Blog 9: Analysis of your Writing

 I feel as a writer I am good at developing well written material that is lengthy and is filled with detail but l struggle (and have struggled) with how much of my opinion is appropriate in my writings. When I think of my strengths, I can honestly say that my word choice is one of my better qualities when it comes to my writing. Until this point, my word choice has allowed my writing to flow ten times better being that one of my weaknesses happens to be that when i try to elaborate on an idea or topic, I go on a tangine because theres so many points i want to address and i often find it hard to shorten in it so it comes off to the reader that i misunderstood the assignment. Another one of my strengths is that i feel I’m good at critiquing my own writing and seeing how I can improve it whether it be correcting grammar or seeing if I could improve in my topic sentences. I believe one of my biggest weakness are my introduction paragraph. I find it the most difficult to write an intro that intriguing to the reader and is directed to the proper audience. Once I finally come up with a well developed intro, it makes it that much easier to make a very goof conclusion which I believe I do well in.

This semester, I learned about downshifting. I did not take to the seriousness of this lesson, but as I reflect on my writing now, that is something I question the most and keeping these guidelines in mind will help me to simplify my thoughts in my future writings whether it be for class or just in general.  I also learned that writing outlines saves me a whole lot of time and headaches when writing essays. Time limits always worry me when I have an assignment due and the best thing for my is to always do an outline. It helps me so much with my organization and allows me to see what points I have to work on. Because of this lesson earlier on, I was able to stay consistent with my writing it that sense.

For English 102, I feel I will have to work on how to do a works cited page. In essay three, I struggled most with this because I was not sure where to credit works and not plagiarized. If there is one thing I wished we would have practiced more it would be that topic. What I enjoyed the most about English 101 was reflecting on different works that were so very different (some being text and others being movies) and all having similar, common themes. I feel that by doing this, we prepared us to brainstorm and not be so narrow minded to what seems obvious for example characters having that same characteristics (things of that nature). I believe the most helpful thing about class was doing the blogs. By doing the blogs I felt more comfortable overtime to give my opinion rather just answer the questions given to us and I got to read others opinions on the same topic in order to compare. There was no lesson or discussion I felt was less important than the last in English 101 and I feel comfortable moving forward as a writer after taking this class. 

Blog #8: Thematic Connections

                Throughout the semester we have seen common thematic connections in the texts and movies we have seen. These thematic connections include

·         Reality

·         Utopia

·         Dystopia

·         Ignorance

·         Free Will

·         Determinism

·         Ethics

·         Morality

In my opinion, the most important of the connections would be Free Will. From the beginning of the semester, I was not aware of how much the idea of choice would come up. Looking back on it, In comparison to the text of “The Allegory of the Cave”, the first text we analyzed, I felt as though the prisoner Socrates describes to Glaucon is limited for the fact that he was held captive all his life. It is not until he is released and becomes aware of reality that he goes back and decides that although painful, reality is for the better. He ultimately had the choice of returning to the cave but decided otherwise. I didn’t understand the importance of Free Will until it began coming up in Movies and Text such as “The Matrix” and “Free Will and Determinism in the World of Minority Report”. The connection with all of the works we have seen this semester is that all characters are faced with options and a decision and they all deal with it differently with somewhat of the same outcome.

At the beginning of English 101, my idea on free will  seemed to be more narrow in the sense that I was not convinced that the characters free will and so much effect on what was supposedly determined for them and I didn’t become open to this idea until we watched “Gattaca”. In the movie “Gattaca” Vincent is genetically disadvantaged at birth not being genetically engineered like his brother Anton and is predetermined to face heart failure by the age of 30. Despite being incapable of getting the same jobs and having the same advantages as someone who is genetically designed, he faces the odds, and goes by unethical means to take on a job he has always hoped for. Like the other characters, he knows what his against him and choses to prevail. Free will in every text we have used this semester outweighs the theme of determinism which comes up as often however I believe Free Will has been more important.

Blog 7: Reflection on blogging

In my experience, in the past few weeks using blogger has allowed me to compare my progress from the beginning of English 101 until now. It has also given me the option to compare and contrast my progress to that of my classmates although I must admit I haven’t taken full advantage of this perk. Compared to writing in a journal, blogger gives others the option of critiquing my work whether they chose to or not which is beneficial in the sense that I can see my flaws from people who do not necessarily know me and their opinion would not be biased. The drawbacks to having blogger is that it is a permanent display of my writing which I may not be fully comfortable with people seeing late on down the road but at the same token it shows my level of writing at this time in my life. With having this blog, I have seen in what areas of my writing I excel in and what areas in can work on which are expanding my vocabulary and working on not getting lost in my idea and focusing more on the topic at hand.

