Final Monthly Blog

In the novel Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll has two personalities, his good side and evil side. His evil side is called Mr. Hyde. In this time frame multiple personality disorder wasn't well known, however Dr, Jekyll would have been diagnosed with it. Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociate Identity Disorder is a mental disorder on the dissociative spectrum characterized by the appearance of at least two distinct and relatively enduring identities or dissociated personality states that alternately show in a person's behavior, accompanied by memory impairment for important information not explained by ordinary forgetfulness. These symptoms are not accounted for by substance abuse, seizures, other medical conditions, nor by imaginative play in children. This happened with Jekyll and Hyde, Hyde would take over Jekyll's body and do evil things to people without Jekyll knowing.  The first case of Dissociate Identity Disorder was in the late 1970s and the man's name was Billy Milligan. He was the first person diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder to raise such a defense, and the first acquitted of a major crime by this reason. He was first arrested in 1975 for rape and armed robbery but then released on parole in early 1977. In October 1977, he was arrested for 3 rapes. He was examined by a psychologists and was diagnosed with acute schizophrenia and then with Dissociate Identity Disorder. Milligan was committed to a mental hospital and was found to have had 10 different personalities and then later on 14 additional personalities. His one personality committed the bank robbery and then another personality committed the rapes. In Jekyll and Hyde, Hyde assaulted a young girl and he also murdered a man by beating him to death and Jekyll had no knowledge of this until he became the main personality. If Jekyll went to court in the time period of the story he would not be able to plead insanity and go to jail but if he went to court in the present day he would be able to get off on insanity and go to a mental hospital instead of prison.

March Monthly Blog

A Faustian Bargain is when someone sells their soul to the devil. I believe that serial killers and mass murderers could be part of a Faustian Bargain because they kill all these people which is a terrible sin. These killers might not get a personal visit from Mephistopheles or Satan himself, however they can still pray to Satan instead of God, but I don't think they have a soul. How can someone have a soul and do such terrible things. Psychologists say they are sociopaths or psychopaths but there is more to it. Some mass murderers might "sell" their soul to their leader or their country. For example, in Norway a man killed a lot of intelligent children, the youngest being 14, that weren't from Norway because he wanted to keep his country pure. Also the Nazis sold their souls to Hitler and did what he ordered them to do. The only thing we don't know is if Serial Killers go to Heaven or Hell but most people want to believe they go to Hell and God wouldn't forgive them for their sins. However jail could signify Hell and being free can signify Heaven.
This connects to Dr. Faustus because Faustus sells his soul to the devil because he wanted to study magic. Faustus was warned by Mephistopheles and the seven angels but he still listened to the evil angel and sold his soul.  Faustus uses his new power but only tricks people, but he does slap the Pope which is a terrible sin. However the sins he committed weren't too extreme but he was damned to Hell because God didn't forgive him for his sins. When Faustus was shown his life in Heaven and Hell he didn't like how Hell looked so he wanted his soul to be mortal but it was too late. Anyone who makes a deal with the Devil shouldn't be forgiven because selling your soul to Satan is a sin itself.

February Monthly Blog

Many women in Afghanistan still do not receive the same rights as women do all around the world. For example, more than 50 percent of Afghan women are married or engaged by age 12. Almost 60 percent of girls are married by age 16 and they are usually forced or arranged marriages in poor rural areas. Most girls marry far older men, most of them are in their sixties, and they meet them on the day of their wedding. From three decades of war there has been a lack of security, and the risk of kidnapping and rape which forced families into marrying off their young daughters. Most marriages are to pay off debt or resolve a dispute. Poverty forces parents to marry off their daughters so they can avoid the cost of caring for them. Older, wealthier husbands will pay a larger bride price for a girl. Girls are expected to have children at these young ages when they get married, which increases health problems and risk of death for them and the baby. Married girls often receive abuse from their husband or in-laws. Girls receive a lack of education, only 40 percent of girls attend elementary school and only 1 in 20 girls attend school beyond 6th grade.
In the novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, this oppression against women is evident in the story. Mariam was only fifteen when she married Rasheed who was well in his forties or fifties and they met on their wedding day and didn't even make eye contact. Mariam received a lot of abuse from Rasheed, either physical or verbal abuse. When Mariam was pregnant Rasheed treated her better but she kept having miscarriages which made him hate her. When Laila had Aziza, Rasheed did not respect her because she was a girl but when Laila had Zalmai, Rasheed treated him like he was a king and acted as if Aziza didn't exist. Laila was not able to finish her schooling because the war got so bad it was too dangerous for her to walk to school. Laila an Mariam were able to escape Rasheed and his abuse and the oppression of women in Kabul but Laila knew she belonged there and had to help so she returned.

