I am not the girl that you keep insisting that I am. Your constant degrading of me has had a profound effect on me, despite what you may think. The life that you want me to live is not the life I am seeking out. Your constant reminders on how to be a lady do not resonate with the ideals I hold. How can you expect me to follow your strict rules? “This is how you present yourself… This is how you socialize… This is how you conduct household chores”. You provide me with no freedom to experience life in my own way. I long for the mother-daughter relationship that I see my friends have with their mothers. I highly doubt they scorn their daughters like you do to me.

I find that I often have trouble keeping up with the high standard that you have always held me to. Something as simple as going to the bakery now seems as an ever impossible task in which I need to conduct myself in a manner that would suit your liking. The other kids in Sunday school do not have the same responsibilities that you give me. I understand that you have always wanted the best for me, but I wish you could lessen your hold on life. In my future, I will always remember the lessons that you have taught me. However, when I have a daughter of my own one day, I insist on letting her experience life as she wishes to do so.

For my mind map on Clarissa Dalloway, I decided to examine all of the people who are closest related to her. These connections are what constantly go through her stream of conscience, and give readers insight into her feelings and emotions. In Virginia Wolf’s A Sketch of the Past, she states “Behind the cotton wool [of daily life] is hidden a pattern; that we—I mean all human beings—are connected with this…”. This quote is very telling  and applicable to Clarissa on many levels. At the beginning of the novel, Clarissa is on a walk in London to buy flowers for her party. Behind all of the people and chaos in London is a true sense of connectedness and readers are exposed into Clarissa’s sense of connection. Primarily, she has thoughts on the four people listed in the mind map. It can be seen that Clarissa has the closest similarities and connections to Septimus Warren. They are both “lost souls” who are facing depression and have no sense of identity. Neither are understood by their significant other which causes them to be very solitary. In regards to Clarissa’s connection with her husband, she does not feel very close to him as she feels that she is a mere representative of him (as he is a prominent member of parliament). Finally, it is revealed that the one person who Clarissa does have a sense of connection with is Sally Senton. The two of them had a connection that she did not feel with any other people, and one that she especially lacked within her own marriage.

Matthew started his day by leaving his house at 6:00 AM when he drove to a local bagel store to by breakfast. He noticed that there was an abnormally large amount of customers for it being so early in the morning. He then drove to the train station where he would take the LIRR to Penn Station. While on the train, he noticed that the majority of people were sleeping. This reminded him that he too was tired so he decided to go to sleep as well. After arriving at Penn Station, he began to walk to 34^th Street- Herald Square Station where he would take the R subway to school. While walking he noticed that the sun was particularly bright, causing everyone to shield their eyes. This brought him back to this past summer and made him want to visit the beach. After taking the subway, he got off at 23^rd street and walked down the road to Baruch.

The painting from the MoMA that I decided to analyze is “Landscape” (Alternatively titled “La Rue des Bois”) due to the fact that it reminded me of our class discussion on the sublime. The painting itself features a dark, shaded building on the left side and an even darker forest on the right. This creates a sort of mystical environment filled with both curiosity and wonder. The fragmented segments of this piece create a boundary between the village building and forest.

After conducting further research, I was able to determine that in the summer of 1908, Picasso had taken a vacation to “La Rue des Bois”, a small village on the outskirts of Pairs, to escape the city and have time to decompress. While his original intent was to stay within the town itself, he soon discovered the forest and became immersed with its mystery. This is the culmination of what the sublime stands for as, in a sense, it takes the known and unknown and molds them into two.

Finally, there was an attached quote from Picasso that stated, “Landscapes must be painted with the eyes and not with the prejudices that are in our heads”. This stuck me as significant in many ways. Picasso often challenged the common belief of what art should be and created new and revolutionary pieces. His ideals on landscape art were no exception. Typically, when imagining a landscape painting, one pictures a perfect area where things are bright, spacious, and serene. However, Picasso’s painting defies this idea to a great extent. It combined dark and fragmented elements that create a sense of intrigue rather than calm. Just as the ideas of the sublime challenged the ideas of the previous periods, I feel that this piece followed suit and was both imaginative and innovative for its time.

After watching M. NourbeSe Philip reading her poem “Discourse on the Logic of language”, I couldn’t help but notice the passion with which the speaker was delivering her poem. While watching it, you could feel that she had a true connection with it and meant what she wrote. The main concept of the poem sprouts from the idea of the logic of language. The logic of language is basically another way to connect and communicate with others. It is, in a sense, the flow of ideas for a purpose. To demonstrate this, the poem repeats the word “language” over and over again to eventually warp it into “anguish”. To me, this is a prime example of a free use of language. The idea of a free use of language is also something the occurs in the autobiography of Frederick Douglas and is what ultimately sets Douglas free. At one point, he is restricted from learning language by his pervious master. This leads him to the very important revelation that in order to truly gain his freedom he must oppose his masters wishes and learn language. Specifically, he says, “From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I least expected it.” (Frederick Douglas). This truly shows how powerful language can be. It has the power to make an ignorant man educated, and thus making him knowledgeable.

