11/17/14

In class, Dr. Quillin discussed the historical context within which The Odyssey was written. Using your notes on this lecture, discuss how you think why it was necessary to develop an oral tradition during the Greek Dark Ages and what you think happens to that oral tradition once it is written down.

During the Greek Dark Age, I think it was necessary to develop an oral tradition because at that point the tradition of writing had halted, and verbal communication would be their only way to preserve their stories. Without the singers, they wouldn't have a way to tell their stories, but they also wouldn't have a way to preserve them. Once the oral tradition is written down, there would be less of a need for singers or word of mouth in general to tell stories, because everyone, or most people, would be able to have access to the storers, versus a group of people having to verbally tell it. The written down stories would also be better preserved because there would be less variations of the same story, since it wasn't based solely on word of mouth.

Halloween 2014

My Halloween was not very exciting. I stayed home, and a few of my cousins came over to my house, as they do every Friday. Every Friday, my mom's side of the family comes over and we all eat Burger King and hang out with each other. After most of my family left, a few of my cousins such around and we taught my two year old cousin, Hannah, how to tell people to "shut up". We mainly just laid around my house on our phones, talking and laughing all night.

Maus from The Conflict Theorist's Perspective

The reason that Vladek's story played out the way it did is because he was Jewish, and Jews were the underdogs in society. Non-jews had the upper hand and were able to not only avoid persecution, but also inflicted persecution upon Jews purely based on their social hierarchy.

10/18/14 Post

Prompt: What do you think some of the challenges might be in drawing another person's story. What might be some of the advantages? Why?

I think that one of the challenges of drawing someone else's story would be that you wouldn't have the firsthand experience of what you're trying to portray, so you might have to be creative and fill in gaps as realistically as you can just based on descriptions that your'e given. I think an advantage would be that you would be able to look at it more objectively and you would have a less biased view, so it would be closer to the truth of what it actually looked like.

Maktub

Throughout The Alchemist the word maktub is used repeatedly by many different characters. The word, defined by the Crystal Merchant to Santiago, means "it is written" (59). The word is generally used when Santiago is about to start a new quest or a new journey in his life. It almost seems like an assurance to Santiago, letting him see the bigger picture and helping him remember the role of fate. As we learned in class, fate tends to cooperate with the hero who is achieving his quest. "It is written" (59) seems to mean it is written in your future, which reinforces the idea of the Soul of the World and the Hand that Wrote All, or the idea of God.

9/29 post

Santiago is a Shepherd boy from Andalusia, Spain, and is the protagonist of The Alchemist. He is curious to learn about the world around him, so he chooses to travel around Spain and be a shepherd instead of being a priest like his parents wanted him to be. Santiago has a dream leading him to Egypt to find treasure, per King Melchizedek teaching him about Personal Legends. As Santiago’s journey goes on, he becomes more curious about the Soul of the World. As he crosses the desert with The Alchemist, he learns more about the Soul of the World through listening to his heart. Ultimately, he learns most from looking at the omens around him.

due 5/22

Prompt: On page 24, the king of Salem tells Santiago, "When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it." Do you believe that this is true? Why or why not?

I do not think this is necessarily true, despite the fact that I really want it to be. I think that in this world we make person decisions and set personal goals, and we work towards accomplishing them ourselves, without the help of the universe. I think that the universe just exists and does its thang without intermingling with our ambitions.