Forum: Purpose of the
University
Forum: The Disappearance of
God?
Forum: The Pattern of
Conversion
Forum: Saved by Work? Saved
by Romantic Love?
Forum: College Idealism
REQUIRED JOURNAL on JUDE
Forum: Outsiders: OPTIONAL
JOURNAL ON JUDE + ZULEIKA
Forum: REQUIRED JOURNAL on
JUDE + ZULEIKA
Forum: REQUIRED JOURNAL on
ZULEIKA
Forum: REQUIRED JOURNAL on ALICE
BOOKS
Forum: REQUIRED JOURNAL on
ALICE BOOKS + Darwin
Forum: Campus Landscape
Architecture
Forum: Browning and the
Grotesque
Forum: the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood and their Circle
Forum: Purpose of the University
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Date: 01-19-2005 11:35 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject self discovery |
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It seems to
me that the longer I have been at this university, the more I have discovered
about myself. Through my experiences and multiple major changes, I have begun
to develop a sense of myself and the things that truly move me. At such a
young age as people are when first they begin college, it is hard
to know what the rest of their life will look like, but the role of the
university and the course of their education helps youth to discover
their niche in the world. As John Henry Newman put it, "knowledge is not
a mere extrinsic or accidental advantage,... which
we can command and communicate at our pleasure,... it is an acquired
illumination" (176). To gain knowledge is to find one's place in the
world and to have the ability to assert oneself with confidence. Newman
further explains that "...even
a portion of this illuminative reason and true philosophy is the highest
state to which nature can aspire..." (177). At the university, people
are offered the first real opportunity to think for themselves. In grade
school and on through high school, there is always someone there to guide and
instruct and more or less tell people how to think. The university affords people
the opportunity to break away and find their own thoughts, their own voice, their own identity. ¿It is the education which gives man a
clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing
them an eloquence in expressing them, and a force in
urging them¿ (179). I suppose that it is possible to come upon knowledge and
self discovery without ever going to college, but it may take longer and more
personal discipline to achieve. The unique experience of being submersed in
education, as one is at a university, offers a better environment and base
for cultivating one¿s mind and intellect. The
university is ¿a place where inquiry is pushed forward, and discoveries
verified and perfected, and rashness rendered innocuous, and error exposed,
by the collision of mind with mind, and knowledge with knowledge¿ (180). The
university offers the rare opportunity to create yourself in whatever
capacity you choose, and along the way discover who you really are. |
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Forum:
Liberal Arts
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Date: 01-31-2005 18:27 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject liberal arts education |
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The purpose of the liberal arts education and, more
specifically, the English degree, seems to be that of teaching people to
think for themselves and cultivate to express their thoughts, ideas and
feelings in an effective, clear way. To think for oneself is to truly know the
inner workings of one¿s own mind. From this all
things are possible, all areas of study and thought
are transcended by the cultivated mind that thinks for itself. It is in
experiencing life that we better understands its workings. From this basic
understanding, greater, deeper, more intimate understanding is easily
attained. ¿The service of philosophy, of speculative culture, towards the
human spirit, is to rouse, to startle it to a life of constant and eager
observation¿ (203-204). In my own experience, I can attest that what I have learned a
liberal arts major is applicable to the world of
science, but the reverse is not true. I began my college career as an English major. Somewhere along the way I had decided
that I would be better served as a Biology major and
switched colleges. The skills that I developed as an English major
always earned me high marks on research papers because I had developed a clarity of thought and a critically thinking mind.
