Because this story was written a long time ago, it was hard to understand at first. You can also spot repetition in this text making much different from modern. Giglamesh, king of all, ruler of all, and respected by all, is king of Uruk. Two thirds god and one third man, no one could hide from him. One day, the old men pleaded to the goddes Aruru, because she made him, she must make another so they can fight between themselves not beeng pests to society. She made Enkindu,"the hairy-bodied wild man of the grasslands, powerful as Ninurta the god of war, the hair of his head like grain fields of the goddess, naked as Sumuqan, the god of cattle." Pg. 5 He sets the hunters pray free thus making them go to Gilgamesh for help. He sends Shamhat, a prostitute, to blind him with her beauty. Later, Enkindu and Shamhat find out that there will be a wedding in Uruk and "Before the husband, Gilgamesh will lie in pleasure with the bride in the marital chamber."Pg.14 Enkindu thought this unacceptable, so he went to Uruk and stood at the door of the marital chamber. There, the two gods wrestled and shortly after, kissed and made-up. They later become companions and go after a new journey, to go into the forest and cut a ceadar.
I don't think there's much to reflect on. What I do think is that since this was written in the mesopotamian time, later on we will find more tips about the bases of our literature and be able to make connections from Ancient to Modern literature. I also recognized how it was set as poetry.
domingo, 31 de agosto de 2008
jueves, 28 de agosto de 2008
The Last Cough : Ishmael
"I only mean that I've finished what I've set out to do. As a teacher, I have nothing more to give you. Even so, I would be pleased to count you as a friend."pg.254
After this is stated, you're left in suspense. Sure you could assume that they part or go their different ways and such. But you must keep in mind that this book was never really what it appeared it would. Actually, they do grow apart. In fact, Ishmael dies.
I guess you could interpret his death in several ways. For one, you could say that when the student surpases the teacher he must become one himself. In this case, the student's transition was havily forced on him.
You could expect his death or the end coming, not purely physical (like seeing how many pages were left) but also analyzing the content and the way it was written. What I mean by this, is that towards the end, the book begins to show you simmilar characteristics as the ones at the beggining. I take this to mean that it starts and ends without Ishmael, but for sure he's unforgettable.
This book has not only tought me about life and how things came to be, it also hepled me to clarify my beliefs. I Believe that it could make a difference on people's perspectives on our current "trying to survive" condition. I think this book could save us.
As you can see Ishmael clearly impacted his student. In the same way, Ishmael the novel, had an impact on me. As I said before, it sarts for sure he's unforgettable.
I did'nt genuinely like the last two chapters because I think it kills the frame of mind that the book carried.
Finally, we should take this book further, follow its examples, and exploit them for the good of mankind. Takers and Leavers have to find an agrreable intermediate point and let it be known.
After this is stated, you're left in suspense. Sure you could assume that they part or go their different ways and such. But you must keep in mind that this book was never really what it appeared it would. Actually, they do grow apart. In fact, Ishmael dies.
I guess you could interpret his death in several ways. For one, you could say that when the student surpases the teacher he must become one himself. In this case, the student's transition was havily forced on him.
You could expect his death or the end coming, not purely physical (like seeing how many pages were left) but also analyzing the content and the way it was written. What I mean by this, is that towards the end, the book begins to show you simmilar characteristics as the ones at the beggining. I take this to mean that it starts and ends without Ishmael, but for sure he's unforgettable.
This book has not only tought me about life and how things came to be, it also hepled me to clarify my beliefs. I Believe that it could make a difference on people's perspectives on our current "trying to survive" condition. I think this book could save us.
As you can see Ishmael clearly impacted his student. In the same way, Ishmael the novel, had an impact on me. As I said before, it sarts for sure he's unforgettable.
I did'nt genuinely like the last two chapters because I think it kills the frame of mind that the book carried.
Finally, we should take this book further, follow its examples, and exploit them for the good of mankind. Takers and Leavers have to find an agrreable intermediate point and let it be known.
God , good and evil, or neither? : Ishmael
I'm not quite sure how I'm gonna start this entry. (Hope you don't find it horrifying that I used gonna)
"I think that what you're groping for is that people need more than to be scolded, more than to be made to feel stupid and guilty. They need more than a vision of doom.They need a vision of the world and of themselves that inspries them." This quote states that we are in need of improving our way of life for the better, to be able to survive.The problem that we are facing is one that affects us all inmensely. I think we can all agree that this is a completely different approach than the ones we regularly practice, regarding problem that we all face daily. I think we should make use of this precious information that was "handed" to us and exploit it. Spread it over places around the world as our way out, out of this mess that we got ourselves into.
