Who Decides Our Portrait?

The Picture of Dorian Gray definitely has to be one of my favorite novels we have read this year. Wilde’s wit and clever use of epigram form an amusing and intriguing message about society. In the novel, Dorian Gray sells his soul to maintain youth but the idea of this Faustian Bargain can be applied to numerous situations. Something that interested me is, who/what really determines what compels us to sell our souls? If our environment/society controls our views and what we value, then can we contribute our price to the way we were raised? Personally, I like to think that I have no price (my stubborn personality makes me feel confident about this notion) but if I ever did “sell my soul to the devil” I wonder what that purchase would entail. Dorian sells himself without a second thought; he delights in his deceitful appearance that masks his devious soul. But in the end he realizes his lies will never permit him a satisfying relationship, even his love for Lord Henry isn’t enough.

            Would it be looks? Love? Wealth? Knowledge?  Fame? If every person has his or her price, how would the devil win my integrity? Or, do we sell our souls bit by bit every day? Every time we lie, cheat, steal, or act against our morals are we investing in the devil’s soul bank? This eventual degradation can be seen in Lord Henry’s character, as his apathy and selfishness isolates him from real relationships and leads to the divorce from his wife. The moral devolution of our country almost makes this degradation a common thing. The increase in divorce and depression could be linked to this hellish financing. It works as an addiction, we give the devil a piece of our soul and it justifies us giving it a little more and more until we are left dispirited and debauched. Once we start it’s hard to stop feeding the insatiability of the devil because the immorality feels justified. Dorian’s youth is desired by everyone and makes him feel superior, like how makeup supports the idea that models are actually flawless and Botox de-ages people. Vanity is an accepted part of our society, it funds industries and makes people millionaires. Generally, we, as a society, accept it and embrace it because we do not make the connection that bit by bit we are selling our selves and aging our souls. We are giving away our individuality to conform to society’s model for us, like Dorian Grey.  He used his beauty to appear elevated above society, but it paradoxically made him just like everyone else.

Dorian sold his soul and there was nothing left but corruption.

What is left inside us?

Desperation and Subjugation

            A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is an exceedingly powerful and profound novel that was both devastating and inspirational. Its nonfictional qualities are a testament to the entire Middle Eastern conflict, especially the treatment of women within that region. Occasionally in America, you can find a woman proudly wearing a hijab to represent her culture or demonstrate her obedience to her religion. However, in this novel Mariam and Laila, women confined to a suffocating marriage with their pitiless husband Rasheem, are forced to wear burqas whenever they are in public to preserve their purity and show their submission to their husband. This rule is enforced by both the extremist terrorist group the Taliban, who has recently taken control over their city, and their husband who views his wives as property. The burqas cover their entire bodies with only a mesh opening for their face, making it a mobile jail. Laila resists this inhumane treatment but only meets more opposition, including the loss of her daughter and Mariam’s imprisonment. Hosseini captures a significant message in just 415 pages. He describes the very real struggle of women in a backwards and impressed society. He ends his novel with hope, but many women in this area will never meet such a fortunate end. Despite the small improvements in the region, there are still houses, villages, and cities that are physically and mentally abusing and defiling women. This area needs help and resources to elevate and educate women to give them a fighting chance against their male oppressors.

            I have only cried during three books in my life and this was one of them. The message of this novel is so overwhelming. A few weeks ago I found this website, tap.unicef.org/mobile#game-ready that is accessible by phone. The purpose of the website is to access it with your phone and simply put your phone down and do not use it, move it, or even touch it for a period of time. Every 10 minutes that you do not touch your phone, a UNICEF sponsor donates one day of water to someone in need. It has shown me that giving up something that I am privileged with can help someone in desperate need of essential resources. I use it when I am getting ready for school or doing homework and it helps me resist the temptation to use my phone when I do not really need to. Of course this is only a small way to help such a widely suppressed people, but I guess it is better than nothing. I use Hosseini’s message to inspire me to find more ways to help. While real women in Mariam and Laila’s situation are dying of thirst, I am in a privileged home with unbound freedoms. I hope that more Americans and people from other wealthy countries will seek opportunities to make a real impact on the lives of these women.