January Monthly Blog

Women Empowerment is appearing more in countries all around the world. In Africa they have 37 countries that have the most women in parliament and they dedicated 2016 to Women Empowerment and this year the theme is Human Rights but focusing on women's rights. In Kenya women empowerment will accelerate their economy. When Obama visited Kenya he said, "Imagine if you have a team and don't let half of the team play. That makes no sense,". His message he was an exhortation for communities to shun cultures that degrade women and girls. More than half a billion women have joined the world’s work force over the past 30 years, and they make up 40 percent of the agriculture labor force. According to the World Bank, countries with greater gender equality are more prosperous and competitive. Some countries like the UK won't let women fight on the frontline. In northern Pakistan, they banned women from shopping alone during the month of July which is Ramadan. Women are banned from some of the top golf clubs in the UK. It is illegal in Indonesia for women to straddle a motorcycle. Women were barred from bingo in the UK because two groups got into a bloody fight. In China women are not allowed to study mining because they would use too much energy that they could use somewhere else. A pastor in Texas discourages women for wearing weaves in his church. Some countries and people still discourage women but from where we were 100 years ago, women are moving in the right direction.
In A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, women were not respected like they are now. Especially in that time period women were treated so badly. It was not normal for a woman to live on her own or leave her husband. In the play Nora is treated like a doll by her husband and he degrades her by calling her animal names. Nora is used to this treatment because her father treated her like this too. Finally Nora realizes that she is never taken seriously and that she is only there to be shown off because she is pretty but being under a mans control her whole life she doesn't know who she really is and she needs to find herself.

Today is New Years Eve and it will be 2016. New years is the beginning of a new year. It indicates the start of a new year and we are moving into a new time. In Slaughterhouse Five, the main character Billy goes through these phases of time. Billy has no control over time and can travel to the past and future. Time is very important to us since we have such a short time to live and we do not have the option to travel through time. However the Tralfamadorians do not care about time and time is not very important to them.
Billy finds comfort in knowing that that time is predetermined and unchangeable and there is no freewill. The tralfamadorian faith tries to make Billy feel like everything he has gone through, no matter how awful could not of changed. I wish we could change time and determine what happens to our lives. But I also like not knowing what is going to happen. Everything happens for a reason and that is how the world goes on and that is how everyone has lived for over the years.

November Monthly Blog

Where do these traditions come from in different cultures? Who decides that the society as a whole will do these things they are told to do? Most of the abnormal traditions began when they were passed down by word of mouth, so they could of been changed as they have been passed down. Normally these traditions are passed down from parents to children and so on. Or a higher power tells their people that they must do this from now on. For example, the Callatians ate their dead fathers. What did they gain by doing that? A higher power must of told them that they will gain something spiritually if they did. But then the Greeks began the tradition of cremation which is still going on today. Nobody eats their dead fathers that I know of. As a society we are forced to believe and act out these traditions we are told.Another example is the shape of the earth. Some societies believe the earth is flat, however our society and other societies believe it is round. Our society knows it is round because we have have seen it when people went to space. The people that believe the earth is flat might not be able to go to space so they are going off from what they were told and what they know. If I was not told that the earth was round I would think it is flat because the ground is flat. Our society has more advantages than other societies. Societies should not judge other societies on their beliefs, weather they are good or bad. This is what they were taught and they don't know any better. They could think what our society is doing is wrong. I feel this argument is a contradiction because Hitler obviously did not like Jews since he killed 6 million of them. He learned from somewhere that Jews were bad people and believed that. Now we can't say Hitler is a bad person if that is his belief of is it different because the Nazis are not a society? I think that there should be a line drawn on what is cultural and what is personal.

In the poem Beowulf, there is the main conflict good v. evil. Readers ask what is good? Or what is evil? I think everyone is good and everyone has good intentions but does that make them a hero? Holding the door open for someone is a good deed but you are not a hero. People are not born evil but something inside of them turns them evil or society provokes them. In Beowulf, Beowulf has this super strength and is a good fighter and is able to defeat predators that try to harm his people. Beowulf is viewed as a hero by his people because he defeated Grendel who is viewed as evil. But does Beowulf have the characteristics of a hero? In Spiderman, Spiderman is a hero because he saves everyone from crimes in the city.  Peter Parker is viewed as a nerd and most people will not expect him to be a hero. When Peter got his powers he wanted to help the city after seeing his uncle die. Peter did not do it for himself. I think Beowulf fought these battles because he liked the glory and attention. Those are not good characteristics of a hero.
However, Grendel is described as a "fiend out of hell" but only because he eats people. But everyone has to eat, I eat chicken and cheeseburgers so does that make me evil to chickens and cows? I do not think we can call someone evil based on their lifestyle. When we read Grendel in class I felt sorry for Grendel because Grendel wanted to be friends with everyone but all they saw was a monster and did not accept him for who he is. People who make their main goal in life to hurt people are evil. For example, Hitler was an evil person and it's scary that someone has those intentions and hated a religion that much. But one of the issues in the world right now is shootings at colleges. The shooters are not evil but they were good people that might have a mental issue or were corrupted by society and had enough. Evil is a strong word to describe someone as but I think society is evil. Society has so many expectations that it's hard for everyone to fit in and that makes them go crazy. There is still good and there is evil and I think there is a little in all of us.