April Blog

In The Stranger, by Albert Camus, the courtroom scene stands for more than just a courtroom. During the trial of Meursault, almost everyone he came in contact with throughout the book was called as a witness. This symbolizes how society controls the justice system. This is also shown through the use of a jury. The jury is called in to represent the rest of society, and makes decisions on behalf of everyone. Therefore, the courtroom is representative of society as a whole. In our society, courtrooms work in a similar way, as does almost everything. When someone is put on trial, there is a judge and jury. Depending on the severity of the crime, almost everyone they know can be brought in as a witness. The courtroom can also symbolize the government. A select group of people are chosen to run the country and then they make decisions based on what the people want. The laws that come out of a representative government are based on what the majority of people want to see, therefore they are not based on anything concrete, just the values of that specific society. The difference between right and wrong is not a fact, but an opinion. When a majority of society decides something is wrong, laws are made about it. Albert Camus once said, "You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of.  You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." This quote embodies the idea that there is no meaning behind anything and people have to make the meaning themselves.

March Blog

Christopher Marlowe used his play Dr. Faustus to present issues in society that relate to the seven deadly sins and being damned to hell. The main character, Dr. Faustus, is presented with the seven deadly sins in a personified manner. Since Lucifer was envious of the power of God, and Faustus shows this same drive to gain more power, envy was the sin that stood out most to me. Faustus is consistently comparing himself with others, including God, because he wants to be the best at everything. There is no real purpose for him to have all the knowledge and power he desires, other than to be better than everyone else. He pays the ultimate price when he sells his soul to the devil in exchange for unlimited knowledge. He says, "The Emperor shall not live but by my leave,/ Nor any potentate of Germany./ Now that I have obtained what I desire," although his desires also show greed, another deadly sin, envy is presented because he is presenting himself in comparison with others. Envy is presented in a similar way in the society that we live in. It is generally a social comparison or competition between oneself and another person. Envy in society can be on a small level, for example, siblings being jealous of attention the other is receiving from their parents, or a girl being envious of her crush's girlfriend. Envy can happen on a larger scale, as it does between countries. A big example, though it stemmed out of fear, is the Cold War. The United States used nuclear weaponry and the Soviet Union put itself in comparison to America and developed its own nuclear weapons. This competition for superiority continued on in the race to get to the moon first. Dr. Faustus' envy of the power of others is very indicative of the envy in people in society.

February Blog

This month we finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns. Since most of the discussion in class was about the women in the novel, I decided I would use this month's blog to discuss the men in the novel. One of the first men that Mariam encounters in her lifetime is her father, Jalil. Mariam feels drawn to him and gets excited when he comes to visit because she does not see him often. What Mariam does not know is that her father is not a very good guy. This bothers me because as a child, Mariam was too naïve to realize the faults in her father and to be cautious about their relationship. The next male that Mariam had contact with was Mullah Faizullah. This man, in my opinion, is a little understated considering the fact that he did not have a huge part in the novel even though he had a huge impact on Mariam's life. She learned a lot from him and his presence allowed her to grow and be herself. I believe that Mullah Faizulla was included not only to show that not all men are monsters but also almost as a father figure to Mariam. Mariam's father clearly was not very fatherly toward her. In the next stage of her life, Mariam is forced to marry Rasheed. Although it is easy to say that Rasheed is evil and a rapist and practically the worst human being to ever walk the earth because of the way he treats women, we also have to understand that he is a victim of his society. Men are brought up to believe that they are superior to women and in turn, the raise their sons to do the same (as Rasheed does with Zalmai). It becomes a vicious, never ending cycle. I am not excusing Rasheed's actions or saying that he has no way to break from the cycle but I am simply stating that the way he was brought up has a major effect on the way he treats other people. He is a victim of his society but he is still abusive and a rapist and a horrible person. The last major male in the novel was Tariq. Tariq is the exact opposite of Rasheed. He does not look down upon women and he genuinely cares about Laila and what she is comfortable with. Tariq's ability to care for Zalmai as one of his own children shows that he is a compassionate human being and is unlike Rasheed or Jalil, who could not even care for a child that actually was his. Although there are many characters in this book that I did not particularly care for, this was probably my favorite book we have read so far. I think that the emotions it drew out of me made Mariam and Laila easy to relate to even though I have never been in a situation nearly as horrible as they were. Overall, it was a really great book.

January Blog

This month we read The Awakening. This book was particularly interesting to me because the main character, Edna, represents the struggle and oppression that women face in society. She is expected to be submissive to her husband and as a wife, she is seen as her husband's property. This bothered me immensely because in today's society, women have made progress toward equality and are no longer considered property of their husbands. I think that Edna was ahead of her time. I believe that this is why she committed suicide. She felt there was no other way out. On the other hand, in A Dolls House, Nora finds herself in a similar situation. She legally belongs to her husband and is faced with the struggles of society but instead of killing herself she makes the courageous decision to leave her husband. To me, Nora's leaving is a symbol of the progress that women have made and how hard it is to go against a society that is working in the opposite direction. Both of these women left their children behind, which is sad, but it had to happen. Edna could no longer live in that society and in order to be true herself she had to leave everyone and everything behind. Nora also was not legally allowed to take her children so she had to leave them if she wanted to leave her husband. Nora and Edna are very similar in that sense. They both chose to stay true to themselves no matter what.