Candide, Of Optimism

I began to read this one night before bed as my roommate was busy in the bathroom doing whatever roommates do in the bathroom before bed. As I read, "My Lady Baroness weighed three hundred and fifty pounds, and consequently was a person of no small consideration.." I burst out into laughter. While this may not surprise some of you, my roommate was a little surprised by my outburst and when I read this to her she did not think it was quite as funny as I did.

I found this piece from cover to cover quite humorous. But I do believe that is a rather obvious statement without much deep honors thinking. So I am going to add to this when I become more enlightened.

In an atempt to come up with something deeper and more meaningful to blog about I researched other forms of satire that would lead me (hopefully) in the direction of deeper truth. I found a site full of fun current events with a satirical twist.

This lead me to thoughts about Candide's brief stint in the military, one of his first misfortunes. (after being kicked out of the baron's house). With the satrical news stories to inspire me I began to consider the negatives aspects of war. One of the most obvious examples of this was the point int the story when Candide has escaped from the Bulgarians. As he is traveling he notices the great carnage and devestation in cities of both sides. I think this points to the author's view of war. Most obviously, he attacks the optimistic philosophy with the contrast of war and its effects on people (as the whole book points to this idea), but also the futility of war which leads two groups to accomplish devestation.

Mockery And Babies

So I decided to read “A Modest Proposal” first because I read it in high school and I wanted to refresh my memory. Wow. I forgot how creepy it was. He just casually proposes the idea of using the infants of beggars to provide the richer people with food and clothing.

He refers to the women as breeders and it makes me think that he does not respect them. It also seems that he is mocking the women in a way. He says that they cannot afford to take care of their babies yet they keep having babies and that seems ironic to me. He states on page 487 in the next to last paragraph that mothers will show even more love to their infants to ensure that they get top price. He makes the women seem shallow and selfish. I like how he uses the words fair and easy on page 283 and 284. He is saying that raising beggars’ children for slaughter is a good method. It just shows how inconsiderate man can be when they see murdering little babies for food and clothing as beneficial for people.

I love reading Swift! He still amazes me today. He succeeds in showing us just how selfish and ignorant humans can be. He sees the children as a burden and calmly suggests that we slaughter them like cows or pigs. He’s mocking how people can just simply result to murdering infants to help benefit their own daily lives. I also like how he added at the end that he would not be able to make any money because his child was too old and his wife can no longer have children. He includes that last little bit of mockery which was really interesting to me. He does not stop at people who can contribute. No! He ends on the final note of how people who could not contribute are just as selfish simply because they will not be able to benefit from his new idea.

I hope I painted a decent picture of what I thought of Swift. I like how he uses satire to prove a point and he executes it very well.


P.S. I commented on Jamie’s.

My Comment on Amanda Gaster's Post

No, your thoughts were not necessarily scattered, I've pondered these things myself. The whole concept of "it's my life" has really pervaded this culture, and if we are not careful to return these lives to God we risk losing ourselves to our selves, if that makes any sense. We must be careful to remember that, while God has given us free reign over our lives, part of "giving Him control" is actually giving Him our burdens and sovreignty in every aspect of our lives so that He may continue to shape us as His children. Furthermore, we are to emulate Jesus in every way possible, part of that being God's transformative power in our lives. Ultimately, true freedom to live our lives is living in a way that is free from sin and destruction to follow God's way and the abundant life He provides, primping and such aside.

It wouldnt let me comment on someone elses...again.

I know I said in my post that I commented on Kayless, but I really meant I was going to comment on hers, not that I had actually done it yet...but at least I was thinking about it.

BUTTTTTTT....since it wont let me comment on it again, here it is

my comment on Kaylee's post:

I like that you said you wondered if Belinda herself ever considered her beauty was not eternal. For me, it was interesting to think of things from her point of view. I mean did she really think that this was going to last forever? There is something called aging, and like you said, grey hairs. Also, I guess I didnt realize that the bottom part was your comment on someone elses( even though you wrote that it was I must have missed it haha) but I read that too and I loved your last sentence! I too wrote in my post that Underneath it all there was nothing to her intellect or personality for me. I felt she was sort of simple and bland.

Harmony in Discord

In Pope's Essay on Man, near the beginning of the tenth stanza, he writes "Know thy own point: this kind, this due degree, of blindness, weakness, heaven bestows on us." When I first read this, I couldn't help but think that Pope must have been a pretty depressed guy to think like this. However, as I continued to read, I saw that Pope actually was not upset when he wrote this. In one of his closing lines, he writes "All Discord; Harmony not understood."

With that last statement, I realized that Pope's take on his own and many others weaknesses was actually a very biblical view. 2nd Corinthians 12:10 says "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." When Pope says to know thy own point, I interpret that to say know who you are and who God has created you to be. In that respect, I believe that Pope would align himself with what it says here in Corinthians largely because of what he says later about discord and harmony.

Pope's second statement; "All Discord; Harmony not Understood" is a really cool and actually very comforting thought for me being a puny, finite human being. I think that Pope, far more so than I have, had come to terms with how little he actually understood of the mystery and complexities of life. One of the first lines in the passage is "a mighty maze! but not without a plan." He, much like the rest of us, is aware of the fact that this life we are in is quite a mighty maze, but, like far fewer of us, realizes that within this maze there is a plan that is far beyond our vision and comprehension.