Recently having discovered that I was, in fact, not better served as a
Biology major, as nothing I picked up while pursuing that study has any
relevant application except unto itself, I came full circle to graduate with
a degree in English. It is simply and eloquently put ¿¿the student of humane
letters only, will, at least, know also the great
general conceptions brought in by modern physical science¿ [b]ut the student of natural sciences only, will, by our
very hypothesis, know nothing of humane letters¿¿ (200-201). Life is too short to be driven by money, which often is the
force behind choosing a vocation rather than a career. ¿With this sense of
the splendour of our experience and of its awful
brevity, gathering all we are into one desperate effort to see and touch, we
shall hardly have time to make theories about the things we see and touch¿.The theory or idea or system which requires of us
the sacrifice of any part of this experience, in consideration of some
interest which we cannot enter, or some abstract theory we have not
identified with ourselves, or of what is only conventional, has no real claim
upon us¿ (204). We can spend all our time analyzing one minute detail, trying
to perfect our understanding of it, or we can experience all the world has to
offer in an understanding greater than that the sciences seem to offer. The
liberal arts major gets built into their very education this vast array of
understanding and experience "...helping us to relate the results of
modern science to our need for conduct, our need for beauty"
(200). I, for one, wouldn¿t trade it for all the world. |
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Forum:
The Disappearance of God?
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Date: 02-06-2005 13:44 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject disappearance of God?... perhaps, but
not quite |
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There doesn't seem to necessarily be a
disappearance of God altogether, but a subtle blasphemy in response to God
that could be a sign of God's beginning to disappear from literature. In
fact, there is a constant presence of God and an awareness of the presence of
God by the characters. "Unless you pardon, what shall I do, Lord, but go
to Hell?" (746). It seems, though, that perhaps in beginning to question
the importance of God, Morris portrays the characters as not caring whether
they sin in their actions or not. "I found I could not live a righteous
life" (748). So the sense is one of overwhelming uncertainty, torn
between a love of God and a the desires of the
flesh. "If even I go to hell, I cannot choose but love you, Christ, yea,
though I cannot keep from loving Launcelot; O
Christ! must I lose my own heart's love? see, though I cannot weep, yet I am very sorry for my sin;
moreover, Christ, I cannot bear that hell, I am most fain to love you, and to
win a place in heaven some time..." (746). But being of mere flesh,
they seem to understand that they cannot help but sin against God, even as
they wish to remain in God's good graces. "...forgive me! for my sin
being such, about my whole life, all my deeds did twine, made me quite
wicked... and every morn I scarce could pray at all" (749-750). It
doesn't seem that God has disappeared from literature yet, but if this was
becoming the trend of the time, these pieces could be signs of its beginning
to happen. "Lord... why did I forget you were so beautiful, and good,
and true, that you loved me so..." (746). |
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Forum:
The Pattern of Conversion
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Date: 02-09-2005 20:01 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject pattern of conversion |
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In a time increasingly marked by the
absence of God, many seem to turn inward to search out aome
meaning in life. The disappearance of God seems to have occurred by means of
God turning his back on man and not man turning his back on God. In
realization of such absence, the things in life that once held so much
meaning and joy, now seem fruitless efforts of man
to an unknown or impossible end. For John Stuart Mill, "the whole
foundation on which [his] life was constructed fell down" (760). As they
more and more begin to question blind faith, the internal struggle to find
some meaning in life preoccupies the minds of men. The realization that when
you have to "ask yourself whether you are happy... you cease to be
so" (762) drives men in search of something that gives their lives
purpose. As God has left them, they must turn inward in search of the
answers. So many gave credit to their feelings. The absence of any joy in the
things that used to inspire it becomes a very real concern. "[T]he imaginitive emotion which an idea when vividly conceived
excites in us, is not an allusion but a fact, as real as any of the other
qualities of objects" (765). In many ways God had let man down and as
Darwin said, man was "yearning for a better God than God" (772) to
fill the gap that was left by his absence. So men like Darwin in turn, turned
their backs on God because "response to relgion,
does not give true evidence toward anything except a will toward
illusion...[and] he could only be true to himself by resisting the access of
illusion wherever it tried to creep in" (773). But the point is that
whether they turned to emotion and feelings or away from them, the general
turn happened to an inward search for meaning in life for lack of God in
their lives to give it meaning. |
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Forum:
Saved by Work? Saved by Romantic Love?
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Date: 02-14-2005 18:20 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject saved by either? perhaps by neither |
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The human condition seems one of
always wanting what you do not have, until you have it, and then it ceases to
fascinate us. What is it that we are truly longing for? One might argue that
one who knows only work would long to know love, and one who has known love
but has been rejected might long for work to take their mind off of such a
loss. But those are only temporary fixes for a much larger dilemma. Can we
ever be truly satisfied? In Tennyson's "The Lotos-eaters"
these men have only known hard labor, "we only toil, who are the first
of things, and make perpetual moan" (764, 61-62). "Most weary seem'd the sea, weary the oar, Weary the wandering fields
of barren foam... we will return no more... we will no longer roam"
(764, 41-45). But it is interesting that the life that they wish for is that
of "the mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters"
(763, 27). To long for melancholy is a stange
choice, to replace hard work for perpetual sadness. And once they have
achieved this life, will it be enough to satisfy them, or will the lack of
actual love drive them to still feel unsatisfied with their lives? Perhaps
they might be saved by love, but love is not the choice they make. But I
don't think that even romantic love is the answer. There is no cure for the
longings and desires of the heart that will last forever with certainty. In
Arnold's "Isolation: To Marguerite" he says "the heart can
bind itself alone, and faith may oft be unreturn'd...
Back to thy solitude again" (786, 9-10, 18). It is in solitude and in
finding inner peace that the soul is ultimately satisfied. Until then we are
doomed as Arnold says in "Dover Beach" to "the turbid ebb and
flow of human misery" (789, 17-18). I don't feel that romantic love or
work is sufficient to save someone if internally they cannot find peace with themself. |
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Forum:
College Idealism REQUIRED JOURNAL on JUDE
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Date: 02-21-2005 10:52 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject Jude the Obscure parts 1&2 |
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At his start in the story, Jude Fawley is seen as a "thoughtful child who has felt
the pricks of life somewhat before his time" (11). It is rather easy to
relate to his situation. He is lovable for his longings to make something
more of himself and admirable for his determination to do just that;
"his dreams were as gigantic as his surroundings were small" (20).
For so many the prospect of ever making it to college is unattainable, though
far easier in our time than his own. Jude's
character is hopelessly romantic to a fault. "'Poor little dears!'"
(14) he says to the birds he is to fend off from the
corn field. That is precisely the sentiment that finds him married to Arabella when he isn't nearly ready to be married. Jude's
type is easily manipulated through his sentimentality, and Arabella's guile in securing Jude is executed with
precision. Jude having spent the better part of his childhood with his nose
buried in books has no defense against the will of woman who has set her mind
to have him. And much to the detriment of them both. It is almost pitiable
how easily he is distracted from his studies when he was always so
determined. Up to now he "had vaguely regarded the sex as beings outside
his life and purposes" (35), but nothing would prepare him for "his
sense of her magnetism" (35). And what's more, Arabella
is not the sort of girl that Jude would ultimately want to end up with; she's
rather silly and preoccupied with material gain. Another parallel between
Jude and so many young people today can be drawn here in that too often they
settle for less than they deserve to soon and at too young an age to
understand the consequence. That's why so many marriages end in divorce these
days. Too bad for Jude that that didn't appear to be an option, and though Arabella ends up in Australia and he in his beloved Christminster, he is just as bound to her as if she were
right there with him. That he would so soon end up back in Marygreen is lamentable. It is just like youth to
squander their earnings and give up their dreams so easily. Jude's fault
seems to be his inability to focus on his dreams when a beautiful woman
crosses his path. In Christminster it is his cousin
Sue, whom despite his knowing that he can never have her, he is drawn to her
anyway; he cannot shake "the kind of feeling that was awakening in
him" (75). It is a frustration to watch Jude, yet
again, move away from his path under the influence of love. This seems
to be his lot in life as the romantic sort of creature that he is. And how
easy and typical it seems that he should drink away his sorrows at being told
he "will have a much better chance of success in life by remaining in
[his] own sphere" (95). Jude's fatal flaw seems to be that he gives in
too easily to defeat. What happened to the courageous child who had once said
to the wind "'You... were in Christminster
city between one and two hours ago, floating along the streets, pulling round
the weather-cocks, touching Mr. Phillotson's face,
being breathed by him; and now you are here, breathed by me- you, the very
same'" (21)? The man so easily forgot the force that drew him here and
now "turned his back upon the city that had been such a thorn in his
side" (100). I can only hope, for Jude's sake, that in the course of his
story he learns from these mistakes and rediscovers the childlike wonder that
had prompted such lofty goals in the first place. |
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Forum:
Outsiders: OPTIONAL JOURNAL ON JUDE + ZULEIKA
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Date: 02-23-2005 15:48 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject jude parts
3&4 |
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It continues to amaze me that Jude
follows after Sue like somewhat of a lost puppy. Her nature is always so
hot-cold. It's a wonder that he puts up with it. He even recognizes it and
says as much to Sue. "'...you are often not so
nice in your real presence as you are in your letters!'" (III-6, p 131).
