From the beginning of enlightenment to surrealism, we’ve been discussing in class how social structures had developed in terms of logics and how the way of thinking has been changed in chronological and topical order. Before eighteenth century, people were blind in terms of having own reason and logic because they lived under other’s tutelage. As soon as enlightenment movement spread out, it gradually brought confrontation between ones who governed the world for their interest and others who claimed their rights. Then, inequality for lives has been resolved step by step. Since industrial revolution, the way of living world has changed drastically. Then, whole world is connected to each other and interacting. After then, I think modern society is all about technology since we do everything online. Young people who born with technology live with the internet. There are words coming up to describe people who hate such development like technophobia. I would attempt to discuss such modern society comparing to past and find similarity between them.

I read the interview article about “Brain Hacking” with Tristan Harris directed by Anderson Cooper on CBS news by chance. Harris said this was kind of a manifesto. In the interview it says checking phone is a kind of slot machine because it hijacks users’ attention and users get rewards, which are getting likes on Facebook and Instagram and receiving messages with cute emoji. It forms a habit for users to check it on a regular basis at first but, later, users are addicted to the rewards which arouse primitive feeling like happy, fear and anxiety. Users gradually feel anxiety when they cannot check their phone on the usual basis. When you put your phone down and you don’t check it for a while, your brain releases a hormone called cortisol. We can understand it in primitive way that this is the hormone that made a man anxious because he is aware that he is in the condition that he will be eaten by lions. So that the man feels anxiety and will run away from the condition. In order to get rid of such anxiety in modern society, the man needs to check his phone because this is only way to release that anxiety. This sounds like things just happening when we use smart phone. However it really comes from experiment and it is called “brain programming” Engineers are putting enormous efforts to track relationships between users’ behavior and brain activities. And, they create code that actually interact with your brain in order to make you more additive. The thing is you still feel anxiety even though you put your phone down. It’s because you do not shut off your brain. The only antidote for this anxiety is checking phone more often. This makes me stunned because it happens to everybody and every day. The programmers and engineers all know about this and are putting people to be more and more addictive to smart phone. One great example is Samsung smart phone. There is a small light on screen for alarm purpose. Blue for message and yellow for other social media application. Even though you turn off the notification, you can still see the lights whether something comes or not. And it means, it really isn’t turned off and your brain is interacting with the lights. You will roll your eyes to the lights in order to release your anxiety. This brings more serious addiction.

I’ve jumped from the past to modern in a moment. I would like to say people are influenced by such technology and social media even before they recognized it in similar way that old tradition and logics had already implanted to human life before they realized it. Young people become addictive to technology so easily and are wasting time on watching smartphone to get that rewards which are deliberately programmed by contributors on purpose. Such an advanced modern technology which intended to interact with human brain activity like hormones is making people blind from the real world. In the past, people were implanted under tutelage and, in modern society, people are implanted with intelligent technology. There has been always a group of a few smart people who has structured everything for their interest and hided truth. I think that is the thing that exist alongside human history in past and present.

Work cited

Cooper, Anderson. “What is “brain hacking”? Tech insiders on why you should care.” CBS News. CBS Interactive, 09 Apr. 2017. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.

I see language is used here in Charlie Chaplin’s film to represent an order and absolute power. Voice is used when the president gives an order to factory workers. The president’s voice represents rigid rules and strict orders in the film. On the other hand, Charlie’s silent pantomime is contradicting the presence of language. I think that the reason why there is no voice and word for workers including Charlie is it represents the opposite side of rational order. It, also, doesn’t have any power.

The president of the factory is sitting on the chair and seems like chilling while working. The only thing he does is trying to make more profit out of his workers by increasing work efficiency which is ridiculously harsh. On the other hand, factory workers including Charlie are working like a machine while standing. Workers are kept watch on the president and receiving an order from the president through radio.

Man and Machine are treated in the same way in the film because both exist to make profits for the factory owner. The salesman tries to sell a new machine that is invented to help workers to eat while working. This would result in increasing work efficiency because workers do not have to stop working for that lunch time. Therefore, I believe the only thing in the factory valued was profits.

George thought himself more successful than his friend because his family business has been prosperous unlike his friend’s situation. His friend was described as a sick, unsuccessful, and lonely person, who lives in abroad, although his friend never said in the way that George thought. George assumes his friend’s condition and thinks he has everything that his friend does not have such as successful business and an affluent fiancé. From George’s view, I think it represents the important elements for life are merely successes in business and marriage. Therefore, George is being considerate of his friend’s feeling in that his friend does not have such success in life and pretending by not saying the truth. He is giving a considerable thought to his friend.

