Colossal Statue of a Pharaoh Seated                                                     (Figure 1)

Granodiorite

Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, reign of Amenemhat II (ca. 1919–1885 B.C.) or possibly Senwosret II (ca. 1987–1878 B.C.)

Egypt, probably Tanis (eastern Nile Delta)

This statute of pharaoh Amenemhat II was created to show the power and importance of a pharaoh. The statue is very realistic for the period of time and really shows a powerful man who was very important at the time. The composition, size, proportions, texture, pose, and mood of the statute reflect the greatness and importance of the person that was portrayed.

The dark color of this type of granite gives the statue an appearance that implies fear and greatness. If the statue was made of another type of material of another color it would not have the same effect as the granodiorite color.

The dimensions of a sculpture vary and are often connected to the importance of the statue. If a statue is made for decoration purposes it usually will be of smaller size but if the statue is made to imply power, it will be significantly of greater dimensions.

The proportions of this statue are extremely symmetrical.The symmetry implies order which is the message that a pharaoh would want to send to his people.

The way that the pharaoh is standing in this statue shows his place in the society. Obviously he is a very important person with a lot of authority.  His athletic body has broad shoulders, muscular arms, and powerful knees. With the breast proudly lifted and the abdominal musculature contracted, this ancient ruler seems to be inhaling: he is clearly ready to burst into action.

The Pharaoh looks very serious and his message is clear. He wants everybody to obey to him and take him seriously. The most important aspect of his face that portrays his seriousness is the lips. They are shaped and positioned in a way to make him look very powerful and authoritative.

In conclusion, different elements have contributed in the creation of this statue. Most importantly, in transmitting the powerful effect of the statue to the people. This was a method used in ancient times from the kings and pharaohs to show their authority. Different statues send different messages but in Ancient Egypt they are either used to imply power or they are made as a memorial to the King or Pharaoh after they die.

The use of radical language when a group of individuals that are fighting for the same cause is necessary in order to persuade the rest of the population. Persuasive speeches sound more convincing when there is used words that portray strong emotions to the public. Radical language does not only give emotionality to the speech but gains the public’s sympathy because it high-lights the importance of the issue.

In the S.C.U.M Manifesto high-lights the in-equality between men and women by using radical language to make man sound as the villains. The “10 Point Platform” uses repetition of words that sound like commands in order to deliver the message that something needs to be done for the people who are standing up for a specific issue.

In my opinion, radical language is effective depending on the issue that you are standing for. Some protest do not require radical language to achieve the goal. Some issues that have to do with things that are considered inhumane require a lot of radical language to emphasize the importance and that there needs to be taken action immediately. Radical language will help the “protesters” for example to be taken more seriously from the government. The more aggressive a protest sounds the more attention is going to get.

The bottom line is that radical language is effective most of the time but its is to be limited because it can also lead to extreme violence and even a revolt. The radical language can give a lot of motivation to the supporters and that can lead to violent and abusive protests making it less effective.

Enlightenment is connected to our lives through our progress. Meaning, the shaping of our character, our beliefs and our personality. People progress throughout their life in different ways with different views according to the circumstances they grew up with.

We tend as humans, to pursue new things and we move towards innovation. Enlightenment is about progressing and learning throughout life. At the same time, with change and progress comes worries and nostalgia which make us go back in time and think twice about our decisions.

Usually, the people who tend to change and are adaptable to different environments and situations are more successful and more outgoing than others. Enlightenment is a wake up call for some people. Especially people who have goals and dreams they want to achieve.

In the other, side there is people who do not really like change in their life. They are constant. Once they achieve a certain standard they do not want to change. Oppose to the ambitious people who want to have more and more all the time.

For example, enlightenment is key to the progress of politics in a country. There is always new changes made to laws because with time people learn and get more experienced. Without enlightenment politics would not function properly because the situation in a country today its not the same as 500 years ago. People change, they progress and are constantly learning new things. Therefore, change is necessary in our life for our personal growth but also for the growth of our society.

In my opinion, the concept of sublime has to do with the representation of power through using techniques that have gothic, fearful, and clarity elements in it. We encounter the sublime everyday in our life through our imagination.

Sometimes our mind can go beyond what we thought. Literature is all about using your imagination to portray or explain a phenomenon that happens in reality. This happens so that it can make the work more interesting for the reader.

During Romanticism, authors would use different elements in their works mostly religious that implied power and fear at the same time. They believed that when there is fear there is power. In everyday life we see politicians and people who know how to use their words and make them have a powerful meaning.

We encounter the sublime everyday in our life whether we are a religious person or no. One of the ways we encounter the sublime is when we think about death or when we loose somebody we loved. The thoughts that surround us cause us fear and pain. When we gather with friends and talk about supernatural things like ghost story telling, when we talk about the people who died or even death itself, we feel constant fear. Even when we look at the sky at night and we see the stars and the “milky way” it appears beautiful at first but if we stare at it for a long time and start thinking about our existence it starts getting scary and we feel fear.

In conclusion, the sublime is a concept that was used during the Romantic Period to portray power, fear and greatness and the same time. Its the relationship of mind and nature. One of the greatest authors that portrayed the sublime in the best way was Dante Alighieri in “Paradise, Inferno and Purgatory” where he combined different elements of Romanticism including the sublime and love.

Lorde is a black lesbian woman that stands up for ones right of free speech. She stands up for her beliefs and wants to express herself for who she really is.

Jane Eyre was also a woman who stood up for her rights especially for quality between genders. When Jane was fighting for the man she loved she felt insecure and not good enough for him because of the boundaries that society hat put her because she was not from the same social class as him. In one side, she would let this take control of her and she would become very insecure but on the other side she would take control again and accept herself for who she is.

Just like Lorde she was someone who wanted women to express themselves for who they are and have equal standards with men. Lorde basically said that we as women have to pick and choose our words when we write about something because of the criticism and judgment we will get afterwards.

Both Jane Eyre and Lorde are two works that focus on the self-empowerment of women and how to overcome the obstacles that come as consequences for speaking up for themselves. Jane Eyre is a woman that is trying to be somebody else just to please society and Lorde in the other side a woman that is proud of who she is and she will always speak up for herself. But, both of them are fighting the discrimination against women and the limits that society has put them. Such limits that do not allow them to leave their life as they really want it.

I left the house at around 1:45PM with my uncle. Got in the car, put the seatbelt and started driving. Got in Northern Blvd., took the bridge and arrived in Manhattan. Continued on Lexington until 25th street. Got off the car, crossed the road and arrived at Baruch.

I saw few people at first. Then traffic started when we were getting closer to the bridge. There were a lot of cabs and police. I couldn’t not notice the beautiful skyscrapers of Manhattan. The view from the bridge was breathtaking. When we arrived in Manhattan there was a lot of people and a lot of angry drivers. Unfortunately, I saw a lot of homeless people too. The weather was so blurry and cloudy. It was about to rain.

The bridge gave me a strong feeling of appreciation for what we have achieved until now as human beings. The view of New York City is absolutely dazzling. The infrastructure and engineering of the buildings is inspiring and very motivational. How small did people look from the bridge. The windows of the buildings looked tiny too just like the humans who live in those apartments. How amazing is it how these small creatures have created such gigantic projects. A person standing outside the door of a store sleeping on cardboard caught my eye and I thought to my self “Such a beautiful industrial and advanced world we created but yet we have people sleeping on the roads?” That made all that view and all that beauty fade and seem unimportant because while we were busy to create a comfortable and luxurious lifestyle for ourselves we forgot how to help and lift each other.

They left the house around 1:45PM. Got in the car, put the seatbelt on and started driving. They took Northern Blvd and then got into Queensborough bridge. Shortly they arrived in Manhattan, continued on Lexington ave until 25th st. She got off the car, crossed the road and arrived at Baruch.

During the trip she saw very few people in the beginning. After a while traffic started creating as they were getting closer to the bridge. Her wondering eye could not not admire the beautiful skyscrapers of Manhattan. The view of the city from the bridge made her appreciate all that humans have achieved. She found the view dazzling and grandiose. The infrastructure and the engineering behind those big, tall and sharp buildings fascinated her. People looked so small to her from up there and she wondered how these small people created this big world?

When they arrived in Manhattan she started seeing more people and made eye contact with one of them in particular. One that with one look woke her up from the daydreaming effect that New York City view gave her. She saw a homeless woman and reality immediately hit her and destroyed the good opinion about humanity in general. Her name was Petra. Her last name she did not know. But, Petra made her understand that humans have not achieved a lot after all because when it comes to humanity the materialistic things do not count. She thought to herself that all that view and beauty faded and seemed unimportant and that humans while busy creating a comfortable and luxurious life they forgot to help and lift one another.

This movie depicts the life of three women that came from a rural area who wrote the most beautiful, passionate and feminist novels. The Bronte sisters had a strong bond with each other and together they broke the many taboos of the 19th Century. One of which was demanding equal rights for men and women.

The movie takes place in Yorkshire which is the rural area where the Bronte Sisters lived. It being rural makes it very conservative as well. But the movie focuses more on the hardships of the Bronte’s family life. Starting with their brother’s drug and alcohol addiction which seemed to affect the success of the Bronte sister’s because they were worried about him. Not to talk about his affair with one of the employer’s wife where he worked. Also, their father was another reason they were worried because he was a fragile man who cared a lot about morals and the public opinion.

My favorite scene in the movie is the opening scene where the Bronte siblings are represented with flaming halos in their heads which I believe it is to portray their creativity. They are playing with some small living toys found in a box in a table in the middle of their house. Charlotte was the first one who found Emily’s poems and thought they need to be published. They found their bond and complex characters would bring them great success and finally no more hardships for their family. They published their work by nicknames and did not use their real name because they knew that they would be judged because of the things that they wrote about.

In this informative writing Freud describes the stages of a child’s development. Personally  I agree with his point of view regarding the evolution of a child and his/her relations with their family. A stable and strong relationship with other family members plays a big role in the progress of a child. But, what is more important is for that child to have a good parental example because as Freud said they observe and copy the actions of their parents.

I strongly believe that we grow up to be the reflection of our parents. During our teenage years we felt different and disconnected from their world. The puberty period of a child is the time where we disagree with our parents. Its the time where we are more aware of life and we reject their tendency and desire to control us. Everyone of us has at one point felt the same way Freud described a child would feel if they thought their parents where not good enough. “Not Good Enough” in the meaning that we did not agree with our parent’s thinking. We would imagine a different life with a different family depending on the situation. We all have disagreed with our parents and wished they could understand our point of view. This makes our observations were different from what we perceived therefore have influenced the creation of self-concept and our personality. For instance, when I was a teenager I wanted to be a singer and often I would try to dress like them with mini skirts etc. My parents strongly disagreed and they would tell me that I cannot dress like that. For this reason, what I observed ” my parent’s disapproval” contradicted the passion that I had inside of me to be a singer and act like them.

“Family Romances” describes a child’s progress to creating an identity and the effect that their family members have on impacting their lives for good or bad.

As I was reading the poem “Song of Myself” two things came to my mind: the importance of having an identity and the appreciation about nature and the universe. Having an identity in the meaning being unique and loving every part of yourself. And, appreciation about nature and the universe because part of who I am is because of the way nature and the universe function. Each part of nature and the universe is connected to each other and plays an equally important role to bring together the pieces and create the journey which we call life.

Our understanding of life is achieved when we will have understood ourselves first. I believe this is what the author Walt Whitman was trying to transmit to the reader besides appreciation for nature and the universe. When he says “untranslatable self” he means the one and only you, the unique you, the confident you. He believes that everybody is different and there is no other one like you. Whitman in this poem wants us to appreciate the fact that we are given a life by nature, a chance to exist. He’s saying that nature made us unique and we should love ourselves for who we are and we should believe in our potential. When he says “untranslatable self” it also means that we have only one chance to live this life and make good use of it.

“Untranslatable self” is a line which gives meaning and better understanding to the whole poem because it focuses on the concept of identity and the importance of getting to know ourselves in order to have a better understanding of the world and life. If we accept ourselves for who we are and how we are then the process of understanding ourselves will be easier and once we learn more about what is happening within us we can comprehend better the world and universe.

In the poem “Hope’ is the thing with feathers” Dickenson describes beautifully the feeling of being hopeful. She compares hope to birds which in this case are the “thing with feathers”. I believe, the reason why she chose to compare hope to birds its because birds are free creatures that wonder in the sky freely and continuously. The same way as hope stays in our souls all the time and we cannot have control of it. Even when we say that “we lost hope” its just a word of mouth because we can never really lose hope.

Dickenson is basically trying to say that hope stays and lives within us till the end of our journey in this life. It can be found in the strangest places and in the most so called “hopeless people” because its is something that we have no control over. We are just born with hope and we carry it with us through our whole lives.

There is always something to hope about in life. Its a feeling that keeps our soul warm and that pushes us to go forward and have faith that tomorrow its going to be a better day.

Dickenson’s poem connects with Jane Eyre because everything about Jane is connected to hope. Jane hopes that one day men and women will be treated equally, she has faith in God, she wishes that people will not judge each other from their social class, she hopes that Mr. Rochelle will accept her for who she is, she hopes that her dreams and goals will be accomplished etc. The main idea is that both works are based on hope. Jane’s situation is different but when you analyze throughly her state of mind she is just a hopeful girl trying to fit in and trying to be accepted by the people surrounding her.