But continuously throughout the text "Jude forgave her straightway"
(III-5, p 127). That she continually drags him along with her when she has no
intention of ever acting on his feelings or her own, if she has any, makes me
angry. I want to feel so sorry for Jude, but at the same time, he willfully
accepts her knowing full well that he can never really have her. It's almost
as though he is trying to punish himself, while at the same time indulging
his emotions. He acts upon "that feeling which had been his undoing more
than once- that he was not worth the trouble of being taken care of either by
himself or others" (III-8, p142). In a way, he has turned himself into
an outsider by sheer lack of faith in himself and of his deserving to be
loved the same as anyone else. And Sue abuses her knowledge of his sentiment,
but why should she sums it up beautifully that "a woman's love of being
loved gets the better of conscience" (IV-5, p 191). Why should she act
any differently when she knows it will elicit the desired result? Perhaps she
is not actually so calculating, but the jury is still out on that account. Arabella's return occurs as I would have
expected, although I wish Jude would stand up to her more than he does. I
can't blame him, as my own tendency toward passiveness usually rules my actions
as well, but she has truly been unjust toward him. It seemed more out of
convenience that she assumed him to be dead, but if she had at all tried to
contact him, she would have known otherwise. That she would go off and get
married when she was already married is rather unforgivable, but not
altogether unexpected of her character. That she should ask him to "not
turn upon her, a weak woman, and inform against her" (III-9, p 153)
shows that she at least recognizes that Jude is of better character than herself.
It is disappointing that Jude, yet
again, gives up on his dreams to join the clergy, feeling himself not equal
to the task, but he sees that "his passion for Sue troubled his soul...
[and] he was a man of too many passions to make a
good clergyman" (III-10, p 154). He is too easily manipulated by her. In addressing the idea of outsiders,
it seems to me that Sue makes herself an outsider by rebelling, as in her
running away from the training school and marrying out of spite rather than
love. But Jude's being an outsider seems to be a direct result of her pulling
him down with her as she falls. She always keeps him at arms length when it
is convenient and then drags him through the mud with her. What was
surprising was how easily Phillotson consented to
Sue's request to let her go when in doing so, he
cast himself out as well. She seems to have that power over the men who love
her. Indeed Jude admits to her that "your happiness is more to me than
anything... your will is law to me" (IV-5, p 189). |
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Forum:
REQUIRED JOURNAL on JUDE + ZULEIKA
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Date: 02-28-2005 19:59 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject Jude parts 5&6 |
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Such a sad end to such a promising
life at this story's beginning. It almost saddens me that Sue never resolved
to allow herself to love Jude and that she should end up married to Phillotson seems fitting. The only reason she pushed Jude
to marry her was that "'Love has its own dark morality when rivalry
enters in'" (210, V-2). She couldn't stand the thought of Jude ending up
with another, though she didn't really love him. And how convenient of her to
change her mind at the last minute and not go through with it after she had
gotten her way. Arabella and Sue both understand
Jude's psychology and how to get the better of him, "'Never such a
tender fool as Jude is if a woman seems in trouble, and coaxes him a
bit'" (212, V-2). It was a most unexpected turn of
events that turns up the son of Jude's marriage to Arabella.
