Blog #8

Point Counter Point opens up with an interaction between Marjorie Carling and Walter Bidlake. Marjorie Carling is an ugly ill woman with a straight nose. She is pregnant with Walter's child, but she is still married to Carling, although they are separated. Marjorie's personal philosophy is revealed in the very first pages of the novel. Around page 5 and 6, Marjorie is speaking with Walter. She is begging him not to go to a party, but then tells him to go. She knows as soon as he leaves he will cheat and flirt with other women. "Stay with me this evening," (5) Marjorie said, but soon after said, "But I do want you to," (6). I believe this reveals that Marjorie does love him, but will not frame him for what he has to done, because she lives in fear of losing him. She doesn't want to lose him, so she is going to have his baby. The pregnancy is completely absurd. It proves she lives with an existentialist philosophy. She is extremely individualistic. She wants Walter, and she will do anything to keep him with her. She goes against morals, and is true to herself and that is it. She creates her own values and ethics. She may be free within her mind, but she is still missing Walter in her life. I believe she is free, but not happy.

Blog #7

It took me a long time to pick something to write about.

I chose to talk about happiness. Everyone always lives their lives dreaming of the happiness that will come in the future, but people never speak about being happy now. People are always looking forward. Humans look for more. They always need to more. I believe that if people stop and experience life as it happens, they will experience happiness. Every single person has the choice to be happy, so why not choose to live in the now, and be happy. I am happy, and every time I get down on myself or anything, I stop and realize that I could happy. I just need to think about the great things in my life that make me happy. Awful things occur in this world, but it is up to us to decide if we want to be happy or not. We have control over our emotions, and it is time people realize that happiness is a choice. So lets be happy. 

Blog Post #6- 11/2

In the novel, The Stranger, Mersault gains his identity. Mersault lived a very repetitive life, and he enjoyed living that kind of life. Most people would find it extremely boring, but Mersault lived with it. He never gave away his true identity until one breaking point of the book. When Mersault decided to shoot is exactly when he gave way to who he actually is. The choice to fire and murder was exactly how Mersault showed us who he is. It is the turning point, he changed from existence to essence. His existence was him going through every day doing nothing, but he gained essence when he finally did something major with his life. It added to his identity, and his identity continued to become more clear. We could finally understand who Mersault is.

10/19- Blog #5

"I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you"

1) I believe the poem reflects a lot about Whitman, but I think it gives off two distinct views. First, it seems like he is saying he makes his own identity, and whatever he thinks of himself, others will think the same. On the contrary, he then states that he does not belong to himself. He belongs to you and everyone else, because we are all each other.

2)Later in the poem, Whitman writes about being born on this soil. I think he is trying to say that everything he is is from America. Therefore, every man is only made up of what soil they were born from, and that is why we are all the same if we grew up on the same soil.

3) This poem teaches us that we are all equal. There is no difference between two men, other than where they grew up. Our identities are the same.

4) Man is the environment. That is the direct relationship shown in this poem, and it is easy to see that. It is what Whitman believes, and very well could be true, but it is hard to prove. 

10/6 Blog #4

My brother is twenty-one years old. A lot of people don't know I have a brother, and about only four people know how close I am with him. My brother's name is Connor. He looks and acts almost exactly the same as me. We could easily be twins, but Connor and I have one difference. Connor is gay.

He came out to me last year, when he got back from college. I took it like most teenagers would. I did nothing. I did nothing, because there was no change. Gay, straight, black, white, religious, or atheist, Connor is my brother and someone I will love forever. Connor coming out to me changed my identity in the best way possible. When he came out to me, I felt like I finally had a purpose. I could change the views and habits of my peers. They use phrases like, "that's gay" or "don't be homo", and I finally understood how much they hurt people like my brother. People use these terms like it is bad to be gay. I believe being gay is natural, and my brother had no choice. He was born that way.
Therefore, what gives people the right to use phrases that demonstrate being gay as bad or strange? There is nothing and no one that gives them the right to put down people as amazing as my brother and many others.

From that day and on, I try to stress the importance of accepting people for who they are. Everyone is created equal, and the human race needs to start taking those words to heart. People need to step out of their bubble and into the shoes of my brother, then see what it's like to be bullied for being yourself in a society that you can not escape. I put myself in his shoes, and I gained a whole new perspective. This new perspective changed my life and my identity forever. I could not more glad my brother came out to me. It made me who I am today.

9/29 Blog Post #3

During the Socratic Seminar today, the inner circle discussed many topics, and the discussion got very heated. In my blog, I wanted to focus on one topic that captured my intrigue. I was very interested in the discussion of what good is. Some of my peers believed that there is a universal good, while others vetoed the thought, and stated that good is different all around. I believe the latter.
Sam Hefter made a great argument; he stated that good in the Middle East is extremely different from here in the United States. A murderer in the United States could be considered a prophet in the Middle East, but here is a man qualified for the death penalty. This demonstrated the difference of good throughout our world. If there are more worlds, good could be even more stretched from our belief. Therefore, good is universal, but the definition of good varies throughout societies. Your actual definition of good is found in your experiences with the words and the feeling. Good is completely dependent on the way you are brought up. Overall, good does exist but is different all around, and we can not judge a person based on their definition of good.

9/21 Blog Post #2

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is perspective, not truth"
I want to break the quote into two parts. First, "everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact." I do not believe that everything is an opinion.  Facts do exist in the Earth. Science proves that facts exist because they use experiments. Now, everyone does carry am opinion but all opinions are based on facts. For example, I believe that plumb tastes bad, while my dad believes that plumb tastes good. We both view the plumb differently, but the fact is that that is a plumb in front of us. There is a fact and our opinions came from that.
Second, "Everything we see is perspective, not truth." I do agree with this one. Every single person is different and this entails that their perspectives are different as well. The perspectives we carry with us are based off of memories that we have. We create good and bad perspectives from our experiences with the subjects. Furthermore, the experiences do not need to be direct; experiences can be found through other people or through society's perspective.