So for lack of anything better to do yesterday, I decided it would be appropriate to start Atonement on Yom Kippur. I was kinda hungry and didn't get past a chapter and a half, but it's a start. Later that night I was at the movies and saw a trailer for Atonement, the movie. I'm really excited for the class field trip we're obviously going to have.
Yesterday was the single most Jewish day of the year. In general I'm pretty Jewish -- president of the synagogue's youth group -- but Judaism is more of a cultural decision than a religious one for me. Actually, I outlined my philosophical/spiritual journey in one of my college essays. Basically I went from pure Judaism straight to Rand's Objectivism after reading The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Then I came slightly back to Judaism again and now am somewhere in the middle of the two, but not really -- the last couple books I read were Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Nietzsche), Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu), and Zen and the Art of Archery (some Zen person).
I would still say that the concepts of existentialism are still the most intriguing to me. I have Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov sitting on a table waiting to be read, but it might be waiting for a little while longer. If you wondered where all this was going, it was going to my Lit X paper. I'm not quite sure what my topic will be...it may end up being some sort of comparative philosophy thing, but the first (really the only) courses I found that caught my eye, are UC Berkeley's "Existentialism in Literature and Film" and "Man, God, and Society in Western Literature."
Uh...the end.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
On nothing in particular...
I begin this post 6 minutes before the end of the weekend. Even though I've (obviously) been thinking about The Sound and the Fury all weekend, I'm not quite sure what to say, aside that I'm looking forward to the guidance counselor meeting tomorrow in class.
Now that I've encouragingly prefaced this blog post, taking up much more space than necessary, I'll begin. This will be my reflection on the class discussion from Friday that I wasn't there for.
" Time is omnipotent, but when on something as small as a watch is seems irrelevant and insignificant."
Maybe this person had a really good rationalization, but I disagree. I wouldn't say that time is omnipotent. I actually wouldn't say that time had any power at all. People get "caught up" in time because they become preoccupied with it. They think that they must follow a rigid schedule. They trap themselves in time. Eh, now that I think about it, time must have some power. Still, it can never manipulate anything. It can never control anything. Excuse this bazaar analogy...time is kinda like a spider web. The web has no power. Yet it is quite easy to get caught up in it. Time should have no power over Quentin, but he spends long enough obsessing over it that he gives it power. A more apt description could be that time is like a drug to which Quentin becomes addicted. Indeed, Quentin even tries to break out of time, and eventually...dies. I also think that time on a watch is certainly not insignificant, especially in Quentin's case. It acts as a constant supply of his drug. He tries to break it, but it still keeps ticking. It is an extremely powerful (for lack of a better word, I guess I haven't made up my mind about time's power) concept all condensed into a small carry-able thing. It has significance to Quentin.
I'll articulate my ideas (hopefully better ideas) more clearly in my next set of 5 posts. Now just past midnight...see you today.
Now that I've encouragingly prefaced this blog post, taking up much more space than necessary, I'll begin. This will be my reflection on the class discussion from Friday that I wasn't there for.
" Time is omnipotent, but when on something as small as a watch is seems irrelevant and insignificant."
Maybe this person had a really good rationalization, but I disagree. I wouldn't say that time is omnipotent. I actually wouldn't say that time had any power at all. People get "caught up" in time because they become preoccupied with it. They think that they must follow a rigid schedule. They trap themselves in time. Eh, now that I think about it, time must have some power. Still, it can never manipulate anything. It can never control anything. Excuse this bazaar analogy...time is kinda like a spider web. The web has no power. Yet it is quite easy to get caught up in it. Time should have no power over Quentin, but he spends long enough obsessing over it that he gives it power. A more apt description could be that time is like a drug to which Quentin becomes addicted. Indeed, Quentin even tries to break out of time, and eventually...dies. I also think that time on a watch is certainly not insignificant, especially in Quentin's case. It acts as a constant supply of his drug. He tries to break it, but it still keeps ticking. It is an extremely powerful (for lack of a better word, I guess I haven't made up my mind about time's power) concept all condensed into a small carry-able thing. It has significance to Quentin.
I'll articulate my ideas (hopefully better ideas) more clearly in my next set of 5 posts. Now just past midnight...see you today.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Quentin and Benjy
We said that Quentin has the best concept of time, even that he is obsessed with time. This may be true. I think, however, that Quentin does not want to have this notion of time. Quentin hates time; we said that he doesn't want it to pass.
I would even take it a step further to say that Quentin wishes he had Benjy's concept of time. At least, Quentin wishes his life had the constancy that it first appears Benjy's life had. . . .To say the Quentin hates time is really to say that Quentin hates change. In reality, Quentin has the utmost respect for time. He dissasembles his watch carefully. It seems that he even wants to figure out how it works -- he seems like a typical Harvard student performing a dissection. Not too much later, Quentin appears insane and obsessed. He's given up figuring everything out; he wants it to end.
We wonder how a watch can help somebody forget time rather than remember it. What it does is remind somebody of the present. Of what is happening now and what time it is now. In theory, this what help someone forget the past. This is what Quentin really wants.
It's interesting, and very true, that we think about time when we're bored, not when we're engaged in something. This, I think, is because time is always there, always ticking. It's the one thing that's constant (though not to Benjy), that we can always think about. Quentin's fed up with time and at the same time (pun not intended) obsessed with it...maybe he wishes he had Benjy's notion of time so that he wasn't always thinking about it. I hope you could follow my train of thought in this post...
I would even take it a step further to say that Quentin wishes he had Benjy's concept of time. At least, Quentin wishes his life had the constancy that it first appears Benjy's life had. . . .To say the Quentin hates time is really to say that Quentin hates change. In reality, Quentin has the utmost respect for time. He dissasembles his watch carefully. It seems that he even wants to figure out how it works -- he seems like a typical Harvard student performing a dissection. Not too much later, Quentin appears insane and obsessed. He's given up figuring everything out; he wants it to end.
We wonder how a watch can help somebody forget time rather than remember it. What it does is remind somebody of the present. Of what is happening now and what time it is now. In theory, this what help someone forget the past. This is what Quentin really wants.
It's interesting, and very true, that we think about time when we're bored, not when we're engaged in something. This, I think, is because time is always there, always ticking. It's the one thing that's constant (though not to Benjy), that we can always think about. Quentin's fed up with time and at the same time (pun not intended) obsessed with it...maybe he wishes he had Benjy's notion of time so that he wasn't always thinking about it. I hope you could follow my train of thought in this post...
On Quentin (Wed's discussion)
Quentin is arguably the most screwed up character in the Sound and the Fury, and that's saying something. They all have problems, but as someone said, only Benjy expresses his emotions (albeit not too articulately) by moaning. Jason tries to affect some change within the family. How does Quentin (not) solve his problems? He pretends to have committed incest, and then he kills himself. I know times today are different from back then, but I'm pretty sure that was never a normal way of dealing with problems.
Someone in class mentioned that the Compson family tries to hide all its problems, knowing it's not socially acceptable to be in such disarray. The Compson family would then be much, much more concerned with its image than with its happiness. Quentin's suicide should tell the outside world that there is something wrong with the workings of the family. Ironically, the family's failure to confront their problems in a meaningful way (Jason and Quentin's attempts are worthless) leads to what I must think is a degraded image (did that thought make any sense?).
Someone in class mentioned that the Compson family tries to hide all its problems, knowing it's not socially acceptable to be in such disarray. The Compson family would then be much, much more concerned with its image than with its happiness. Quentin's suicide should tell the outside world that there is something wrong with the workings of the family. Ironically, the family's failure to confront their problems in a meaningful way (Jason and Quentin's attempts are worthless) leads to what I must think is a degraded image (did that thought make any sense?).
Friday, September 14, 2007
L'Shana Tova
Rosh Hashanah yesterday and today...should've done my posts a while ago. I'll do the last three from this week this weekend...
