Individual Resistance

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Response to Hamlet

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Liberalism: Then and Now

Prezi

The Grapes of Philosophy

Script
Brandon, Nick, Victoria, Hannah, and Quinnlyn

Rose of Sharon: Darn that Connie! I should have never trusted anyone but myself!

Karl Marx: Now, Rose of Sharon, why would you say something like that!?

Rose of Sharon: KARL MARX! When did you get here!?

Karl Marx: Ahh, I'm just waiting for the bus. What’s got you down kid?

Rose of Sharon: My husband recently left me and I just want to be by myself; I don’t want anything to do with anyone else.

Karl Marx: Now don’t you be like that. There’s no “I” in team! You gotta look for help from others if you wanna get by, okay? You need to fight for what you want if you hope to get anywhere in life. Collectivism is the key to prosperity that we all need in our lives.

Rose of Sharon: Well with this baby coming and such, my top priority is myself and nobody else. How is helping others going to help me and my baby?

Karl Marx: Oh come on, if I've learned anything from writing my manuscript, the Communist Manifesto, it’s that what goes around comes around. My point is that you need to lean back on your family and rely on them to be there for you and your baby. It’s all about being together. You know, like… two is better than one, or strength in numbers.

Rose of Sharon: Well no one cares about me. Why do I always have such bad luck all the time?

Karl Marx: Now don’t be silly! Bad things are happening to everyone right now. These are troubled times Missy. We got to do what we got to do to get by! Of course your family cares about you... but they’re not acknowledging you as much as you may like because you are an individualist. You want to do things yourself, and you’re not allowing yourself to be part of the common good.

Rose of Sharon: Well… how am I supposed to change to be better for everyone and become a part of the common good?

Karl Marx: There’re plenty of things you could do… lend a hand if you see someone in need; make their problems your own, even if it doesn’t directly benefit you. Eventually karma will work itself out and you’ll see that it’ll be good for you and your youngster too.

Rose of Sharon: But I don’t even have enough supplies for myself to survive, why would I share what little I have with others? They’re not even going to appreciate it!

Karl Marx: I believe that everyone should be treated equally. Economic equality needs to be accepted by everyone in order for it to work properly. The people who have less, like you migrant farmer folk, need to revolt against the people who have more, like them rich landowners and business folk. If you don’t fight for your rights, they’re just going to take everything away from y’all. They’ll do anything it takes just to make a buck, even if it means hundreds of you poor folks starving to death in the process.

Rose of Sharon: Okay, well I’ll try my best to think of others before myself and my baby. I’ll just have to trust you that doing that is the best thing for all of us. Maybe I should go to talk to my good brother Tom ‘bout all this, it’s a lot of information to take in all at once and I think he’ll really be able to help us make a difference!

Karl Marx: Finally, I convinced you! Now you just remember, capitalism is bad and socialism is good! You gotta convince all your type of folks to start a revolution against the rich folks in order to attain economic equality. What this country really needs is some blood and guts spilled to break down the social hierarchy!

Critical Response to "The Grapes of Wrath"

John Steinbeck’s thesis presented in The Grapes of Wrath is that in order for society to run best, people must not act out of self interest, but rather in the interest of the collective. Throughout the book this idea is established as characters are developed and the situation of the time period is demonstrated. According to the author, the thought of self-preservation plays an important role in an individual’s response to conflict. Every person has an ultimate objective that they constantly strive to achieve, but every person also faces many obstacles that get in the way of achieving that ultimate goal. In other words, one’s self-preservation is only attainable if one can overcome the competing internal and external demands that obstruct it.

There are many characters and situations described throughout The Grapes of Wrath that support Steinbeck’s theory about the best way to overcome obstacles in order to pursue self-preservation. One example of this is the development of Tom Joad throughout the book. Joad started out with an individualist perspective, but as the book progressed, the author developed him into more of a collectivist. In the beginning, Joad thought mainly of himself and his family, but after gaining many new experiences and seeing new perspectives, he began to think more of others and the group than just himself. This is demonstrated when he was talking to Ma in the cave about possibly revolting against the rich owners; he said, “I been thinkin’ a hell of a lot, thinkin’ about our people livin’ like pigs, an’ the good rich lan’ layin’ fallow, or maybe one fella with a million acres, while a hundred thousan’ good farmers is starvin’. An’ I been wonderin’ if all our folks got together an’ yelled…” (ch.28 pg.571). This quote shows Tom Joad’s desire for equality between social classes and his determination to achieve economic equality and collective interest, while also presenting his seriousness about the possibility of a revolution to attain these ideologies.

