The Stranger #2

Meursualt is a man with too much freedom.

While reading this book i realized that Meursault is someone that was given no limits. He was always able to do what he want and when he want. He was never forced to do something that he did not want to do. For example, he had a choice in whether or not to live with his mom and whether or not he wanted a job in Paris. Meursault was always given what he wanted leading to too much freedom in his life.

As a result of too much freedom, Meursault did not realizes the consequences that he would have after his actions. He was a guy that just goes with the flow and did not care about what others thought of him therefore, creating someone that seems to have no emotions. After Meursault killed the guy he was not able to realize that every action he makes would affect him. When he was in jail he was not used to the idea of being trapped and needing to follow the rules. It was like a whole new world for him, coming from a world with no boundaries to a world were everything is according to the rules.

In my opinion, Meursault definitely deserves to be in jail but does not deserve the death sentence. I feel that everybody should be given a second chance in life. In my eyes, Meursault has never been a troublemaker but someone that does not really care about what other thinks of him. I do not think that one mistake should demand if he dies or not.

Also, i have noticed that during the trial it was the first time that Meursault realized that people cared for him. In the book, Meursault does not show how he feels about the other characters however, the other characters does show there feelings for him. During his trial he noticed that all of his friends cared for him and they did not want him to be in jail. It was also the first time that i felt like he appreciated having them around.

In conclusion, I feel that Meursault does not what he's doing without realizing that there are consequences.

The Stranger #1

In my opinion, Meursault is not a cold heart man but just a man that just do not know how to show his feelings.

I feel that Meursault just do not know how to express himself to his mother. During her funeral, Meursault acted like he does not care about his mother because he feel guilty on how he treated her. When one of his mother's friend was crying, Meursault wanted her to shut up. This is because he fault that a random women is closer to his mom than he is. Therefore, he fault annoyed and do not want to listen to her anymore. This might seem as though Meursault does not care about his mom but i feel that he is just trying to forget about what he has done. I can connect to Meursault because sometimes when i regret something that i have done i will try to avoid it or occupy my mind with something else.

One thing that i noticed about Meursault's personality is that he jumps from one subject to another. Its interesting how he does not focus on details yet he just tells whats he see and what is being said. I feel that the author wants us the know what is going on but we have to put ourselves in the character's shoe and guess how they are feeling. I enjoy this because i do not have to read about a certain way that the character feels but instead i can put my own feelings in it.

My favorite part of this book so far is when Meursault's neighbor loses his dog. This is because i feel like it show how we do not know what we got until its gone. In the beginning, Meursault talks about how the old man is always yelling at the dog. It seems like he did not care for the dog. However, when the dog was lose the old man started to worry. He realized that he need the dog and will not know what to do if he does not find it. This really touch me because i feel that everyone can connect to the old man. Even though i do not know if the old man's attitude toward the dog will change or not i still hope he find him.

So far i enjoy reading this book. I feel that there a deeper meaning to what is written. But what i like most about this book is that is short and its easy to read.

Meaningful or meaningless?

Getting good grades, graduating college, and having my own family; these are some of my goal in life. However, if life is meaningless what is the point of having goal? Should I do whatever i want and forget about what right and what wrong just because life is meaningless?

I feel that life is not meaningless but instead everything is connected in one way or another. Life is just like a domino effect, when one part will fall then the other piece will be affected. For example, the swine flu is a connection. It's like a person gets the swine flu and it spreads to another person. Others might think that life is only meaningful when they get what they want. Although i feel that getting what you want is not the only reason why life is meaningful. It’s a big part of what life worth living. Also to achieve what you want to work hard in life.

One quote that reminds me of what we were doing in class was "They're basically moments in which you're in touch with the meaning of life, when your relationship to the rest of the universe makes sense." This quote was written by Barbara De Angelis. My interpretation of this quote is that the meaning for life is made up with the connection you have with others. I feel that the more connection you have with others, the more meaningful your life would be. In my opinion connection can be made by talking to someone. My favorite kind of connection is to be friends with someone. Friends are an important part of my life and influence a big part of how I live my life.

One of my favorite quotes is written by Arthur Rubinstein: “Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.” Just enjoy life and you will be happy. I agree with this statement but I think it can be hard to enjoy life. This reminds me of something that was said in the movie: why do people only think about these questions when they are sad but when they are happy they forget about them?” No one comes from the same background. Some are more fortunate than others. However, as long as we make the best out of what we have we will make life more meaningful.

Overall, I feel that life is meaningful and that as long as you enjoy life and do the best you can you will succeed.

Comments on part 3 & 4

To Ali:

I agree that there is no point of living a good life all we suppose to be thinking about is death. Everything that we have done will be pointless if we are just going to die. i believe that you should just try your best in life so when you die you won't regret anything that you have done.

A question that comes in my mind is if we are happy all the time are we really "happy"? How would we know if we are? Will we ever have any other feeling?

I really like the way you question their ideas. Your questions were really good and I really enjoyed reading this. :-)

To Corey :

I really liked the way you summarized everything. I really enjoyed reading it. Your post brings up a lot of great point.

However, i disagree on what you said about eternal value can not bring happiness. Watching tv brings me happiness because most of the time it gets me away from all the stress i have in school. Even though it can only last a while it still brings me happiness. Plus i don't really agree that happiness is nothing. I think that its a very important part of everyone life and so are the other emotions and feelings.

For the second point i feel similar to what you are saying. I don't think that it is possible for everyone to be completely equal because we all come from different backgrounds and have different povs. You can give 2 person each 10 dollar but they will not spend it the same way. Therefore, you can never be the same as anyone else.

Good work Corey!

Part 3 and 4

In part 3 and 4, David Banach talk about how Existentialist view happiness and how to have absolute freedom.

People seek happiness in many different ways, some from clothes and some from food. However, Existentialist believes that true happiness is found internally not from an external source:"...one must lose the promise if external value, but they find a more real happiness, one that cannot be taken away by the external forces beyond their control." One must not depend on materials to be truly happy. External values can always be taken away therefore we will not be truly happy. However, I feel that all humans are materialistic but just on different level with different things. Is wanting an external always bad? Does food count as an external source?

One of the line from the lecture that really struck me was: “Our lives is a series of meaningless actions culminating in death, with no possibility of external justification." Basically this quote talks about how life is meaningless because we are all going to die. I totally disagree with this statement. In an lifetime one can change so much. If Obama thought that life would be meaningless and that there is no point of life would he be able to become the first black president? Why do we need happiness if we are all just going to die? Can one be happy when all that’s on its mind is death?

In order to have absolute freedom one must think of everyone as equal. Existentialist believes that when one is controlling another then the person is not really free. When one makes someone its slave then the person itself turns into an object. But can we really see everyone as equal? Can we look at the person next to us and say that we are exactly the same?

Overall, I feel that the way the Banach view life very different than the way i view it. I think this would help me look deeper into the question what is the meaning of life.

To Amber:

One question that i really liked was "Why does freedom seem to make the human race happy?" i guess people nowadays just want to do whatever they please. However, if you think about what would really happen if everyone had the freedom to do whatever they please will it benefit people? All i can imagine if that the world would be in chao and it will be like the Survival of the fittest.

Is everyone's idea of freedom the same? i mean if you randomly ask people what is freedom will they all agree on one thing? what if someone said if drugs were legal it would give them freedom are we suppose to change that law just to make someone happy? How do we know what is "good freedom"and what is "bad freedom"?

Can we really make everyone happy?

To Corey:

agree with many things that you are say and i really like your question: "Can you not have choice but still be free?" However in my opinion there are difinely ways to explain both how essence precedes existence and existence precedes essence.

An example of how essence precedes existence is before a chair is made someone has already has a propose for the piece of wood the will make the chair.

An example of how existence precedes essence is how when a we are born we don't really know who we are until we are faced with many challenges and the influenced from the people around us.

i guess it can be seen in both ways but if you ask me i agree with you and think that I am the one who controls my life and the direction it goes.

Banach's Lacture Part 2

Most of the time i don't even know what i am doing.

Now that i look back into my past i realized that i have done many things that i can't even explain. Some say that there is a reason for everything but i disagree. I guess part of not knowing why i do certain things is a part of me. Would that be an example of absolute freedom? I mean i am being who i am... right?

One question that is constantly on my mind when i am reading Banach's writing is why do we need so much? Couldn't we just be happy with what we have? Banach is always trying to tell us to find the deeper meaning of things but why can we just be pleased with what we do understand. In my p.o.v. i think that we should just try to improve ourself as we live our lives in this world and to keep this simple. i mean why make things so complicated?

Banach is always talking about absolute freedom that is insides of us that we need to find but what about freedom on the outside? This remains me of a question written by Manley. It states: "If you aren't politically or physically free, can you still be mentally free?" In my opinion i feel that you can be mentally free even if you are not phyiscally free and even if you are mentally free you might not be physically free. For example, i feel like the that lives in the U.S. are the ones that has the most political and physically free yet i still hear about people being paranoid in the U.S. which is what consider not mentally free.

In conclusion, I feel that is doesn't matter is we are "absolute individuals" or not, just be happy and live your life.

HW 2 - Comments 1

julielin said...

Amber I really liked how you connected the piece that David Banach wrote to real life examples. This is my favorite sentence: "Even though we are standing so close, it seems that we are standing miles and miles away." I totally agree with it. i reminds me a lot about school. Even though we see the people in school almost everyday for the past few year i don't even know more than half of our classmates. However sometimes i wonder can we really survive without anymore's help and support? Can you really be "absolute individuals"? One last question i have is do we want to be an absolute individual?

julielin said...

i agree that no one can really feel how we feel on the inside but others are the one that makes us feel this way. For example, when someone dies you feel really sad but they are the ones that makes you feel sad. so if you are an absolute individual will you care about others? Will you even have any feelings? How would you feel if you did?

Anyway if you cover your true feelings is it because care about the people around you and don't want them to see you cry and be sad? could you really consider yourself as an "absolute individual?

i hope this is not to confusing to read...

#1

um... i agree that we are individuals but we do have friends to be there to support us. I think to be an "absolute individuals we have to be completely away from society as if you dont not even exist. 

Arrg i have no idea what to write...

Whenever i read the sentence "trapped within our own mines" all i think about is someone that is crazy. what i picture in my mind is someone sitting on the streets and other people just staring at them. Its kinda scary in some way...

now that i think about it the questions in my head is why do people think about this? what benefits does it bring? whats the point of this? Does it really matter?