Desire skews

Once upon a time, there was a man who wanted to escape the constraints of time. Mr. Washington in "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" feels that his immense wealth gives him the ability to escape death, "bribe..God"(108), and even escape time; he thinks his wealth will last for today, tomorrow, and forever. Wealth gives Mr.Washington a skewed perception of reality that allows him to believe that he can possess anything including the following: pink elephants, unlimited life, isolation from society. In fact, everyone’s perception is skewed by his or her material desires. By using well-crafted rhetoric, Fitzgerald illustrates how we are all slaves of our desires and even Moses can't free us from the true realities of life.

The author’s extravagant description of Mr. Washington’s life represents his skewed perception of reality. It’s impossible for someone to actually have a car to be “embroidered with jewels”(79) and be made out of “gold”(78) yet Fitzgerald exaggerates the Washington’s wealth to reveal how wealth can create a realm where the impossible might seem possible. However, wealth can never make escaping reality a possibility.

Mr. Washington is also a symbol for the moral corruption that occurs because of desire. His wealth has caused him to believe that imprisoning people in a “bowl” and killing guests is moral behavior.  Desire and wealth not only skew people’s perception but also their morality.

         

Success is Relative

         The 1920’s were a time when success was directly proportional to material goods. A man with a “hydroplane”(64) might be considered more successful than a man whose “house was an eyesore”(5). However, success in America isn’t based on material goods or wealth but rather how content a person is with their current life. Success is personal satisfaction.

         The novel Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell introduced a man named Christopher Langan, who despite having the highest IQ in the world, is a horse rancher in Missouri. He could be making millions yet chooses to remain a horse rancher because it gives him personal satisfaction. In his opinion, he is successful without having vast amounts of wealth.

         Gatsby on the other hand has plenty of wealth and a “colossal..mansion”(5) yet he is emotionally disturbed and is “trembling”(21) at night. Although others might feel that Gatsby is successful because of his wealth, he is not personally satisfied resulting in him staying awake at night. Gatsby does not fit the true definition of success in America yet other people still perceive him as successful because they feel that a person with unlimited wealth has to be happy.

Success in America is based on immaterial goods.

What does it mean to be educated?

A Greek philosopher named Epictetus once said "Only the educated are free". But what does it mean to be truly educated? Does being educated simply mean that a person has acquired a vast amount of textbook knowledge or is it something greater?

We are all born with a veil called innocence that shields us from the true reality that we are surrounded by. This innocence causes us to be in our “natural default setting”(Wallace), a setting in which we are innocent of the pain and misery of the world around us and we simply focus on our desires. The “history teacher”(Collins) thinks that innocence is the true meaning of educated. He doesn’t understand that “protecting..innocence”(Collins) will only result in people never being able to change their “default setting”(Wallace), preventing them from feeling empathy and causing them to “torment the weak and smart”(Collins). The world isn’t full of “flower beds and white picket fences” which is why it is essential for people to “adjust their default setting” and see the weeds in the flowerbeds and the cracks on the white picket fence.

When people are no longer limited by the constraints of “arrogance”(Wallace) and self-centeredness, then they can become truly free.

To be truly educated is when a person no longer posses the innocence that prevents them seeing past the white picket fences and from feeling empathy for the world around them.

Traditional Punctuation: The only way to provide clarity

The traditional use of punctuation is essential because it not only allows authors to convey their voice in ways that cannot be expressed through words but also benefits readers by making text more structurally organized. In an ever-changing world, it is more important than ever to make information easier to communicate to a large audience and the traditional use of punctuation is necessary to allow for this easier communication

Traditional punctuation makes literature much easier to read because it provides structure to the text that would be lost if there was no punctuation. It “clarifies meaning”(Hitchings) while also adding to the authors voice. Literature without punctuation creates an ambiguity that prevents the reader from understanding where they are in this ocean of text. Elizabeth Austen writes  “[a semi-colon] with the commas a poser at the bar feigning liberation with one hand tightening the leash with the other”(Austen), yet it is ironic that the lack of punctuation actually hinders the reader from clearly finding their way through the piece more than any colon or semi-colon.  Punctuation is also “highly important”(Thomas) for scientific literature according to Lewis Thomas, a graduate of Harvard Medical School. Clarity in scientific literature is an “essential flavor”(Thomas) because it is important to communicate research findings and other significant information to the world. This clarity can only be provided by traditional punctuation rules

