Eastern Literature

As we have passed through the Eastern Literature section, I have noticed several things. One is the similarities between Eastern and Western culture. Now, of course, there are substancial differences, but I was surprised at the amount of similarities. We as Westerners seemed to have created our own adaptation of the India caste system. How often do you walk through the hallways, pass by someone and think "I am so better than that person." We have created labels for people which is very much the same as the system in India. Another thing is the concept "Do we know what is really good?" This is a Daoist theme but is also similar to our thinking these days. Is there really a defined right or wrong? As Christians we should know that their is but coming from a very secular world, sometimes we ask ourselves that same question.

Qur'an Stuff

So basically the Qur'an I found was very interesting. It had alot of points that made sense and their were also a quite a few points that I found rather confusing. I also happened to notice that their were many similarities between the Quran and the Bible. Some of the characters were the same such as Moses and Adam. I think the thing that opened my eyes the most is that not everybody believes the same way we do. In fact many people do not believe the same things as us as Christians. We kinda live in this secluded bubble since we go to a Christians. And yes many of us have friends who dont go to the school and believe differently, but we still are surrounded by this previous bias towards other religions. Many of us have grown up hearing about the bible since we were little but we really live secluded from this world view. Anyways I just thought I would put that in their.

Camelot

I really enjoy this movie. My grandparents own it so this is not the first time I have watched it. Anyways I think their are several specific thing that we can observe. First of all we see that its a love story. Every time period and culture has its own variation of a love story and I believe that this one is most suiting for the time period. Also we see a connection between the Arthurian legend and Christian values and beliefs. First their is Mordred. Mordred seems to represent the devil. He looks good at first but then we see his true colors and what he is really after. One could also say that in some ways, Merlin represents the Holy Spirit. In the movie, Merlin helps Arthur and takes him back to different time periods. Merlin has been Arthur's teacher and helps as well as convicts Arthur. Same goes in the Holy Spirit.

Iliad and Troy comparing and contrasting

First of all let us look at one of the things that the Greeks considered to be one of the most important things in their lives, religion. The gods played a huge part in ancient Greek literature. In the Iliad, most of the choices made by characters and parts that had to do with something happening was usually a result of a divine intervention. Now in Troy that is a completely different scenario. For example, when Achilles is arguing with Agammemnon, in the Iliad the goddess Aphrodite comes down from Mount Olympus to stop Achilles from trying to kill Agammemnon. But in the movie Troy, it is actually the priestess girl, Briseis, who stops the fight and tells Achilles not to fight. Now what could be the reason for replacing the gods with a girl? Well for one, most people nowadays dont believe in the supernatural, therefore people may find the movie a bit boring or over the top. Also, having the girl break up the fight would not have been custom for Greek culture. Women were considered property and very low. Women did not have much say in war and would never oppose a man for fear of her life. Another difference we see is the character of Hector. Now by character I mean the way he lives and acts. In the Iliad he is portrayed as someone who is out to kill everyone. He is shown as more of a violent person, but in Troy, he is a kind man. He has honor and is respected for being a man with those qualities.

And now to the matter of comparing. As you can see their are many similarities for the Iliad and Troy. For intstance, most of the characters are the same. Achilles, Odysseus, Aggammemnon, Hector, Paris, Priam, Menelaus, Helen, Patrocles and Ajax are all mentioned in both the Iliad and Troy. Another thing that is the same is the scene when Priam comes to talk with Achilles. He is begging for the body of his son to be returned and is humbling himself before Achilles. This scene I believe is important to keep in Troy because it gives us a little in depth look at Achilles sensitive and sympathetic side. He allows Priam to take the body back and is remorseful for taking the body and dragging it through the dirt in the first place. Besides this scene we are barely shown Achilles sensitive side, unlike the Iliad where it gives a few scenarios in which Achilles shows his emotions.

Strategy and Success Blog

1. I love doing these blogs!! I like it way more than having to type something out and turn it in. I dont know what it is about it but I really enjoy doing my blog assignments. I also like going over vocab in class. I feel I did well on last weeks vocab test because we went over some of the tough words in class.

2. Cant really say I have been disappointed yet. YET!!! I do emphasize the word YET. I do have to say that I was a little disappointed with my essay score but I am working on that.

3. For the vocab test I studied about 2 hours total. That includes the whole 3 weeks. I went through each word and I really made sure I knew the roots. I used those alot to remember words and what they ment.

4. Yes I am a huge visual learner. If I can see it then I can remember it. Thats my motto. No Im not a big aural learner. I dont know what it is about listening I just cant do. I think it has to do with the fact that I have never been much of a listener. I like to talk. Yes I do think im a kinesthetic learner. If someone was to use body movements or gestures to explain something I definately would understand what they were explaining.

Genesis

After looking over the account of Adam and Eve and how the world came into being, I realized that Moses (writer of Genesis) included several interesting points. He used a sort of poetic language. He used repetition in talking about the account of God's creation. "And God saw that it was good" is repeated several times within the course of Genesis 1. But the one thing that really caught me that had to do with poetic language was that the paragraphs are in a little different in chapter 3: 14-19. God is explaining Adam, Eve and the Serpents punishment. In doing this he devotes a paragraph to each. These paragraphs are split by the beginging. Each one starts with the repetition "And God said to ..." . After looking over Genesis it is interesting to see God's way of using events in the beggining to portray artistic sides and qualities of our world.

Archetypes

For this blog I have decided to delve into one of my personal all time favorite movies, The Bourne Identity. Matt Damon plays Jason Bourne, a man has no idea who he is. He is found by simple fisherman in the Mediterranean. After visiting his Swiss bank account and finding out his name, he must travel to discover who he really is. Joined by Marie, a "friend" who he was recently aquainted with, the two must avoid assasigns who are out to kill Jason before he uncovers who he is and what he is capable of.

First off, we are shown the hero side. Jason might always not make the right choices but we see in several scenes that he is trying to protect those around him. Another interesting thing I noticed was that Jason seemed to have these constant flashbacks. These flashbacks prosed a unique archetype. Whenever he flashed- back to a bad memory or something he did wrong, they would be dark. Yet whenever he came across a good memory or though in this flashbacks, they had some light around the scene and would sort of illuminate in his mind. This can be seen as an archetype that contrasts light and dark. Finally we take a look at Marie. Now Marie is not really a maiden. Jason never really saves her from danger or rescues her, but when I look at her I see her more as a sidekick. She helps Jason figure stuff out and as we have seen through the characteristics of a sidekick, she completes him. She has patience, something that Jason lacks.

Now we take a look at the more concrete archetypes of European as well as American culture. We see large quantities of technology and advances in that during the movie. Americans and Europeans are known for being very well technically advanced. Also we have this idea that we dont always believe everything the government tells us. That the government could be keeping something from us, which is adequetly placed in the movie.

All in all, it is easy to see how this movie can be portrayed as an archetypal story that incorporates modern day with everyday principles.