Blog 3.5: Revision of the Coraline

Coraline Jones is the heroine in the novel Coraline, written by Neil Gaiman. Coraline moves to a new house with her parents where she discovers a different world and encounters  some creatures which are a replica of the people in her real world particularly her parents and her neighbors. From the beginning to the end of this story, Coraline Jones represents the most archetypal character since she discovers the new world and has to overcome some serious dangers in a heroic and courageous way.  She rescues her parents and some other children trapped by her other mother. Even though the story takes place in a magical world, there are elements that relate to real life characters. Coraline is indeed a heroine in this story because she takes risks and faces death in order to save her parents. In the journey towards exploration, she learns to value what she has in life and becomes a different, more mature person.

            In a movie we usually see that there is always an individual character who shows his/her intelligence or fearless personality and becomes a hero/heroine. In Coraline we see a young girl who is an explorer who embarks on a dangerous journey and succeeds by using her intelligence. By focusing on her attitudes, we can clearly say that she is a courageous person who wants to explore the unknown world, even though that desire to explore could get her to a serious problem. When her neighbors, an old lady named Miss Spink and Miss Forcible read her fortune through tea leaves and tell her that she could be in danger, Coraline didn’t show any sign of being   afraid of this warning, and she still wanted to see what happens next in her life. She asks “what am I in danger.”  (p20) Her curious and courageous nature leads her to face the unknown without fear.

Moreover, we see Coraline as a curious person in another conversation with an old man upstairs who warns her that his mice told him not to go through the door which has been bricked up. However, Coraline didn’t stop imagining about the window and her curiosity led her to wonder even more about it. She asks herself why am I in danger? Why have they told me not to go through the brick window? She is an individual who does not always believe what she is told until she sees it for herself. She becomes intrigued by the unexpected sounds that eventually lead her to go through the brick wall which is really a link to another universe. Her journey through this magical but frightening world will test her as an individual and she will come out victorious due to her heroism and intelligence.

                      Sometimes I think it would be impossible for me to do what Coraline does for her parents and for other three innocent ghost children. She faces death, but she is fearless and fights back and rescues her parents and releases the three children.  She shows her intelligence and cleverness by playing a game with her other mother. She says that if she can’t find her real parents, she would give in to the other mother and allow buttons to be sewn up into her eyes, but if she wins the game, the other mother would let everyone go free. Once Coraline is trapped behind the mirror where those three children were kept by the other mother, she makes some plans to escape. The three children told her that the other mother trapped them there and is slowly taking their lives away. They have no hands, no eyes and no heads. They have been eaten by the other mother and they told Coraline to flee; otherwise the same would happen to her. However, Coraline is a courageous hero and she fights with her other mother and manages to escape. Then she locks the door to the other world forever, but the other mother’s right hand comes out to Coraline’s world to get the key to the brick door. However, because of   Coraline’s intelligence, she can’t succeed in her mission and Coraline cast the other mother’s hand into the well.

In the story Coraline, the young girl Coraline Jones is the primary character, who goes through a heroic journey and finds herself in an unknown world which is a replica of her real world. In this strange universe she faces dangers and even death. However, Coraline Jones never strays from her mission, which is to rescue her parents from an evil witch who tries to trap Coraline in her strange world where she has already trapped some other children and is slowly taking their lives away. Coraline doesn’t let her other mother succeed in her mission and she heroically rescues her parents and releases the children by playing a game and using her intelligence and wit. She also undergoes significant changes because of her experience and opens her eyes to a new reality. She learns to accept the life she has been given even though she cannot always get what she wants. Her heroic journey through an alternative universe also makes her find herself and value what she has.

FINAL ESSAY

This class was my last class in this college and it was one of my favorite classes which is done well. When I registered this class, I was so much worried by knowing that the course going to be deal with the idea of supernatural where there will be discussion of fairies, devils and evils or vampires and I was unaware about supernatural things until I attended couple of classes and was gaining and gathering with all the new ideas and information presented by the Professor and other students. There are a lot of things that I have learned in this class. I have learned about the meaning of symbols, archetype and monotheistic structures which I was quite innocent about before this class. Now I am able to find symbol on any type of structure and able to understand the deeper meaning of it.