The Desire for Beauty: A Result of Mortality

"A little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blue eyes. His outrage grew and felt like power. For the first time he wished he could work miracles. Never before had he really wanted the true and holy power-only the powers to make others believe he had it. It seemed so sad, so frivolous, that mere mortality, not judgement, kept him from it."(Morrison 174)

A pedophilic misanthrope feels sympathy towards the “ugliest” person in the community.  At first, this relationship astonished me but I began to realize that the abnormal love resulted because of Soaphead’s distaste for “mortality”.  Morrison denotes mortality in this passage as not only meaning “human”, but also meaning our limited lifespans. Soaphead understands that it is our limited lifespans that cause us to cherish whatever beauty we experience. When he sees Pecola, he is outraged that the desire for beauty that characterizes humans has “infected” the epitome of innocence, a child. Wanting beauty is what adulterates an adult and ruins the innocence of a child. However, Soaphead doesn’t realize that the beauty is never satiated as shown by Pecola’s desire for “the bluest eyes in the entire world”. Morrison shows that the desire for beauty is inevitable just like growing up, yet Soaphead can’t comprehend why God corrupts people by giving them this desire.

The misanthrope also describes Pecola as being in a “pit of her blackness”. This illustration shows why after Pecola goes insane, she imitates a bird in an effort to try to escape from this pit and enter the world of white people. However, as the story progresses, she moves her arms less and less which shows that her dreams of escaping the pit are slowly being crushed.

 

Perceptual Corruption

       In The Bluest Eye, Morrison characterizes men and women differently. On a physical level, the men and women in the novel share the same “ugly” black skin. However, the “ugliness” within the Black community in The Bluest Eye isn’t a result of their skin color but rather the emotional corruption that causes instability within the community. Morrison contrasts the men and women in the novel but shows that perception within both genders is the ultimate cause of “ugliness”.

       Every single male in the bluest eye is portrayed as an alcoholic/rapist/racist/in jail. This moral corruption that exists within the African-American male community is because they fail to perceive the negative effects of their actions.  Cholly Breedlove doesn’t perceive that “fighting”(Morrison 119) Pauline not only affects his wife but also prevents his children from understanding the true definition of love and a home

      Every single female is portrayed as a lonesome mother who has a skewed perception of the world that causes her to believe that being beautiful is greater than being moral, that dreams are greater than reality, and that having a morally corrupt husband is better than having no husband at all. Pauline only wants “clothes and makeup”(Morrison 119) so that other women “cast favorable glances her way”(Morrison 119). She doesn’t understand that favorability is based on morality not “looks”. But because this is the 1930’s, racism skews Pauline’s perception making her believe that because she is “black/ugly” she has to improve her beauty rather than her character. Morrison shows that having eyes that perceive the world properly is more important than having the “bluest eyes”.

Beauty is in the Eye of Society

Beauty is in the eye of society. Society has created an unattainable standard of beauty yet forces women to try to attain it. Even though Barbie dolls reflect these unattainable standards, I don’t think they have a psychological impact on young girls that causes them to become obsessed with their appearance. I used to play with Legos for years yet I don’t have a desire to become an engineer. The main reason girls are so concerned about their appearances is due to their role models who impact their life. When Emily Prager said that “we’re all trapped in Barbie’s world”(Prager 355), I imagined an adult incarcerating their child in a giant version of Barbie’s dream house. Parents only buy their female children barbies and pink dresses which cause girls to feel like these are the only options for their gender. Celebrities are constantly teaching girls that if there is some part of you that society doesn’t appreciate just change it with plastic surgery. Doll manufacturers are only concerned about making money so they don’t care if Barbies affect beauty standards or not. It is the adults in society who care about the beauty standards of the next generation. Real people have a greater impact than a plastic doll.

                           "Help, I'm trapped"

Predator vs. Prey

 

The relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed in society is analogous to the relationship between the predator and prey in nature. The oppressor/predator is threatening. The oppressed/prey is threatened.