When I continue to think about these three statements, it is actually really cool to me how they line up with each other. Within this maze of life that we are so entrapped in, we experience discord on a daily basis in one way or another. However, all that discord we experience is actually part of a plan, the likes of which we do not understand, that will lead to harmony. Once that harmony is realized, we can then proceed to "know thy own point" and accept who we are as who we were made to be. We can then find harmony in the knowledge that the discord we experience in combination with or as a result of that weakness and blindness, is all part of a much bigger plan that is far beyond our understanding.

An Inconvenient Truth

It's sad but true.

We live in a world that objectifies women because of their outward beauty.

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a car nut, I love all cars from the classic American muscle to the Japanese tuner "rice rockets" (Ford Pinto excepted, ask your parents why). What makes me absolutely disgusted is that I pick up a car magazine after looking at the front page article about tuning your ECU (just bear with me here) and finding out that half of the magazine consists of girls wearing next-to-nothing bending over cars that I'll never be able to afford.

Totally revolting.

Apparently it's been like this for a long time. In The Rape of The Lock, we have Belinda, adored and loved by all, including one "The Baron" who happens to cut off a piece of her hair (I know, total creeper, right?). This enrages Belinda so much that she loses her inward beauty (or whatever pretense thereof) by concentrating over such a frivolous thing.

Now, upon reading this, my initial reaction was "How ridiculous, they are fighting over a piece of hair." Then, I began to realize, "Is that so far from our own culture? Have we become so focused on outward beauty that we would fight over frivolity?" Dr. Mitchell brought up a good point in class that more wars have been fought over sugar than any other commodity in the world...

Sugar...

(Now if it was oil, I could understand. My parents voted for Bush.)

Humanity has not come a long way in the past 300 years. We still put things like outward beauty on a pedestal far above everything else, while inward beauty gets shoved in a corner with all the motivational speakers.

You'll have to forgive my ranting. I've got Linkin Park qeued on my computer. Coldplay is up next, maybe I'll cool off.

~Cody Martin

Commented on Joy Vigneulle

The tapestry...

Society builds and society destroys. It created Belinda and then destroyed her. To maintain her status and power at Hampton Court, Belinda had to conform to the accepted view of how women should be. They had to be beautiful, witty but not necessarily smart, influential, kind, and unoffensive.

"Her lively Looks a sprightly Mind disclose,

Quick as her Eyes, and as unfix'd as those:
Favours to none, to all she Smiles extends,
Oft she rejects, but never once offends.
Bright as the Sun, her Eyes the Gazers strike,
And, like the sun, they shine on all alike.
Yet graceful Ease, and Sweetness void of Pride,
Might hide her Faults, if Belles had faults to hide:
If to her share some Female Errors fall,
Look on her Face, and you'll forget 'em all."

Basically, women had to be a doormat which men could wipe their feet on whenever and however they so desired. Belinda's life was like a tapestry, with the main thread being society. The moment that thread pulls on the tapestry, such as when the locks are cut, she spins out of control and becomes a mess. She bemoans having ever come into society, saying she wishes she had lived on some lone island rather than have her beauty raped by a man. Frankly, I agree with her. Who wants to be done in by someone greedy for good looks?

I think Pope is making a comment on how horrible society had become that its women idealize their hair. Naught else was of as great importance or worth. It defined who and what they were and what they were able to make of themselves. Most people would say that it is ridiculous that someone would ever value their hair that much. Yet don't we still do the same thing today? If so, we obviously still haven't learned what Pope was trying to say almost three hundred years ago.

Appearance is only skin deep?

There’s some controversy over who Pope is writing Rape of the Lock to, and what point he is trying to get across. Is Pope writing to Belinda? Is he telling her not to be so vain? However, in the beginning letter, he tells her that it’s not about her that Belinda’s character only reflects her beauty. So is writing about the vanity of women during this time period? I believe that Pope is in some ways blaming it on society. All throughout the Rape of the Lock, he makes these little comments that would allow you to believe that it’s not just the ladies’ fault, it’s the man’s as well. In the very beginning in his letter to Arabella, Pope says that “any mortals may enjoy the most intimate familiarities with these gentle spirits, upon a condition very easy to all true adepts, and inviolate preservation of chastity.” So you must be chaste to enjoy these spirits, there must be something honorable about you, you must be stainless and decent. However, the people of this time were only concerned about how they appeared on the outside. There wasn’t a true chaste about anyone, but it was all only pretense. It’s clear that to be a lady you must be honorable. Where was their honor found? In their beauty! It’s the only way they attained honor. They put so much attention and care into their appearance it became the only importance. 

“Now awful Beauty puts on all its arms; The fair each moment rises in her charms, Repairs her smiles, awakens every grace, And calls forth all the wonders of her face; Sees by degrees a purer blush arise, And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes, The busy Sylphs surround their darling care, These set the head, and those divide the hair, Some fold the sleeve, whilst others plait the gown; And Betty’s praised for labors not her own.”

