Point Counter Point

Lord Edward Tantamount

A self exploring scientist… For him, everything is for intrinsic value. Marriage is one of social convenience; status; money. He is married to Lucy. Their relationship is somewhat odd in a sense that they don’t dislike each other, but there isn’t really a passion there. Lord Edward is just awkward. He likes things and has passions, but they tend to be a little different, although he does love music. Physically, Lord Edward is lanky and tall. Philosophically, he is highly critical of politics and super intellectual, but not emotionally-vacant. In chapter five, Webley and Lord Tantamount converse over their inability to agree on what really needs to happen in order to save society; whether it be a scientific advancement or a political advancement. Lord Edward is kind of a jerk. He is politically a leader of British freeman with fascist tendencies, meaning he wants power all for himself and doesn’t care about other people. “…Lord Edward’s express injunction that he was never to be troubled with matters of business, to consult his client about a matter of investments…Lord Edward was dragged from the fundamental equations of the statistics of living systems.” (56)  We call this progress for the sake of progress.

My hero

A hero: "a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities." Everyone has someone that they admire, look up to, and strive to be like. Everyone has someone who has helped shape them to be the person they are. For me, this person is my dad. Since day one I have been a daddy's girl. I believe there is no greater bond than a father-daughter bond and I am beyond thankful to have such a strong one.
Every day he has encouraged me to keep going and to never quit, like he has done. My dad has shown me how to live a successful and positive life. He is the most dedicated, hard-working, and determined man I have ever met. He has worked hard since a young age, attending Stanford University and then Harvard for business school. He has started his own business and succeeded. He works hard at his job and for his family. He has been determined to provide support for his kids and himself and he has never failed. He is the most self-less man. He is always looking out for everyone around him and is constantly picking me up when I am down. I am extremely thankful for everything he has done for me and my family.
My dad is constantly explaining to me how stuff works. Over and over. He has taught me how to play sports and how to make it through school. He helps me every single night with my homework. He is my personal tutor. These past few months my dad has been my college counselor. He has helped me lay out what schools I want to apply to, peer-edited all my essays, and paid for every application. I am one lucky girl. He tells me I have what it takes; he's the only one who can do that. I will never be able to repay my dad for everything he has provided and done for me. Every time I reflect on one of my life's accomplishments, I can't help but realize that I achieved it because of something my dad has  taught me.
My dad will forever and always be my hero.

Existence Precedes Essence

TIME, PATTERN and SPACE; three words I have found key to understanding Mersault’s life. He is living in a TIME of disorientation. Throughout the few days of his mom’s passing and funeral, he didn’t have much TIME to sleep. The days were not distinguished, yet an overlap of TIME. With TIME comes this reference to light. He sees visions, except nothing behind them. Marie Cardona, a girl who he found at the beach and happened to have a thing for, brings out his materialism. He is attracted to her physical appearance and brings her home. Then the next morning he wakes up and makes himself eggs out of a pan, like it’s just another normal day; a PATTERN. He lives in this idea of being used to things, doing things for the sake of doing them, not thinking why or how he is doing them. As an existentialist, he is more interested in living than in knowing. He lives in a big two bedroom apartment, but has all of his stuff piled into his room… wasted SPACE. Why does he do that? It seems a bit crazy to me. He states that he doesn’t like Sundays, yet he wastes a day doing absolutely nothing but staring out of a window for hours. We get a description of everything that happens, yet none have any meaning or lasting connection, just him simply going through the PATTERN of his day. Mersault is living the aesthetic. He is existing, but he is not living. All we know about him is that he is an incredibly perceptive person, but nothing else. He is unable to see the big picture of his life and only chooses to focus on the small things. I haven’t found Mersault making any choice that would give his existence essence. His existence lives in a continuous PATTERN of eating, sleeping, working and observing and is unaware of essence. His existence starts to be determined more as an essence when he shoots the Arab, which is definitely not a good way to determine your essence. Once he is put in prison, he is able to reflect on his life as he tries to help pass the TIME. He begins to become aware of himself and his actions, finding his essence. He begins to remember pieces of his life as he becomes aware of this PATTERN he is living in, as prison provides him with another one to live in. To find your essence, you must find yourself by becoming aware of your thoughts, actions and emotions. Here, Mersault does so.

Whitman VI

“Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic, 

And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow

zones. 

Growing among black folks as among white, 

Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them

the same, I receive them the same.” 

Whitman provides his view of American/national identity in poem VI. Throughout the poem he expresses the idea of the self and the identification of the self with other selves. Each self is made up of its own characteristics. The American identity is a collection of different types of people including blacks, whites, Kanucks, and Tuckahoes. Whitman treats each of them the same, but the rest of America segregates them. Whitman doesn’t feel like he is any different from any one else including children, or people of different backgrounds and races. Therefore, he believes that everyone should all be treated equally.  In order to do so you must question where we come from, who we are, and how we participate in the circle of life. Everyone goes through the same circle of life no matter their race or background, thus no one shall treated differently and or segregated. A present theme in the poem is the poet’s relationship with the elements of nature and the universe. Whitman uses grass as an analogy for human life, showing how it grows from the soil where the dead have been buried and does not discriminate based on the types of people that have come before it. 

Reflect on a moment (or event, or person, or..?) in your life that has played a significant role in shaping who you are today

The next thing I knew, I was sitting next to the one I loved in the ICU.  His eyes were shut and his hair was still perfectly combed, although it seemed he was hooked up to every possible machine. We all prayed for a miracle. I pleaded, “Just open your eyes buddy. You can do it. Come on Mae. You can’t leave us yet.” Unfortunately, there was no miracle. On July 12, 2014, I said goodbye to Mason. I held his hand, stroked his hair, gave him one last kiss on his forehead and told him that I would always love him.

I had known Mason since pre-school.  As we aged, we became closer and eventually fell in love. My life revolved around Mason. What I wore, what I was doing, everything I did was always an attempt to impress him. We had so much in common. Our relationship was going perfectly, until I lost him.

In the months that followed, I could not stop thinking about him and how much I missed him. My life had changed and I didn’t know how to deal with it. I recall one morning last fall after about three months had passed, my alarm clock went off at its usual time, 6:30am. I went to my closet to pick out an outfit, but nothing seemed to look right. One outfit after another I tried on, ripped off and threw on the ground. There were just too many memories with Mason attached to them. Grief overwhelmed me. I stormed around, slammed doors, and screamed like a child. I dove back into my bed, bit into my pillow and cried, thinking I had the worst life. My room was a complete disaster, and so was I. After a few hours had passed, I finally regrouped and realized that I couldn’t do this to myself any longer; just sitting in bed and crying all day wouldn’t bring Mason back. At that moment, I decided I would make a change. I needed to find ways to make myself happy and get back on a productive path.

A year later, I am sitting in the front of my AP Statistics class with my notebook out and a pencil in my hand, ready to learn. I look down at the “Mason” bracelet on my wrist, and remind myself that I can do this. I am no longer able rely on Mason, but he inspires me to be determined and to work hard to achieve my goals. I am a stronger person today, mentally, emotionally and academically. More resilient and self-reliant, I am now in control of my own destiny. I look forward to college and continuing my transition to adulthood.

Socratic Seminar Response

Our socratic seminar began with Elle’s idea to start with question #1 rather than trying to grasp and discuss the big question. It turned out that question #1 actually grabbed my attention. The discussion touched upon sex and love and dealing with the concepts of pleasure from the standpoint of memory, which are prominent in chapter 12. Throughout the chapter, Ransom and Hyoi are dealing with the conflicts between the two cultures and Ransom spends some time learning, especially after all the fear he has dealt with in the novel. Some only engage in intercourse twice in their life, not for pleasure, just simply for the circle of life. How could you possibly have pleasure with something if you can only have it twice? As humans, we seek to do the act more than once if we want pleasure out of it. Hyoi argues the question of why you would want to do something again and again if we were initially satisfied? He relates it to dinner; if you eat it every day then it becomes a routine and begins to lack the specialness of the event. The key point he tries to prove is that pleasure is fully grown only when it is remembered. We’ve been stewing on this idea that the only thing that is important is the moment and that memory isn’t enough. Here he is giving a different perspective; the memory fundamentally changes, it becomes better. The biggest problem we have as humans and within our society is that when we want things, we genuinely want them right then and there. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Today, we’re never absent. There is absolutely no distance between anything anymore. Privacy is gone. Social media has taken over. We are all in constant communication with everyone. 

Marcus Aurelius Quote

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not a truth.”

There are two sides to every story we hear. Newscasters are supposed to report the truth, but how many times have we learned later that facts had been embellished to make the story more exciting. Sometimes fiction can be more exciting to people than the truth. We live in a world where you must question the things you hear. 

Seeing: sometimes people believe so strongly about something they think what they see is the truth. It's kind of like a good magician. We can often be so biased to see what we WANT to see. Life experiences also give people different perspectives on how they view things. For example, in the recently circulated picture of a striped dress, some saw white and gold and others saw black and blue. Why is that?

Some things we hear our facts. For example, 2+2 is 4. But there are some things we take as a fact because someone has spent a great amount of time researching or convincing a majority to see it the way they do, which then makes the fact based on popular opinion.  

Not everything we hear is a fact, not everything we see is a truth; it’s an exaggeration. Absolute words like everything, nothing, always, never are usually incorrect because there is typically at least a small percent of the time that something can or can't happen. So it would be better to use a qualifier, like "most everything”. 

To me both statements are similar. What we are hearing is someone's interpretation of what is real to that individual, based on what they believe or know. What we see is based on how we compare what we are seeing to what we have seen or experienced before.