Can't Say I'll Miss Doing These Every Month...

So it's finally time for our last monthly blog and at first, I had no idea what to write about. So, after some thinking, I decided to write about murder. More specifically, the reasons that we as society find acceptable for murder. In The Tell Tale Heart, the narrator claims that he killed the old man because of his eye. However, we the readers are convinced that this guy is insane. If he was on trial today, would we say that this man was guilty? Or innocent because of his mental state? What if this person was famous? Would we find them guilty then? Today, it seems like if you have the connections, you can get away with anything. Look at the OJ Trial. He was famous, he had connections. And he got away with murder("allegedly"). If someone was murdering someone because they threatened to kill that person's child, they probably wouldn't be found guilty. Because they were doing it for protection. The reasons behind killing someone is the main factor for whether they are found guilty or not. There could be evidence to prove that a person no doubt committed a murder. But, if they have a good reason for doing it, everything's ok. It makes me think of the musical/movie Chicago. One of my favorite songs in that movie is "He Had It Coming." I don't know if you've seen that movie but it's basically a song that the women sing about how the men that they killed "had it coming." We don't find out the result of all the women's trials, but we do find out that Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly are both found innocent for the murders that they committed. Society always preaches that murdering someone is wrong, but if you do it for the right reasons, it's prefectly ok. So, if you ever have to kill someone, make sure you have a good reason for doing it, unlike the narrator in The Tell Tale Heart.

I would sell my soul for Kilby Cream

.....It's a pretty basic question but one that is subject to much debate. After all, we're talking about your soul here. It's not like you can just sell yours and then buy another one (as much as I wish we could). So, after we finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dr. Faustus, I got to thinking about what, if anything, I would sell my soul for. Personally, I go back and forth on the issue. I don't think I would hesitate to sell my soul to save the life of someone I loved. But would that person want me to do that? It's a very complicated situation and one that I never want to encounter. But anyway, enough talk about me. What would most people in society do? To me, it seems as if lots of people would go the route of Dorian and sell their soul for youth and beauty. It certainly seems like celebrities and public figures will do anything to maintain their looks. If that's true, why wouldn't they sell their soul if that's what was necessary? Just recently, a "celebrity" Heidi Montag, who's only 22, went through 10 surgeries in one day in order to look more "beautiful" so that she could advance her career. I have no doubt in my mind that, unfortunately, she would sell her soul in order to be beautiful if it meant she would be famous. Many people would also probably sell their soul for money. We often hear stories of people doing anything to gain wealth, even if it's illegal. Look at Bernard Madoff. He plotted and schemed for years in order to get rich. Would some people consider that as "selling his soul?" It's fascinating though that the fact that people will sell their soul for beauty is timeless. Dorian Gray was written over 100 years ago and still today we find people who would take the same path as Dorian. It makes me a little ashamed of our society today.

"If you're a woman over there it pretty much sucks..."

As I was reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, there were several times where I would simply think to myself, "Wow. I'm so glad I live in the United States." In the United States, girls grow up knowing that they can be anything they want to be, there are no limitations on their dreams. Women here aren't defined by their marriage or how many children they have. In Afghanistan, under Taliban rule, women weren't allowed to do anything, as evidenced in the novel. Even today, after the Taliban's reign has ended, women there are still not granted the freedoms that we are so fortunate to have as Americans. Last week, Melanne Verveer spoke to Congress about the plight of women in Afghanistan. Although since the downfall of the Taliban women have been able to gain jobs in politics, their everyday life has continued to suffer, according to Verveer. I can't imagine what it would be like to grow up in a country where I couldn't follow my dreams because of my gender. We saw in the book how well Zalmai was treated by Rasheed because he was a boy and how poorly Aziza was treated because she was a girl. Unfortunately, that's how life is for many girls growing up in Afghanistan today. Reading this book just really made me realize how different my life would be if I had simply been born in a different country. I could have the same parents, the same friends, the same wants and needs but have a completely different life. Because I was one of the lucky girls fortunate enough to be born in America, I can do anything that I want to do.

Here's the link to Verveer's address to Senate http://www.state.gov/s/gwi/rls/rem/2010/137222.htm

And the title is a reference to one of Kathy Griffin's specials. Ask me or Lauren about it : )

Suicide (Like I Didn't Talk About It Enough in Class...)

