Blog Entry #8

Blog #8

You should have a Moodle message from me with two names in it by Monday evening of this week. I want you to use what you have learned about finding and evaluating sources to see what kind of information you can find about both of those people. You will write your biography on one of these individuals. For this week's blog, I would like you to discuss which person you chose and why you chose that person. If you cannot come up with 250 words about why you chose the person, it might be difficult to write an essay on that person, so be sure to do some research and decide who is more interesting to you.

I have become very interested in Vincent Van Gogh out of the three choices I received. His birth came exactly one year after his mother lost her first child in a still birth that she was also planning on naming Vincent. He was born on March 30, 1853 in Groot Zundert, The Netherlands. This was said to add trauma to his life with the since of feeling like a “replacement child”. This was not a marked historical point in his life so there isn’t much information about it, but he lead an amazing life of his own that I cannot wait to write about in my paper. I honestly can understand why he would suffer some psychological trauma because of this just as I think anyone would who was named after or even possibly made just as a replacement of someone else or a genic multiple of someone else to help them survive. Everyone deserves to have his or her own life and shouldn’t be seen as anything different. He is a wonderful artist that shows a lot of uniqueness in each painting that he creates. There are way too many paintings of his to choose a favorite. I took a fine arts visual class last spring semester and learned a few things about Vincent Van Gogh, and how he grew to become a very famous and unique painter, that shows total individuality with each brush stroke. Creativity should be learned by each person. It defines the true characteristics of each individual.

blog entry #7

Blog #7 Read the following article and discuss.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/magazine/25wwln-medium-t.html

 

Thinspiration videos, are mainly made by people with anorexia or bulimia. They are normally about eating disorders. People who are ready for help sometimes find it here while watching other people tell their story. While others deny anorexia and bulimia as being mental illness and say it is a “life style choice” instead. They hope to get respect from others. Whether you want to lose or gain weight thinspiration has a lot of different tips on how to do either one. There are now people trying to pass a law forbidding these videos and comments from being posted on the internet, because they feel that it is killing them along with other men and women who watch and act upon what they have seen. Exercising  instead of eating meals  is the path of life these people have chosen and it is honestly killing them faster and faster with ever squat, sit-up, jump-n-jack, push-up, etc. they do. They make posts and however many likes they get they do so many of each kind of exercise to reward themselves which is not rewarding at all. After reading this and looking up the meaning of thinspiration my eyes are now open to these cases and I am in hope that everyone that do this become aware of what it is truly doing to their bodies and turn their lives around for the better. Laws against this would totally help lead these men and women back into the right direction.  You can be in shape without harming yourself. Just watch what you eat… if you do not want to be really big, cut back on the sugary foods and drinks and maybe go out for a walk or jog a few nights a week but do not go into the thinspirators state of mind you just might be setting yourself up for death.

Blog Entry #6

Blog #6

Since we are discussing/writing about literature, this week's topic is about banned books. Should we attempt to protect our children from "adult" subjects, or should we allow children the intellectual freedom to read whatever they choose?

Well, I kind of feel like either way would be okay. If you allow children to read adult books you can try to make it to where they are in their teens at least and this way you will be a little more comfortable with answering the questions they may have about it. I think it is best for kids to learn on their own for the most part but always need a little guidance from the parents. But then in today’s generations, it seems like if you tell someone not to do something they will go and do it anyways so why not sit down with them and read it together and maybe share what you went through in your life and hope they lead a better life. Then there is the other rout where you are 100% against letting them read these books which could cause them to go experiment and possibly not tell you. I think I would want my children to feel safe to come to me and their father for anything they have questions and that we should find a way to explain it to them and what the consequences are for each thing.  Most of the children these days know way more than the parents do when it comes to this, to be quite honest. All I can say is listen to your children you could learn what they are doing, going through, and need help with just by their words and actions.

Blog #5

Blog Entry #5

Discuss at least one of the potential paper topics at the bottom of the Literary Analysis assignment description.

For this blog, you will need to comment on at least two of the blog entries of your classmates

 

Possible Topics:

1.  Discuss the symbolism of the wallpaper in Charlotte Perkins Gilman “The Yellow Wallpaper.”

2. Why does Charlotte Perkins Gilman choose to tell “The Yellow Wallpaper” from the point of view of an unreliable narrator? How would the story be different if it were told by John?

