Final blog

Looking back on my time at Buckley, a lot has changed and this school has really shaped the person that I am and has had a huge impact in my life. It feels like yesterday that it was the first day of 7th grade and I was walking on to my brand new school. The friends and the memories I've had at this school are endless. The teachers and faculty have always been there supporting me every step of the way. I remember all the times of the middle school bar mitzvahs to the dances we would have. I'll never forget the times I've had in high school on the basketball team and all the memories of playing in front of all the students and faculty back when I was only a freshman. To all of the friends and people I have been friends with throughout high school, I enjoy all the time I spend with them and know that these are such great people, every single one of my friends, especially the ones that I've become close to this year. I know my buckley family will always be there for me. Thank you Buckley for giving me such an incredible middle and high school life.

college

I am going to bring a lot of things to college.  Most importantly I will bring my phone, laptop and i pad to college.  Those are the most important things to bring.  I will need my phone to see whats happening around campus, my laptop to work and my ipad to have fun.  I will also need to bring a lot of cloths and different outfits for school, but im not worried cause I can always go home.  I will bring a lot of books to read for pleasure.  I will bring my gym cloths as well as my tennis shoes and possibly a tennis racquet, cant forget my basketball shoes either.  I cant forget my sunglasses for all of those hot sunny days in LA.  I will bring the normal toiletries along with my favorite towel that has my initials on it.  Most importantly Im going to bring myself, someone who is willing to have a fun time as well as go and work hard and someone who loves meeting new people and learning new things everyday.

NBA PLAYOFFS

Its game one between Chicago and Philidelphia and Derrick Rose was running down the court then he went for the ball, and BAM!!! he goes down in agony.  The best player in the NBA on the best team in the NBA goes down as he watches his team luckily win.  Rose found out after the game that he had torn his ACL and is out for 6 months.  This could have been the worst thing that had happened to the Bulls.  Their best player is out and they need to win 3 more games to move on.  Their chances of winning the championship was gone.  This was very unfortunate blow to the team that was clearly the best team throughout the regualr season.  But we also saw an improbable comback by the Los Angeles Clippers who havent won a series since 2006.  They were down 27 in the end of the third quarter when all of a sudden chris paul and blake griffin rally the team together with nick youngs three point shooting to come back and stun the Memphis Grizzles at home.  This was one of the greatest comebaks in NBA playoff history.

NHL PLAYOFFS

If you were going to tell me in the beginning of the year that the LA Kings and the Pheonix Cyotes were going to meet each other in the Western Conference Finals.  I would have thought you were crazy.  I dont think anyone would have thought that two teams from the Pacific divsion, the worst divsion in Hockey, would produce the two teams that play for a chance for the Stanley Cup.  With a coaching change for the kings and the possibility of the coyotes moving from pheonix, both temas futures were in peril.  But somehow, both teams mustured up the strength to move through the playoffs.  With the kings dispatching the top team overall in all of hockey, the Canuks and then the road didnt get easier as the kings had to play the second best team in the West in the St. Louis Blues.  The kings have been playing the best hockey all season and the Cyotes have had to beat the blackhawks and the predators.  This is going to be a wild series.

GE requirements

Category 1:Western Cultures and Traditions
                 American the New Frontier, and the New West
                 The American Expericence Cultral Forms and Values 1

Category 2: Global Cultures and Traditions
                  The Worlds of the Silk Roads

Category 3: Scientific Inquiry
                  Cellular and Molecular Biology
                  Fundamental of Physics I: Mechanics and Thermodynamics
                  Advanced general Chemisty

Category 4: Science and its Significance
                  The Science of Happiness
                  The origins of the Mind

Category 5: Arts and Letters
                  Studies in Arts and Letters

Category 6: Social Issues
                  The Holocaust
                  Collective Identity and Political Violence: Representing 9/11
                 
Category 7: Diversity
                   Los Angeles and the American Dream
                   Sports, Communication, and Culture

usc plagerism

Student Integrity and Plagiarism
The USC reference guide, Trojan Integrity, provides a comprehensive explanation of how to identify and confront academic dishonesty among students. The guide also outlines the necessary steps for formally reporting plagiarism or cheating by a student, if his or her behavior merits such action.

Within the USC academic community, the more egregious acts of academic dishonesty – purchasing papers, cheating on exams, copying lab reports – are generally rare, yet it is the responsibility of the instructor to be alert to such possibilities and to create a learning environment in which such acts are openly discouraged and, if identified, appropriately punished. More likely, however, an instructor will encounter more subtle acts of academic dishonesty, many of which are conducted unwittingly by students who have yet to gain the necessary tools of effective research or proper time management.

It is the role of all instructors, therefore, to educate students on what constitutes cheating and plagiarism, to set a clear policy for how academic dishonesty will be handled, and to teach the value of maintaining academic integrity in one’s work. Examples of academic dishonesty, as outlined in SCampus, include the following:

Plagiarism:

• Submission of someone else’s work as one’s own, whether the material is paraphrased or copied verbatim.
• Improper acknowledgment of sources in essays or papers.
• Unauthorized collaboration:
• Submission of material that has been edited or revised by another person that results in substantive changes in content or style.
• Unauthorized collaboration on a project, homework, or other assignment.

