Anthology of Ideas

The only ones who can truly see are blind. This is a popular theme through out Greek literature, especially in “Oedipus Rex” where Sophocles nurtures the idea that real sight does not require eyes but the ability to see beyond the surface of things. According to Sophocles, one must not only be able to see something, but one must also be able to understand it. Teiresias, the only physically blind character, is the only person that throughout the play can actually see what has, is and will happen. Oedipus himself only truly achieves this state of knowledge after he blinds himself with his mother’s/wife’s broach. Light and darkness (sight and blindness) takes on three different forms throughout the play, the first form refers to knowledge, the second to physical light and the third to truth; the three forms are used interchangeably and they occasionally refer to multiple interpretations at the same time.

For anyone who has read Thoreau’s “Life in the Woods” Ktaadn seems to be written by a different person. “Life in the Woods” is written by an author so full of himself he thinks of himself as being better than everyone else around him, he values nature over all things and is extremely philosophical in his musings and above all considers nature as a thing that must be protected from man. However in Ktaadn there is very little in the way of philosophy and Thoreau means quite literally what he says as there are few hidden layers and he begins to understand that nature is not weak rather it is the mistress of her domain and it is instead man that is weak.
One thing he does do is give a personality to nature, he paints it first as a mother correcting her children from going to where they were not meant to go and helping to lead them to where she believes they belong.

I would like to propose a new meaning of “The Metamorphosis” quite different from those already stated. “The Metamorphosis” can interpreted to show the effect of the dying on a family but also interpreted to show the effect that an outcast from society can feel. Gregor’s turning into a bug could be construed as a groups sudden repulsiveness to the world as a whole. With each member of the family displaying a different part of the world at large.

“The Metamorphosis” was published in 1915 and written during Europe’s slide to World War 2, during this time Austria-Hungry began persecuting the Serbs who they feared because of growing nationalism movements in Bosnia: newspapers were closed, student leaders arrested and the military was given a large amount of control in the country. After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1913 Serbs were suddenly the pariahs of Austria-Hungry.

In Flannery O’ Connor’s short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” a typical Georgia family go on vacation to Florida, but are murdered by an escaped convict named “The Misfit. In the following quote the protagonist explains why he calls himself “The Misfit.”

Jesus thrown everything off balance. It was the same case with Him as with me except he hadn’t committed any crime and they could prove I committed one because they had the papers on me…of course…they never shown me my papers. That’s why I sign myself now. I said long ago, you get a signature and sign everything you do and keep a copy of it . Then you’ll know what you done and you can hold up the crime to the punishment and see do they match and in the end you’ll have something to prove you ain’t been treated right.

In the course of this article the ending of the story and many other spoilers will be revealed. This is your only warning.

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” shows many examples of racism but what it does not say is that the basis of racism is equality, when one person thinks of himself as better than another person based on the color of their skin it is racism. But what is equality? Is equality the government saying you can not deny this person a job for this or that reason? Is equality saying you must have as many “black” or “Asian” employees as you do “white”? Is equality saying that anybody should be allowed to do anything? Is equality forcing everybody to be the same so no-one is “less” than the others? Is equality any of these? No, none of these are what true equality is.

Equality is not saying that all people are totally physically and mentally equal, no “sane” person would bet against a professional basketball player in a one-on-one against a toddler, nor would anyone say that Einstein has the same mental capacity of the average six year old.