Creative Blog 2

This whole college process has got me thinking about why have we (the seniors) done what we did for the past 4 years. Did we do all these extra curricular, AP's, community service, etc. just for the sake of getting into college? In class we discussed after reading Kafka's novel, "Metamorphosis," in what ways has society still remained conformist.  In conjunction with our discussion about conformity, have you noticed that going to college has never been questioned. It has always been assumed that we will go to college. We never stop to think of we are actually working towards what we want to do. We have all been programmed from a young age that when we are finished with high school, we would progress to college. This progression has been considered a norm. I wonder if students had the option from a younger age, would they go to college?

Creative Blog 1

Congratulations to the cast of Pride and Prejudice, it was truly memorable. The cast was perfectly chosen and everyone successfully portrayed their character. The characters were enacted exactly as I envisioned them. In regards the the plot of the play I didn't necessarily like the abridgment. I understand that the full story would have taken over four hours, but I just felt like there were some important and memorable scenes were missing. I wish the play stayed more true to Jane Austin's work because some of my favorite moments were lost. Besides that I greatly enjoyed the play. The actors really worked well together and made the novel come to life.

Confromity Intro Parapgraph

The image of the perfect American family can be described as a white picket fence, a stay home mother making dinner as the children return from school, and the father from work. An important aspect of this image is that can relate to the discussion on conformity is the role of the father and mother, the man and woman. From the time of Genesis, where woman was created from man, to Kafka's "Metamorphosis," where Gregor is the provider of them family, there seems to be little change in the conformist role of men and women. Even with all the victories for women's rights, have women still maintained their subordinate role? When Gregor describes each member of his family's ability to work, he seems to put more emphasis on his father. Why is it that men are still associated as the providers? Kafka's "Metamorphosis" acts as an indicator that although society is not as conformist as before, in some aspects, the conformist mentality still exists, specifically in regards to the idea that men are the providers for the family.

Paragraph 2: Talk about metamorphosis
Paragraph 3: Connect with Genesis and poetry
Conclusion: Relate to personal experience

Conformity

Everyone in the class made very valid points about conformity at Buckley and whether more or less conformity is needed. In my opinion, schools need to foster more freedom in the classroom and accept more free thinking. This free thinking needs to be started at a young age. When schools only allow students to think freely at an older age, a lot of times students are unable to that. They are too influenced by what other people say, specirfically the teacher. If students are allowed, at a young age, to express themselves they will be more likely to form their own opinions as they grow older.

2 Kafka Questions

1. When you first hear the lines the reaction of the reader is a mix of confusion and humor. You can't really tell as a reader if the author is really being serious. You don't know if it is a dream or is it just a very unrealistic plot. You begin to understand the serious intent when the author states that it was not a dream. It is stated so bluntly that you just have to accept it. There is some part of me that did not take the story seriously because it was so unrealistic.

2. Gregor's family always treated like an insect even before the metamorphsis. The family always seemed to be taking advantage of Gregor and what he did for the family. In addition, Gregor always willingly do what his family asked of him. He was always the worker bug of the family and always did exactly what he was told. Gregor's body was changing, but his role in the family stayed the same.

Leaderless Discussion

A leaderless discussion was a very useful tool for discussion. It is also very interesting to take an outside perspective on a discussion while not having the ability to participate. While watching the inner discussion and keeping a tally on the participation, it is evident that a leader does emerge without appointing one. It is interesting to see because it proves the tendency of a group to want and desire a leader to take control of the discussion. It was conversely very interesting to see the evolving discussion where a basic question is posed and from there ideas are just being shared. It is interesting to compare the starting point and ending point of a specific topic. I thought this was a very effective exercise because we were able to discuss solely with our peers, without the interference of adults. 

Introductory Paragraph

            Black is bad. White is good. If only it were that simple for Marlow’s journey to the Heart of Darkness. In Conrad’s novel the symbolic meaning of white and black are constantly changing and lack consistency. There is a certain ambiguity with the color images in the novel and a lot of the time the symbols are the opposite of their typical meaning. The ambiguity with the color falls into the general theme of the novel because most elements of Heart of Darkness are vague and perplexing. In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the symbolic meaning of colors, specifically black, white, and ivory, have an atypical ambiguity factor which contributes to the theme of Marlow’s journey to chaos.