Blog #2 Response to "A Modest Proposal"

I suppose I should start off by saying that I really enjoyed the story "A Modest Proposal", by Dr. Jonathan Swift. In the story, Swift took a very serious issue and using satire, he offered an extremely, out of ordinary solution. The problem was what to do about the amount of poor people in Ireland, and the solution was simple, eat the poor peoples baby's. According to Swift, that would fix a lot of problems; The amount of beggars on the street, release a burden of raising a child in poverty away from the mothers, it would feed a lot of people, as well as clothe people. Swift also lists a variety of other benefits that come about from eating children, one of which is improvement in the art of making good bacon, and many other disturbing things. The point of this story was to suggest a totally outrageous idea as a solution to the poverty problem. One thing you may notice about his data is that eventhough it is all disturbing, it is all true. Everything he suggests would very m uch fix the problem. His solution is inhumane and ridiculous but it is a valid solution. Swift is able to pull it off using sarcasm and irony.

Another thing I noticed was Swifts comparison between poor and rich. If you read you would notice that in the story it is the poor people being cooked and eaten while it is the rich people who feast. Also when Swift is very specific about the costs and expenditures when selling a baby, he suggests that it is a way for the beggars to create some income. The problem in Ireland is the high amount of poverty and usuing sarcasm and a comparison, Swift is able to make his point about the problem and is sarcastic on how to fix it.

#1-Romero and Heroism

Today, a hero is viewed as the good guy with strength, bravery, honor, passion, and nobility. Strength, because a hero would not only have physical strength but have good self-control and strong will power. Bravery, the ability to show no fear to the enemy. Honor, being highly regarded and respected by the people for his/her action. Passion, showing true care and devotion as well as commitment leading to radiant talent and skill. And nobility, showing excellence in ones character. These are the qualities that make up a hero, not the ability to fly or the power of invincibility, but inner heroism.

In the book The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, the character Romero is the hero in the story. Romero is a young, and attractive bull-fighter who wins the admiration of his audience through his performance. Romero fights the with pride and style showing no fear to the enemy. Romero was glorified for his character throughout the fiesta, but his amazing skill when handling the fight continued to prove himself. Later in the fiesta, Lady Brett Ashley falls in love with Romero and Romero falls in love with Brett. This relationship seemed to anger Robert Cohn and he lost his control out of jealousy, for this, he intended to confront Romero. In the stand off between Romero and Cohn occurred, Romero was hit to the floor several times because he was no match to Cohn's boxing skills. Even though Romero was continuously knocked to the ground, he picked himself back up every time to stand his ground. Romero showed no fear to Cohn, his enemy, at any time during the battle. Following the fight was yet another battle for Romero, a final match between Romero and the bulls for the fiesta, and he was expected to perform. unfortunately, he was badly bruised and beaten up from the fight with Cohn, so his strength was not quite up to par. Still Romero fought anyway, despite how injured he was. Romero shows loyalty to the fans at the fiesta as well as to himself and his commitments to bull-fighting. During the long and well fought battle between Romero and the bulls Romero came out standing because he continued to get up and fight during his performance. The young and amazingly talented bull-fighter came out the hero. Throughout the many surprising series of events that Romero had experienced towards the end of the fiesta were rough for him but he walked out a hero because he shined brightly of the qualities of bravery, strength, honor, passion, and nobility. Those simular qualities are the ones that make up a hero in today's society. Someone who is willing to stand up for themself and their cause, that's what makes the hero.

If the ability to stand up for one's self makes a hero than one could argue that Lady Brett Ashley proved herself to be a hero as well. In the story, Brett's character is very aggressive and inconsiderate. She is aggressive because she will go after what she wants knowing all the consequences that may come along with them, but she will give it her best effort. She is also inconsiderate in the sense that she cares only about her feelings and not the people she is hurting. That itself is not a heroic trait but the fact that she cares so strongly about her urges enough to chase them is what makes her a hero. Brett caries the mentality that she can have what she wants by going after it and doing what she wants to do. She stands up for herself when Romero wants to have a form of control over her by pushing her to marry him and to grow out her hair. She also stands up for herself When Cohn begins to fall in love and attempt to "woo", and she tells him that she does not love him back, that they are in fact not going to be together. Because of Brett's attitude to stand up for what she believes in doing and she doesn't really care what others think, i would call her a hero in the story.

