1/10- Response 1
Hey everyone. My name is Michael Lagestee. I’m a senior here at Ball State, and I’m on my way to getting a Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and Food Management with a minor in Spanish. I’m taking my last semester of classes on campus this spring, but I will be doing an Internship in San Antonio, TX this summer. I have mixed emotions about moving on, but really just the usual junk about missing friends and the college lifestyle, being nervous, and excitement for what the future holds. I’m taking one of the more exciting courses available to hospitality majors this semester, which involves making food and serving it in the Allegre restaurant in the Applied Technology Building(next to the Teachers College). We will be serving student planned and prepared three course meals, and anyone can come try it out(you can make reservations at bsu.edu/allegre). Outside of school work, I’m a pretty open and usually optimistic person. Basically, I’m happy to be alive and I want to experience as much as I can while I’m here in this crazy world. I’m a fan of movies(favorites include Garden State, Hot Rod, Perks of Being a Wallflower, and others), playing games, eating food, traveling, and meeting new people or spending time with friends.
As for this week’s reading, I thought the story of Douglass said a lot to his readers about what it was like to be a slave. I also thought that Douglass had a very unique experience AS a slave. Douglass was obviously intelligent and creative, but luck had a large role in his life as well. Not many slaves could just stop their masters from whipping them simply because they had decided that they did not want it to happen anymore. However, his accounts of how he used his intellect to improve his situation, such as the way he came to be able to read by “challenging” white boys to spelling contests, were inspiring.
1/17-Response 2
This week’s readings gave us a very diverse set of definitions of the idea of “freedom.” Personally, I enjoyed reading Whitman’s “Song of Myself” the most. I liked that the poem was not straightforward, and that many parts seemed to say little of anything, but still contributed to his overall work. The fact that this piece was written in such an untraditional fashion made it more interesting for me because it gives his readers more of a puzzle to work out. One of my favorite parts of the piece was his description of the poem’s main character’s desire to live with the animals and how differently humans act than everything else in nature’s simplicity. It is easy to get caught up in all of the troubles we have created for ourselves, and I too have at times yearned for a simpler kind of living with less fuss over the small, unimportant differences we have between ourselves and our beliefs and others and their own. We have created endless systems and rules and fight over whose system or rule or even preference is right or wrong…but why is this worth the struggle? I enjoyed Whitman’s simplicity in his poem and the overall message of acceptance of others and his openness to foreign ideas of the time, including sexuality and concepts from the eastern world. This type of acceptance seems right to me. I do not think anyone’s way of life, as long as it does not interfere directly with the way of life of others(such as through violence), should be judged by others. Everyone deserves the freedom to believe and act in the way that makes them most happy and seems right to them, but nobody should impose their way of life upon others as if it is the “right” way of living.
1/24- Response 3
Faust gives us another unique perspective on freedom, one which reminded me of the mindset of the Grand Inquisitor. Faust struggles between two parts of himself—the freedom of his mind and the corresponding lack of freedom of his body. Both characters struggle with the 'freedom' given by God to humans to know good and evil and to choose between the two, or the freedom of the mind that Faust is never pleased with and that the Great Inquisitor uses to control his people. To Faust, this so called "freedom" of his mind makes him feel trapped by his human body and only leaves him with desire for real experience and real pleasure which he can never fulfill. As in the moon and sun passages we discussed in class, the wings of his mind make him lust after similar ability in the living world. He has studied as a scholar for most of his life, but finds that this knowledge has in reality given him nothing. To the Grand Inquisitor, this “freedom” has likewise made human existence insufferable, making the path to heaven much more difficult because of the insecurity involved with the knowledge of good and evil and the difficulty of remaining pious. Both characters turn from God because of their unfulfilled desires and try to replace Him to find what they feel they deserve. Faust agrees to Mephistopheles's pact in an attempt to fulfill his worldly desires and overcome the incapability of his human body. The Grand Inquisitor places his faith in the Devil, following his three questions and matching qualities of miracle, mystery and authority to make his people happy in a way he felt God could not. It is interesting that both of these characters began as religious men, yet find so many flaws in their own God's designs. Instead of following their religion, they are twisted by their own humanity.
