Stability in Change

    Punctuation's consistent rules are needed to provide a stable structure for a constantly evolving world, thus allowing man-kind to advance at a perpetual rate.

    Although punctuation is often seen as inconvenient and even unnecessary, it is needed to bring order to a world filled with chaos. Some say that punctuation rules need to be updated, yet those people don't give specific changes that need to be made. Changes  like the pilcrow and the hedera have indeed "enjoyed temporary places in common usage before fading from view" (Source A). Therefore, history itself has proven that the current rules are adequate. Also, like Ben Dolnick, many people have experienced first hand, how at first glance some punctuation seems unnecessary, but after further inspection the true beauty and "exquisite tension" (Source E) can be fully appreciated. Also, Dolnick's point that no literary advice should be "adopted mindlessly" (Source E) resonates with the idea that change should not be desired for the sake of change. Sure the ever-changing world inspires innovative ideas, but structural basics to human-kind like punctuation have no need to be altered. For if they are altered like the world is, society will no longer have a mutual basis to which they can express their ideas. Whether it's through the use of the comma that is the most "usable of all the stops" (Source D) or the semicolons that give off "a pleasant little feeling of expectancy" (Source D), today's punctuation helps express anything from a simple note to a friend to a world-changing idea. Therefore, through the consistent templates of punctuation, the world can continue to grow.

Picture Source

Beauty and the Beast

"It was in a dark, wet place, its head covered with great O's of wool, the black face holding, like nickels, two clean black eyes, the flared nose, kissing-thick lips, and the living, breathing silk of black skin. No synthetic yellow bangs suspended over marble-blue eyes, no pinched nose and bowline mouth."(Morrison 190). Morrison uses vivid imagery to illustrate how innocent Pecola's baby is. The "synthetic yellow bangs" also reminded me of the phallic figured barbies, and how unnatural they looked. Although Pecola's child doesn't resemble those plastic, artificial figurines, it's considered ugly and even unnatural. This irony plus the fact that the innocent baby doesn't survive childbirth just further emphasizes how society's perspective of beauty is skewed. Although the idea of longing for "blue eyes" is constantly mentioned within the novel, Morrison ends the book with the idea that even if one obtains such beauty, it will not seem like it's enough. Once a person falls into the mentality of longing for something they're not, there's always the possibility of a more beautiful being. Therefore, by making the last chapter of the novel a conversation between Pecola and her imaginary friend, Morrison not only shows Pecola's true feelings, but she also uses these feelings to tell the reader that longing to be something you aren't is pointless. Since the "what if's" are infinite, it's better to accept yourself for who you are and if others can't appreciate that, then they're the ones with ugly hearts.

What would you do?

    Peer pressure is looked upon to be something bad. People often say "Don't fall into the peer pressure!" However, peer pressure is generally thought in a sense that people want you to do something. For example, they want you to eat that weird jelly bean you found on the ground or pick off that one hair dangling off of the bald guy in front of you's head. People fall into peer pressure just to avoid ridicule, or to just fit in. As I was reading The Bluest Eye, I came upon the following line: "Frieda agreed with me. 'Miss Forrester said he was incorrigival" (Morrison 67).  Incorrigival isn't actually a real word. It's supposed to be spelled incorrigible. However, Toni Morrison specifically spells it wrong, because she uses this spelling mistake to further characterize Frieda. Frieda, the girl who previously had just stood up for Pecola, is depicted to be an innocent child. She's innocent in the sense that she has yet conformed to society, for one of the main messages of this story is conforming to white culture.When someone's being attacked by multiple people, the average person would simply walk by, for they might fear that if they joined in they would also be attacked.  Most people conform so they're not different. They want to fit in to avoid ridicule. However, in no way does this thought ever come into Frieda's mind as she selflessly stands up for Pecola. Therefore, Frieda is seen as the innocent minded protector that has yet to conform to society's ideals, and Morrison emphasizes this innocence by misspelling the word incorrigival. Also, when I was reading this passage a TV show suddenly popped into my mind. It's called What Would You Do. This video is somewhat similar to the scenario of what happened to Pecola and Frieda.

Subliminal Messaging

    While discussing the interesting and truthful perspective on how Barbie objectifies women, a sudden idea popped into my head. Not only do their "giant breasts and high-heeled feet"(Prager 354)  objectify women and sexualize their appearance, but Barbies may also subliminally tell boys it's okay to mistreat women. As a child, my keenest memory of Barbie is mutilating the head. Due to fear of ridicule, little boys often feel the need to act manly, which often entails ripping the head off of Barbies ( a way of letting others know that they don't ever want to play with girl toys). This is just another example of how Barbies are not appropriate for children. However, on the subject of subliminal messages in childhood, a few months ago I heard on NPR that by telling first and second graders to circle the differences between two pictures or to find the odd one out of a pattern, it teaches kids that being different is bad. People often have the urge to fit in, and when you tell kids that things that are different should be pointed out, it subconsciously tells them different is bad. The only way to undo this subliminal brainwashing is simply awareness, and Emily Prager does an excellent job unmasking the toxicity towards the image of women Barbie emulates.

Slavery

    Although slavery has been eradicated from America, it's still an issue in other places around the world. People generally assume since slavery is no longer an issue in America, it isn't an issue anywhere else. However, it is. There are more slaves today than there have been at any other time in history. It's estimated that there are somewhere between 21 to 30 million slaves in the world (freetheslaves.net). The slaves today don't have any chances of escaping either. Because of technology advances, security cameras and other high tech equipment can constantly monitor the slaves and prevent them from ever escaping. Any amount of cunningness, "the only weapon of the weak"(Jacobs 556), is not enough to escape such inescapable conditions. Why is there slavery still? The same reason there were slaves in the past. Corporations would much rather outsource their work to foreign countries if the labor is cheaper, and the cheapest labor possible is straight up slavery. People these days idolize money. Holidays like the 4th of July, Christmas and Thanksgiving are all pretty much just opportunities for businesses to host super sales and other market actions. The value of holidays has gone down.  Although not as extreme as Frederick Douglass's The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro, everyone is slowly becoming alienated from such celebrations. We can change this, however, by simply celebrating each holiday for its original purpose. Also, boycotting any sort of “holiday special sale” going on would let the corporations know that Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, not a time to buy a super mega ultra portable vacuum cleaner. If we boycott these holidays and spread the word about the ongoing issue of slavery, we can eventually end slavery in other countries too.

 

Source: https://www.freetheslaves.net/page.aspx?pid=348

Goodbye

    The Scarlet Letter is finally over! Oh, I didn't mean for that to sound too excited but in more of a sense of closure. As something ends, people often reflect on how such stories or events have affected them. Many times there is an illusion that they will never forget what they have just experienced and it will change their lives forever. However, to be honest, The Scarlet Letter will be but just a faint dot on the collective collage of memories harvested from 11 AP; it will serve as "a motto and brief description of our now concluded legend"(Hawthorne 259). Sure I'll occasionally reference the symbolic A in colloquial conversation or in my essays to seem somewhat knowledgeable, but that's about it. It's like in the real world, when you say goodbye to other things. One of my friends, Josh, moved to Texas a few years ago. We were pretty good friends, both growing up together and always hanging out at church, but we both knew that communication would wither away and eventually die out. Now we're simply Facebook friends. The same goes with going off to college. As we slowly move towards graduating high school, the reality of moving on seems to become more clear. Only a few of my closest friends will remain my friends as we go off to college, the rest becoming mere acquaintances. So as we depart from The Scarlet Letter, I will feel no sadness, for it has helped me
grow as a literary student through those two totally not awkward seminars, countless analyzes of hieroglyphic-like diction, and the identification of symbols that I couldn't possibly have pointed out by myself.  Au revoir, Hawthorne, au revoir.

And belt commercials are just a waist of time.

Guilt.

After talking about how Hester's reputation is starting to change in a positive way, I was suddenly reminded of the Wong Fu short, Just a Nice Guy.

Her selfless deeds are similar to Nick, the main character; they're both constantly helping others, while putting aside their own needs. However, as nice as these deeds are, they're not easy to deliver. Hester's "blameless purity of her life" (Hawthorne 157) while marked with the scarlet letter is her way of repenting past sins. Because she was deemed an adulterer, she forces herself to become selfless and tries to outweigh good against evil. This bring out a positive result;however, Dimmesdale tries to keep his sin a secret, and the guilt ultimately causes him to preach powerful messages. This also has a positive outcome, but Dimmesdale's internal guilt is far greater than Hester's. Therefore, it's better to admit your guilts and ask for forgiveness than to just wallow in secrecy. One time I broke my dad's iPad case, but I didn't tell him about it. I felt bad because he thought he was the one who broke it. We both ended up feeling bad, when I should have been the only one feeling bad. Therefore, I feel like once Dimmesdale admits his misdeeds, his guilt will eventually disappear and then Hester, Dimmesdale and Pearl can live happily ever after. (until they eventually die of random ailments like the common cold because of their super ratchet and demonic doctors)

And those cemetery commercials. It was a grave mistake making those