Integrated Violence

The sound of an ambulance not only demands a hurried rush of cars that align themselves to the side of the road, but it also sparks a flurry of questioning thoughts. People wonder about the situation emergency as they sit idly waiting for the vehicle to pass. Then they forget about the incident and maybe even the possibility that it could have been someone they knew in the ambulance. This kind of "horror" is no longer feared, people don't drive around assuming that every ambulance that passes them carries a loved one. That would just be called paranoia. This means that times have changed; with more people getting hurt, stopping at the right shoulder of the road 3 times a day has been integrated into our lives. Therefore, people start seeking more horrific scenes. The craving for violence, according to Glenn Sparks, is a powerful psychological principle. Humans are ecstatic when the bad guy in the movie is beaten up or killed; this counts as a happily ever after. The happy feelings that are derived from violence are no longer noticed because everyone feel the same way. This has become a social norm, there is even a name for the act of staring at a car accident or other accidents while driving: rubbernecking. Along with this need to witness the violence, humans have the longing to share it with others. The narrator in "Videotape" forces his wife to watch the gruesome footage of a man getting shot with him. Many people will tell others about a car accident they witnessed or a gruesome event. In this, the nature of humans as social creatures are realized, we cannot carry the burden of what has been showed to us alone. People must pass along this violence so that everyone shares this strain in life. 

Resources: 
   "Videotape" by: Don DeLillo 
     Sparks, Glenn. "TECHNOS—Glenn Sparks, Ph.D., Professor." TECHNOS—Glenn Sparks, Ph.D., Professor. 10 May 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.

Imposter

           On this page, Spiegelman starts off with a general picture on the prisoners. All of the faces are not detailed enough and so the reader cannot recognize specific characters. This generalization blurs the identity of each individual. The only identity of the characters in this panel is between prisoner and the officers. In the next panel, the details of the characters are slightly clearer; the reader can now define the races of the prisoners. This is than contradicted immediately in the same panel when a mouse says that he is German. That mouse's identity as a German is self-given and the officers don't believe him. Spiegelman enhances this difference between self identity and the identity given by others in panels 3 and 4. In panel 3, the protesting character is drawn as a mouse who is claims he is German despite his appearance. Following this panel, the same picture is drawn except the same character is drawn as a cat. At this moment, Vladek comments on the character's identity by stating that no one knew exactly who he was. However, in panel 4, the cat is shaded unlike the mouse picture; this difference points to the uselessness of being a "German" when no one believes you. Identity is only confirmed by the agreement of others. The panels 3 and 4 are drawn on a black background because the true situation is not known. The character could have been German or Jewish depending on another person's point of view. The mouse's supposed "identity" as a German did not save his life because he died in the end. 

Photogenic

   

                                       


          Photographs are usually a trigger of nostalgia. The past can seem considerably happier than the present; of course, the memories are represented by happy smiles and peace signs. These poses are directed at a machine that cannot record the thoughts and realistic emotions of the moment. As stated by Sontag, "Camera's rendering of reality must always hide more than it discloses".  These means of creating tangible souvenirs of the past, in some cases, couldn't be farther from reality. The term photogenic means that a person appears very attractive in pictures. Even excluding the possibility that pictures can be photo shopped, it is still very hard to capture people in pictures exactly as they seem in real life. Many people don't have the gift of being photogenic and when the only means of meeting people is through pictures, wrong judgments are easily made. However, it doesn't help if a person is photogenic because they are still portrayed with a different nature. This could even lead to high expectations when meeting the actual person. True personality cannot be framed, it can only be experienced in person and stored as a vague memory in the brain. Of course, pictures also serve as an important piece of today's culture. These moments help provide, in some situations, clarity that is needed. Even if the features don't reflect the beauty of the actual person, they provide a means of remembering a person when the human mind fails to retain the information. 

Resources:
 "On Photography" by Susan Sontag

Words

                                       

             As of January 1st, 2014, The Global Language Monitor estimated there to be 1, 025, 109.8 words in the English language. This does not include slang words or words that are made up from previously established words. They even estimate that there is a new word created every 98 minutes. Even this vast number of ways to describe our thoughts doesn't keep people from using filler words such as "like" and "ummm".  First of all, everyone can agree that language is a tricky thing. If you use the filler words, you will sound like a teenage girl who cannot convey her feelings properly. This way of using words is often made fun of by adults. However, when a person decides to make use of the enormous amount of words in his repertoire, that person can come off as snobbish. Even as I point out diction choices, the filler words are more commonly used and accepted into average life than high end diction. Therefore, we all sound like incoherent people who cannot string a sentence together without adding "like" in it. Truth be told, I am a teenage girl and I probably can't go 10 minutes without using a filler word. It actually makes conversations last so much longer and they help fill awkward silences.  However, this job can also be filled by long words that take 2 minutes to speak. The choice of society to choose to stick with simple words instead of complex diction is indicator of human nature, or it might just be based on previous history. 