Through the poem “Goblin market”   I have developed my ideas and knowledge about the meaning of symbol and able to recognize the archetype on it. When I was read this poem, I wasn’t sure what to do and how to explain about it in easy because it was my first attempt to read a poem and understand the meaning and find the important symbol. After looked on other student’s blog entries and comparing with my understanding I read again and again until I got the meaning of this poem. I think this class was very helpful for me that was mostly based on web blog because I had a chance to look others blog entries to read them and gain ideas. Now I have different feelings about songs and poem that I never had before.

There was another interesting part in this class when we started reading the book Coralline and we started write about it. We went through every chapter of this book and discussed about it on the blog. While reading this book we gathered with the symbols, archetype, monotheistic structure and setting which gave me the strength to find my own archetype where I found my archetype is as wanderer and explorer. I have learned how to find archetype of other people from any kind of fiction story, poem or movie.         

During the presentation I was so much interested into other student’s presentation about their project. They all have done a good job on their presentation. For the project I choose a movie and presented in class. Through the presentation I think I have passed my nervousness and my weakness because I never had done any presentation before like this. First day of the presentation I didn’t do my presentation because I waited to see other student’s presentation and learned from them a lot.

From my classmates project I choose “Joseph Money Maker" project as my favorite. The reason I choose this because he presented an in strength appear at an ancient Brazilian martial arts which is called "Capoeira". Joseph has been learning martial arts for long long time. I enjoyed his writing and presenting for such a challenging project. I am inspired by Joseph and I would like to learn martial arts. I would like to dig more information about martial arts. There were so many things that I learned from this class and the way prof. taught us so many things in good manner and they were very interesting.  

4.3: The Omen (Research Blog)

                One of the oldest ideas in the history of the human race is the idea of the devil or the fallen angel that opposes God and tries to doom humanity. This frightening idea appears in all monotheistic religions, and it can even be found in pagan cultures across the world. The movie The Omen directed by Richard Donner deals with this concept of supernatural evil and how it plays an important role in the development of world events. After analyzing the main plot of this movie, I realize there are similarities between the story of the omen and the Christian story of Christ. The movie deals with the idea of the devil child or antichrist that opposes Christianity and dooms humanity through deception. This movie focuses on the symbolic meaning of this frightening character which still holds such a strong grip on the minds of so many people even in the modern world.

The story of the omen begins with a wealthy married couple named Robert and Katherine Thorn who live an ideal life except that they do not have any children, and they want desperately to have a child. Robert Thorn is the U.S. ambassador to Italy and he and his wife try to have a baby, but the child dies in childbirth. At that moment, a mysterious priest approaches Robert and suggests to him that he should just take another baby whose mother had died giving birth. Robert listens to the priest and without telling his wife, takes the child from the hospital. The couple names the child Damien and continues having a normal life.  However, as time goes by it becomes clear that Damien is not an ordinary child because a series of strange deaths begin to happen. First, the child’s nanny hangs herself on the boy’s birthday and a new nanny arrives to take care of the boy. Later the priest is killed by a lightning rod in a freak accident, and Katherine loses her second child when Damien pushes her off the balcony of their home. In order to find more information about the child’s background, Robert and a photographer named Keith  travel from England to Rome, and then to Israel where Keith is decapitated by a pane of glass. Back in England Katherine is also killed by the new nanny, and Robert finally realizes that Damien is the antichrist or the devil’s child that has been born to doom the human race. In Israel, Robert finds an archaeologist who tells him that the only way to kill the child is by stabbing him with the seven daggers of Megiddo. Robert tries to kill Damien in a church after discovering that the boy has the devil’s number of three sixes as a birthmark, but Robert is shot by police before he can finish his task and save the human race. Damien is then adopted by the president of the United States who is a friend of Robert’s, and this makes the devil child smile because he is now in a position of power where he can perform his mission of deceiving humanity and sending us all to hell.

Damien is the child that represents the most frightening apocalyptic prophecy of the end of time. In the Christian religion the coming of the Antichrist is one of the last signs or omens indicating that the end of the world is near. In other words, this evil character is the archetype of doom, a false messiah that will contradict the teachings of Christ and deceive humanity and make us sin so we can lose our souls to the devil. Therefore, while Christ is considered the son of God who came to the world to atone for our sins and die for our salvation out of love for the human race, the antichrist is the son of the devil who comes to the world to fulfill his mission which is to condemn people to eternal damnation. According to religious historian Sabina Flanagan, in the Christian apocalyptic view “the end of the world would be heralded by various disasters, natural and social, the penultimate one of which would be the arrival of the Antichrist” (59). Therefore, Damien is evil incarnate and this is why he is always protected by supernatural forces, that mysteriously lead to the deaths of people who try to find the truth of his origin. As a child, he needs protection so he can be placed in a position where he can do the most damage. This is finally achieved when he is adopted by the president of the most powerful nation on earth. From this position he can influence public policy “lead a terrible persecution of the church,” (Flanagan, 59) and even bring about a world war that will end the human race. This is why Damien smiles at the end of the movie because he knows his demonic work is about to begin.

