Verisimilitude via Artception

One of the themes which is created by Langston Hughes in his poem "The Weary Blues" is the theme of suffering of the African Americans which cannot be truly felt unless experienced firsthand. "The Weary Blues" provides a realistic description of the pain of the marginalized. This sense of verisimilitude is fostered especially through the song of the piano man, creating an image of an actual man singing with a "melancholy tone" (Hughes). In this sense, Hughes creates an artception, in which within his art, his poem, there is another artist expressing his art, his pain. This ironically fosters verisimilitude in that the art expressed by the singer is actually written by a real life artist, Hughes, while being expressed by another artist, the singer. The "weary blues" he sings remark how he "ain't got nobody in this world" (Hughes) and the fact that no one can truly experience the pain he feels in his song besides himself. This axiom is traced to the fact in which an artist performing often has the feeling which he cannot explain to a regular bystander. This is similar to the pain felt by the marginalized, as only those who suffered through the pains truly understand it. The men who understand the true pain of the "blues" are the ones who have actually experienced the blues themselves. 

Rhetorical Precis and Personal Thoughts

F. Scott Fitzgerald in the great American novel The Great Gatsby suggests that the affluence and wealth that the American man aspired to were not true sources of happiness. Fitzgerald supports his suggestion by illustrating an affluent man, Gatsby, disillusioned by his own wealth and unable to find real happiness despite his enormous riches. The author's purpose is to portray and ridicule the disillusionment of those chasing riches in order to truly highlight the foolishness of the Modernist American mindset during the Roaring 20's. The author writes in a colloquial tone for the American public. 

In addition to the rhetorical précis I would also like to post about my personal thoughts (which is the point of a blog, but I feel as though my blog posts have become increasingly more about grades and acceptance from a teacher's viewpoint). I will not lie or sugar-coat it; there have been times in the recent past where I am just completely miserable, for reasons which will not be disclosed. When reading The Great Gatsby, it came to a shocking similarity in which the men in the novel were portrayed and with what I was dealing it. Like Gatsby, I have extreme wealth, although not in the same sense. He has the wealth to throw lavish parties; I have the wealth of a loving family, a steady income, an amazing academic institution that is Troy High, and accomplishments which I would have never though possible before my high school career. And yet I am still miserable, and I cannot fully explain nor justify why. Perhaps I am not much different Gatsby, perhaps there is a green light in which I see and so desperately want to grab, but cannot obtain. And so the green light will continue to haunt me, because I let it haunt me, just as how Gatsby allowed his desire for Daisy to haunt his life. I am selfish, I am stubborn, and thus I will never truly be able to give up my desire for the green light. We'll see where it takes me. 

The Black Truth of "Thanks"giving

"Black Friday: People trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have" (Unknown Source).
This holiday conundrum has always seemed very puzzling and ironic to me. Why is it that people, who claim that they are "thankful" for everything they have, continually desire more? A day meant to reflect on all that one has and how lucky they are to have everything and everyone around them in their lives essentially loses its essence when the next day these aforementioned souls literally sacrifice their well-being to acquire more than what they were "thankful" for. The root of these actions stem from the inherent greed of man. It is only in human nature to desire more than what we already have; we can always have more. This traces back to the nature of humans to always desire more, whether it be material possession or complimentary praise from peers. Because of this inherent greed of man, I personally believe that the tradition of Thanksgiving has lost much of its meaning. Tracing back to historic roots, Thanksgiving was created by Separatists forming alliances with Indians who happened to save their lives; however, with the desire to acquire more land, these Indians were soon forgotten and conquered by these said white men, which perhaps set a permanent scar on the wholesomeness of "Thanksgiving". Thus, in my opinion, Thanksgiving has lost its meaning and does not truly represent our "thanks" and "gratefulness" which we claim we have for others. If we truly were thankful for everything we had, there would be no need for "Black Friday"; however, the sad truth is that humans are greedy and thus there will never truly be a day where we are truly "thankful" for what we have.

What Defines a Man?

This week in English, we briefly touched on the period known as the "Roaring 20's", a time that "roared" with new social conventions and cultural rebellions. The Roaring 20's was also the birthplace of modernism and consumerism. Thanks to advertising and mass production, America had soon turned into a mass consumption society. These were the times where man had to have everything, and if man failed to obtain everything, he was worthless. To some extent, this belief still holds true today. There is a tacit axiom in which when one is seen to have "more" than others, he holds a higher worth than others.  We in American society have falsely built up this belief that possession equates to worth; the Founding Fathers even adhered to this belief for America in the immortalized statement "life, liberty, and property" which was only later changed to "pursuit of happiness". Man pursues property, which in his mind, as well as every other American's mind, equates to happiness and worth. As time has progressed, the idea that man's worth equates to his skills and personal achievements is starting to come into relevance in American's; however, the belief that man's property defines his worth is still (sadly) rooted deeply inside the minds of the American man. In order to truly progress as society, individuals must be able to grasp the idea that man's worth is not based on possession, but rather personal skills and true, not superficial, happiness.