-Kim Parker

blog #17

"Albom argues that the O.J. Simpson trial was the most important event in the past two decades."

I would agree with Albom that it was a significant event for many reasons. A lot of things changed in society because of the trial. However i disagree with Albom's word choice. I would have used the word popularity, not important. People of America were interested in the case because of who O.J. was prier to the case. It was people's out most curiosity that made the case a bigger deal than it actually was. The more the trial would be televised and discussed on talk shows, the more interested the public grew. The case really wasn't important to anyone but O.J. and the family of Nicole. It was it's popularity that won over the general public to create such a significant impact on society.

blog #16

In "About Men" by Gretel Enrlich, Enrlich uses multiple tones to convey her view of a cowboy. She shifts back and forth between tones. She mentions many aspects to a cowboys life. From the tough image they live up to with their courage and bravery as if cowboys were hero's. She also mentions that they are loving and compassionate, by the way they love animals and have respect for other people. Such as the courteous act of shaking hands firmly and tipping your hat to a woman. The tone conveyed by Enrlich is what gives of the point she tries to make about cowboys. That their is more to them than just riding horses and being "macho".

blog #15

The three reasons given for the breakdown of secrecy are; the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Internet and the urge to confess one's hidden transgressions before an audience of strangers. I disagree with Sante about the dissolution of society. That happens to be more of a politically related and media stuff. That is a whole different category of secrets. Those are things that should be adressed to the people. Its not the same as secrets that are meant to never be exposed. However, I agree with Sante's other two arguments. The Internet is a nemesis in the sense that once something is exposed to the Internet, it is out there forever, and can therefore, can be a disadvantage at any given night. I also agree with the urge to confess one's secrets. The urge of exposing a big, juicy secret often is often something that people do not have will power to overcome. This is an opinion I have developed over a period of observation. Overall, I would say that I do agree with Sante about secrecy.

blog #14

My personal belief is no, personal values and ethics should not be taught in public schools. Now there is some specificity to be applied in this case. I think certain ethics and morals are obvious and should be taught and/or reminded to students in public schools. Such as not talking when the teacher is talking or treat people the way you would want to be treated. However, other things such as person beliefs in morals and ethics should not be taught in schools. These are things that really cannot be taught because they are opinions. Everyone has a different opinion and everyone is entitled to their opinions. If you tried to teach opinions, your setting yourself up for an ugly unwanted debate. Students should be able to learn as they grow and decide for themselves what their morals and ethics are. I think that people should have respect for the beliefs of others because like I said, everyone is entitled to an opinion. Also, a lot of ethics and morals that people posses are religiously related to their beliefs. Trying to teach students morals in public schools could confuse kids. If they are told something at their home or in church then told differently in public school, confusion and anger could occur. That is why it is a safer situation to avoid this subject being taught in public schools.

blog #13

All movies are generally classified into genres. However there is more to a movie than just it's genre. There are many ways to classify a movie. For example, I would say that the Zodiac Killer is a lot like the movie Ace Ventura pet detective. I made this connection because even though Zodiac Killer is a horror film based on actual events and Ace Ventura is a hilarious comedy staring the comedian we all know and love, Jim Carey, the both are about cracking a mystery by following clues and other pieces of evidence to crack the case. Or on the other hand you have Employee of the month and Coach Carter. Both totally different genres of movie that share a common purpose that if you work hard enough towards something then you can achieve it through perseverance and determination. Then you have movies like Gone Baby Gone which opens up the question, is doing the right thing always the right thing to do? I get that purpose from the movie Saving Private Ryan also. Regardless of the genre, movies usually have a point to them and if two movies share a similar purpose then they are considered to be similar movies.