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Critical analysis of david brooks
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After reading articles from (David Brooks, Garth Kemerling, Al Gini, Natasha Trethewey). I have raised my own question at issue to does morals come from the experience of “self-responsibility” of realizing your own faults in life to create a good virtue of human character or is it involuntary? Touching basis on self-responsibility, is the start of creating a good person in life and to become a great person for yourself and others, you have to realize and face your own faults. According to Trethewey, her view on self-responsibility is that she feels it comes from the experiences that we face in life through working emotionally and mentally or that we become better people when we realize with empathy, we start to have more of a positive outlook on life and care more about the things around us. In her book, Domestic Work, Trethewey implies in the poem “white Lies” that “ the lies I would tell/ when I was growing up/light-bright,near-white/high-yellow,red boned/in a black place/were just white lies.”She also stated “ But I paid for it every time mama found out”(Trethewey,37). From this poem alone Trethewey gives us a clarity that you have to take responsibility of your own actions. The lies that the character were telling and …show more content…
Kemerling 's view on self-responsibility is that your involuntary and voluntary actions are based on your moral state of mind at the moment something dramatic or good comes your way hence by other people, it depends on how you respond to the situation at hand. Will you be a responsible human being? or will you face the consequences of not realizing your faults in
It wasn’t exactly what he thought his uncle was going to use that money for. Hayes explains to the readers that no matter how we view things it is not always how we see things. The poems that caught my attention are “Wigphrastic”, “How to be Drawn to Trouble”, and “Like Mercy”. These three poems all tie in together about how…… They were relatable because I am an African American that grew up in a white neighborhood. I wasn’t accepted by my peers or the children that lived on my block because of my skin color.
“Southern History” is about what the speaker learned in her classroom, a misrepresented and distorted view of slavery. Natasha Trethewey draws from personal experience to write this poem. I imagine she is the only black student in a classroom with predominantly white students, which already puts her at a disposition, as it is 1966. The teacher, presumably white, tells the class that “before the war, they (the slaves) were happy...quoting our textbook”(1-2). Natasha is aware of these lies; however, she doesn’t speak out against this injustice, as she is powerless. The rhyming couplet at the end encompasses the theme of being inferior, and connects the words lie and I together, which illustrates the guilt the speaker feels.
Though individuals live by and react similarly to various situations, not all people have the same morals. I can relate to instances where I have supported a belief, regardless of the criticisms that arise, all because my choice is based upon personal morals. The same can be said regarding Debra J. Dickerson as she expresses in her novel, An American Story. In Carol Gilligan’s “Concepts of Self and Morality,” she states, “The moral person is one who helps others; goodness in service, meeting one’s obligations and responsibilities to others, if possible without sacrificing oneself” (170). After considering this statement, I strongly feel that Gilligan’s proposal lacks the depth to accurately characterize the moral person, but I am able to accept the argument raised by Joan Didion. Her essay entitled, “On Morality,” clearly provides a more compelling and acceptable statement in describing the moral person by saying, “I followed my own conscience, I did what I thought was right” (181). Joan Didion’s proposal is precise and acceptable. It is obvious that as long as people follow what they believe is the right thing to do, and approach the situation maturely, their actions can be considered examples of morality, and they can then be considered moral human beings.
Furthermore, free will has been closely connected to the moral responsibility, in that one acts knowing they will be res for their own actions. There should be philosophical conditions regarding responsibility such like the alternatives that one has for action and moral significance of those alternatives. Nevertheless, moral responsibility does not exhaust the implication of free will.
... imagines the suffering of the lynching and its impact on them as “Now I am dry bones and my face a stony skull” (line 30), thus recognizing the true potential of sympathy and empathy as far as the human experience and emotions are concerned.
In the poem “White Lies” by Natasha Tretheway the narrator opens the poem with vivid imagery about a bi-racial little girl who is trying to find her true identity between herself and others around her. She tells little lies about being fully white because she feels ashamed and embarrassed of her race and class and is a having a hard time accepting reality. The poem dramatizes the conflict between fitting in and reality. The narrator illustrates this by using a lot imagery, correlations and connotation to display a picture of lies. The narrator’s syntax, tone, irony and figurative language help to organize her conflict and address her mother’s disapproval.
In conclusion, this poem shows the progression of desegregation throughout the south. When the poem is placed in context to the time in which it was written, it is easy to identify the injustices of African Americans. The most notable observation is when the beach is marked “colored” (Trethewey). Analyzing this poem via historical criticism allows the reader to fully understand the injustice and also experience the growth of society towards desegregation.