Ultimately, I do not feel that knowing everything that I have posted on my blog is public has change the way I view myself as a writer. I think my focus is more on me completing our assignments and assessing how I can complete these task in the best way I can that not only shows my understanding of the topic, but that I challenged myself. I believe that if blogging has changed me as a writer it has been for the better. An example of this is the minimum word use and the time deadline that is assigned to us. I feel this has helped me to organize my ideas quicker and make sure that I have the ability to write lengthy blogs.

Coming into this class, I felt that one of my weaknesses was not writing essays or journals, but actually beginning them. It has always been a struggle for me to clearly state what it is that I would be writing about in the first place because there was so many ideas that I wanted to talk about and had trouble staying focused with what I originally was discussing but over this period of time blogging has helped me slowly eliminate that issue.

Blog 6: Free will and determinism

Free will discuses ones ability to act without precaution where determinism discuses the idea that all of ones actions are premeditated. In the Movie “Minority Report” director Steven Spielberg plays with the idea that everything in fact is predetermined and that free will cease to exist yet at the end we see freedom of choice occur. In the play “Oedipus the King” the viewers are left with the impression one has free will yet will always be confronted with the fact that fate cannot be changed. So is it in fact possible that free will and determinism cannot exist without the other?

In the “Minority report”, the viewer sees a world which is murder-free thanks to a system known as pre-crime, which stops foreseen murders (predicted by precogs, foster children who were experimented on)  from happening before they are committed. With the idea that this system is for the better of mankind, the theme of the movie raises eyebrows, making one question what justice is being served if in fact these murders never take place at all? “Free Will and Determinism” by Michael Huemer, raises the idea that these precogs alter the future by predicting the actions of these individuals making their visions invalid. The pre-crime system was able to function by brainwashing society into seeing the positive of pre-crime and overlooking the flaws of the system, like all systems in fact have. At the end of the movie, we see that in fact we do have a choice other than what is pre-determined for us but we then question what say do we have in our fates if the outcome are controlled by others.

Like The “Minority Report”, “Oedipus the King” shows how destiny is predetermined. Trying to escape the reality of his father’s murder, he runs off to Thebes and becomes king, marrying his mother a short while after. Suppressing the fact that he indeed killed his father, he becomes ignorant and disobedient, ignoring the advice of the prophets who made him aware that he would be confronted with truth soon. He finally discovers he is in fact is fathers murderer and his wife was actually his mother, whom he had a child with. Oedipus was so consumed with the idea that he find the murderer, that instead of altering his destiny, he drove himself right into what was predetermined for him by nature. Unlike the case of John Anderton, in the “Minority Report” who after learning the truth of his fate finally decided he had a choice to decide his own destiny yet ultimately the same outcome arose. In both cases the two characters free will drove them to the same conclusion that is shown to the viewers.

Though both “Minority Report” and “Oedipus the King” make one question do free will and determinism coincide the outcome of the play and movie were different. “Minority Report” shows that we as humans have the ability to use our free will to change our fates. “Oedipus the King” ends with the thought that trying to escape what we are destined for will only drives us that much faster to the harsh truth of our fates. Both situations show we can take control of our lives regardless of outside forces yet sometimes those outside forces unconsciously bring us to our realities that much faster. 

Essay 1: In-class (typed version)

Society overall has a hard time accepting the realities of the world we live in. Though many are very knowledgeable of the painful truths, most ignore their surroundings for a happier state of mind as others act upon it, passing down this way of being to generations to come. In the text “The Allegory of the Cave”, Socretes describes a scenario of a prisoner who learns the pain of reality yet accepts it as time passes. In the movie “The Matrix”, we find the protagonist Neo, struggling with what was his reality, actually being a made up world and the reality that the world is a post war land of human slaves. In comparison to today, “The Matrix” point of view is more accurate.

            “The Allegory of the Cave” is a good description of how today in age we are raised by our parents/guardians. We live in the cave we’re sheltered in our whole lives from real bills and expenses and our obligated to go by their rules as long as we live in their households. It is not till we are on our own and face real responsibilities that we understand the painful reality that life does not come as easy as our guardians made it out to be. After Socretes explains to Glaucon the metaphor of his story and that life can be blinded to the problems of the world, he is confused. This differs in the case of “The Matrix” were he actually experiences the painful truth of what has become of the world.

            Having faith that he is “the one”, Morpheous shows Neo the simulation he was living in. He sees people generically going about their day oblivious to what’s going on around them.  As he compares it to the reality of what has happened to humanity in post war he finally takes an understanding. Today, we often go about our days in our normal routines not stopping to think of how we got here and suppressing our problems. In history we can learn the reality of how we murdered thousands of Native Americans and attempted to teach them our ways and suppress their knowledge. Today, the Native Americans that live on reservations live tax free as if that makes up for the damage we caused. Yet we choose to blind ourselves until someone addresses it.