Another character who was developed into a collectivist to support Steinbeck’s thesis was Jim Casy. During the course of the novel, Casy went through multiple phases. He started out as a preacher, leading the people and advocating the word and spirit of God; he was then incredibly confused, constantly thinking about life, faith, and the spirit in everyone; finally, Casy sacrificed himself for the good of the group, believing that doing so was in the best interest of the collective. When Jim Casy was getting attacked for leading a strike, the narrator said, “Casy dodged down into the swing” (ch.26 pg.527), which represents Casy’s willingness to die for the potential that others would be able to have better lives. In Steinbeck’s opinion, this sacrifice was the ultimate solution to pursuing self-preservation – by acting to help the collective group. Casy showed his devotion to achieving self-preservation by benefitting the group many times throughout the book, offering to take the blame and go to jail when Tom Joad beat up a cop, preaching about the need for a revolution to obtain equality in the collective interest, and passing on his thoughts to Tom Joad in order for his visions to be seen through. One particular idea that Casy came up with while he spent his time constantly thinking, and then shared with Joad, was that every person’s soul is just a small piece of one big soul. Both characters firmly believed that it was imperative that everyone unite their souls and work together in order to achieve self-preservation; one individual thinking only of his own success would eventually lead to their inevitable failure.

Steinbeck not only represents his ideas in the way of character development, but also uses the setting and events of the time period to help portray his main idea. In many of the intercalary chapters throughout the book, the author looked beyond the challenges that the Joad family and other main characters came up against, and described the general hardships faced by all the struggling people. For instance, in chapter five the narrator informs the reader about tractor drivers. He tells us that they were just ordinary people who used to struggle to find food just like the rest of the poor residents, but then, by striving for their own and their family’s self-preservation, the drivers destroyed the livelihood of everyone else around them. An angry tenant complained about a tractor driver’s greediness when he said, “…for your three dollars a day fifteen or twenty families can’t eat at all. Nearly a hundred people have to go out and wander on the roads for your three dollars a day.” (ch.5 pg.50). Steinbeck included this whole situation in the book to illustrate the negative effects that may occur if people do not think of the common good. The tractor driver was only thinking of himself and his family, never giving thought to the hundred people who would be displaced and starved as a result of his doings. Although he may or may not have realized it, this tractor driver harmed others immediately, only to harm himself in the long run.

Throughout The Grapes of Wrath, many obstacles were presented which the characters had to overcome in order to achieve their ultimate objective; they had to conquer the competing internal and external demands in order to accomplish self-preservation. Using multiple techniques, Steinbeck presented his thesis that collectivism is ultimately better than individualism. He supported his idea by developing characters like Tom Joad and Jim Casy, who in the end thought that everyone’s souls are part of one giant soul and that no one can get by on their own; each person’s soul must be connected to the collective soul in order to prosper, or even just survive. Steinbeck also used the method of intercalary chapters to develop his theory further. He wrote about a tractor driver whose greediness and individualistic perspective caused harm to everyone around him and would eventually cause harm to him as well. As a whole, The Grapes of Wrath combines many situations that support Steinbeck’s thesis that in order for society to run best, people must not act out of self interest, but rather in the interest of the collective.

Pinocchio's Free Will

Personal well-being can be pursued differently when one is faced with different conflicts. If you are being manipulated and are under the control of someone else without knowing it, you are faced with a unique type of conflict. This type of situation can be looked at and compared to Keith Carter’s image titled Pinocchio as well as personal knowledge of certain circumstances.

Manipulation can come in many different forms. One example of someone taking advantage of someone else who does not realize it is a sales-person trying to sell a particular product to a customer. Sales-people generally make an effort to sell the product that will produce the highest profit for themselves, and do this in any way that they can. Sales-people will sometimes only give you parts of the information to help them sell the particular product. For instance, a television salesman will tell you all the amazing features of one model, leaving out the potential cons of the choice, while only giving the possible downfalls of another model and leaving out the good features. By using this method, the customer only has biased information about the products, leading them to make the decision that the sales-person led them to. Despite the fact that the sales-person tells you to make the decision on your own, he has already practically made the decision for you. You think that you are making the choice between the two products, but actually the sales-person has manipulated your thoughts into leaning towards the product that they will make the most money off of. This is only one of many examples of manipulation which can be used to benefit, or more often, harm the receiver.

In Keith Carter’s image titled Pinocchio, a certain type of manipulation is demonstrated. The puppet has the illusion that he can move however he wants, while actually the puppeteer has complete control of his every move. In the image, the puppeteer, or manipulator, is blurred to give the impression that the puppet is not aware of his presence or dominant control over him. Pinocchio is not conscious of the fact that there is a presence standing above him, pulling strings to control his decisions. Despite what he may think, Pinocchio does not have free-will. This image demonstrates the same concept discussed above; a manipulative presence has control over the receiver without the receiver being aware of it. The puppeteer pulls the stings to force decisions to be made which produce predetermined outcomes; the sales-person pulls strings to lift the customers’ hand to the television that will produce the highest profit. Although these examples have focused mainly on the negative aspects of manipulation, it is also possible for the overseeing blurred presence to force good decisions from the puppets as well.

