Blog #7: The Allegory of The Cave through History

As children it has been instilled in many young girls and boy’s minds that they can be anything they want when they grow up. From a child’s point of view little boys always believe that they are somehow better than girls, faster, stronger, and smarter. Boys grow up to carry this negative trait which can lead them to a life of believing men are more dominant than women. A situation from human history which has been an on going illusion is men being inferior to women.  It has been represented in countless amounts of situations, for example in the home. It is expected of the female to clean, cook and tend to the children while the husband is out at work. Women have struggled with the stigma of not being able to be anything more than a mother and housewife. This has been happening throughout history and around the world of women’s struggles every day to prove that they can be just as good, or even better at doing a “man’s job”. Another example would be seen in the work place. Gender differences can impact ones salary. No matter a how hard a female tries, if there is a male who is doing just as good as her or maybe even not as well, it’s hard for women to get the recognition they deserve. It is slowly being proven that women can indeed succeed without any restrictions; there are female business owners, CEO’s and presidents of very prestigious companies. Also women are able to run a single family home, while working and insuring her children are taken care of. As stated in Ashley Crossman’s article about the Feminist theory, “Feminist theory is most concerned with giving a voice to women and highlighting the various ways women have contributed to society.” (source: http://sociology.about.com/od/Sociological-Theory/a/Feminist-Theory.htm)

Blog #6 Free Will and Destiny in Oedipus The King

In Oedipus The King, Oedipus is responsible for the tragedy of his own downfall. Oedipus is presented with a series of choices throughout the play, and his arrogant and stubborn nature push him to impulsively make the wrong decisions, the decisions that ultimately lead him to his demise. In the scene in which Oedipus meets Lauis at the crossroad, he made a decision to kill a man because he was in such a rush to flee the town to prevent killing his father as the oracle said he would do. Though Oedipus didn't know Lauis was his father he still made a decision to commit a crime.  When Oedipus arrives at Thebes, he is presented with yet another choice: to become the king and to wed the queen, or to move on. Once again, Oedipus' choice puts him one step closer to fulfilling the prophecy. Oedipus is not forced into marrying Jocasta, this is simply his decision. Fate is not responsible. Another example is Oedipus refused to stop looking for the truth about his parents even when Jocasta, his wife, told him to. “Stop in the name of god, if you love your own life, call off this search! My suffering is enough. Listen to me”. Oedipus replied, “Listen to you? No more. I must know it all, I must see the truth at last” These quotes also prove free will by Oedipus because Jocasta doesn’t want him to know about his past but he insists and doesn't listen to her. If had chosen to listen to her, he would have never found out the truth about his past.

Blog #5 Essay #1 Final Draft

Tasmin Perry

ENGL 101-0768

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay #1

10/3/12

The Costs of Living

     We all dream of a life based on a Utopian society. We hope that our lives will exceed limits and our children will be perfect. But what length would a person go to ensure this perfect life? The people in the movie Gattaca are living in a dream world. As parents they are able to choose their child’s destiny before they are even born. Scientists are trying to play the roles of God by trying to eliminate all natural health problems. It comes to my attention that in this world generally you’ll know how your life will turn out just by the make-up of your DNA. It is not fair that if someone wasn’t genetically engineered to be perfect their success rate would be low and they would lose hope to pursue their dreams. Genetically engineering ones child is unnatural and not flaw proof, I feel the world presented in Gattaca is a portrayed as a Dystopia.

     Though it may seem possible for a person to see the Gattaca society as a Utopia, due to environmental polices like electronic transportation, as a result there is far less pollution which slows down the process of global warming. Also due to advancement in technology there are fewer illnesses so people don’t have to be concerned of dying from diseases because they are prevented. Also the people of this society are far more advanced and are able to take daily trips to outer space. However to support my position of Gattaca being portrayed as a dystopian society I would like to bring up three key points to help my argument. To start with any parent granted the opportunity ensure their child a good life would accept it at all costs. Especially if you could choose their fate before they were born. But what if you are in the position where you cannot afford to pay for the process of having your child genetically engineered, or if the child was not planned. The child would grow to be weak and not have as many aspirations as a child that was made to succeed. They would constantly struggle with the stigma of not being good enough.

     If majority of the people in the society are perfect, no one would find the need to work hard. There wouldn’t be any struggle or hard bridges to cross if everything was basically handed to you. From firsthand experience and throughout history I have noticed that a person who has endured a great deal of struggle puts forth a large amount of effort to get out of the current situation they are in. It also builds character to not be able to take things for granted.                  Lastly, as seen in the movie Gattaca, Jerome Marrow who was born genetically engineered himself, was destined to prosper. He was once a swimming star who always came in first place. When suddenly during one of his meets he came in second place. This brought him to trying to commit suicide, which he failed to do and became disabled. This demonstrates how much pressure one could feel living in this society of such high competition to always be better. In the movie it is portrayed that with the help of science, society would lead a flawless and healthy life. We saw that though Irene was genetically engineered she still she was able to have a heart disease. This shows that science is not always perfect and naturally things can go wrong.