Blueprints for the Future

Disclaimer: I received assistance from Omkar Shende in editing my thesis statement, which accounts for the high level of diction and the use of a Latin phrase. It means "In the beginning God created punctuation." 

            In  principio creavit Deus lexes Punctuatum. Or so, at least, we have been told in every English class since the fall of man. But this is not the case. In today's fast-paced, evanescent society, punctuation's role has  been to restrict, not facilitate creativity; we have transformed, but the orthodox rules of punctuation refuse to, quixotic reminders of the past, not blueprints for the future.

            The human condition is metamorphosis; we have always craved revolution, abandoning the hunt for farms, the farms for factories, the factories for suburbs; punctuation is among those societal constructs we too must forsake. Many punctuation marks have, frankly, gone "out of style". Marks like the colon and the exclamation point do not have the same effect as they had before; today, they give readers a sense of being told how to interpret what the author is writing (Source D).  However, the greater impetus towards change over the past half a century, technology has advanced at a resounding rate. With this development of technology has arisen new modes of communication: social networking. As technology develops, traditions change. These traditions of strict, coherent punctuation are no longer deemed necessary in the modern society; instead, new rules of punctuation arise. (Source A). Half a decade ago, punctuation marks such as "@" or the "hashtag" (#) had very little meaning. After the creation of Twitter, these marks have become an integral part of modern communication. Even the Library of Congress Archives accept "tweets" as acceptable and integral to our current society, as is evidenced by their storage of these forms of communication for posterity. This goes to show that the rules of punctuation constantly undergo change; it would be unwise to follow old rules which do not apply anymore in modern society.

Survival of the Shame

A very interesting aspect about shame or guilt is that humans are the only species known to exhibit what we call "shame". According to Dr. Stanley Coren's essay "Which Emotions Do Dogs Actually Experience?", dogs do not experience complex emotions such as shame or guilt. A question that arises from these findings is why humans are the only living organisms known to experience the feeling of shame. One explanation for this feeling of shame is the great complexion and evolved state of the human brain which allows us to experience more complex emotions. However, digging deeper, shame could be a necessary element for human survival. Seeing as how far humans have evolved, it is a fact that humans must rely on each other in order to survive. Shame and guilt are equalizing factors in this connection. Having the ability to feel guilt, men are able to sympathize with others and become more self-conscious with how one's actions affects others. As a result, man will not repeat actions which cause this feeling of guilt. Shame is the personal reflection of how one stands in society, and how to improve oneself in order to better himself, the people around him, and society as a whole. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Reverend Dimmesdale is an illustration of how shame and guilt drive one's motives to survive in society. The immense shame he feels for committing adultery and the guilt to both Hester and society for not confessing his sins drives his emotions insane, as the shame (literally) "gnaws" on his soul for seven years. Dimmesdale is conscious with how he is affecting others with his shame, and thus he cannot truly feel connected to society because he knows that he is secretly damaging them. His only way to connect back into society is to confess his sins and, ironically, remove himself from society with his death. Dimmesdale answers the question on why humans feel shame and guilt; shame and guilt provide a moral fiber into the individual and as a result, shape the individual and society as a whole into a better place. Although Dimmesdale does not physically survive the ordeal, by purging his shame and guilt, he finally feels alive with his own conscience and the eyes of society.

New Beginning?

Thursday marked the last day of the first marking period. A whole two months of hard work and late nights studying came to fruition as we took our last tests of the marking period, which could ultimately decide our grades for the quarter. A good test score could be the difference from a B to an A, and vice versa. Tomorrow marks the beginning of the new quarter, where we will try to put whatever woes we had in the first quarter behind us. In that respect, we are similar to Hester Prynne after her punishment at the scaffold. We will try to trudge on in school, putting whatever bad grades behind us and continuing to work hard to succeed. It won't necessarily be easy for us, as the pressure will increase as we attempt to raise our down-strucken grades. We may be laughed at, and people may stop in the middle of our hallways to pray for our well-being. Undoubtedly, children will stop and laugh at us in the hallways. We will continue to be living Hester Prynne's until we take our finals and start a new semester. I wish all my classmates the best of luck, and may your essays be ever in your favor.

How Well Can a Fish Climb a Tree?

