a true hero to society and proved by facts.

            Blanche, one of the main characters from the play, A Streetcar Named Desire isn’t seen as a hero whatsoever. Blanche left her old town and came into her sister Stellas household, but seemed to always be in a problem while there due to discoveries of her past and present conflicts within the family. After the death of her husband Blanche went down a dark path doing things that would eventually haunt her. Husband of Stella, Stanley made discoveries of her such as being known by most men and supposedly having an encounter with a student while she was a teacher. These discoveries were purposely made so that Stanley could get his sister in law out of his house. All they would do was disagree with each other, and Blanche begins to downfall just as she did before coming to Stella because of the man she wanted to be with named Mitch. She had been fooling him with her age and who she was because she was older than what he thought so she always wanted to be with him only when it was dark. He knew he needed someone and she needed somebody to depend on so she tried to fool him just like the men of her previous town. Mitch states, “I called him a liar at first And then I checked on the story. First I asked our supply-man who travels through Laure. And then I talked directly over long-distance to this merchant”(124). Mitch did not believe of what Stanley told him so he did his own research and found nothing good. All Blanche did was bring problems into the household such as her past, arguments with Stanley, bad comments of things such as where her sister is living, and accusations of Stanley having raped her. All of this brings her down to the point when Stan gets her a bus ticket back home and out of his house.

            In consideration of who these two ladies are it is quite obvious that they are opposite people with the actions they made. One thing in common within both of them is that they have a downfall, but of very different causes. Both Blanche and Antigone came from a very rough past being that both of Antigone’s parents died and Blanche’s husband died. Factors that pertain to the cause of their downfall can be that they have a distinguished way of thinking compared to most others. With that being stated some examples to demonstrate this different way of thinking is how Antigone wants all of society to know of her actions of burying her brother to set an example and to prove to the king that he cannot rule everything on his own. While Antigone is one to show herself to make an example, Blanche is the kind of person to hide and not expose her true self to others such as how she never went out with Mitch when there was light out. Having a different mindset such as these two just bring more attraction for devastation which is a downfall. I as the writer can personally relate because ever since I was young I seemed to always be “that guy”, I had my own way of thinking and did not and still do not have any opinion of what people think of me because I set my own example. Being this way led to me getting called names or not getting along with some people and it sometimes brought me down.

            As a summation to make a comparison these two characters Antigone, and Blanche can be related to not exactly one modern day hero, but hundreds of heroes being the firefighters who battled on 9/11. This may be an out of the ordinary comparison but it is a good one. All of the men and woman who unfortunately passed away set an example. They all had good lives and many had families until the downfall of when they got called in on 9/11. Parallels drawn between the firefighters and Antigone consist of being brave, and willing to do anything to protect someone. On the other hand Blanche may not be compared too well with firefighters but one thing in common with them is that she has endured much in her life and continues to move forward.

            As you have read, to conclude both Antigone from the play Antigone and Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire tend to be quite opposite but similar. Antigone can be perceived as one to prove a point and set an example for what is right making her a tragic hero as opposed to Blanche who tends to be more one to cause problems which is no form of being heroic making her an anti-hero. Both characters are not bad people they are just somewhat rebellious being against what they are told, but can be related to modern day heroes I like to call firefighters.

Pub 1 - Moral Law V. Civil Law

If one was casually taking a stroll through the streets of the city and was to spot a family member deceased in the middle of the road, there would be no other action made besides giving them a proper burial. Such action is one that does not require a second thought, and it is something the one who goes out of his or her way to make the burial should be proud of although it may be a crime. In the play Antigone, by Sophocles, Antigone makes the brave decision of giving her brother Polyneices a proper burial although he has been prohibited of one by Creon, the ruler. The statement made by Antigone to her sister on lines 99-101 goes, “Oh, oh, no! shout it out. I will hate you still worse for silence – should you not proclaim it, to everyone.” This statement is one that can be agreed with 9 times out of 10 because it proves a point being that family comes first no matter what the situation may be. Another statement made by her to prove this argument valid is, “I know I am pleasing those I should please most.” Antigone is right for the action she has done because although her brother was supposedly not a very good citizen as per Creon, he is not to be left out to rot in the middle of the street no matter what the consequences may be.

            In one of Antigone’s parts she specifies, “I shall be a criminal – but a religious one.” Antigone says that because she will and rather accept the consequences for giving her brother the proper burial as opposed to abiding her religion. In which religion has one seen an exposed man left to rot outside? Antigone abides Creons rules and does proudly to not just show respect and honor toward her brother but to set an example to the fellow civilians of the town. Creon was explaining that Antigone thinks differently of everyone in the city, but her response to this on lines 555-556 is, “No, these do, too, but keep their mouths shut for the fear of you.”  The people of her city would have done the same but no one has the courage to stand up to Creon because he is such a brutal, selfish man in my opinion.