For Tuesday 9/29: Read First Half of Frankenstein (Including the preface)

Terms to know:
– Causality/Reason
– Mind/Body Dualism
– Satire
– Mystification

The Age of Enlightenment:
17th-18th Centuries in Europe and America
– Enlightenment was a result of the reaction to superstition of early tradition
– It’s goal was to find ones place in the world through rational, reasonable, and quantifiable experience rather than assuming that things just happen through the works of God
– It was the beginning of a scientific age (Movement away from religion)

“Cogito Ergo Sum” or “I think therefore I am”
– This embraced the fact that you have a mind of your own
– Thinking –> imagining, point of view, questioning, what makes us human, the capacity to reason is what makes us human, dismantles hierarchy (you think therefore you are)
– Enlightenment places the thinking human at the center of life

“On life’s vast ocean diversely we sail, Reason the card (sail of ship), but passion is the gale (wind/guiding force)” – Alexander Pope, Essay on man 1733
– Everyone moves diversely through the ocean of life (meaning there are multiple journeys to take)
– Reason acts as the function piece (the card) but passion is the force behind it
– Reason and passion ultimately work in conjunction with one another.

Terms Commonly Associated with Enlightenment:
1) Deism: Accept there is a universal creator. Common belief is that this creator made the world a watch – it keeps going on its own accord with no daily manipulation. Deism lead to secular humanism (the belief that humans are number one).
2) Universal Human Rights: There are certain inalienable rights – we are free, allowed to live life with integrity and respect, etc.
3) Nature as Pattern: Thinking about world/nature as a cause and effect relationship (Ex: No rain means a lake will dry up).
4) Scientific Method: Understanding trough experimentation and quantifiable evidence.

World of Candide:
– That of a “Soap Opera” – Everything is the most drastic result
– Satirical quality
– Challenges expectation of realism
– World seems conflicted as a result of greed, religion, and philosophies

Candide is innocent, susceptible to influence, and naive

Pangloss’s theory is dedicated to optimism.
Page 1: “It is demonstrable,” said he, “that things cannot be otherness than as they are; for all being created for an end, all is necessary for the best end”
– This is ultimately a faulty theory because he uses a sort of inverted, crazy, mixed up logic (effect by cause rather then cause and effect (causality))
– Ex; we have a nose to breathe, legs to walk
– However the biggest critique can be seen when he says “All things cannot be otherwise…”
– This is demonstrative of a rampant optimism. It ultimately takes away from what things are.
– This includes no questioning -> a troubling view of the world.

His theory is the result of mystification.
– Mystification: Process by which dominant power convinced us of a truth only because it benefits them.
– Page 8 – We find our Pangloss has syphilis. He justifies this with human progress (an overall mystification of the order of things)

How is Candide a satire?
– Making fun of philosophies
– “Sufficient Reason” is a running joke throughout the book and is a euphemism for sex
– Ultimately claims the reason we do everything is love and sex (Candide’s love for Cunegonde)

Page 40 – Candide in the new world (El Dorado)
– Paradise – Jewels so plentiful used as stone, everyone is happy, no fighting, no hunger, no poverty
– This is an example of utopia (Greek for nowhere)
– The people of El Dorado give up thinking in order to maintain their utopia (“here we are all of one opinion”)
– Despite their seemingly perfect living, Candide still wants Cunegonde

After his experience in the utopia of El Dorado Candide is able to see all of the problems of hi own world. He is now demystified of Pangloss’s optimism.

Candide ends up in a garden in turkey with all of his people (Cunegonde, Cacambo, Pangloss, etc).
– They all happily resolve together
– Candide starts to take things as are (“Let’s cultivate our own garden”)
– New truth: To take your own path… You go one way and I’ll go my own… Not forgetting to be active in the world.

The garden is a metaphor for our minds. Our minds need to be cultivated which is not justified by Pangloss’s philosophy. Cultivating is active and subjective.
– This gives Candide agency (ability of one to have power and mobility over his or her circumstance)

1) “He made his companion the tiger and the lizard, the wolf and the leopard; he befriended the civet and the deer, and he called the gibbon and baboon his kin.” (Journey to the West, 424)

This quote from Journey to the West describes an eclectic group of animals who all seem to join together within their environment. To me, this is relatable to the common environment of Penn Station. Within Penn Station, there are people of a number of different races, religions, and backgrounds who all seem to join together and pass through this common point, each being on their own journey. Penn Station can also be extremely chaotic at times, similar to a jungle atmosphere filled with animals. People often run to catch their trains and ensure that they arrive to their destination on time.

2) “I Celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every Atom belonging to me as good as belongs to you.” (Song of Myself, 1)

This beginning quote from Whitman’s Song of Myself creates the feeling of a carefree, “happy-go-lucky” environment. Passing through the park each day is very enjoyable as there is always something new to see and observe. Madison Square park is the one place within the city where I’ve witnessed people escape the hustle and bustle of the city and demonstrate this kind of behavior. More so during the warmer months, it is a place of relaxation for many, as well as a place where friends can meet up on and have an enjoyable time away from work and school.

3) “‘You will hence be given the religious name ‘Wake-to-Vacuity’, all right?’, ‘Splendid! Splendid!’, said the monkey. (Journey to the West, 436)

Similar to how the Patriarch gave the stone monkey the name ‘Wake-to-Vacuity’ to awaken him to knowledge, Dunkin’ Donuts is an essential stop in my morning commute to awaken me for knowledge as well. After a long commute early each morning, I have come to rely on Dunkin’ Donuts to energize me for the day, ultimately making me prepared, ready, and open to receiving knowledge in school.