The movie the Omen hints at the idea of the devil playing a role in human affairs so it is useful to analyze this concept of the devil before we can fully understand how it relates to the anti-Christ. The Devil is perhaps the oldest archetype of evil that has existed even in ancient civilizations. The idea that this being represents the dark forces of the universe is essential to the teachings of the three major monotheistic religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, but other pagan cultures believed in this supernatural being as well. For Instance the atheist scholar Robert Ingersoll claims that

“We obtain our Devil from the Jews, and they got him from Babylon. The Jews cultivated the science of Demonology, and at one time it was believed that there were nine kinds of demons: Beelzebub, prince of the false gods of the other nations; the Pythian Apollo, prince of liars; Belial, prince of mischief makers. Asmodeus, prince of revengeful devils; Satan, prince of witches and magicians; Meresin, prince of aerial devils, who caused thunderstorms and plagues; Abandon, who caused wars, tumults and combustions; Diabolous, who drives to despair, and Mammon, prince of the tempters.”

Christianity then adopted the Jewish idea of the devil. This is suggested in the movie when Damien’s father travels to Rome, the site of the Catholic Church and to Israel, the birthplace of Judaism to search for Damien’s true origins. The Devil is also a major player in the Christian sacred book. As Ingersoll tells us, “The New Testament is far more explicit than the old…Certainly the writers of the New Testament believed in the existence of the Devil.” Therefore, the idea of the Devil is important to understand Damien’s mission on earth. Just like Christ was sent to earth by his Father to save souls, so was Damien sent to earth to doom them and do the Devil’s work. The claim that Damien was the son of the devil is supported by the bible “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).Biblical scholar Steve Hall also believes that “His (Damien) real power comes from Satan (the Devil) himself.”Damien or as he is often called in the sacred texts, “the son of perdition.” Who came to the world to do his father’s work which is to doom our souls and send them to hell for eternity, and he will do this by using one weapon, deception.

            As a matter of fact, in the movie the idea of Damien’s deceptive nature is already seen in how he is presented to the viewers. He appears to be a normal innocent well-behaved child who might even seem cute. He is born into a stable well respected family and grows up without any major traumas such as being the victim of abusive parents. During the first years of his childhood there is no indication of him participating in any act of delinquency or cruelty.  He only shows his true identity when his mother threatens his position of privilege by expecting another baby. That is when Damien decides to throw her over the balcony and kill her true legitimate child. Damien’s deception is so perfect that no one suspects him to be evil. Even after his father finds out the truth about his origin and is told to kill the boy, he refuses to do so because he is only a child and Damien is his only son. It is only after Robert Thorn discovers the sign of the devil on Damien’s skin that he decides to kill this supernatural being disguised as a human infant. This is the true nature of the Anti-Christ, to fool people into believing he is normal and even good, so that they can follow him instead of Christ. Damien even fools the president of the United States who adopts him and will raise him as if he were his own child. As Hall claims, “He uses intrigue and his apparently peaceful intentions” and “most of the people of the world will be amazed by him, follow him, and even worship him”. Then “his power will seem to be worldwide.” Damien has succeeded in deceiving people and in the end of the movie he is very close to achieving power worldwide just like he was intended to do by his true father, the devil.

           

                 The major symbol in the movie is the triple six birthmarks found on Damien’s head which identify  him without a doubt as the supernatural anti-Christ. This number has a biblical tradition and it can be found to refer to the man sent by the Devil to complete his mission on earth. In the Christian bible the Antichrist is referred to as a leader that will come at the end of time sitting at the head of a beast. The bible says “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a  man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” (Rev. 13:18). Although there have been many interpretations of this number, it is generally believed to refer to the man who will be born to deceive humanity and oppose the teachings of the Christian God. Damien then is the one who will come to earth riding on an enormous beast after his mission is accomplished.