Both of these examples relate to concepts of human nature in more general terms. Humans are commonly faced with situations of competing internal and external demands. We are often forced to respond to these conflicts in the best interest of our own personal well-being. Humans generally want to make their own decisions without someone or something dictating what they can and cannot do. The examples above make certain suggestions about personal well-being when responding to conflict. In these types of situations the puppet is not aware that he is being manipulated, which means that he is not conscious of any type of conflict. Although the person who is being manipulated is not aware of the manipulation, there is still a man versus man conflict taking place. Despite the potential for positive manipulation, there is a far greater likelihood that the manipulation will be destructive. This negative influence may cause the reduction of personal well-being such as fulfillment, self-satisfaction, or even survival. Making a major decision may give the illusion of fulfillment and self-satisfaction, but like the example above, a conscious decision was not actually made by the puppet. An extreme situation involving a similar type of manipulation could even put a life in danger, threatening the vital survival of the pawn. There can be numerous effects caused by the blurred presence of a manipulator which, to a certain extent, may ruin the puppet’s ability to pursue personal well-being.

The examples above suggest that human nature causes individuals to respond to the conflicts presented by manipulation in a certain way. We are under the impression that we can do and think anything we want, when we are actually unknowingly under the complete control of the manipulator. The understanding of certain situations as well as Keith Carter’s image titled Pinocchio has provided some insight into individuals’ natural response to these types of manipulative situations.

The Ghost of Tom Joad

The three versions of the song “The Ghost of Tom Joad” have differing tones. After listening to all three versions, I have decided that the third version, preformed by Springsteen and Morello, best represents the narrative tone in The Grapes of Wrath. The combination of the two singers’ styles come together to form a good representation of the evolution of tones in the book, progressing from gloomy and hopeless to angry and hopeful.

Throughout the third version of “The Ghost of Tom Joad”, but especially at the beginning, Springsteen brings his perspective of sadness and reflection. Similarly, the book starts off without hope. In the first chapter Steinbeck wrote, “Men stood by their fences and looked at the ruined corn, drying fast now, only a little green showing through the film of dust.” (pg. 6), which demonstrates the tone of intense hopelessness. Despite the fact that almost all hope was lost, throughout the book the characters still tried to find optimism in their situation. This is portrayed in the song by Morello’s part; he sings and plays guitar with anger and hope of revolution.

During the performance of the song, Springsteen and Morello work together to produce an overall tone. Springsteen brings his perspective of sadness and reflection, while Morello brings his outlook of anger and intense energy. Together, these two perspectives form a collective point of view that is reflective, yet has energy to do something about it. The song starts off being quite laid back; simply accepting what comes and watching your own life change before your eyes. It then builds to being angry about the changes in your life and having energy to revolt and do something about the things that are unpleasant.

The narrative tone presented in The Grapes of Wrath is directly related to the song’s tone. In the book, the Joads start out by accepting the hardships that they are faced with and acting with the flow of things. For the most part, they are sad and lack a certain degree of hope for the future. With the addition of energy, the narrator shifts this hopelessness into a more revolutionary way of thinking and leaves the characters wanting to do something about their situation. The characters’ perspectives change to that of revolution as they get more and more desperate to make a change. Steinbeck demonstrates this by writing, “And fear the time when the strikes stop while the great owners live – for every little beaten strike is proof that the step is being taken.” (pg. 205).

At the beginning of the book, the characters take each day as it comes and try not to look too far ahead into their future. This can be represented by the tone of the song as Springsteen sings, passively letting the lyrics out without much vigour. As the book goes on, the characters begin to look farther into the future. They gain energy and desire to do something about their bad situation, rather than letting others control their every move. As Morello does his part of the song, he adds energy and anger to the tone. By playing the guitar in the way that he did, there is a force added to the tone of passive desire created by Springsteen.

Throughout the song and the book, a specific tone is developed. The tones of these two texts are directly related to one another, both building from hopeless to hopeful. They both provide motivation to do something about the unpleasant situation rather than sitting back and watching as something else controls the many decisions in life.

Common Good

Rainy River vs. Honia River

Individualist or Collectivist? - mind map

Dominant Symbol

In On the Rainy River, the main character described his gruesome job of declotting pig carcasses in a meat factory, receiving daily blood-showers. He explained the perpetual stench that would never go away, no matter how hard he scrubbed at it. This can be seen as a symbol of the war, of the impossibility to get rid of the remorse and overbearing guilt of participation and unjustified killing.