It was odd and somewhat redeeming that Sue had a desire to take him in and a be a mother to him, though she turned out to be the
worst sort of mother she could have been for such a child. But that the child
asks her "'Can I call you mother?'" (219, V-3) addresses Sue's
greatest weakness, the desire to be loved by others. That this child should
want her so is reason enough for her to be moved to accept him. And so they
seem to get on as a family, but not nearly a happy one. Sue and Jude's relationship is best
summed up as "that complete and mutual understanding, in which every
glance and movement was a effectual as speech for conveying intelligence
between them, made them almost the two parts of a single whole" (229
V-5). It is quite a mystery that two people so perfectly made for one another
are so doomed as they seem to be. Both of them seem
to change completely in the story. Jude gives up on his desire to bind her by
marriage under the assumption that he will be able to keep her that way. Sue
becomes everything she seemed to loathe in the beginning, taking up the
church as a form of repentence after the death of
their children. In part she was responsible, though she couldn't have known
that young Jude would take her words as he did. I suppose she feels that by
marrying Phillotson and mending the damage that she
created there, even if it meant punishing herself for the rest of her life,
she would be better by Jude than to remain as they were. She justifies the
death of their children as "'Arabella's child
killing mine was a judgement- the right slaying the
wrong'" (275, VI-3). Sue's leaving Jude more or less marks
the beginning of his end. I was disgusted that he was duped into marrying Arabella again, but not all surprised since she knows
best how to manipulate him. That Sue suffered in her marriage is no comfort
to him. He feels it better that her were dead than remain in this life, such as
it has become, and who could blame him? He made up his mid that he had no
chance of happiness and would rather die. Perhaps his son was right in
understanding that at such an early age. How like Arabella
to make an effort to secure a new man even before her current husband is even
dead and then leave his dead body lying on the bed to enjoy the festivities
by the river. It is a sad end to Jude's sad life and rather fitting, though
it is ashame that Sue never did come to mourn her
lover, whom she obviously did to his end though she denied it. |
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Forum:
REQUIRED JOURNAL on ZULEIKA
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Date: 03-02-2005 14:57 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject Zuleika and
distraction |
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As college students deep down we all
want to be distracted from the task at hand. Honestly, when there is work to
be done, I know I try to find every excuse in the world to keep me from
having to focus on school. Zuleika offers the
perfect distraction because she is mysterious and strangely alluring. It's
not hard to imagine that men would be spellbound by her, especially if they
want to be distracted by something, anything. "Not a youth there but
would have bartered fifty years of his future for that salute" (2). And
college is full of distractions, parties, road trips, you name it. All too
often I find that guys can be a terrible distraction for me, so it's not hard
to imagine that to be true for them as well, in regard to women. It's a
different thing with Zuleika because she wants to
be a distraction. She thrives off the attention she gets from all her male
suitors. She's just the kind of temptation that a college student wants.
"If you marry me, I should take my name off the books of my
College" (63). The trouble is that it's hard to
separate what you desire and what you need. And what wins out in the end?
Usually your desire, unless you're an extremely diligent person, which I, for
one, am not. "It was wrong to mix up facts and
fancies" (180), but it is easy to do so. There comes a time, though,
when we all have to set aside our distractions and get down to business.
"Youth is a very good thing to possess, no doubt; but it is tiresome
setting for maturity" (311). Eventually we all have to grow up and take
responsibility seriously, and as we get older, it becomes more natural for us
to ignore the various distractions and do the right thing, at least I hope so.