Cheating:

• Any use of external assistance in the completion of an academic assignment and/or during an examination (unless permitted by the instructor), including communicating with fellow students during an exam, allowing another student to copy from an exam, possession or use of unauthorized notes, calculator, or other materials, and any instruments that can convey exam answers, such as cell phones.
• Submission of altered work after grading, including changing answers after an exam or assignment has been graded and returned.
• Obtaining for oneself or for another person a solution to homework or other assignments, or a copy of an exam or exam key without the expressed consent of the instructor.
• Using an essay, term paper, or project in more than one course without permission of the instructors of both courses.
• Taking a course or completing any coursework for another student, or allowing another individual to take a course, or complete coursework in one’s stead.

college research

At USC, especially at Marshall, I have a total of 128-134 credits that I have to fulfill throughout my 4 years at USC.  In these 128-134 credits that i need to fulfill, I have 36 GE credits that I have to fulfill, these 32 credits are classes that every USC students have to take in order to graduate.  These include classes such as western civilization (history), I have to take a science class, as well as a writing class.  Also I need to take an art class as well.  I have 48 credits of core Marshall classes that i need to take in order to graduate, these classes include a wide variety of business classes such as finance, accounting, marketing, and leadership and organization. I then have 12 Marshall upper division electives that I have where I can take whatever electives that I want from Marshall in order to supplement my concentration.  Then i have 32 credits for my minor/electives that I have to fulfill in order to graduate.  This can include any of the USC minors that are listed which would mean that I would then study in a different school other than Marshall. I am going to most likely take classes in the school of Public Policy and Planning.

safe sex

In safe sex, it never really talks about having sex.  Also in the poem, it says have sex, have emotionless sex, then you are safer.  Yet as you go through the poem you see that the author believes that it is a wrong thing and "permanent humiliation".  It is indirectly saying that all the things it said in the beginning are bad and not a good thing.  The author takes a very indirect route and does not directly say having a one night stand is bad.  Yet in the other poem, it directly states that having sex without love is a good thing.  It says that if both the lovers understand that there is no emotion involved, then there is nothing wrong and nobody will get hurt.  "They do not mistake the lover for their own pleasure"  Directly stating that there is emotionless sex is a better thing than getting hurt.

College dorm blog

I will be making a blog on what events and parties that will be going on in my dorm room as well as events that will be happening on campus.  The blog would include mostly pictures of the event that had just occurred/ review of the event or if its upcoming, a picture of the type of event.  I believe that this is important because as new students in a new school, we aren't really friends with everyone on facebook so facebook events wouldn't work as well, but having a blog web sight that shows all the events that are happening in the dorms.  This way we can all get to know each other better and become friends with everyone so that nobody is left out.  Everyone in the dorm knows whats happening, when and where.  The way i would get traffic is to market this blog on the front of every dorm lobby as well as on the walls of the lounges and put flyers all over the elevators as well as on every floor of the dorms.  I would blog on monday on the events that are happening during the week.  Then I would post another blog on thursdays for the weekend, and on sundays I would do a wrap up of everything that happened.  My posts would include parties, sporting events, and try to make it informative so that its clear the time and date of everything.  The point of this blog would be to bring people together, I like connecting people together so this would be a good way to do it.

Blog on blogging

The blogs on my interests would be blogs on music.  A blog that would allow me to listen to the newest music, and download the newest songs.  The blog would also allow me to check up on the newest concerts as well as watch the concerts that I missed.  I also would follow a blog that is about sports, a lot of pictures about what is going on in sports.  Write about the incredible moments that only happen in sports.  A blog that i would write about is a blog about sports.  I would add a lot of pictures again of what is hot in sports, weather that is professional sports or college.  In college i would blog about all the events and parties that are going on, on campus and recount the fun that we had.  As well as put up a list of the events/meetings for the rest of the week so that people are all informed about what is going on on campus.  I would probably blog a few times a week but definitely on Sundays

conclusion

Every decsion that we make in our lives ultameltly will lead to either a positive or negative consequence that will have a lasting impact in our lives.  Mersault made his decsions based off of emotion and irrational thought which leads Mersualt on an unfortunate yet predictable journey to his demise.  Unlike Mersualt, my father has made important decsions in his life based on logical and critical thinking.  The consequences that occur based off these decsions have lasting effects on our lives.  Yet the consequences of these decsions can be controlled with rational thinking or irrational thinking.  Mersualts fate is sealed with his emotional decsion making which is similar to my father, as his fate was sealed with his logical decsion of coming to the states.  Yet both Mersualt and my father are different in the fact that their sealed fates are different, Mersulat, his demise and eventual exceution and my father, his sucess in his field of study and although my fate is not yet determined, I am confident that my logical and rational thought, I will be more sucuessful in my future goals than if I were to pick my college based off of emotion and pure excitement for the school.

Paragraph 4

Mersault, my father and I all three have made significant decsions in our life, that will signifcantly alter our lives, with every decsion made, there is always either a positive or negative consequence that comes with rational or irrational thinking.  Mersualts decsions to smoke and drink coffee and be disrespectful at his mothers grave was out of pure emotion.  However, the consequence for this action was that he was chastised by the rest of the community and accused of not really loving his mom.  Not having an emotion, not crying at his own mothers funeral, illustrated his lack of regard for his mother.  Since he was acting out of pure emotion, the consequence was extremly negative.  The persepective that people had of Mersault was significatly altered after his actions at the funeral.  Effectively, his lack of reagard lead to no effeort by the community to aid Mersualt in grieving but to use his lack of regard as a tool to get him into jail.  This effecively compares to my fathers decsion of having to either stay in Iran with his friends, or to go to the states and get an education.  The consequence of my fathers decsion to go to the states lead to him reciving his law degree, which was extremly difficult for someone who could barley speak english.  This lead him to recive more job offers and he started making a lot more money and becoming sucessfull. If he had stayed in Iran, sure he would have had more fun but with the revloution coming, who knows, he might have been killed.  Effectivley, both my fathers decsion and Mersaults decsions were made either out of logic, or out of emotion, thus leading to two different consequences.  Another one of Mersaults decsions was to kill the Arab out of pure emotion.  He had no reason to kill the Arab, yet he still killed him out of emotion and not logic.  The consquence of his actions was finally his demise and his execution.  Mersault's indifference about his trial also effectively communicates his lack of regard for even his own life.  All of these emotions are from irrational thinking and the consequece of his emotional actions is that he is ultamely killed and executed.  Not only is he executed, the community does not care for him or sympatize with him before he is killed.  All of these negative consequences arise from irrational and emotional decsion making.  Mersualt's way of decsion making effectively compares to mine, as I take my time and think about all the positive and negative consequences surrounding my decsion of where to go to college.  The consequence of my decsion will not be seen until later in my life, however if the future happens the way I calculated, my decsion to go to school in Los Angeles, is going to be the best decsion that I have made in my life.  The consequence might be that i dont have as much fun, but the payout of my sucesses will make it all worth while.  Unlike Mersualt, I am looking into the future and realizeing the consequences of my actions.  Mersualts looks only at what is happening in the moment and does not realize the consequences of his actions in the future.