3. Is John a villain in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”?

4. Discuss the symbolism of the gun in Richard Wright's story "The Man Who Was Almost a Man."

5. In Richard Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," is Dave ready to be a man? Does he understand what being a man is?

6. Discuss what you believe to be Richard Wright's purpose in using dialect in "The Man Who Was Almost a Man."

7. In Ernest Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," does Margot intentionally murder Francis? Does it matter?

8. Discuss how Hemingway treats the characters of Francis and Wilson differently in light of his "hero code" in "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber."

9. Discuss the meaning of the title in Ernest Hemingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber."

10.   Discuss how Hulga is defined by her disability in Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People."

11.    Explain the role of Mrs. Hopewell and the relationship with her daughter in Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People."

12.    Discuss the symbolism of names in Flannery O'Connor's "Good Country People."

13.    Choose your own topic. If you decide to choose your own topic, it may center around one, two, three, or even all of the works as long as it is primarily about one of the works you read for class. (This means that you could even compare one of the stories to something else you have read, as long as the primary focus is the work from class.) If you decide to create your own topic, you must get your topic approved.

Chose

5.         In Richard Wright's "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," is Dave ready to be a man? Does he understand what being a man is?

I feel that he does not understand what being a man is because he is still rebelling against his parents. One must mature, whether you are a boy or a girl, before you can be considered a man or woman.  In this story he even plays around with a gun and has to learn horrible mistakes for going against his parents form: buying it to shooting it and killing a cow in the field where he worked. Not only were his parents upset but so was his boss at this point. One thing to remember and learn as a child is that what things you do wrong hurt more than just yourself, it hurts your family and everyone else around you in some way. And once you have learned that and grown out of your childish ways will you be considered a man or woman.

Blog #4

Blog Entry #4

 

Ernest Hemingway was a famous American writer of thetwentieth century. One of the things that made him famous was his clipped, yet descriptive style of writing. Another characteristic of Hemingway's writing was that his heroes usually followed a specific set of rules that have come to be known as the Hemingway Code. The following information is taken directly from http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_H.html. Read the information about the Hemingway Code and discuss what you think about it whether it is in relation to what it says about Hemingway, how you feel about yourself, from a feminist standpoint, etc.

HEMINGWAY CODE: Hemingway's protagonists are usually "Hemingway Code Heroes," i.e., figures who try to follow a hyper-masculine moral code and make sense of the world through those beliefs. Hemingway himself defined the Code Hero as "a man who lives correctly, following the ideals of honor, courage and endurance in a world that is sometimes chaotic, often stressful, and always painful." This code typically involves several traits for the Code Hero:

(1) Measuring himself against the difficulties life throws in his way, realizing that we will all lose ultimately because we are mortals, but playing the game honestly and passionately in spite of that knowledge

(2) Facing death with dignity, enduring physical and emotional pain in silence

(3) Never showing emotions

(4) Maintaining free-will and individualism, never weakly allowing commitment to a single woman or social convention to prevent adventure, travel, and acts of bravery

(5) Being completely honest, keeping one's word or promise

(6) Being courageous and brave, daring to travel and have "beautiful adventures," as Hemingway would phrase it

(7) Admitting the truth of Nada (Spanish, "nothing"), i.e., that no external source outside of oneself can provide meaning or purpose. This existential awareness also involves facing death without hope of an afterlife, which the Hemingway Code Hero considers more brave than "cowering" behind false religious hopes.

The Hemingway Code Hero typically has some sort of physical or psychological wound symbolizing his tragic flaw or the weaknesses of his character, which must be overcome before he can prove his manhood (or re-prove it, since the struggle to be honest and brave is a continual one). Also, many Hemingway Code Heroes suffer from a fear of the dark, which represents the transience or meaninglessness of life in the face of eventual and permanent death.

 

I agree with every part of the Hemingway Code about how a hero must do in order to be called a hero for life and what he says, “they must do except the part where he says that they must face death without hope of an afterlife”. I believe that there is an afterlife for everyone whether it is Heaven or Hell. God has provided us with a much better life than we can ever imagine. I strongly believe that eventually everyone will know of this heaven or hell one day hopefully before God returns for his believers for the biggest eye awakening moment ever. Where everyone will become aware of all their sins against him and have to confess to them and repent of their sins in order to continue an everlasting life. I may have taken this in a total different way than it was meant to be but that’s how I understand he is saying in this code.

 

By Emily Lamb Wright