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
The Fury and the Sound
It's not hard to figure out that in The Sound and the Fury, everything's mixed up.
We've focused on the way Benjy flips around his notion of time and events. Actually, I think his perception of events simply replaces his perception of time -- he has no conscious awareness of time in his life. Time to us, more than anything else, is a reference frame. We use time to organize our thoughts. It marks certain events. It is how we know what to do.
For Benjy, events mark other events. More specifically, his markers are certain sensations that he associates with certain events. Getting caught reminds him of getting caught.
Perhaps Benjy has no "tangible" concept of time because he himself has never "experienced" time. We have all experienced time. We know what it feels like to go from 2003 to 2004 to 2005. We know what if feels like to go from 3rd grade to 4th grade to 5th grade. Benjy knows what it's like to go from immature to immature to just as immature.
This makes it seem as if he is a constant, unchanging in response with time...an objective third person viewer who happens to be part of his story.
Now I see that maybe Benjy isn't as constant and unchanging as I had thought....as Zoe pointed out he only starts moaning at specific point in time. Yet he still has no concept of time -- his reactions may change slightly to the events that come to pass, but I still believe that his perception does not change with sufficient significance. He is just as immature at the end as he was at the beginning (chronologically). After all, he has no idea what the end is and what the beginning is. How could there be a trend when time never really passes for him? (does this make any sense?)
We've focused on the way Benjy flips around his notion of time and events. Actually, I think his perception of events simply replaces his perception of time -- he has no conscious awareness of time in his life. Time to us, more than anything else, is a reference frame. We use time to organize our thoughts. It marks certain events. It is how we know what to do.
For Benjy, events mark other events. More specifically, his markers are certain sensations that he associates with certain events. Getting caught reminds him of getting caught.
Perhaps Benjy has no "tangible" concept of time because he himself has never "experienced" time. We have all experienced time. We know what it feels like to go from 2003 to 2004 to 2005. We know what if feels like to go from 3rd grade to 4th grade to 5th grade. Benjy knows what it's like to go from immature to immature to just as immature.
This makes it seem as if he is a constant, unchanging in response with time...an objective third person viewer who happens to be part of his story.
Now I see that maybe Benjy isn't as constant and unchanging as I had thought....as Zoe pointed out he only starts moaning at specific point in time. Yet he still has no concept of time -- his reactions may change slightly to the events that come to pass, but I still believe that his perception does not change with sufficient significance. He is just as immature at the end as he was at the beginning (chronologically). After all, he has no idea what the end is and what the beginning is. How could there be a trend when time never really passes for him? (does this make any sense?)
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Welcome, Family
There are two ways to look at any entity, but these two different ways apply especially to families. We can look at them either from the inside of from the outside. Most of the quotes we responded to examine families from the outside. How does a "happy" or an "unhappy" family function in public; how do we perceive it? More specifically, we look at the "roles" that each person seems to have in the family. What is each person's function? We seem to look at everyone's "place." "What is a parent's place, or a dad's place?" we ask. I see this in the quotes about dad playing golf, and about children putting their parents in their places. In my opinion, it is more interesting to look at a family from the inside. The potato quote begins to get at this. It notices that the best parts of a family is hidden. When we look at everything from society's vantage point, we see everybody's "roles" and "places," yet we fail to see the interactions within a family. These interactions actually define the "outer" image that we see. The importance of understanding these hidden interactions is especially evident in The Sound and The Fury, where we see the completely screwed up Compson Family's situation from the eyes of three of its members. It's even more screwed up than we first thought. The final chapter of The Sound and the Fury takes a small step back, written in third person by Faulkner. We do not completely see the family from the outside, though, as we still follow around Dilsey, arguably the only "true" member of the Compson family (after all, she does everything and raises the kids, etc.).
So how does our point of view influence our overall perception of a family? I dunno, that's the question...
So how does our point of view influence our overall perception of a family? I dunno, that's the question...