           

                 Throughout history many people from the roman emperor Nero to the Nazi leader Hitler have been identified as the Antichrist. Even the philosopher Nietzsche gave himself that title in one of his books that criticize the values of Christianity. Many people today still believe that the Antichrist will come or it is already among us. The movie the Omen gives a clear portrayal of how the Antichrist will come to earth, not as an evil spirit with a hideous face, but as a powerful deceiver who will fool people into believing that evil is superior to what is moral and good. Regardless of whether one believes in this prophecy or not, it is amazing to know how ancient people used supernatural explanations for their human fears of the natural world. Evil does exist on earth and as long as this is true, the image of Damien as the Antichrist will always be the archetype for the darkest side of humanity. In the end, it is up to us to decide if good will prevail or if “The son of perdition” will triumph in the world.

                                                                   

Works Cited

Flanagan, Sabina. “Twelfth-Century Apocalyptic Imaginations and the Coming of the Antichrist.”

The Journal of Religious History. 24.1 (2000): 57-60 Web. 11 Nov. 2010.

Hall, Steve. “The Antichrist.” Abounding Joy. Dec. 2004. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.

Ingersoll, Robert. G. “The Devil.” The Secular Web. 1899. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.

New Jerusalem Bible, John. 8:44. Rev. 13:18.

The Omen. Dir. Richard Donner. Prof. Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, and David Warner. Twenty Century Fox Productions, 1976. Film.

Blog Entry 4.2: Project Update 2

The Introduction and The Plot   

One of the oldest ideas in the history of the human race is the idea of the devil or the fallen angel that opposes God and tries to doom humanity. This frightening idea appears in all monotheistic religions, and it can even be found in pagan cultures across the world. The movie The Omen directed by Richard Donner deals with this concept of supernatural evil and how it plays an important role in the development of world events. After analyzing the main plot of this movie, I realize there are similarities between the story of the omen and the Christian story of Christ. The movie deals with the idea of the devil child or antichrist that opposes Christianity and dooms humanity through deception. This movie focuses on the symbolic meaning of this frightening character which still holds such a strong grip on the minds of so many people even in the modern world.

The story of the Omen begins with wealthy married couple named Robert and Katherine Thorn who live an ideal except that they do not have any children and they desperately to have a child, Robert Thorn is the U.S. ambassador to Italy and he and his wife try to have a baby, but the child dies in during the birth. At the moment a mysterious priest approaches Robert and suggests him that he should just take another baby whose mother had died while giving him birth. Robert listens to the priest and without telling his wife, takes the child from the hospital. The couple named the child Damien and who is not a ordinary child because a series of strange death begin to happen.  First the child’s nanny hangs herself on the boy’s birthday and a new nanny arrives to take care of him. Later the priest is killed by a lightening rod in a freak accident, and Katherine loses her second child when Damien pushes her and falls down from the balcony of their home. In order to find more information about the child background, Robert and a photographer named heath travel from England to Rome, and then to Israel when the photographer is decapitated by a pane of glass. Back in England Katherine is also killed by the new nanny, and Robert family realizes that Damien is the antichrist or the devil’s child that has been born to doom the human race. In Israel Robert finds an archeologist who tells him the only way to kill the child is by stabbing him with the seven daggers of Megiddo. Robert tries to kill Damien in a church after discovering that the boy has the devil’s number of three sixes as birthmark but Robert is shot by police before he can finish his task and save the human race. Damien is the adopted by the president of the United States who is a friend of Robert and that makes the devil child smile because he is now in a position of power where he can perform his mission of deceiving humanity and sending us all to hell.

Blog Entry 4.1: The Final Project update

            So far I have watched the 2nd version of this movie which is a remake of the 1976 horror classic the omen. There are some differences between these two movies I found but the plot of the story is exactly same. I like the old one rather than the remake. Now I am looking for some details on this story and need to find some sources that can help me to do the research. Before our next class meeting, I will have to complete some works. I will now work on this and need to find some more websites for more information. So far I have done some writings about like a page. When I will completely done with writing, I will go to writing center to fix my errors.  

Blog Entry 3.5: Coraline_In Class Essay

              The Coraline Jones, the heroine of this story Coraline, is written by Neil Gaiman, moves to a new house with her parents where she discovers a different world and encounters with some creatures, the creatures are replica of her real world particularly her parents and her neighbors. In this story from beginning to the end, Coraline Jones represents the most archetypal quest since she discovers the new world and engages with some problems where she manages to overcome as a hero or a heroin does and she rescues her parents and some other children trapped by her other mother. Even though the story is performs by dramatically and magically not as real, there are lot more things that could justify or identify and could explore the characters that takes most of the credits. There is many elements that identify Coraline is a heroin of this story who takes risks and death threats on to her and saved her parents.