Willing |
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Forum:
REQUIRED JOURNAL on ALICE BOOKS
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Date: 03-21-2005 15:33 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject Alice and college life |
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The confusion of college life and the
adjustments one is required to make upon entering college is strangely
paralleled in the Alice books. You entire life seems to change and nothing is
as you knew it before. For the first time you have to figure out how to make
it on your own and that's a pretty scary thought. Temptation is somewhat of a
big and difficult issue in my experience. Like when Alice finally reaches the
bottom of the rabbit hole and finds a bottle "and tied round the neck of
the bottle was a paper label, with the words "DRINK ME" beautifully
printed on it in large letters" (16). If this isn't like being offered a
beer at your first college party, I don't know what is. It seems so harmless,
but you have no idea what might be in store for you. This is like so many
other temptations you encounter and ultimately the decision is up to you,
there is no one looking over your shoulder telling you what to do anymore. When I first came to college, I felt
lost and alone. I had no idea what I wanted to make of myself and no idea how
to figure it out. There were many times when I wanted to give up because
"to get through was more hopeless than ever" (21) and like Alice I
shed a lot of tears that first year. So to fill the void and help us through
the confusion, we try to find new friends to lean on and share our
experiences with, to sympathize with us. But it's harder than I had imagined to make new friends. In high school there were a limited
number of people and your electives and athletic classes usually brought you
together. Here there are so many extracurricular activities to choose from
and so many people, it's hard to know where to begin. In high school you may
have been larger than life, but in college it's likely you more often feel
"only ten inches high" (17) and fitting into a group is
overwhelming; it was for me anyway. There are so many decisions to be made
and little help to be had in making them. There are countless people at your
disposal, but few who are actually helpful. It's like sitting at the Mad Tea
Party and trying to get answers when everyone is talking in circles. Or
talking to the Cheshire cat who offers only vague generalizations. Perhaps
the best advice she received was from the caterpillar, "You'll get used
to it in time" (53). I suppose that's all we can hope for here, is to
get used to college life and make the best of it. |
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Forum:
REQUIRED JOURNAL on ALICE BOOKS + Darwin
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Date: 03-23-2005 16:11 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject Alice and Darwin |
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Alice seems to be a prime example for
Darwin's idea of survival of the fittest. As he said in The Origin of
Species "Let it also be borne in mind... what infinitely varied
diversities of structure might be of use to each being under changing
conditions of life" (414). Faced with ever changing circumstances and
surroundings, Alice adapts perfectly every time. And with each experience she
becomes smarter, adapts so that the same mishaps don't keep holding her back.
When she first went down the rabbit hole, she had a lot of trouble getting
her size just right at the right time. But as she experienced more and more
changes in size, she got smarter. So when she encounters the caterpillar and
he tells her that one side of the mushroom will make her taller and the other
will make her shorter, "she stretched her arms round it as far as they
would go, and broke off a bit of the edge with each hand" (53). Alice is also an exception to Darwin's
theory because fitness doesn't occur instantaneously, but over time by
"methodical and unconscious means of selection... man can act only on
external and visible characters" (416), but they cannot actually change
those things or themselves as drastically as being 10 inches one moment and
10 feet the next. But that is where the fantastical element comes into the
Alice books, that makes them fun to read. No one
really believes that such things are possible, but Carroll wasn't trying to
make it out that they were. Many people in Darwin's time thought that the
very notions of his theories were fantastical, so perhaps he and Alice really
are similar in that respect as well. |
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Forum:
Your Sense of Place
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Date: 03-28-2005 11:09 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject home is where the heart is |
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The more I have pondered the idea of a
sense place, the more my awareness has been drawn to my surroundings in every
place that I visit. For a long time, there was no singular place that felt
like my own. As Norman Crowe put it, we all "need to find a familiar
landscape as refue fromthe
unknown, perhaps from the terrifying prospect of being set adrift in hwat would otherwise be a dimensionlesss,
timeless, chaotic, world" (145B). For me that refuge began to diminish
when I left home and continued to become more and more diminished until the
time when m parents got divorced, and then it
disappeared all together. The house I grew up in no longer feels like my
home, and not just because I haven't lived there in so long, but because the
familiar memories that I associate with it no longer seem real. It makes me
sad that I no longer feel as though I am coming home when I go to visit my
dad. "The grief for the place is not unlike the loss of a loved one, and
it can be just as profound" (145F). My heart was in that place once, but
that place has changed almost beyond recognition. It's interesting how our emotions and
feelings influence sense of place. I had a roommate once who was at one time
a good friend of mine. But living together quickly caused us to drift apart.
The tension between us made it impossible for me to ever feel like I was at
home there. My heart was never in that place. In my current apartment, every
time I walk in the front door, I have a renewed sense of peace and the
tranquility there always makes me feel like I'm coming home. I am discovering
more and the imortance of " experienc[ing] a place as a
whole through feeling, imagination, and memory together with intellect and
the senses" (145D). I will be sad to leave my home once again when my
lease is up this summer. But this time I will be creating a more permanent
home for myself, buying a house that really will be my own place. My newfound
understanding and appreciation for sense of place will have a positive
influence on this new place that I hope to call home. |
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Forum:
Campus Landscape Architecture
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Date: 04-04-2005 15:08 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject lanscape
architecture |
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Reading Without Walls reminded
me of the feelings I experienced yesterday at the Botanical Gardens. Our
perception of place is often influenced by the intention of the designer to
create it in such a way as to have an effect on anyone who visits there.
Everyone's experience will be different, the artist cannot predetermine what
effect the place will give, only hope that their influence will be felt. My
experience at the Oriental Gardens was one of overwhelming peace and traquility. Outside its walls the city was the same, full
of traffic and commotion, "yet here is peace forever new!" (458);
inside the gardens you are whisked away from the chaos of the city, free to
experience nature in all her glory, untainted by what lies just beyond the
walls. It is a truly wonderful gift. It is sometomes
difficult to translate our experience of a place into words, which is why
"methaphors are largely a guide to that deep
strand of emotion that runs through our experience of place" (440C).
Each place is designed with an intention in mind,
some places communicate that intention better than others. The Tower Garden
Memorial is a wonderful way to commemorate that experience, but it doesn't
leave interpretation solely to the person visiting there because of the words
engraved or scultped there. Sense of place is being
manipulated in a specific way. I believe that the intention of Taniguchi, who
designed the Oriental Garden at the Botanical Gardens, was that of peace and
tranquility, which I picked up by walking through it. This is a much better
representation of creating a sense of place because the intention is felt
without being prompted to feel it, as is the case of the Tower Garden. I do
not wish to diminish the beauty of the Memorial or the memory of that experience, it is still a beautiful place and holds
special meaning for Longhorns. |
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Forum:
Ruskin
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Date: 04-06-2005 19:23 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject antimodernism
and romanticism |
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The idea of antimodernism
is an interesting one. I didn't really know that I subscribed to such an
ideal, but my religious beliefs would fall into the category of
"ideologies alternative to a mainstream which was far departed from what
was in the hearts and minds of generations in their prime merely decades
before" (514). However, it goes farther back than a few generations in
my case. I have studied Christian mystics who follow the principles of
Christianity long before it became polluted by political influence. I haven't
decided that all technology is evil, but I certainly have decided that
television is evil and one source of the rampant distraction that
characterizes today's youth. I gave up television a couple of years ago
because it was "a lesser priority of human endeavor" (514) than
everything else going on in my life, and I was disgusted that I found myself
scheduling my life around my favorite television programs. I don't miss it at
all. I feel lucky that my parents instilled in me at a young age, the ability
to use my imagination. Growing up, I was never allowed to watch television
anyway and found countless ways to occupy my time in a much more useful and
creative manner. I feel very close to the idea of romanticism, that "the
spontaneous innocence of childhood... is corrupted with the onset of
intellectual separation from nature" (515A). The older I got, the less I
played outside and the less we took picnics to various parks around town and
the more I found myself in front of the television. It is really ashame that multimedia has become a parents' number one
parenting tool, the free babysitter when they do not want to or have the time
to play with the children and otherwise enrich their lives with something
more meaningful. It is my hope that antimodernist
ideals might find there way into mainstream thought, that more people will
put down their cell phones, i-pods, x-boxes, and