1/31
As we read our remaining sections of Faust this week, the lack of action surprised me. As we came to get to know Faust as a character and what led to his decision to come to this agreement with Mephistopheles, he continuously dwelled on his yearning to experience the world and once Mephistopheles appeared, finally found a way to have more power to actually see and experience the things he never had the chance to as a scholar. However, after they set out to do so, all Faust really does is find a way to get young and shack up with the nearest hottie around. Is this all he wanted all along? Is this worth a pact with a cloven-hooved representative of the devil himself? Sure, maybe this fourteen year old temptress was quite the babe, but is her conquest worth the other side of their agreement, of being Mephistopheles slave in turn? Probably not. However, I understand that the depth of the story does not directly come from the plot itself, but what the events and the interactions between the characters are trying to say as a whole. I guess if the story surrounded around Faust fulfilling his desires without issue it would not be worth telling. I also didn’t expect Faust to go as far as he did with Mephistopheles in terms of doing ‘evil’ things, such as killing Valentine and going up on the mountain. Even though Mephistopheles had a large hand in these things, killing his ‘love’s’ brother and going on a mountain during a night known for devil’s orgies seems like more than what Faust signed up for. I also didn’t expect Margaret’s entire family to fall apart and for her mother and son to die as well. Although parts of Faust’s story seemed overly dramatic in how far some of the events went, the events made the plot interesting and gave greater meaning behind the central messages of the story.
2/7 In the student presentation on Romantic Painting, a series of paintings were shown in which a landscape changed over time as society became more advanced, highlighting the changing relationship between people and nature. These changes were shown as the society grew to a Romanesque grandeur, filling the painting with stone pillars and buildings in the place of the landscape that was once the focal point of the art. I thought that the series of paintings was interesting because they explored the relationship we have with nature and the effect civilization has on not only nature itself, but our own perception of the importance of nature and its role in our lives. This consideration of the role of nature in our lives struck me as one of the romantic themes that many people should still appreciate in the modern world. Although the paintings showed a Romanesque civilization, the lack of balance between society and nature can also be seen in the modern world. Our lack of consideration for nature has made the concept of sustainability more important because we have realized that our actions have a negative impact on our environment. However, many people still seem to simply overlook nature as important in their everyday lives. I think that part of this is rooted in exactly what these romantic paintings show—that such rampant civilization starts to block nature out of our lives completely. In an urban world, where concrete jungles are more common than natural ones, what inspires people to care about the earth? Lack of exposure has bred insensitivity, which is a large part of the issue. It is interesting how far modern society has become actually separated from nature. Many people do not know where their food comes from, or even where their trash goes. This makes the “out of sight, out of mind” mindset too easy, and pushes the nature-human divide even further.
2/21
I thought the story of Ivan Ilych was interesting because of the story of his life and the reactions of others to his death. Ivan lived his life following the rules of society and aspiring to further himself by following the example of leaders in society. However, because of this, his life was normal and boring. To me, this fact points to a contradiction in society between the rules we are supposed to follow to be “good citizens” and the kind of life that is most meaningful to each individual. How are we supposed to balance following society’s standards and our own, if our standards do not reflect society’s standards? Ivan hated his wife, yet stays with her. He discovers he is unhappy with his life and his accomplishments, and reflects that childhood was when he was most happy, although he has changed much since then. To me, this shows that by allowing society to condition him and by living according to society’s standards, he has lost a part of himself. This focus on the way our society functions has also affected how people interact because it has altered our desires and standards. Instead of valuing relationships and people, many people overvalue jobs, money, and possessions. This can be seen in the reactions of Ivan’s acquaintances and friends. Most of these people only care that they themselves are not dead, and some only care about the possibility of gaining something from his death, such as through inheritance. In these ways, society has made us more superficial. People do not lives the lives they actually want, and end up valuing objects, even over their loved ones. Reading this realist piece was interesting because it pointed to the kind of truths that many people avoid seeing, even if they experience such things themselves.
2/28 “A Doll’s House” introduced ideas about the situation of women well, especially by showing both sides and by showing how women are misunderstood. Nora, a woman who devotes most of her time and effort on maintaining the livelihood of her family and paying its debts, nonetheless faces many obstacles solely because of her sex. She was not allowed to receive a loan on her own, and must pay it off in secrecy instead of having a support system. Furthermore, when she asks for money in an attempt to pay the debt off, her “spending” is imagined to be frivolous and wasteful because women are not trusted with money. Most of the play centers around this kind of lack of trust or understanding, and because society’s misconceptions of women prevents the formation of any kind of actual trust or communication, the illusion is maintained by Nora to protect her family. This situation reveals a lot about the subordination of women at the time. First, the story shows that women are misunderstood, but that the very misconceptions held about women are those of popular belief. This makes change much more difficult for the common woman who outwardly follows the “norm” to fit in, yet may still struggle internally with her position in society. Second, the story shows that women want increased independence or equality, yet often cannot express this. Third, the story shows that men use power in different ways to maintain the position of women in society. This can be seen through the use of money, knowledge, and position against women in the story, most notably Nora. Overall, the imagery of the title captures the message of the piece well: Nora, even with her admirable efforts and internal struggles, is seen as a “doll” figure, with little significance beyond a play-thing. This central image, contrasted with the actual details spelled out in the plot, help demonstrate the world of difference between the image of women in society and the reality of the lives they lead.
3/7 The differences between “The Story of an Hour” and “Revolver” are striking, yet both reveal a lot about the situation of women at the time. Both stories highlight the idea of freedom for women, and discuss some of the ways that men inhibit women’s freedom. In “The Story of an Hour,” the main female character and her husband have a loving relationship, but she realizes that freedom to make her own decisions would make her the most happy, and loses her will to live when it is taken from her. Even in this example of a seemingly healthy marriage, the inherent control that the man has over the woman prevents her from true happiness or independence. This is not a statement about marriage in general, however, and instead brings into question men and women’s roles in society and presents insight into the experience of women along with a call for empathy. “The Revolver” is centrally different from “The Story of an Hour” because of the difference in the nature of the relationship between the male and female characters. In this story, the control the man exerts over the female character is driven by jealousy and becomes violent. This shows us an alternate view from “The Story of an Hour”: instead of the presence of indirect control, as seen through the marriage of the previous story, we see in this story a much more direct control which is perpetrated through psychological control. In “The Revolver,” the main female character is slowly stripped of her independence and is convinced to shelter herself from the world in order to soothe her husband’s threatening jealousy. To keep his wife acting the way he wants, the husband acts violently and even threatens his wife’s life to keep her from hurting him, even though he never actually intends to hurt her. This kind of manipulation through shadowed threats and violence shows that men’s control of women could in fact be very direct, and gives insight into the kind of treatment women received to keep them in a submissive position. Through the similarity of these stories’ subject matter and the differences in their plots, we are given a small glimpse into the emotions involved in the situation of women and the many different kinds of obstacles they faced because of the way male-female relationships were viewed at the time.
