Author Archives: aleksandr.poltilov
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paper 3
This paper which is the final paper of the semester is new to me. I have never written a paper in which i have to make an interesting video that corresponds to my thesis. In fact i have never had to make a video of myself for as long as i can remember. I have however made class presentations but those feel different than the video to me. I guess well have to see and find out. It is a new experience for me and i have never tried this but i am actually looking forward to it. i saw some of the previous year videos and it seems as if the students have had fun creating them in the past. Im sure it’ll be fun even though i havent gotten any of the details yet.
Response Paper 4-Option 2
The two stories “Hills Like White Elephants” and “The Story of an Hour” depict happiness in ways that are unimaginable for the normal human being to understand. The normal human understands. In “The Story of an Hour”, written by Kate Choppin, the wife learns that her husband has just died in a horrible train accident. She of course feels sorrow at first along with regret but she cant help later feel happy that she is finally alone and independent from her husband. granted that woman at his point in history didnt have all the rights and freedoms that they do today, but no human being in the right mind would feel happy when they just found out that their spouse was killed in a train accident. Also in “Hills Like White Elephants”, there is a couple who are in between two train stations (going in opposite directions) which is symbolic for the couple making a decision on whether to have and abortion or not, it could go both ways, just as the trains can. the story ends without a known decision to the reader however.
neither of these stories depict what any human being sees as happiness, at least not in the right state of mind. in order for people to be happy, they have to be problem free and evidently, the characters in these two stories are deciding to deal with their problems in the most positive way. there is nobody that can be happy with the death of a spouse and while deciding whether to get an abortion or not in our society today.
Response paper 3
The movie “Best In Show” highlights the fact that in order to be happy, one must come out on top of all endeavors. The dog owners scramble to pamper, and make thier dogs beautiful before the final pagent. Throughout the movie, all five dog show enthusiasts go through countless episodes of stress, trauma, denial, and hardships. Through their perception, the dog owners only way of achieving happiness is to win the show. This however shouldnt be the only way that they feel happiness. It may make sense that only by winning, can these people truely attain happiness. but this theory is disproved at the end of the film. by the end of the movie, when of course only one dog wins, all other dog groomers feel unhappy, but cant help but feel happy for the dog that wins. Just by being able to be in the pageant and going through all those hardships, the other owners are engulfed by a sense of relief.
happiness should be constitued by the ability to be able to do what one loves. all these dog groomers were able to do what they love and groom the dogs. Weather they won or not didnt matter to them. they felt happy nontheless of winning because they were able to enjoy just from the experience
-Aleksandr Poltilov