What becomes of all this labor and toil? She’s praised, she’s adored, you couldn’t find one bad thing to say about this girl because she was so beautiful! “But every eye was fixed on her alone.” “If to her share some female errors fall, Look on her face, and you’ll forget ‘em all.” Was this idea created by the woman herself? I don’t think it was.  I think society poisoned Belinda in this way. It doesn’t matter if she does something wrong! Shoot, look at how dang pretty she is, how could we condemn her! 

Of course, we all know the rest of the story, beauty is fleeting, therefore, Belinda loses her precious lock of hair. So why do not only the ladies, but also the men put such an emphasis on appearance? Why are the most beautiful to be most honored? Pope asks this question himself.

“Say why are beauties praised and honored mosts” 

Is Pope suggesting that appearances are stupid and that we should all just forget completely about looks? No, God created beauty for a reason. There is something more we’re to gain from beauty. “How vain are all these glories, all our pains, Unless good sense preserve what beauty gains” I don’t think these people found it, I don’t think we have either. Pope ends with some good advice, and I would like to do the same:

“But since, alas! frail beauty must decay, 

Curled or uncurled, since locks will turn to gray;

Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade,

And she who scorns a man must die a maid;

What then remains but well our power to use,

And keep good humor still whate’er we lose?

And trust me, dear, good humor can prevail

When airs, and flights, and screams, and scolding fail. 

Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;

Charm strikes the sight, but merit wins the soul.” 

I loved Alexander Pope's "Essay on Man." I love his commentary on how we have become so arrogant that we believe we know better than God does. My favorite line from this epistle is "Say first, of God above, or Man below, what can we reason but from what we know." I love this idea of how we can only discuss things from the stand point of our experience. Only God has the full view from above, we have nowhere near the knowledge or experience to understand God's plan. Without this knowledge and experience, we can only have faith that God knows what He is doing, we simply cannot comprehend everything that He has in store for us.

P.S. commented on Kelsey Moore

The Mystery of Women. We are not always what we seem to be...or are we?

In Rape of the Lock, I kept on finding these weird connections between Belinda and good ol' Anne Boleyn. Both of their situations were strangely similar (well of course in Anne's case it was her sex appeal that held power over all the men and not her hair, which too was rumoured to be quite lustrous.) Anyway, right now all of my ideas are in kind of a jumble in my head and I dont want to ramble so Im going to seperate them and try to work them out as I go.

Right away, from line two I made the first connection. Pope writes, " What mighty contests rise from trivial things." This made me think of a discussion we had in class about all of the trivialities in the English Court. Most of their ideas about society and how women in particular should look and behave came from the highly esteemed french court. Anne Boleyn came back from exile to the french court practically brand new. She was cunning, smart, quick-witted and beguiling. She was no great beauty, but in her adoption of all these french qualities, she became beautiful in the eyes of the whole english court.But most of all, the quality that stood out just as much as Belinda's hair, was Anne's sex appeal. Which, as we all know, in the end moved Henry the eighth to overthrow a church for her. The description of Belinda in Canto 11, lines 7-18, is very similiar to the vision people had about Anne Boleyn, maybe not the same qualitites, but it was this vision, this idea and not exactly the women herself. Belinda seemed to have all of these great attributes, but was it just because of her hair? What was she really like on the inside? Did the people only see goodness in her because of her looks? The expectation of how women were supposed to be and act never really reflects whats on the inside. Anne was the epitomy of how a women was supposed to be, heck she almost achieved everything she wanted to, but she couldnt because she went to far. She was not as strong on the inside as she appeared to be on the outside. Inside, Anne was just a scared child really, who had an inflated ego because of the expectations that society put on her. Belinda, on the inside, I almost feel was sort of simple, a little bit bland, innocent. Yeah, she was nice and all, she had the right idea, but there was a nothingness there for me, a big blank. Yet the people could not get pass this, they could not see anything past her hair and everything that came with it, the beauty, the grace, the goodness. So, what came of it, this hair, what did it drive men to do? Battle, of course.

To be honest, I did not get a lot from this story, but what I did get I tried to put into words. I had this strong sense of being versus seeming from Belinda so I took that and ran with it.

I commented on Kaylees!

Rape of the Lock

After reading Pope’s Rape of the Lock, I noticed a portion of Canto V that bashes the way that people focus on things that are temporary instead of things that last. In lines 25-30, Pope says,

“But since, alas! frail beauty must decay,

Curled or uncurled, since locks will turn to gray,

Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade,

And she who scorns a man must die a maid;

What then remains but well our power to use,

And keep good humor still whate'er we lose?”

So many times, my viewpoint of things is based on what I see on their surface. That may be human nature, but I shouldn’t be focused on those things to find joy or anything like that. I think that I need to begin to make sure that I “keep good humor still whate’er [I] lose.”

Although this wasn’t written to be spiritual in nature, it could be viewed that way meaning that we should not focus on the world, but instead we should focus on Christ and the other two things that will last for eternity, the Word of God and the souls of men.

P.S. - I commented on Kaylie’s Blog.

