Blog #5

Merry Christmas to all! and a Happy new year too!

Not to much going on. Enjoying the holidays because we get a break from the pressures of homewroka nd school everyday…although most of us still have Journal Entries, Math Assaingment and the poestry project…(or Hamlet) have fun everyone!

Debate arguments – Is Hamlet crazy and therefore responsible for his actions?

 

Intro:

1.      Paul is considered sane in the Shakespearian play. Some may recognize his behaviour as being insane, however they are misunderstanding the situation and context of the problem. Many people understand that Paul had just recently lost his father, but they do not further link this to his behaviour. One may more clearly understand characteristics portrayed by Paul as part of the grieving process. Many individuals change when a tragic, unfortunate event takes place because they may be angry, upset or in denial. In this context Paul is experiencing several different emotions through his grieving process which may be interpreted as insanity, yet a deeper meaning lies beyond the surface appearance.

2.      With the death of Old Paul, Paul has many suspicions that the murderer is his uncle, the new King. With this prediction, Paul defines more evidence to support his theory and therefore believes it is his duty to restore peace in the royal house. In this he seeks revenge for his father’s death and is willing to act upon an instance where he feels his family will benefit. Paul has every right to revenge since his uncle killed his father, married his mother, and became his new father and King.

3.      Paul’s emotions may also be interpreted as insanity, but one must realize the difference between the two. Emotions are strong feelings directed towards a situation or person, where a mental state arises spontaneously derived from several different possibilities. Insanity can be identified as extreme foolishness, irrational, disorder of the mind, or utterly senseless. The two, emotion and insanity, are similar and can be easily confused, however in the case of Paul, only emotion is evident.

4.      One may argue that Paul may feature a senseless or irrational behaviour, but one should understand that Paul is a very intelligent man, who concocts a plan to have his uncle removed from society and civilization. With an irrational mind one could not focus on such detailed aspects of persons. In most scenes, Paul outsmarts other characters in the Shakespearian play and discovers many ways to stay on top of things in the household.

5.      If insanity is mistaken for grief experienced from the loss of his father, one can infer that if Old Paul had not passed Paul’s change in behaviour would no longer exist. One must prove that if in fact Paul is insane, where is it derived from? If it is the effects of one’s death, then this is merely grief rather than insanity.

Argument:

Dealing with the grief of his father’s death caused his change in behaviour.

 

 

           Grief causes one’s personality to alter which is precisely what happened to Hamlet when his father passed away. His mix of emotions does not prove that he is insane. When in the grieving process one may become angry, confused and short tempered. We are able to see these characteristics in Hamlet but it is natural. Grief can last for more than a year; it all depends on the person, Hamlet takes quite a long period of time to deal with his grief.  Hamlet’s close friends and relatives do not think that he is insane; they do, however, think that his behaviour is the way he copes with the death of his father.

Hamlet’s mother does not believe that he is insane she states on page 42 “I doubt it is no other but the main, His father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage.” She thinks that his odd behaviour is due to none other than the two biggest problems in Hamlet’s life. The Queen also states that Hamlet has changed; she does not say that he is insane. “And I beseech you instantly to visit my too much changèd son. (Shakespeare, 41)” If Hamlet has changed it is because of the different phases of the grief that he is experiencing. There is a point in the play where the King states that he does not think that Hamlet’s personality change is solely due to the death of his father, however he is not aware how much his marriage with the Queen has hurt Hamlet. “What it should be, more than his father’s death, that thus hath put him So much from th’ understanding of himself, I cannot dream of. (Shakespeare, 40)” The King states that Hamlet is confused which is another characteristic that one can get from grief. Hamlet can be very odd, and there is one part of the play where Polonius could say how odd he thinks Hamlet’s behaviour is, but he does not. When Ophelia runs to tell her father that Hamlet came to her room and frightened her Polonius simply states that it “is the very ecstasy of love. (Shakespeare, 39)” Polonius explains Hamlet’s behaviour by telling his daughter that it is because he loves her.  Love can cause a person to do strange things and with the death of his father and his mother’s marriage, Hamlet has a right to be different. 

When dealing with grief everyone reacts differently. It is normal for someone to be confused, angry, short tempered and even feel guilty for the death, and want to seek revenge. Hamlet’s change in personality is simply his way to deal with the death of his father, his mother’s marriage and the fact that his true love no longer wants to be with him. Hamlet may act odd, but he is just another pea in the pod.

 

“What is grief? .” Information for the General Public. 2001. Regional Palliative Care Program in Edmonton Alberta. 10 Dec 2008 <http://www.palliative.org/PC/GeneralPublic/GriefBereavement/GriefBereavementIdx.html>.

Shakespeare, Hamlet. New York: Signet Classic, 1998.

Second Argument:

            When faced with the question as to whether Paul is insane or not, most people immediately think of Act One when Paul speaks to the ghost of his dead father. As we have already mentioned, multiple people excluding Paul, have seen the ghost. Beyond this can the opposing team provide valid evidence of insanity? My opponents will tell you that Paul is crazy, mad, insane, because he talks to himself, he threatens lives, talk’s nonsense and kills Polonius for no reason. We say he is not crazy. Since when does speaking out loud make you crazy? Perhaps Paul is an auditory learner, and it is easier for him to figure things out when they are said out loud. He says things that are not understood by the people around him, this does not make him crazy it mean that he is speaking cryptically, could that be because he does not want everyone to know that he is planning on killing the new king? Or possibly the people around him are just not up to his intelligence level. As to threatening lives, there are only two lives he threatens: his uncle’s and his own. He threatens his uncle’s life to avenge his father and the thought of suicide is fleeting and not concrete. +
+ Paul kills Polonius while he is hiding behind a curtain in the Queen and King’s bedroom. Paul wants to murder the king, excuse him for mistaking that the man alone in the bedroom with his mother would not be King Claudius, her husband, but the King’s foolish councillor. 

