Anticharacter

This is an essay I wrote for English. It's not the best, but it has some neat components. :-D

Anticharacter

Symbols are a way of expressing thoughts, transposing our feelings and emotions that otherwise could not be expressed in plain words. Some stories express their characters explicitly, while others only implicitly through the use of symbols. Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants is such a story that is driven mainly by its metaphoric imagery. It is by this language that we gain considerable deep insight into the characters in the story and we connect with them in meaningful ways.

Often when I read a story I find myself loving a character, whether it has noble qualities, or is wiser than most, or maybe it is just simply lovable. That feeling, that interest, draws me into the story and I feel with the character and react with its reactions. It is a rarer instance that the main character is actually un-lovable, contrastingly lacking in virtue. An author in this way is effective, not by getting me to connect with his characters, but to react against them.
Hemingway accomplishes this in his story. It is about a man and a girl in a train station near the river Ebro in Spain. Our short glimpse of them takes place over just forty minutes, before their train arrives. It is never explicitly stated, but it is implied that they are talking about the girl, Jig, getting an abortion. We get hints of this, not mainly from the dialogue, as all that’s talked about is an “operation” (pg.323, ln.42), but from the imagery surrounding it. The hills represent pregnancy, and the dictionary defines a white elephant as “a valuable possession whose upkeep is excessively expensive.” The two parallel pairs of train tracks suggest a great decision with only two, opposite alternatives. They also suggest the distance between the two character's views of the matter, that they’re walking side by side, going opposite directions.

The man, described only as “the American,” (322.1) is selfish, thinking really only of himself, although he says that he only cares for Jig. In the end, Jig is faced with two decisions, abort the living baby within her and continue her life with the man, or be left in a very Catholic Spain, facing shame and ridicule alone, very alone. We get the sense that the man fears responsibility, in fact he actively flees it. He treats the abortion as “perfectly simple” (324.93), “really not anything, just to let the air in” (323.44), saying that he cares for her, but really thinks just for his own ease and care-free lifestyle.

The train tracks symbolize a decision, a way of life. The man chose to follow his own passions and inclinations, as opposed to the harder course, but the best. In contrast to the familiar words of Robert Frost, “I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference,” the man chose the oft traveled, but worse, direction.
The luggage seems to signify how the man treats Jig, it has stickers from many hotels, suggesting they’ve traveled often, and at the end, when Jig seems to give up arguing, just asking him to “please please please please please please please stop talking” (224.98), he moves the luggage to the other side of the train station, preparing to move ahead with his plan, dragging her decision along with his, powerfully, like a locomotive.

This man goes against everything I hold and live by. He is the antithesis of my character. He’s un-lovable. He’s a cad. A man should guard not only himself in a relationship, but also a woman, both emotionally and physically. If he fails to do so, as the man in this story has done, he should take responsibility for his actions in front of God. The virtuous and right response would be for him to marry Jig, and settle down with her, to think of her before himself, as a noble character would do, but he clearly has no intention of doing so. The situation was not unavoidable, and the American is not incapable of changing his situation, as Jig is at this point (although she is partly responsible for getting there.) He is morally responsible. Or should I say, immorally irresponsible?

Ernest Hemingway, by stark contrast to what I know is right, is effective in getting me to look at not only the characters he puts forth, but also to examine myself. What I despise shows all the clearer what I hold dear. The man is a negative metaphor, an opposite image of myself, a thought expertly expressed in such brilliant symbols.

Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernst. “Hills Like White Elephants.” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 2007.


"white elephant." WordNet® 3.0. Princeton University. 29 Sep. 2008. .

Frost, Robert. Mountain Interval. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1920; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/119/. [1 Oct. 2008].

Imperfection

"...Sorry, I'm kinda tired"

To think that not being rested justifies wrong thinking! When I get tired, it starts off that I shut up into myself as a guard at first, but then once I feel "safe" I let down my emotional guard. Interestingly enough, that's the time when I write my best poetry. But unfortunately, I also get more emotional, and my feelings get freer. It is when I'm at the tiredest that I feel the most selfish, the most self pity. I want people to feel sorry for me, I want an emotive outlet. What I really want is me, and not God. What a fool am I!

It was at such a time this afternoon that I was talking to my good friend and I asked how she was and she told me of how she was scheduled at her job to work this Sunday, and she refused to do so, said she was bordering on quitting. She said that she found someone to cover her shift that day, but had to work late the day before.

Here I was subconsciously thinking of myself, and here she was thinking not about herself, but striving to please God. A chasm grew between us, with me on the far lower side. I was proud of her, Oh so very proud, but I was utterly ashamed of myself. I've been making excuses and coming with ways to justify myself. Never more. "Quoth the raven, Nevermore." Nothing is an excuse for what I do. All I can control is myself, and i cant even control that.

You are the beginning and end, but I am nothing. Dear lord, please take my life and make it yours. Help me do your will each day, Guide my paths. May my wisdom be shown as foolishness, and may your grace be my wisdom now and evermore.
Change my heart, oh God
Make it ever true.
Change my heart, oh God
May I be like you.

Amen

Twilight to Dawn

Twilight to dawn
The new day is here.
The old day is gone;
There is nothing to fear.

In this new light
We see his greatness
Both day and night
Our God watches o'er us

Paul of Tarsus - Final draft

September 24, 2008
Philosophy 1500

Paul of Tarsus
There’s a funny thing about humans. They only read what interests them. People wouldn’t keep reading books over and over through the years if they were bored to tears by them. The reason we still read about ever-questioning Socrates in the works of Plato is that it is interesting, and it still has something relevant to say to us 2300 years later. That being said, the greatness of books and their writers is determined by their influence over time and across the world.
The most widely distributed and read book in the world is the Bible. It is truly a great piece of literature. Its 66 books are split into two “halves”, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. Of the 27 books in the New Testament, Paul of Tarsus wrote 13, possibly 14 of them.
Paul was born in Tarsus, and became one of the Jewish Pharisee sect, and would have studied the Old Testament extensively. Paul was also a Roman citizen, and his knowledge of philosophy shows itself throughout his writing. “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age?” (1Corinthians 1:20) He was a monotheist, and he interacted with various influential philosophies of his day, and was intellectually active with the culture. Paul was influential in starting churches all throughout Asia Minor, having traveled through the region three times. The cities he went through were major cosmopolitan areas, centers of travel, and all manner of philosophers and philosophies were present. “He reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with him.” (Acts 17:17, 18) He left behind churches wherever he went, and he maintained contact with them, instructing them, correcting them, and answering letters they had sent him.
His structure and logic is brilliant. Most every paragraph starts with “but, now, so,” or “therefore,” so characteristic of philosophic language. He employed rhetoric in his writing, his epistolary style is rich with imagery, and he employed visuals as mnemonic systems to aid in memory like the ones Aristotle had defined 400 years before. In his letter to the Ephesians, after making six main points, he provides an image of the armor of a soldier so the readers can “see” the points. “Therefore put on the full armor of God… Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6, 13-17). “Memory,” says Cicero, “is the firm perception in the soul of things and words” (De invention, I, vii, 9) and Paul accomplishes that in his readers expertly.
His words are ageless, as can be seen by the observation that they are still looked at to gain wisdom after almost 2000 years, and are all relevant to us now, today. The topics he talks about range from the nature of God and human morality, to love and the definition of wisdom, and they fascinate us. We keep coming back to his writing time and time again, and it has truly stood the test of time. He is most certainly a great philosopher.

Works Cited
NIV Archeological Study Bible. Dr. Duane A. Garrett, gen. ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005. 1 Corinthians 1:20, Acts 17:17, 18, Ephesians 6, 13-17

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De Inventione. Trans H.M. Hubbell. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Classical Library Loeb Edition, 1949

The writing process

Ok, I am writing a biographical essay for Philosophy. It has to be on a philosopher from around 500BCE to 1500CE(BCE? CE? oh, come on! it's BC! whatever you call it, it's referencing the birth of Christ!) I was thinking of Aristotle, and then I was looking at John Locke, but those two fall outside of those date ranges. Mom said why not write it on Jesus? I thought that wouldn't go over well in a college philosophy class, but it occurred to me that Paul would be a great person to write about! He wrote 14 books in the bible, his words have been translated into thousands of languages, and he is possibly the most widely read philosopher in the world.

"Paul is..."

No, I need an intro. Something that will grab my readers attention. *pokes around on google for some input* What am i thinking! I didn't take four years of studying Great Books for nothing! Reminds me of something Mr C. talked about...

"There’s a funny thing about humans. They only read what interests them.
People wouldn’t keep reading books over and over through the years if
they were bored to tears by them."

Yes, that's good. Now, to move from that to the subject matter; I'd better tie it to philosophy before I proceed.

"The reason we still read about ever-questioning Socrates in the works
of Plato is that it is interesting, and it still has something relevant
to say to us 2300 years later."

Ok, now for a general statement upon which to build a thesis.

"That being said, the greatness of books and their writers is determined
by their influence over time and across the world."

Now to provide a backdrop for Paul's writings.

"The most widely distributed and read book in the world is the Bible.
It is truly a great piece of literature. I’s 66 books are split into two
“halves”, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. Of the 27 books in the
new testament, Paul of Tarsus wrote 13, possibly 14 of them. "

A brief history of Paul then launches us into looking at his work.

"Paul was born in Tarsus, as Saul, and became one of the Jewish
Pharisee sect, and would have studied the Old Testament extensively.
Paul was also a roman citizen, and his knowledge of philosophy shows
itself all throughout his writing."

It helps in philosophy to throw in the words, "knowledge," or "wisdom" every once in a while, and when the author you're writing about says them himself, it's even better!

"Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this
age? (1Corinthians 1:20)

His structure and logic is brilliant. Most every paragraph stars with
“but, now, so,” or “therefore,” so characteristic of philosophic language."

Thinking of some cool things in Paul's writings that stand out, I thought of the armor of the spirit at the end of Ephesians. It's so brilliant, I couldn't leave it out!

"His epistolary style is rich with imagery, and he employs visuals as mnemonic systems to aid in memory. In his letter to the Ephesians, after making six main points, he provides the image of the armor of a soldier.
Therefore put on the full armor of God… Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6, 13-17)."

I need to tie what Paul did to someone famous...

“Memory,” says Cicero, “is the firm perception in the soul of things and words” (De invention, I, vii, 9) and Paul does that expertly."

Not complete yet, more to be edited in soon!

Tangible Tangent?

"I was just guessin’, At numbers and figures, Pullin’ the puzzles apart
Questions of science, Science and progress, Do not speak as loud as my heart"

In all my classes, I get to use my brain. Sin 45* comes in, and 1 over radical 2 goes out. Stories analyzed, logic tested, formulae derived, but it's all on paper. In philosophy, we keep looking at different thoughts and fallacies, and then.......I leave the room. un-shaken and stable, I live my life....my real life. God didn't create a hypothetical universe, he created a real one. Thoughts were made to have consequences, so when the consequences are stripped down to the abstract, the thoughts are "meaningless, a chasing after the wind."

I tore down a set for an outdoor show earlier in the week, and it felt great. My mind was calculating where screws were, how each board, each beam was assembled. but it wasn't abstract, as I then tore it down. I climbed up that ladder, tore those shingles, pried that plywood. The errors in my calculations were real, and I could feel them, tangible. The cuts and bruises on my hands speak of my errors, but the pile of lumber in the shop speaks of my success. That, to me, is far greater an achievement than a 95/100.

This is a paper for my philosophy class. Right now we're looking at the problem of evil. More to come. :-D


What is Philosophy?
Philosophy, from the Greek, Philos-Love and Sophia-Wisdom, literally “love of wisdom,” is the pursuit of knowledge, or Wisdom. “Oh, well that explains everything!” No, “What is Wisdom?” you’ll ask.

Bertrand Russell suggests that Philosophy is continually asking questions without knowledge as an end to be sought. “Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of definite answers to its questions since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves.”(Russell, Bertrand Pg.28)
Philosophy’s end is itself. This is circular reasoning, and is not logical. The definition breaks down. For instance, when a man is hungry, he longs after food. Does he eat just so he can become hungry? Is hunger really the thing sought? No, a man hungers for food who has none, but a man who has food does not long to be hungry. Wisdom must be an end to the pursuit of it or the pursuit is “Meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (NIV, Ecclesiastes 1:14)

Socrates says that the wisest man knows he knows nothing. Artisans have knowledge in their art, but in their pride think they know more than they actually do and are thus fools. Wisdom, then, is accurately knowing what one knows. It could be said that Wisdom is humility. Humility is admitting that you don’t know, opening yourself to a greater understanding. So, Philosophy is the pursuit of knowledge in humility. God knows everything, and He understands that he knows everything, thus He is ultimately wise.

Solomon comes to this same idea as he ends his book on the pursuit of wisdom saying,
“Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.” (NIV, Ecclesiastes 12:13,14)
Socrates, who came around 500 years after Solomon, agrees saying, “Only God is wise.” (Plato, Pg. 9) Solomon says that God is all knowing and all wise and wisdom is found in the pursuit of and submission to Him. The only one who knows everything and knows that he knows everything is God. So, Philosophy in essence is the pursuit of God and His perfect Wisdom.

Works Cited
Russell, Bertrand. “The value of Philosophy.” Philosophy, The Quest For Truth. Sixth
Edition. Louis P. Pojman. New York: Oxford Press, 2006. Page 28
NIV Archeological Study Bible. Dr. Duane A. Garrett, gen. ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005. Ecclesiastes 1:14, 12:13,14.
Plato. “Socratic Wisdom.” Philosophy, The Quest For Truth. Sixth Edition. Louis P. Pojman. New York: Oxford Press, 2006. Page 9

Measure of a man

Wisdom makes my weight increase
As I mature my muscles grow.
Jesus increased in wisdom,
this his stature showed.