Author Archives: JEREMY RAMIREZ

Reading Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich is complementary to the current state of the world. A vast majority of people’s lives were interrupted due to the pandemic. We’ve been for many years in a deep nap of our reality and once in a while we are awakened in a state of shock from an impactful event. A great metaphor of the Modern Era is the philosophical questions that are explored in movies and stories such as The Matrix, Alice In Wonderland, and The Wizard Of Oz. 

Living in the Information Era, People are waking up, realizing that not everything is rainbows and butterflies living in a fairy tale. Some aspects of reality are dark, disgusting, and harsh and hence, sometimes revealing the truth puts people in a state of shock. New York City is the mecca of the world and a fragile target where major events are amplified. It could be because of how densely populated it is and because of the rich historical-cultural, economic influences it has on the world. For example, 9/11, when twin towers collapsed, it sent a shockwave that woke people up because people didn’t realize this was possible. Another major event and one that I was able to grasp more readily because I was older, was the housing market collapse and the protest on Wall Street. When you investigate, and you dig into a topic, you start going down this rabbit hole and unveiling the truth. For the occupiers it was unveiling the corruption, unveiling the Ponzi schemes, the Bernie Madoffs of the world and the rigged system that enables wealth inequality.

Fast forward to the present day of the year 2020, COVID-19 is a virus that is a reminder to us all that we are all fragile beings and at any moment we could die. One thing is for sure that we will all eventually die, whether that be due to health, or an accident, or purposely like a homicide, or by old age. This interjection that we are experiencing together is a time that could be used to reflect on one’s own lives and reevaluate how one ought to live. There is no wrong or right answer, but one should ask, am I doing what is important right now? Every second of one’s life matters and one should make those seconds count. Don’t die with regrets and with the question of was it all worth it? as was in the case of our protagonist of Tolstoy’s story Ivan Ilyich. 

COVID-19 is a virus that just wants to survive just like any other living organism and the only way it can is to have a host. Animals and people are the best hosts for these viruses for it’s able to replicate itself. We do the same thing on this planet, where we make a copy of ourselves, passing down our genetic code to children. We are the genetic makeup of our parents, and they are of their parents, going up generations trace it all the way back to our ancestors and the first human beings. Anthropologists were able to trace back our existence back to one single person. This means that millions of years ago, from the deep forest of Africa, we all come from one single mother. Maybe it is time for people to set their differences aside, see that war is wasteful, and continue the means of co-existing, eliminating poverty, eradicating classes and class struggles that divides us, and continuing to educate the world to be self-reliant to end human suffering.

If we see the world from a different perspective it leaves a humbling impression, like that of astronomers like Carl Sagan, who stated in Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space:

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

In the film adaptation of the play Hedda Gabler, the character George Tesman looks much older in appearance and taller than what was described in the play. In the play George is described as a “…youthful-looking man of thirty-three, of medium height, with an open, round, and cheerful face, blonde hair and beard.” Also, In the film, there’s no mention of Eilert Lovborg as he was mentioned in the play when George Tesman and his aunt Miss Tesman were conversing. It’s understood at the beginning of the text that Eilert Lovborg is George’s rival and enemy in some sense, especially at a scholarly level. There have been others who were against George Tesman, who would have liked to seem him fall or fail at whatever pursuit he was going after. In other words, there are those who envy him and don’t want to see George succeed. Another thing not mentioned in the film was that all the slipcovers on the furniture were removed by Berta because Hedda Gabler told Berta she doesn’t stand covers on chairs. Something else not mentioned in the film that’s in the play is when Miss Tesman asked George whether you might have any kind of “prospects” for her. I’m assuming she was implying that although she is old and single, she is still ready to mingle and the prospects mean a partner for her. In the opening conversation between Miss Tesman and George Tesman the filmmaker had no mention that George grew up without a mother and father, but yet the audience can assume that he was raised by his aunts through their dialect. 