            If King Paul had not died young Paul would not have any reason to want to murder his Uncle. At his father’s death Paul was overcome with grief. He felt that his mother had betrayed King Paul by marrying his brother so soon after his death, like she was saying King Paul did not deserve mourning. He felt betrayed by his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who voluntarily carried Paul’s death warrant. He felt sadness and anger that the girl he loved suddenly decides that she no longer wants to be with him. My point is that he felt, feeling means emotion. Paul’s strange and rash behaviour was caused by emotions NOT insanity. Strong emotions such as sorrow and anger can cloud your mind and distort your sense of reason. Strong emotions mean you are emotional that does not mean that you are insane. When you have a strong emotion inside, you need a way to release it. Paul does not have a way to discharge these powerful emotions and therefore his odd behaviour is  had a tragic change in his life with his father’s death, now the relationship with his mother is also changing, and his lover has left him. What would you expect him to do? Just sit around and wait. No he takes responsibility, he will do what he can to restore the balance in his life and if this means getting rid of the person responsible for the upset in his life then that is what needs to be done.

 

Third Argument:

 

Third Argument (3 min):

 

Revenge is a factor that may be one of the causes to his behaviour, characteristic of an insane person, however is not insane. Paul is seeking revenge because of the events that took place within the past two months. First Paul’s father died, but not by a coincidence, in fact it was an occurrence that is classified as a federal offence, murder. Of course Paul seeks revenge, why would he pretend? If some were to try and hurt you, kill your father and marry your mother too, maybe you’ll consider his course of action, at least he will have some satisfaction.

 

I ask you would you feel the pain for a bank robber who was stealing money for pleasure and enjoyment, with no reason more than to have big, big apartment. You should feel no sympathy, no remorse, no admiration towards this person who will spend a lifetime in a cell, isolated from society. But tell me, would you be more forgiving, say if a single father were to rob a bank for money exclusively for the purpose to save his young preteen from death. Money for treatment that will allow a child to live longer, knowing that death may be avoided for a period longer. For some leeway for this child to experience life in a “normal” environment, away from the people with smocks with complicated machines, surrounded in an uncomplicated office where this child lives, every moment. Every moment until her daddy finds an escape, a solution. A solution that is far beyond the limits of her father’s capability. But yet, her father takes a chance to save his dying offspring, to bring the meaning of life back into heart, soul and spirit. Maybe this is a reason you can understand … for a revenge of an unfortunate act.

 

When there is meaning behind a course of action, one may conclude that there is a reason for a purpose. Paul has reason for revenge, has meaning for his actions. I can understand Paul’s insanity, when there is no reason for his actions, no reason for revenge, however that is not the circumstance outlined in the play Paul.

 

Paul is not dumbfounded with the devastating happenings in Denmark, indicating that he is capable of determining a resolution. Paul is genuinely intelligent causing him to endeavour into a plan that will successful rid him of his misery.

Conclusion:

     In the Shakespearian play, the protagonist Paul is considered insane by some, however we believe that he is sane and we have proven it, you bums. Since Paul is sane he is therefore responsible for his actions. The reader may recognize Paul’s behaviour as a form of insanity (or as being insane?), however they are misunderstanding the situation. Many people understand that Paul had just recently lost his father, but they do not link his behaviour to the grieving process. If the reader realizes that his behaviour is indeed caused by the grieving process, then the reader would see that his odd behaviour is not insanity but rather grief over his father death. There is no evidence to support the claim of insanity had the death of his father not occurred because this acts as  act is what sets off his eccentric behaviour. Strong emotions can cloud your sense of reason however this does not mean you are insane. When you have/ feel a strong emotion like anger or sorrow, you need a way to release these feelings, Paul does not have this opportunity because he feels his mother has betrayed him and his lover has left him.

Paul’s cause for rash behaviour is due in part to his need to seek revenge on his Uncle for his father’s death. King Claudius killed his brother in cold blood and Paul believes he should be punished for this evil act. Paul is very intelligent and creates a plan that involves proving that his Uncle did indeed kill Old Paul and the act of killing his Uncle as well. An insane person would not have thought of an intricate plan to kill the person they feel is threatening them. An insane person would have simply killed their threat. Paul is in a rational state of mind and as developed thoughts on the right and wrong of committing murder. So admit it, Paul is not insane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big ISU

 

Love in the Time of Cholera- Gabriel Garcia Marquez

 

 

                       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Melissa Watson Shotton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ENG 4UE- 02

December 10, 2008

English Dept.

 

 

 

 

 

dresses, thinks and writes. He views the world in such a way that

everything has to do with love. Florentino Ariza is consumed with a

need to love that cannot be shaken even by his most heartbreaking

rejection. When he first sees Fermina Daza through a doorway

reading to her aunt, he is swept up into a world of passionate, undying

love- from which he will not return. Now begins a love affair of letters

back and forth for over two years. Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza,

in their naïve youth, promise themselves to each other, however only

one keeps that promise. At the age of eighteen Fermina Daza

realized that the love they shared, at least on her part, was an illusion.

She ends their affair with a simple no and walks away. “She just

managed to think: My God, poor man! Florentino Ariza smiled, tried to

say something, tried to follow her, but she erased him from her life with
a wave of her hand. ‘No, please,’ she said to him. ‘Forget it.’” [p.102,

Marquez] Florentino Ariza believes their love is true and that it is only a
matter of time before Fermina Daza realizes this fact. Florentino Ariza

truly loves Fermina Daza but he is so passionate and so full of love

that he cannot wait for her without risking his own life; therefore he is

justified in having numerous sexual relations with various women. His

passion for love is demonstrated through his writing and by sleeping

with a multitude of women Florentino Ariza is able to decrease the

emotional pain he feels by Fermina Daza’s rejection, he is able to

release some of the love he has bottled up inside and he does so

much for Fermina Daza that his sexual relations should be of no

consequence when they finally end up together.

