Walking down the aisles of the Museum of Modern Arts (MoMA), and looking for a piece made by an artist outside America/Europe origin, was not a simple task as Ilya thought it would be. Neither Michelle, the security guard, on the fourth floor, nor did the information center on the fifth floor, could tell Ilya where can he find a piece created by a non-European/American artist. Minutes turned to hours and Ilya was lost, such a famous museum, yet there is not even one non-European/American, “NONSENSE!” It seems like Dr. Hussey sent us here on purpose to show that even today, in 2017, the outsiders(non-American/non-European artists) do not get a spot-light in the mainstream. However, Ilya didn’t give up and kept walking around in circles until he entered gallery number 11 on the fifth floor. “Urika! I found it,” he said. Although there was the famous portrait of, “Fulang-Chang and I” by Frida Kahlo, Ilya’s attention was drawn by another piece, called “Ethnography” by David Alfaro Siqueiros who was a Mexican painter. The drawing was drawn in 1939 and was given as a gift by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller.

In “Ethnography” the sadness of the colors and wintry background give a sense of melancholy. Siqueiros chooses to put a mysterious mask on a dark skinned person, the person is wearing traditional white clothes. The clothes have white texture with stripes on them, which seems to be clothes of significant importance, church clothes, or clothes of a lord, yet the cltohes are dirty. Moreover, the person on the painting is wearing a mask, and its sad facial expression may represent the dissatisfaction of the person, a slave from the previous 18th-19th century.The person is also wearing a sombrero, a symbol of the Mexican nation. since the piece’s name is “Ethnography”  the assumption is that this is how the western world see the indigenous, the other, the hipster. They see them as sad people, a person without personality, just a mask, with no facial expression, a slave. Although the person is wearing festive clothes, the mask’s facial expression is revealing that it is not at all a celebration, but horor. In addition, the character is  playing with its hands, like he is anxious or nervous. The background of the picture is dark and rainy. The clouds at times look as pillars of smoke, smoke from a bloody war, smoke of a fire that nothing is left but the person in the picture in his white festive clothes filled with soot.

– Ilya Ratner

Erwin Lee in “History and Narrative in Wide Sargasso Sea” explains where did Jean Rhys took the idea to write “Wide Sargasso Sea.” Lee explains that the idea came as a nationalistic approach. Rhys, who lived in England and wrote the novel post WWII, felt uncomfortable in how people saw Bertha from “Jane Eyre,” and decides to write a novel about Bertha/Antoinette. Wide Sargasso Sea makes one realize that Bertha is no longer the “Poor Ghost” from “Jane Eyre”, but a person with a background and history, a human being, a Heroin. Furthermore, this helps one question whether Antoinette AKA Bertha was the villain in Jane Eyre. Hence, the inevitable realization from “Wide Sargasso Sea” is that Bertha was the savior in Jane Eyre, and tried to help Jane from the bad person, Mr. Rochester.

In Addition, Lee also mentions that we must look at the book as a whole and understand that Rhys writes a two points of view on purpose. Not only to authenticate the validity of Antoinette’s information, but also to show her blindness to her surroundings. Mr. Rochester’s points of view prove that he was true misogynist as well as racist. When Mr. Rochester said “for a moment she looked much like Amelie” he makes one realize that he cannot distinguish between different people, and only because they have a dark skin it does not mean that they are the same, that they are “family.” Lee’s significant analysis on the latter assists one understand that it is not Antoinette’s fault for all that is happened to her, and that true responsible for the Antoinette’s destiny is the colonialism that took everything away from her, or more specifically Mr. Rochester who was the last straw for her to commit suicide.

-Ilya Ratner

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Are you awake?” David, Ilya’s brother asked, “you will be late for school. its 8:30am.”

