Blog Entry #4

How is Tyler an American hero? Or how is he not?

Through out the movie Fight Club, the main character Tyler Durden is portrayed as too kinds of characters. One as a trouble causing crazy man, played by Brad Pitt and the other is a lost man searching for his purpose in live, played by Edward Norton. Making the character of Tyler a somewhat American hero but on the other hand a hero for all the wrong reasons.

If one was to say that Tyler was an American hero, they would say the reason behind this is because he wanted to save American from Debt, from themselves, and from the world. When Tyler is played by Brad Pitt at the beginning of the movie, one gets lost at what he is trying to saying or the message he is trying to bring to the table. In reality it is quite simply on what his big picture is. This beginning that he is trying to let people be something they would not be able to be when in the real world. A place where they can let go and be free of everything else that is on his mind. This world is shown in the fights. All kinds of men, mostly working men of America, come to fight each other to feel the power of strength. Also in the movie the character of Tyler not only makes the club but also helps people see, when they are afraid to see. Like the scene of the Asian man in the handy market, where he questions the man on what he wants to do the rest of his life. In the end he tells the man that he needs to go back to school and if he is not register for class by the end of 6 days he will kill him. This gives off a sense of an American hero in a different perspective then what we tend to think of an hero. But the naysayer of this is that people might not consider this act as a hero figure at all but a disruption to this persons lives and those around him.

Through out the rest of the movie the character of Tyler in the movie slowly changes from Brad Pitt to Edward Norton. As this character switches so does the image of American hero changes. At this point the scene of fight club was spreading all over America and men all over were all becoming this image of desperate need to always be surrounding themselves in blood and fight because they look up to Tyler Durden. As any boy today would look up too Spiderman, Batman, Superman, or any other person that saves peoples. In this sense Tyler is saving the men's lives by allowing them to be something they would never be able to be. But on the other hand the naysayer could be that Tyler is miss using the hero name in a bad way instead of actually saving peoples lives from deaths, he creates for them. Once Tyler played by Edward Norton slowly sees that their is only one Tyler and he is real cause of all the chaos that is happening in the world. Although he tries to recorrect himself and become that good hero who tries to save the world at the end by calling up all the companies that are going to be blown up and then turning himself into the police, as well as trying to save Marla's live. This all ends wrong because the crazy Tyler was already two steps ahead of him. Knowing that he would end up coming to reality and want to stop the act and change the fate of the world, of America.

Like all heroes in books, magazine, and on TV, after a certain point of change and helping out their fate too comes to an end. In the movie this scene comes at the end where he battles himself with the Brad Pitt, the creator of this hero. Facing his end in reality of life and watching his world that he made come to an end, with the explosion of all the debt buildings all going around then ending with the building he was in with the women he came to love. Through time and time again we have seen this character over and over again. Knowing what is right and wrong, helps us from seeing the good from the character Tyler because he is just a man who wanted to break free from ordinary and become something different. This difference is what makes other not see a hero behind those eyes of Tyler Durden. Because he does not create peace and happiness but rather violence and hate, a opposite from what we really see in the world. This throws off peoples ideas and thought what a "American Hero" truly is. Both people seeing two different ideas. Can a man who gives so many people the freedom from their miseries and life with violence's and crime, be considered a hero?

I believe that man or women who is trying to help those who are weak and hopeless off their feet to become something whether that be to violence and crime and hate, should be considered a hero. No matter what their is always going to be crime and violence . It is just part of our lives, their is no such thing as a perfect world of peace and happiness that is seen in books, magazines and TV shows. Those type of heroes don't existence in the world. Leaving only those who want good that leads to bad then that person tries to recorrect himself, even though he knows that they only way to do that is death itself.. This type of person is seen as Tyler Durden, in the movie Fight Club.

Blog Entry #3

Aubabe written by: Philip Larkin

The sure extinction that we travel to
And shall be lost in always. Not to be here,
Not to be anywhere,
And soon; nothing more terrible, nothing more true.


This is a special way of being afraid
No trick dispels. Religion used to try,
That vast, moth-eaten musical brocade
Created to pretend we never die,
And specious stuff that says No rational being
Can fear a thing it will not feel, not seeing
That this is what we fear - no sight, no sound,
No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with,
Nothing to love or link with,
The anasthetic from which none come round.

AUDIO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTSMH36tIQc&feature=related

After reading this excerpt from Philip Larkin's poem titled, Aubade, meaning "Morning Song," left me feeling that the person in the poem was afraid of dying. Through out the whole poem the poet uses words of longing and darkness. Like he knows that he will die and wants to die, but at the same time is afraid of it the whole ideal of dying. The way that the poet writes the poem kinda just goes on and on about the world of death. Not having anyone to love or smell, taste or touch in which nothing can be as terrible as that.

By using a title that translates into "morning song" it throws off the whole meaning of the poem. When I think of morning song, I think of something as being happy and joyful. Like someone is happy to be alive and would sing in the morning, because they are so happy. But then you read the poem and you realize that the person in the poem is not as happy as you thought it was going to be. The connection between the title of the poem and the actual words in the poem. It is very misleading and hides a different meaning behind the actual meaning of the two. I think the poet wanted to bring the idea of two worlds the one that everyone is joyful and the whole idea of life meaning living. While the actual poem is gloomy and dark, full of the opposites.

There were some words to the poem that when reading made me stop and reread the word again. Words like extinction, trick dispels, musical brocade, specious stuff , national being and anasthetic. All of these words just seemed so out of place and different then what I would have placed there. They give the poem a different sense of purpose then what it is really trying to say. Kinda like the idea of a national being are those of death and extinction. Some people might think the they add symbol to the poem to create a stronger sense of death. While others might think that they are just words.