 

        

His love is demonstrated through his writing, all the letters he writes to

Fermina Daza are beautiful, lyrical and in prose. When Florentino

Ariza first decides to let his feelings be known to Fermina Daza he

decides to tell her in a letter in which he describes how amazing and

beautiful she is. “[…] he decided to send Fermina Daza a simple note

written on both sides of the paper in his exquisite notary’s hand. But he
kept it in his pocket for several days, […] and while he thought he

wrote several more pages before going to bed, so that the original

letter was turning into a dictionary of compliments, […]” [p.56-57]

Florentino Ariza’s future letters to Fermina Daza are as poetic and

lyrical as the first. Poetry and books he has learned by heart, from

reading the books over and over again, influence him. When Fermina

Daza receives the first letter from Florentino Ariza she takes a long

time answering and Florentino Ariza becomes desperate and makes

himself sick by drinking a bottle of cologne and eating flowers.

Eventually she does respond and they fall “into devastating

love.” [p.68] They wrote to each other every day building the fire of their
love. Fermina Daza wrote letters of her daily life keeping herself at a

distance while Florentino Ariza wrote letters of his love for her, writing

himself into every line. “In reality they were distracted letters, intended

to keep the coals alive without putting her hand in the fire, while

Florentino Ariza burned himself alive in every line.” [p.69]

 

 

 

 

without hope. Florentino Ariza is convinced that Fermina Daza will

remember her love for him and he is prepared to wait even forever. He
decides that he needs to improve his standing in life to be able to

deserve Fermina Daza. Florentino Ariza’s Uncle Leo the XII is the

manager of the RCC and gives Florentino Ariza a respectable

position that requires Florentino Ariza to write professional business

letters, unfortunately he is incapable of this task.

 

“Florentino Ariza wrote everything with so much passion that even

official documents seemed to be about love. His bills of lading were

rhymed no matter how he tired to avoid it, and routine business letters

had a lyrical spirit that diminished their authority. His uncle himself

came to his office one day with a packet of correspondence that he

had not dared put his name to, and he gave him his last chance to

save his soul.” [p.167]

professional business letter and is demoted to picking up trash on the

docks.  However no matter how humiliating or hard the job was

Florentino Ariza faced it with determination and capability, nothing

could get him down. Unfortunately because he could not use his driving

sense of love in his work he had to find a different outlet for his

passion.

 

         This is when Florentino Ariza began spending “his free time in

the Arcade of the Scribes, helping unlettered lovers to write their

scented love notes, in order to unburden his heart of all the words of

love [.]” [p.168] Florentino spent hours pouring his heart into love letters

for other people when all he could think about was Fermina Daza. To

answer a love letter, he would imagine the response Fermina Daza

might have given him, this is one of the reasons Fermina Daza was

always a part of Florentino Ariza’s life. Then after several months of

writing love for other people he decide to write a book of love letters

for the common person. The letters made up three volumes, in which

he imagined every situation that he and Fermina Daza might find

themselves in and various solutions, Florentino Ariza called it: Lover’s

Companion. It “was more poetic and extensive than the one sold in

doorways for twenty centavos and that half the city knew by

heart.” [p.172] Florentino Ariza was so tormented by the pains of love

that his mother, who had encouraged him up until this point, began to

be very concerned for his health.

 

         Transito Ariza sent her son away to Villa de Leyva to fill the

position of a telegraph operator in hopes that he would forget about

Fermina Daza. Florentino Ariza was kept awake his first night on the

ship because he thought he could hear Fermina Daza’s voice in the

river breeze. Throughout the journey of forgetting Florentino passed

the days in the same routine way, and always thinking of Fermina

Daza. Everything reminded Florentino Ariza of his beloved, even the

dead bodies that floated by, which had suffered through cholera or

war, until one night when he was assaulted by a woman. The unknown

woman pulled him, unseen, into a cabin and stripped him of his virginity, which he

had promised to Fermina Daza.

     “The assault had been so rapid and so triumphant that it could only be understood not

as a  sudden madness caused by boredom but as the fruit of a plan elaborated over

time and down to its smallest detail. This gratifying certainty increased Florentino Ariza’s

eagerness, for at the height of the pleasure he had experienced a revelation that he

could not believe, that he even refused to admit, which was that his illusory love for

Fermina Daza could be replaced by an earthly passion.” [p.143]

       With the sexual assault Florentino realized that he could alleviate the pain he feels at

not being able to love Fermina Daza properly. With this one quick act Rosalba, Florentino

Ariza’s mystery woman, showed him that if only for a brief period, he can escape the pain

of unrequited love through sex. Thoughts of Rosalba carried him through the rest of the

trip, however when she got off the ship Florentino Ariza convinces the captain to take him

home because he did not care about the telegraph position anymore; he just wanted to

be in his own city where “the lady of his misfortune” [p.148] would be with her new

husband.

         Once he returned home he was overwhelmed by the scent of 

Fermina Daza, however he took refuge in his memories of Rosalba in

the hopes or replacing one love with another, eventually the scent of

Fermina Daza become less frequent and the pain of remembering

less intense. Around this time he met Widow Nazaret, a young woman

whose husband had died three years prior and whose house a cannon, from

one of the constant civil wars, had hit recently. Florentino Ariza was confused by her

immediate action of stripping herself of her mourning by removing her “widow’s

weeds.”[p.149] however he remembered the pleasure of Rosalba and willingly opened

his bed to Widow Nazaret. “The Widow Nazaret never missed her occasional

appointments with Florentino Ariza, not even during her busiest times, and it was always

without pretensions of loving or being loved, although in the hope of finding something

that resembled love, but without the problems of love.” [p.150-151] They enjoyed each

other’s company because they both could not be with the one they most wanted to be

with in the world, and therefore found what pleasure they could in sex and each other.

