7. Perspective switches two times in the novel…

I think that it’s highly important that we read the same story from different people’s point of view. By reading what each character is feeling at a specific moment, it allows you to psychoanalyze each character and their situation without being biased in any way. If the story was told through Antoinette’s point of view the entire time then I’d probably have a different opinion as to how I feel about it at the end. These characters are very flawed and it’s important that we get “the full story”, so to speak.
This reminds me of the last book we read, “Mrs. Dalloway”. In that book the person who was telling the story kept jumping back and forth. There was no way I would have completely understood a certain character’s depression if it was told by an observing character. Similarly here, there was no way I was going to be able to fully understand how exactly Antoinette “transformed” into Bertha if the story was solely told through Rochester’s perspective.
To be honest, I trust Rochester more. Even though I don’t trust his judgement or reasons for wanting to do certain things such as marrying Antoinette for the money, he’s “sane”. Antoinette’s increasing difficulty to be able to grasp reality later in the book, even though it’s solely not her fault, makes her unreliable. Although, I do feel bad for what eventually became of Antoinette, even if I did see it coming of course.

Carlos Montoya

As the sun rises once again, Carlos wakes up. He realizes that it’s past 8 and that he’s going to be late to the train. Since the MetroNorth train is about a 15 minute walk from his house and seeing that he still needs to take his daily morning shower and whip up a quick breakfast so that he doesn’t starve to death, he decides to forget the walking and just calls up his uncle and asks him to give him a ride to the train station to ensure he makes the train. Once outside, he notices that the day looks beautifully clear, or so he had wished. It was actually raining pretty bad. It was also very cold. Carlos hates the winter with a passion. It’s not the snow or the rain he hates, but the piercing cold.

As his uncle arrives, Carlos enters the car and has a forgettable, probably unimportant 3-minute conversation with him until he’s dropped off at the train station. Once on the MetroNorth Carlos takes a seat at one of the bright-red comfortable seats. It’s about an hour ride to Grand Central Station so Carlos decides to take out his iPhone and AirPods and just relax to the soothing, psychedelic music of Pink Floyd. Wish You Were Here, one of his favorite albums of all time, hits the eardrum perfectly on this specific Monday. During this specific day Carlos started thinking about what his purpose was on this planet. He knew that he wasn’t put on this earth simply to become just another brick in the wall, but to make a difference on a global scale. Idealistic thinking is something that really helps Carlos keep the imaginary flame of hope burning brightly. Maybe someday his potential political career will take off and he’ll be able to push for and instill a more equal, socialist agenda just like his 2016 role model Bernie Sanders. Carlos has always loved politics but not for the title or glamour, but because he wants to see a real change in the world.

As the hour flies by, Carlos arrives at Grand Central Station. Once there, he hurries onto the 6 Downtown train. Unlike the MetroNorth, the New York City Subway is cramped, small and uncomfortable. Fortunately his ride to his destination is only 7 minutes or so since 23rd street is only 3 stops away. He glances around and notices 99% of the people there on their phones. He starts wondering how technology has consumed everyone right before ironically looking down at his own phone and scrolling through his Twitter feed and CNN app. He saves the thought for another day. As soon as the subway arrives at his stop, he gets off the subway and walks two blocks to Baruch’s large white building whose name he admittedly does not know. He’s familiar with the Vertical Campus, but not the large white building. Once he’s inside he shows the security guard his Baruch ID card and enters the elevator. The cramped elevator reminds him of the subway, but it is unfortunately worse. Carlos isn’t claustrophobic, but he does prefer having his personal space. As soon as he reaches the 13th floor, he walks towards Professor Hussey’s class. Once there he enters the room, removes his AirPods, takes off his jacket and sits down ready to start the day.

Carlos Montoya

I remember growing up I would always see my mother as this sort of “hero” who would always protect me from anything that could possibly happen. I could never go anywhere without her being by my side. I also remember that as time went by that attachment slowly started to disappear. Regarding that, yes, I do agree with Freud. I also agree that there is rivalry between siblings, especially two siblings who are near the same age who strive to seek their mother or father’s love. However, to me, psychology has never been real science. I say this simply because everyone is different and you simply can’t assume everyone will experience the same exact “psychological emotions”. Unless Freud managed to find the roots of consciousness, the spiritual self -the soul-, essentially reaching a higher dimension or state of awareness and grounding it down to be scientifically analyzed, then I believe he’s nothing more than an overblown observer. For his time his theories may have been seen as groundbreaking, but nowadays, in my personal opinion, they’re just that–opinions. I’ve always believed that psychological healing can only occur when you attend to your spiritual self, not when some other, for lack of a better word, mortal being tells you everything is going to be okay. Yes, that may be an aid, but it’s nothing more. So yes, I believe in the spirit and in higher planes of existence after bodily death, but I should probably mention that I do not believe in what people refer to as “God”. Religion, for what it is today, I’ve always viewed as silly and very flawed so I guess with that Freud and I have something in common. Anyways, I digress. That’s a discussion for another day.

