Faulkner’s Barn Burning, touches upon key points mentioned in Freud’s Family Romances, more specifically the aspect of childhood maturation. Freud states that “a boy is far more inclined to feel hostile impulses towards his father than towards his mother and has a far more intense desire to get free from him than from her,” meaning that it is normal for adolescence to reach a point in their lives where authority becomes a subject of scrutiny rather than fear. During the first trial when Sartoris is put on trial, he decides it is necessary to perjure himself for his father’s sake, not out of compassion but rather fear of authority, as evidenced by him saying “he’ll have to do it.” Towards the end of the novel, and what we can assume to be the end of Sartoris’ maturation, he makes a conscious decision to run away from the authority of his parents to directly implicate them in the burning of his current employers barn. This action in warning de Spain can be seen as the end of his maturation because he finally has the ability to see his parents in a non-authoritative way.

Just like any ordinary Monday, Jacob woke up and prepared for school. Promptly collecting his school materials, he ran out the door. Would there be traffic as usual? After starting his car, he drove down the roads, eventually ending up on the Bronx-Queens Expressway. He  intentionally prevented a taxi from merging in front of him. Antar Potus, the driver, clearly looked upon Jacob with a look of disdain, clearly irked by his selfish driving ways. While nearing towards the Brooklyn Bridge, Jacob, seeing nothing but an endless stream of cars, asked himself if he would ever make it to class. After crawling over the Brooklyn Bridge and finally making it to the FDR driveway, he hit another patch of traffic that gave him a moment to reflect, asking himself “is it even worth it to drive?”.  The beautiful appearance of the East River coupled with the serene cloudless sky consoled him. After making it to the 23rd Street exit, the cluttered NYC streets reminded Jacob that parking would not be an easy task. Better park before class. Would he be able to find the needle in the haystack and get a parking spot. To his relief, immediately upon turning on 28th Street, he found a parking spot which allowed him to make it to class with time to spare. He could not stop thanking god for how lucky he had been to find a spot amongst the difficult Flatiron District Streets.

Kafka’s Metamorphosis starts out by telling us about a man’s sudden and unexplainable transformation. Instead of harping on this outlandish occurrence, the story immediately shifts to describe the sad life of the man who transformed, Gregor. We learn that he is a lonely man thanks to his job, and that he has to work because of a family debt he has to repay. Gregor’s life prior to his transformation was clearly in a state of despair, and his transformation into a hideous creature doesn’t help. His family, who should be supportive, is terrified of him, with the exception of his sister. Being the only one in his family with an income, you would assume they would treat him better, but because of his transformation he is now useless to them. I would consider Gregor’s transformation something of an expression of his emotions based on what was described about his life as a worker. His job was so detrimental to his life that him being a self loathing monster hated by his own family couldn’t have been much worse. Gregor’s hardships are all brought upon by his own family, and his desire to provide for them. While everyone in his family was clearly able to work, they relied upon Gregor solely, and lived a decent lifestyle as evidenced by their maid. Even at the end of the story, Kafka makes a point to mention Grete the sister’s beauty, implying she could be married, possibly as a source of income.

Salamishaj Tillet, the author of the NYT article on The Birth of a Nation, makes very strong claims about women’s rights which can be applied to Fredrick Douglass’ Narrative, allowing us to examine the story with a different mindset. Tillet’s claim about women’s issues being marginalized twice is certainly no understatement. The very foundation for Turner’s rebellion and thus The Birth of a Nation was rape, and for the film to not be centered around that is a slap in the face of those victimized, or those who experienced firsthand the horrors of rape. In the very beginning of Douglass’ Narrative, he tells us of his lineage, ensuring to include that he is the son of a white man. Immediately following this is his description of the norm at the time, which was for slaveowners to rape their slaves in an attempt to increase their slave population. These “common practices” were made front and center in the very beginning of Douglass’ narrative as a way of bringing attention to the injustice, a stark contrast to The Birth of a Nation which leaves victims of rape in silence. I found Tillet’s example of Esther’s rape speaks volumes to this point, and i wholeheartedly agree with her when she considers it to be retrograde to not allow her to speak. Fredrick Douglass’ Narrative and The Birth of a Nation run deep contrasts in the way the issue of rape is presented.

Often times the things most common to us are the things we overlook. By definition, you would think something with the quality of sublimity would be so grandiose that it’s rendered almost impossible to miss, but this picture represents the complete opposite. The clouds are inanimate cogs in the machine of nature, so out of reach that we often forget about their splendor. Whilst on the plane ride where this picture was taken, I was struck by the view and realized that something so common can look so amazing given an alternate perspective. The same goes for many things all around us that we take for granted. While sublimity may entail splendor and magnificence, often the plain and basic things around us fit the bill, they just need to be examined under a different lens or view.

Amini sets out to explain why fiction captures the attention of readers, and in doing so brings examples from nature which speak to his argument. One such example that stood out to me was the constellations which were given names by early astrologists. Attached to each constellation was a story or background behind each name. One might ask how someone can arbitrarily decide what a set of random orbs of light millions of lightyears away from us should be called, let alone they should be called something at all. The point that Amini makes that I find most relevant to todays times is that we enjoy fiction as a means of escapism. More specifically he mentions that fiction enlightens minds in dark times. In saying that I think Amini not only considers fiction to be something people who can’t handle reality read, on the contrary fiction helps to shape our reality. By allowing for the creative process to take over, fiction enables writers to solve solutions in todays society in a safe space. The writers also look to the readers on feedback and often shape their own views based on that. So when I think of fiction, I often associate it with this co-creative process that allows us to play with the idea of reality, in turn allowing change to occur at a progressive pace.

The Enlightenment, as it’s name implies, was a time period in which philisophical questioning of previously accepted principles led to a greater understanding of the world around us. Descartes’ method of proving the existence of reality itself, is fundementally important as it allows us to derrive more complex truths. When descartes states that his ability to think is the universal proof for his own existence, he expounds that truth into a reason for why God must exist as well. Through the discussion of omnipotence and what it means to be flawless, Descartes sets a basis for other enlightenment thinkers to build upon, which is why he is considered one of the fundamental philosiphers of that time period. His statements of universiality progressed through the years alongside the method which he uses to refute opposing thoughts, which is to negate any and all doubts contrary to his own. Descartes’ discourse on method is  there to serves as a handbook not only loaded with predetermined thruths, but also to serve as a guide on how to arrive at a new truths following in his footsteps.