         Olimpia Zuleta was a young girl with intelligent and amusing things to say and a

melodious voice with which to say them. Her husband sold trinkets in the city market and

used the RCC’s ships to transport his merchandise. When Florentino Ariza saw Olimpia

Zuleta’s husband leaving the port he went by her house seemingly innocently and she

gave him a carrier pigeon as a thank you gift for taking her home that night. The pigeon

made several trips back and forth between the two and they became lovers. Shortly

before meeting Olimpia Zuleta, Florentino Ariza’s mother’s illness had become so

severe that she no longer had any memories left; she could not even remember her son.

Florentino Ariza spent his nights caring for his mother so he had stopped what social life

he had had, but Olimpia Zuleta changed that. He felt for her what he had not felt since his

disheartening youth.

     “He was a different person: the lover who never showed his face,

the man most avid for love as well as most niggardly with it, the man

who gave nothing and wanted everything, the man who did not allow anyone to leave a trace of her passing in is heart, the hunter lying in ambush- this man went out on the street in the midst of ecstatic signed letters, gallant gifts, imprudent vigils at the pigeonkeeper’s house, even on two occasions when her husband was not on a trip or at the market. It was the only time, since his youngest days when he felt himself run through by the lance of love.” [p.216]

When they found themselves in a cabin on of the RCC’s ships Florentino Ariza wrote, in the moment’s excitement, a message on his new lover’s belly. Her husband then slit her throat with his razor after he saw the message. Florentino Ariza did not find out until days later. He kept track of the murderer’s whereabouts, not because he was afraid of being killed and not because he was worried about scandal, Florentino Ariza was worried that his lovely Fermina Daza might find out about his unfaithfulness.

 

            One of his longest affairs was with a woman he met at the annual Poetic Festival, which was hosted by Fermina Daza. Sara Noriega amazed Florentino Ariza when she gave her condolences to him when his poem did not win at the Poetic Festival; he was surprised that anyone knew. Although Sara Noriega is much older than Florentino Ariza she still made him very happy, at least for a time. They both enjoyed poetry and she was passionate about loving as he is, 

“She would defend herself, saying that love, no matter what else is might be, was a natural talent. She would say: ‘You are either born knowing how, or you never know.’” [p.198] They got along so well and he enjoyed her so much, despite her furious cat, that he started loving her. However he knew that he would never love her like he loved Fermina Daza and he became restless as he always does when he is no longer satisfied with the woman he is with. After spending five years with Sara Noriega he left her house one night and never saw her again.

“When he realized that he felt happy with her, above all in bed, but that she would never replace Fermina Daza, he had another outbreak of his nights as a solitary hunter, and he arranged matters so that he could portion out his time and strength as far as they would go. Sara Noriega, however, achieved that miracle of curing him for a time. At least now he could live without seeing Fermina Daza, instead of interrupting whatever he was doing at any hour of the day to search for her […]” [p.201-202].

 

            Florentino Ariza always believed that he would be with Fermina Daza even if it took longer than expected and it took fifty-one years, nine months and four days. Florentino Ariza “[…] always behaved as if he were the eternal husband of Fermina Daza, an unfaithful husband but a tenacious one, who fought endlessly to free himself from his servitude without causing her the displeasure of a betrayal.” [p.197] Florentino Ariza does do much for Fermina Daza that taking this pleasure for him self is a small price for his sanity and it keeps him loving. When he was young and the wound of Fermina Daza’s 

rejection was still stinging, Florentino Ariza convinced his mother to continue the renovations of their house to prepare it for Fermina Daza. “Winning back Fermina Daza was the sole purpose of his life, and he was so certain of achieving it sooner of later that he convinced Transito Ariza to continue with the restoration of the house so that it would be ready to receive her whenever the miracle took place.” [p.173] Transito Ariza bought the whole house to please her son, regardless of the fact that the woman he loved was already married to Dr. Urbino and pregnant with their first child.  

 

            When Florentino Ariza saw Fermina Daza for the first time in two years, when she got back from her honeymoon, he saw her coming out of mass six months pregnant. He realized that he would have to become more than what he was to be able to stand next to Fermina Daza, a new women moving up in the world.

      “[…] he made a fierce decision to win fame and fortune and in order to deserve her. He did not even stop to think about the obstacle of her being married, because at the same time he decided, as if it depended on himself alone, that Dr. Juvenal Urbino had to die.” [p.165]

Florentino Ariza presented himself in his Uncle’s office and asked for a job and the RCC. Uncle Leo XII was disappointed that Florentino Ariza had thrown away the telegraph job but he gave him a job anyway. Florentino Ariza worked his way up in the navigation business and when Uncle Leo XII passed away Florentino Ariza took his place as head of the River Company of the Caribbean. During his 

remaining days Uncle Leo would not talk about his company and would not see anyone who might pity him. However, he would see Florentino Ariza and never failed to mention that he wished Florentino Ariza would marry, which is something else that Florentino Ariza gave up for Fermina Daza.

 

             Florentino Ariza had many relationships with different women and he loved some of them. He could have married and had a happy life but no, he decides to live a life of anguish, insomnia and random affairs waiting for Fermina Daza. Leona Cassiani is a woman who tracked Florentino Ariza down to ask for a job, he thought she was a whore and rejected her saying he would never pay for love. Leona Cassiani said she knew who he was and she was life him too. This was the big mistake in his life, he wanted her and she wanted him unfortunately he waited to long and she grew up and moved on.

