Cubism is considered the most influential art movement in early 20^th century. Pablo Picasso is the pioneer of this movement, and one of the two founders of Cubism. As we all known, Cubism is Picasso’s most famous and influential style, but few people know that simultaneity of vision is an important technique of Cubism, which means seeing the object from many angles at once. In Cubist artwork, instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, objects are broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form. The cubist artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints in order to represent the subject in a greater context.

I think Picasso’s painting Girl Before a Mirror in MOMA perfectly represents this technique of representing simultaneity. Girl Before a Mirror has been widely known for its varied interpretations of the lover and the beloved. In this painting, Picasso used colors and symbols to reveal conflicting facets of the same woman, his young mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter. The painting shows different ways Picasso viewed her and the ways that she viewed herself. The girl’s figure has been described as “simultaneously clothed, nude and X-rayed”. In this painting we can see that the woman and her image in the mirror are different. Picasso uses bright colors in her face to increase her beauty and show her youth, so that to represent her happy times from Picasso’s viewpoint. On the contrary, for the reflection in the mirror Picasso uses dark colors which make her look very old to represent her hate, unhappiness, and fear of losing her youth from her viewpoint.

GIRL BEFORE A MIRROR

Woolf represents in “A Sketch of the Past” that “Behind the cotton wool [of daily life] is hidden a pattern; that we—I mean all human beings—are connected with this…” It helps us to understand the relationships which Woolf describes in Mrs. Dalloway. Mrs. Dalloway appears as simply narrating the random events in one day of Clarissa, but actually is filled with hidden pattern of complicated connections between all characters. Woolf uses a comparison, “that the whole world is a work of art; that we are parts of the work of art” to explain how each individual fit into the relationships with others and intermingles mystically. This is how each individual takes effects to the world as a whole. Clarissa is the center who brings all other characters into the novel. Her steam of conscience constantly goes through the connections between them. Septimus shares the most similarities with Clarissa because of their similar mental state. They both are suffered by World War I, and both are traumatically experience the anxiety and depression which makes both of them have psychological problems but others don’t seem to recognize. They both are mentally lost and disconnected from society, lacking sense of identity. Richard, Peter and Sally are meaningfully related to Clarissa because of their romantic relationships with her. Richard is the one Clarissa doesn’t love at all but have to be with. Peter is the one Clarissa used to love but refuse to be with now. Sally is the one who can give Clarissa erotic thrill but Clarissa cannot be with. These three relationships are complicatedly intertwined in Clarissa’s mind. This is how Woolf forms characters’ connections.

Sheila stayed up very late last night to study for midterm exam, but forgot to set the alarm clock before going to bed. She got up half an hour late. She used only 5 minutes to dress up, then rushed out of the door, and ran as fast as she could to Q65 bus station. What’s worse, the bus made her wait for 20 minutes long, and almost not space for her to get in. It is so bad! It must indicate an unlucky day! After an extremely crowed ride, she got off the bus and transferred to 7 train with a very bad mood. It’s absolutely impossible to arrive on time. On 7 train, she was still thinking of materials that she reviewed last night. She felt tired and sleepy. How nice would be if there was a bed. Unconsciously, she fell asleep. Luckily, she didn’t miss her stop. After a hurry transfer to 6 train, she finally got to 23^rd street. It’s already half an hour late for the class. When she got out of the station, the warm sunshine, the blooming flowers, and the bright green grass shocked her sense of vision unexpectedly. The spring has come. It’s wonderful to smell the spring in the air! The tinges of spring woke her up, poured magical energy into her body, and got rid of her negative mood away. At this time, her good friend, Claire, came across. Claire knew Sheila must has studied for almost a whole night as usual, thus Claire told her not to do that often. Sheila slowed her pace down, still enjoying the spring, and walked into campus with Claire happily.

Freud’s “Family Romances” mainly illustrates how the conflicts faced in the liberation of an individual affect the formation of adult’s individuality (or personality, identity) and behavior shaped. The liberation means to become an individual by escaping over the course of childhood, from the absolute power and love of parents. Freud describes the liberation is a “necessary” and “most painful” progress. Some children have failed in this task then become a class of neurotics. Freud points out that the family romance is a fantasy production as a part of a movement of neurotic’s estrangement from his parents in order to accomplish the liberation. Freud defines two stages of the family romance, one before the onset of puberty and a later one with sexual overtones. At the early stage, conflicts begin to come up when a child’s “intellectual growth increases”, because a child comes to doubt his parents’ “incomparable and unique quality” which he believes all the time, and discover his parents are not as perfect as he considers. The child then often creates fictional stories about their origins, such as being adopted, and imagines his  “real” parents were much better, kinder, and more exalted than the imperfect people who were actually raising them. This entirely fabricated fictional stories(daydreams)made by children to comfort themselves are called “family romance”. Freud further notes that most family romances develop when a child’s “affection is not being fully reciprocated” as a means of “fulfilment of wishes and correction of actual life”. At the later stage, being aware of sexual relations between father and mother, the child then imagines as a bastard from her mother’s illicit sexual relationship with a noble father. In conclusion, the conflicts between the child’s wish and reality make the child a neurotic, and develop the child’s fictional activity (making family romances) as a result.

