Curiosity killed the cat?

In the novel Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson,the idea of curiosity was brought up with Jekyll experimenting with Hyde. I even wrote my thesis paper on this idea because I was so intrigued by it. People will go to extremes just because they are curious about something; it's in their nature. Babies will get into everything just because they want to discover something new to them. But when does this become dangerous? When do we go too far? I always see stories about people doing these outrageous things just to see if it'll be "fun" or exciting", but sometimes it'll end really badly. There are professions (researchers) based just on the fact that they are curious about something. Scientist make a living off of this human trait, but will there be a time when they need to stop? Maybe we'll discover something that we don't want to know about, something so bad that we will wish we never saw it. The older we get the more curious we get, but is curiosity our downfall? If we did not wonder what is beyond our knowledge would we ever get into trouble? Are these the things that keep us humans going, or what ultimately end us? I have been trying to figure out if it is a benefit or determent to the human race, but I just can't decide. On one hand if we were not curious we would not be progressive, and we would be stuck in the same place. We would probably still be on a horse and buggie never realizing we could be in sports cars talking on our bluetooth speakers that connect to our smartphones. On the other hand, it could be the main reason why we as a human race are getting into so much trouble? So what is it? Did curiosity really kill the cat, or did it just help it out of a burning tree?

What Good Comes out of Selling Your Soul?

While reading and discussing Dr. Faustus in class we all posed the question "would you ever sell your soul?" This question has been so interesting to me especially with hearing everyone's answers to the question. Some people said they would do it, they don't mind giving them up for anything. Others said that if it were something like a trade for all of humanity, then sure. Then there were people like me who said that they would not do it at all. To me your soul is sacred, and is your way of connecting with your higher power. If it wasn't valuable or worth keeping, then there would never be a reason for anything demonic trying to take it. I think that it is important to keep that connection to better understand who you are. When describing someone with no soul we tend to associate it with being boring, bleak, sarcastic, heartless, and aloof. So why would someone even consider selling it when we glorify the happy, outgoing person in our society? All of those characteristics are also not very good ones; they are at least not something we would want to be described as. 
I ended up looking up what other people have said about this subject and I found one I thought was a good way of explaining why not to in terms of people who don't believe in a higher power. It says "If you sell your soul to get ahead it will cost more than you bargained for. When you ean your success and never take something for nothing, no one can lay claim to what's rightfully yours. My biggest investors, now deceased,ask nothing of me. They are the only ones I owe for a debt I can never repay; but it's the only kind that will ever be worth carrying." I thought this quote gave some great insight on to why it would not be a good thing to do besides the fact that it is immoral. It is also a good thing to keep in the back of your mind about anything else because the devil will chip at your soul piece by piece without you noticing, so always do good for yourself and others. The devil has a sweet voice, but just make sure your's is sweeter.

The Crazy Feminist

Since we have been on a unit focusing on women, I thought it was only right to blog about the issues faced in today's world, and in literature. In books like A Doll's House we see women as trophies, and invaluable. This drama was first performed in 1879, but today we still have tv shows, and movies portraying as objects. Our society likes to feel like they have made progress, which don't get me wrong it has, but not as much as we should have. I think in every blog I critique society for this. Women are constantly being degraded in movie's or shows as stupid, or easy, and if they are the smart and capable character they are either mean, or portrayed as if they have no life, and are unhappy. Yes, men do have the same problem, but it is not nearly as bad for men as it is for women.
We do not see characters like Edna, from The Awakening, often because it gives the idea that women are individuals. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT? It was not until recently that society has come to terms with women being able to live for themselves, and be happy without kids, or being married. This was never a thought for men; men could live the bachelor life until they were in the grave, but if a women decides to do the same thing "well she must be real unhappy with her life, she has nothing." It gets frustrating that women cannot just live for themselves ever, it always has to be for someone. I cannot even stress how many times I've been asked "who are you getting all dressed up for?" or been told "you won't find a husband looking like that." Is it so crazy to think I, and other women as well, can dress and do things just to be happy? Or have we been so brainwashed to think that women are only here to entertain, or satisfy the man?
More women are speaking up against this kind of behavior recently, but what do they get? They get called crazy. Many girls of my age, including myself, have identified as a "feminist" but recently they have gotten a lot of flack, and somehow the word "feminist" has received some sort of weird connotation with it. I can recall being in a class talking about women's rights this year and telling the class that I was in fact a feminist, and one boy saying "oh so you're crazy, and think everyone is out to get you because you're a woman?" This is what the boys of my generation think of a woman, and it is quiet alarming. Just because I am for women, and strong enough to fight for our equality does not make me crazy, it makes me human. They would never say that the male leaders of America were crazy for fighting for their rights, and freedoms for breaking free from Great Britain, so why are women crazy for fighting for THEIR rights and breaking free from society standards?

Progression or Stagnation?

In The Awaking and A Doll's house we are presented with questions of what the role of a woman is in a household and in society. In the times that the books took place women were looked at as decorations, or "dolls". They were not valuable, or smart, they were just items that were too emotional, and could not handle far as much as a man could to their society. Moving forward to today, in the 21st century women are now of more value. Women are allowed to be smart, and successful, but they still are not allowed to be as smart and successful as a man. It is much harder for a woman to remain a respected individual in a workplace, a school, in a society because women cannot be held at the same caliber as a man. A woman who is willing to go to enormous lengths and push through whomever she has to is looked as as manipulative, an opportunist, or a leech; where as a man who does the same thing is ambitious, and determined. Not only that, but women are valued more for their appearance than their brain. Women in politics, female actresses, singers or authors are constantly asked questions of what they do in their daily lives, like "what do you do to remain fit?" "who are you wearing?" "Do your children miss you while you're away at work?" instead of pressing questions that are relevant in female culture like: "What is your opinion on abortion?" "How do you feel about the economic injustice women of today still face?" or anything that that would actually concern a woman. Male actors, politicians, authors or singers are actually treated as individuals who can hold a conversation on more than just "how do you get your teeth so white?" Even when women try to tear down these double standards, and bring equality to women, they re still looked at as angry feminists who want to take down the man. Men are still intimidated by a woman who can stand on their own. So has society really moved forward, or has the man let their "pet" off their leash a little, but has to still remain with it's power over it? Have we moved past the decorative woman? Women are still not equal in today's society, and in order for them to do so men need to step off of their pedestals and realize a woman can do just as much as a man could, and sometimes even better.

Does it really exist?

I started to think about what love really is when reading the poem Modern Love. George Meredith, the poet, seemed to think that love is dead, and bleak, basically nonexistent. As a young lady who is constantly learning about life, and love and the balance between, I would have to disagree. This may be due to my young age, and lack of experience as anyone else who has that outlook on love, but from what I have experienced I still believe that love is alive, and well. Although, Meredith does bring up a good point in bringing to light the hardships of a relationship, I do not think that the two that he writes about were really in love. You should be able to fight together to make your relationship work if you really love that other person. I am young, but I do know that if the other person is not fighting for you, and putting in no effort they do not love you, and it is something that is very hard to hear, but it is reality. On the contrary to what other people of today believe, there are still people out there who will give their partner what they do need in a relationship. What I think the two in the poem were missing was the give and take, communication, trust, and passion. The love they did have was probably great at one point, but because the love was not true love it fizzled and died out. A couple that is truly meant to be will fight endless amounts of times to continue to love one another, no matter how hard it is. I wanted to connect this to relationships I have been in, and relationships that my friends have been in. We are all young, we all have a lot of time left, if God willing, to find out what we need in a relationship, and who we are truly meant to be with. There have been many people that I know that have been in relationships that started out amazingly, even my own, but later on one person just was not putting enough effort into the relationship because they did not feel true, unconditional love for that person. When a relationship is like that there is not anywhere for it to go, but nowhere. Which is what happened with the subjects in Meredith's poem, even though they were married, it still was not true love. Which also proves that in love there are mistakes because we are still human, and love does not change the fact that we are what we are. The only way for love to work, because it still does exist in our society, and did in the past, is for someone to truly love one another for better or for worse. Once you find that person, then you'll really believe me when I say as optimistic teen that love is still alive. 

Who are you to judge?

Cultural relativism is the principle regarding the beliefs, values, and practices of a culture from the viewpoint of that culture itself. We use the phrase "Don't judge a person until you've walked in their shoes" often in our society; but do we really practice what we preach? The people of our society seem to lack the ability to empathize with others in different situations, and often judge quickly and think negatively of them. We do not understand the oppression that one group of people has to withstand, and we say things like "why can't you just let it go?" or "why is that so important, people are killed all over the world, and you don't see me complaining about it." Our society may say that they practice cultural relativism, but they do not live up to their word. A prime example of the American society of not practicing it would be people against the Black Lives Matter movement. This is important to many people of the black culture, because of how the people of the culture feel its people are being treated, constantly. We see people, mainly from white culture, saying things like "rallying is not going to do anything, so what is the point?" when they do not understand the everyday life as an African-American. In the book Things Fall Apart, white people are coming over trying to change the ways of the people of these tribes because they don't understand who they are, and what their culture is. They start to tell them that their gods are false, and they need to be converted into Christians. I feel that Chinua Achebe, the author, wrote this to put into perspective for people on other parts of the world to grasp what was really going on. He points out the absence of cultural relativity back then, which brings it to modern day readers that there is still an absence in our society. Yes, we have improved on our tolerance, but we still judge because it is hard to understand someone else's situation when you have never been in it. Can we as a society grow to really practice this? Will people ever get it? The only thing we can do now is take this, and improve ourselves, and learn to not judge a person until we can fully understand what they have to go through.

Is Marriage and Romance Dead?

Larissa Smith
Mrs. Burnett
12 AP English
31 October 2015

In reading the play The Importance of Being Earnest, I began to question all that I knew about romance. The couples Jack and Gwendolyn, and Algernon and Cecily acted as if romance was not required in a relationship, which is the complete opposite that any one person learns when dealing with relationships of that caliber. They treated marriage as if it were some game, and the goal was to make it look good to everyone else no matter if there was real love in it. To me, a marriage requires: love, trust, compassion, respect, communication, friendship, etc. the list goes on. Marriage is a special bond between two people, and people should not get married just because they feel as if they have to, or to make themselves look good. Gwendolyn reminded me of many people in our society today that just look for someone just to be with someone, and for it to make them look better. She agrees to marry Jack, not because she has known and loved him, but because his name is Ernest. She marries him for his name. She did not even consider if she really would want to be with someone for the rest of her life. Which is the complete opposite of romance. This began to raise a question for me, is romance dead? Do people care about love like they used to, or is marriage just an option that people are forced to take in life? There are so many occasions where I see married couples who just are not happy at all, who get married to make their parents happy, or just because that IS the thing to do when you become an adult, right? Yes, there are those special couples who still do love each other, and actually want to be together, but are the people of my generation jumping into relationships just to be in a relationship? We are all still teenagers, but these are the years that we're supposed to be experimenting and figuring out what we want/need in a relationship. Instead of actually figuring it out, people are just dating to date, for people to know that they have a partner. This worries me, are we going to be the generation of married couples in loveless marriages? We are not doing the right things in relationships now, when we are supposed to be learning about it. So, will we ever know how to love, will romance ever recover from this?