My visual representation of this symbol is Pig-Pen, a character in the comic-strip and television series Peanuts, who has a perpetual cloud of stench and filth surrounding him. No matter what he does about it, the cloud will not go away.

Pig-Pen represents Tim O’Brien’s literal inability to remove the smell of pig from his body, as well as the figurative incapability to remove the war’s oppressive influence on his conscience.

Courage vs. Cowardice

In the short story On the Rainy River, the main character, Tim O’Brien, has many defining traits. Although some of these characteristics are stronger than others, each one has an influence on his decisions throughout the story. Clearly, O’Brien’s main features which define his decisions and actions are cowardice and courage.

In the first paragraph of this story the author talks about the nature of courage and cowardice. He explains the possibility of building up courage by being a coward, like saving money in a bank; at a time of need, you would be able to withdraw the saved up courage to be used all at once. Throughout the story this theory was proven wrong when O’Brien did not have the courage to do what his moral beliefs told him was the right thing. He fell short of the price of being the hero of his youth; Tim O’Brien did not follow through with his plan of escaping the unjustified war by fleeing to Canada.

It takes courage to make a plan, to go against the beliefs of everyone around you, in order to follow your own moral beliefs and values. This is exactly what Tim O’Brien did in On the Rainy River. His courage let him make an effort towards escaping what he believed to be an unjustified war. Even though his beliefs about the war in Vietnam were contrary to most others’, he attempted heroism by driving to the Canadian border and trying to do what was right in his own mind. I am sure that it also took a lot of courage to finally share his story after many years of holding it inside his mind and dreams. O’Brien could have simply pushed the memory away, never telling his account, which in some ways may have been the easy way out, the cowardly thing to do. His courage let him finally admit his ultimate failure to dodge the draft in 1968.

Although there are many points to support Tim O’Brien’s courageous characteristic, I believe that there are even more grounds that support O’Brien’s cowardly nature. For instance, his embarrassment and worry about what other people will think about his decisions prevented him from being the hero who did the right thing in the end. When placed in a moral emergency, O’Brien stooped to his weakness, his cowardice. When Elroy took O’Brien out in a boat onto the Rainy River, giving him the perfect opportunity to be a hero, O’Brien realized that his cowardice would supersede his strong desire to be courageous. He suddenly knew that he would not be his own hero when he said, “right then, with the shore so close, I understood that I would not do what I should do.” Tim O’Brien went to the war in Vietnam; he did not follow through with his escape plan; he took the easy way out. While sitting in that boat on the Rainy River, so close to heroism, O’Brien failed, his cowardice taking over while he hallucinated about the many consequences of fleeing his country. Despite his own moral values contradicting those of society, he could not bear the excruciating embarrassment that would result due to society’s view of draft-dodgers. Another reason that Tim O’Brien’s dominant trait is cowardice is that he took a very long time to finally share his story. For over 20 years, he was too embarrassed and mentally weak to admit that he was a failure in his own mind. The guilt infected his mind until he was almost forced to confess.

Tim O’Brien’s key character traits are courage and cowardice. In On the Rainy River, his cowardice definitely overpowered his courage. Although each of these characteristics played an important part in his decisions throughout the story, most of O’Brien’s choices were made due to his lack of courage than his bravery.

O'Brien, T. (2002). On the Rainy River. In Imprints (pp. 70-84). Toronto: Gage Learning Corporation.

Individual Novel Study

I have decided to read the novel Truth and Bright Water by Thomas King for my individual novel study. I have heard many good things about it and believe that I will enjoy reading it. I will be able to relate to this novel more than the other possible choices due to it's young narrator and Canadian setting. I am sure that this book will expand my perspective on life in general as well as the main ideas presented in Truth and Bright Water.

Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States and was also one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence. He once said, “I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” There is no doubt that he had to work incredibly hard to achieve the high level of success that he did. Some may say that Thomas Jefferson was lucky for the great opportunities that presented themselves to him and the many accomplishments that he made from those opportunities, but the truth is that everyone is presented with opportunities, but it takes hard work to make accomplishments out of them.

This particular quote stood out to me, as my values reflect the worth of hard work. I spend a great amount of time and effort on my schoolwork, practicing and improving my ringette skills, and doing my best in everything I do. I plan to keep working hard in the rest of my life in order to be successful and achieve my goals and dreams. I also believe that modesty is important, and that even if you are one of the most successful people in the world, you should try not to flaunt it too much. It could be compared to a secret ingredient in a recipe – hard work makes life taste good, even if everyone else thinks that it was just a lucky spill of seasoning into the pot.

ThinkExist. (2010). Thomas Jefferson Quotes. Retrieved September 24, 2010, from ThinkExist.com: http://thinkexist.com/quotation/i-m_a_great_believer_in_luck-and_i_find_the/146613.html