3/21 To me, Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” portrayed colonialism well because it captured the disorganization and confusion surrounding the process of “civilizing” as seen by Europeans. Although the Europeans in Africa are seen as agents of civilization, the reality of the situation can be seen in “Heart of Darkness.” Most Europeans we see in Africa in the story have no clear reason for being there and their actions are mostly fueled by their own desires, especially wealth, power, or advancement within “the company.” This reveals one part of the problem—the Europeans are in no way organized in their efforts to “civilize” the people of Africa, and many of their actions contradict this very idea. This type of confusion and disorganization can be seen in other parts of the story too, and also seems to be connected to the idea of darkness. In the dark, you cannot see clearly and it becomes easier to misunderstand what is happening around you. Similarly, there is a lack of understanding between most of the central figures in the story, including the Europeans and the company they work for, the Europeans and the natives they are civilizing, and the company and the natives their business effects. This “darkness” prevents mutually beneficial relationships from forming between any of the individuals involved, and in turn leads to much of the issues that persist in Africa. This darkness can be seen figuratively and literally in the story, such as presented in the actions or opinions of the people in the story or the fog that rolls in as the boat first reaches Mr. Kurtz’s camp. In both situations, the “darkness” leads to increased violence and carelessness between people, as well as other issues such as greed, where Europeans place the value of their potential personal gain over that of the “brutes” they know nothing about.
3/28 Dreams have always interested me because of their unknown meanings, ever-changing landscapes, and the infiniteness of possibilities that can be expressed through them—they seem like a canvas for imagination over which we have little control, or a movie with an ever-changing plot. The vividness, detail, and contents of dreams have always seemed so limitless and unfamiliar that, in a world full of classifications and definitions, struck me as something unexplainable. Because of this, reading freud’s insights on dreams helped me make dreams seem a lot more structured to me than ever before. I have heard that dreams are something like the brain processing all the information taken in over time, and I accepted that because I had no other information to go off of. Freud’s discussions of wish dreams, among other kinds of dreams, and their prevalence among dreams especially made a lot of sense. Freud explained that when you sleep you still have thoughts and impulses that you would normally act on, and that being able to act upon such impulses in a dream, or to achieve your wishes, allows you to put off the action in reality and keep sleeping. It is interesting that the opposite is true as well, as Freud explains, and that dreams can be unsatisfying to tell your body to wake up. This totally makes sense. The idea that dreams function in this way makes me appreciate the complexity of the human body that much more. Dreams never seemed functional to me in this way, and thus never seemed to have any reason to exist. Now, however, the seemingly random content of dreams makes more sense because I understand that tricking my body into thinking it is acting provides an outlet for my brain and lets me sleep.
Hey everyone. My name is Michael Lagestee. I’m a senior here at Ball State, and I’m on my way to getting a Bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and Food Management with a minor in Spanish. I’m taking my last semester of classes on campus this spring, but I will be doing an Internship in San Antonio, TX this summer. I have mixed emotions about moving on, but really just the usual junk about missing friends and the college lifestyle, being nervous, and excitement for what the future holds. I’m taking one of the more exciting courses available to hospitality majors this semester, which involves making food and serving it in the Allegre restaurant in the Applied Technology Building(next to the Teachers College). We will be serving student planned and prepared three course meals, and anyone can come try it out(you can make reservations at bsu.edu/allegre). Outside of school work, I’m a pretty open and usually optimistic person. Basically, I’m happy to be alive and I want to experience as much as I can while I’m here in this crazy world. I’m a fan of movies(favorites include Garden State, Hot Rod, Perks of Being a Wallflower, and others), playing games, eating food, traveling, and meeting new people or spending time with friends.
As for this week’s reading, I thought the story of Douglass said a lot to his readers about what it was like to be a slave. I also thought that Douglass had a very unique experience AS a slave. Douglass was obviously intelligent and creative, but luck had a large role in his life as well. Not many slaves could just stop their masters from whipping them simply because they had decided that they did not want it to happen anymore. However, his accounts of how he used his intellect to improve his situation, such as the way he came to be able to read by “challenging” white boys to spelling contests, were inspiring.
