Was Creon trying to be a Villain

When I first read the play Antigone my first thoughts were Antigone is the hero and Creon is the villain but were these classifications appropriate? Once you really dive into the book you start to see that Creon was not trying to be a villain at all he was only trying to keep the welfare of his nation on the forefront. Antigone broke a law and there is no arguing that. She broke a law and should of been punished as she did. It does not matter if it was right in the god's eyes she broke the law, so Creon should not be punished for having to carry out his own laws. In today's society there are many examples of the law and religion fighting it out, but in the land of the living the law stands above the laws of religion in strictly secular terms. Like earlier blog posts you are sometimes justified in breaking the law, but you will still be punished for what you did even if was for the greater good. In conclusion Creon should not be portrayed as a villain because he made a law and it was broken, so a punishment was justified.

The Point of Antigone Being a Girl In My Opinion

In the play Antigone we see our main character being a woman in Antigone, but what is Sophocles point of doing this in the play. I believe this was done to put more of an us against them feeling throughout the play. If Antigone was a man it would be a lot less more about defying her place in society but a power struggle for who is right. In Antigone being a girl it brings up social questions and gives more of a feeling of hopelessness in the play. This is exemplified by Ismene stating they as women can not stand up to men. Then throughout the play we see examples and references to Antigone being a girl and how that is out of place again raising the question of gender equality. In more practical terms I think Antigone was a girl for the love interest of Haemon. This really intertwines motives inside Creon's family and creates more sub plots and power struggles throughout the play. In conclusion Sophocles made Antigone a girl to raise questions of gender equality and more of a feeling of hopelessness throughout the play.

Is an Individual ever Justified in Breaking the Law?

In a law there always seems to be exceptions; even if these exceptions are minuscule and do not happen very often they are present. These exceptions do not mean you are following the law, but you are breaking it for a just cause. Most of these exceptions seem to center around a love for someone. If a loved one was dying and you could not afford the medicine or antidote; you would not just let them die. You would probably steal the medicine for the betterment of the loved one. It does not mean what you did was right, but you did it for the greater good of your loved one. Nobody can say they would just stand idle as a loved one was in pain and you could not do anything that was legal to help them. On that same note you should not exploit this love for someone. You should not break the law unless you or your loved one are in immediate danger of dying or being permanently scarred. These times to break the law are small and far between, so I do not want to give the idea that if you have a headache you should break into a supermarket for Advil. If one law was never to be broken it would be murder. If you kill the person out of protection you are protected under the law, so if you kill a person not under the law there should be no exceptions. In conclusion you can break the law for a betterment of a loved one, but  at the same time there are laws that should never be broken.

A Change to the Community

Making changes has always been difficult. People always have different points of view, and can never seem to agree on a common idea. So whatever change I will want to make to a community, the severn community in this post, will be disagreed on by many people. The one change I would like to make to the severn community would be a later start time. It has been stated in numerous studies that teenagers tend to stay up later, and if we had a later start time kids would arrive at school much more energized and more willing to learn. With this later start time we would have to sacrifice an hour more of school, but we would still only be getting out at 3:30 a very reasonable end time. With more energized students better grades could be achieved, and also a more positive vibe given off by students. A later start time would also eliminate that first period slumber that many students go through. On a more technical standpoint it is said teenager should get around 9-11 hours of sleep; to achieve this you would have to go to bed at 9pm which is very hard for some teenagers. If teenagers could stay up an hour later they would be more likely to get that recommended sleep time. In conclusion a later start time would lead to more energized students, and improved academic performance by students.

What Beliefs I Hold Closest to Myself

When you try to describe yourself to others what are the first words that come to mind? I think the few things that first come to mind about me are essential things in my life that I can not live without. The first thing is honesty; you can not get through life telling lies. People will not trust you, and overall people will see you as an untrustworthy person. Even if the truth is harder to tell you must do it because people will respect you more once you have said it. When the honesty hurts someone you can not just say how bad you feel about them; you must try to relate to them. This is were my second belief comes into play, empathy. It is useless to tell someone who is feeling sad how everything is going to get better;  instead if you relate to them and even tell them something about you that relates to the situation they have a better chance of improving from their current situation. My third belief is integrity, this is because if you go through life cutting corners you will come to a day you can not cut those corners. Integrity is not doing the right thing when there are people around because you are expected to do the right thing. It  is what you do when there is nobody around because there is no pressure to do the right thing its just yourself and the situation ahead. This belief of mine was echoed in the national honors society speeches; the way the speaker explained what integrity was to her really resounded with me and my interpretation of integrity. My fourth belief is to be humble. I think all students at severn need to have an understanding of how privileged we are; we should not boast about are achievements and possessions. Instead we should be thankful for them, and understand how lucky we are to be in this position. My final point is that just be kind to others. Do not try to bring others down because that does nothing for you. Instead help others when they ask for help or even just compliment someone when they are seeming to have a bad day. In conclusion these traits are some things that I hold close to myself, and I think others should hold at least some of these traits close the themselves.

A Clash of Cultures Concerning Ashima

 Near the end of the novel we learn Ashima is going to split up her time with six months in India and six months in America. I think the real question is which six months is she home? We discussed this a little in class, and Ashima even calls America her home. But, I would like to focus on why she is even going to India if America is her home. I think Ashima almost feels obligated by herself to visit India even if most of the family she knew there is dead now. This is because in the beginning of the novel she constantly talked about going to India, but at some point she wanted to stay in america more. I think now that she can go to India for six months straight she feels she must because of all the time she lost in India. But, while in America I think she constantly tried to create a little India with all of these Bengali friends and it worked in a way.  I think in the midst of creating this little India she started to represent these Bengali friends as her family, so America becomes her home. She does the American thing in blending her culture with some aspects of the American culture, so even if it is not the America you and I see; it is the America Ashima see's

The Importance of Moushumi Keeping Her Old Wedding Dress

When reading the Novel we are even a quick little detail that I think is of extreme importance, and is not capitalized enough in this novel. I think Moushumi keeping the wedding dress is a form of revolt against her parents and even the marriage itself. It is said many times in the novel that this marriage worked out perfectly two Bengalis marrying each other; this is not want Moushimi wanted she wanted a marriage were she married an American man not another Bengali man. Even though she loves Gogol, I think she is upset with herself for marrying a Bengali man almost being biased against Gogols ethnicity.  This point of herself being unhappy with marrying a Bengali man is also capitalized in her affair with Dimitri. I think the dress is almost a reminder to her that she almost went through with this revolt against her parents, and it almost worked. I think this is also foreshadowing the state of their marriage she is not willing to get rid of everything from her past relationship. So she  is not ready to completely accept Gogol as her husband. Also the keeping of her maiden name is another indicator of her unhappiness with marrying another Bengali man. She does a very american thing in keeping her maiden name, and this is the exact opposite of what Indians are supposed to do. In conclusion I think the wedding dress is an important indicator of Moushumi's unhappiness not with Gogol, but with marrying another Bengali man.