I don't remember what page it was on but there was a part of this chapter that i thought the Takers- Leavers rolls inverted. Maybe not so much inverted but merged. It was expressed that the beliefs of God, good and evil were merged into one society. Modern. I wonder, if there was a poll, which would get most popular vote, God , good and evil, or neither?
"I think that what you're groping for is that people need more than to be scolded, more than to be made to feel stupid and guilty. They need more than a vision of doom.They need a vision of the world and of themselves that inspries them." This quote states that we are in need of improving our way of life for the better, to be able to survive.The problem that we are facing is one that affects us all inmensely. I think we can all agree that this is a completely different approach than the ones we regularly practice, regarding problem that we all face daily. I think we should make use of this precious information that was "handed" to us and exploit it. Spread it over places around the world as our way out, out of this mess that we got ourselves into.
I don't remember what page it was on but there was a part of this chapter that i thought the Takers- Leavers rolls inverted. Maybe not so much inverted but merged. It was expressed that the beliefs of God, good and evil were merged into one society. Modern. I wonder, if there was a poll, which would get most popular vote, God , good and evil, or neither?
Are We Created or Are we The Creators? : Ishmael
Thoughout the book, we have been mainly "supportive" of the takers. Keeping in mind that its narrated in such a manner that we are constantly knowing what the takers do, think, and based on this we learn the reasons behind their actions. Also, we modern-beings (takers) are found attracted by this reasoning because we find out puzzle pieces to get at what eventually makes us who we are. Throughout the chapter, there is a constant ponder on wether we (the takers) took the "right path" or if we would've been better off as leavers, dependant on destiny.
"These, my friend, are incompetent gods.This is why you've got to take your lives out of their hands entirely. You've got to take your life into your own hands."pg. 226 In the passage the student thinks that the gods have nothing of major importance for humaity; or in this case, the Takers. Then why do we as current takers believe in God? Because of past references and this book I believe that this started as a way to keep society from falling apart. We all found one common interest, God. We shared the gratitud we had for him/it. Because this was the being of more importance, the most faithful followers came after. This is how order started to become established. While time passed Religion and Government helped eachother out but started to drift apart. Overall I think we created God out of necessity. The necessity to do something oth
er than simply survive.
"This life of yours is not only wretched, its wrong. Man was not meant to live this way. So don't fight us. Join us and help us turn the world into a paradise for man." Pg.222 If we were to read this quote out of context but knew about the term ,MOTHER CULTURE ,we would assume it would be her dreadful words. This makes me wonder. Are we really under such a big inlfuence that we begin to speak her words? Sue it was like this at the beggining,or at least a while ago, when the europeans came and conquered? Could this be the origin of racsim? Believing that there is ONE right way?
"These, my friend, are incompetent gods.This is why you've got to take your lives out of their hands entirely. You've got to take your life into your own hands."pg. 226 In the passage the student thinks that the gods have nothing of major importance for humaity; or in this case, the Takers. Then why do we as current takers believe in God? Because of past references and this book I believe that this started as a way to keep society from falling apart. We all found one common interest, God. We shared the gratitud we had for him/it. Because this was the being of more importance, the most faithful followers came after. This is how order started to become established. While time passed Religion and Government helped eachother out but started to drift apart. Overall I think we created God out of necessity. The necessity to do something oth
er than simply survive.
"This life of yours is not only wretched, its wrong. Man was not meant to live this way. So don't fight us. Join us and help us turn the world into a paradise for man." Pg.222 If we were to read this quote out of context but knew about the term ,MOTHER CULTURE ,we would assume it would be her dreadful words. This makes me wonder. Are we really under such a big inlfuence that we begin to speak her words? Sue it was like this at the beggining,or at least a while ago, when the europeans came and conquered? Could this be the origin of racsim? Believing that there is ONE right way?
lunes, 25 de agosto de 2008
The Apple : Ishmael
We can safely assume that the main idea is, because we are so self centered, we brought this up on oursleves; by this meaning that we have always considered that the world is ours and we are the key pieces to the world itself.Throughout the novel this is represented in both metaphores and direct examples. More recently, the metaphores have been about a society in which there are 3 groups. The A's, the B's and the C's. The C's eat the B's, the B's eat the A's ,and the A's each the C's therefore creating a chane in which no creature is of higher importance. We are then presented with an explanation and a direct exaple; of how the Lions only kill out of necessity, unlike humans, who kill out of pleasure or desire.
*In chapter 9 Ishmael comes out fron behind the glass demonstrating a great deal of confidence between the 2 characters*
Next, we are lead into a chapter regarding religious history/beliefs. About the genisis and how it is seen in our culture... This made me wonder about the common catholic story of Adam and Eve (interpretation of the creation myth) . This deals with a dilemma of a forbidden apple and Eve's choice of eating it leaving Adam at risk of loosing paradise. While this is commonly thought of as weak character in the face of desire, in which i would assume Ishamel would quickly interpret it as another attempt of mother culture to establish that it is the most competent and ONLY ruler of the world.
Getting into the tenth chapter, we are presented with the inconvenience of the absence of Ishmael. Later on we are talked about how culture and humanity are not two co-existent concepts; they merge into one. When a culture ends, the ideas that came with it end therefore making us (humaity) start again. The singlemost important idea that Mother Cculture carrys on is production. Agriculture being the base of the society. This is also the beggining of law and a form of state proclaming thate there is one right way to everything. In my personal opinion, the beggining of this chapter is greatly influenced on the message it carries. Ishmael's absence forced Alan to find a way to deal on his own. The first days he sat around and did nothing, then he was determined to find his teacher, when he finally completed his goal, thing got "back on track". I believe that this secuece is just a metaphore of how culture has evloved though time represented in one man.
*In chapter 9 Ishmael comes out fron behind the glass demonstrating a great deal of confidence between the 2 characters*
Next, we are lead into a chapter regarding religious history/beliefs. About the genisis and how it is seen in our culture... This made me wonder about the common catholic story of Adam and Eve (interpretation of the creation myth) . This deals with a dilemma of a forbidden apple and Eve's choice of eating it leaving Adam at risk of loosing paradise. While this is commonly thought of as weak character in the face of desire, in which i would assume Ishamel would quickly interpret it as another attempt of mother culture to establish that it is the most competent and ONLY ruler of the world.
Getting into the tenth chapter, we are presented with the inconvenience of the absence of Ishmael. Later on we are talked about how culture and humanity are not two co-existent concepts; they merge into one. When a culture ends, the ideas that came with it end therefore making us (humaity) start again. The singlemost important idea that Mother Cculture carrys on is production. Agriculture being the base of the society. This is also the beggining of law and a form of state proclaming thate there is one right way to everything. In my personal opinion, the beggining of this chapter is greatly influenced on the message it carries. Ishmael's absence forced Alan to find a way to deal on his own. The first days he sat around and did nothing, then he was determined to find his teacher, when he finally completed his goal, thing got "back on track". I believe that this secuece is just a metaphore of how culture has evloved though time represented in one man.
domingo, 24 de agosto de 2008
Reading/Writing Analysis: Ishmael
I am now farther along in the book and have a new perspective on the reasoning of the all-around theme/moral of Ishmael. Before, Alan was very much into the idea that he must save the world but yet he has not found a way to make this happen, or how we even got to be in this position. That's when Ishhmael kicks in; he starts his "Classes" ( if we can even reffer to them as classes).
An interesting detail that I came across while reading, is that when Ishmael is at a point that is crucial he gives his student clues to the answer so then he will think that it was more his idea. I think that Daniel Quinn wrote the story like this because we can all relate for two main reasons. One: Some teachers use that method Two: because it is written as 1st person dialogue therefore the reader feels it as an experience.(very well written by the way)
Before reading this book I didn't contemplate the idea of Religion and Evolution having two different points of views regarding "THE END OF THE WORLD". Either way, we end up thinking that the world is ours to do what we please with it. So self-centered, that after humans there is nothing left evolution-wise.
On a different note: on page 80 the talk of turning the rain on and of and such reminded me of a rumor or news that I heard about China or Japan making a machine that can do such things. Will this really happen?
An interesting detail that I came across while reading, is that when Ishmael is at a point that is crucial he gives his student clues to the answer so then he will think that it was more his idea. I think that Daniel Quinn wrote the story like this because we can all relate for two main reasons. One: Some teachers use that method Two: because it is written as 1st person dialogue therefore the reader feels it as an experience.(very well written by the way)
Before reading this book I didn't contemplate the idea of Religion and Evolution having two different points of views regarding "THE END OF THE WORLD". Either way, we end up thinking that the world is ours to do what we please with it. So self-centered, that after humans there is nothing left evolution-wise.
On a different note: on page 80 the talk of turning the rain on and of and such reminded me of a rumor or news that I heard about China or Japan making a machine that can do such things. Will this really happen?
sábado, 23 de agosto de 2008
Self Induced Victims : Ishmael
I'm on page 37 and I felt the need comment on what is going through my mind. Being captive is an idea that I had never contemplated. I have a way of seeing life and this book has got me thinking of so many things that I had never considered. Beeing captive of ourselves (by ourselves meaning the human race) is inevitable. We have been force fed these ideas of how we should live life and how to react to certain situations. Our main concern is to survive. We are constant victims of eachother per-say. We destroy the earth in an egocentric manner, though we think we still care about others.
"Only 2 things are infinate: the universe and human stupidity, and
I'm not sure about the former."-Albert Einstein
jueves, 21 de agosto de 2008
THE blog
A. What is the difference between a blog and a book?
B. How have blogs changes recently?
C. Why might you read a blog?
D. Is there reason to doubt the objectivity of a blog? Why? Why not?
E. If you kept your own blog, what would you title it?
What I consider to be the difference between a blog and a book, is that a book (as stated in http://www.nybooks.com/) "Books are tight. Blogs are reckless. Books are slow. Blogs are fast. Books ask you to stay between their covers. Blogs invite you to stray. Books fret over copyright and libel. Blogs grab whatever they want with impunity—news, gossip, pictures, videos." In other words books invite you to stay, they tell you a story from a point in wich you understand the idea that the author is trying to get through. On the other hand a blog is a more personal space. It doesn't matter to the blogger if you get their inside jokes or what they mean by some words or abreviations. Also if the blogger considers that they didn't get the emotion that they wanted in, they may use an emoticon. We don't need these in proper literature because the author expresses descriptively and concisely what they want the reader to understand and feel.
Recently blogs have changed I think mostly beacuse of technology. What I mean by this is that technology over the years has gotten faster and better, not to mention cheaper, making it easier for more people to get on the internet. Since the internet has so much space and an even bigger amount of internet surfers, there are more topics to discuss. Because of this same reason, these surfers want to get noticed o they add somethiong catchy like LOOK HERE!!! or THIS IS AWSOME!! Basically over the years, the amount of bloggers has increased greatly therefore more publicity was set in the blogging environment.
Because there are a great deal of topics to discuss, each person can find a topic they're interested in. They can share ideas, information, images and videos about the topic and their thoughts or positions towards it. Since blogging is a world-wide concept, you get an incredible amount of perspectives, analyze them and come up with your own.
Well this question had me divided, and to tell the truth I still can't make up my mind. On one hand I think that I could really doubt the objectivity of a blog but not all. I refer to a blog because it depends on what the topic of the disscusion or the thoughts about it are; We could also get off track easily. For example: one persons idea leads to another of someone elses, and another, and so on; Taking us to a completely different topic. But on the other hand I see the objectivity of a blog, or blogs in general as a modern method of expression.
My personal BLog would be titled: ChAoS
I would choose this because everyone changes; and since I like almost everything and I make an unusual mix... which some how could be considered CHAOS
B. How have blogs changes recently?
C. Why might you read a blog?
D. Is there reason to doubt the objectivity of a blog? Why? Why not?
E. If you kept your own blog, what would you title it?
What I consider to be the difference between a blog and a book, is that a book (as stated in http://www.nybooks.com/) "Books are tight. Blogs are reckless. Books are slow. Blogs are fast. Books ask you to stay between their covers. Blogs invite you to stray. Books fret over copyright and libel. Blogs grab whatever they want with impunity—news, gossip, pictures, videos." In other words books invite you to stay, they tell you a story from a point in wich you understand the idea that the author is trying to get through. On the other hand a blog is a more personal space. It doesn't matter to the blogger if you get their inside jokes or what they mean by some words or abreviations. Also if the blogger considers that they didn't get the emotion that they wanted in, they may use an emoticon. We don't need these in proper literature because the author expresses descriptively and concisely what they want the reader to understand and feel.
Recently blogs have changed I think mostly beacuse of technology. What I mean by this is that technology over the years has gotten faster and better, not to mention cheaper, making it easier for more people to get on the internet. Since the internet has so much space and an even bigger amount of internet surfers, there are more topics to discuss. Because of this same reason, these surfers want to get noticed o they add somethiong catchy like LOOK HERE!!! or THIS IS AWSOME!! Basically over the years, the amount of bloggers has increased greatly therefore more publicity was set in the blogging environment.
Because there are a great deal of topics to discuss, each person can find a topic they're interested in. They can share ideas, information, images and videos about the topic and their thoughts or positions towards it. Since blogging is a world-wide concept, you get an incredible amount of perspectives, analyze them and come up with your own.
Well this question had me divided, and to tell the truth I still can't make up my mind. On one hand I think that I could really doubt the objectivity of a blog but not all. I refer to a blog because it depends on what the topic of the disscusion or the thoughts about it are; We could also get off track easily. For example: one persons idea leads to another of someone elses, and another, and so on; Taking us to a completely different topic. But on the other hand I see the objectivity of a blog, or blogs in general as a modern method of expression.
My personal BLog would be titled: ChAoS
I would choose this because everyone changes; and since I like almost everything and I make an unusual mix... which some how could be considered CHAOS
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