Can we imagine or can we even think about what elements can make a person hero or what kind of ethical personality that represents a hero or heroine? We usually see in the movie that there is always an individual character, presents by the director, who shows his/her intelligence or fearless activities and become a hero/heroin. In Coraline we see a character of course we have to say a special character a young girl and an explorer who leads a journey of battle and success with her intelligence. As we pay attention on her attitudes, we can clearly say that she is an explorer who wants to explore something unknown, the unknown world where she never been to, which is strange, even though that action of exploring could lead her to a serious problem. When her neighbors the two old lady miss Spink and miss Forcible reads her fortune through tea leaves and tale her that she could be in danger, she didn’t afraid of it and still wanted to see what happens next and wondering what could happen to her life and asks “ what am I in danger.” ( page 20)Moreover, we see coralline as curious in another conversation with an old man upstairs warns coralline that his mice told him about not going through the door. Coraline didn’t stop imagining about the window and her curiosity has become aggressive to know what’s in there would be, why am I in danger, why they told me not to go through the brick window. Their unexpected sounds make coralline to discover the brick wall which is a link to another universe.

Sometimes I think and consider it would be impossible for me to do whatever Coralline has done for her parents and for other three ghost innocent children. She faces the death but she is fearless and fights back and rescues her parents and releases the three children.  She shows her intelligence and cleverness by playing a game with her other mother that if Coralline can’t finds her real parents she would gave in to the other mother or if she wins the game, the other mother would let everyone go free. Once Coraline traps behind the mirror where those three children trapped by the other mother, she makes some plans to escape from here. The three children told her that the other mother trapped them here and slowly taking their lives away. They have no hands no eyes and no heads, all is eaten by the other mother and they told coralline to flee from here otherwise the same would happen to her. Coraline acts not to fear as a hero and she fights with her other mother and manages to escape and locks the other world’s brick door forever but the other mother’s right hand comes out to the Coralline’s world to get the key of brick door but in front of Coralline’s intelligence she can’t success in her mission and coralline finishes her into the well.

In the story Coraline, the young girl Coraline Jones represents the stories primary character, who as a hero initiate in ordinary word and gets into an unknown world, the world which is replica of her real world where she faces tasks and tricks and death. Coraline Jones who never takes any chance that could lead her to fail her mission, the mission where she commits to rescue her parents from a woman, a witch, a evil, a dreadful character, who gives her all this trouble and tries to shut Coraline into her strange world where she has trapped some other children and taking their lives away. Coraline doesn’t let her other mother to success in her mission and she rescues her parents and releases the children by playing a game where she uses her intelligence as a hero and heroin.

Blog Entry 3.4: The Project Proposal

One of the oldest ideas in the history of the human race is the idea of the devil or the fallen angel that oppose God and tries to doom human. This idea appears in all monotheistic religions and it can even be found in some cultures across the world. This is why for my project I plan to analyze the movie The Omen which deals with the concept of supernatural devil and evil and it plays an important role in this world.

I have watched the first version of this movie and have got some ideas and information about it. The next step I will take is to watch the second versions of this movie.

After that I will analyze the main plot pointing out the similarity between the story of the omen and the story of Christ by Wednesday 11/24. Then I will do some research and trace the ideas of the devil and the antichrist which are the main subjects of the film. I will analyze the way this frightening character has been conceived throughout time and then tie this information with my analysis of the movie.

In my project I will focus on the symbolic meaning of the devil and try to analyze why this ancient character still holds such a strong grip on the minds of so many people even in the our modern world. I know this is an ambitious goal, but I find this project interesting so I hope I can find good sources that will help me to do a good job.

 I think I will be successfully done with my project before due date.

 

Blog Entry 3.3: Final Project Idea

For the project, I was thinking what I would do about it. What do I choose for my project, a book, a movie or a narrative poem? What would be the easiest thing for me to do the research and accomplish on it. First I decided I will research about the book Coralline which is our text book as assigned but I changed my mind because everyone in the class knows about it and has read it already so there will be nothing new for them as well. So then finally I have decided to research about a movie fits with the theme of this course as supernatural. I have decided to go for the movie for this project because I love to watch movie a lot and especially if I have to watch a horror movie. The movie “The Omen” I have decided to write and research about it . The Omen is a 1976 British/American suspense/horror film directed by Richard Donner. The film stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Stephens, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Troughton, Martin Benson and Leo McKern. It is the first film in The Omen series and was scripted by David Seltzer, who also wrote the novel. A remake, The Omen, was released on June 6, 2006.