paragraph 3 final

My fathers and my own logical thinking has lead us to make decsions based off of rational thought that has lead both my father and I on a more sucessful path in our lives. My father had to make a decsion at a young age that has made a lasting inpact in his life in a positive way. "Right before the revoluion, in Iran, my father at the age of 16 made me decide between staying at home and going to school with all my friends or go to the states, to a place unknown to me and study their without any of my friends" (Azadegan).  My father thought about this decsion for a long time and did not make the decsion based off of pure emotion and what he wants to do, he made it based off of what was logically the best thing for him, even if it means to give up his friends for a fresh and better start.  My dad did choose to go to the states and he did make the rational and logical choice.  This lead him to a more sucessful life as he went to college in the states and started working as a lawyer.  Rather, his friends back in Iran stayed, had a great time in Iran but the revolution happened and they couldnt leave and a few of them were even captured and killed. I have just had to make one of the biggest decsions in my life, where to go to college.  The decsion came down to wheather I wanted to stay home for college or to leave.  Although emotionally, leaving home and starting a new life somewhere else is more appealing to me, I had to be logical in my decsion making and realize that what I emtionally feel is better for me, is not necsearily rational for what I want to do in the future.  I will posibily have a lot more fun in another city for the first 2 years of college, but then what? Staying in a city like Los Angeles, might not be a change and might not be as fun as going somewhere else, but looking at my future plans and what I want to do with my life, staying in Los Angeles is where I will be able to sucuessfully reach my goals.  Both my father and I had to make decsions that will change our lives forever and unlike Mersault, we made these decsions based off logic and rational thought and not emotion.

paragraph 3

My fathers and my own logical thinking has lead us to make decsions based off of rational thought that has lead both my father and I on a more sucessful path in our lives. My father had to make a decsion at a young age that has made a lasting inpact in his life in a positive way. "Right before the revoluion, in Iran, my father at the age of 16 made me decide between staying at home and going to school with all my friends or go to the states, to a place unknown to me and study their without any of my friends" (Azadegan).  My father thought about this decsion for a long time and did not make the decsion based off of pure emotion and what he wants to do, he made it based off of what was logically the best thing for him, even if it means to give up his friends for a fresh and better start.  My dad did choose to go to the states and he did make the rational and logical choice.  This lead him to a more sucessful life as he went to college in the states and started working as a lawyer.  Rather, his friends back in Iran stayed, had a great time in Iran but the revolution happened and they couldnt leave and a few of them were even captured and killed. I have just had to make one of the biggest decsions in my life, where to go to college.  The decsion came down to wheather I wanted to stay home for college or to leave.  Although emotionally, leaving home and starting a new life somewhere else is more appealing to me, to get out of Los Angeles and become independet.

paragraph 3

My fathers and my own logical thinking has lead us to make decsions based off of rational thought that has lead both my father and I on a more sucessful path in our lives.  My father had to make a decsion at a young age that has made a lasting inpact in his life in a positive way.  "Right before the revoluion, in Iran, my father at the age of 16 made me decide between staying at home and going to school with all my friends or go to the states, to a place unknown to me and study their without any of my friends" (Azadegan).

paragraph 3

In my third paragraph I will be exploring the possibilities of what occurs when there is logical thinking and why people look at things more logically.  This occurs when you are extremely stable or have a lot of support, something that Mersulat did not have.  I will also explore the rational thinking and decisions that my father made while a new immigrant form Iran coming to the states.  There could have been a lot irrational decisions that he could have made, but he did not, and there is a reason for that, which i will explore in this paragraph.  I also will explore the consequences that occur when making logical and rational decisions and the effects that those decisions have on the future and especially on me in college.