A Bird's Eye View

These are a few things that I pulled from An Essay of Man:

This text reminds us that there is a greater picture and purpose in life that is not within our sights. While what we do may seem miniscule, our actions and our sufferings have an effect on the world around us. Line six says that we are in " a mighty maze! but not without a plan". To our perspective, we're trapped, but if we could get a bird's eye view of our situation, we would obtain the knowledge of how everything is going to lay out for us. I believe Pope was showing us in this illustration that to know all of the answers, we would have to be on the same level of God. It is with pride and arrogance that we try to understand this view that was not meant for us. Through this we justify our own blinded way and blame God for every misfortune in our lives. Line 188 in this text shows how foolish we are for not enjoying what we have been given because we expect to gain everything. I think the Point Pope is trying to make here is that God is in control, He has a perfect plan, and we should be grateful to be a part of it...


p.s. I posted on Nick Haampton's blog

Flips in a Pool of Reason and Passion

If Descartes doubt didn’t make you feel like you were doing flips under water, I believe Swift did the job. I find myself almost sore for humanity, and kind of depressed. Who knew that such a seemingly innocent work could be so heart wrenching. Reason, sin, imperfection, perfection; I am a little overwhelmed by all the concepts running through my head right now. I’ll try to make this logical (Ha! Philosophy today! This one’s for all my dear honor’s philosophy friends who are taking it with me and know what I’m thinking.)

The biggest thing I noticed was the contrast between the Houyhnhnms and humans. As Gulliver describes his conversations with his master he seems to highlight terrible things about humanity in his day. In chapter seven it says, “ But I must freely confess that the many virtues of those excellent quadrupeds placed in opposite view to human corruptions had so far opened my eyes, and enlarged my understanding, that I began to view the actions and passions of man in a very different light.”

As Gulliver began to describe all facets of society he bumped into the different kinds of irrationalities we hold on to. He discussed politics, ethics, war, medicine, trade and everyday life and all of them seemed so… terrible, filthy and messy! His horse friend could not even fathom all the atrocities that the yahoo was speaking of.

The master horse seemed like a child—innocent and firmly convicted. All of his convictions however didn’t rise from passion, but rather, logic. He was never hot and on fire, but just convinced. There was also no violence in their world. There wasn’t even a word made up for what we know as a lie. Swift’s writing leads you to think—what would life be like without passion? Would the world be a better place if we were all completely and perfectly reliant on reason? Is passion the cause of sin?

Have you ever stretched your brain to think of a society without passion? Think of what we, humans, would be like without passion. What would our world look like? How would daily life carry through without passion? It would be orderly. That would be a nice attribute that would make things a bit more comfortable and stable. Life would be simple. There would be no wars, no issues, and no complicated feelings. But there would also be no love. Wait a minute? No love? For a while there I was becoming rather comfortable with the idea of a reason-filled, passionless society. But now, I’m not so sure. Now that I have thought about it, a passionless world seems kind of colorless to me. Like those black and white picture books that always disappointed me for lack of illumination.

Isn’t passion a driving force that gets things done? If I’m passionate about my blog topic, I’m much more apt to write it, right? Hold on, what about this idea of passion in relation to sin? It seemed that Swift was saying, since the Houyhnhnms were perfectly rational, they couldn’t possibly do anything wrong because they always clearly rationalized down to the truth, Passion was never in the way of their reasoning.

Further, if we assume that passion is what causes sin, than we can fairly say that if humans were passionless, then we would be without sin. In that case, if God is without sin, than wouldn’t he have to be passionless? But...God isn’t passionless! God loves us, God was angry because of sin, Jesus wept, and Jesus threw out the moneychangers in anger. There are all sorts of references in the Bible that lead you to conclude that God is indeed passion-filled. So, now, I’m scratching my head. You can’t really say that God isn’t rational either. He created the world and all the intricate systems it relies on. My goodness, now I feel like I’m the one doing flips in a pool! My natural answer to all these questions leads me back to my church upbringing. We are created in the image of a God who is both rational and passionate. After The Fall, sin came into the world and threw off the beautiful balance God created in man of both rationalism and passion. Because of this sin, humanity is a mess. Just like Gulliver described. It still is! There is no doubt. Thank goodness for salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank goodness God had compassion (passion) for us.

I really like this answer. I believe this to be true, but I want to learn more in order to be more solid in beliefs. I love it if this blog turned into a discussion. So comment away if you’ve actually made it through this whole blog. Sorry it was so long!

Would eating babies help the U.S. economy?

After reading A Modest Proposal everyone knows that it was obviously satirical. So please read this with the same satirical attention.

Looking into the reason for having to eat the babies was that people were too poor to afford to buy food. If you look around the nation and see the number of people on food stamps it would look as if we're in the same situation. People are unemployed and can't afford to buy food for themselves and their children. So what if you were to just sell the children to someone else and make some money to buy dinner. They can be sold for much cheaper than cattle so there is much profit to be made in the endeavor. The problem I have with Swift here though is that he claims to be too old to have children to sell. What makes him better than the others besides the fact that he has money. If we as America sold our children to be eaten as food it would put money in our pockets which would allow us to spend money and boost the economy out of the deep recession that we are in. Another thing to look at is there will never be a shortage of babies to be made. Everywhere you look there is someone pregnant. Sell the child make the money sounds like a good deal to me. Besides doesn't Neal Ledbetter say we're here to multiply? He doesn't say what we have to do with all the children. Maybe we should look into what Swift says here about selling babies for food. It would help the U.S. and after all according to Dr. Foley, "Someone has to take care of this country."