So let’s start watching the movie and analyzing it. Best wishes to me from everyone << JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

Blog Entry: 3.2 Macbeth Video

         
                      This scene opens with the three witches who look so hideous that they caughtmy attention right away. The witches are in the mountains where the weather is misty and gloomy, and this adds an atmosphere of doom to the whole scene. Two older witches witout eyes are bathing the younger one who looks normal and plays the role of a servant or maybe a younger sister. The witches don't pay much attention to Macbeth and his companion, but they greet him as thane and king. What attracted me to this scene is the disinterested way the witches do their part to bring ruin to Macbeth. It is almost as if they just plant the seed of greed and ambition in Macbeth's heart and later on, the soldier cannot think of anything else. The atmosphere of the whole scene symbolizes danger and evil.Also the fact that the witches don't have eyes indicates contrasts the idea that they can see the future. This makes them seem almost supernatural and not human beings.  From my readings I understood that Blindness and sight are two common symbol in this kind of plays and Shakespeare uses this technique to connect the natural with the suernatural. The witches are also shown as old women which means they are wise and can see the future, but what really ruins Macbeth is his own ambition. The witches only povoked him to think about becoming king which is something he always wanted in his heart.

blog Entry: 3.1 Macbeth

Laurence Olivier as Macbeth and Vivien Leigh as Lady Macbeth in a 1955 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre production of the tragedy.

I liked this picture because it shows lady Mcbeth trying to convince man Macbeth to kill the king and take the throne since the withches had already told him that it was his fate to be king. In this picture Lady Macbeth symbolizes a strong female  character who influences the man to do something evil. She is the perfect example of a cold, conniving woman who does anything to get her way. Macbeth's faciaal expressions show his confusion because he doesn't know what to do. She is standing behind him as if whispering in his ear while putting a hand on his shoulder to reassure him that everything willwork out for him and he will fulfill his ambition to be king. Macbeth does not even look at his wife. instead he seems to be thinking about how to carry out his plan. He is shown as an ambitious man who is the victim of a woman who tempts him to do evil. This is probably why this play has been compared to the old testament where Eve is the cause of Adam's ruin. In the of the play Macbeth is beheaded and Lady Macbeth commits suicide although we don't know that for sure. It is interesting how Shakespeare created a strong woman like lady Macbeth even though in his time women were probably humble and lived to obey their husbands. In this play Lady Macbeth is the one who cleverly manipulates her husband by feeding his ambition and encouraging to do evil. On the other hand, the man is shown as a weak person who is a victim of his passion. In this picture it is clear who is the victim and who is in control of the situation. This is why I consider this picture very important to understand the play. The archtype of a woman being the cause of man's ruin is clearly shown in this picture.

Blog Entry 2.2: Alturist

Altruist refers to selflessness which concerns for the welfare of others. Altruist can be distinguished from feelings of loyalty and duty. Altruism focuses on a motivation to help others. In simple words, one who has an unselfish regard for or is devoted to the welfare of others.

The above picture I choose because it fits into me and I fall into this category. In this picture we can see that a woman giving benefit to poor is often considered altruistic action which refers to the selflessness manner. Not all people in the world have the selflessness manner. We first think of our needs and don’t think of others even though we some have the ability to do something for others.  

In this blog entry, I will talk about my elder sister and my family. Because of her kindness and helping to us, here we are in the United States living our life. She considered our needs before her own. I am also trying to do exactly what she has done for our family. She has spent her entire life to help us to establish our lives. She had just a hope that her brother (I) will come to America someday and will take care of her. She worked hard to take care of us. She didn’t save any funds for her own. It seems like she was born to help us to take care of us. Besides taking care of us, she used to help others in our village with finance. Our villagers still respect her and they are appreciated about her loyalty to them. She has been living in the United States for more than 20 years where for a young person this is enough time to make a good living life. My sister could make her own life but she always thought about us and her duty as an elder daughter. Now as I am an elder son of my family, I am engaging to her duty because she is now not able to do anything and I am trying to take care of her and my family. She has inspired me that what she could do that I can do. Now I think of her and my family’s needs first before mine. I always try to help them and try to solve their problems. I always try to help our poor villagers too with their everyday problems. Even though I live abroad, I talk to them over the phone listen to their needs and try to put as much as afford I can. I helped many of my friends in my country with their financial needs for their study. Because of my concern of selflessness today in my village I am a very respectful person as my elder sister. I always dream that when I will have a lot of money, I will try to make as many as poor people happy and their living.