            After Neo accepts the truth of reality he makes his own destiny. For many it is easier to live ignorantly so that a life of happiness is possible. After Cypher accepted the reality of his new life, he bargained in order to live ignorantly and blissfully; reason being life was so harsh. We see the same outcome in the play “Oedipus and the King” when Oedipus ignorance leads him into finding out he murdered his father and married his own mother. Unable to bare the guilt, he blinds himself. Unlike Cypher in “The Matrix”, Oedipus chooses to never witness happiness and deal with the painful reality of his choices.

            We tend to ignore the long term effects of our choices so that we may live blissfully ignorant today. Whether it be the childhood fables our parents feed us when were younger or the effects of topics such as pollution, it is easier to succumb to our everyday routines. “The Matrix” has a good way of depicting this real life scenario.

Blog #5: “The Other” and Gattaca

                In the essay “The Man on the Moon” by George Annas, he discusses that “The new ideal human, the genetically engineered ‘superior’ human, will almost certainly come to represent ‘the other.’ If history is a guide, either the normal humans will view the ‘better’ humans as the other and seek to control or destroy them, or vice versa”. I agree with this quote due to the fact that our society is obsessed with pushing the envelope in scientific advancements. I believe in a short time, it is inevitable that one group, the normal humans or super humans will wipe out the other before wiping out themselves.

            In history, we have seen how the advancements of one set of people have wiped out another group of people without hesitation. In Annas writing he discusses how the Spanish conquistadors moved from Mexico to Peru and throughout the Americas killing the natives and using the name of God as an excuse in search of new territory and natural resources that they could profit on. We as humans become greedy without taking caution and because of this not only were the natives murdered for simply be inhabitants of their land, but so were many of the Spanish conquistadors for over estimating that they could control the natives and undermining the ability of the natives retaliating.

            In the Movie Gattaca we see Vincent, the main character who was born and “normal” human faces the discrimination of the genetic advancements of the future. Because of his genetic makeup and the probability that he would succumb to diseases, heart failure and a short life span, he is counted out and treated as a somewhat of disabled, not given the same opportunities as his brother Anton, who his genetically designed to be an “ideal” human. This movie is the perfect example of what is to become of society when science interrupts natures course. Like nations, human kind will be divided leading to more problems future generations will have to face.

            Like in the book, My Sister’s Keeper, we see a perfect example of how “super” humans will rebel against the rights as humans. In the novel the main character sues her parents for emancipation and the rights to her body. She was genetically designed as a way to help her sister who was battling a rare form of cancer. Though the approach of the novel was on a lighter side, we the readers get an understanding of the psychological effects on the genetically gifted. Though they are genetically gifted, they are no different than “normal” humans.

            As we continue to advance in altering genetics, woman will be given the opportunity to have children that they once did not and we will start to find cures for diseases that will change our world history. The fact that we are almost computerizing humans so that they can be better in all aspects than the “naturally born” us is the problem we are failing to realize. After we obtained the knowledge of creating a “superior” human I believe that those humans will face unnatural and unfair circumstances as somewhat of a minority. It is when they (finally and will) become the majority of the population than mankind will face the real issues of this situation and that is when the conflicts will arise.

Blog 4: Ignorance, Bliss and Knowledge in Oedipus the King and The Matrix

In The Matrix and Oedipus the King, characters find ignorance a happier state of being. As some of them gain the knowledge of the reality around them and painfully accept the truth, others suppress their realities and live blissfully.

 In The Matrix, after Neo accepts being reborn into what has become of the world, he fights the truth and has a hard time understanding this false reality he had been living in his whole life as he looks from outside into that realm. As he begins to gain the knowledge of what is real and what is not, he begins to fall into the hope of being “the one” but when he is told that he is not ready, he questions his purpose. At the same time, we see the character Cypher, who had accepted his new fate long before Neo questioned his new reality. Although he is fully aware that The Matrix is not a real world, he compromises a deal that would wipe out his memory of the harsh reality in order to live blissfully ignorant.

In Oedipus and the King, Oedipus seeks out to find the murderer in Thebes though he is the murderer himself. Throughout the play, we find Oedipus to be ignorant and aggressive as he continuously opts the ignore the advice of the prophets and the Oracle. A series of events finally leads him to face to truth told to him by his servant, that he in fact was the one responsible for his own fathers death. In shame for the murder and insets with his mother, Oedipus blinds himself, unable to cope with the truth. "But the hand which stabbed my eyes out was mine alone. In my wretched life, why should I have eyes when nothing I would see could bring me joy? " (Line 1331). Oedipus being painfully aware of his wrongdoings, chooses to be blind to the world to live a blissful life. Like the matrix we find characters who  understand the reality of the world around them and trade it for a life of ignorance and bliss.