P.S. I commented on Katie's

Swift likes babies- like a good Calvinist. :D..... :P

My favorite of the readings was actually A Modest Proposal and An Essay on Man, and through these readings I made several notes and was challenged in quite a few things. First, I’ll go through An Essay on Man, but quickly because many of my points were addressed in class… One of my most significant observations was the proposal of partial evil being sometimes necessary to reach a universal good. This will all tie into our knowledge and revelation that suffering leads to truth.

The example I want to bring is Child Birth. There is nothing good about labor- it is painful for the mother, stressful for the baby, and a danger to both. In other words: IT HURTS A LOT. However, one can never reap the blessings of having offspring if one is not willing to go through this pain. Pain is the partial evil (we know this is an evil because it is a malady allotted to us because of the influence of Sin), and the child is the Universal Good (well… some may disagree). No mother would trade their child in order to not feel that pain. In fact, women willingly go through this feat SEVERAL times to get more blessing.

Another example that Honors Vets students know well is the story of Jacob wrestling with God. He would not let go of God until He blessed him. Jacob limped for the rest of his life after this encounter; however, I know he would never trade his blessings for a straight stride.

Thought 2- What makes us think that we are the center and most perfect part of creation. Yeah, I know we are made in God’s image- but we also attest that the earth is vile- but in reality it was intended to be perfect. In fact, God intends to make a NEW, perfect earth at the end of time! The earth was never meant to belong to the devil. It was meant to give God glory! It wasn’t made for us- he gave us charge over it, but that doesn’t mean he made it FOR us. In reality, he made it for us to PROTECT. It was made first and we were made after…. It could be suggested that WE were in fact created for IT. Now, not only did we disobey God in the Garden by eating of the fruit, (yes, I say WE- because Adam was acting in the principle of representation, symbolizing the collective disobedience of Man) but we ruined (and are still ruining) his creation. We STOLE his glory, we desecrated his holiness. ‘For God so loved the WORD’, yes- YOU are included into the world. Yes, Christ dies to justify you- but he was able to justify you because his soul purpose in sacrificing himself was to make back pure what was tainted. “Sin was like a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow…” All things said- out of his creation, it IS man that he is mindful of, by grace- not because we are superior… but because of grace… just like he chose Israel, a nation of slaves- he chose man, an unworthy species.

(that wasn’t very quickly)

Now, on to other things. My response to A Modest Proposal will be short (for real this time)- but hopefully challenging. You guys know the back ground of the story because it is written prior to the text… so knowing his purpose; we ought to be very much so challenged. We should be outraged by the injustice that our fellow man is living through. YES- we ARE their keepers. To not act and plead according to their case makes us NO different than baby eaters. I’m not trying to be funny. There are kids starving and people lost in our world- in our nation. Knowing that there our people suffering such things makes and not DOING something about it makes us inhuman- and we might as well just sell them, or better yet, eat them- so they can reach some sort of worth. Not acting shows their value to us: a slab of cheap meat.

Commented on Allison's

to be civilized or not to be civilized

A major theme in the section of Gulliver’s Travels that we read is human nature. I think something Jonathan Swift was trying to convey was how ridiculous our human nature is. We are sinful and greedy and even war-hungry for the most part. But are the human indulgences necessarily worse than the boring life of intelligent cattle? Perhaps not. Gulliver really just wanted to be like the Houyhnhnms because of how civilized they were and even when he was forced back into the real world, he wanted nothing but to go back to them.
We look at him wondering if maybe he’s mad but in a way, we all act like him sometimes. When things start to get interesting or out of our hands, we want to go back to having order and control over how our society works. But because of sin, we can never really have this, no matter how much we try to control our lives.
I think Gulliver’s Travels is a lot like Rape of the Lock in that both authors were kind of mocking the people that wanted to indulge in their own selfish desires as well as the people that wanted peace in every aspect of life. Like what Amanda said in a comment under Samantha’s post how we need balance between the two.

Saying the thing which was not

What is the point of communication if what your being told is false? I found what Gulliver's Master said at the beginning of chapter IV very thought provoking. Why do we communicate? So that information may be transferred to one another. In a world without lying communication is perfect, but when lying is inserted how can you be sure whats actually true? I would like to say that I would love to live in the world of the Houyhnhnm because I could trust everyone and I wouldn't have to be worried about being decieved, but then I think that it would be way to boring for all communication to be the relaying of facts to one another. However, I wouldn't want to know everything.

P.S. I commented on Rachels Post

Swift

Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" somewhat disturbed me in role reversal of the horses and "yahoos". Such as the part where the horses are the intellectual ones. " I was amazed to see such actions and behavior in brute beasts, and concluded with myself that if the inhabitants of this country were endued with a proportional degree of reason, they must needs be the wisest people upon earth." It made me think that sometimes we don't always see other people as equals just because they are a little bit different or grew up in a different type of society than what we are use to. We may think of ourselves as superior or more intellectual due to our background and what we are used to.