1/17-Response 2
This week’s readings gave us a very diverse set of definitions of the idea of “freedom.” Personally, I enjoyed reading Whitman’s “Song of Myself” the most. I liked that the poem was not straightforward, and that many parts seemed to say little of anything, but still contributed to his overall work. The fact that this piece was written in such an untraditional fashion made it more interesting for me because it gives his readers more of a puzzle to work out. One of my favorite parts of the piece was his description of the poem’s main character’s desire to live with the animals and how differently humans act than everything else in nature’s simplicity. It is easy to get caught up in all of the troubles we have created for ourselves, and I too have at times yearned for a simpler kind of living with less fuss over the small, unimportant differences we have between ourselves and our beliefs and others and their own. We have created endless systems and rules and fight over whose system or rule or even preference is right or wrong…but why is this worth the struggle? I enjoyed Whitman’s simplicity in his poem and the overall message of acceptance of others and his openness to foreign ideas of the time, including sexuality and concepts from the eastern world. This type of acceptance seems right to me. I do not think anyone’s way of life, as long as it does not interfere directly with the way of life of others(such as through violence), should be judged by others. Everyone deserves the freedom to believe and act in the way that makes them most happy and seems right to them, but nobody should impose their way of life upon others as if it is the “right” way of living.
1/24- Response 3
Faust gives us another unique perspective on freedom, one which reminded me of the mindset of the Grand Inquisitor. Faust struggles between two parts of himself—the freedom of his mind and the corresponding lack of freedom of his body. Both characters struggle with the 'freedom' given by God to humans to know good and evil and to choose between the two, or the freedom of the mind that Faust is never pleased with and that the Great Inquisitor uses to control his people. To Faust, this so called "freedom" of his mind makes him feel trapped by his human body and only leaves him with desire for real experience and real pleasure which he can never fulfill. As in the moon and sun passages we discussed in class, the wings of his mind make him lust after similar ability in the living world. He has studied as a scholar for most of his life, but finds that this knowledge has in reality given him nothing. To the Grand Inquisitor, this “freedom” has likewise made human existence insufferable, making the path to heaven much more difficult because of the insecurity involved with the knowledge of good and evil and the difficulty of remaining pious. Both characters turn from God because of their unfulfilled desires and try to replace Him to find what they feel they deserve. Faust agrees to Mephistopheles's pact in an attempt to fulfill his worldly desires and overcome the incapability of his human body. The Grand Inquisitor places his faith in the Devil, following his three questions and matching qualities of miracle, mystery and authority to make his people happy in a way he felt God could not. It is interesting that both of these characters began as religious men, yet find so many flaws in their own God's designs. Instead of following their religion, they are twisted by their own humanity.
1/31
As we read our remaining sections of Faust this week, the lack of action surprised me. As we came to get to know Faust as a character and what led to his decision to come to this agreement with Mephistopheles, he continuously dwelled on his yearning to experience the world and once Mephistopheles appeared, finally found a way to have more power to actually see and experience the things he never had the chance to as a scholar. However, after they set out to do so, all Faust really does is find a way to get young and shack up with the nearest hottie around. Is this all he wanted all along? Is this worth a pact with a cloven-hooved representative of the devil himself? Sure, maybe this fourteen year old temptress was quite the babe, but is her conquest worth the other side of their agreement, of being Mephistopheles slave in turn? Probably not. However, I understand that the depth of the story does not directly come from the plot itself, but what the events and the interactions between the characters are trying to say as a whole. I guess if the story surrounded around Faust fulfilling his desires without issue it would not be worth telling. I also didn’t expect Faust to go as far as he did with Mephistopheles in terms of doing ‘evil’ things, such as killing Valentine and going up on the mountain. Even though Mephistopheles had a large hand in these things, killing his ‘love’s’ brother and going on a mountain during a night known for devil’s orgies seems like more than what Faust signed up for. I also didn’t expect Margaret’s entire family to fall apart and for her mother and son to die as well. Although parts of Faust’s story seemed overly dramatic in how far some of the events went, the events made the plot interesting and gave greater meaning behind the central messages of the story.
