Satirical Image

Maus Analysis

In this article, Daniel Wise and Dr. Weinstein present interesting ideas on several things presented througout this piece of literature.  For one, they suggest that the reason for Spiegelman choosing to use animals to represent the characters was a very important choice.  By using animals to represent each race, he not only helped exemplify certain stereotypes through the animal that each race was represented by, but by using animals it helped readers with a visual aid.  Because the jews were represented as somewhat helpless mice, this added to the effect as he illustrated the nazis and ferocious cats that were the persecuters of the mice (Jews).  The two also sugggest the fact that through the use of animals and a comic, this helps ease tension to the topic since it is a very serious and dismal part of our world's history.  Also, they state that the form that the literature was written in "offers a unique perspective that simply would not work in any other form of non-visual story telling."  By writing the novel in a comic form, Spiegelman was able to use more than just words in order to help convey his message. In a "regular" novel, an author would only be able to use powerful language in able to illustrate the seriousness of this time or help create an image of what things would have been like.  But through the use of comics, Spiegelman was able to give visual example that help the reader create a visual image of what things may have been like during this time and what the people had gone through.  In addition, because the book was written in a very unique way, we, the readers, were able to see how the holocaust had affected Spiegleman's father Vlad.  Because of how the story was written, we were able to see who Vlad was during the camps, and how the camps affected him through everyday activities and taking care of his own family.

http://wiseportfolio.wordpress.com/2008/10/24/a-critical-analysis-of-maus-i-my-father-bleeds-history/

Post Modernism and Cats Cradle

The idea of Post-Modernism is completely contradictory to Modernism. The idea which sprouted from modernism is that we must search tod find the "true" answers in life.  In order to find these truths one must use science and technology in order to disprove past ideas.  By doing these, it was believed that we would find the answers to the universe and create a perfect society or utopia of sort.
The ideas of modernism are much different.  Post modernism realizes that there may be no one true answer to the puzzle.  All cultures have their own ideas that were formed in order to explain phenomenons within their world.  Because we all societys have their own ideas on how things work within their lifes, it is accepted that no one truth will be "correct" for everyone. 
The idea of how Post Modernism ties into what we discussed during our Socratic Circle.  At the end of several chapters, Newt ends the chapter by saying "See the cat?  See the cradle?"  This statement in itself is a perfect example of Post Modernism.  It exemplifies Post Modernisms themes just by the ambiguity of the statement.  My own interpretation is that Newt is trying to point out that fact that we all see things differently and we interpret different ideas in different ways.  All societys an people do not have the same or even similiar ideals, but that does not neccesarily mean that any of them are correct or incorrect.


Sorry about another late post Mr. Dominguez, the internet has been really bad at my house and i have not had a source to publish my post.   Thanks, Matthew

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For my essay I plan on using the text from Frederick Wonslow Taylor and the Tempest, Taylor argues the fact that ad a society today, we should use what he calls the scientific Management. In this system, he believe that people should be scientifically chosen to perform their jobs. Also, he believes that when a person has this job, they should be completely content with what they are doing and that they are working at full productivity. He uses the example that if you were to raise a persons pay, they are much more likely to work much harder and work much more productively. Also. He believes that jobs should be split. The mee educated would have jobs as managers and whatnot whereas the less educated would be doing the work thy required merely brute force. As a result, Taylors theory is very close to the idea presented in Brave New World. Also, I plan on using the video from the blog about education. It ties into Brave New World because everyone is sent down the same educational road and are getting am education at the expense of insiciudaloty. This is similiar because in the text, people give up their individuality to find their place in society.

Hmm

In the video, the speaker talks about how in today's society, we are being somewhat"conditioned to learn what our economic position is. But, it in today's society it is a commonly thought idea that if you go to college nd grt a degree, you will be successful. In reality, this is not neccesarily the case.In relation to "brave New World" everyone in this society they are focused in trying to create overall stability and do a fairly good job in ding so. Basically, they have created an almost utopian society through the use of Hypnopedi which conditions people. These people are conditioned to believe things such as that nature is bad because If they were out in nature, then they wild not be able to take part in the economic process and be a part of the "machine". For example, when mustalha moms is lecturing The interns he states that the "wheels must Turn steadily, but cannot turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as steady as the wheel upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment.". In their ideal society, everyone is content with where they are and are completely obedient for the good of society and it's stability. They have even gone to the extreme as to doing things such as removing all emotional ties to people such as family or spouses because with these ties, if something happened to them, members of society who are emotionally attached to them might not function as well as they could or should. By not working tot he highest of their ability then the "machine" is not working at maximum efficiency.

Brave New World

In the text, the people of the story rever mr Henry Ford because of his invemtion, the assembly line.  They worship the idea of the assembly line because of its ability to produce more than ever before in a much more efficient way.  Throughout the story the idea of humanity seems as if it is being compared to a machine.  The people are encouraged to love their work, work efficiently, and not let their emotions affect their actions (much like a machine).  Because many people are swayed by their emotions, they discourage becoming too close with any persons thus trying to end the ideas of family.  The author illustrated this point in the quote, "Crying: My baby, my mother, my only love; groaning: My sin, my terrible God...how can they tend the wheels?".  In saying this, the author shows how the people are emotionally attached to one another and thus cause them to become emotional if something were to happen to somebody else.  Therefore, emotional ties are not present in this ideal society so that no one would ever be affected by their emotions, thus making the community very stable and productive. 
To manipulate how people think, the society uses a method called hypnopaedia.  This method allows the creators to choose what the children will grow to be like and all of thier personal interests such as hobbies, favorite color, etc.  Not only this, but because they control these people in almost every facet, they are able to give them a social class that they are very content with abd creates a sens of place in their community.  This method is ultimately successful because the members of the community are happy with where they are at.

Controversies in The Tempest

In discussions of the tempest, one controversial issue has been what standpoint did  Shakespear have on the issue of colonialism.  On one hand, Stephen Greemblatt argues that we should read a novel or piece of literature and examine a possible deeper meaning or purpose of the piece.  On the other hand, George Will contends that we should merely examine what the text says and not ruin the story by looking for a deeper meaning.  I personally would have to agree with Greenblatt because I believe that a piece of literature can be seen to have tons of different meanings, based upon our expereiences through life, things we learn, etc, we all have different opinions on different matters.  Because of this, not every single personm is going to have the same ideas about a piece of literature.  Also, although the story gives the impression that Shakespeare approves of colonialism, if we looked at it from Greenblatt's perspective, we see that he possibly dissaproves of colonialism or does not support it as someone may think.  But, if we were to examine the piece through Will's eyes, we would see that Shakespeare was a strong advocate of colonialism because of how he portrays the characters, without actually analyzing what happens or any other details.