Disclaimer: This post is not a result of me being aggrieved over the ACT I took this past weekend. This topic has been on my mind for quite a while and I thought this week would be a good week to post about it due to our discussions in class of what education is through Wallace's speech "This is Water".

As Leo Buscaglia once said, “The easiest thing in the world is to be what you are, what you feel. The hardest thing to be is what other people want you to be.” However, in current times, students in the United States are no longer valued for who they are; they are valued for how well they do on a leveled playing field. How far has education come to resort to the fact that students are no longer meausred by their own personal success but their success in comparison to others? Standardized testing may indeed set a benchmark and standards for the students around the nation; per contra, the tests fail to take into account the individuality of each student and is an inaccurate method of measuring student success and growth throughout their education. This topic speaks to me personally as I took my first official ACT this past Saturday. I thought it was a relatively difficult test, and the preparation I spent beforehand paid off. However, one section that really got me hard was the reading section. I had never fully grasped the concept of reading in an accelerated rate and then answering questions based on comprehension of the passage I had just rushed through. Then I thought, the reading section is not actually a measure of how well you can read, but a measure of how well you can practice and solidify the structure of the section. The only sure way to success in the ACT is to continously practice and practice the test until it becomes second nature. From my perspective, that is not an accurate measure of how well one student does in school, but rather how well they are able to memorize the structure of the ACT. The ACT fails to accomplish many things: foster the thoughts of students, teach them how to think individually, and measure the individuality of all the students. Different students possess their own unique skills, which are not always shown through standardized testing. For example, if a student excels at computer programming but has a very limited scope of understanding in determining the purpose or strategies an author utilizes in an essay, they will not succeed in the reading portion of these standardized tests. It is as esteemed physicist Albert Einstein once stated: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” 

The Fear Appeal

In 11 AP English, we learned to identify three different types of appeals: emotional, rational, and ethical. Thomas Jefferson put these appeals to use in his Declaration of Independence, a masterful, time-enduring document which has shaped man's view of government and freedom for the past two centuries. However, the appeal which is often overlooked is the "Fear Appeal". A fear appeal is a type of persuasion which attempts to arouse fear in order to change behavior through the threat of impending danger or harm. Thomas Jefferson subtly utilizes fear appeal in his declaration as a final statement to the American people to take action against the British suppression, or else they will only fall into their inevitable doom. One of the most profound appeals towards fear is his statement that "mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable" under the rule of the British empire. This beseeches to the colonists that staying under the rule of Britain will only cause a continuation of their suffering. First, the risk of suffering is shown to the American people, and then a protective action is presented, in which they should "abolish" the government or sever their ties for their own well being. Fear is a powerful emotion to appeal to, as the state of fear is an extremely unpleasant emotional state which stimulates psychological arousal that prompts responses towards the reduction of threat or danger. By subtly playing towards this fear of colonists, Thomas Jefferson was able to craft his masterpiece, the Declaration of Independence, which would put finality on America's freedom from mother Britain and rally the popular belief of the nation behind their cause.

We Are All Liars

According to the research by Dr. Bella DePaulo from University of California, in which she collected hundreds of stories about people's lives and analyzed their versimilitude, lying is a part of everyday human life. Even though we look down upon it, everyone is guilty of lying to some degree every day. It's natural. The only variable is the severity of our lies which affect our daily lives.
In Miller's play The Crucible, the act of lying and deceit is what drives the plot of the story. Abigail utilizes her ability to manipulate others through her vivid acting and hyperbolic hysteria, spreading lies like wildfire in Salem. Her lies arise from both a desire to raise her social status as well as to save herself from any punishment she may receive from being caught dancing. Being a teenage girl, Abigail can only aspire to be a housemaid until she married, at best. However, as her position as the head of the accusers, Abigail has the status of the town savior, purifying the town of any sign of Satan. Abigail also lies in fear for what might happen to her if the town was to find out that Abigail attempted to kill Goody Proctor by drinking blood and dancing. Abigail portrays two faces of lying: the act of making oneself look better and the act of avoiding punishment.
Although Abigail takes lying to an extreme, she is a representation of how all humans act and their motives for lying. Lying is in human nature: it is man's way of raising his social status as well as avoiding any punishment that could be received.

The Road More Taken

Looking back upon history, the Salem Witch Trials appear to be a time of mass hysteria and paranoia which caused the mass persecution upon countless innocent lives. The trials seemed foolish and unprecedented, and that history would never repeat itself in the aspect of senseless accusation and punishment. The sad and harsh reality is that by the law of social axioms and how the human subconscious works, the Salem Witch Trials are an embodiment of how society never takes responsibility for their own problem and thus finds an unconventional excuse to place the blame on their own sufferings, while also exhibiting how individuals of society follow in the footsteps of the mainstream for their own safety.

The root of the Salem Witch Trials resulted from a multitude of factors: recent suffering from Indian attacks, increasing difficulty in acquiring land for farming, harsh winters, and the spread of smallpox. In order words, turbulent and intense societal and economic changes which caused a sudden and drastic change in life for the population. The people of Salem were ready to blame anything or anyone for the cause of their current failures and lifestyle; fortunately for them, they were able to find the perfect blame: witchcraft. As a result, the Salem Witch Trials occurred. Society was unable to cope with the harsh changes which society had faced, and thus blamed their sufferings on the superstition of witchcraft. The reason the trials were able to burn on through such a period was the fact that the individuals of society were willing to accept such supernatural causes of their own hardships. On the other side of the spectrum, individuals were also unwilling to present views opposite to society in fears of being persecuted, being perfectly content with following society's footsteps.  As a result of society's and the individual's innate behaviors, the prosecution of witches for the ills of society was able to continue for such a prolonged period of time. 

History repeated itself two and a half centuries later, this time in the form of Army-McCarthy Hearings. Senator McCarthy caught the attention of the nation with his persecution of those in the government in the Communist party and espionage. Many lives were ruined due to the exposition of their involvement with the Communist party. The causes for the hearings were the same as they were for the Witch Trials; society was fearful of the Soviet Union, and a deep sense of hysteria and paranoia was present in America due to tensions of the Cold War, and thus society found solace in blaming those in the government of being Communist spies. 

Both the Salem Witch Trials and the Army McCarthy Hearings illustrate that such hysteria does not occur because of a single event, but due to the inherent behaviors of society and individuals. Society is always more willing to search for an excuse for their hardships rather than take responsibility for their own hardships. Individuals often follow the popular views of society in order to feel safe. As a result, society as a whole will never be able to truly move forward from these witch trials. As long as individuals continue to follow the beliefs of society as a whole, individuals will remain slaves to popular opinion, and hysteria such as witch trials will only repeat itself in the future. 

Students In The Hands of the Teacher

It seems as human beings, we often underestimate how profoundly our words can affect how people act and think. Regardless of the subject, by reaching to the pathos of the audience, speakers can undoubtedly shape human behavior and the path of history. This is a simple, but not obvious, social axiom. I myself did not realize the power words could have on people until I was engaged in a class discussion in my 11 AP English class on the subject of Jonathan Edwards and his lurid sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". Edwards was able to shape his words and portray vivid emotional detail to create a sense of immense fear and guilt in his listeners, thus leading to a mass revival of the Puritan religiousness that lived generations before. It is amazing how Edwards was able to create such a change in mood and mindset of the Puritans using only the words he crafted from his brain and delivered by word of mouth.
In the same respect, teachers have the overwhelming power to shape the actions and ultimately the future of their students. While this may seem completely understandable and obvious to society, many teachers often do not realize their full power to impact the lives of their students. Teachers have the power to inspire and aspire their students to their fullest potential. Most of this power lies in the power of their words. I am not talking about the curriculum required lessons, but rather what teachers can offer students that can change their outlook on life and give them a helping hand for their future. For example, a simple "you can do it!" to a struggling student in a class can go a long way in encouraging the student to maintain academic success. One teacher which stood out to me in this respect was my AP U.S. History teacher last year, Mrs. Lorelli. At the beginning of the year, I was struggling with keeping up in the class, and often I found myself behind the herd in terms of both test taking and essay writing. Mrs. Lorelli was aware of my struggles and one day had a talk to me that went like this: "I understand APUSH is a hard class and that you're struggling, but if you keep working hard and putting all your effort to improve yourself, I have no doubt that you will succeed in this class." I took these words to heart, continued to improve myself, and by the end of the year, I had an A+ in the class and received a 5 on the AP Exam. Through Mrs. Lorelli's encouraging words when I was struggling, she gave me hope and reason to keep improving myself, and thus molded me into a better student.
Just as how teachers can affect students in a positive manner, teachers equally have the power to harm and hinder student growth towards greatness. Teachers can often undermine the abilities of students, or fail to notice/acknowledge how hard a student is working and thus give up on the student. For instance, a teacher can notice a student who struggles in the class (but is clearly giving all of his effort into the class in order to improve) and say something even as simple as "you're not succeeding because you're not working hard enough" to kill a student's morale and desire to improve. In this case, negative reinforcement or even a lack of words can affect student's desire to achieve greatness or even maintain a respectable grade in the class.
Outside of the classroom, words have shaped many great events and strides in history. The greatest example in history of how words can promote change in humans and society is the Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. is the epitome of how words can shape people for the better. Regarded as the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. was able to mold his words to effectively portray to America the inequality of African American's and the harsh realities of how African American's lived in the racist American society. In his immortal "I Have a Dream Speech", King undoubtedly changed the course of history and African American life in America by his powerful words and ability to depict African American inequalities.
Whether we as humans are fully aware of it or not, the words and how they are shaped by the speaker have paramount effects on both human behavior and history. In the classroom, teachers are given the task of shaping their words and lessons to foster the greatest growth in the lives of students. If students are expected to achieve academic greatness and put forth all their possible effort into succeeding in school, teachers should also put in an equal amount of effort and thinking into how they phrase their words and lessons in order to ensure the greatest amount of success in the classroom. In the fast-paced, cut throat society in which the future generation is expected the thrive in, it is ultimately the responsibility of the teachers to teach and foster the success of the future generations.

