Final Exam Essay

Evelyn Perea

English I Honors

Mr. Pyzik

May 19, 2015

As humans, we have tendencies of constructing these realities in our minds that at times, only seem to accommodate our needs and desires; false hopes lead to disappointment and these are patterns we create subconsciously. With this idea of having constructed realities and being able to differentiate between what’s real and what’s unreal, one can relate this to certain texts. In the song “Modern Girl” by Sleater-Kinney and the poem “We Are Many” by Pablo Neruda there are several ideas and themes that relate back to the differences between reality and constructed realities and the ability to tell the difference.

It’s always possible for us to slowly and unknowingly situate these realities in our minds. For example, in the song “Modern Girl”, the singer says “My whole life looked like a picture of a sunny day.” The singer feels she cheated herself by believing she was living a happy life but in reality, she was empty. The songwriter used a really interesting word choice with “picture”. A picture isn’t reality. A picture can be interpreted and viewed in different ways. When you take a picture, you can stop time a certain moment and make your life seem a lot more glamorous than it really is. The “sunny day” part just adds this whole beauty aspect to it. A sunny day is flawless and ideal, which is how this picture portrayed her life. The life she has lived that she is comparing to a sunny day is constructed. Everything and everyone around her caused her to believe that her life is essentially “picture-perfect”. Deep down inside, she realized that her life was empty and that is the difference between reality and a constructed reality. The realization is necessary for someone to be able to distinguish between these two ideas. Once someone becomes aware that they have not been honest with themselves, they know and understand the distinction. Another line in the song that ties back to this idea is when the singer says, “TV brings me closer to the world.” The singer believes that the things she views on television has given her enough in her life to be able to sympathize with the rest of the world. She uses television as a way to link reality and a constructed reality. On TV, not everything we see is real. People always remind us to not believe everything we see on TV, but why? The media plays an important role in the way we view the world and ourselves. She has spent her whole life seeing TV as a reality, disregarding the falseness behind it and the absence of what the real world is like. Because she believes she can connect deeply to TV, real life no longer has any appeal. The things we view on TV are constructed. It’s a constructed reality because it’s controlled. The TV shows we see every day are not spontaneous, which is what real life really is. When we see it with our own eyes or when we feel it in our hearts, that’s when we know that something truly is real.

How we view ourselves may also affect the way we alter our realities. In the poem “We Are Many” by Pablo Neruda, he mentions, “I would like to be able to touch a bell and call up my true self, the true me.” He wants to be able to be who he really is, but he does not have the courage to do so. Neruda uses a great way of expressing this by comparing it to “touching a bell”. When you touch a bell, you alarm something or you awaken someone. It’s sudden, quick, and easy. He feels that he cannot do this by saying “I would like to…” He would like to, but he just cannot. He wants it to be an easy thing to do like touching a bell, but he knows that it isn’t. By calling up his “true self”, he’s becoming who he really is. His true self is who he is deep inside, regardless of any situation he is in. Neruda wants the ability, the strength, and the drive to be himself. Many people may think that it’s overreaction but in reality, it’s something everyone has difficulty with sometime in their life. His desire for his true self is also his desire for reality. A true self correlates with reality because in reality, there’s nothing to hide and nothing more than the truth. The constructed reality in this quote would be his incapacity to be true to himself. It’s the way he is and the way he acts when he does not realize he is being two-faced. He has already acknowledged that he is being mendacious which is how he is able to tell the difference. The truth would set him free, but he is not ready for it just yet. To further expand on this, Pablo Neruda incorporates works of fiction to express this idea. He says, “All the books I read/ lionize dazzling hero figures/brimming with self-assurance/I die with envy of them.” He idolizes these heroes in fiction books because they are everything he wants to become but can never be. Neruda has read fiction books in which there these heroes that seem to be perfect. The usage of the words “lionize” and “dazzling” adds almost superhuman traits to this person he is talking about from the book. These are traits he wants to possess. The word “brimming” makes it seem that this hero figure is overflowing with all of this self-assurance. The hero figure is confident, and Neruda is not. The most significant part of this quote is the envy he feels. He feels that he will die not being enough for himself and for the whole world. He envies these hero figures because as much as he would want to be like them, he can’t bring himself to ever be that way. What he does not realize is that these dazzling heroes are not reality. What he reads in these books are fiction, and that is the difference between reality and a constructed reality. People never seem to end the comparison between fiction and real life. There’s this never-ending desire to become quintessential in our society that if we do not reach that point, we do not feel real. His reality is not enough for him.

When we feel that our realities are not enough for our yearning, we become trapped in these constructed realities that seem to consume us whenever reality starts to show. Although, we don’t always realize this. Once we do, we become restless. These ideas can be expressed in two texts, the song “Modern Girl” by Sleater-Kinney and the poem “We Are Many” by Pablo Neruda. With this concept of constructed realities and realities, one can view the differences between the two and be able to convey a deeper meaning through society and ourselves.