      “‘Tell me something, lionlady of my soul,’ he said. ‘When are we ever going to stop this?’ […] ‘Ay Florentino Ariza,’ she said, ‘I’ve been sitting here for ten years waiting for you to ask me that.’ It was too late: the opportunity had been there with her in the mule-drawn trolley, it had always been with her there on the chair where she was sitting, but not it was gone forever. The truth was that after all the dirty tricks she had done for him, after so much sordidness endured for him, she had moved on in life and was far beyond his twenty-year advantage in age: she had grown too old for him. She loved him so much that instead of deceiving him she preferred to continue loving him, although she had to let him know in a brutal manner.” [187-188]

If Florentino Ariza had not been consumed with the agony of waiting for Fermina Daza then he would have acted on the situation presented to him with Leona Cassiani he would have had a wife to come home to, a wife who had helped move up in the world despite the enemies trying to tear him down.

 

Fermina Daza made a life for herself, with a husband who gives her a wealthy lifestyle and two children. She never suspects that Florentino Ariza went to the city events just to see her; when everything he did was for her or because of her. Florentino Ariza truly loves Fermina Daza but he cannot wait for her forever without going insane. Therefore he is justified in having numerous sexual relations with various women. Florentino Ariza is full of passion, love and hope. His inability to write anything that is not for love and that fact that he wrote love letters for “unlettered lovers” [p.168] while thinking of her, demonstrates his large quantity of love and his need to share it. Florentino Ariza finds a sort of peace in the beds of other women, he loves Fermina Daza but the pain of unrequited love is at times unbearable therefore he has to find a way to ease his pain. He learned at a young age that sleeping with women is a valid way of doing this. He does feel for the women he as affairs with, just not as much as he feels for Fermina Daza he once said “My heart has more rooms than a whore house” [p.270] Florentino Ariza has his house remodelled for his beloved and waits most of his life for her. He gave up a potential life of marriage because he was addicted to waiting for Fermina Daza. He was “Unfaithful but not disloyal.” [p.269]

 

 

 

 

 

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Love in the Time of Cholera. United States and Canada: (Corporations of) Random House Inc., 2003.

 

N/A, “Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez “. SparkNotes. November 2008 <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/cholera/study.html>.

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rhetoric – Commoratio

TBP- to be posted. sorry.

Standard Final

One of the best ways to improve a neighbour hood is to foster community pride. Ottawa Community Housing Corporation is a little late is learning that axiom, but better late than never.
One of the corporation’s tenants, Dianne Perras, was shocked to receive a letter from her property manager in August telling her to tear up her garden so it could be replaced by grass. Her house, along with some of its neighbours, is due to have its porch replaced and lawn relandscaped.
It’s not a big or particularly impressive garden, but it is evidently loved and it makes that part of Old St. Patrick Street special. Many of the problems associated with social housing stem from a lack of personal investment on the part of some tenants. When a tenant does make the extra effort to make social housing feel like home, the last thing the corporation should do is crush that spirit with a peremptory letter.
As with any neighbourhood, Ms. Perras does have to consider the feelings of her neighbours. But there was no need for the corporation to be rigid in enforcing the rules, or narrow-minded in its ideas about what a green space should look like.
Jo-Anne Poirier, the CEO id the corporation, acknowledges that it could have handled the situation more delicately- and vows that from here on in, it will meet with tenants to find mutually agreeable solutions. That’s what the corporation had done, belatedly, with Ms. Perras. She’ll keep some elements of her garden, and Ms. Poirier says both sides are happy with the compromise.
We hope Ms. Perras’ sense of stewardship, like her garden, will continue to flourish.

(1) best ways to improve a neighbour hood is to foster community pride
(3) Dianne Perras, was shocked to receive a letter telling her to tear up her garden so it could be replaced by grass
(4)When a tenant [makes] the extra effort to make social housing feel like home, the last thing the corporation should do is crush that spirit with a peremptory letter.
(5) there was no need for the corporation to be rigid in enforcing the rules, or narrow-minded in its ideas about what a green space should look like
(6) Jo-Anne Poirier, the CEO id the corporation, acknowledges that it could have handled the situation more delicately
(7) vows that from here on in, it will meet with tenants to find mutually agreeable solutions

Therefore,
(2) Ottawa Community Housing Corporation is a little late is learning that axiom.

Standarizing 1 &2

One of the best ways to improve a neighbour hood is to foster community pride. Ottawa Community Housing Corporation is a little late is learning that axiom, but better late than never.
One of the corporation’s tenants, Dianne Perras, was shocked to receive a letter from her property manager in August telling her to tear up her garden so it could be replaced by grass. Her house, along with some of its neighbours, is due to have its porch replaced and lawn relandscaped.
It’s not a big or particularly impressive garden, but it is evidently loved and it makes that part of Old St. Patrick Street special. Many of the problems associated with social housing stem from a lack of personal investment on the part of some tenants. When a tenant does make the extra effort to make social housing feel like home, the last thing the corporation should do is crush that spirit with a peremptory letter.
As with any neighbourhood, Ms. Perras does have to consider the feelings of her neighbours. But there was no need for the corporation to be rigid in enforcing the rules, or narrow-minded in its ideas about what a green space should look like.
Jo-Anne Poirier, the CEO id the corporation, acknowledges that it could have handled the situation more delicately- and vows that from here on in, it will meet with tenants to find mutually agreeable solutions. That’s what the corporation had done, belatedly, with Ms. Perras. She’ll keep some elements of her garden, and Ms. Poirier says both sides are happy with the compromise.
We hope Ms. Perras’ sense of stewardship, like her garden, will continue to flourish.