2/7
In the student presentation on Romantic Painting, a series of paintings were shown in which a landscape changed over time as society became more advanced, highlighting the changing relationship between people and nature. These changes were shown as the society grew to a Romanesque grandeur, filling the painting with stone pillars and buildings in the place of the landscape that was once the focal point of the art. I thought that the series of paintings was interesting because they explored the relationship we have with nature and the effect civilization has on not only nature itself, but our own perception of the importance of nature and its role in our lives. This consideration of the role of nature in our lives struck me as one of the romantic themes that many people should still appreciate in the modern world. Although the paintings showed a Romanesque civilization, the lack of balance between society and nature can also be seen in the modern world. Our lack of consideration for nature has made the concept of sustainability more important because we have realized that our actions have a negative impact on our environment. However, many people still seem to simply overlook nature as important in their everyday lives. I think that part of this is rooted in exactly what these romantic paintings show—that such rampant civilization starts to block nature out of our lives completely. In an urban world, where concrete jungles are more common than natural ones, what inspires people to care about the earth? Lack of exposure has bred insensitivity, which is a large part of the issue. It is interesting how far modern society has become actually separated from nature. Many people do not know where their food comes from, or even where their trash goes. This makes the “out of sight, out of mind” mindset too easy, and pushes the nature-human divide even further.
2/21
I thought the story of Ivan Ilych was interesting because of the story of his life and the reactions of others to his death. Ivan lived his life following the rules of society and aspiring to further himself by following the example of leaders in society. However, because of this, his life was normal and boring. To me, this fact points to a contradiction in society between the rules we are supposed to follow to be “good citizens” and the kind of life that is most meaningful to each individual. How are we supposed to balance following society’s standards and our own, if our standards do not reflect society’s standards? Ivan hated his wife, yet stays with her. He discovers he is unhappy with his life and his accomplishments, and reflects that childhood was when he was most happy, although he has changed much since then. To me, this shows that by allowing society to condition him and by living according to society’s standards, he has lost a part of himself. This focus on the way our society functions has also affected how people interact because it has altered our desires and standards. Instead of valuing relationships and people, many people overvalue jobs, money, and possessions. This can be seen in the reactions of Ivan’s acquaintances and friends. Most of these people only care that they themselves are not dead, and some only care about the possibility of gaining something from his death, such as through inheritance. In these ways, society has made us more superficial. People do not lives the lives they actually want, and end up valuing objects, even over their loved ones. Reading this realist piece was interesting because it pointed to the kind of truths that many people avoid seeing, even if they experience such things themselves.
2/28
“A Doll’s House” introduced ideas about the situation of women well, especially by showing both sides and by showing how women are misunderstood. Nora, a woman who devotes most of her time and effort on maintaining the livelihood of her family and paying its debts, nonetheless faces many obstacles solely because of her sex. She was not allowed to receive a loan on her own, and must pay it off in secrecy instead of having a support system. Furthermore, when she asks for money in an attempt to pay the debt off, her “spending” is imagined to be frivolous and wasteful because women are not trusted with money. Most of the play centers around this kind of lack of trust or understanding, and because society’s misconceptions of women prevents the formation of any kind of actual trust or communication, the illusion is maintained by Nora to protect her family. This situation reveals a lot about the subordination of women at the time. First, the story shows that women are misunderstood, but that the very misconceptions held about women are those of popular belief. This makes change much more difficult for the common woman who outwardly follows the “norm” to fit in, yet may still struggle internally with her position in society. Second, the story shows that women want increased independence or equality, yet often cannot express this. Third, the story shows that men use power in different ways to maintain the position of women in society. This can be seen through the use of money, knowledge, and position against women in the story, most notably Nora. Overall, the imagery of the title captures the message of the piece well: Nora, even with her admirable efforts and internal struggles, is seen as a “doll” figure, with little significance beyond a play-thing. This central image, contrasted with the actual details spelled out in the plot, help demonstrate the world of difference between the image of women in society and the reality of the lives they lead.