Carlos Montoya

Song of Myself by Walt Whitman is full of meaningful symbolism. In the third line, “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” shows that we are all the same. We are all the universe and the universe is us. “The smoke of my own breath, Echoes, ripples, and buzzed whispers…. love root, silkthread, crotch and vine, My respiration and inspiration…. the beating of my heart…. the passing of blood and air through my lungs…” this line is absolutely beautiful. This line tells me that Walt Whitman was very self-aware of his life, noted everything as-is and tried to find the meaning behind it. Democracy is symbolized throughout the use of grass as a means to show that grass grows everywhere, just like democracy should and does in the Untied States. What better freedom, unless its idealistic, is better than the grassroots foundation of democracy? “And to it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves…” this line is interesting. There could potentially be a lot of meaning behind this. For example, graves and democracy? What if he’s talking about how people, men and women, who have fought for democracy have only ended up dead but gave up their lives for the betterment of everyone else? Either that or he could be speaking about how no matter what we do, no matter what ever happens, we’re all going to meet the exact same fate. Nevertheless, he’s very insightful and really shows how connected humanity can be.

Carlos M.

Jane is a character who has always faced hardships. During her earliest years; in the very beginning when she was terribly mistreated by her aunts she one day day took a stand and ended up standing up for herself. That right there was Hope manifesting itself through her words and actions. Hope was also there for her when she learned that she was going to be moving to a brand new school and leaving her troubles behind. The issue with that is that Hope isn’t a solution, only a means to carry on.  No matter where she went she would always face moments of despair–hope’s opposite. She would have to always find hope and never give in to despair. The bird in Emily Dickinson’s poem remained hopeful no matter how strong the storm was. Indirectly, I’m sure that even Emily Dickinson must have realized that hope cannot exist without despair. It’s the balance of nature that makes the most sense. Jane is clearly the bird, the song is Jane’s hope and the storm is all of her despair.

Carlos M.

After reading the first 12 chapters of Jane Eyre and Lorde’s two pieces, it makes sense to assume that Jane Eyre can be seen as the woman of oppression, resistance and eventually change. From the get-go it was very clear that Jane was very oppressed. As a young child, she herself pretty much had to put up with her abusive aunts. In one specific part her aunt essentially locked her in a room in which her uncle had died in. Her uncle liked Jane, but it was very clear that her aunts did not, except for one. Anyways, being locked in that room must have been difficult for her being a child and vulnerable to any kind of fear. However, before she left for her new school she stood up for herself and spoke her mind. She pretty much told her aunt that she despised her and that she was going to let everyone know what kind of person she really was. The most notable part is that she stood her ground. When she finally started school, at one point, she was accused of being a liar. In the end, Jane managed to make her case and eventually gained her innocence, so to speak. Like in Lorde’s readings, staying silent does nothing but ultimately build up and hurt you from the inside out. I’ve yet to read the remainder of the book but I’m sure that the prospect of change and self-realization will come into play regarding Jane’s own development and personal experiences.

Carlos Montoya

To me the sublime is something that makes someone react in some way, either positively or negatively, in respect to an image, words, etc. The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh is something that never ceases to astonish me. To me this image never fails to bring my ego back to reality. I’m the kind of person who always constanly finds himself asking questions like, “what is my purpose on this planet?”, “why do some people remember their past lives?” and “why do we live only to die?” instead of the “normal” questions a 20-something year old human tends to ask. The Starry Night’s portrayal of the night sky is very soothing to me. It makes me realize that there’s so much more to being human than living the way society tells you to. The way the stars are portrayed–the universe, it makes me feel small, but not exactly in a negative way. It makes me realize that maybe my life doesn’t mean much on the grand universal scale of things, but humanity itself can mean something great if we all find some ideal way to unite.

My motto has always been, “peace through unity, not division” simply because division, for example borders and walls, are what cause conflicts and wars. Wars cause death and it always pains me to see a fellow human eternally strike down one of their own. It’s been that way since humanity’s birth. I feel like, over the years, my question of, “what is my purpose on this planet?” has changed to something more along the lines of, “what is OUR purpose as a collective on this planet?”. I could probably write pages as to how my sublime reaction towards The Starry Night has influenced my way of thinking such as my belief as to what steps the human race has to take not only to survive, but to advance and make their mark in the infinite universe as well as how it personally makes me want to resolve my own internal conflicts and my strive towards reaching a higher level of consciousness.

Carlos Montoya

In The Enlightenment in Europe and the Americas, both sides of the “old vs. new”, or “ancients” and “moderns”, debate are fleshed out and talked about in a philosophical sense. The “ancients” side argue that it is important to preserve the past mainly because of fear of isolation and the potential for lack of responsibilities. Proponents of the ancients believed that there were standards placed that provided models of achievement that just could never be excelled. Proponents of the moderns basically argued that old is old and new is new and the only way we should move is forward. They believed in broad autonomy, the education of women, exploring the unknown and human rights. A bipartisan agreement between both ancients and moderns relied on the ability to use reason as a guide rather than blindly following the will of some divine force that was clearly not present but only seen as a “watchmaker”. Slowly, the shift from God’s will to the people’s will occurred and, arguably, modernists took the helm in getting the world from where we were to where we currently are today. It’s worthwhile noting that, in my opinion, modernists can be looked at the modern-day Democrats or Liberals and ancients can be looked at as modern-day Republicans or Conservatives. Republicans strive for tradition while Democrats works in a similar fashion to the “moderns” described in this text. Moving away from the aspect of a “God” also made room for humans to seek out their own truths. Enlightenment thinkers used their own authority rather than relying on the word of a priest who was traditionally seen as someone “appointed by God”. In a sense, humans slowly became their own God.

Carlos Montoya