M. NourbeSe Philips’ poem “Discourse on the Logic of Language” mainly talks about the power of language in colonial contexts. According to Philips’ demonstration, language has the power of shaping identity. Philips points out that English, which is called the “Father language” in the poem, has been used as a tool/tactic for frustrating slaves’ self-realization and identity formation by the colonizers. In order to oppress slaves and gain power over them, the white slaveholders teach their slaves the “Father language” and punished “Slave caught speaking his native language” as a means of destroying their “mother tongue”. In the poem, the sentence “English / is my mother tongue / A mother tongue is not / not a foreign lan lan lang / language / l / anguish / – a foreign anguish” is the most impressive to me. Philips plays on the word “language,” repeating “lan” to represent that she cannot locate her mother-tongue because it has been severed from its cultural and linguistic origins. This sentence can also express the anguish of the African people under the brutality and the violence practiced by the colonizers. Philips’ poem relates to Douglass’s Narrative regarding to how white slaveholders gain power and retain slavery by keeping their slaves ignorant. Douglass uses his own experience to explain that the enforced ignorance robs slaves’ natural sense of individual identity. Slave owners keep slaves by depriving them of knowledge and education in order to prevent them from pursuing freedom. In short, Philips and Douglass illustrate the same tactic of how white slaveholders control their slaves.

Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley is one of the earliest examples of science fiction. After watching two clips, I feel that James Whale and Kenneth Branagh both have successfully adapted Shelley’s novel for a film. Compared to Shelley’s original story, although both directors made some changes to convey different aspects, both films contain powerful images which enhance the story and create a lasting impression on the viewers. The creation scene of the creature is one of the most significant scenes in the book, and also the important scene that contains the main different interpretations between the novel and the films. In Shelley’s Frankenstein, as the creature opens his eyes, Victor is horrified by his creation, which leads him to flee instantly and refuse to make further contact. Shelley focuses on the terrifying nature of  Victor’s creation and how he immediately regrets it as the creature comes to life. In Whale’s and Kenneth’s adaptations, the horrified emotional state Shelley interprets in her book is weakened a lot. Whale represents Frankenstein as excited and thrilled to see his creation, yelling “It’s Alive! It’s Alive” madly, and adding “Now I know what it feels like to be a God.” Branagh’s interpretation brings elements from Shelley’s and Whale’s depiction together and takes the physical intimacy between Frankenstein and the Creature to a whole new level. In Branagh’s creation scene, Victor is excited to see his creation coming to life at the beginning, his emotional state changes very quickly as he realizes the horrifying nature of the creature and wonders “What have I done?” Branagh conveys both the excitement and the regretful emotions of Victor in the same scene. Another interesting aspect of the scene, which is a new addition to Shelly’s depiction, is how Branagh represents the creation scene similar to a child’s birth from a womb.

Descartes is a notable French philosopher of the 17^th century. He made huge contribution to both philosophy and mathematics. Discourse on Method written by Descartes is definitely one of the most influential and important works in history of modern science, as well as philosophy. At the beginning of this book, Descartes mentions that all people possess “good sense”, which is “off all things among men, the most equally distributed” (page 1). It’s very important to figure out the most precise meaning of this phrase, because it is the central premise of the following arguments. I was confused about what Descartes means at the beginning. In our common understanding, “good sense” means the ability to make the right decision about something. However, according to Descartes’s following descriptions, I got that “good sense” doesn’t mean intelligence, it means to reason, specific refers to the ability of using intelligence to distinguish truth from fiction. In this book, Descartes attempt to explain his method of reasoning. He claims that never accept anything as true or trust anything that we cannot verify ourselves based on our own observations. Because sense data, awareness, common elements of all possible experience are all dubious. I totally agree on his idea of skepticism and rationalism. Especially in study, we shouldn’t believe everything that others tell us, even knowledge from textbooks or professors. We should doubt, think and tell the truth. In applying the method, Descartes derives the basic truth of his own existence by stating the famous lines in part four “I, who was thinking this, was •something. And observing that this truth I am thinking, therefore I exist was so firm and sure that not even the most extravagant suppositions of the sceptics could shake it, I decided that I could accept it without scruple as the first principle of the philosophy I was seeking”(page 15). He claims the certainty of his own existence. If he thinks, then he necessarily exists. Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore, I am) later become a fundamental element of Western philosophy, as it was perceived to form a foundation for all knowledge. In part four, Descartes also finds out independence of mind from the body with the lines “I was a substance whose whole essence or nature is simply to think [here = ‘to be in conscious mental states’], and which doesn’t need any place, or depend on any material thing, in order to exist. Accordingly this me—this soul that makes me what I am—•is entirely distinct from the body” (page 15). Then he goes on to prove the existence of God. He claims that God implants perception of perfection in the imperfect him by stating “•something that truly was more perfect than I was, •something indeed having every perfection of which I could have any idea, that is—to explain myself in one word—by •God” (page 16). Descartes’s philosophy is difficult for me, but it’s really interesting to follow his thought path. I feel like solving mathematic problems.

Walt Whitman’s song of myself teaches us that we should have hopeful and optimistic attitude towards the world and ourselves. Walt Whitman celebrates himself in the poem and hangs out with his soul. He explains how much he loves the world, especially nature. By considering a child’s question “What is the grass?” at the beginning of the poem, he realizes the ties the grass has to the people, nature, and the universe as a whole. He states his idea that every form of life on earth is equally wonderful in section 31 with the lines “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars, and the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren…” Then he compares humans to other animals to point out how animals have a healthy attitude toward life with lines in section 32 “They do not sweat and whine about their condition, They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things, Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago, Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.”

I’ve graduated from a famous university in China, and work several years there. Four years ago, I moved to the U.S.A.. I made a very important decision right after I got here, which was to study for another degree at Baruch College. As an ESL student in this great college, I often have moments of self-doubt. Voice in my head tells me that I am not smart enough to get good grades, also not experienced and outstanding enough to get a good job. Gradually, I lack of confidence, fear and anxiety comes up. Walt Whitman’s poem encourages me a lot. He tells me that different types of people in life show their individual significance, and each contributes to comprise humanity as a whole. I should learn to celebrate myself as he does, love myself as he does, and find how wonderful I am as he does.