(1) best ways to improve a neighbour hood is to foster community pride
(3) Dianne Perras, was shocked to receive a letter telling her to tear up her garden so it could be replaced by grass
(4)When a tenant [makes] the extra effort to make social housing feel like home, the last thing the corporation should do is crush that spirit with a peremptory letter.
(5) there was no need for the corporation to be rigid in enforcing the rules, or narrow-minded in its ideas about what a green space should look like
(6) Jo-Anne Poirier, the CEO id the corporation, acknowledges that it could have handled the situation more delicately
(7) vows that from here on in, it will meet with tenants to find mutually agreeable solutions

Therefore,
(2) Ottawa Community Housing Corporation is a little late is learning that axiom.
—————————————————————————————-

Language ties unravel
The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, November 03, 2008
Rwanda has announced that it is changing its language of instruction. No longer will students learn in French; now they’ll learn in English instead.
It’s likely the decision is, at least in part, politically motivated. It represents a break, not only with the country’s history of Belgian rule, but with France, a country that many Rwandans associate with the old Hutu regime and the 1994 “genocidaires.”
But the official reason is utility. “Introducing English is just being realistic,” said senator Aloisea Inyumba. “English is the language of business.”
It’s a solid argument. The main language in the country is Kinyarwanda. Obviously, it would be ideal for all students to learn both English and French as well. But if students acquire just one secondary language, in a globalized economy, English makes at least as much sense as French does.
The news of a country actually switching from English to French should get Canada’s attention — even if it is a small country. Our foreign policy should be concentrated in spheres of influence that are likely to expand in the 20th century, not contract.
Canada was host to a summit of la Francophonie last month, but even news junkies might not have noticed. There were fine speeches about important things, but nothing that managed to escape from the shadow of bigger news, such as the Canadian and U.S. elections.
For now, Canada does still share a kinship with other French-speaking nations, such as France and Haiti. But as new leadership groups and power dynamics emerge, and as the English language dominates international affairs, there’s no guarantee that those ties of language and history will continue to be relevant.

(1) Rwanda has announced that it is changing its language of instruction. It’s likely the decision is, at least in part, politically motivated.
(2) the official reason is utility. “Introducing English is just being realistic,” said senator Aloisea Inyumba. “English is the language of business
(3) If students acquire just one secondary language, in a globalized economy, English makes at least as much sense as French does.
(4) news of a country actually switching from English to French should get Canada’s attention
(5) Our foreign policy should be concentrated in spheres of influence that are likely to expand in the 20th century

Therefore
(6) as new leadership groups and power dynamics emerge, and as the English language dominates international affairs, there’s no guarantee that those ties of language and history will continue to be relevant.

Blog 5

We have handed in our test essay’s and got them back. I did much better than i thought i would have..because like Mr. Murray said, it’s like trying to fit square pegs in a round hole with a mallet.

 i am done my fallacy and found a media example on the radio this morning so i wouldn’t mind presenting…which is amusing because i used to be terrified. anyways next week we start Hamlet and Rhetorical presentations- so i have to finish that as well…

Tomorrow our standardized arguments are due…i think standardizing arguments is lame. Not because i don’t want to do it but because there is no point to it. If you are arguing with someone they will not take the time to disect your arguments and then let you know if they are acceptable. People like to be right, its how it it so they will believe themselves overyou any day…and if you are trying to convince a fence sitter- someone else from the opposing side can come along and give arguments against your claim..the fence-sitter will not then say: “hmm i will go home think about your aguments look for faults and let you know tomorrow.” nobody wants to do work for nothing.  The fence-sitter will remain a fence-sitter and you and your opponent will remain exactly that, opponents.  

Logical Fallacy

http://www.zionism-israel.com/Fallacies/confusing-cause-and-effect.html

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/confusing-cause-and-effect.html

 

Fallacy: Confusing Cause and Effect

-          a specific examples of questionable cause, which is a general term.

Syllogism:
1. A and B regularly occur together.  2. Therefore A is the cause of B
Latin:
turbatio causa quod presencia OR perplexus

Explanation:
            This logical fallacy occurs when a person assumes that because two events happen together then one must be the cause of the other. However, there is not, necessarily, an event that causes both of these events. The mistake being made is the conclusion drawn without proper justification. At times it is easy to see that the fallacy has occurred, and other times it is not as evident. Reasoning may be difficult because in certain situations the cause and the effect will not be noticeable.

“For example, a problem child might be the cause of the parents being short tempered or the short temper of the parents might be the cause of the child being problematic. The difficulty is increased by the fact that some situations might involve feedback. For example, the parents’ temper might cause the child to become problematic and the child’s behavior could worsen the parents’ temper.”  So it is basically going in circles.

            You would want to use this fallacy because it could support an argument, if the person you are speaking with does not notice your fallacious logic. This fallacy is easy to use and it can be hard to decipher the reasoning behind your logic (as in the example with the child and the parents’ temper).

Example from Media:

On the radio evidence from a big study showed that kids, who watch violent and sexual T.V, are violent and sexual. There is a higher rate of violence and teen pregnancy these days because we see so much of it. But we also watch and heard plenty against it. (Violence and teen pregnancy)

Carter-radio host: “When we were younger we didn’t see it so much and stayed innocent much longer.”

My response: did you really stay innocent? Or was your behaviour just more hidden?

 

 

My Examples:

(1)   The neighbour’s dog is vicious because it’s outside all the time. I was going to pet the dog but it started barking and tried to bite me. In actuality the dog is vicious because its owners do not take care of it and it is not used to people.

(2)   Avery’s mom came home and she got in trouble. Therefore if her mom had not come home she wouldn’t be grounded from the T.V. In truth Avery is grounded from watching T.V because she hasn’t done her chores in over a week and her mom has asked and reminded her too many times.  