Human society is manufactured in such a way that prey always exists.  It’s our choice whether or not we want to eat away at the weaknesses of the minority. Oppressors gain nourishment and justify their own faults surrounding the oppressed in a “magic circle of ignominy”(Hawthorne 242) and feeding on the vulnerabilities of the minority just like a pack of wolves surround a moose and feed on it for sustenance. Just like a “leech”(Hawthorne 114) feeds on humans for sustenance The ability to feel content with weakening people defies the definition of being human. 

The oppressed are also less human because parts of their identity are being stripped away from them and judged by a hypocritical society. Staples exemplifies the threatened/preyed upon feeling when he describes walking down the street as “the equivalent of the cowbell hikers wear when they know they are in bear country”(Staples 207).  

To truly become a human, one must “have the freedom…of the [people] sitting next to you”(Tannen 382). The predator/prey relationship in society creates a superiority and inferiority complex that dehumanizes both the majority and the minority.

Disestablishmentarianism

Corruption is the death of government. A theocracy can never withstand the test of time because all religious institutions eventually become corrupt.  The idea of combining church and state might seem appealing because the government will be “pure” due to the presence of “holy” people who can make righteous decisions. Yet these “holy” people end up abusing their power.

             Throughout European history, the popes that were head of the church and state weren’t pious people but rather hedonistic sinners whose actions contradicted the words they preached (sounds familiar?). Pope Alexander VI (1431-1503) literally bought his way into the papacy by bribing the church.  In Iran, one of the last remaining theocracies, the Ayotallah Khomeini is revered like a god despite having caused the death of thousands of Iranians during the Iranian Revolution. Hawthorne also shows that even the Puritans, who were meant to “purify” the Church of England, had immoral policies and morally corrupt reverends.  

            Power can be easily abused in the name of god, which is why corruption exists in religious institutions. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards finds it so easy to get into the minds of people by using the word god.  The irony is that “God”, the spiritual epitome of morality, is used as an excuse for immoral actions by theocratic societies.

Is it a part of human nature to oppress or criticize someone who is different from you?

The United States is one of the most developed countries in the world yet there are still differences in the rights bestowed upon men and women. In the essay “There is no Unmarked Woman”, Deborah Tanner points out the minute differences between men and women in society such as how “ ‘Ms.’ declines to let on about marriage (checking ‘Mr.” declines nothing) (Tanner 391). The fact that any differences occur between genders is shameful considering how advanced modern day society has become. Are these unjust differences in rights among genders a choice that humans make or is it just natural to oppress people contrasting from yourself?

            The Puritans who were once oppressed and persecuted found it so easy to become the oppressors and persecutors. It’s almost like they felt limiting other people’s rights was fair despite having their rights limited for hundreds of years. Since the beginning of civilization, humans felt they had the right to dominate people mentally and physically.  Yet an interesting article in the New York Times shows that not all humans favor inequality. The Vanatinai people of Papua New Guinea have a society where men and woman share equal “burdens and privileges”. This outlier among societies gives hope that it’s not in our nature to limit peoples rights and that it is possible to one day attain a harmonious society.

Punishment: An ineffective way to solve societies problems

Even though we might feel that utopias are a thing of the past, every society strives to achieve this unattainable perfection. Our goal as humans is to create a world where every human being is the epitome of morality and righteousness. So if there is no room for sinful individuals who feel that laws are meant to be broken, then what should we do with them?

            The human race has come up with a system of removing immoral citizens and isolating them in a room in an effort to shame them and destroy their lives. Dictionary.com defines a prison as “a place of confinement”. In a utopian society a prison is defined as a place for those who don’t deserve forgiveness and who adulterate society. We feel that “no good can be achieved by [criminals]”(Hawthorn 129) so why not isolate them from the rest of the righteous world. The leaders of the Puritan society feel that shaming Hester permanently for the rest of her life will somehow purge her. What they don’t understand is that evil can’t be fought with evil. The public humiliation Hester felt for her crime will only cause more pain and anguish and won’t reform her in anyway.

            Some aspects of society haven’t changed in hundreds of years. We still feel that the best way to reform a criminal is to destroy his or her life. Yet according to Crimeinamerica.net, 52% of criminals who have been incarcerated will return to prison. Punishing wrongdoers physically and emotionally has never worked in creating the optimum society and it never will.