Resources: 
"Number of Words in the English Language: 1,025,109.8." The Global Language Monitor. Web. 23 Mar. 2015. <http://www.languagemonitor.com/number-of-words/number-of-words-in-the-english-language-1008879/>.

Confusing Connections

       

                             

               The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway are both masterpieces that display complex connections. Frankly, both of the movie and book were confusing to a certain point and then you realize just how everything and everyone fits together. The point where everything comes together leaves you in awe of how Virginia Woolf and the director of the movie were able to hint at connections but they did not reveal them until the climax. Although, the book displays expertise in a different way than the movie. The book illustrates thoughts and the connections between them. It describes different people's reactions to the same thing and it can be difficult to determine whose thoughts are being explained. However, the movie utilizes the link between people and not the link between thoughts. When watching the movie, the audience is constantly questioning exactly who the character is and how they fit into the bigger picture. The majesty of the piece is the fact that the audience can't tell what the picture is until the very last piece is in place. When we found the reader in the movie was Richard's mom, the whole class started talking at the same time saying things like "Omg!" or "That totally makes sense now". After reading the book and movie, I have a huge amount of respect for Virginia Woolf and whoever directed the movie. However, I still believe that the book was seriously confusing. 

Resources:

     Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

     The Hours

Gone

                                              

"She had gone. Miss Kilman sat at the marble table among the eclairs, stricken once, twice, thrice by shocks of suffering. She had gone. Mrs. Dalloway had triumphed. Elizabeth had gone. Beauty had gone, youth had gone." (133)

             This passage shows the amount of focus that Miss Kilman has on Elizabeth and what she represents. On the previous page, there is a focus on Miss Kilman's hands and how she is trying to "grasp" Elizabeth. This symbolizes the attempt at reaching for something unattainable because Elizabeth cannot belong to her. When Elizabeth leaves, Miss Kilman clearly states what Elizabeth means to her and she says that beauty and youth have gone. For Miss Kilman, not only is Elizabeth unattainable but the her beauty and youth is also out of reach. However, Miss Kilman still cannot process what has already passed since she keeps repeating "she has gone" and once she is gone, she cannot come back. The past will never return. On another note, I find the rivalry between Miss Kilman and Clarissa amusing. They both believe that the other is pulling Elizabeth away from them and in reality Elizabeth herself is pulling away from both of them. This is shown by her bus trip to the strand to take a break from her life. Although, if it truly came down to a tug of war between Clarissa and Miss Kilman, I believe that Clarissa would win because Elizabeth is her daughter. This leaves people to sympathize with Miss Kilman because she is always miserable and her only love is not hers to keep. 

Resource: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Roses of Tragedy

                                       
"She had had to buy the roses, Rezia said, from a poor man in the street. But they were almost dead already, she said, arranging the roses. So there was a man outside;Evans presumably; and the roses, which Rezia said were half dead, had been picked by him in the fields of Greece. 'Communication is health; communication is happiness, communication-' he muttered" (Woolf 93). 


         The very core of the relationship between Rezia and Septimus is revealed in this passage. The roses in this case represent Septimus, and even though he is "almost dead already", Rezia still tries to makes him presentable by "arranging the roses". Rezia gave up everything to be with Septimus, her price for "buy[ing] the roses" was her family and home. On the other hand, Septimus believes that the roses came from Evans, who is dead. This split from reality displays the major disconnect between Septimus and Rezia; Rezia is Septimus' connection to the real world. Septimus reiterates the importance of communication to expose the importance of it in a relationship. However, Septimus is cut off on the third time he says "communication" which presents the detail that Septimus is no longer able to communicate. Without this ability, Septimus' health is declining and there is no happiness in Septimus' relationship with Rezia. This marriage, I believe, is a sad tragedy that reflects the unfairness of life. Rezia gives up all she knows to be with Septimus, and then it was all for nothing because he had become a different person and is suffering from PTSD. This love story would definitely beat Romeo and Juliet. 

Resource:
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf