Walking towards the door in a sweatshirt, Kyriakos began to realize it was cooler outside than it had first looked. He turned right out of his dorm building onto 97^th street, enjoying a comfortable breeze. He walked towards 96^th street, making a right towards the Lexington avenue 6-train and passed the local halal cart which filled the air with its delicious yet nauseating smell. After walking down the steps into the subway station, Kyriakos was pleased to see that the next downtown train was only three minutes away. The train arrived in no time and unloaded its passengers, but gained about twice the amount. With this many people, it seemed Kyriakos and his roommate would have to stand for the train ride but after a few stops, a family seated in front of them got off, leaving them with a place to sit. Once the train arrived at 28^th street, Kyriakos and his roommate got up and exited the train. While walking out of the door onto Park avenue it was clear that the wind had picked up. Would a heavier jacket have been more appropriate? Kyriakos walked passed a mass of construction on 28^th street towards Lexington avenue which filled the air with noise and particles of dirt. After making a right onto Lexington avenue, Kyriakos walked passed the library through the plaza and entered the Baruch College Vertical Campus. He walked up to the turnstiles, making eye contact with Chester, the security guard who monitors the entrance with same dissatisfied look on his face every day. Kyriakos continued to class and made it with plenty of time to spare.

The article How ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Silences Black Women from the New York Times brings to light how the horrors faced by female slaves in America are not depicted in our discussions today. Rather, the prospective of the male slave and the emasculative life they endured are depicted instead. The argument that the author, Salamishah Tillet, provides is that in all of the narratives about Nat Turner, the raping of women and the violence they faced was just another factor or source of motivation for his rebellion. Attention is taken away from the rapes and focused more on the effects on Nat Turner himself. When referring to the victimization of enslaved African American women, Tillet states, “…their voices sidelined to the plot of Turner’s realizations of his own manhood in the horror of slavery.” When asked to think of this in the context of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, I think of the raping and torture of his Aunt Hester. The impact this had of Frederick Douglass was evident. He speaks angrily of the event and even says how he feels like the attack on her made him feel victimized as well. This is an autobiography so one would assume Frederick Douglas would just provide the impact these violent occurrences had on him. Even so, he still depicted the “importance” of the events that women had to go through. What the New York Times article is suggesting is that in narratives and movies trying to bring light to the struggles of slaves, the hardships of being a female slave, which were just as bad if not worse than that of men, are often overlooked and silenced by the attention of the victimization of the male slaves’ manhood.

The creature exemplifies characteristics from both The Lamb and The Tyger but it is The Tyger which we see most. In William Blake’s The Tyger, he asks “What immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?” This refers to God and his creation of a beast so fearful as a tiger which mimics Victor Frankenstein’s creation of a beast that spreads horror amongst actual people. The tiger represents danger, or more so, the fear of danger. People fear both tigers and the creature because they are different than us and one would not know what to expect if they were confronted by these creations. Will they attack, or will they retreat? If they are different than us, we will expect the worst regardless of their true intentions. Of course the creature also relates to the violent lion as he kills multiple people throughout the novel including Frankenstein’s brother, best friend, and wife. There are, however, instances where the creature shows characteristics of the lamb, a soft calm creature with “a tender voice.” For example, Frankenstein’s creature shows signs of sensitivity and even saves a girl from drowning. The people do not see him like the lamb but rather the tiger, so he still only faces hatefulness and violence in return. In the second to last stanza of William Blake’s The Tyger, he asks “Did he who made the Lamb make thee,” and the answer is yes. While God created creatures of both violence and peace, Victor Frankenstein created one being of both with both characteristics. Frankenstein’s creature is still a violent killer who spreads fear which is why he relates more closely with The Tyger.

I do not believe that fiction creates knowledge, however, it makes us as people more comfortable with the unknown. A quick example of this was seen in Hasif Amani’s short piece when he discusses the constellations. At the time when the constellations were “discovered” there was very little knowledge of stars and space. People made stories through constellations which made looking at the stars almost relatable. Some of the constellations included a hunter stretching his bow, a woman sowing wheat seeds, and someone hoeing their fields. All of these were relatable to people and made space less intimidating. Story telling specifically can very much help people feel comfortable in unknown situations which in a way in knowledge.  Stories and fables have been passed on for generations because although they are fiction, they shared important morals and lessons that help people in life. For example, I do not believe a tortoise and a rabbit ever had a race but the famous fable of these two animals racing shared great morals of not being overconfident. “Slow and steady wins the race.” Stories often have some sort of moral or lesson which helps people grow up to be a fictional member of society which is why they are passed down and often told to children. Stories do not only benefit children though; even fictional stories about war could give insight to new soldiers who are looking for what to expect. Perhaps they would even get a few tips from the story to help them along the way. I do not think that fiction directly creates knowledge but it can give insight and make the audience more comfortable in situations they have never been in before.

Enlightenment philosophers effectively changed the way that all people thought by creating a separation between themselves and religion. Instead of only consulting the word of God and those with divine right regarding how to act, people began acting on their own authority with the goal of self-fulfillment. These changes are often seen as just positive as people became more independent but it definitely could have had negative impacts on future generations. While people were yearning for self-fulfillment, they were also slowly moving away from religious ideals and morals which could have sparked the greedy behavior often seen nowadays especially in business. In the business world, people are judged by their income and if someone is looking for fulfillment, they will go out of their way to make sure it happens. Perhaps in a more religious world people would share an ethical duty to each other to avoid everyday corruption. The Enlightenment did, however, set the base for equal education opportunities for everyone regardless of sex. Women and enlightenment philosophers believed that if God gave all humans reason, then all humans have the right to exercise their minds. This being said, Enlightenment thinkers faced many oppositions as some people did not want to give up their traditional way. One thing that all white men shared regardless of wealth was their social dominance over women and people of other races. These people did not want to get rid of that dominance, especially those who were poor and could not exercise other forms of power.

Many ideas brought up in the introduction to Enlightenment were also apparent in Descartes work. The Enlightenment brought on a new way people perceived God. They compared the role of God to the role of a watchmaker in that he made the watch, wound it up, but then let it run without interfering. This is similar to Descartes as he discusses how God laid down a path for him but did not directly get involved. Enlightenment philosophers and Descartes also shared their intense yearning for the truth. Descartes took this to a whole new level in that he considered any belief to be false if any doubt were to arise. The only absolute certainty which he discovered was “Cogito ergo sum” because the thought “I exist” isn’t combatable.