 

 

 

 

Blog 4

Last two weeks people were presenting their Critical Discourse projects and our thesis was due last Monday , our outlines last Friday and our essays are due today! (i did really well on the outline so crossing my fingers that i do well on my essay as well)

 The presentation were good. As i was presenting i realized that we should have split our activities so the class didn’t look so bored as we were presenting…or rather lecturing.
I missed the last two days for soccer and the Ottawa U day and I’m missing Monday as well. EEK! i dont like missing this much school…not used to it either. I think teachers are frustrated as well (although who wouldn’t be they are always missing students and having to post-pone things, must be aggravating!)
Anyway good luck to everyone on essay’s and good luck to girls sr. soccer team on monday last game day! LET”S WIN ONE!

P.S: Mr.Murray if you read this i posted my essay on my blog (as you can see) but i will give you a hard copy on monday.

Short ISU- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

         The Bluest Eye

By Melissa Watson Shotton  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Murray

ENG 4UE -02

October 17, 2008

         “De Gobineau’s hypothesis [states] that “all civilizations derive from the white race, that none can exist without its help, and that a society is great and brilliant only so far as it preserves the blood of the noble group that created it.”” [Morrison, 133] It is this type of thinking that hatred of oneself and others in ‘The Bluest Eye’ by Toni Morrison is bred into the young generations and caused/defined by the white definition of beauty. The black population, the focus of Morrison’s novel, is influenced so thoroughly by what white people believe is beautiful that they lose themselves through their loss of respect, loss of pride and loss of what they call beautiful.   

           White dominance over the black population has caused people of the black race to lose their sense of beauty, forcing the black population to focus on white beauty with the physical inability to compare. Claudia, one of the narrators in ‘The Bluest Eye’, is immensely jealous of Shirley Temple and hates the movie star that everyone else loves and finds so terribly “cu-ute” [12]. Claudia admits only to herself and the reader that she hates Shirley Temple: “I hated Shirley. Not because she was cute, but because she danced with Bojangles, who was my friend, my uncle, my daddy, and who ought to have been soft-shoeing it and chuckling with me. Instead he was enjoying, giving a lovely dance thing with one of those little white girls whose socks never slid down under their heels.” [13]

Claudia explains that her hatred of the little girl is not based on who she is, but because she has the pleasure of something that Claudia will never experience. Dancing with her father on his shoes is something Claudia wishes she could do and therefore develops a hatred of a movie character. Claudia believes that she could never tell anyone about her pure hatred of Miss. Temple because the world would call her crazy. Who could not love pretty blue-eyed Shirley? How could anyone hate cute little blonde-haired Shirley? The real question however should be, who would let their young impressionable daughter meet constant disappointment and even ridicule in her search to look like someone who is such their opposite that they cannot be compared?

 

           For many years on Christmas Claudia had received little white dolls. These white dolls were accompanied by the assumption that they were fulfilling Claudia’s deepest desires. In truth Claudia did not understand what was so loveable about these creepy white dolls or what everyone, but herself, found so lovely about them. Claudia had only one need for the doll, to dismember it. She took it apart to see what was inside. Claudia wanted to know why everyone cooed at these little white dolls with cold glassy eyes and scratchy dresses and not at her. Eventually Claudia began to see the focus of her hatred shift to little white girls. She noticed how people, black and white alike, treated the blue-eyed and blonde-haired differently than they treated her. What did they have that she did not? More importantly, why did they have this thing that made then beautiful and loveable that she did not? Unable to understand that there is no real answer to these questions, Claudia tried to find the answers and in doing so changed her thinking to match the way she believed everyone else thought.

“But the dismembering of the dolls was not the true horror. The truly horrifying thing was the transference of the same impulses to little white girls. The indifference with which I could have axed them was shaken only by my desire to do so. To discover what eluded me: the secret of the magic they weaved on others. What made people

 look at them and say, “Awwwww,” but not for me? The eye slide of the black women as they approached them on the street, and the possessive gentleness of their touch as they handled them.

[… ]When I learned how repulsive this disinterested violence was, that

it was repulsive because it was disinterested, my shame floundered about for refuge. The best hiding place was love. It was a small step to Shirley Temple. I learned much later to worship her, […] knowing, even as I learned, that the change was adjustment without improvement.“ [15-16]  

Caudia hated Shirley Temple, just like she hated the dolls, just like she hated the little white girls.   

 

            Claudia believed there was something wrong with her because she hated the girls that everyone loved, so she adopted the world’s idea of beautiful. Pecola was in a similar situation in that she believed what everyone said and thought about her. Pecola, her family and the world believed that poor little Pecola was an ugly girl. Pecola’s home life was nothing to be desired, her parents were very violent towards each other and their children. Pecola grows up not knowing how to defend herself against the cruel things people say against her. Pecola believes with her whole being that if she had beautiful blue eyes, like all the other girls who are called cute and lovely, her whole life and that of her family’s would be different, it would be better.

“It had occurred to Pecola some time ago that if her eyes, those eyes that held the pictures, and knew the sights- if those eyes of hers were different, that is to say, beautiful, she herself would be different. … If she looked different, beautiful, maybe Cholly would be different, and Mrs. Breedlove too. Maybe they’d say, ‘Why, look at pretty-eyed Pecola. We mustn’t do bad things in front of those pretty eyes.’”

Pecola goes on, showing her obsession with blue eyes and her want, that becomes a need, for them. Pecola prays every night for blue eyes, and she believes that she will eventually get them; of course she will be waiting a very long time. Eventually unable to live without the blue eyes she sees everywhere, including on the wrapper of her favorite candy, Pecola goes to see a ‘magician of god’ and asks for blue eyes. Pecola kills a dog to receive her pretty blue eyes so the world around her will think she is beautiful like all the other little white girls.