This seems like all I've talked about the past few days but I still have more to say surprisingly enough. It seemed to be the general consensus in our class that Edna committing suicide was the "cowardly" thing to do or her just "taking the easy way out." This statement just really continues to bother me. In my opinion, there isn't anything easy about suicide. The thought process that a person must go through while considering taking their own life is one of the hardest things someone would probably ever have to. No matter what their reasons for doing it would be, they believe it's what they must do. Whatever that person is going through to believe that death is "easier" can't be easy at all. I don't want to say that someone who commits suicide is a hero by any stretch of the imagination but I don't think they should be considered a coward. As for Edna, I believe that she saw suicide as the only way that she could free herself from the pressures of society. A lot of people in class said that they would have liked the ending of the book more if Edna had at least made an effort to try and survive on her own. In my opinion, this just wasn't an option for her since she wanted to be free from society. If she had gone out into society and tried to make a life for herself, she would have ended up failing and most likely dying from poverty. This would have meant that her death was a result of society's pressures on her. Suicide was the only way she could truly escape society and its pressures and do something completely on her own. That was her statement and to me it made the ending of the book so much more powerful.

I Definitely Forgot All About This...

So as I was drying my hair and reading this article on cultural relativism my first thought was, of course, "Why can't people actually think like this?" In my opinion, people like to pretend that they're open-minded about things, but, in reality, they're not. We can talk all we want about how we accept other people's beliefs and how everyone is entitled to their own ideas but everyone knows that, deep down, they think their way is the only right way. I know I'm guilty of it. Some times I just feel like screaming when people don't see things my way. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand that different cultures have different customs and morals but in the back of my mind I can't help but think about how crazy those customs sound. For example, in Things Fall Apart, the idea of wives being a symbol of social standing is outrageous to me. In Okonkwo's culture though, that's just how things are. In Beowulf, physical strength was seen as the determining factor in whether or not someone was successful in life. In our culture, unfortunately, looks and appearance are used to determine someone's worth. However, according to the theory of cultural relativism, none of these beliefs are inherently wrong or right. Each belief is right in its respective culture and wrong when looked at through the eyes of someone looking in. I know that I certainly try to live this way but it is hard to look at different cultures without judging their beliefs at all. Cultural relativism is a great idea and I wish that it was more realistic. Unfortunately, however, I don't think that society will ever be able to completely follow the claims set out by cultural relativists.

November Monthly Connection

In analyzing Beowulf, one can interpret the story and its title character in different ways. One way is that "the hero is the poem," which is what Peter Clemoes interprets. Kathryn Hume's view of the poem differs, saying that we as the reader do not get to learn enough about Beowulf as a person, his "private thoughts or personal hopes or misgivings" to connect the poem to its hero. I personally agree with the latter view. While we do as readers get to hear of Beowulf's heroic actions, we don't get to hear his thoughts on what he is doing. The reader is never directly addressed by Beowulf, but rather through characters in the poem. I think that one of the most important aspects of a hero is being able to see the hero as similar to yourself. A hero that most people are able to relate to is more meaningful and effective. The fact that we never get the ability to even get the chance to relate to Beowulf makes him less of a hero to me. In the article, they address the question about whether Beowulf is like the "everyman." The thing is, we never get to figure that out. For all we know, Beowulf could be a giant ogre-like creature. That makes it a bit harder for me to see him as a hero. However, some critics, like Tolkien, don't see Beowulf's "being" as being important to the theme of the poem. For me, it's critical. I like to read about people that I can relate to. The title of "hero" is more impressive to me when the hero is someone that I see as similar to myself. When they are able to accomplish these great feats, I feel like I am able to view them as more of a hero and respect that title more.

October Monthly Connection

When we were answering the questions at the beginning of our Hero unit, I couldn't help but think about how many people we consider "heroes" today. It seems as if the word hero has lost all of its meaning. People today see celebrities like Britney Spears or Brad Pitt as their hero. While I'm definitely guilty of reading tabloids every week, I still don't understand what these people have done to be seen as heroes by so many We mentioned that in order for there to be a hero, there must also be a villain. Unless you consider the paparazzi or the tabloids to be villains, I don't think any of these people have defeated a villain in their life. My definition of a hero is someone who overcomes something that they are afraid of. Who's afraid of being rich? These celebrities aren't heroes. The real heroes in our society are people like Sulley Sullenberger, the pilot who saved an entire plane by safely landing his aircraft in the Hudson River. These are the people that we should be looking up to; not the person who is wearing the newest fashions or the person who sings the most popular song. People that risk their lives everyday on the job are heroes. We often see stories on the news of firefighters or police officers that saved someone. While at first we may glorify this person, that glory soon fades and we once again direct our attention to the celebrities. Our society doesn't recognize the fact that at the end of the day, these people that we admire and idolize aren't the people that change our lives. It is the people closest to us that do that. Those are the people that are heroes to me.