Well this is probably going to be my last and final blog so ill try to make it good.
Over the course of the spring semester I have read many books. A whole lot more than I would normally read. I read some really good ones and few that were just so-so. Surprisingly, one thing that kept on popping up in my readings was the duality of man. The duality of man basically means that there is good and bad in all of us. It’s kind of like in movies where you see the two little guys pop up on the shoulders of people. One is good and one is bad. Both are trying to get you to do something whether it’s good or bad. Deciding on what to do is the struggle to resist the bad and do the good. But sometimes we, as humans, find that really hard, and we tend to, sometimes, do the wrong thing. It is everywhere, not only in books but also in real life. It’s an issue that we find ourselves constantly facing.
One book I read, I found the duality of man emphasized. In Cold Blood was written by Truman Capote and based on true events. It was the first book that I read in this class. The book was about the gruesome killings of a plain ordinary family in Kansas. It followed the killers before and after they killed the family, all the way up to the trial and persecution. There were two killers: Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. Dick was the mean, insensitive one (the one I figured would have killed the family), while Perry was the nice, sensitive one that appeared as if he wouldn’t hurt a fly. But Perry Smith is the one who killed the family; he is the one who gave in to his bad side. After the police had caught the two killers Truman Capote became really good friends with Perry and found out that he was a perfectly normal guy. Nice, good natured. That’s the part that got me. Just an ordinary guy was capable of killing a family of four that never did anything to him; he didn’t even know the family, he had never seen them before. But he still had the capability to do something that awful. Even though I know that I would never do a thing like that it makes me think, and makes me aware that I have the capability to do that. But everybody has a good and bad side to them, and I guess that Perry gave in to his bad side.
Another book that I read was The Kite Runner. It was written by Khaled Hosseini, it was based on his life. In the book he didn’t give in to his bad side by doing something, but by not doing something. One day he walked, unnoticed, in on his best friend/ servant being brutally beaten up by a neighbor hood bully. Instead of going in and stopping them, he just sat back and watched it happen. He betrayed his friend by not helping him, because he was afraid that the same would happen to him. Plus in the story it says that his best friend always stood up for him and was always loyal. I don’t understand how he could just stay in the shadows and watch. But I guess that people are different and are ok with it. That part really bothered me about the book.
Finally I would like to close with relating this topic to few stories we read in class and the modern world. In Romeo and Juliet, after Romeo witnessed Mercrutio being killed by Tybalt, he then, in a violent rage, killed Tybalt. He gave in to the bad side, and did what, at the time, seemed like the most reasonable thing to do. There are sometimes that I sympathize and understand why some people did the wrong thing but for good reasons. For example, in To Kill a Mockingbird Boo Radley is this innocent human being, that is very nice, but then he kills Bob Ewell, after he saw him attacking Jem and Scout. This guy is quite possibly one of the nicest people you will ever read about, but he is capable of doing such a horrible thing. I feel that it is justified though. He saved the lives of Scout and Jem. Spiderman three is another good example of the duality of man. In the movie he has to decide whether or not to wear the black suit. It is evil but it feels good and right at the time. But in the end he would have regretted it. The military is a great example of modern day duality of man. They say to join the military and serve your country. As an American, of course you feel like it’s your duty to go and serve your country and protect it. But at the other end you may end up killing another human being. Is it worth it? Is it justified then? It’s totally your own opinion. Tell me what you think.
Duality of man is a huge controversy and it all depends on your own judgment. I sit at my computer and complain about what other people chose to do. For instance in the Kite Runner I say that he should have helped his friend but also I wasn’t in the situation so I cant really complain about it. Duality is a very hard thing to act and decide on if you’re torn between two things. I just hope that I am never in a situation where I have to make a serious decision, like one stated above.
Well that was my final blog. I hope that you enjoyed (it took long enough, so you better have, just kidding). I hope that everybody has a great summer and I hope to see you all next year.
Over the course of the spring semester I have read many books. A whole lot more than I would normally read. I read some really good ones and few that were just so-so. Surprisingly, one thing that kept on popping up in my readings was the duality of man. The duality of man basically means that there is good and bad in all of us. It’s kind of like in movies where you see the two little guys pop up on the shoulders of people. One is good and one is bad. Both are trying to get you to do something whether it’s good or bad. Deciding on what to do is the struggle to resist the bad and do the good. But sometimes we, as humans, find that really hard, and we tend to, sometimes, do the wrong thing. It is everywhere, not only in books but also in real life. It’s an issue that we find ourselves constantly facing.
