In Sigmund Freud’s “Family Romances,” he discusses the stages of child growth which is considered both a “painful” yet essential development. At first, the child views his parents as the main source of both power and confidence. As the child grows and learns of other parents, the idea of comparison occurs where the child then realizes their parents are not as unique as they once seemed. This leads to doubt towards their parents. Later on, the child begins to feel neglected by their parents and develops negative feelings towards them. They decide to pay them back through their imagination of belonging to wealthier parents. I believe this is where the connection of conflict and individuality takes place. The child undergoes “conflict” when they feel abandoned by their parents revealing a lack of individuality as they are still very dependent on their parents. Progression from this stage arises when the child has learned about child birth which assures their mothers role in their life. This also results in the insecurity of the role of their father. The idea of the Oedipus complex takes place when the child begins to have sexual fantasies with their mother engaging in infidelity. Freud ends his “Family Romances” with the idea that all of these events have taken place only because the primary intention of the child is to relive their happiest moments with their parents. The connection of conflict and individuality is clearly present throughout “Family Romances” as it is clear that all along the child feels conflict due to lack of individuality from his parents.

M. NourbeSe Philips’ reading of “Discourse on the Logic of Language” relates to Frederick Douglass’s life through “anguish,” slavery, and language. The poem mentions the prevention of slaves speaking to one another in order to avoid any rebellion. It also mentions that any slave seen speaking to another slave in their native languages would face punishment by their owners. These punishments were so brutal they even included the removal of the slave’s tongue. This reminds me of a portion in the narrative of Frederick Dougass where he speaks of the slaves being “ranked” and equal to animals. He also spoke about a time called the “division” stating he had no “language to express the high excitement and deep anxiety which were felt among us poor slaves during this time. (40)” I believe this relates to the poem regarding the lack of “language” slaves had. The poem also contains a technique in enunciating specific words in order to give importance to what they needed the reader to understand. An example of this is when the reader introduces the idea of a slave’s “mother tongue.” The idea of language plays a very important role in both “Discourse on the Logic of Language” and Frederick Douglass’ “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass”.

The Lamb (Yao Lin)
In my opinion, I think the creature is more like lamb after I have read both two poems. “Dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life, and bid thee feed” (3). The creature is just like a lamb and like a naive baby. He had no idea about who brought him to this world and why he existed in this world. He did not understand that why all humans disliked him and why they called him a monster. “For he calls himself a lamb. He is meek & he is mild” (15). Frankenstein was a smart man with a good soul. He just wanted to prove his theory and to save more lives in this world. The experiment was successful, but Frankenstein did not teach creature how to be a virtuous and useful man. Frankenstein was abandoned him and left him alone. As people says, by nature, all human being are kind. No one was born with evil. Our creature was a good example, I can feel that he was so virtuous and innocent when he was hiding in De Lacey’s neighborhood. He helped and protected the family for no reason and the only thing he wanted are friends as well as family. He desired to have cares and loves. “For so I loved, in an innocent, half painful self-deceit, to call them” (Shelly, 84). I believe love can change him. When he had love, his hatreds would all be gone. Therefore, I think he would be like a meek and mild lamb which would carry with people’s correct directions and loves. As a consequence, he would not be a crime and would not be an inhuman killer.

The Tiger (Kendra Doshi)
I believe that the tiger best exemplifies the creature in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. In the poem, the tiger was described as an animal with “dread hands” and “dread feet.” The poet also goes on to describe this tiger by saying, “what immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry.” The tiger is automatically associated with danger and fear and I believe Frankenstein was also viewed in this manner. When Frankenstein was created, Victor, the scientist, felt automatic anxiety from his creation: “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” Victor displays his disappointment due to the appearance of the creature regardless of the large amount of time spent on his creation. Frankenstein’s appearance was also described in a ferocious way like the tiger when portrayed by Victor: “His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes…” Victor choose the word “horrid” in order express his opinions on the appearance of his creation and for these reasons I believe the tiger best represents Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s novel.

The portrayal of the birth of Frankenstein from the clips and Mary Shelley’s novel are displayed completely differently. In both clips, the scientists are extremely excited throughout the scene of Frankenstein’s birth. In the clip by James Whale once Frankenstein moves his arm revealing life, the scientist is so enthusiastic to the point that he believes he knows what it feels like to “be God.” This reveals his pride in his creation of Frankenstein. In the clip by Kenneth Branagh, the scene of Frankenstein’s birth reveals enthusiasm as well through his choice of background music. The scene displays the scientist’s excitement when Frankenstein opens his eyes after the sparks caused by the machinery. In Mary Shelley’s novel however, Victor, the scientist, feels automatic anxiety by Frankenstein’s appearance once he has come to life: “I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.” In this scene it almost looks as though the scientist regrets his hard work and invested time in the creation of Frankenstein. Thus, both clips reveal a more prideful scientist whereas in the novel the scientist is displeased with his creation.

Rene Descartes’ “Discourse on the Method” discusses the process of creating a philosophy regarding thoughts and their relation to existence. I believe that his approach on viewing everything he knew as false was a very clever way in beginning this journey to create his philosophy. The fact that he focused so much on thinking everything to be false led him to realize that he was thinking, which was something he could not state was false. The fact that he knew he was thinking led him to realize he was alive, which was also something he could not deny. This led to Descartes’ first principle which stated that thoughts are vital in order to be considered existent. From this idea came his next which was that doubting meant imperfection. He also realized that truth meant perfection and because he discovered his first truth, his existence due to thought, he had some capabilities of perfection. This then allowed him to focus on where his perfection came from which he then stated was from God. I am a very religious person and thus agree with his idea of perfection coming from God. In Christianity, it is ideal for each person to live the closest to God’s image as we can. This means we should try our best to refrain from sin, help those in need, etc. I agree with Descartes who stated that imperfection does not come from God. Descartes also mentioned that one’s soul is considered separate from one’s body. In my religion, it is said that when one passes away their body remains in the earth yet their soul rises up to heaven. Because of this, I can understand why Descartes separates one’s soul from one’s body. I then decided to look up what Rene Descartes religion was and discovered he was Roman Catholic, which explains his belief on the soul and body being two separate components. Overall, I found this piece by Descartes to be extremely complex as well as interesting.

Reading Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself” encouraged me to reflect on my own personal daily journey to Baruch. The line in the poem “I hear the sound I love, the sound of the human voice, I hear all sounds running together, combined, fused or following” depicts exactly what comes to mind during my commute to school every morning. There are many different conversations taking place throughout my daily train ride and the sound has truly “infused” into one similar sound that exhibits a typical train ride in New York. As a college student born and raised in New York, the line “my tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air” relates to me. I decided to stay in New York throughout my college career because I felt that during my time as a college student I would be building myself into the person I would remain for the rest of my life. College is a life changing experience and having the privilege of continuing to grow in the place I have called home throughout my entire life is an honor. Although I am very prideful of my hometown, my daily commute to Baruch is not an easy one. From overly crowded train rides to train delays it can become a bit overwhelming. The line in Walt Whitman’s poem “I accept Reality and dare not question it” stood out to me because it is something that I do on a daily basis. I have accepted my reality of college student struggles without question because it is clear to me that the result will always outweigh any negatives I may face today.