The First 10 Seconds

Studies have shown that a person, within the first ten seconds of meeting someone, has already created a judgment in his head about the other person. Moreover, these judgments that the person makes are more likely to think negatively of the person. Why do these judgments occur? The answer is stereotypes. Whether we know it or not, stereotypes affect all of the judgments that we make on people. It's self-conscious, it's almost second nature. What baffles me is how much these stereotypes affect people on a day to day basis. Even at Troy High, there are times when I notice other students ridiculing each other solely based on their skin color or gender. This is plain wrong. Stereotypes are what cause people to judge each other so negatively and cause animosity between people. The unfair judgments on Native Americans are depicted in Sherman Alexie's short story "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven", when the 7-11 clerk is with Sherman a Native American and senses that his "dark skin and long, black hair of mine was dangerous" (Alexie 183). The clerk does not know anything about Alexie except for the fact that he is Native American, and automatically, almost subconsciously, fears Alexie solely based on the stereotype that Native Americans are thieves. Instead of basing ones view of someone else on the racist assumptions of society, one should always strive to acquaint and really get to know someone until they can make a fair and just decision about the person. Everyone has a different story, a different perspective, and one should not judge another until they have truly understood and comprehend their story. History also tells many stories about individuals or groups being judged based solely on stereotypes; the most striking and outrageous being against African Americans. Africans were judged solely based on their skin color, and thus the white man deemed them racially inferior and able to be taken advantage of for their benefit. Even after slaves were emancipated and given the status as "Americans", they were still treated harshly and as inferiors. It wasn't until Martin Luther King Jr. led his nonviolent resistance for Civil Rights that Africans were given a truly "equal" status with other Americans. Stereotyping and the subconscious judging of man based on their appearance is a problem that has plagued America and human race as long as history. Instead of judging one based off of their race or gender, people should strive to understand and connect with each other before making judgments about the person.

A Particular's Puissant Power

How much power does an individual wield? Does life shape an individual, or does the individual shape his life? As a junior high schooler, there are many times when I feel that life has taken control over me; however, I always persevere and bring myself up in order to combat the toughness of life. The individual has the power to shape his or her own life, yet a rare amount ever find and utilize this unfounded power to shape their lives while the rest allow their lives to take control over them. In the novel The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, the narrator Jeanette is the epitome of an individual who uses her power to overcome the hardships in which life puts on her. The dysfunctional Walls family lives a life of poverty and adventure, and Jeanette is often victimized by her fathers instable conditions and family problems. However, Jeanette does not let these hardships control her life; instead, she learns from these experiences and molds her own individual self apart from the misfortune and misery in which her family life influences onto her. Jeanette goes on to shape herself as a prominent writer in first the high school level, and then in moving away from the family into New York, establishing herself as a prominent writer and story-teller. Jeanette accentuates the point that even when the harsh realities of life can weaken an individual, the individual still has the power to shape their own lives without letting the life of the individual barricade one's hopes for success and a better life. Events in history also point to the fact that individuals do have the power to shape their own histories and futures. Thomas Jefferson changed both his own legacy and the legacy of the nation with his pen, taking leaps and bounds in writing the Declaration of Independence, a document which documented both a nations indepedence but also the natural law of man, and the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness in which all humans possess. Overcoming the fear of treason and the pressure of the delegates around him, Jefferson fought through and created one of the most profound pieces of literature and law in human history. Both Jeanette Walls from The Glass Castle and Thomas Jefferson portray the simple law of human nature that individuals do have the power to shape their own future, an unlimited power to create themselves, and it is only those who are able to realize this power and not let the hardships of life restrict them that truly succeed at life.