whatever else, and get outside, enjoy the peace of communion with nature,
read a book, meditate, write, socialize with their peers, anything rather
than become glued to their appliances. What is the world coming to? I really
have no idea, but the thought is somewhat scary. |
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Forum:
GOTHIC
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Date: 04-11-2005 16:47 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject gothic |
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I must admit that I cannot understand
all the hype surrounding gothic architecture. I personally do not find it
appealing at all, but rather gaudy and overdone. There are certainly elements
of it that are grotesque, but not those that are so named for their
"portions of human and animal forms, fantastically combined and
interwoven with foliage and flowers" (522B). I find the bright colors
and elaborate embellishment to be overwhelming and nauseating to look at. I
do like the idea of rudeness in the gothic style that "resulted from a
humility which confessed the imperfection of the workman" (538) which
led to architecture "rendered more faithful by the humility which
confesses the imperfection of the subject" (538). Nothing in the world
is perfect, though we try to make things perfect, but to see the beauty that
underlies imperfection is a beautiful quality indeed. I just feel that the
idea was misconstrued and overdone in its execution. The "accumulation
of ornament" (543) seems to me to take away from the beauty of the
imperfection because it tries to hide the imperfection in overdone ornamentation.
I just think that individually, the principles of the gothic architectural
style have merit and perhaps mixing one or two of them and it's still
beautiful, but all of them thrown together into one building makes for a gaudy atrocity to the eye. |
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Forum:
Browning and the Grotesque
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Date: 04-18-2005 19:21 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject browning and the grotesque |
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I really enjoyed what E.L. Doctrow said, that "if you or read a book, and we
learn about someone else's life and torment, tot he extent that that book is
effective and good, we will be participating in that character's
suffering" (801). I have been having a hard time swallowing all this
stuff we've been reading on the grotesque. I simply could not understand it's importance and merit. But to look at it as a lesson
in the understanding of suffering and therefore as a way "to open our
hearts by calling forth our compassion, our capacity for suffering"
(801) makes so much more sense. We take these grotesque figures, stories,
poems and learn to feel compassion for those grotesque objects, people, ideas by understanding their suffering. So when I read Porphyria's Lover and how her lover
"all her hair in one long string [he] wound three times her little
throat around, and strangled her" (795), I see that perhaps the purpose
was not to utterly disgust me, which was my first reaction, but to open my
heart to feel compassion for this poor girl. I hope, anyway, that this is
more the case than what I earlier thought about the grotesque's purpose in
art and literature. I may have found a way to appreciate it because I have an
insight into better understanding it. |
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Forum:
the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their Circle
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Date: 04-18-2005 19:52 |
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Author: JACOBS, KETURAH MARY <MARYWINKER@YAHOO.COM> |
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Subject the pre-raphaelites |
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The Pre-Raphaelite movement is quite an interesting one, as well as one I find that I can appreciate much more than I have appreciated the subjects of our recent consideration. My mind tends toward idealizing many things in life, but in art I appreciate the ability of the artist to capture subjects true to their own form. So much art is manipulated by the artist so that it isn't even real anymore. It's like airbrushing super-models so that they are flawless, but completely unreal and therefore common people with all of their flaws cannot relate to them at all. That the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood "denounced this art of idealization" (690) to focus on the real is a very admirable and noble effort. They produced art that you can relate to because it is presented just as it is in real life by "testing and defying all conventions of art" (691). They were daring. And at the same time, the subjects that they chose to portray, such as Arthur and Camelot, are the subject of fairytales and myths, which also appeals to one's imagination. They brought to life images that had existed only in our minds and made them completely real for us. And poets like William Morris told these tales so beautifully, so that along with the paintings that accompa |