Frieda thought his friend won’t come to the wedding and George replied it will bother him. I think he does not know what is really important and what it not. Frieda was offended because George wanted to hold back the truth about marriage which should not be hided in any situation. The reason why George wanted not to tell it is because his friend would feel “pressed”, “envy”, and “dissatisfied”. All of those are merely his assumptions. After she expressed her feeling about the hiding, George decided to tell his marriage. He might realize that his excessive consideration for his friend is meaningless. And therefore, he decided to write a letter to his friend truthfully.

The government was ruled by tradition which is absolute monarchy until French Revolution in 1789. French revolution was arouse by people who was oppressed by government, wanted their freedom, and to be ruled by their reason. There were two writers who were from aristocrats’ families but had totally different stance on French Revolution. Edmund Burke published the book namely “From Reflections on the Revolution in France”. The politician and writer Burke was against for the French Revolution and supported their authority which was legitimized by old tradition. From the view of Burke, Tradition is “an entailed inheritance derived to us from our forefathers”. On the other hand, the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley advocates for revolution and enlightenment, saying poetry is “..follower of the awakening of a great people to work a beneficial change in opinion or institution” on A Defense of Poetry. I will more closely discuss how each of them understands the society in terms of Reason, Freedom, and Tradition, has different vision of ideal community, their authorities in this paper. All information is based on our textbook “The Norton Anthology World Literature Volume E”

I read and we talked about German, English, and Irish folktales which are “The Three Spinners”, “Tom Tit Tot”, and “The Brewery of Egg-Shells”. Unlike other folktales, German and English folktales came down from white peasants. People lived with social hierarchy of status and they expressed their earnest hope to escape from their reality, which they had to work hard in daily routine. People in that time used supernatural elements to show their hope in the stories and they wanted to live different life by being chosen by King. I noticed their hope and thought of beauty from the stories. Unlike these stories, Irish folktales are little different in themes. Irish folktales are having supernatural elements which was imp who took women’s babies. Then, old women told the mother that she could figure out whether babies are imps or real by boiling egg shells. I believe this story also came from hard worker in brewery. People might added miraculous elements in story because it could heal their weary life.

As Anansi stories have three versions each from Ghana, West Africa, and the United States, they had their own different view and endings. Compared to our stories, these are dealing with nature and wisdom. Each stories have different type of language. From Anansi story of Ghana to Aunt Nancy story of the United States, I think when it is closer to slavery, civilization, and hierarchy, poor people are suffered more and had harder time. When it comes to U.S. Slave Spirituals and Secular Songs, they are implicitly expressing death. I was quite surprised that the word “Jordan” was meaning heaven and escaping from slavery. Slavers eager freedom as much as death. However, not only songs about slaver’s harsh life but also poetries of love and wisdom exists in Madagascar. People in that time used lots of metaphor to show what love is.

The enlightened view helped people to have their own reason and to have courage to say what is wrong and right. Government and religion had absolute power and were corrupted deeply. After The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the citizens, the revolutionary government started to rule by reason. Percy Shelley lived in romanticism era after the revolution.

Percy Shelley is a poet who wrote poetries in the era of French revolution. He is one of the icon of romanticism authors who describe the condition of the time. He has his own marked reason and thought of poetry. He wrote on A Defense of Poetry that “Poets are not only subject to these experiences as spirits of the most refined organization, but they can colour all that they combine with the evanescent hues of this ethereal world” The task of poetry for Shelley is reflecting the period of time in words and the reflection will be last long time. Poetry is a mirror which helps people understand better what the time used to be.

Shelley depicts the dark side of the time in poetries and, also, depicts frankly and provocatively the corruption and wrong points of England’s institution. He portrays the King as “the dregs of their dull race” and “Time’s worst statute, unrepealed” on the poetry “England in 1819”. By criticizing the corrupted government ruler, he implies the problems and how a new world should look like. He thought “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the World”.

17^th century was the era that was the beginning of social change such as rebellions for liberation from colonialism, slavery, and women’s right. People were deeply and severely pressed by their leaders so that it was hard to get out of someone’s tutelage. Kant’s approach was that we have to know how to have public use of reason by ourselves with courage to be enlightened.

I would like to connect this idea to my thought based on my perception. I had been familiar with learning by rote since I spent all of my school years in South Korea. Even though it was just 10 years ago, the way of learning was totally different from western world and the idea of Kant. I might live in a country that wasn’t affected by outside of the country so that it was so conservative. Having own thought and criticizing others are almost taboo in schools, works, and society. In classes, students never ask questions because teachers dislike having a different opinion with them. People did not critic political wrongdoings. Government controlled minority people who were against government although it is 21th century. We’ve had this kind of tutelage which is teaching and learning ideas by rote and we’ve banned to have our own reason. Thinking and criticizing ourselves with open mind would be arduous since many follow others’ set of idea. However, I believe self-incurred tutelage is necessary for developing ourselves.

I am unfamiliar with philosophical ideas but enlightenment is quite interesting for me. By moving to the States and having a kind of freedom of customary prejudice, enlightenment would follow as Kant says. Independent thinker is always right.