Week 7
Prompt 1: What action would you take if you were a citizen of Omelas? Refer to Le Guin's short story.
OR
Prompt 2: What do you think of Le Guin's short story? Does it include enough detail to achieve its purpose? What's the strongest link between the setting and our society? Are you comfortable with the sacrifices that must be made to be a part of a social contract? Do any seem too burdensome? How does subscribing to a social unit diminish freedom, including freedom to act on personal morality?
YES, Cite evidence. YES, back up your claim with not only evidence but a clear line of reasoning.
Brynn Klaber Week 7: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
ReplyDeletePrompt 1: Seeking Mystery
Everyday I walk downstairs, look in the pantry, and try to figure out what I want to eat. I try to find the answer, but I can never figure out what I really want, so I just settle for what I think is the right answer. It is always a mystery deciding what snack I will decide to eat, but I never really evoke the mystery and look much into it. I always just pick out a random snack, and eat it. This situation can apply to picking anything out throughout the day whether it is a movie, an outfit, a TV show, or where to go eat dinner. It’s the same circumstances for all of them. The answer to my questions are never the answers I want, but it’s the answers I settle for. I stop thinking about what I really want, instead of seeking the mystery behind my question. I never look at the depth of my question, and really analyze it to find its mysterious value. I make so many decisions throughout the entire day, but how often do I really stop and think about the decisions I am making. From the way he wrote his novel, it can be inferred that Kesey is extremely observant and is a critical thinker. He doesn’t just get an answer and go with it. He feels as if there really are no right or wrong answers, which is a mystery in itself. This applies to my everyday life because the decisions I make aren’t necessarily right or wrong, but whenever I think I have the answer I stop, when I really should be thinking about why I chose that answer. According to Kesey, “The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer,” so the next time I have to come up with an answer to a question, I will think deeply about it and discover its mystery instead.
This is really insightful and I really enjoy how you related the prompt to everyday tasks. You really broke down the quote and did a great job creating that relationship between Kesey's point and your own daily routine! -Grace Dunaway
DeleteThank you for your feedback!- Brynn Klaber
DeleteI really like your response Brynn! I can relate very much because of how indecisive I am. You focused on each piece of the quote and related it to things others may not have noticed because they are your daily decisions to make!
Delete- EVA HECHT
This is such an in-depth comparison!!! I am mutually very indecisive so could absolutely relate!
Delete- Lilly Cox
I liked your response! This is how I feel on the daily. Your comparison to the quote is awesome. -Emily Ally
DeleteI really liked your comparison to the quote. Loved your response I definitely relate to it. -Carissa Boddie
DeleteGrace Dunaway: Week 7: Prompt 2
ReplyDeleteIn my daily routine, I often exhibit what Ken Kesey describes in his quote about answers vs. mystery. The most relatable part of this quote is “I’ve never seen anyone really find the answer, but they think they have”. This is an idea that I experience a lot in my daily activities, but also as I examine the lives of others. Usually when faced with a question, I often have to settle for an answer that may not necessarily be the best one. In my schoolwork I’m given assignments with questions I don’t always understand, but I always have to form some coherent thought in order to respond, even if I don't think it may be completely right. In this situation, I have to settle in order to get my work in on time and as a result I “stop thinking”, as Kesey quotes. While this may be viewed as a bad habit, sometimes it’s necessary. Completing tasks and making decisions are crucial aspects of life, and if you spend your whole life attempting to be completely correct and accurate in everything you say and do, then a lot of time will be wasted. Sometimes settling is okay when it comes to little things such as accepting an average effort on homework, eating a meal that isn't your favorite, or even getting a job that isn't necessarily enjoyable as a teen. On a large scale though, I think Kesey has a point. If you begin to just accept mediocre situations, then your life will not be fulfilling. For example, if you settle for a long-term job because you don't want to spend time discovering your true passion, you'll be stuck in a situation you hate for decades. Another point I think Kesey is trying to make is that sometimes the journey (the mystery) is more important than the destination (the answer). Sometimes, we shouldn't look for all the answers in life, and we should simply just enjoy each and every day without having to worry about making decisions or finding yourself. Often through simply letting yourself go and being free is when you find the answers to what drives you, what sparks passion inside you. So in a sense, “the need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer” because the need to let go of stress is more important than always working to try to discover some “correct” answer.
I thought you analyzed the quote extremely well, and the example you chose is something everyone can relate to doing in their everyday lives! -Brynn Klaber
DeleteThanks Brynn! I appreciate your reply :) -Grace Dunaway
DeleteI really like how you wrote your blog! I would have never really thought about this perspective. I liked how you compared answers to mysteries. -Emily Ally
DeleteWell stated Grace.