source >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism

Blog Entry 2.1:The Forbidden Fruits: Goblin Market

"Goblin Market"
by Christina Rossetti

Morning and evening
Maids heard the goblins cry:
'Come buy our orchard fruits,
Come buy, come buy:
Apples and quinces,
Lemons and oranges,
Plump unpecked cherries,
Melons and raspberries,
Bloom-down-cheeked peaches,
Swart-headed mulberries,
Wild free-born cranberries,
Crab-apples, dewberries,
Pine-apples, blackberries,
Apricots, strawberries;--
All ripe together
In summer weather,--
Morns that pass by,
Fair eves that fly;
Come buy, come buy:
Our grapes fresh from the vine,
Pomegranates full and fine,
Dates and sharp bullaces,
Rare pears and greengages,
Damsons and bilberries,
Taste them and try:
Currants and gooseberries,
Bright-fire-like barberries,
Figs to fill your mouth,
Citrons from the South,
Sweet to tongue and sound to eye;
Come buy, come buy.'

Evening by evening
Among the brookside rushes,
Laura bowed her head to hear,
Lizzie veiled her blushes:
Crouching close together
In the cooling weather,
With clasping arms and cautioning lips,
With tingling cheeks and finger tips.
'Lie close,' Laura said,
Pricking up her golden head:
'We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?'
'Come buy,' call the goblins
Hobbling down the glen.
'Oh,' cried Lizzie, 'Laura, Laura,
You should not peep at goblin men.'
Lizzie covered up her eyes,
Covered close lest they should look;
Laura reared her glossy head,
And whispered like the restless brook:
'Look, Lizzie, look, Lizzie,
Down the glen tramp little men.
One hauls a basket,
One bears a plate,
One lugs a golden dish
Of many pounds weight.
How fair the vine must grow
Whose grapes are so luscious;
How warm the wind must blow
Through those fruit bushes.'
'No,' said Lizzie, 'No, no, no;
Their offers should not charm us,
Their evil gifts would harm us.'
She thrust a dimpled finger
In each ear, shut eyes and ran:
Curious Laura chose to linger
Wondering at each merchant man.
One had a cat's face,
One whisked a tail,
One tramped at a rat's pace,
One crawled like a snail,
One like a wombat prowled obtuse and furry,
One like a ratel tumbled hurry skurry.
Lizzie heard a voice like voice of doves
Cooing all together:
They sounded kind and full of loves
In the pleasant weather.

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Archetypes are often used in poetry to represent the personality of a person and reflect his or her psychological state.  This is a very effective way to reveal the state of mind of a character and this is what Christina Rossetti does in her mysterious poem Goblin Market.  This poem tells the story of two sisters who are struggling with temptation which is considered a sin represented by the archetype of fruit. The sweetness of this food is opposed to the evil that it hides by being sold by gobblins who are creatures of doom and disaster.

The first verse of this poem focuses on the way the gobblins tempt young maids to come and buy the delicious fruits they are selling. They say “come buy our orchard fruits/ come buy, come buy:” These horrible creatures offer “ripe”, fresh, juicy  and sweet fruit such as cherries, pine apples, oranges, raspberries and melons among other kinds of tasty treats that are irresistible especially “In summer weather”. The fruit that the little monsters offer represents the forbidden desires of this world. In religious terms an apple was the temptation that caused Adam and Eve to fall from grace and be expelled from paradise. In that story, a serpent which was in fact the devil was the evil creature that tempted Eve who was a female just like the two main characters in this poem, Laura and Lizzie. The temptation that is represented by the fruit in the poem could be the desire for sex which was seen as an evil urge that must be resisted by any person, especially young women who are still  often considered impure if they desire sexual satisfaction.

In the poem is clear that Lizzie and Laura are struggling with their desire to taste the forbidden fruits but as Laura warns, “we must not look at goblin men/ we must not buy their fruits:” These words clearly indicate the repressed desires of the young women who are tempted by the dangerous “gifts” the goblin men bring in order to “charm” them. All the women can do is fantasize and wonder “How fair the vine must grow/ whose grapes are so luscious;/ How warm the wind must blow/ through those fruit bushes.”  The women are eager to know what it feels like to give in to temptation. They wonder about the pleasures of the flesh, but the power of society is so strong that Lizzie tells herself “No,no,no:” She realizes that buying the fruit would only bring ruin since the merchant men have the characteristics of animals. “One had a cat’s face,/ One whisked a tail,/ One tramped at a rat’s pace/One crawled like a snail”.  These animal characteristics are a symbolic representation of our most basic instincts that come from our animal nature. Conservative societies usually look down upon these natural impulses which are considered impure and uncivilized.

