The Young Lieutenant

While reading Guests of the Nation, there was an interesting debate that came up. Should the Young Lieutenant feel guilty? Should soldiers feel remorse? Should anyone feel guilty if they were committing their active 'duty?' Of course they should they are human, and if you not the least bit of sadness for taking another's life then I would be worried you had no soul. I feel that in a time of war it makes the situation tough, and I am not saying you should not fulfill your duties for the betterment of the nation; however, I do believe you should feel something for you actions. The murder you perform causes a lot more damage, and emotional conflict with the victim's family, friends, and country as well. Therefore, I think they should take in consideration that they are not just killing an enemy, but they are killing perhaps a father, son, friend, or husband and that impacts people. A duty is a duty, in a militia standpoint you do need to perform it if told to do, but you have options. You could rebel and say no, alter the actions in someway, or you can perform them. The choice is yours, but when faced with the action of taking another person's life in my hands, I would feel a lot of remorse and feel guilty. You are playing a key factor in that person's fate, and they will no longer have a chance to live a full life. That is a lot to take in when it comes to a decision, and that would be a life altering one at that.

Freedom and Confinement

I'd like to start of this week's blog with a couple of lines out of "Guests of the Nation." "Nobel says he saw everything ten times the size, as though there were nothing in the whole world but that little patch of bog with the two Englishmen stiffening into it, but with me it was as if the patch of bog where the Englishmen were was a million miles away, and even Nobel and the old woman, mumbling behind me, and the birds and the bloody stars were all far away, and I was somehow very small and very lost and lonely like a child astray in the snow.  And anything that happened to me afterwards. I never felt the same about again," states the narrator.  This ending somehow struck out to me, and just made me think how deep words can go when spoken with that much emotion. "And anything that happened to me afterwords.  I never felt the same about again," is such a passionate, complex line, for the story changes him in such away that it takes a bit of his soul with it.  He will never be the same after what he has witnessed tonight, and that just shows the intensity of the situation. It has to be a dramatic, impacting even for something to change you in such a way that you know in your mind you can never fully recover to your old self.  Therefore, O'Connor has put together a good story, but what really caught my eye was the last 2 sentences!

A Touch of English During Spring Break. . .

It is a beautiful Sunday for Spring Break, and not too bad of a day to write my post for the week. However, I will say the story I want to write about may put a damper on your day. "The Penal Colony," was a very interesting story, for it goes back in time to a colony that has no standards when it comes to punishment.  The colonial of the story is so obsessed and mesmerized by this 'apparatus,' he is always concerned with how it works, and is in love with explaining how it works to the explorer. The old commandant of the colony was the mastermind behind this machine and his method of punishment was a hierarchy of power. He had the colonial handle his dirty work with the execution and he is in charge to processed with the prosecution. It is an unusual method, for they don't even have a trial for the prisoner in the story, but they just accuse him and send him to die.  The famous 'apparatus,' basically engraves or tattoos the crime you committed onto your body, but you don't die instantly.  The process takes about 6-12 hours to take its effect, and then the machine just throws you into a large pit to bury.  In the end of explaining this to the explorer, the colonial partially asks him what he thinks and he sort of believes it is cruel and unusual.  His opinion is what triggers an odd reaction for the colonial, for that was the answer I guess he was dreading to face. The new commandant had been trying to get rid of the apparatus, but the colonial must have just needed to hear it from someone else. The colonial then gave his life to the machine he loved, and died with the machine not operating correctly.  

"Harrison Bergeron"

"The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal.  They weren't only equal before God and the law.  They were equal every which way.  Nobody was smarter than anybody else.  Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else," states Kurt Vonnegut. Personally, I believe America looks more towards competition, than equality.  I am for equality, but I value the achievement and benefit that comes from competition. If we were to live in a socialist world that is suggest in Vonnegut's story, then the thrill to win and to be better then oneself would be instantly taken away.  We would live in a stagnate world and no one could use there God given gifts to perform at the most maximum level, and that would be very sad.  The United States was built on capitalism, we believe in Darwin's "Survive of the Fittest," and therefore we thrive on competition and we have that desire in our competitive nature. We want to be the fastest, richest, more advanced, and overall dominant in our industry. Vonnegut's world would of course make us all equal, but it would hold us back from reaching our full maximum potential, and that potential could do some wonderful things for this world if given the chance! **Steps down from Soapbox**

"The Lottery"

Every time I read "The Lottery," I find it interesting for how this town is so accepting of this ritual. To sum it up, The Lottery is an annual event in which every subject meets in the town square of the village.  First pieces of paper are put in the box, and there is one piece of paper with a black mark on it, the recipient of that paper whens the lottery. The town does it by family names first the head of household, generally a man but not always, draws for his family.  The 'lucky' winner this year was the Hutchinson family, so then they put pieces of paper in the box for as many members are in the family, and each member has to draw their on slip of paper. As a sidebar note, I would like to mention how accepting this village is of the lottery, until someone has actually been chosen. For instance, the patrons worry about the children of the village being chosen, and then when the Hutchinson family is chosen,  Mrs. Hutchinson pitches a fit, for she believes it was unfairly executed and that her husband was not given enough time to choose. So, to conclude this sidebar the people of the town is accepting of this annual event, until they are chosen or if it threatens the younger people of the village.  Therefore, I say if you feel the ritual is unjust and dangerous -- then STOP it!  However, the town is so superstitious and fearful that if they don't, then their harvest will fail; then, they continue with their event and stone an innocent person, for no good reason!

"Carolina In My Mind"

I really enjoyed the poetry unit, surprisingly! Generally I do not like that unit in any english class I have ever taken, but this one sort of changed my mind.  The poems we read were sentimental and could be understood on a college students terms. We read about stereotypes, love, death, and woodchucks. (However, I still do not understand what a woodchuck is? Yet, that is beyond the point.)  Our last assignment we to write an essay developing a claim of whether a song we choose is poetry or not poetry.  I chose one of my favorites, "Carolina In My Mind," by James Taylor, it is a good song for any of you that have not heard it. I made the claim that it was poetry, because it consisted of a lot of the terms that we refer to in poetry, for it had metaphors, imagery, and themes.  As it goes, a lot of other students did different songs, and came to the same conclusion as well. Therefore, it makes me think, have we all enjoyed poetry all along? Since we said all or these songs were poetry, and as most young adults do we listen to a lot of music during the day, or at least I do. So, does that mean we all technically really love poetry, for songs are poetry. Its a good question to think about, but I am going to have to say that this unit has truly changed my opinion of poetry. I went in dreading it, and thinking here comes another few boring weeks of reading and trying to translate nonsense. However, I have been converted and if music is poetry, then I am a poetry lover! (:

Pigeons!

Stereotypes: are not cool! I found it interesting reading the stereotypes section of poetry, and then I went to a meeting for a greek leader seminar, and the topic was stereotypes that greeks are standardized in. Ironic, I know! However, these poems sort of hit a soft spot for me, because people are stereotyped all the time without even knowing, and we live in a very judgmental society. The poets of these set poems are strong willed people to put their opinions in words. I strongly felt an understanding to the poem about pigeons, because personally I hate pigeons, they look like rats with wings, and I judge them very easily. I fill like they are useless creatures, and reading this was sort of humorous. Yet, this poem made me feel sorry for them, and guilty for disliking them. Therefore, I have changed a mind set and try not to judge people, and stereotypes are hurtful. So, poetry is still growing on me, and is starting to be a good thing, I guess! I just needed to find the right poetry to read, and read subjects that I could understand or relate to, and I did!