DeleteSophie Nutt
ReplyDeletePrompt 2
The Beat Generation of the 1950s were a group of American authors and artists who challenged the boundaries of what was acceptable at the time. Their works tended to emphasize ideas such as spirituality, drugs, and sexuality. Similarly, the hippies of the 1960s began to form a new counterculture; they focused on cultural values over political values, and promoted peace and love as the answer to problems. The idea of Kesey being a link between the two is represented through his message in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, that society at the time was suppressive of a person’s individuality and their innate tendencies, challenging the societal norms of the time and promoting counterculture. In the novel, Kesey utilizes the psychiatric ward as a representation of society as a whole at the time. The way in which the Chronics are described as “machines with flaws inside that can’t be repaired” by Bromden is a representation of the way in which society viewed and expected people to act as machines, disregarding their natural impulses and individuality. This can be related to the way in which the hippies of the 1960s promoted tolerance and openness instead of the restriction and discrimnation that they felt was pervasive in society at the time. The novel challenges the boundaries of what was acceptable at the time just as the Beat Generation of the 1950s did. McMurphy challenges the boundaries of what is acceptable in the psychiatric ward. He pushes what can be seen as the societal norms within the novel, pushing against the controlling and emasculating actions of Nurse Ratched.
Sophie, I really like this analysis and how it focuses on a real-life situation in comparison to the novel we are reading. It is clear you researched the contextual history.
Delete- EVA HECHT
EVA HECHT PROMPT ONE
ReplyDeleteWEEK SIX 10-08-20
In “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, the author says “I've never seen anyone ever really find the answer, but they think they have. In my life, there is a lot of stress over making any decision, whether it be where to eat, or where to go to college. I am, like my peers, in the process of applying to colleges. When at school and in social situations, I am constantly surrounded by the comments and chatter of “I have to go there” or “I need to go there or I won’t be happy”. I think this quote by Kesey reveals the importance of trusting the process and going with the flow, which is the approach I tend to take in regards to the college admissions process. Sure, like everyone else I have preferences, but when I am experiencing the chatter of having a set plan for ourselves, I truly believe that life changes the way it is supposed to and that God has a plan and I am following it wherever it may lead me. In reality, we all think we have the answers to everything, but we don’t, it is impossible. However, that’s a part of human nature and I am guilty of it too, but harsh reality check, we all don’t have the answers. Kesey amplifies this idea throughout the novel when he reveals the dangers in making assumptions. I chose to discuss this topic because of how relatable it is to our Senior class and I am sure many have experienced something similar. I also wanted to emphasize how important it is to make a thoughtful and truthful decision for where you will be most successful, and be open minded because you never know what life has to offer!
I love this comparison as it’s something I can absolutely relate to!!!
Delete- Lilly Cox
I can easily relate to your own personal example of the application process.
Delete-Thomas Stewart
Lilly Cox
ReplyDelete(Prompt 1)
Although I am not able to think of a specific situation, I can think of a very monotonous daily routine that causes me to settle for a simple answer, rather than obtaining mystical optimism. Whenever I am driving to an unfamiliar location, I always use my GPS to establish a route, and tend to make a mental note in my head for future reference rather than using context clues to provide myself with a new route for the following time. If I would take note of my surroundings and plan for a different route the next time I travel to the same location, this tactic would definitely allow me to seek the mystery of my journey. As Kesey informs readers that “the need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer,” I can absolutely see where this is true when I travel. Being completely transparent and vulnerable, this is something I never thought of until I read this statement made by the author. I inevitably allowed myself to assume that since I found the most efficient route of travel, that’s the one I needed to stick to rather then broadening my horizon of outside surroundings.
I love how you took the prompt in a different direction, and talked about how it related to travelling. I also liked how you included a quote from Kesey himself to emphasize your argument. -Brynn Klaber
DeleteThank you!!!! - Lilly Cox
DeleteI love how you used a real world example in your response. Great Job!-Carissa Boddie
DeleteThomas Stewart
ReplyDeletePrompt 1
I really seem to understand Kesey's quote about there never really being an answer to an answer, but instead there is a mystery. I think a good example of this that is present in my life is the college application process. I am asked by so many people where I want to go or what are your top three choices. I can never give a straight forward answer because I simply am not positive as to where I would want to go. I have a list of schools that I think are all very nice and would be somewhere I would want to go, but I struggle picking just one out that I value over all the others. I think this can relate to Kesey's quote because me not having an answer may be okay. Out of all the schools I'm applying to, there will be some that accept me. That may be a part of the mystery aspect behind it. I'm not sure now and it feels like a mystery as to where I will go, but once I am accepted to certain schools, I feel like the decision to pick one will be much easier. I don't want to stress about it because I all know it will work out, even if I'm not 100% sure at the moment. Kesey is able to really convey his message in this quote. That message simply being that we all do not have answers to everything. He exemplifies this quote throughout the book by revealing the dangers and risks that come with assumption-making.