Ps. Meghan Johnston

Behold, I am of small account

The more I read An Essay on Man, the more it amazes me. Pope seems to give this convoluted defense of God--essentially saying that man could not handle understanding all that happens in the world. It reminds me of when God speaks in Job; he does not give him an explanation, but instead asks Job more questions. This always used to frustrate me. I was honestly disappointed that God did not explain Himself more fully. Pope’s writings, however, rearrange my thought process to see the Lord’s answer as being so incredibly beautiful. But how is this, you ask?

When the proud steed shall know why man restrains

His fiery course, or drives him o'er the plains:

When the dull ox, why now he breaks the clod,

Is now a victim, and now Egypt's God:

Then shall man's pride and dulness comprehend

His actions', passions', being's, use and end;

Why doing, suff'ring, check'd, impell'd; and why

This hour a slave, the next a deity.

Then say not man's imperfect, Heav'n in fault;

Say rather, man's as perfect as he ought:

His knowledge measur'd to his state and place;

His time a moment, and a point his space.

Why don’t we understand things more fully? Because we couldn’t handle it; it would be too much for us. We are as perfect as we ought to be, we have our place, and we must accept it. Our pride causes us to think that we deserve answers--but do we?

As Pope says, the world was not created for us. And so I cover my mouth as Job did, realizing the power and perfect comprehension God has over all creation, and trusting in Him. It gives me a strange sense of comfort.

--Danielle

And I commented on Lucy Beth's.

Lets Try This Again . . . My Mind's Travels Through Gulliver's Travels

I loved reading this story! It was so much easier to understand than some of the other things we have read!

So the first thing I noticed in reading this was in the very beginning when Gulliver writes that the account of what he saw on his journey and the people he met was not a fictional story, but real. When I first read this part, I thought that I was still reading information about Jonathan Swift, and not the actual book yet. That being said, when I read that section I thought Swift was saying that he got the idea for the book and characters from the condition of England at the time he wrote the book. Even though I was confused, I believe that my idea could still be true. There is a lot of mention about England, the way people treat other and are treated, as well the description of Englishman with certain professions could have a lot to do with England at that time. I believe that Swift is actually trying to tell his audience about his opinion of the world and society.

I also find it very interesting that when Gulliver reaches the island of the Houyhnhnms and sees the yahoos and witnesses their lack of human qualities, Gulliver wants nothing to do with them. He actually says that he doesn't even want to be called a Yahoo himself, because he doesn't want to be associated with a creature so lowly. Instead of trying to educate the creatures most like himself and teach them how to act, he can't stand them. Even though the story is a lot like Planet of the Apes, Gulliver's reaction is very different from Coronel George Taylor's. The astronaut tries to save the people most like himself, and defeat their masters, while Gulliver does not want anything to do with his own kind. Pretty depressing if you ask me!

-Susan!

P.S. I posted on Meghan!

My Mind's Travels Through Gulliver's Travels

>.O

The Rape of the Lock makes beauty a strange, horrible, awful thing. A young girl’s hair was cut and these men act like life itself has been shaken, stirred and poured out. In this poem for women beauty is value. You pour effort and time into presenting yourself as a beautiful thing for men to admire. Belinda’s only sense of power was being beautiful, and being chaste while being beautiful, which I find very interesting. It’s such a vain concept though- for a woman to only be powerful because she’s attractive, not because she’s quick witted or insanely charismatic or brilliant. I especially liked where it said that even her curls would be gray one day. It reminded me of the scripture Psalms 31:30 “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised” I don’t know if Belinda ever considered that her beauty is not eternal. Before her hair was cut she was seemingly sweet, but once that “honor” was taken from her she flipped, her personality shifted and she wasn’t that sweet, nice-girl character. It’s easy to be nice when you’re pretty. But when you rely on qualities other that simplistic beauty it’s different. People don’t adore you at first glance, they don’t dismiss your faults because you’re aesthetically appealing. I think part of the reason Belinda’s personality shifted is because she was taught to value her beauty above anything else. If she were to be one of those cheesy yearbook Who’s Whos she would be something along the lines of Most Beautiful. That’s what she was subliminally, not to be confused with subtly, taught to value in herself. Men adored her. They fawned after her and it’s because when they looked at her they saw those curls, but once those are gone what’s left of her?





P.S I attempted to comment on Joy's post
buuuuut couldn't... so here it is:

"We make so many things around us seem important. But here is my question, why would we want what we do to “seem” important when we can do something that really is important?"
I love that question. It legitimately made me think, what is the point of being so completely consumed in trivial things when there are important things to be done? I can't help but wonder if under Belinda's beauty there was a mind that was actually worth something.

My thoughts (:

Referring back to tuesdays reading.The Rape of the Lock, after reading over it and then having the discussions in class, i found it very interesting how Belinda and everyone else around her was so caught up in "outer beauty." Beauty  makes Belinda so lovely and faultless. One look at her and any fault she might have had was overlooked. She was flawless.
     I dont know if im the only one who does this, but after class was over I began to think back about the story and thoughts and ideas began to race in my mind, how convenient this happens outside of class and the discussions right? ha! :p
     But anyways, i began to relate this story to a story told in the Bible, well not a story, it was real. Belinda reminded me of Samson. Belinda's beauty somewhat portrayed power in a sense. Samson's hair also portrayed his power and strength. Samson was a mighty man, strong and powerful, all because of his hair. After he falls asleep and his hair gets cut off he looses all the "power." He becomes weak. Belinda too starts to look and become weak after loosing her hair. All power or value she had was destroyed and lost and it was all because of something on the outside.
    This could be totallly irrelevant altogether, but i found it kind of interesting relating it to Samson. (:

-Amy
p.s I commented on Kelsey's post!