Paragraph 2

In Camus, the narrator and protagonist, Mersualt commits extremely impulsive actions in order to coupe with his boring lifestyle which ultimately leads him to destruction.  These impulsive actions occur at the times where he needs to be respectful and thoughtful, but instead is unthoughtful and disrespectful. ""At his mothers funeral, he should not be smoking a cigarette and drinks coffee, at a time where he needs to be the most respectful.  This demonstrates his lack of regard for human life and is a way for him to coupe with his mistake of sending his mother to the retirement home as well as coupe with his boring and his dull lifestyle.  This impulsive action gives the people surrounding him a better view of what he is feeling inside and thus ultimately, his uncaring nature comes out during trial which finally ends his life.  He also ends another mans life by impulsively shooting his friends gun. "" Killing the arab was completely out of impulse and his actions were not logically thought out.  Mersualt still does not understand why he did it, but that it was just his emotions getting the best of his logic.  This action might have come because of his dull and lackluster life that he lived, where he had no purpose or point of living.  This impulsive action finally lead to his demise and the end of his meaningless life.

paragraph 1

In the book The Stranger, Mersualt is a man who is aimlessly wondering this Earth without a purpose or a reason for living.  His emotionlessness and honesty are quite the arousing characteristics that confuse the author to the extreme.  Although he is very honest, maybe to honest at times that he needs to be lying, put together with his dull personality causes the reader to question Mersults motives.  His naivety is fully exploited in order to demonstrate his inner thoughts, that gives us insight into the reasons for his impulsive actions.  Mersualts decision making contradicts the decision making process that I go through in my life on a daily basis. Every decision that I make is extremely calculated and weighed out.  Mersualts decision making juxtaposes with my decision making, which ultimately affected Mersualts life and my decision making will soon affect my future, Mersaluts makes his decisions based on pure emotion while my decisions are made through pure logic.

Essay

The decsions that Camus makes are very out of impulse and are not logically thought through.  This leads him to commit horrible actions that are detremental to his health and his security.  This is not a good way to make decsions and to live a good life.  In my life, the decsions that i make are the oppsoite to those of Mersault, in that i try to be as logical as possible while makeing all decsions but especailly the desiosn of where to go to school.  You can not be impulsive and just do whatever you feel, becasue that will most likely backfire.

TEA

The man seeing the hurricane on the screen, demonstrates that he is looking into his own world and he is troubled.  He is very grateful that he is not in the hurricane, but is wondering why the hurricane happens and their significance on the world.  Why is it happening? Why do hurricanes occur and why is this not happening outside where he is.  His shoulders are shrugging and the grip he has illustrates the deep in thought he is and how he is contemplating his thoughts.  Further the light on the outside juxtaposes the darkness in his head.  His posture further exemplifies the stressful nature.  The stressful nature his world and the world at that time is illuminated through all of these different aspects.

TEA

The guy in the photo is unconscious and his movement with his hand to "strangle" the girl is just a form of what I like to call "Couduling" with her unconsciously.  This means that his love for her should not be in question.  You could tell that they were not in this position when they first started sleeping.  The guy is getting sleep and soundly knowing that heir love is true but the girl who is touching her head demonstrates that she is thinking about their relationship.  They probably just got into a fight and have just made up.  They are on their way to Romania so they were probably trying to figure out what they are going to do when they get there, it has been a long day and now at least of them is going to pass out.

Genesis

In Genesis, It says that G-d created the world in 6 days and its 7th day was a rest day.  Also in Genesis, it talks about how evolution took its form with Adam and Eve and how they were the first two humans on earth who then committed original sin as Eve the temptress tempted Adam to eat from the forbidden tree.  Unlike Genesis, Darwinist believe that the world was created by G-d but the first humans were not made by G-d, but instead natural selection took its course and a Homo homlous turned into a Homo erectus and so on until we get the first homo sapien sapien.  One belives that the first humans were from Africa the other believes that the first humans are from the middle east.  Both conflicting viewpoints, yet which one is right?

Darwin

"Judging from the past, we may safely infer that not one living species will transmit its unaltered likeness to the distant futurity"

This is the concept of natural selection and that the fittest will survive at the end and will give their traits and pass them down to the next generation and the next generation.  We see that the fittest will pass their genes because they will be the ones that survive.  The species that survive are the ones that have the genes that are necessary to live and get away from predators or be able to jump, talk, camouflage, any thing necessary to survive.  In this sentence Darwin is saying that there will always be one species that will be superior to another and thus their will always be a species that will defeat another and pass it down to the next generation.  The trait that will be passed down from the strongest link will be the exact same traits, there will be nothing different about it and thus explains why evolution in the beginning took a long time.

2 paragraph

Conformity is a very key aspect in assimilating to a new setting, yet over conformity leads to a loss of morals and a submission of morals to the surrounding neighbors.  My grandma felt this pressure the most when her and her family moved to Los Angeles.  "I would bring jello every time a new neighbor would join the street." This was my grandmothers mind set that everyone had to always bring jello to the new neighbors house.  My grandmother told me that she would see it in the movies so when she arrived, she believed that the american way was to bring jello.  This demonstrated her obsession of trying to be a part of the american life style and dream.  She tried so hard to conform and be a part of the american dream that she lost her own morals and values.  "I would send my daughter to piano classes three times a week for three and a half hours each time, just because the neighbor came to our house one day and told us that this was the right thing to do."  My grandmothers values were taken over by the surrounding neighbors who would tell her to send her daughter to piano classes for 9 hours a week.  This is ridiculous and is not what my grandmother would have done in Iran.  Yet she made my mom go for 9 years to piano class.  This effectively demonstrates the effect of living in the united states and how the pressure to conform to what society expected, took over my grandmothers life.  My grandmother tried too hard to conform and would go above and beyond conformity, and this gave my grandmother different values and morals and ultimately ruined her relationship with her daughter forever.  "I didnt have a child hood, i was stuck on fridays playing piano" Trying too hard to conform will have disastrous consequences.    Conforming to what society expects was extremely difficult for my family immigrating and has had serious consequences to the family bonds and structure.