Week 7 Hank McAlister
ReplyDeletePrompt two
I interpreted the quote “The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery instead of the answer you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anyone ever really find the answer, but they think they have. So they stop thinking. But the job is to seek the mystery, evoke the mystery. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.” to show that people like the chase more than the destination. As the wonderful Miley Cyrus once, “it's the climb”. I can apply this to when I first started playing guitar. When I started guitar I had a lot of fun learning songs and trying to figure the instrument out, however, once I got the hang of the instrument, I began to stop playing as often as I once did. I believe I enjoyed playing guitar because I liked learning new songs, because I would get to areas where I felt as though there was nothing new I could learn on guitar. This applies to the quote because whenever I would learn a large amount of songs I would plateau, this shows that it is not about the answer it is more about the mystery or the work put in to find an answer. I could also apply this to skateboarding, where when I learn a lot of tricks, I begin to run out of tricks and feel like there's nothing new to do.
Emily Ally
ReplyDeletePrompt 1
Week 7
Every day I wake up at 4:15AM and get ready for swim practice. I go downstairs and eat breakfast and then ponder about why I am wasting my precious sleep time to go and train to my heart's content. I’ve never really found the answer to my question but have always convinced myself that the only reason I train every morning is so I can say that ‘I’m making myself better’. I believe that there is a goal that I am working towards, but I am so far into my swimming career that I can’t find the goal that I am working towards. This ends up with me not thinking about the impossible but only the possible. This situation that I am in almost every morning seems to apply to other athletes. All athletes never know why they are training or why they were put into that particular sport. I believe all athletes find or come to an answer that settles right with their conscience and end up not thinking about those answers anymore. Athletes will never want to know the right answer or the goal that they are working towards because that is what drives them to be better than what they were before. Ken Kesey writes “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” with a philosophy that there is a deeper side of how society looks at mysteries. He strategizes his thoughts to a new level of how we should look at mental institutions and he examines the abuses of the system against an individual. He writes with the intent that there is a mystery but there is no answer that can be handed to the reader. He also writes this book with an intent to show that there are answers that we have to find but are not allowed to stop thinking about those answers. He implies that the mystery is something that we should keep “evoking.” If we evoke the mystery, then there will be more critical thinkers and those thinkers will be able to understand that there is more than just a right and wrong answer to those puzzling questions.
Week 7 prompt 1
ReplyDeleteTo be completely honest I am the worst person to ask what I would do because I would be so undeciding. I think I would probably leave the city, if I could I would switch places with the child. It did not deserve that treatment. It seems to relate to todays society that once happy child was forced down deep with in its own gallows. People usually try to push down any feeling that is miserable because they refuse to deal with this idea of change. This always goes on and hurts people in the future. This impeccable idea that “if the child is released it would not get much good from it’s freedom” this alludes to this idea that if people attempt to relive and try to fix this emotional trauma that it was to damaging and that there is no going back. I personally would have left the city or it would have silently ate at me and I would have eventually drove myself crazy. No one deserves to suffer but that does not mean bad things do not happen in order for the person to grow but what they are doing to this child is just out right sad.
John Biesecker, Prompt 1
ReplyDeleteIf I were a citizen of Omelas, I would leave the city. I could not build my happiness and my life on the torture of a child. Especially a child that has lived its life in innocence and did not deserve the malnourishment that it received. I could never truly be happy if I knew that my happiness was based on the suffering of a child. That would not be true happiness. Although I would not know what would lie beyond Omelas, I could not endorse this kind of suffering of the innocent for the common good. Since I could not free the child from it's situation, my only choice would be to leave the city.
how would you deal with the consequence of your actions in this town? -maggie
DeletePrompt 1
ReplyDeleteUpon reading, I feel that if I was a citizen of Omelas I would leave just as it says in Le Guin’s short story that “at times one of the adolescent girls or boys who go to see the child does not go home to weep or rage, does not, in fact, go home at all”. I don’t feel that my moral conscience would be able to handle knowing that my happiness is dependent on someone else’s misery, especially if that person has done nothing to deserve it. David Brooks’ writing “The Child in the Basement” that followed the short story I was shocked to see how many social contracts like the one in the short story are present in our own society. This made me realize that there are many, obviously less severe and extreme, cases in which I abide by this social contract and am willing to live according to it. Personally, the statement that explains how “schools become prestigious because they reject people -- even if they put a lifetime of work into their application” is an example of the social contract seen in the short story, is what really made me see how this relates to my own life. There is an inner pressure to attend a school that is seen in a high regard and sometimes it is hard to separate the way a particular school is viewed by others from how much I actually like the school. If the acceptance rate was no longer seen as a measure of a school’s prestige, people would choose where they wanted to attend based on other factors such as their own feelings. This is similar to the way in which everyone’s happiness in the short story is dependent on one person’s misery, but the people who choose to leave would be the same as those who choose what school they want to attend based on their own feeling rather than prestige.