Corruption of Reason?

How do you explain people's actions without emotions? For example, if asked why I waited until the last minute to do my english reading and write my blog, I could explain to you that I had a lot on my mind, and that I couln't focus, or possibly that I was even nervous to actually write my blog, and that was what kept me from writing it. Therefore, my actions are justified; there is some reason that I didn't write my blog until the last minute. However, if I am talking to a person who doesn't understand these conflicting emotions- and has no words in their language to describe them - I would be left to say something more like this: 'I decided not to read my english assignment or do my blog until right before it was due, despite any possible consequences, because it seemed more appropriate to sit and think instead.' That sounds much more stupid and ridiculous, right?

After hearing stories, even more ridiculous than that of me not doing my blog, Gulliver's 'master,' decided that man's reasoning capacity must either be corrupted, or false - simply a mock reasoning ability.

"But, when a creature pretending to reason could be capable of such enormities, he dreaded lest the corruption of that faculty might be worse than brutality itself. He seemed therefore confident, that, instead of reason we were only possessed of some quality fitted to increase our natural vices; as the reflection from a stream returns the image of an ill-shapen body, not only larger but more disstorted." (Gulliver's Travels 453)

But are man's actions, such as those described by Gulliver, really 'irrational' and ridiculous? Isn't there another option? Possibly reason isn't simply corrupted by emotions, but rather, could emotions be said to rightly play a role in the reasoning process. I do acknowledge that it is corruption of reason to be governed completely by emotions, but couldn't it be corrruption to be ruled completely by logistics as well? Wouldn't logistics alone defy humanity - as we see in the emotionless and dull life of the Houyhnhnms? The distinctness of humanity is a product of moderation between logic and emotions.

My Comment on Meghan's Post: (It wouldn't let me post it)
I agree Meghan, Swift's discussion on the lawyers was very interesting. My favorite part was when the houyhnhnm was perplexed as to why such men "were not rather encouraged to be instructors of others in wisdom and knowledge" to which Gulliver replies that such men "were ususally the most ignorant and stupid generation among us." The lawyers ignorance does not lie in the cause of their profession, or even from their defence of falsehood, but when the futility of an argument takes precedence over everything else - including the cause of justice - now that is when lawyers become the "most ignorant and stupid generation."

"In pleading they studiously avoid entering into the merits of the cause, butare loud, violent, and tedious in dwelling upon all circumstances which are not to the purpose." (Swift 454)

Presumptuous Man!

Alright, well honesty always is the best policy. I didn't read An Essay on Man before class Tuesday and didn't intend to. However, at the prodding of Anna, my lovely roommate I decided to read it just for fun. And oh was I surprised at how much I enjoyed it! There were quite a few things that gripped my attention. The first would be the tendency in man to be discontent in the matter of his own being created.

"Presumptuous Man! the reason wouldst thou find,
Why formed so weak, so little, and so blind?
First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess,
Why formed no weaker, blinder, and no less?"
II.35

This was incredibly humbling to me. Just the other day I was talking with a friend who stated that someone or something (what, I cannot recall) was ugly. On a sudden whim to be facetious I flippantly commented that he was "insulting God". Inevitably this led to conversation about how many times we call something ugly, insufficient, undesirable, etc. Every time we do so we are (despite my sarcasm) insulting the creativity of the Creator. Furthermore, when we desire ourselves to be one way or another that is not in any way how we were created, we spit in the face of God. To question why we are created as we are is one thing. But we must not let this questioning develop into a spirit of discontentment or a desire to be anything other than what we were created to be. When God created us He saw that we were good.

The next thing that grabbed my attention was the statement in Canto IV which says, "Yet cry, If Man's unhappy, God's unjust". How often do we blame God for everything? There have been times in my life where a situation was absolutely rotten for everyone else, but because I benefitted I praised god and rejoiced in the circumstance. But if the situation turned for the better of the rest and dashed my plans, I blamed Him and called the situation terrible. god's justice does not depend on one man's reaction or desire. God is justice and what He judges is good. Pope also says in Canto VI that man seems to be "please with nothing, if not blessed with all". Many times I have allowed myself to fall into a terrible, unappreciative mood because I didn't get every single thing that I wanted.

Reason, Boats, and Lawyers... Oh My!!

As I begin to write this post, I have yet to finish reading Swift, but a head full of jumbled thoughts and ideas does not make it easy to finish. So, I will write down what thoughts I have now and possibly write more as I read more. First thing, Swift is much easier to understand then DesCartes. That being said, there are a few things I have found very interesting.

On page 432 are Swift’s intentions behind why he wrote Gulliver’s Travels, and more specifically, the part about the Houyhnhnms; his intentions, “to vex the world rather than divert it.” When I first read this sentence, I liked it because it reminded me of my sister and me. We never like to take anything at face value; we always like to cause conflict, especially when it comes to the rivalry between Auburn and Alabama. But it goes much deeper than that, growing up homeschooled, we were taught to seek out the answers to any questions we might have. We were taught to challenge what we didn’t agree with and provide evidence of why we thought it was wrong.