            By telling Creon, "I did not believe your proclamation had such power to enable one who will someday die to override God's ordinances, unwritten and secure" (469-99), Antigone is attempting to specify that Creon may be the throne of Thebes but he is no God. He believes that he himself can rule everything as opposed to listening to the towns people’s opinions to at least meet at a halfway point. His son Haemon specifically calls him out on this problem but he is not going to listen as usual. Haemon tells his father on line 793-794 that “There is no city possessed by one man only”. Unfortunately Creon had to learn the hard way by finding both his son and Antigone dead once he finally considered what had been said to him.

Pub 3 - Egalitarianism

In society, one does not simply start off where they would like to be in life. According to what Martin Luther King once said, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”. This is a very valid statement made and most if not all of society can directly relate to it. Life itself if almost like a food chain, one does not simply start at the top. Whether it has to do with work, school, marriage, freedom rights or almost anything else one must work hard and fight for their satisfaction. The following are two literary works that are well capable of proving this quote valid.

          As per the short story “A White Woman of Color”, by Julia Alvarez life in itself is not easy and one will face many obstacles in life until reaching the position they have worked for. Being from the Dominican Republic and one of the darker ones in her family, Julia received racism even from her own family. Even though you could sit in the front of the bus there was still a lot of racism just because she was a little dark. It was very difficult for her to get jobs, only if she would teach small lessons for unimportant classes she could volunteer for. Once she started writing her own books, little by little over time she improved and became a great author. This short story is a very valid source of example for the quote provided by Martin Luther King.

          Another great source of example to prove this quote would be the story “A Child Called It”, by David Pelzer. As a young child, David was treated like a king, but once his brothers became a little older and both his parents were alcoholics they began abusing Dave quite drastically. His mother would make him take care of the house, she would abuse him, and make him sleep in an army cot in the basement. These are just some of the many things Dave went through that you can use as an example. over time Dave fought and fought hard and overpowered his mother, getting into a foster home, but it was much better than getting beaten by his mother. These two works of literature always proved their work and the point made by Martin Luther King, saying “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”.

         

Pub 4 - Post Modernism

About a week and a half ago and old friend of my father came to our office to say hello. This man is 73 years old and while he was speaking to my father his wife called him to check and see how his day was going and such. After speaking to his wife he was getting ready to leave, when I then asked him, “Tom, how many years have you been married to your wife?” He then responded, “Joey, I have been with her for 54 years and it may have been tough sometimes but I never got tired of her”. When he said that to me I thought to myself, “Damn, 54 years with the same lady”. If you think about it, relationships these days don’t even last a fraction compared to what they used to. Couples had respect for each other, and didn’t try to compromise their relationship by cheating or lying unlike now in present time. This could be referred to as post modernism.

A literary work that could to exemplify post modernism would be the short story “Interpreter of Maladies”, by Lahiri. The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Das and the truth told to Mr. Kapasi and how he thinks of her can all be summed up into this term of post modernism once explained properly. Back in the past time such as the 50s, someone who cheated was frowned upon and usually unheard of. Now you hear as an example, “John and Becky broke up because he cheated on her with her best friend” or something relative to that just as what occurred in Interpreter of Maladies, except Mrs. Das husband never found out. While Mr. Das was walking up the trail with his kids Mrs. Das explained what happened with herself and a good friend of her husband one day while she was making coffee when he stayed over their house a few days for job interviews. The author explained, “He made love with her swiftly, in silence, with an expertise she had never know, without the meaningful expressions and smiles Raj always insisted on afterward”(Pg. 350). In saying this Mrs. Das had known her husband and had been with him since they were children and for eight years she has kept it a secret that she cheated on him and that their son Bobby was not even his. This is an example of things that you hear of happening in our present day world.

Those of you whom watch modern day shows such as Access Hollywood with all the gossip or others such as the Jersey Shore that used to go on see many examples of relationships and the way these people behave as an example of present post modernism. All you hear about is this celebrity breaking up and that one cheating and a truck load of a lot of other unnecessary controversy. This is all stuff that was unheard of and uncalled for in the past and the short story Interpreter of Maladies, by Lahiri is quite relatable with this. What Mrs. Das did was wrong and the fact that she has been keeping this a secret from her husband for so long and not loving him was even worse.