3/7
The differences between “The Story of an Hour” and “Revolver” are striking, yet both reveal a lot about the situation of women at the time. Both stories highlight the idea of freedom for women, and discuss some of the ways that men inhibit women’s freedom. In “The Story of an Hour,” the main female character and her husband have a loving relationship, but she realizes that freedom to make her own decisions would make her the most happy, and loses her will to live when it is taken from her. Even in this example of a seemingly healthy marriage, the inherent control that the man has over the woman prevents her from true happiness or independence. This is not a statement about marriage in general, however, and instead brings into question men and women’s roles in society and presents insight into the experience of women along with a call for empathy. “The Revolver” is centrally different from “The Story of an Hour” because of the difference in the nature of the relationship between the male and female characters. In this story, the control the man exerts over the female character is driven by jealousy and becomes violent. This shows us an alternate view from “The Story of an Hour”: instead of the presence of indirect control, as seen through the marriage of the previous story, we see in this story a much more direct control which is perpetrated through psychological control. In “The Revolver,” the main female character is slowly stripped of her independence and is convinced to shelter herself from the world in order to soothe her husband’s threatening jealousy. To keep his wife acting the way he wants, the husband acts violently and even threatens his wife’s life to keep her from hurting him, even though he never actually intends to hurt her. This kind of manipulation through shadowed threats and violence shows that men’s control of women could in fact be very direct, and gives insight into the kind of treatment women received to keep them in a submissive position. Through the similarity of these stories’ subject matter and the differences in their plots, we are given a small glimpse into the emotions involved in the situation of women and the many different kinds of obstacles they faced because of the way male-female relationships were viewed at the time.
3/21
To me, Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” portrayed colonialism well because it captured the disorganization and confusion surrounding the process of “civilizing” as seen by Europeans. Although the Europeans in Africa are seen as agents of civilization, the reality of the situation can be seen in “Heart of Darkness.” Most Europeans we see in Africa in the story have no clear reason for being there and their actions are mostly fueled by their own desires, especially wealth, power, or advancement within “the company.” This reveals one part of the problem—the Europeans are in no way organized in their efforts to “civilize” the people of Africa, and many of their actions contradict this very idea. This type of confusion and disorganization can be seen in other parts of the story too, and also seems to be connected to the idea of darkness. In the dark, you cannot see clearly and it becomes easier to misunderstand what is happening around you. Similarly, there is a lack of understanding between most of the central figures in the story, including the Europeans and the company they work for, the Europeans and the natives they are civilizing, and the company and the natives their business effects. This “darkness” prevents mutually beneficial relationships from forming between any of the individuals involved, and in turn leads to much of the issues that persist in Africa. This darkness can be seen figuratively and literally in the story, such as presented in the actions or opinions of the people in the story or the fog that rolls in as the boat first reaches Mr. Kurtz’s camp. In both situations, the “darkness” leads to increased violence and carelessness between people, as well as other issues such as greed, where Europeans place the value of their potential personal gain over that of the “brutes” they know nothing about.
3/28
Dreams have always interested me because of their unknown meanings, ever-changing landscapes, and the infiniteness of possibilities that can be expressed through them—they seem like a canvas for imagination over which we have little control, or a movie with an ever-changing plot. The vividness, detail, and contents of dreams have always seemed so limitless and unfamiliar that, in a world full of classifications and definitions, struck me as something unexplainable. Because of this, reading freud’s insights on dreams helped me make dreams seem a lot more structured to me than ever before. I have heard that dreams are something like the brain processing all the information taken in over time, and I accepted that because I had no other information to go off of. Freud’s discussions of wish dreams, among other kinds of dreams, and their prevalence among dreams especially made a lot of sense. Freud explained that when you sleep you still have thoughts and impulses that you would normally act on, and that being able to act upon such impulses in a dream, or to achieve your wishes, allows you to put off the action in reality and keep sleeping. It is interesting that the opposite is true as well, as Freud explains, and that dreams can be unsatisfying to tell your body to wake up. This totally makes sense. The idea that dreams function in this way makes me appreciate the complexity of the human body that much more. Dreams never seemed functional to me in this way, and thus never seemed to have any reason to exist. Now, however, the seemingly random content of dreams makes more sense because I understand that tricking my body into thinking it is acting provides an outlet for my brain and lets me sleep.