Let Me Be Remembered...

Well as we wind down to the end of the year, I thought that I would write about something that has stood out to me in many of the stories we have read. In many stories, characters have made efforts to make them remembered. They would build buildings or even do extreme behaviors. It has made me wonder, is it human nature to want to be remembered and not forgotten? We have seen in many books that we have read that the characters have done things to make them known in their society. Keating in The Foutainhead focused on building buildings where he would be known for the architecture and the design. However, Roark was the one who designed it. Keating was STILL willing to say it was his and be sure that HIS name was somewhere on the design so he would receive credit. Another story that shows how we wish to be remembered is Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian was willing to sell his soul to have his eternal youth. He was willing to stay young while others grew old because he wanted the rest of society to remember him for his youthful beauty. Onkonkwo is another one of these characters too. The guy wanted to be remembered for his success rather than being the son of a failure musician. We see this is society on a daily basis. Look at certain buildings in some of our major metropolitian areas. You see the same names on items and buildings. Trump. Rockefeller. Biltmore. Washington. Lincoln. All these people who felt, or others felt, they should be remembered. On apparel, jewelry and other everyday objects, there are labels with people's names where they felt the should be remembered for their contribution. Tiffany & Co. Ann Taylor. Chanel. Wendy's. Everywhere we look!!!! There is something about society that says we should honors thoughs who have made a contribution in someway and should be remembered. I feel that there are many things that should be a representation of someone who should be remembered. It is respectable to that person. Sometimes we go overboard though. There are times I feel like I see the same name repeated among a million things but don't have the same significance as others. For example, Heinz. When you think of Heinz, you think of the ketchup. However, when you use common names such as Smith or Miller, it doesn't stand out as something to remember.

You are beautiful....really?

As we read Picture of Dorian Gray, I couldn't help but notice the focus society had on beauty. It made me question, without society how could we judge what is beautiful or not? Society has been the leader in setting the standard for acceptance. Dorian's society was focused on beauty and youth. Many of the women characters mentioned how he was handsome and Lord Henry even convinced Dorian to sell his soul to cherish it. Selling his soul gave him the gift of being beautiful forever. If society didn't have an influence, would have Dorian sold his soul? Would it have absorbed his life? We see in our society today, the influences of beauty has an effect on people and their decisions in their lives. In simple cases, women get plastic surgery to look younger because society places a lot of focus on young women's beauty and their "perfections." At a young age, we see young girls taking photos of themselves in sexual ways that are an attempt to make themselves attractive. This young girl may mistake the request as a way for the receiver to see her beauty. However, they are only filling a desire if they receiver shares the items with others. Society places beauty around sex and desire. For Dorian, the beauty would advance him in life to receive the attention and desires he has craved. The beauty society has created had ultimately ruined him because he sold his soul to absorb his life in youthful beauty. In a way, these women are selling their souls because they are willing to give up their natural beauty and uniqueness for what society wishes them to be. They are giving up who they truly. We see how society places standards on beauty in many works of literature too. In many of the Gossip Girl books (yeah I know, lame. It was the easiest connection though!) we see how characters such as Blair and Serena feel the pressure of beauty in society that along with friends, will go to extreme lengths to be at a high standard. They are teenagers and are willing to have surgeries and try many different methods to perfect themselves. I personally think that society is the determining factor on what is beautiful. If I wore heavy loads of eye make up with bright red lip stick tomorrow in school, I probably would be told that it is ugly. However, if I went to another country in this century and previous, this may be considered beautiful. In Asia, women who wore makeup with the white powder on their faces, was once considered gorgeous. So why isn't it now? Because society today has changed their perception on beauty. 

Edna's Many Men...Uh Oh.

One of the Socratic Seminar questions that we never really discussed was how each man played different roles in Edna's life. I feel that each character filled a void in her life that she felt was missing. Leonce was her void for society. He was the only thing that helped her fit into society because he had status and money. That was looked upon as a good thing and was important to the society she was living in. As a young girl, this is something she may have felt that is what she wanted. Robert was the emotional love she always wished for. Unlike Leonce, Edna felt that Robert expressed more love, admiration and affection towards her. Arobin then became her void for the physical love. She never had any real feelings for him that she would be attached to. The three men in her lives filled the void of what she felt she was missing at that time. This is similar to many other books we have read so far in class. Catherine in Wuthering Heights was in love with Heathcliff for the emotional love like Edna and Robert. However, due to society's standards, she married Edgar. This marriage however didn't stop her from loving Heathcliff. Another book that shows how a character tries to fill a void is Things Fall Apart. Although Onkonkwo didn't feel like he needed romantic love, he felt he needed to fill the void of not having much of a father figure in his life. So this emotional love was taken care of after he felt that the void would be filled if he acted as the best father possible to his own children. Also to act the opposite of how his father was. In our society today we see many people filling voids in their lives on a daily basis. We see this a lot with people dealing with addictions. People with problems in their lives may result to drinking alcohol. To these people, this may be a void for them because they feel it satisfies and takes care of their problems. Humans also tend to try and fill a void in their life by making large changes. Our society has a large divorce rate which could be contributed by people feeling that divorce is the only way to fill the void of them not feeling the love in the relationship. This could also be applied to cheating on their significant other. The people who tend to cheat are people who feel that they are getting something out of their relationship and they seek it in someone else. I feel that it is human nature for people to seek for something to fill the gap in what we feel is missing. It is uncharacteristic of us to not want what is best for ourselves or find things that give us discomfort rather than pleasure. Edna was acting as any other human would do. She acted upon her discomfort and tried to find ways to fix the problems in her life.