The Brain Lecture

From the lecture, I learned that different parts of the brain control different bodily functions and that damaging parts of the brain affects the function it controls. I didn't really get what this had to do with "self" since it was entirely tangible, and though the people in the classroom video had brain damage, they were still the same people. Not being able to recognize what something is used for is a physical damage and does not change the person's individual characteristics.

Chart of Virtues/Reflection on "Self" Articles

The two articles each talked about developing one's "self," but they discussed different aspects of discovering and maintaining one's "self." Juhan's article talked about cleansing and maintaining one's "self" by reaping the benefits from our memories. He suggests that we should learn from our past mistakes.

Franklin's article talked about finding faults within ourselves and striving to eliminate them. I feel that a combination of the two methods might be successful, temporarily. I do not think that the "self" can be changed easily.

The following are my Virtues Chart and my Body Pains Chart.

Elie Wiesel's Self Presentation

At the beginning of Elie Wiesel's Night, Wiesel presents himself as a sheltered young man, studying Jewish documentation with a wise mentor. He talks about how secluded his community is from the wrodl, and how real information about the concentration camps was never passed on to him until his mentor came back from a botched extermination. At that point, he realized that there was much more to the world and human capacity for cruelty than what he might find in his community.

At the end of the novel, Wiesel presents himself as a young man aged far beyong his actual years. He recalls, "From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me" (115). Wiesel suggests that half of his life was lost to the concentration camps, and that nothing can be the same as it was.

Prof. Denis' Lecture Addressing the Holocaust

From Professer Denis' lecture addressing the Holocaust, I learned that the Nazi targets included people other than Jews and gypsies. They included homosexuals, cripples, the mentally ill, powerful political figures and lawyers, and basically anyone who was not Arian. I always think that's strange considering Hitler had brown hair and brown eyes, and Arians are supposed to have blonde hair and blue eyes.

I was surprised by the amount of art that liberators found throughout the camps. I would have guessed that all of the artwork would have been destroyed by SS Officers. I was more suprised to learn that some SS Officers buried the art outside of the camp for the prisoners, and that they would barter pictures for food. The peoples' desperation hit home when Prof. Denis talked about the death penalty that came with anti-Holocaust artwork, yet so many people took that risk for the sake of telling the world what really happened.

What I found to be the most interesting point of Prof. Denis' lecture was how many camps there really were. I had only heard of a few, less than ten, so I was very surprised to learn that there were approximately 15,000 camps in all, and that all of the death camps were in Poland.

Listening to Prof. Denis speak about the holocaust put into perspective for me the agony that holocaust victims had to endure. All of the photos and art work of cramped barracks, watery broth in giant barrels, victims stacked in mass graves, and the lack of shame that the SS Officers showed when they killed victims made me realize that I could never even begin to imagine what tese people endured, and that made me thankful that I get to live in this generation.

Jan Kather's Lecture

From Jan Kather's lecture, I learned that the images throughout The Book of Job are very symbolic, and are more than aesthetics. The symbolism in the pictures contribute to the words in the text by applying a visual to the key points of the story. I was surprised to learn that William Blake did the original etching and painting by hand, yet he believed he could have visons of angels. The visions, however, were what I found to be most interesting. After all, not everyone could (or would) admit to that. The lecture changed my relationship to the "Book of Job" by prompting me to look at the picture on the cover of the novel and to think about the symbols as I came across them in the text.

The Book of Job

How do you react to God's show of strength and power at the end of the story? Is it an appropriate response to Job? What does this show say about God and his relationship to man?

I thought that God's show of strength and power at the end of the story should have been unneccessary. If God is supposed to be this all-powerful being who has all of the answers and can do anything at any time, why should he have anything to prove? Apparently he can't supply his own self confidence... and Job is supposed to put all of his trust into him? How can God expect anyone to be so loyal to him if God can't even shrug of a provoking angel? I thought that God's response to Job was ridiculous because although Job believes that God created man, God needs to work on keeping his confidence up. If God can't be confident in his own existence, then he probably shouldn't be testing anyone else. In his relationship to man, God is supposed to be the creator and have supreme knowledge. God's ruthless display suggests that he is trying to impress man, and believes that he is of equal or lesser status than man; why else should he need to instill fear in Job?