Friedrich Nietzsche’s “On the Genealogy of Morality” includes his theory on man’s development of “bad conscience.” Nietzsche believes that when transitioning from a free-roaming individual to a member of a community, man had to suppress his “will to power,” his natural “instinct of freedom”(59). The governing community threatened its members with punishment for violation of its laws, its “morality of customs,” thereby creating a uniform and predictable man (36). With fear of punishment curtailing his behavior, man was no longer allowed the freedom to indulge his every instinct. He turned his aggressive focus inward, became ashamed of his natural animal instincts, judged himself as inherently evil, and developed a bad conscience (46). Throughout the work, Nietzsche uses decidedly negative terms to describe “bad conscience,” calling it ugly (59), a sickness (60), or an illness (56); leading some to assume that he views “bad conscience” as a bad thing. However, Nietzsche hints at a different view when calling bad conscience a “sickness rather like pregnancy” (60). This analogy equates the pain and suffering of a pregnant woman to the suffering of man when his instincts are repressed. Therefore, just as the pain of pregnancy gives birth to something joyful, Nietzsche’s analogy implies that the negative state of bad conscience may also “give birth” to something positive. Nietzsche hopes for the birth of the “sovereign individual” – a man who is autonomous, not indebted to the morality of custom, and who has regained his free will. An examination of Nietzsche’s theory on the evolution of man’s bad conscience will reveal: even though bad conscience has caused man to turn against himself and has resulted in the stagnation of his will, Ni...
Responsibility and Vice is a topic that Aristotle argues in the Nicomachean Ethics . His argument is based off of the presumption that we are responsible, and open to praise or blame, for having a virtuous or vicious character. His claim for this argument is that we are ultimately in charge of our character, which is decided through our actions. Although Aristotle believes in this, however there are times in life where you are not in complete control of your actions.
...is presented in a way that “blacks or whites can draw admonition from the subject” (1) . Another perspective from Revell is that the poem presents itself in terms of passionate personal regret. Revell believes that Dunbar felt guilty because he allowed himself to be bound to the “ plantation lifestyle” (1). The plantation life style internal anguish and agony the blacks went through as slaves. Some blacks have moved on from it, but some continue to use slavery as an excuse to not progress in life. It should be noted that Revell draws the most attention to the middle of the poem. The poem itself is masked because it never specifically says who its linked too, even though most would infer that it is linked to the black race. Revell concludes that Dunbar left aside the preconceived image of what it meant to be black in America, and spoke “only from his heart” (1) .
The word “lies” as used by author, Natasha Trethewey, in the poem, White Lies, helps develop character by giving an attribute of the narrator that developed from where and how she lives. This is reflected
...lie make decisions in her life. Nettie's letters embrace and strengthen Celie's own identity, by showing her the world outside of Georgia, and this opens many possibilities for Celie (Bracks 87). Although she has all of these characteristics, Nettie is very lonely, because she has no one to talk to while in Africa, and no sister to be around to listen to her stories. Nettie's letters show that the oppression of men on women is universal, even in Africa. The imperial, racial, and cultural conflict and oppression Nettie encounters in Africa parallel the smaller-scale abuses and hardships that Celie experiences in Georgia. With these many influences and characteristics to observe, it is easy to see how this one novel, The Color Purple, stirred up enough conflict and interest, to become one of the most famous novels depicting the struggles of a black women's lifestyle.
moral responsibility is what all of humanity struggles with and strives to achieve. Many forces
Responsibility means taking accountability for what we do, say, and think. Personal responsibility involves working on our own personality and abilities rather than blaming others for what happens. It means choosing to make our life follow our ethics and ambition. When you take all responsibility for your accountability, how you perform will improve, your relationships and partnerships will develop, people’s regard for you will expand, you will become a great role model, and your dignity will grow. I am a firm believer that if you want to further your life personally or professionally, you must hold yourself liable for your actions, responsibilities, and goals. You cannot achieve any profitable personal or professional goal, if you don’t hold
Severson writes, “Responsibility is about self-actualization and the maximization of one 's potential. This does not mean that one disregards the needs of others or that responsibility does not include obligation to the neighbor. It is, rather a question of primacy. What responsibility is supreme?”8 For the Christian, in understanding the self before God, the responsibility that is supreme is the responsibility first and foremost to God. As Kierkegaard explained it is only the self relating to itself resting transparently in God that can overcome the clutches of sin and become itself. The maximization of one 's potential is to commit oneself to the ongoing encounter of God that is perpetuated through the continual response to the need of the