I realized much later, that this is the whole point of college. And I’m guessing it’s the whole point behind the Honors program as well. College is not here to provide us with a way to party and waste four years, or more, of our lives. No, it is designed to make us think. It is designed to make us challenge everything we’ve ever learned and prove or disprove what we believe.

So far as I’ve read, I’ve seen Swift do exactly what he said he was going to do. He has pointed out, in a very uncomfortable way, that humans aren’t as smart or reasonable as we think we are. In Matthew, Peter and the disciples are in the boat and Jesus appears to them walking on water. Peter immediately wishes to join Jesus. The song “Voice of Truth” by Casting Crowns alludes to this same instance. Many years ago, my youth leader taught a series on this same passage. He said that we should be like Peter and leave our comfort zones, or get out of the boat; that we shouldn’t refrain from doing something, just because we are uncomfortable. I think that Swift was trying to get us out of the boat, by force if necessary, in the way we think. He was trying to make us realize that we needed to think deeper, no matter how uncomfortable it was to think that way.

Okay, onto another thing I find very interesting, and kind of entertaining: Gulliver’s description of lawyers. I find it funny that, no matter what century, lawyers are considered to be the lowest of the low. I also found his description of lawsuits very interesting, specifically the part where he says, “And therefore I have but two methods to preserve my cow. The first is to gain over my adversary’s lawyer with a double fee; who will then betray his client, by insinuating that he hath justice on his side. The second way is for my lawyer to make my cause appear as unjust as he can; by allowing the cow to belong to my adversary; and if it be skillfully done, will certainly bespeak the favor of the bench.” It makes me wonder if I will one day feel the same about lawyers, especially defense lawyers, as I go to work in the Criminal Justice system.

I don’t believe I will add anything else to this post, as I’ve already feel more profound than I’ve ever felt in my life! Perhaps I’m not as profound as I think I am, which is probably the case since I’m not really that profound. Please let me know if my logic, or thought process, is flawed in any way.

In Christ

~Meghan

I posted on Jamie’s

Thoughts

This week in class when we split into groups we discussed aspects of The Rape of the Lock. In my group there were lots of ideas thrown out there and there was one that kind of got over looked or we didn’t get a whole lot of response or something and I’m just curious what everyone thought about it.

                In these cantos, Belinda starts off depicted as a girl who is loved by all, sweet spirited, quiet disposition – truly a beautiful person inside and out. When this crime of cutting off a lock of hair is committed against her, at first, she continues with this air of being loved and loving. As time goes on and the efforts to recover her stolen lock prove futile, this attitude begins to fade. She becomes harsh and so much to the point where the only thing that resembles the original girl is her outer beauty itself.

                She has been on this quest to recover something that was lost. She goes through a process to reach an end. A point that was brought up in my group was how one can get so caught up in the fight and eventually lose sight of the original intent or see that the end wasn’t really worth everything that they gave up to get there. We put this also in terms of the enlightenment. If you set out on a journey to reach an end, and in the process you become so consumed with the process itself that you can never reach the end because all you want to do is the steps. If you become so consumed with questioning and doubting the things you think and believe, is it possible to be so used to not believing things that when you do find something you can stand on, that you pass it over because you are too used to questioning.

                This to me seems to pose the question is it really worth putting everything on the line to systematically doubt when it is so risky to become a skeptic in the process?

Thoughts?

Kelsey Moore
p.s. I commented on Samantha's post

Saying the thing that which is not

What is the point of communication if what your being told is false? I found what Gulliver's Master said at the beginning of chapter IV very thought provoking. Why do we communicate? So that information may be transferred to one another. In a world without lying communication is perfect, but when lying is inserted how can you be sure whats actually true? I would like to say that I would love to live in the world of the Houyhnhnm because I could trust everyone and I wouldn't have to be worried about being decieved, but then I think that it would be way to boring for all communication to be the relaying of facts to one another. However, I wouldn't want to know everything.

My Thoughts

Today in my biology class, a discussion came up about a 21-foot-long crocodile that had been found in the Philippines. At some point during the conversation, Dr. Noble made a comment about how man has the idea that we are big and all-powerful, but when you start to look at some of the wildlife, the other things out there, you get an idea of how small you really are. As I was re-reading “An Essay on Man”, this thought popped back up a few times.

In line 20, it begins by talking about how small man is in comparison to God. We can not see anything by what is right in front of us, but God sees everything. We tend to see this as a flaw. We are not perfect. We don’t have the ability to know everything. In line 70, however, Pope argues that humans are as perfect as we should be. We were not created to be all knowing. In fact, I think that our inability to know all things gives us the opportunity to have faith and trust God.

Around line 118, Pope talks about man’s view and actions toward creation. Many times, instead of protecting and caring for God’s creation, humans get a trill out of destroying it, whether it be for personal gain, or just for sport. “Yet cry, If Man’s unhappy, God’s unjust.” (A person blaming God after being attacked by the 21 foot crocodile he was trying to catch, maybe?)

P.S. I commented on Lucy Beth's