When Hedda Gabler appears in the scene, one thing we notice when watching the film that we may have not in the play is the emphasis of the sunlight coming through the windows. Hedda is annoyed by the maid leaving the curtains open letting the sunlight come through the windows and makes her husband close the curtains yet keeps the windows open in order for the breeze to come in. Hedda says, “that will give us softer light”, and “heaven knows we need some fresh air.” I think this is a very important moment to notice in the film does a great job showing this subtle detail, a foreshadowing, a change of the setting. It may be an implication of her current mental state, but its conclusive on her dominant personality. Hedda Gabler clearly is taking out her frustration or whatever she is feeling on the maid. The maid is innocent in the whole matter and is a victim in the opening scene, leaving me speechless on Hedda Gabler’s personality. 

Harriet Jacobs’s narrative adds a new element of American slavery, adding a woman’s perspective compared to Douglass’s perspective of the male point-of-view. Harriet Jacob stated, “When they told me my new-born babe was a girl, my heart was heavier than it had ever been before. Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women.” In my opinion both genders equally suffered immensely by slavery, yet it doesn’t matters who had it far worst- man or woman. I understand Jacobs’ point-of-view and she has every right to feel this way for she makes a strong case with her story. She talks about being violated by her master and dealing with the mistress who was jealous of her and hated such and such child slave because that was the offspring. Both Douglass and Jacobs narratives show that the wife or mistress of the master can be just as cruel as their male counterparts with the actions they partook with the slaves. Women slaves were seen as more valuable because they had the ability to bear children, therefore, adding more slaves in the hands of the slavemaster and thus accumulating more wealth. Harriot Jacobs wanted to escape many times and stated she could have done so but she didn’t escape because she was thinking about her children and couldn’t bear her leaving them behind to suffer the same fate she has had. This was most likely the case for many slave girls who were in the same shoes. For some slaves it could have been a hard decision to choose either leaving their children behind or freedom, in which some chose the latter. Many probably stayed because it was difficult for mothers to escape with their children.  Harriot Jacob wanted freedom for her children and herself, sacrificing 7 years in the attic to see it through.

Slavery still exists today but under different circumstances.  Some examples include human-trafficking, forced marriage, forced labor, child labor, prisoners, and more. I would say slavery not only happens for people but also animals when they are placed in cages, as is shown in the documentary Tiger King on Netflix; as well as the wild animals in cages in Wuhan China that caused the virus pandemic. I learned that slavery can be hidden in plain sight, people find ways to exploit the vulnerable, and also can be interpreted differently. Interpreted differently where some people believe that sports athletes are slaves to the team’s owner, or that workers are a slave to their bosses, or a child is a slave to their parents, or a person is a slave to time.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. (Page 250 chapter VI).

To use his own words, further, he said, “if you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master-to do as he is told to do. Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world. Now”, said he, “if you teach that nigger(speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.”

Mr. Auld was only half right when stating that Frederick Douglass would become unmanageable, and reading would make him feel unhappy, but I think Douglass would prefer this unhappiness then of the life he had before when he was in the plantation.  Douglass states, “From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. This incident left such a strong impression on Douglass that Mr. Auld was hinting at something important, it was a clue for him to have hope, and to follow this ambition of learning how to read, because reading could be the key to unlocking his chains of slavery and towards a path of freedom. Mr. Auld didn’t realize that when he was saying all of these things to Mrs. Auld and condemning her educating Douglass, it only inspired him even more to pursue it. This was sort of like an accidentally reversed psychology. 

 I’ve pondered on this question on what is freedom? and how reading influences one’s mind? Reading allows people to learn and inspire new ideas. Reading makes one more self-conscious and socially aware. Douglass was not only just born into the world, but he was also born as a slave because of American society’s common-sense. The same way people are born into the world, not by choice, and are trapped until death. Just because society says its common sense may not always be common sense (as in the case of slavery), just because someone else says it’s right or true- may not be so, (hence the reason for debates.) I’ve come to the conclusion that the ability to think for yourself is the ultimate freedom. Being educated allowed Douglass to free his mind, no longer was he a prisoner of his own mind because he broke the chains of ignorance. 