Intro

Conformity is a major aspect in society and is one that is needed in order to have a healthy and growing civilization.  If everyone was an individualist and there was nobody to follow someone else, that would be called anarchy.  Yet in society, there are different measures to conform and these different measures of conformity arise from time period as well as the unnoticeable pressure of trying to assimilate into a different culture.   Time period is an integral part of how and to what extent people conform into society. In the 17, 18, and 19th century their was more of a pressure to conform because of societies distaste for individualism.  While in the 20th and 21st centuries, the degree of conformity has changed and more individuals have been arising in society.  Also, the degree of conformity arises from attempting to try to assimilate in an novel setting.  Trying to live up to societies expectations and trying too hard to "fit in" to the american way of life that was portrayed in the 1970's lead to a more miserable life.  Attempting too hard to try to live up to societal expectations leads to a more miserable life because a loss of morals occurs that deters the family structure and bond.  The morals of the people around you take precedent as conformity becomes the primary goal.

Interview

I had my interview with my grandma this weekend and it went really well.  We talked about society back in the 70's and 80's and what it felt like to be a new immigrant from a country that was hated around the country.  I asked her what types of pressures she was feeling since she was a new immigrant in a new setting.  She told me it was hard for her kids, my mom as when they would go to school in new york, they would be made fun of and teased because of the hostages in Iran at the us embassy.  So when they went to Los Angeles, my grandma felt even more pressure to fit and tried too hard to fit in to make sure their would be any issues regarding her kids.  This lead my grandma to make my mom go to piano classes 3 times a week for 3 and a half hours each time she would go.  My mom didn't really like it, but my grandma forced her to go because my grandma thought thats what everyone does and so she was going to make her daughter to it too.  She thought that it was proper to go give jello to the neighbors as well as would be extra kind to the neighbors, because thats what she thought was the only way to fit in.  Also, she would force my mom and her brother and sister to do chores around the house as well as go to school and get gifts for all of their friends, because thats what she thought the american way was.  That is also besides the fact that she would eat all american food and would also change my mom and her brother and sister, appearance clothing and hair to look more american.  Overall, she was trying way to hard to conform.

Conformity

When my mom and my whole family came down from Iran to here, trying too hard was one of their most critical issues, and i believe that that is one of the main reasons why my mom has let me turn into the man i am today and it is because of my grandparents.  My grandparents inadvertently pushed my mom into doing something that she never wanted to do to try to fit in with the rest of society.  However, my mom's pain has become the reason that i am parented the way i am.  My mom is never trying for me to fit in with society.  She is letting me be the person that i am and the person that i want to be and not what my parents want or what society wants.  Every generation goes through things differently and its interesting to see how each generation parents differently, maybe its physiological but who knows? how am i going to parent.

Families story

My great grandma's story is extremly interesting.  She was living in Poland during the time of the holucust and she was jewish and was trying to ecape with her family.  She was wealthy and very priviledged, and she had enough money to leave the Poland, yet the Nazi were after her family especially because wealthy.  Finally she was caught and they were about to kill all of my great grandma's family.  Once they caught my great grandma's family, her dad said dont take my wife and kids, take me.  So they took my great grandma's dad and he took his life for his family.  My great grandma, never saw him ever again, so then my greatgrandma and her family moved to russia on a train.  They had enough money to go and leave and sneak out of Poland.  While in Russia, their was a deal that said whoever would join the army, their family would go to whereever their son would be deployed to.  So my great grandma's brother took the offer for the family and they were all deployed to Iran, where my great grandma meet my great grandpa and they had my grandma.  My grandma's story is that when she came to the United States of America, she was overly obbessed with conforming, and this is my central theory that when inmigrants come they try to conform way to much and this efffects the kids, and ultamietly the way they parent.

conformity part 3

I have been thinking about conformity and about what i want to ask my grandparents about what they have had to have gone through and their experiences and what pressures they had to conform.  Some of the questions that i am going to ask is if they could go back in the past and do something different, then what would they do? I am asking this question because sometimes there are things that we are not aware that put pressure on us and we realize it later on in life.  I have witnessed this with my own mother who was pressured into learning the piano and when i ask her why did she do it, she says that her mother, when they came to America, thought that everyone does it .  Another question i want to ask is about the effect of media and how much newspaper, t and movies effected pressures to conform such as cosmetics and cloths.  Another question that i want to ask is what were the different fads that were going on when they lived and why  didn't everyone just join in, was it pressures in school and were people chastised for not following the norm?  Also what was their parents influence on marriage as well as other parts of society? How much were their parents involved and how much did they have to live up to their parents expectations.  These are just a few of the questions that i want to ask my family to get a sense of conformity a few generations back.

conformity part 2

I also think that it is important to know when to conform and when to be independent.  Its not that we need to have a balance or anything, if everyone were independent, then we wouldnt call it independence, we would call it conformity, so the only way you have conformity and independence and individualism is through people following a social stature and others not following, there you have conformers and individuals.  If everyone did not follow the social stature, then that would be conformity in itself.  So the only way we would be here talking about conformity is if there were people who followed and are influenced by social pressure.  Also if everyone was an individual then we would have anarchy and chaos because everyone would fend for themselves, look in your everyday life, you are being a conformer, coming to school today, people are conforming to the pressure of having to go to school.  Conformity is necessary for order and as well as for effective leadership, the best leaders are not the ones that are forceful and independent, the best leaders are the ones who recognize when its time to be a follower and when its time to be forceful and assertive.

conformity part 1

Conformity comes from all aspects of life weather it is from parents, school, war or anything in daily life that has an effect on us physically and mentally.  I believe that this conformity comes into light from the new 21 century media that has had  a huge effect on conformity, but yet i believe that there was conformity before, there was a different type of conformity and the conformity pressures my grandparents had was different than the pressures that we have.  Yet we all have this pressure of conformity, if back then the pressure was to conform and get married, that is gone and a new pressure of looking well, and creating a false persona weather that is physically or mentally because of the effect of media and social media.  Also social media has an effect of conformity because people do not know how to talk to people without help of a device.  The most important thing for my grandparents generation did not have the pressure of social media to effect them and make them conform in that way even though they had the pressure but i dont know where it comes from, that is my topic to figure out where it comes from?