Although, Lizzie is successful in resisting the temptation of the fruits, Laura is weaker of character and she chooses to stay behind and observe the men who have captured her imagination. She wants to surrender to her lust even though she knows the creatures that sell the fruit are repulsive and wicked.  Her desire is stronger than her morality and fear, so she wants to forget society and its rules and enjoy the pleasure the men bring “In the pleasant weather” which represents her youth.

Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_Market
http://www.enotes.com/nineteenth-century-criticism/goblin-market-christina-georgina-rossetti
http://www.loudlit.org/audio/goblin/pages/01_01_goblin.htm

Blog Entry 1.3: Poetry Symbolism

GHOSTS OF A LUNATIC ASYLUM

by: Stephen Vincent Benet

HERE, where men's eyes were empty and as bright

As the blank windows set in glaring brick,

When the wind strengthens from the sea--and night

Drops like a fog and makes the breath come thick;

 

By the deserted paths, the vacant hills,

One may see figures, twisted shades and lean,

Like the mad shapes that crawl on Indian screen,

Or paunchy smears you find on prison walls.

 

Turn the knob gently! There's the Thumbless Man,

Still weaving glass and silk into a dream,

Although the wall shows through him--and the Khan

Journeys Cathay beside a paper stream.

 

A Rabbit Woman chitters by the door

Chilly the grave-smell comes from the turned sod

Come--lift the curtain--and be cold before

The silence of the eight men who were God!

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The Ghosts in Our Heads

Many people believe in the supernatural as being another dimension of reality that is not ruled by the laws of nature. However, author Stephen Vincent Benet’s poem Ghosts of a Lunatic Asylum give us a different view of this issue by indicating that the supernatural is really the mind,  and it is a part of the natural world. Stephen Vincent Benet was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, into an army family. His father, Colonel J. Walker Benet, served as a commanding officer of ordinance posts in California and Georgia. Frances Neill (Rose) Benet, Stephen's mother, was a descendant of an old Kentucky military family. Because his father was an avid reader, Benet grew up in home, where reading literature was valued and enjoyed. The Ghosts of a Lunatic Asylum’ was originally published by Stephen Vincent Benet in 1998. When I was reading this poem and really understood about fact of supernatural I felt like I can connect with this poem it speaks to us in more than just words we feel what Stephen is saying to us in our soul. Benet uses symbolism in order to relate the supernatural to mental phenomenon.

The first symbolic imagery the author uses is “the blank window set in glaring brick” (Line, 2) This is the way the narrator who is visiting an empty lunatic asylum describes the ghosts that he can still see lingering in that place. These men’s eyes were empty because their minds were sick and there disoriented stare made a strong impression on the visitor. When he stared into their eyes, he could not see an expression or even a soul behind them. They were just like the window which did not provide a clear view of what lies outside of it.

Another important symbol that appears in the poem refers to the “paunchy smears you find in prison walls.”(Line8). This represents the shapes of the ghosts who are almost deformed due to their mental sickness which affects even their bodies. They seem “twisted” and without form like the figures that prisoners draw on the walls of their cells. These ghosts are the only presence of the people who were kept in the asylum far away from society.  Their sick minds caused their physical deformity.

The last two powerful symbols in the poem are even strange than the others.  One is the Rabbit woman who may represent the bad, almost animal-like condition of this person whose sickness is so advanced that she does not look human at all. She appears to be more like a scared rabbit than a person. Then, there are “the eight men who were God!” This is another symbolic representation of one of the symptoms of dementia which is the illusion of grandeur. These men were so demented that they even believed that they were all powerful like the creator of the universe. Their illness damaged their minds so badly that they could not see reality anymore.

The poet’s inspiration for this poem may been his background as a child who was raised on army posts,  so he was constantly in touch with soldiers who after coming from war and seeing so much violence and many atrocities may appeared like ghosts to Benet.  This could be the basis of the theme that the supernatural is really a creation of the human mind and not another world separated from this one.

Works Cited

Benet, Stephen, V.  Encyclopedia Brittanica. Web.