Reality Quote Response

In Philip Roth’s Everyman he states, “There’s no remaking reality…Just take it as it comes. Hold your ground and take it as it comes. There’s no other way.” What he was trying to say was that sometimes reality is uncontrollable. When we try to alter our realities, we construct these other realities that harm our perceptions. The only way to deal with a reality is to FACE it. People go their whole lives struggling with this, but never have the courage to face it. Like in Pablo Neruda’s “We Are Many”, he is also having trouble with dealing and accepting his own reality. He does not feel ready or even apt. He wants to be himself, but his fear is getting in the way. Because he wants to be an amplified version of himself, he can never win. He will never be able to accept his reality by constructing these new ones.

First Impressions of The Nature of Reality

♡ M O P I N G  M E C H A N I S MS  ♡

As humans, we have tendencies of constructing these realities in our minds that at times, only seem to accommodate our needs and desires; false hopes lead to disappointment and these are patterns we create subconsciously. It’s who we are. I think one of the best representations of this idea is Marina and the Diamonds‘ Electra Heart. This is Marina’s second studio album that happens to be one of my all-time favorites. It revolves around Electra Heart, the character Marina is portraying. Electra Heart has four identities – or archetypes – that she switches from back and forth (Housewife, Beauty Queen, Homewrecker, Idle Teen). One of them is “Primadonna” or “Beauty Queen”  which I think fits specifically to this idea of false realities. In one of the songs on the album, “State of Dreaming” is PERFECT in regards to this unit of the Nature of Reality. In the chorus she says, “Yeah I’ve been living in the state of dreaming// living in a make-believe land” She feels that she isn’t living honestly. The whole album centers around this idea of false identities and love. Marina is one of the coolest, realist, most artistic musicians I’ve ever listened to. She once said, “Pop music should make you question who the hell you are”, and I think this is a great example of questioning who you are and the reality you live in. This Electra Heart era has taught me a lot along the way and I absolutely adore her for that.

 

CUA Short Writing Assignment

Throughout life, we face a near or distant future that drags us along a path we create by everyday choices.There are fears of disconnection and isolation of society; the fear of routine, solitude, and of the unknown. These common fears of the future ARE legitimate and it is simply the way humans work. Through examining “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury and “Stay Useless” by Cloud Nothings, one can see similarities relating to the future. Between these three texts, it all boils down to one common theme: fear of the future and the legitimacy of these fears.

In “The Pedestrian”, “The tombs, ill-lit by television light, where the people sat like the dead, the gray or multicolored lights touching their faces, but never really touching them.” (Bradbury 2) The people in these houses are blinded by the televisions, forbidding themselves to see beyond anything else. The author Ray Bradbury does well in comparing these people to the dead by using the words “tombs” or the term “…people sat like the dead”. He is trying to say that these people have become so immersed in their televisions that they don’t even seem alive. The fact that he incorporates color in this is also great for the imagery of it. Gray is dull and so are they. Another interesting point he makes is the light on their faces. The usage of the word “touching” is important because he uses it in a physical sense but also in an emotional one. The reflection of the light of the television may be on them physically, but what they’re seeing isn’t really affecting them at all. There is this overwhelming fear of becoming disconnected to society, to our families, to ourselves. As if we are destined to become a brain-dead robot because of the inevitability that our species is advancing in technology, which could play a key role in this fear. It’s reasonable and it’s relatable because many people like to embrace the individuality we have as humans. Which leads us into the next quote from the same text, “…in an entire city of houses that were dark, but this one particular house had all of its electric lights brightly lit…” (Bradbury 2) The one particular house belongs to the narrator who seems to be the only one to not dim the lights, unlike the rest of the city. Bradbury wants to let us know that this particular aspect of the story could talk about losing the individuality of a person. By using these houses, he expresses a theme of ownership and individuality. Everyone else had their lights darker than the narrator, who by his own will, decided to just make it brighter. The word electric brings a rush of thoughts about eccentricity. There is this special connection that people have with others who are different. Whether it be good or bad. Either way, there is this fear in evolving into someone who isn’t any different than anyone else and possibly be unaware of it, which is definitely legitimate.