conclusion

Marlow's journey into the uncharted heart of darkness becomes more and more dreamlike as he travels from the outer station towards the inner station.  The shift in Marlow's character is Conrad's penetrateion from the super ego into the id.  The superego, ego and the id are Freud's influence on Conrad as the reader witnesses different aspects of Marlow's character from moral, rational and unconscious and amoral.  Yet, these different characteristics of Marlow occur in different locations throughout his journey.  This raises the question of weather the location determines what state we are in, the super ego, ego and the id.  Do our repressed desires from societal restrictions manifest in an environment where their are less restrictions and our unconscious takes over?  Which state the superego, ego or id is our true self and not a manifestation of what society expects?  Marlow's conscious actions and unconscious experiences solidify that Marlow's location effects his thoughts and intentions.

3 body

Marlow's dream like visions as well as altered perspective demonstrates Marlow's arrival into the inner station which parallels  with Conrad's penetration into Marlow's id.  Murfin's insight into Frued's explanation of the id illustrates the drastic shift that occurs between the ego and the id. "the predominately passional, irrational, unknown and unconscious part of the psyche the id" (Murfin 114).  Unconscious and unknown, the main characterists of the ID contrast with the ego's ratoional which ultamelty creates conflict and a shift in Marlow's behavior.  The ID is where Marlow's dreams and desires can finally be made reality, only when he is close to the inner station.  Once Marlow supersedes limbo, the threshold between the ego and the id, Marlow becomes fully immersed into his unconscious and is able to purees his represed desirers. "Behind the blind whiteness of the fog"(Conrand 401).  The paradoxical blindness with the whiteness of the fog effectively conveys the dream like limbo Marlow is in before he is fully immensed into the darkness of the ID.  The white fog's location right before Marlow reaches the inner station signifies the in-between state Marlow of the ego and the Id thus Conrad is almsost fully penetrated into Conrad's darnkest and "blind" desires that can only be achieve in the inner station.  As Marlow reaches the inner station, his morals and his perspective is comelpley altered from the beginning of the journey.  This amoral perspective only occurs where there are no laws and rules and where Marlows true repressed thoughts are able to be revealed.  "For near the house half a dozen slim posts remained in a row, roughly trimmed, and with their upper ends ornamted with round carved balls"(Conrad 409).  The heads on the posts at kurtz's inner station, the man who he idolizes, is the cruelest experience Marlow has on his journey and his understated reaction exemplifies his altered mental state.  Marlow's idolization of such a creul man conveys his unconscious desirers, as when Marlow is in the ego or super ego state, he is extremely rational and would not associate himself with such a malcontent man like kurtz. 

HOD

White Fog

“Behind the blind whiteness of the fog”  (Conrad 401)

Heads on the poles

“For near the house half a dozen slim posts remained in a row, roughly trimmed, and with their upper ends ornamted with round carved balls”(Conrad 409)

id

body 2 revised (using blog to be able to access essay anywhere)

Marlow's physical journey moves into the central station while Marlow is psychologically starting to move from his super ego to just his ego, as the darkness becomes more pertinent and his actions become more rational and selfish as Marlow does what he can to survive.  The ego's importance and capabilities are illurateated by Murfin, and we can see his influence as Conrad wrote the novella the same time period as Murfins and Freuds discovery.  “Ego was his term for the predominately rational, logical, orderly, conscious part." (Murfin 114).  The Ego's main features of consciousness and rational are temporary instilled in Marlow's actions while he is in the central station which effectively exemplifies how Marlow not only has a physical journey but also a physiological journey as well as Condrad penetrates the reader into Marlow's subconscious.  As Marlow arrives at the central station, his actions become more geared for self survival and is more rational when events occur that possibly could alter his journey.  "I listened, I listened…He did not make bricks, Rivets, to get on with the work-stop the hole." (Conrad 389).  Marlow's ship has sunk and he needs to fix the hole before he proceeds into the darkness.  Marlow does not panic or over react, Marlow stays calm and relaxed and his rational kicks in to remind him that the best way to fix the boat is with Rivets.  Marlow's patience and logic even when an unanticipated event occurs, demonstrates Marlow's attentiveness and how Marlow's ego and desperation for survival leads to a successful solution to Marlow's unfortunate predicament.  Marlow's ego takes over which allows him to solve the problem lociagally and rationally which effectively can only be done while in the central station as Conrad penetrates Marlow's subconscious to new heights as he becomes closer to darkness and his dream like id. .  Marlow's desires are as well repressed into the ego, theory of repression, in the central station where he must deal with reality for one of the last times before his id takes over his actions.  "Eldorado Exploring Expedition…reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and creul without courage…to tear treasure out of the bowels" (Conrad 392).  The ego is supressing Marlow's desires of conquest and of raid and success, this reality principle effectively is contradicted as we see Marlow chastise the Eldorado exploration in the central station, but idolize Kurtz in the inner station, even though Kurtz is more amoral then the expedition.  Marlow is rational and realizes the horrid actions of the Eldorado expedition and that rational is what conveys Marlow's ego, although there are no rules in the congo, Marlow takes the rational side even though the unrational id could have easily been taken, which effectively illuminates that the reason he is in his ego is because of his location of the central station.

body paragraph 2

Marlow's physical journey moves into the central station while Marlow is psychologically starting to move from his super ego to just his ego, as the darkness becomes more pertinent and his actions become more rational and selfish as Marlow does what he can to survive.  The ego's importance and capabilities are illurateated by Murfin, and we can see his influence as Conrad wrote the novella the same time period as Murfins and Freuds discovery.  “Ego was his term for the predominately rational, logical, orderly, conscious part." (Murfin 114).  The Ego's main features of consciousness and rational are temporary instilled in Marlow's actions while he is in the central station which effectively exemplifies how Marlow not only has a physical journey but also a physiological journey as well as Condrad penetrates the reader into Marlow's subconscious.  As Marlow arrives at the central station, his actions become more geared for self survival and is more rational when events occur that possibly could alter his journey.  "I listened, I listened…He did not make bricks, Rivets, to get on with the work-stop the hole." (Conrad 389).  Marlow's ship has sunk and he needs to fix the hole before he proceeds into the darkness.  Marlow does not panic or over react, Marlow stays calm and relaxed and his rational kicks in to remind him that the best way to fix the boat is with Rivets.  Marlow's patience and logic even when an unanticipated event occurs, demonstrates Marlow's attentiveness and how Marlow's ego and desperation for survival leads to a successful solution to Marlow's unfortunate predicament.  Marlow's ego takes over which allows him to solve the problem lociagally and rationally which effectively can only be done while in the central station as Conrad penetrates Marlow's subconscious to new heights as he becomes closer to darkness and his dream like id. .  Marlow's actions as well demonstrate his saneness and his morality that are exemplified a majority of the time only on his way near the outer station.  "The black bones reclined full length with one shoulder against the tree, a kind of blind, white flicker, the man seemed young…offer him one of my swede biscuits" (Conrad 381).  The morality that Marlow has, to offer someone that he has never meet or someone that he needs nothing from, from the goodness of his heart, Marlow offers the man food and expects nothing in return.  Marlow has no business interacting with the man and yet he does the morally right thing to try to help the man to see what Marlow can do to help even though the man is about to die.  We see that this only occurs when he is journeying between the outer station and the central station.  The paradox of the blind and white flicker, illustrates that Marlow brings the white truth and conscious goodness in a place where blindness and darkness is very pertinent.

body Paragraph 1

Marlow's not only physical but phycological journey begins at the outer station, where through his observations and citing, Marlow is psychologically in his super ego.  Marlow's first time down the congo river, he encounters a plethora of shocking and novel experiences that his perception of these encounters demonstrates that he is psychologically in the super ego while starting through the outer station.  "Chain-gang…Ive seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire…red-eyed devils, how insidious he could be…blinding sunshine" (Conrad, 380).  Marlow's morals are shown with his recognition of the brutality of the enslaved Africans.  Marlow witnesses something that is extremely immoral, and he understands the significance of the brutality and the super ego brings that morality out of people.  The irony is that as the journey continues, and the experiences  become more violent, Marlow is unaware and is not able to recognize the immorality of what he is witnessing.  Marlow's actions as well demonstrate his saneness and his morality that are exemplified a majority of the time only on his way near the outer station.  "The black bones reclined full length with one shoulder against the tree, a kind of blind, white flicker, the man seemed young…offer him one of my swede biscuits" (Conrad 381).  The morality that Marlow has, to offer someone that he has never meet or someone that he needs nothing from, from the goodness of his heart, Marlow offers the man food.  Marlow has no business interacting with the man and yet he does the morally right thing to try to help the man to see what Marlow can do to help.  We see that this only occurs when he is journeying between the outer station and the central station.  The paradox of the blind and white flicker, illustratesthat Marlow brings the white truth and conscious goodness in a place where blindness and darkness is very pertinent.  

Intro

In Conrad's novella The Heart of Darkness,  Conrad explores the subconscious and psychoanalytic thought during the 1900's.  This was the same time that Freud was coming out with his revelations about the super ego, ego, and id.  Conrad is influenced by Freuds writings and this is clearly illustrated with the Marlow's journey into the darkness.  Marlow begins his journey in Brussels with the Belgium Company and he begins his journey into the Congo.  As Marlow precedes into the darkness, we see that his rational is lost as there are three stages, superego, ego and id.  The further and further that Marlow goes on his journey, the more his mind gets taken over by the darkness and the knowledge deteriorates as his unconscious takes over on his hunt for Kurtz, someone who he admires by the end of the novella.  In the Heart of Darkness Conrad employs the super ego, ego and id with Marlow, as Conrad penetrates into Malows mind and takes the reader through these different stages as Marlow, travels from the Outer Station and into the Inner station of darkness.  This is effectively illustrated through Marlow's actions and his rational that are effected as Conrad penetrates Marlows subconscious.

Have Marlow and Kurtz mastered the art of seduction?

In my essay, the topic I am going to investigate weather or not Kurtz and Marlow had different secret wishes that could only be able to be accomplished in the darkness. Literally the darkness is when we are sleeping and when metaphorically the rules are gone, so does Kurtz and Marlow have secret desires that they want to pursue.  Knowing that the darkness is the only way to pursue these dreams, the same way you know that these dreams are desires that would be unattainable in "light" knowledge and sophistication.  So does Marlow and Kurtz have to make themselves seem less knowledgeable in order to subconsciously pursue their desires.  We are unaware of this but do we dumb ourselves down to seduce people into doing what they want for both Marlow and Kurtz.  And these secret desires can only be attained in the darkness.  Is going to the darkness, losing the knowledge, a seductive tactic by Kurtz and Marlow in order to achieve their secret desires and then go back to reality when they are back in the light.