Mrs. Auld gave Douglass an inch by teaching him the alphabet, it was too late for her to go back from this teaching because nothing was going to stop Douglass from taking the ell– a former English unit of length(as for cloth) equal to 45 inches. It is a fact that education and slavery are incompatible with each other. For an educated slave or an educated person, may find out and know that slavery is wrong and would most likely do everything in their power to find a way out of slavery or abolish it. If ignorance is bliss, then the truth can be painful but liberating; in other words, the truth hurts but cures. Douglass found the truth of his own conditions of being a slave and the truth of how it all started. Through that realization, the truth was painful. Had he not learn to read, to pursue knowledge, he would have remained ignorant and therefore would have spared him of pain. Nevertheless, writing down his narrative is one of the remedies to alleviate his pain, and to cure the disease that plagued America’s conscious-of the inhumane and abominable act of slavery. 

Alexander Pope, An Essay On Man is one of the most profound poems I’ve ever read. It left me feeling confused and unsettled because it hit on topics that I always been curious about. Pope argues that man shouldn’t be poking their noses into nature, leave nature as it is because then we would disrupt the natural order of things. His argument leaves us with a huge debate whether or not the study of nature or what we call as Science, is actually good for humanity. It’s a very tricky argument because many people see the benefits that Science brought us; such as electricity, vehicles, the internet, etc. The contributions of Science are all around us and continue to shape our society. 

There are some scientists who are concerned with the advancements of Science, which is why they have symbolically created a Doomsday Clock for the existential threat of humanity. The two leading threats to humanity are a nuclear war and global warming. As it currently stands, The doomsday clock is now 100 seconds to Midnight. This is the countdown to the end of humanity. The irony that the advancements of science & technology to improve our lives could lead to our extinction. 

Science has been beneficial for mankind, but there is always a potential risk when we imitate God, or  focus only on rationality. It makes me think about Denzel’s Washington’s movie: The Book of Eli, where he’s in a dystopian society where there is no religion and the negative consequences of that. I think about sci-fi movies like Ex Machina, where the robot killed its creator. These movies are to show the danger that could happen if we don’t add morality into Science and Society. We could end up creating robots- Artificial Intelligence with no concept of feelings, don’t know right from wrong or a society with no morals, it’s just survival of the fittest.  

What can we do moving forward? I think that it’s really difficult to answer what can we do because it is inevitable Science and technology will continue to advance and influence our world. For now we can study history and literature to make rational-moral decisions.  It was inevitable that the Age of Enlightenment gave rise to the social sciences, the study of man, such as Sociology and Psychology.  I see how An Essay On Man is important. It relates with many philosophers and sociologists who criticize “rationalization”. These thinkers see that where people falsely believe it to be progress, there are negative and dehumanizing effects on society.

Old text are more meaningful to me and makes me want to study it closer. Old religious text is not to be taken always literally, for it contains metaphors, universal truths and hidden messages. I see that we are much like the stories in the bible, such as the story of Adam and Eve eating the Forbidden Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. We are like the story of The Tower Of Babel, man building a tower to reach God, but then God destroying it and separating people into different languages. Interpreting these passages are interesting and I could go into depth to find the underlying meaning of it and relate it to the modern world. It changes my perspective on God, the bible and the meaning behind it. It will be an interesting conversation to have with one day with my cousin Miguel; a genius who recently joined NASA and converted to Islam. And a conversation with my older sister Stephany; who’s amazing and whom I’m closest with. She has a degree in Psychology, working in Education, and is Catholic. Then there’s me, pursuing a Sociology degree, and consider myself agnostic. As I have to keep myself a skeptic, questioning everything, and keep an objectivity while doing research. I could also be subjective at the same time when necessary, or applicable, adding morals and ethics into the Sciences for man’s future endeavors.