     In the essay, The Man on the Moon, written by George J. Annas. He depicts the ways humans have tried to perfect the human race. Annas writes: “We have a tendency simply to let science take us where it will. But science has no will and human judgment is almost always necessary for any successful exploration of the unknown.” Scientists can try their best to perfect humans but going back to the fact that not all things done in the name of science goes as planned, things just go wrong. In conclusion it is important to think of the future as something we can improve but not as block of molding clay to make what society sees as the “perfect human beings”. 

Blog #4 Essay #1 Complete Draft

Tasmin Perry

ENGL 101-0768

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay #1

10/3/12

The Costs of Living

     We all dream of a life based on a Utopian society. We hope that our lives will exceed limits and our children will be perfect. But what length would a person go to ensure this perfect life? I feel the people in the movie Gattaca are living in a dream world. For a parent to be able to choose their child’s destiny before they are even born seems like scientists are trying to play the role of God in my opinion. It comes to my attention that in this world generally you’ll know how your life would turn out just by the make-up of your DNA. It is not fair that if someone wasn’t genetically engineered to be perfect their success rate would be low and they would lose hope to pursue their dreams. So taking into consideration how much I am against genetically engineering ones child, I feel the world presented in Gattaca is a portrayed as a Dystopia.

 Now I do see how it is possible for a person to see the Gattaca society as a Utopia. Due to environmental polices like electronic transportation as a result there is far less pollution which slows down the process of global warming. Also due to advancement in technology there are no illnesses so people don’t have to be concerned of dying from diseases because they are prevented. Also they are far more advanced and are able to take daily trips to outer space.

However to support my position of Gattaca being portrayed as a dystopian society I would like to bring up three key points to help my argument. To start with any parent granted the opportunity ensure their child a good life would accept it at all costs. Especially if you could choose their fate before they were born. But what if you are in the position where you cannot afford to pay for the process of having your child genetically engineered, or if the child was not planned. The child would grow to be weak and not have as many aspirations as a child that was made to succeed. They would constantly struggle with the stigma of not being good enough. 

     My next point would be if majority of the people in the society are perfect, No one would find the need to work hard. There wouldn’t be any struggle or hard bridges to cross if everything was basically handed to you. From firsthand experience and throughout history I have noticed that a person who has endured a great deal of struggle puts forth a large amount of effort to get out of the current situation they are in. It also builds character to not be able to take things for granted. Lastly, as seen in the movie Jerome Marrow who was born genetically engineered himself, was destined to prosper. He was once a swimming star who always came in first place. When suddenly during one of his meets he came in second place. Bringing him to try to commit suicide, he failed and became disabled. I feel this shows how much pressure one could feel living in this society of such high competition to always be better. In the movie it is portrayed that with the help of science society would lead a flawless and healthy life. We saw that though Irene was genetically engineered and she still she was able to have a heart disease. Though the crime rate seemed low the mission director of Gattaca killed a man. This shows that science is not always perfect and naturally things can go wrong. 

Blog #3 Essay #1 Early Draft

Tasmin Perry

ENGL 101-0768

Dr. Vasileiou

Essay #1

10/3/12

The Costs of Living

     We all dream of a life based on a Utopian society. We hope that our lives will exceed limits and our children will be perfect. But what length would a person go to ensure this perfect life? I feel the people in the movie Gattaca are living in a dream world. For a parent to be able to choose their child’s destiny before they are even born seems ungodly in my opinion. It comes to my attention that in this world overall you’ll know how your life would turn out just by the make-up of your DNA. It is not fair that if someone wasn’t genetically engineered to be perfect their success rate would be very low and they would lose hope to pursue their dreams. So taking into consideration how much I am against genetically engineering ones child, I feel the world presented in Gattaca is a portrayed as Dystopia.

To support my position I would like to bring up three key points to help my argument. To any parent it would seem the greatest advantage to ensure your child a good life. Especially if you can choose their fate before they are born. But what if you are in the position where you cannot afford to pay for the process of having your child genetically engineered, or if the child was not planned. The child would grow to be weak and not have as many aspirations as a child that was made to succeed. They would constantly struggle with the stigma of not being good enough.  

My next point would be if majority of people in the society are perfect, No one would find the need to work hard. There wouldn’t be any struggle or hard bridges to cross if everything was basically handled to you. From firsthand experience and throughout history I have noticed that a person who has a story behind why they work so hard always seem to succeed the most. It also build character to not be able to take things for granted. 

My question is, what do you think about my thesis statement? do you feel I could add or take away anything?