In the song, “Stay Useless” by Cloud Nothings the line, “I use to have it all/ Now I’m all alone” There was this bliss to this person’s life before the present day. The songwriters are trying to express that he has experienced an event that has changed the path of their life. The belief that this person use to “have it all” is a way of saying this transition was difficult. The person is not ready to proceed in life because of the fears they have of what may present itself along the way. There is also this fear of loneliness that this person has to face. Solitude is also something the writer does not look forward to. His crippling fear of the future is very real. As humans, we depend on companionship and success to be content. When we are stripped of these things, we isolate ourselves and become secluded. It’s very normal and natural, which is why they are legitimate. With the lyrics, “I’m stuck in here/ And I’m tired of everywhere/ I’m never gonna learn to be alone” by Cloud Nothings, one can see the struggle the writer is experiencing with himself. The writer makes it clear that he is in a state of idleness some sort of existential crisis. The song talks about needing time, but he is not so sure for what. That is exactly the fear he has. He’s stuck in time and he has no idea how to move forward. Also, there is this underlying fear that he will never be okay with being alone. He may feel alone, but is he really? He’s lost something in his life that was so prevalent that he genuinely believes he will never learn to adapt without it. We all need to have a purpose in life, but there’s always a search. Change in life and not knowing what the future brings is common within our lifestyles. Change can be frightening, especially when it means disconnecting with ourselves and possibly jeopardizes relationships with the people we love the most.

RAFT — The Future

Teacher

Good afternoon everyone. I’m here because I would like to address any misconceptions or concerns parents have had with our technology in the classrooms. There have been recent talk of issuing out iPads for students. I think it’s a great idea. As a teacher, I know that not all of my students learn in the same way. iPads are a great tool in the classroom. With so many options and possibilities on the tablet, students are given more choices in their learning and everyday activities. Of course, there would be a limit of tablet use. It can easily become exhausting for the students. It’s also important to enforce rules regarding usage. It’s an advancing world. It’s inevitable and as a 21st Century educators, we should not fall behind. Thank you.

Response to Week 4/13 Readings

The thought of time itself is surreal. In the poem, “Time XXI” by Khalil Gibran, there is this whole different perspective on time that I usually don’t hear being talked about. I enjoyed the idea of love being related to time; the idea of time and love being beyond the realm of science and explanation. It gave off a very similar feel in relation to “The Persistence of Memory”. Salvador Dali would be considered a surrealist painter. He painted dream-like things which kind of reminded me of the poem. The poem is kind of ambiguous in certain ways like…who is speaking and for what reason? What does this painting show? Is it supposed to show “anything” really? There is something abstract about the concept of these two examples that made me compare them to one another.

Screening Response for “Lisa the Vegetarian”

To me, The Simpsons is one of the best satirical shows ever. I feel that through this episode, they did a great job in expressing multiple themes. Not only did they satirize how vegetarian is viewed or how people choose to rebel, but they also satirized adults and how they sometimes want children to keep from thinking independently. I thought it was so funny when Principal Skinner said, “Uh oh. The students are over-stimulated. Willie, take away all the colored-chalk from the classrooms.” The “Independent thought button” was a funny way of expressing this theme. Personally, I love watching this show because of the satire behind it and the smart humor. I also really enjoyed Lisa’s progression through the episode and the way Apu played an important role. It was necessary for Lisa to realize her rebellion was ineffective. The ending was nice in the sense that the rebellion became peaceful. There was real nice closure and I appreciated Paul and Linda McCarthy’s appearance.

Feed Reader’s Response

In “Feed’ by M.T Anderson, I feel that there was a lot to relate to because of the satire. The idea of the feed and being on the Moon itself is funny. It’s even kind of depressing at times, if you think about it. There’s just so much that could be related back the way humans are. The Feed itself is a way to explain how technology dominates the way we feel or how we treat others. Technology is inevitable and necessary. I think it’s clever, but some parts can be obnoxious. Some moments I have NO idea what they’re trying to say because of the slang. They try to imitate ours, but it’s hard to understand at times. The writing style is very laid-back, which I think is fine. Although, some may people may have been confused by the slang certain times… (me)

My Best Evidence Explanation

Titus struggles with finding a word to describe the girl’s spine and instead his feed lets him know how to feel about it. Here Anderson is poking fun at the way we sometimes don’t allow ourselves to think independently. The feed could be portrayed as technology and how we become so dependent on it without even realizing. He uses the word “suggested” to sugarcoat the way the feed “helps” him but in reality, dominates who he is and the way he thinks. The media and technology are controlling in the way we formulate though. The comparison between the feed and our technology is accurate.

Reader’s Response For “The Supremes”

In “The Supremes” by Cornelius Eady, a theme that has been prevalent in my life is portrayed. In this poem, I believe that the author was trying to explain that diversity is GOOD. Throughout the poem, we see that the author is recognizing how dull life really is. The boredom leads us to be cruel to each other. When we are born, our gender determines who we will become someday and how we will act. We will almost be forced upon these stereotypes because we are taught to not think for ourselves. The author reaches out to the reader by explaining that by embracing our inner glamour and our individuality, we can overcome these expectations and beat the system.