In all poems words mean something, because their is always meaning behind the meaning of the word it was suppose to mean. Poet are very good at knowning how to play with words so their is always a twist the true meaning that they are trying to bring across. In this poem, I believe that the poet is trying to say that it is the natural of a human being to be afraid of death and that if you do want to die, you are still of the darkness of dying. So the poet tells a story of a man or women who sees the light dimming and is confused about the life after death. The intended audience is all people who are afriad of death and being lonely. Which is everyone in the world, because to live in a world of darkness and alone is like being dead already. One can not see, hear taste, touch or love when living like that.

Blog Entry #2

"An Idea in Which I am Prepared to Die For"

~Nelson Mandela~

On April 20, 1964, in South Africa, all ears would be focused on one man. A man who was trying to make a difference, a man who was trying to find justice. This man who stood up to the white people and gave every black man,women and child a sign of hope that there is justice and equality in the world. This man, who would eventually die for his people was named Nelson Mandela. He was the speaker of Africa, the heart of Africa. He had an ideal a justice, demarcated nation and free society, in which people could come together in harmony. Nelson speech expresses power and hope for life. The way that he talks about his idea of a better place and what the people of Africa needs allows the listener see a different place, a better place. This man speech stood for every life in Africa, the old, the new and the sick. His voice would be heard and people will acted upon it. After this speech, their were changes in Africa. The whites fears of what was about to happen once the people of Africa would start to unite, would soon come true. To this day, I only know of a few people who would  be willing give up their lives for what they believe in order to give their people freedom, like Jesus; being one of the willing. 

The speech Nelson Mandela gives is about the apartheid in South Africa. At this time he created a moving change that would soon become a great moment in history. Nelson Mandela is similar to the historical and political leader like, in America such as Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Susan B. Anthony, Lyndon B. Johnson and of course our founding fathers. They were all people who had an idea.Which they would fight for creating the American idea of equality from race, sex and religion and freedom. Like them Nelson Mandela's voice will be heard forever more in Africa as a Freedom fighter. The foundation of hope and justice for all people all over the world too see. He made people want to see and believe that there could be a better place. South Africa did finally end the battle of white vs. black. The country as a whole still has problems, that one man or women could never fight by themselves. The change needs to be done as a whole and that country can only be done if everyone comes together. And one day their nation will stand for something like America. There will be one of hope and justice. 

 

From Burke's reading, we are able to establish the pentad of Nelson Mandela's speech. The act is Nelson Mandela presenting his speech, the scene is africa, the agent is the Africans (white and black), the agency is the speech and the purpose is for the apartheid to end, that justice is made to create a place of harmony. Each one meaning something different and each one having just as much value as the other. If you were to take one of them away, it would not have the same power and meaning that it gives. All five must act as one or the purpose itself would not be there. The purpose is the start and the end to something. It is what makes people believe and act upon their belief. Burke gives us the principles of the pentad, to allow one to think of these motives on ones own. To allow us to think while we read, listen or see. 

This is the actual written speech: http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/mandela.htm 

This is an audio of some of the speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsUS9-nNf_E

Blog Entry #1

"If you create something, you must be something." Johann Wolgang von Goethe~

A blog by no other definition is a website, that is maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, or other material such as pictures, audio or video. By having a blog, I would be able to creatively express myself, my feelings and my thoughts by using those of pictures, writings, and audio or video. To show others the real me, that people might not see when they first see me or talk to me. Like the great Johann Wolgang von Goethe said "If you create something, you must be something," and that is exactly what I am going to do. I am going to create a blog for everyone and maybe just maybe when I am done with this class, I will be something.

For most of my life I have never really had a person I would called "influential." Their are those who believe that friends, family and religion would be that in which influent them to be who they are today. As for me growing up in a foster care system, those things were never there for me. The lack of knowledge of what a family, friends and religion was worst than not having them. It wasn't until I was at the age of 10 that had the first glance of what those were. To this day I do not believe that they are what I would consider to be that something or someone that is personally "influential." Yes I am very thankful for all of them and of course they have some kind influent over me because that is what they are suppose to do and I will always cherish and hold on too that. I also know they will always be there to support me and help me through the good and bad. They are like the starter blocks to everyones live. It isnt until you truely have that something or someone, can you start to build that block of your life.

But for me, I think that someone or something the personally influents you is the someone who you see as a cherry that you see on top of an sundae. Someone or something that you strive to be like without realizing. They are the something that inspires you to be who you are. Since everyone is different, it is only natural that they have different something or someone. As for me I surround myself in them, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Mohandas Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci, and Robert Rauschenberg. These are all people that drive me to be who I am today. Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Mohandas Gandhi are all people that drive me to "see" not what is served to me in baby pictures but what real life is all about. Leonardo da Vinci drives me to "think" not just inside the box but outside of it as well. Robert Rauschenberg drives me to show others how I "feel". I build my own blocks from these people ideas, feelings, and there vision from something more than what is just given to us with sugar coating. Life is not just given to you on a silver plater, you must work to accomplish your dreams and that is why you have someone or something that inspires you to help you achieve that goal or dream in life.

NELSON MANDELA

"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

MOTHER TERESA

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."

"One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody."

MOHANDAS GANDHI

"A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes."

"An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it."

LEONARDO DA VINCI

"Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous."

"In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time."

"Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of that works. If it works, big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else."

"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinion."

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG