Creative Blog #2

College: The one thing every child, student, and friend is told they are going to attend one day. Personally, I have known that I was going to attend college since before I can rememer. Every grade that I receieved and all the effort I put in to succeeding and doing well in school, was aimed at maintaing high grades in order to get into a top-notch school. Whether this was in elementary school working hard to get into a good middle school, or in middle school striving to get into a top-notch colelge prepatory high school, I have been working hard in order to reach that point of impressing colleges with all that I have done. Now, this isn't to say that I haven't enjoyed or benefited from the education along the way, but maintaing a good transcript has also been a primary goal. Now, I also know that I am not alone in what I am saying and that is because there are many more students out there like me.

The main problem for me arises in the fact that I have now reached that primary goal through all the hard work and late nights to get into college, but where do I go from here? I haven't heard much about what to do once I have gotten into college. Sure, you're supposed to still work hard, and earn a degree, but I wonder if I am still going to be aiming to reach the next rung on the ladder or if I am going to be actually enjoying myself in college and beyond. I have conformed so much to the societal standard of working hard and receiving a good education that I am not sure where anything else fits in. I wonder if my life will be lived continously how it is now, which is looking toward the future and making sure that everything I do now will be a stepping stone to succeed. I worry if students and children like me are brought up on too much conforming to society instead of branching out and living for oursleves, which consists of living more in the moment.


Disclaimer: Not everyone might live like what I described....

Creative Blog #1

While tabloids, magazines, and t.v. shows fictionally portray the life of an average teenager, real teenage girls today are pressured into conforming to take on their same appearance. Girls feel as though they must look just like the girls on the magazines who weigh 100  pounds or less. They watch t.v. shows that relate to their life, yet they find that their physical appearance does not match up. Studies have shown that girls have taken drastic measures to be skinny and to enhance their physical appearance, such as getting surgical procedures. The actions of typical girls now are the epitome of dangers of conformity.

Intro Paragraph..

Outside pressures that cause individuals to conform present both positive benefits and dangerous consequences. Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis" explores the dangers of conforming that main character, Gregor Samsa experiences when he turns into a large bug. Gregor's physical and mental presence represent two very different spectrum of emotions; while Gregor's body replicates a chaotic and sporadic insect, his mind remains strictly intact and conforms to the environment that he is in. This mental mindset is evident in the fact that when Gregor wakes up as a bug, he is only concerned with catching the next train and getting to work on time so that his boss doesn't scold him.The danger arises in the disconnect between Gregor's mind and body; the fact that his body is incapable of performing any of the tasks demanded by his mind, makes him a dysfunctional being. In addition to an example of the dangers to conformity, there are some benefits to conforming. Most notably, in the field of education, outside pressures to conform, such as classmates, teachers, and parents help promote receiving a good education in order to succeed in the future. Furthermore, while pressures to conform cause individuals to not think for themselves, but only for the collective, a beneficial aspect of conforming becomes apparent, as seen when it comes to education.

Leaderless Discussion, My thoughts...

When discussing conformity and if education should be used to facilitate both conformity and the pratice of freedom, I came to the conclusion that education is the backbone to one's success. And if that means that one must conform to learning the facts that are taught in school, then that is okay because these are the basic skills that one needs to succeed in the futre. By learning social skills and how to react to different situations, education helps an individual analyze both sides of a situation and allows them to take up their own opinion. However, this being said there are some cases in which conforming can be dangerous. If one sticks to closely to a social ideal or standard, rather than seeing the situation in their own eyes, then there is no diversity in thoughts or opinions

I plan to focus my essay on Kafka and conformity. I would like to note how in some situations, such as Gregor's, conforming can prove to be a dangerous. I would also like to focus on how Gregor skillfully represents both sides of chaos and conformity. Maybe I can take an in depth look at both sides of the spectrum and the effects of each. Lastly, I would like to include some of my findings from the interview I plan to have with my grandfather.

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#1. The images are definitely humourous. I had a specific image in my head of what Gregor looked like, but seeing the graphic novel definitely changed my view. Although in saying this I like having the graphic novel by my side and visually seeing how everything plays out. I had always imagined Gregor still looking a bit human but the graphic novel helps confirm that he truly is a bug and really gives justice to his "metamorphosized" state. I think that Kuper chose to put it in black and white so as to not give too much detail about Gregor; this way the reader can still intrepret Gregor's color and surroundings for themselves. I appreciate his decision.

#4 I think that Kafka does. In reading the novel the desciptions of Gregor are more in depth but seem to be less harsh than the picture descriptions in the graphic novels.

Group Dynamics

During our fishbowl activity in class yesterday, I was able to view the dynamic from both an insider and outsider perspective. While on the inside of the leaderless discussion, I observed the flow of ideas. Each member of our group threw out several ideas that we all let sink in. Once someone would state their opinion on a question, such as "does civilization make people better or worse," others had time to form their own opinions and to state where they agreed and disagreed. Overall, I felt like we had an organized and healthy discussion that allowed people to express their ideas, others to feed on those ideas, and as a result new views were generated. 

From an outsider perspective, I was able to observe the fluidity of the discussion and how the group members cooperated together as a whole. If ever one person maybe went off topic, another member would assure them that it's okay and that they were "building." this type of encouragement among members made it a positive environment where ideas could flow freely. I felt like people were comfortable owning their ideas and expressing their opinions. A lot of great questions were brought up as well that helped some people think and search deeper in their analysis and ideas. Overall, looking from both the inside and the outside of our fishbowl activity, a great flow of ideas were generated and the eagerness of each  member to exchange ideas with one another lead to a positive environment and effective group dynamics.  

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Marlow's journey into Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" explores how far the human mind and body are willing to go when no restrictions are placed on condemnable actions. The dream-like environment of The Heart of Darkness is described as being absent of rules, restrictions, and limitations that would normally halt an individual from pursuing his deepest, darkest desires. Here, in the heart of darkness an individual's id is allowed to triumph and any desires or temptations that might have been subdued in a civilized society are able to manifest. This carefree and dominant lifestyle is best demonstrated by the jungle's master ivory collector, Kurtz. Marlow develops an obsessive fascination with Kurtz and continues his journey into the heart of darkness in order to investigate the powerful figure that Kurtz represents. Marlow represents the perspective of an outsider looking in; he brings his societal values and morals with him into the Congo, and therefore judges each of the situations he is in with much discretion. His outsider perspective sparks his fascination in this dream like world. His assessments of Kurtz's actions places Kurtz as both a God-like figure who controls all, and as an evil-minded being who lacks human emotion. Although the reader, through Marlow's point of view, witnesses the powerful and domineering personality of Kurtz, analysis of psychoanalytic criticism and a deeper glance into the heart of darkness reveals that at some point even in a dream like world there is a breaking point and that Kurtz's power to control actually results from him succumbing to the temptations from the jungle; in actuality the Heart of Darkness controls Kurtz, not the other way around.