The Last Blog

wow, this semester flew by. We had some really good times in literature in my opinion. I wish we could have had a slightly smaller class and more time to discuss a lot of the great literature which we read. In my opinion the knowledge gained from literature is best realized when we are able to articulate and communicate all the ideas formulated via reading articulately. It is like the icing on the cake if you will. That is the only thing i think the class was slightly slacking in this semester. But with a class that large and that much to cover its understandable why we didnt get to discuss things as throughoughyl as i would have liked. I think the second half of the semester was my favotire. I enjoyed the group presentations as well as the individual ones, and the paper was a great reflection of the course. I know Professor Sexton mentioned that he wished more of us had taken the challenge of writing about the Brothers Karamazov, but i highly enjoyed writing the final paper, it allowed me to organize my thoughts on the class and i felt as though it was an opportunity to discuss a few epiphanies i have had over the course of the semester. Anyways, i enjoyed this class a lot i have learned things which i know i will carry into the future with me and i obtained knowledge i will be able to use in classes coming up within the next four years...thanks Professor, good work!

Found Poem

I found this poem on my one a day women's vitamin....


More of what matters to women
Formulated to support
More of what matters to women
Along with a healthy lifestyle
Bonestregnth
Breast health
Heart Health
IMMUNITY
More of what matters to women

embrace life in all of its contradictions

"Embrace life in all of its contradictions"
This is a quote that definately will stick with me after the semester is done. It touches upon one of the main themes in the Brothers Karamazov as well; People are complex. In order to enjoy life on this planet we must embrace that which we cannot understand, that which makes no sense and that which contradicts itself. It is always better to live life than to spend time analyzing it. When you are analyzing soemthing as mysterious and unknown as the world we live in and the impulses which we cling to it is inevitable that one will run into many, many condradictions. Thats life, embrace it.

To all the people who think they arent ignorant...

Some people would argue that our class is not full of ignorant teenagers, and that our attention spans are longer than ten seconds, etc etc. I would say they are wrong. For the most part, myself included i would say we are all totally ignorant. People who say they are not are typically the ones who are most ignorant in fact. In many ways i wish i had never been introduced to TV or movies or all of that jazz. I feel like over the years i have become more and more distracted from real reality due to things such as tv and clothing and stuff along those lines. However, i dont think this is limited to teenagers, yes our generation is worse but it is as a result of the previous generation as well, and the generation before us, etc etc. People are becoming less and less useful. We rely entirely on technology. Im willing to bet that the majority of our class couldnt even run three miles...which is really really sad. If you add to that the fact that most people dont read, that makes it even more pathetic. What is the most annoying though is the people who do read and think they are something special because of it. I mean good for you you are literate, but shouldnt we all be?????? Thats just our generation for those who would argue, you are wrong and you are probably the worst of the bunch, go work out, pick up a book because you actually enjoy reading not because you want to brag about some book that is slightly impressive that you finished or shut the hell up and get off your high horse. I am not impressed and those who are are fools.

The Brothers Karamazov Overall

There is no doubt that Dostoyevsky is an amazing author, Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov etc, however i find it so difficult to get through his books! They are not boring in topic at all, in fact they have many great themes and present ideas which could be discussed and debated for hours. However, they are the type of books which i need encouragement to read. Blogging is not exactly my thing, there are so many themes in the book that i wish we could have had time to go over in class, some of my favorites were:

In Book II when Zossimov briefly discusses his opinions on love

in Book II when Zossimov returns from talking to Madam H and Ivan is discussing the seperation of church and state with the monks

In book III-- the contradictory impulses within each character are presented throughout the entire novel but i think they are more blatant within Madonna Sodom and all that, that fascinates me because as complex and contradictory as a character can be, real people can be so much more so

In Book III-- when Smerdakov is discussing his religious views

Within the novel there are many points i like to talk about within the realm of reality. I like to speculate and look at things philisophically so looking at them solely within the plot of the novel is dificult for me....The Brothers Karamazov is a good book, but i definately dont think I would read it again. I still have a good hundred pages left and I plan to finish it over the weekend, but its not something im joyously looking forward to. I respect the book more than revel in its literary eloquence

Individual Presentations

I am so glad to have my individual presentation over with. Initially i was very nervous about it but it turned out to be a pretty laid back endeavour. everyone has had a lot of interesting things to say about this class. I personally think i took a lot away from it considering what a short course it was and how much material we had to cover. Someone mentioned that they would have liked to have been able to delve deeper into the topics and such. I feel like that would be very dificult when we have such a large course load to cover and such a large class. In college i feel as though a lot of the time it is more dificult to generate organized discussions because so much of that is up to us and everyone in the class is on different levels and has different interests. It was nice getting to hear a little bit from everyone though, i just wish the presentations could have been a little bit longer buttt it is what it is, we did well with the time we were given i think!

Alyosha

My favorite character in the Brothers Karamazov is Alyosha I think. Alyosha is potrayed in a way that makes him look like somewhat of a pushover and somewhat of a generally good guy. He seems to have the ability to read people (somewhat) and counsel them in their times of need. A great example of this is when he talks to Koyla in a manner that is neither condescending nor lofty. In all of the scenarios throughout the novel in which Alyosha is providing counseling he appears to be genuine in his concern, however in some ways I feel as though he almost gets taken advantage of.