April: Existentialism

The main philosophy behind the novel The Stranger by Albert Camus is existentialism. The idea behind existentialism is that the only meaning in life is whatever meaning we as human beings give it. It sounds like a depressing concept, but in reality humanity is ignorant to the true workings of the universe. We tend to follow religion and morals blindly without knowing if they even have a meaning, or if things just happen because they happen. The protagonist ,Meursault, perfectly exemplifies this belief. Instead of putting a label on every little relationship or event that happens to him, he simply accepts things for what they are. To Meursault there is no right or wrong there is just what is. As a society we tend to forget this. We want to find meaning in anything and everything to prove that there is meaning to life. We want to know what happens to us after we die. We want to know that if we lived a good and meaningful life we will be rewarded after we die. We are afraid of being pointless. However in contrast to the existentialism philosopher I do believe there is a greater meaning for why we are here. I believe that if there was no meaning to our lives than we would not be aware of our own existence and we would not question things we don't understand. If there was no meaning in life shouldn't we all have the same mind set as Meursault?

March: Good or Evil

One of the many questions people continually asks themselves is "am I a good person"?  In Christopher Marlowe's, Dr. Faustus, the main idea being discussed is that no one is fully good or fully evil.  Question 11, of the Dr. Faustus Socratic Seminar questions asks "How does Marlowe portray evil"?.  The fact that Faustus is willing to sell his soul to the devil is the most straight forward way to portray evil, but what if Faustus was unaware of what he was truly doing.  Upon making a deal with the demon, Mephistophilis, Faustus did not have an entire understanding of his actions.  So how can Faustus be labeled as an evil person for doing an "evil" act if he was unaware.  Also on the other hand with Mephistophilis, who we would automatically is evil since he is a demon.  However he attempts to dissuade Faustus from selling his soul.  Wouldn't we label that as something only a good person is capable of, not an evil demon.  Even in everyday life examples of good and evil are numerous.  It is interesting how human-beings must categorize everything they witness into being either all good or all evil.  There is no gray area or room for redemption.  We either want to see people succeed or fail, just as we want there to also be the answer that is good or the answer that is evil.  Humans want to room for interpretation.  An evil act must be done by and evil person and good acts only come from good people.

February Blog: Survival vs. Hope

One of the discussion questions of A Thousand Splendid Suns Socratic seminar questions asks if this was a story of survival or one of hope.  I feel that each of the protagonists, Laila and Mariam, live for either one of these reasons.  For Mariam, her entire life has been a struggle for survival and the main reason she is so submissive towards Rasheed, until the end, is strictly so he won't beat her to death.  Mariam never had an understanding of what life is like outside of poverty and tyranny.  For Laila she knew life was better than what her life was like for Rasheed.  It was the hope that things would get better that drove Laila to endure her life with Rasheed.  By stashing away money and planning an escape, Laila had hope and determination that somewhere life was better than her current situation.  Laila hoped to escape from this abusive relationship and Mariam did only what Nana told her she should do, endure.  For many women even in this country the struggle for survival and hope is a real part of their lives.  For most women being in an abusive relationship it is simple a struggle for survival not to be beat to death but also a struggle for hope that one day their situation might get better.  When you are in a struggle for survival you have to hope that you will survive.

January Blog: Breadwinner or homemaker

Number 5 of The Awakening Socratic Seminar questions talks about Adele Ratignolle whether or not she is an admirable and exemplary human being or that she is something less important.  I think that the purpose of Adele is to represent what every mother, wife, and woman, of the Creole society should model their lives after.  She is the complete opposite of Edna who does not love her husband and rarely thinks about her children.  Unlike Edna, Adele is the type of woman who would sacrifice anything for her children, even herself.  This is the one aspect of Edna, which she says she could never give up even for her children.  For Edna, her own self is the only thing she had complete control over.  I feel that these two different women explain how many different women live their lives today.  Some women wish to be the perfect wife and stay at home mom where many other women wish to go after their own career and life.  Even in today's society many women who choose to put their whole lives into their career and opt not to have a family are considered selfish.  It is almost taboo for the woman to be the breadwinner in our own modern society, even if she is married and has children.  It is still expected for woman to make less money than men and stay at home caring for the children and being the perfect homemaker.  In my family my mom chose to work on her career and wait to have children.  Unlike Edna my mom had that time to find herself and form herself into the person she wanted to be before she raised children.  And unlike my mom's mother who was married and had children at a very young age put her entire life into her children.  Her entire self was her children, while my mom has herself separate from her children.  It does not mean she does not love my sister and I any less, she just has a part of her life that is entirely her.  The same applies to Edna, she does not love her children any less she simply needs that part of herself that only she can access.