 

            Pecola is different from the other children in her town. She sees so much because she is never fully seen, and this makes her an easy target for the hate and anger that others of the black race feel and have to expel. Black people, in ‘The Bluest Eye’, hate themselves and each other because they do not look white and they all want to be white. The black population is a constant reminder to others of the Black race that they want to be white, which is something none of them will ever achieve; unfortunately this does not stop some of them from trying. Geraldine walks in to find her cat dead on the radiator, and her son easily blames Pecola for the cats’ death. Geraldine looks at Pecola and thinks about what this young little girl stands for.

“She looked at Pecola. Saw the dirty torn dress, the plaits sticking out of her head, hair matted where the plaits had come undone, the muddy shoes with the wad of gum peeping out from between the cheap soles, […] She had seen this little girl all her life. […] crying to mothers who kept saying “Shet up!”[…]They had stared at her with great uncomprehending eyes. Eyes that questioned nothing and asked everything. […]The end of the world lay in their eyes, and the beginning, and all the waste in between. [… ]

They slept six in a bed, all their pee mixing together in the night[…] crowded into pews at church, taking space from […] [other] children[…]Grass wouldn’t grow where they lived. Flowers die. Shades fell. […]” [71-71]

Geraldine feels sympathy for Pecola and all the little black girls who are in her position. Then quiet suddenly Geraldine starts thinking how disgusting and terrible these children are how they get in the way and take up space. She realizes that this could be her and hates it with all of her being. Geraldine hates that she is forced to live her life because it is the only way she will be unnoticed. She has passed her self-hatred to her son, Junior, who is similar to the boys in the school yard who victimize Pecola for two things that she cannot control, “the color of her skin, and speculations on the sleeping habits of an adult,” [50]

           

          After school one day a group of boys from Pecola’s class bully her because they are bigger and there are more of them. They use their own self hatred and unfulfilled wanting, to spew anger onto Pecola who can do nothing but fall apart. They sing a song at her because they think that who they are is not good enough and Pecola, whose family is known for its problems, makes it easy for them to turn their own discomfort on her. “They danced a macabre ballet around the victim, whom, for their own sake, they were prepared to sacrifice to the flaming pit. ‘Black e mo Black e mo Ya daddy sleeps nekked./ Stch ta ta stch ta ta/ stach ta ta ta ta ta.’” [50]   

            Children are not the only people who wish to be white, adults do as well. Mrs. Breedlove, Pecola’s mother, works for a “well-to-do family” [98], the Fishers’, who she came to love more than her own. They were white, they had clean linens, clothes and rooms, cupboards full of food: canned and fresh and running water that was always hot. Mrs. Breedlove made the connection that white is better because if you are white you would have all of this wealth, their house alone was beautiful. “Here she found beauty, order, cleanliness, and praise.” [99] More and more Mrs. Breedlove begins to neglect her own family, she spends most of her day at the Fishers’. Sometimes she muses about the way her life has turned about but she pays no attention because she is living a fantasy, the common fantasy of all black people, the fantasy to be white.

            Mrs. Breedlove is so involved with this white family that she does not see what has happened. She had lost herself to this white family. White judgment causes Black people to lose their sense of self. They believe that they are worthy of hate because “it’s better to be white”, and therefore wish to be white or are filled with hate for white people. Claudia and her sister Frieda, live next door to a white girl named Rosemary who sits in her “Buick eating bread and butter” [4] they want the car and her food, consequently when she comes out of the car they will beat her up. They hate her because they want a nice car, nice clothes and good food to eat. They feel hurt when she acts superior to them and because they are two people they will cause her pain. “We stare at her, wanting her bread, but more than that wanting to poke the arrogance out of her eyes and smash the pride of ownership that curls her chewing mouth. […] we will beat her up, make red marks on her white skin” The girls don’t actually hate Rosemary they hate what makes her special, what makes her white, and hates that they are not. 

           

            Just like Claudia and Frieda, who transfer their anger and hate of something they cannot control to a hate of their neighbor who they can cause physical pain, Pecola transfers her anger onto Dandelions. Pecola is walking to the store and sees dandelions; she can’t understand why others dislike them so much and calls them weeds, she thinks they are pretty. When she gets to the store to buy her candy there is a vacuum in the eyes of the owner where something, even mild curiosity, ought to be. Pecola blames herself she believes it must be her blackness or her ugliness. Pecola, who was excited at the prospect of eating her favorite candy, is now ashamed. “Dandelions. A dart of affection leaps out from her to them. But they do not look at her and do not send love back. She thinks, “They are ugly. They are weeds.”” [37] Pecola’s shame quickly turns to anger at the Dandelions, because it is easier to be angry than ashamed. The hatred of herself transformed into hatred of the Dandelions because it was easier and can be released.

            Hatred of oneself and others in ‘The Bluest Eye’ by Toni Morrison is bred into the young generations and caused/defined by the white definition of beauty. The world, in The Bluest Eye’, that Black people live in is influenced by a white world. Children are surrounded by adults and white media that are telling them that beauty is blue-eyed, blonde-haired and white. Children develop self-hatred because they cannot see “beauty” in themselves, they are not white. They cannot cope with this anger and hate inside and therefore take it out on others. They are consumed with questions that cannot be answered, but should not ever have to be asked.             

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston , 1970.

Book Rag staff, “The Bluest Eye: Topic Tracking: Self-Hatred”. Book Rags. September 2008 <http://www.bookrags.com/notes/be/TOP3.htm>.

 

N/A, “The Bluest Eye Critical Essay”. Cliff Notes. Semptember 2008 <http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/The-Bluest-Eye-Critical-Essay-An-Overview-Of-The-Bluest-Eye.id-42,pageNum-30.html>.

 

N/A, “The Bluest Eye”. N/A. Semptember 2008 <http://www.tcnj.edu/~rhet/mella2.html>.

 

N/A , “The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison”. Paperstarter.com. October 2008 <http://www.paperstarter.com/bluesteye.htm>.