Karl

One of the most interesting aspects of this article to me is the fact that both Marlow and Kurtz penetrate the darkness and darkness occurs when you are sleeping when your unconscious takes over.  This allows you to do things that you wouldn't have ever imagined doing, as your secret desires come out.  We see this true with Marlow as he is a very moral and rational man as seen through his analysis of the romans and the British connecting that too the british and the congo.  However when Marlow actually goes into the darkness, we see that he idealizes such a brute and a manic in Kurtz.  What Kurtz is, his personality and his persona is something that Marlow doesn't have on the exterior but what is unconscious is.  So when Marlow goes into the darkness, we see his idealization for Kurtz shown because that is his what he keeps in his unconscious and is something when he comes out of the darkness, he goes back to reality and realizes that Kurtzs wasnt the person he thought, the person he was idealizing.  The question I pose is Kurtz with his last words, reviewing his life, what will Marlows last words be?

Murfin

One of the most interesting key ideas in this analysis is the fact that natural urges that we have that have been deemed as wrong is repressed in the in the unconscious.  It says that desires that are deemed unacceptable by what our parents or by what social institutions say are wrong, leads those thoughts in our unconscious.  It makes sense, if we are told not to do something, then we will make a conscious effort not to do it or not to commit an action deemed as unacceptable.  These however appear in the subconscious as they are the driving force behind what we have no control over because these ideas are being repressed in society.  Also that these repressed desires only appear in such subconscious behavior such as dreams.  These emerge in disguise, we don't know why we do something or why it is that we believe in something, but it is because our repressed desires are disguised and we are not aware that we are committing such action or believing or doing something.  The question i pose is that if we live in the ego and the super ego for most of the time we think and make decisions, how is it possible that the main power motivating men and women are mainly unconscious, because that was the case, wouldn't everyone just kill everyone else and blame their subconscious?

Kurtz Last Words

"The Horror! The Horror!"  Those were Kurtz's last words as he is sleeping on his death bed.  There are many differnt connotations and meanings surrounding what Kurntz might have meant.  One important thing about the scence is that after his last words, Marlow blows the candle out and the light of "knowlege" was gone.  The light of enlightment was lost and not there anymore.  More importantly however, Kurtz says the horror the horror, but what i belive in is that the horror is the horror of self enlightmeant is meaningless becasue it comes to late.  When he is looking back on his life, I feel that Kurtz is regretting what he was doing and although he cant go back and change it, he has an epiphany at the end when he says horror, horror, all the exploitation and all the raid and craziness he went through for the ivory and for traveling through the heart of darkness for self enlightment, was a waste and was a horror as he didnt grasp the meaning and self knowlege he wanted to grasp until the end of his life when it was meaningless.

Heart of Darkness Passage

One of my favorite passages that I have read is the one about the cannibal restraint.  When Marlow describes the world and the cannibals are there and not coming to eat Marlow and the rest of the people, it demonstrates how the so called "uncivilized" world is actually "civilized."  The Europeans are the ones who are actually have no self control and self restraint on what is right and what is wrong.  This could have been because of the colonization of the British by the Romans who brought in business and new technology and exploited the British.  The Africans are restraint and I love this because we don't see self restraint very often because of the way our society is today.  I believe understanding self restraint is a very important thing in living a safe and healthy and successful life.  I believe that we as a society have digressed and our moral and values have regressed and that the Africans would have progressed as a more healthy and smart civilization if they kept practicing self restraint and if it wasn't for the hungry and driven and unrestrained Europeans, then the Africans would have had a more successful morally and shaping cleaner and healthier future.

Heart of Darkness passage

The passage that I choose is the one that Marlow is in the water and he is going on his ironic Eldorado Expedition.  In this expedition, he describes how the world surrounding him made him feel like he was going back into time.  With the description of the way the area is run is very out dated and very nature driven, really demonstrates the lack of technology and business into Africa.  This is very ironic, because the British company are the first business to come into Africa and to exploit the virgin lands of Africa.  I enjoyed the descriptiveness of this passage a lot and it really gives you a clear visual what he is witnessing. Also I enjoyed how people can go back and get lost in nature.  In this new age of technology, us getting lost in nature only happens in a video game.  I have felt this wonderful sensation where I am in one place but I feel like I am in another universe or time period.  Nature has become a very underrated aspect of our everyday life and I enjoyed how Marlow really exemplifies the importance and the innocence of nature and of the African people.

Heart of Darkness 4

Marlow does not agree with his aunts statement that he will be the "emissary of light" for the Africans.  This is referring to the fact that Marlow is going to be the source with the rest of his English conquerors, the source of knowledge and truth and a new style of living.  This will be the way the English help the Africans, is through their ways of helping bring the Africans out of poverty through the English's knowledge and experiences with every day life.  Marlow disagrees with this comment and changes his attitude at the end of the paragraph when he says that the company was made for profit and money, not to show the Africans knowledge and truth.  Just like the way the Romans exploited the English, to make the Romans more wealthy at any cost, the English, in Marlow's eyes are doing the same thing, trying to make themselves rich at the expense of the Africans.  This is ironic because they will be doing the opposite, they are not going to be adding "light" but instead they will be exploiting them and taking the light away.

heart of darkness number 2

The connection between the Roman timnes and London and Africa is that their new colonization of Africa is what london use to be like.  London use to be like Africa and very dirty and a place where people who would get into trouble and the misfits would go.  The Romans came and colonized London, and gave them new life and new tecnology that wasnt there before.  The Romans came and colonzied London and that is what now London is doing for Africa.  Changing and bringing the British ideals to Africa, Marlow is just recognizing that we, the british were once colonized and that we are now doing the same to the Africa.