Ilya jumped from his bed, brushed his teeth while making himself a hot cup of coffee, and off he went towards Baruch College. It was one of these days that waking up will be a sin, yet there was no other choice. It was raining cats and dogs, while Ilya was pacing towards the B6 bus, on Cropsey Ave. Suddenly, Ilya realized that he forgot his wallet. He ran back home, grabbed his wallet, kissed his wife goodbye(again), and ran to the bus station on Cropsey Ave. it was 9:00am Ilya got on the bus, which stopped three stops later, and got off 86th st. and Bay Parkway. Ilya crashed the staircase, like he was the stairs-master trainee. He heard the subway conductor announcing that the next stop on the D train will be 20th ave., as throughout all morning Ilya knew that the only chance of making to his 10:00am class on time would be to get to the train that is on the platform, he rushed through, pushed his foot between the shutting doors, and the train dispatcher could not leave unless Ilya would take his foot out from the doors. Then Mark Johnson, the train conductor said “Stop blocking the doors from closing!” “this fool with the brown sweater and mousy face, reminds me of Joshua from college, I despised people like him, inconsiderate to the environment, now everybody is going to be late because of him” Mark Johnson thought to himself. However, Ilya achieved his goal, the door opened, and he got into the subway. Everybody starred, “Sorry” Ilya said. He took a sit on one of the available seats, plugged his ear plugs and listened the some soothing tunes by Fredrick Chopin. Grandpa was the one who advised to listen to Fredrick Chopin, it is Grandpa’s favorite musician. Ilya shut his eyes, and realized that he has so many things to do throughout this week. Get ready for the Midterm in Cost Accounting, Moving out to a different apartment and make sure he submitting all the homework due is only part of his list. The roof was leaking, because of the pouring rain hammering on the subway. “I should not have gotten out of the bed today” Ilya thought to himself.

Looking at the watch, it was 9:45am and Ilya was transferring on the Broadway-Lafayette stop to the 6 train on Bleecker St. Would he be in class on time he thought to himself. he looked to the side, and noticed a stunning couple. She was a blue eyed mulatto with the perfect figure in a red dress. He was 5’9″ white male, with a three day unshaven beard. Suit up in a naval blue suit and white button down shirt. They were kissing, how long had not he had intimate time with his adorable most supporting wife. Is that what we are here to do,  chasing after our dreams and forget our loved ones, and why did we start to begin with. Ilya turned his head, the jealousy of such intimate moments was unbearable. He got on the 6 train and got off on 23rd street station. it was 9:50am, Ilya sipped his last sip from his coffee, and threw it into the green bin. He walked towards the north-east side of Park Ave. and 22nd street. Ilya looked to the right and noticed Novita, a nice little restaurant that he wanted to take Catherine for dinner. “That will be a great us time” he said to himself. He crossed 22nd street and reached the north-west corner of 22nd street and Lexignton Ave. “Beep!” the yellow cab horned “Fu***** As*****” Ilya shouted. Why are they doing this, can not they be more considerate to their environment and surroundings. The red light turned green, Ilya walked into the The Lawrence and Eris Field Building on 9:55am, and flashed his ID to the security guards. Ilya walked into class Dr. Hussey’s class right on time, 09:57am. And to think that it took an hour to get to school.

Freud’s “Family Romance” gives an interesting perspective to how we see one’s core family in different ages. I find truth, as well as logic, in some of the things freud mentioned in the Family’s Romance. One of which is Freud’s approach to how a child sees his parents in a sense of utopia. One refers to his parents as all-can-do guardians where the father is the strongest of all men, and the mother is the most loving of all women, “his father seemed to him the noblest and strongest of men and his mother the dearest and loveliest of women.” I recall my personal experience where I was admiring my parents, sometimes it was on the spectrum of obsession  where I would not let go of my parents to go to party, and forced them to stay home. In addition, another Freudian theory that I agree with is the fact that we do not know who our father is, but we definitely know who our mother is because she is the one who gave us birth. In monotheistic religions such as Islam and Christianity, the common belief is that one will be a Christian or a Muslim because one’s father and paternal grandfather are christians or muslims. Yet, in Judaism one would be counted as a Jew if one’s mother and the maternal grandmother are jewish.Similarly, Freud’s approach is that, “pater semper incertus est’, while the mother is ‘certissitna.’” this approach is the main reason why Jews are counted as Jews by the mother and maternal grandmother. On the other hand, I do not agree with Freud’s approach on rivalry between the father and son. This situation depends on the Alpha of one’s home rather than the gender. One’s mother or father’s dominant persona in the house is what will trigger arguments. Hence, if one’s mother is dominant, then arguments most likely will be with her, rather than with the father of the house

Walt Whitman writes in Song of Myself I, II, VI, & LII about the unity of the human race, the interconnectedness between oneself his past, and future. The untranslatable self in Whitman’s poem is that everybody is one. Whether we are white or black, men or women, human or animals. We are all part of this infinite world that although different from the outside, same from the inside, flesh and blood. When the child grabs a piece of grass and asks Whitman “what is the grass”? The grass seems to be a metaphor for existence, as well as the population of the human race. Whitman answers that he does not have better answers than the child, yet he is able compare the grass to democracy:

“…Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,
Growing among black folks as among white,
Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive then the same.”

Although one thinks he knows himself, by thinking that he is better than others, one must remember that we are one. Hence, the untranslatable self is the understanding of who one is, and the philosophical point of view of it, that one is just like the other, equal. Furthermore, untranslatable self, can also be interpreted as the sense of the sublime. Knowing that everything is God’s creation, one may understand that we are all part of the existence, part of this enormous, as well as endless universe, and this sense is unexplainable. Just as the sense of sublime views of the Kilimanjaro mountain.

According to Emily Dickinson archive website, “I Dwell in Possibility” was written in 1862, the romantic era, the time when women were unequal to men, when the society was led by patriarchally manners. Similarly, Charlotte Brontë’s work “Jane Eyre” was written in 1847 where Brontë’ was affected by the same family and society structures.

In Emily Dickinson’s poem “I Dwell in Possibility” it talks about freedom and liberation. When she mentions in the first stanza “More numerous of Windows- Superior – of Doors-.” Dickinson mentions these things because she feels that through poetry she will be able to express her necessity of equality and freedom. Likewise, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is also written with a motif about liberty and how to get out of the squared and locking society. Jane Eyre was reminding how locked and chained she felt when she lived with her aunt. In addition, Jane was also mentioning her sense of gender equality where she said, “women feel just as men feel…”(P. 130) In the second stanza Dickinson continues mentioning the nature in her poem, how the sky is the roof over our head. “And for an everlasting Roof The Gambrels of the Sky –” One of the motifs of the romantic era is the sense of sublime. Likewise, Brontë’s repetition of the sublime, is by describing the terrifying beauty of the nature and endless spaces.”…represented clouds low and livid, rolling over a swollen sea: all the distance was in eclipse.” Lastly both Dickinson and Jane Eyre have the ability to create. While Dickinson mentions in the last stanza how she has the ability to create, “…spreading wide my narrow Hands- To gather Paradise-”, Eyre is also a creator, she is a painter. Furthermore, while Dickinson feels that she is sent by God, by writing these poems, Mr Rochester describes himself as the sinner and Eyre as the pure and clean. “…your clean conscience, your unpolluted memory…without blot or contamination… exquisite treasure – inexhaustible source of pure refreshment” (P. 158-159)

To summarize we can see Dickinson writes about freedom and liberation, the nature and its endless terrifying beauty, and her ability to create as God’s messenger, almost an angel. Similarly we see that Jane Eyre is always striving for freedom and liberation, but ends up getting married to Mr. Rochester, she is also describing the untouchable beauty of the nature, yet turns to be a housewife, and lastly, while she was a sinless person, she becomes contaminated because she marries Mr. Rochester.

      Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre’s author, illustrated in chapter four one of Jane Eyre resisting characteristics. Similarly, Audry Lorde in her articles: “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action” and “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” explains her readers the importance of speaking-up, as well as resisting to the oppressor. In Jane Eyre the story tells us about Jane, a nine year old child, who is oppressed by her adopting family, but decides to face off Mrs. Reed, Jane’s Aunt. In the latter article, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” Lorde mentions that, “…only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between an individual and her oppression.” (Page 2) This example is being emphasized by Jane’s acceptance to be oppressed by her aunt, Mrs Reed. When Mrs Reed met with Mr. Brocklehurst and presented Ms. Eyre as a filthy liar, a person who does not have any morals. Jane stood mute and did not fight Mrs Reed lias infront of Mr. Brocklehurst. Jane knew that Mr. Brocklehurst was her ticket out of the tyranny of her aunts crib, and hence Jane held her horses until Mr. Brocklehurst left

       However, once Mr. Brocklehurst left Jane confronted her Aunt. Although Jane is having a hard time to resist a grown person and speak-up on what is on her mind, she pushes her limits by acting with passion and eager for justice,  and puts Mrs. Reed on the spot. Likewise, Lorde mentions in the, “The transformation of silence into language and action”  that, “The transformation of silence into language and action is an act of self-revelation, and that always seems fraught with danger.” (Page 2) in spite of Jane’s worrisome feelings from her aunt’s reaction, she realizes that her candid words (full of anger, as well as hatred) made her feel that retaliation has a liberating effect.

Chopin Frédéric. Nocturne in E Flat, Op. 9, No. 2. Vadim Chaimovich, 2011. Www.Youtube.com. Web.

The sense of sublime. An unusual feeling of greatness and euphoria. According to Edmund Burke, sublime can be achieved in different manners. One of which is astonishment. I believe that above all senses, music might reach the greatest sublime that our human mind, as well as body, can experience. Burke elaborated on the astonishment saying, “In this case the mind is so entirely filled with its object that it cannot entertain any other, nor by consequence reason on that object which employs it.” subliming to a point of insensibility, and finding myself to be in a stage of euphoria is what I go through when listening to music.
One example to such music is a composer named Frederic Chopin, who was a Polish composer during the Romantic Era. Chopin is well known for his piano compositions and mostly famous for a composition called Nocturne. In Nocturne the softness and melodic sweetness, are features that make one feel incredibly light-headed, as well as emotional. This happens because such music is able to tremble your emotions and make you feel calm and sensitive at the same time. The genius of Chopin, unlike other composers and musicians, is that he has these sublime melodies which make one to be magically hypnotized to the tunes and sounds of another piece of art. Therefore, being under the sublime stage happens when I listen to maestro like Frederic Chopin and his masterpiece Nocturne.

In The Enlightenment in Europe and the Americas we saw a period where we, the human race, were disconnecting from religion, and starting to progress towards a more secular view where “broad education for women, as well as intellectual and geographical exploration.” (P.3-4) Although this era can be seen as one of the most influential eras, where women started to deepen their feet in the pool of masochistic inequality, one must not forget that the equal right amendment was passed only on March 22nd 1972. (almost two centuries after the end of the Enlightenment Era). In addition, one must not forget the horrifying slavery that the Africans were under. Millions of Africans were ripped from their homes from west Africa and brought to the Americas in slave trading.

Nevertheless, today almost half a century after the civil right movement, and the equal right amendment. we have witnessed history occurring where both an African American president, Barack Obama, as well as a female candidate, Secretary Hillary Clinton, who was running as the for presidency against Donald J. Trump. These two historic events prove that there is a progress in the way our nation, as well as the world are moving towards.

Yet, sometimes our President’s, Mr. Donald J. Trump, acts like signing the refugee ban on Friday, Jan. 27th, which was initially issued to keep United States’ citizens and its borders safe.  Not only turned out to be discriminatory against Muslims, but also to prevented Green Card holders from coming back to their homes. Hurting their livelihood, and preventing them from reuniting with their families. Among the banned refugees were college professor, International students, and Muslim leaders, who came on R1 visas, and now forbidden from entering this country. The question we should be asking ourselves is, how did we end up in this place? Instead of living in a global society where everyone has equal opportunities, and one could reach the moon and stars if she only wanted to, we are banning people from war zones, people who cannot protect themselves.

According to the Washington Post by Elahe Izadi, “Anne Frank and her family were also denied entry as refugees to the U.S.” Frank’s family was refused by the U.S. for a visa. As a person who most of his grandparents’ families were wiped in the holocaust, we must not forget that in world war II Jews were also refused for a shelter.

To sum this all up, the enlightenment era made our minds think in a clearer manner and understand that there are other things besides religion that one must look into. One of which is equality, as well as advancement. Yet, it seems that after a long journey where the human race was heading in the right direction, by showing sympathy and empathy to one another, we going back to the dark ages of ignorance and unjust inequality.

Ilya Ratner