One book I read, I found the duality of man emphasized. In Cold Blood was written by Truman Capote and based on true events. It was the first book that I read in this class. The book was about the gruesome killings of a plain ordinary family in Kansas. It followed the killers before and after they killed the family, all the way up to the trial and persecution. There were two killers: Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. Dick was the mean, insensitive one (the one I figured would have killed the family), while Perry was the nice, sensitive one that appeared as if he wouldn’t hurt a fly. But Perry Smith is the one who killed the family; he is the one who gave in to his bad side. After the police had caught the two killers Truman Capote became really good friends with Perry and found out that he was a perfectly normal guy. Nice, good natured. That’s the part that got me. Just an ordinary guy was capable of killing a family of four that never did anything to him; he didn’t even know the family, he had never seen them before. But he still had the capability to do something that awful. Even though I know that I would never do a thing like that it makes me think, and makes me aware that I have the capability to do that. But everybody has a good and bad side to them, and I guess that Perry gave in to his bad side.
Another book that I read was The Kite Runner. It was written by Khaled Hosseini, it was based on his life. In the book he didn’t give in to his bad side by doing something, but by not doing something. One day he walked, unnoticed, in on his best friend/ servant being brutally beaten up by a neighbor hood bully. Instead of going in and stopping them, he just sat back and watched it happen. He betrayed his friend by not helping him, because he was afraid that the same would happen to him. Plus in the story it says that his best friend always stood up for him and was always loyal. I don’t understand how he could just stay in the shadows and watch. But I guess that people are different and are ok with it. That part really bothered me about the book.
Finally I would like to close with relating this topic to few stories we read in class and the modern world. In Romeo and Juliet, after Romeo witnessed Mercrutio being killed by Tybalt, he then, in a violent rage, killed Tybalt. He gave in to the bad side, and did what, at the time, seemed like the most reasonable thing to do. There are sometimes that I sympathize and understand why some people did the wrong thing but for good reasons. For example, in To Kill a Mockingbird Boo Radley is this innocent human being, that is very nice, but then he kills Bob Ewell, after he saw him attacking Jem and Scout. This guy is quite possibly one of the nicest people you will ever read about, but he is capable of doing such a horrible thing. I feel that it is justified though. He saved the lives of Scout and Jem. Spiderman three is another good example of the duality of man. In the movie he has to decide whether or not to wear the black suit. It is evil but it feels good and right at the time. But in the end he would have regretted it. The military is a great example of modern day duality of man. They say to join the military and serve your country. As an American, of course you feel like it’s your duty to go and serve your country and protect it. But at the other end you may end up killing another human being. Is it worth it? Is it justified then? It’s totally your own opinion. Tell me what you think.
Duality of man is a huge controversy and it all depends on your own judgment. I sit at my computer and complain about what other people chose to do. For instance in the Kite Runner I say that he should have helped his friend but also I wasn’t in the situation so I cant really complain about it. Duality is a very hard thing to act and decide on if you’re torn between two things. I just hope that I am never in a situation where I have to make a serious decision, like one stated above.
Well that was my final blog. I hope that you enjoyed (it took long enough, so you better have, just kidding). I hope that everybody has a great summer and I hope to see you all next year.
4 comments:
I love the subject of your blog. It was quite eloquent and extremely intelligent.
That was an amazing post. I really liked your topic and I thouoght that you discibed it well. Good Job!
awesome blog, I loved the topic you picked it was a sweet post.
I read your post (the whole thing) and it was really good. I personally don't think that you are capable of doing anything as bad as the perry guy, but hey I might be wrong. I don't think even in war that people are justified to kill eachother. Honestly, what does killing another innocent soldier do, why do people killing eachother,wars, resolve conflicts? I think the only reason people are justified to kill eachother is if the other person is killing massive amounts of people, or your kids, only if there's no other way. If there is another way for stopping the person, for instance just hurting them, I think that is probably a better choice than killing them.
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