Coverage:
All blogs on the assigned readings have been completed, and have been thoroughly discussed in relation to the two novels we have read and analyzed in class. In addition, I also included a wildcard blog of one of a poem I have written.
I felt that my blog on ‘First the Forests’ is a good example of how in depth I went with my blogs. I began with a summary of the article, then an analysis comparing it to We as well as olden fables that support the theme of the article. I ended with a philosophical discussion of what it means to be human in relation to the theme of the article. I feel that I incorporated the three main things to be discussed, as well as my own personal analysis on what I got out of reading the article. I feel that this blog in particular demonstrates depth and understanding of the assigned reading.
Depth:
Upon writing this blog, I did not use any secondary sources; however, after looking upon this once more I can see that many sources have influenced my thoughts and arguments. Firstly, when discussing the psychology of human beings, I refer to ‘the invisible bag’. This is a conceptual term I had learnt last year in English 10, from an article we had to read called “The Long Bag We Drag Behind Us”. We read this article as a supplement to Dr. Jeykl and Mr. Hyde, however it seems as though this concept can be applied to ideals of freedom and democracy. In addition, I also used Descartes philosophy of existence to support my argument, from which I read upon in a philosophy textbook (Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings by John Perry)
Interaction:
When commenting on this blog, I found many of Nina’s thoughts quite interesting. However, while reading her essay, many of the statements she made led me on tangents of thought that caused me to disagree with what she was saying. In order to portray my perspective, I included the link to another blog I had commented on that relates to the idea of the degradation of language, which rebuts Nina’s idea that language is ever-changing, and should continue adapting.
Discussion:
This blog was based on the classroom presentations on ‘Objective Truth’. Rohit provided some very interesting thoughts and argument in contradiction to what I stated in this blog. He brings up evidence from 1984 that rebuts one of my statements. I feel that this blog provoked some interesting discussion on one of the main themes presented in 1984, the idea of what we feel is knowledge and how it is manipulated.
This blog in particular received numerous comments, and I feel it sparked a rather interesting discussion. Both Nina and Saumya commented on the correspondence of Shin’s desire to return back to the prison with Winston’s behavior in 1984. The discussion then moved on to a debate on the idea of a ‘perfect world’ and whether or not it truly exists. Piggybacking on this idea, Anuraag provided an analysis of freedom and whether that truly exists in a society without government and societal influence. In addition, Aishwarya added her own interesting thoughts on the idea that Nina proposed in the beginning about the reasoning behind Shin’s desire to return back to the prison. All in all, this blog provided an interesting discussion with various tangents of debate, but eventually leading back to the analysis of the correspondence of Shin’s behavior to that of Winston’s.
Xenoblogging:
Comment Primo:
I was the first to comment on Anuraag’s blog on the ‘Writing Revolution of 2010’. I began my blog with some of my thoughts on what he had written and then provided a question based upon his analysis. I asked his opinion on what a person from years ago, who is so used to Shakespearean writing, would feel about our writing nowadays, perhaps relating to a writing revolution of another time. My first comment seemed to have provided an worthy thought, for it launched of an interesting discussion on the degradation of language.
Comment Grande:
I spent a lot of time working on this comment, as I felt this blogging assignment was one of the most interesting ones to write and read. Due to the fact that an interesting discussion was sparked on my own blog of this article, I had a lot to say about Monique’s discussion, and was able to link it to both mine, and Nina’s blogs on the same topic.
Comment Informative:
I was able to comment on this blog because Saumya related Shin’s experiences in the Gulag to Plato’s Cave. This concept of knowledge is a philosophy subject that I learnt a lot about over this summer, and have read many essays regarding the skepticism of knowledge. I provided some information on a philosopher’s theories that provided possible reasoning for Shin’s actions in the Gulag. This information was taken out of a philosophy textbook (Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings by John Perry)
Wildcard:
I wrote this poem a while ago, however it is still one of my favorite pieces of writing that I have produced. I wrote this poem when I was really frustrated as a way to release stress. The title of this poem is ‘An Apology’, and is an ironic declaration of frustration against one’s parents. The main emotion portrayed here is anger, however there is a slight hint of sadness that comes with the irony. The use of contrasting ideas shows how the narrator (myself) tries to act really tough, but still ends up getting hurt. Although many ideas presented in this poem are somewhat cliché, I feel that many frustrated teenagers will be able to relate to the concepts and emotions in this poem.
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