Entry 37: Civil Disobedience

Under what circumstances do you think it is good to obey authority? When is it okay to disobey? Who do you have to obey? List all the different people or forces that control your actions. Write down as many as you can and describe how they exert control over you. Have you ever disobeyed any of the authority figures you listed? Describe the situation. Why did you choose to disobey? Looking back, do you think it was a good decision?

• Why do people obey to rules? There are several reasons, and I will list some here. The first reason may be to keep peace within the society and the community. The second reason may be to benefit yourself, or to benefit others. So why do people disobey rules then? There have been many cases of crime and disobedience. These cases may have been caused due to unjust rules or unjust actions towards the individual. Who do I have to obey? There following is a list:
• parents
• elders and other older family members
• police
• government
• teachers and instructors
• Parents and elders and other older family members direct life and control me by controlling my way of life. The police and government create rules and laws that I have to obey to keep peace in society and community. Teachers and instructors create rules that will be helpful and beneficial in the future so that we will succeed.
• One example of me disobeying an authoritative figure is when I disobeyed my parents. Everybody has done this before, sometime in their life. I disobeyed them because they were unfair: my mother forced me to go to sleep before I finished my homework for the next day. This is unfair because it will influence my grades. In the end, I disobeyed her and did not go to sleep until I finished my homework for the day. I do not regret my actions and my disobedience, because it allowed me to keep my grades within a certain acceptable standard to me.

Entry 36: Red Badge Film

Compare and contrast the film version of The Red Badge of Courage with the novel. How was it the same? How was it different? Did people , places, and things look the way you imagined them? In what ways were your ideas reinforced, and in what ways were they challenged?

• I believe that the Red Badge of Courage movie, though a quite good film, does not realistically and efficiently display and convey what the book wants to display and convey. The film focuses more on a physical level, on what actually happens in the real world; in contrast, the book focuses more on a psychological level, on what is going on in Henry's mind, and exactly what is the psychological crisis that Henry is experiencing. Therefore, I believe that it is inferior in this sense.
• I would also like to point out that there are many other differences between the book and the film. The first one is as mentioned above: the messages that are conveyed are different. Another difference is the age of Henry. At least, in my opinion. I have always thought that the Henry in the book is way more younger than the Henry depicted in the movie.
• I believe that the book is better than the film because of one main reason: the book allows for better imagery and feeling in our minds (it helps let us experience what Henry experienced), and it does not limit our minds to just one picture depicted by others through the film.

Entry 35: Government

Do you agree with Henry David Thoreau's statement "That government is best which governs not at all"? Why or why not? Do you prefer to have an authority figure telling you what you need to do, or do you prefer to act freely? What are the benefits or problems with each way?

• I believe that this paradox is a very realistic paradox. If we limit the freedom of people by governing very strictly and creating too many laws, the people will think that the government is dictating over them and would start to rebel. This is the case for almost all of the oppressive monarchies and dictatorships (there are some exceptions, though). I believe that the government should only intervene with civil matters when those civil matters are disputed about and cannot be solved by the people themselves. Therefore, I believe that the best government (or best systems) is when there is an authoritative figure that overlooks things and allows freedom to a certain extent, but an authoritative figure that intervenes and helps solve issues when there are any issues. 
• When an authoritative figure tells people what to do all the time, the people will start to become unsatisfied if things go wrong, blaming the authoritative figure for every fault, and this may eventually lead to conflicts such as rebellions. However, if you act freely without anything controlling you or overlooking you, you might get into problems that are hard to solve by yourself, or problems that could have long been prevented.

Entry 34: Theme of "Self-Reliance"

State the theme of Emerson's essay, and explain how he develops his theme with figures of speech. Support your ideas with details from the selection. Then explore your own opinion of the theme. Do you think that it holds true today? How about in your life?

• Emerson's essay, "Self-Reliance", aims at telling how society is bad for individual, that society makes individuals dependent on others, and not self-rely. Emerson's ideas are that individuals should be both independent and self-reliant, and that doing this does not mean that one is necessarily selfish. He states this by using figures of speech such as metaphors like "Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members." and "Society is a joint-stock company in which the members agree for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater." Both of these quotes are providing a negative image of society.
• I believe that even though it is important for one to be independent and self-reliant, society, such as family and friends, are still extremely necessary for people to truly be happy. After all, healthy relationships are the second most important thing to prevent ailments when people grow from young adulthood into later adulthood, and finally old age. Also, what happens when your sick and no one's there to take care of you? So generally, it is only half true in today's society. In my life, I believe that it is quite true. The only society I can believe in is my family. Problems with relationships between people in school have taught me that not everyone can be trusted - sometimes you're on your own.

Entry 33: Imagery in "Nature"

Discuss how Emerson uses imagery in Nature to explore his ideas about society and nature. Support your ideas with details from the selection. Then explain whether those uses of imagery are effective to you. Do they help you understand his point? Why or why not? Do you agree with his ideas about nature and society? Explain.

• The first example of imagery that can be used to explore ideas about society and nature is the phrase "rays that come from heavenly world". This sentence is giving us an image of the sky shining brightly with the rays of the sun, as if an angel was descending from heaven. Yes, very exaggerating, but this is the image in my head. The idea this quote is trying to explore is that nature is holy and sacred.
• The second example has the idea that nature is never mean to people (though in cases of natural disasters I will have to disagree with that). It uses personification by saying that "nature never wears a mean appearance". As my previous parentheses stated, it is mean in cases of natural disaster, so I would infer from the quote that even though the appearance is not mean at all, the inside might be a little mean, especially is people is destroying and disrespecting nature. 
• The third image is the image of a child running around in nature. It associates with the Romantic view that children, who are young and instinctive, are better at communicating with nature since the "Romantic heroes" are usually the ones who have easier times to communicate with nature and discover the "truths".
• I believe that Emerson's use of imagery is indeed effective in portraying feeling. However, it makes it harder to understand because of the use of so much ideology.

Entry 32: The Saddest of All Prisons

"The saddest of all prisons is a person's own heart." 

In various works of literature we have seen the effects of sin and guilt on characters. In the world today, do people still carry guilt for secret sins committed in the past? Can these guilty secrets isolate people from others and even from parts of themselves? Explain. What about you? Do you ever feel guilty about your past actions? How do you deal with feelings of guilt? Do you think it is better to keep it secret and wait for it to go away, or to bring it out into the open? Why?

• Many people today do carry and still carry the guilt that has formed from the secret sins that they had committed before. Some, however, just let the guilt go. It all depends on who you are, what your personality is, and how you view the world. If you thought that nobody cares and that it doesn't matter, then you wouldn't feel guilty for long. However, if you firmly believed that you had done something that is absolutely unforgivable, then you will carry the guilt with you for a long, long time. And this guilt sometimes isolates people. This is because they want to escape the guilt that it further emphasized by their peers (or accidentally triggered by their peers). I, like everyone else, am guilty of something one time or another. For example, I am guilty when I did something bad or when I got someone into trouble. How do I deal with it? Easy. I let it slowly pass away (though it actually passes away quite quickly), since I am the type of people who believes that after sometime, nobody will care about that small (or big) incident anymore. However, if the thing that I did was bad to an extreme extent, then the guilt will stick with me and I will feel guilty every time I see the person or thing.