in leaving what is the price you pay in guilt?-maggie
DeleteI believe the story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas is direct and extreme compared to every society in the world as it uses the building complexity of the city of Omela. The story includes enough detail to provide an understanding of both the outer understanding of the town and a deeper understanding. The parallel between the reality and appearance of a city reminds me of the United States as we appear to be the best nation but in reality we have many faults that some believe are necessary evils. Like the child in Omela, America has faults that cause pain and suffering such as the history of slavery that some would say was a necessary evil because it led to our country being what it is. This parallels as slavery and the life of the child are terrible but carry the balance of society in them. I am uncomfortable with the sacrifices of the social contracts of society because those suffering have no choice in the matter. For example, like the story the poor suffer at the expense of the wealthy continuously in this country. The burden of a perfect city is far to great as it is necessary to accept and work towards ending the suffering of the city. Faults are not what end happiness but what work towards total happiness for all citizens. Along with the social contract one person is unable to act on their morality to balance the world for all those in it, which prevents change and evolution.-maggie
ReplyDeleteEmma Rodden
ReplyDeletePrompt 1
This story definitely offers a lot to think about. I think even though obviously this country we live in is not a utopia, there are sacrifices of others we accept in order to keep ourselves comfortable. Children die trying to dig up diamonds so we can wear them on our hands and women and children are exploited everyday so that I can buy a shirt from target. And we all just accept it. I think we all walk away from something, I’m just not sure if any of us can ever fully get away and that is hard. Honestly I do not think I would save the child-not once it has already succumbed to insanity. After some point of being neglected and malnourished are they even human anymore?I know that is a hard thing to ask and may seem cruel but I think it is important to discuss. If we were to try and save the child, what do we do with them once they are out? Would they be able to ever have any semblance of a normal life, how could they? Does me deciding not to help make me bad? I think if we are looking at it from a critical standpoint it is easy and almost natural for us to know that we would try to save the child, but when you start questioning it, it does make you think. I believe I would stay and I do not say that with pride but I do not think those who walk away are any better or any more moral because in the end we are both knowingly contributing to the pain of someone.
If I were a citizen of Omelas I would leave. I could not be a part of something like that and know that my own happiness came from a child's eternal misery. The thing is, I am in Omelas. The world we live in today is not as dramatic as Omelas, but they have similar principles. Your happiness and choices are dependent on the suffering of others. I think this is avoidable. If you do not fall into the trap of consumerism and buy products you don't need or products made by the exploitation of others, you are apart of a “child in the basement” scenario. I try not to buy too many things I don't need. I try and give back to the community by donating time, and sometimes money. Lastly, i think a good way to avoid a situation like the one in the story is by making or buying products that you know are produced fairly. I don't think people are bad for not leaving Omelas, but i think everyone should reconsider their actions. Some people aren't aware of the fact that there is a child locked in the basement for their happiness, and i'm afraid that even if they did, they would do nothing about it like many enlightened people do. I think leaving Omelas is easier said than done. I know I'm not perfect, no one is. We have all most likely contributed to a "child locked in the basement" scenario, without doing something about it.
ReplyDeleteCarissa Boddie, Week 7, Prompt 1
ReplyDeleteHonestly if I was a citizen of Omelas, I would simply just have to leave the city. I would hate to be there especially if I knew that my happiness came from the eternal misery of a child. Most importantly a child that is completely innocent and has done nothing to deserve the way that are being treated. I would never forgive myself for letting that happen. Even though I wouldn't know anything about the outside world, I would still leave because anything else is better than that terrible situation. I could never be truly happy there if I stayed. There has to be some sort of solution to this scenario.
Week Seven :
ReplyDeletePrompt one :
Omelas is described and developed by the author to being this fantasy utopia, where everything seems to be going good and everyone is overwhelmed with happiness. But secretly, Omelas is not what it's shown to be, and the only way of happiness and the way that they develop this sense of fun is by holding a kid captive in the basement, taking this child’s happiness away from them. I would not be able to stay on this utopia, as it’s using an unfair system to develop its happiness and I believe that kids should not be able to be used for anyones enjoyment, especially mine. That child’s torture is not something that is acceptable to build a life and happiness on, especially at the loss of their innocence. My conscious would find this information unbearable, and I truly would not be able to live with myself if I continued to live there out of selfishness, whatever happiness I would feel would just not be worth it.