This month we read the book "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." This book dealt with the tendency for humans to have two sides to them; good and evil. I thought that question number 14 in our Socratic Seminar was very interesting. This question asked whether or not Jekyll and Hyde were the same person. I do believe that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are the same person however they have different motives behind their actions. For example, Dr. Jekyll's motive to get in touch with his Mr. Hyde side was that he wanted to feel what it was like to be "evil," and he never intentionally meant for anyone to get hurt. However, once he came in touch with Mr. Hyde he became consumed with evil thoughts and he no longer could control himself.
This can relate back to the play that we read called "Dr. Faustus." Within this play Dr. Faustus was becoming in touch with the Devil and he tried to bribe Dr. Faustus to give up his soul to him. When Dr. Faustus is in the midst of making this difficult decision he has two sides that are trying to persuade him; the good angel and the evil angel. This is very similar to the good and evil sides that live within Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can also relate back to real life. Think back on a time when you thought that you knew someone and they turned out being completely different than your original view. This has happened to a lot of people including myself. There was one time when I became very close to a new friend and after being friends for about three whole months she acted in a way that I had never seen her act before. It was as though I did not know her at all. This shows how it is almost human nature to have a good and evil side within them that can end up showing at different times. It also shows that there are often times when no matter how hard we try, our evil side with reign supreme to our good side.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
Women's Rights: Then and Now
This month we read many books and short stories which were all based on the main idea of feminism. We read "The Awakening" which was about a woman named Edna who over time began to feel what freedom really felt like. She slowly began to realize that she wasn't living the best life that she could as a woman and that she was not happy with her life. She finds freedom in swimming and decides one day to swim out in the ocean too far and lets herself drown. This shows that she wasn't afraid to live with freedom, and that she chose the way that she wanted her life to end; doing something that she loved.
Edna was able to find something that made her happy and made her have the sensation that she was in total control of her life; swimming. Although this is not a major event, it still symbolizes women finding something that they enjoy doing without having to worry about how the world will judge them due to their gender. It is small leaps like this that have gotten us to where women's rights are today. For example, there are women's teams for every sport, which would have originally been meant for only men. In the Olympics there are men's and women's sports and they are fairly equally represented. There are even women in the military now. This was a big step because this shows that we are not afraid to allow both men and women to work together to represent our country and defend our country.
This has affected me directly within my lifetime because I am very involved in things that women would not have been allowed to be a part of during the time that "The Awakening" was written. I play soccer every day of my life, I am finishing out my high school education, and I am even getting ready to join the United States Coast Guard within the next 6 months. I feel so blessed to be a young woman living in this day and age in the United States because not only do I have more decisions to make for myself, but I also get to choose exactly what it is that I want to do. Some guys think it a bit strange that I, a woman, would want to join the military and get yelled at all the time. My response is that it's something I want to do and that women can do anything men can do (and even better than men can at times).
Edna was able to find something that made her happy and made her have the sensation that she was in total control of her life; swimming. Although this is not a major event, it still symbolizes women finding something that they enjoy doing without having to worry about how the world will judge them due to their gender. It is small leaps like this that have gotten us to where women's rights are today. For example, there are women's teams for every sport, which would have originally been meant for only men. In the Olympics there are men's and women's sports and they are fairly equally represented. There are even women in the military now. This was a big step because this shows that we are not afraid to allow both men and women to work together to represent our country and defend our country.
This has affected me directly within my lifetime because I am very involved in things that women would not have been allowed to be a part of during the time that "The Awakening" was written. I play soccer every day of my life, I am finishing out my high school education, and I am even getting ready to join the United States Coast Guard within the next 6 months. I feel so blessed to be a young woman living in this day and age in the United States because not only do I have more decisions to make for myself, but I also get to choose exactly what it is that I want to do. Some guys think it a bit strange that I, a woman, would want to join the military and get yelled at all the time. My response is that it's something I want to do and that women can do anything men can do (and even better than men can at times).
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Cultural Relativism Throughout the World
I found the article called "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism" to be quite interesting. It was about something that is a very common obstacle for many people throughout their lifetime. The idea that different cultures have different moral codes creates the questions, "Is this something that can affect my life?" and "What do people from other cultures think of the way that I live my life?" I am able to provide some insight into these questions due to personal experience in this area.
Over the past couple of months I have been able to get to know a foreign exchange student from The Netherlands. He is studying at Millersville University and will be staying in the United States for the next semester. He often asks many questions about myself and my daily routine. It seems to be interesting to him because it is so different from the way he lived back home. In the article it talked about how the Greeks would be in shock if they were asked to eat the bodies of their dead fathers. I remember a couple weeks ago, the exchange student from The Netherlands called me to say in a very panicked voice, "My friends just made me eat bear and deer meat." This was something unheard of when he was living back home in The Netherlands. He seemed to be very disturbed that Americans eat deer (venison) meat, which is very similar to the reaction the Greeks had to the thought of eating their dead fathers corpses.
There are also many jobs in the world that allow people to experience many different cultures. This means that in order to do this type of job you must be willing to work with people who may have different morals than you and you must be prepared for some confusion between the different cultures that you are going to be working with. Some of these jobs may include certain types of engineering that go over seas to bring clean water to different countries or people who work in the government and then have to make peace with the governments in other countries. For both of these jobs it is important that you have a good understanding of cultural relativism and that you are up for the challenge of working with people who are used to living a completely different life that you.
Over the past couple of months I have been able to get to know a foreign exchange student from The Netherlands. He is studying at Millersville University and will be staying in the United States for the next semester. He often asks many questions about myself and my daily routine. It seems to be interesting to him because it is so different from the way he lived back home. In the article it talked about how the Greeks would be in shock if they were asked to eat the bodies of their dead fathers. I remember a couple weeks ago, the exchange student from The Netherlands called me to say in a very panicked voice, "My friends just made me eat bear and deer meat." This was something unheard of when he was living back home in The Netherlands. He seemed to be very disturbed that Americans eat deer (venison) meat, which is very similar to the reaction the Greeks had to the thought of eating their dead fathers corpses.
There are also many jobs in the world that allow people to experience many different cultures. This means that in order to do this type of job you must be willing to work with people who may have different morals than you and you must be prepared for some confusion between the different cultures that you are going to be working with. Some of these jobs may include certain types of engineering that go over seas to bring clean water to different countries or people who work in the government and then have to make peace with the governments in other countries. For both of these jobs it is important that you have a good understanding of cultural relativism and that you are up for the challenge of working with people who are used to living a completely different life that you.
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