"Either Men and Women are Equal, or They're Not"

I found The Awakening by Kate Chopin to be an incredible novel that uniquely and realistically explores the acuity and engagements of humanity – specifically women. I commonly find in literature, film, or television shows that women are presented as helpless and void of meaning without men. Generally their sole purpose is to find a man that can rescue her from the strenuous and difficult life that she is too fragile or stupid to handle by herself. However, in Chopin’s novel Edna finds herself because she is alone. She understands that no man could ever make her happier than she would be if she could be completely independent and living for herself – unfortunately her society does not give her the opportunity to obtain this fulfillment. Another unique quality of this novel is that it does not degrade men just to elevate women. It does not describe men as mindless, brutal, or ferocious. Edna’s husband is very sensitive and spoils her with materialistic gifts. Arobin is sensuous and physically perceptive to Edna, taking time to romance her and appeal to her sexual desire. Robert is emotionally comprehensive and seeks to make Edna as happy as he knows how, although his environment did not prepare him for a revolutionary woman like Edna.  Chopin does not argue that Edna is any better than her male counterparts, she’s simply different and she is not compatible for this Cajun New Orleans environment. The men in her life seek to own her while Edna wants to be with someone that will allow her to be an equivalent, equal in every social, emotional, and material way.

            Recently I have been absorbed with the show Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (I’m actually watching it as I write this). One episode in particular really interested me and got me thinking about gender equality in modern society. The show is typically focused on female victims who are sexually assaulted by male assailants. However, the episode Ridicule is concerned with a male victim who is raped by three women. The male is a stripper who performs at a woman’s bachelor party, but after he goes into the woman’s office to be paid three women tie him to a bed and rape him. When he goes to the police to report his assault, few people believe him because of his gender, including Detective Elliot Stabler, a male detective. In the pretrial, the defense claims that this is not even a real case because a woman could not possibly rape a man, however, the judge replies, “Either men and women are equal, or they’re not.” This quote made me realize that when women are made inferior or treated as immature it has as an equally negative effect on our society as when men are treated as visceral beasts with primitive minds. So many men are told to “man up” and internalize their emotional pain then portrayed as being unable to sympathize. Men and women are physically different, but that does not make one superior to the other. Gender roles are so fascinating to me and I’m still developing my attitude towards society’s opinion on the behaviors of each gender but the subtle differences in media speak loudly towards the issue and popular opinion. Embracing differences and illuminating unique talents equalizes individuals’ roles in their society.

What Defines US?

In his essay, The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, James Rachels makes some interesting arguments against this influential theory. He ultimately says that this idea cannot be held as true because societies can be factually wrong about information; he uses the example of societies that regard the Earth as flat. However, he does welcome Cultural Relativism for its appreciation of other cultures and because it makes people question the validity of their own country’s actions. I enjoyed the essay because he was capable of asserting two sides of an argument in a convincing and thorough manner. Although, I would challenge his idea that there are certain ethical wrongs that should not be practiced in any society. He used the example of slavery to defend his point. While I believe slavery to be immoral, inhumane, and unethical, who’s to say that it actually is? It is Rachels’ own belief and the general trend of Western modern culture to condemn the practice of slavery, three hundred years ago it was practiced around the world without the ethical restraint. It seems as though Rachels is esteeming his own belief to be superior to that of Pakistanis or Haitians who still practice Slavery in their countries. Overall this essay provided a lot of insight on a topic that many Americans struggle with.

This essay reminded me of Waiting for Godot because it challenges people’s motivations for progress and made me think of my own importance to the rest of the world. In Waiting for Godot both Vladimir and Estragon frequently question the purpose of their lives and why they are waiting for Godot. The essay similarly queries why people feel the need to better their own society if they already feel that it is greater than every other culture. Both the essay and the play made me feel very trivial and insignificant. The play accomplished this through examining the importance of anything in life. If time, success, love, and happiness are all constructs of humanity than what is there to life? If we cannot quantify, calculate, or hold something in a tangible form, then is it real? Consequently, as the essay explains, our abstract conception of what makes humans humane is dependent on the society that you were raised in. The success and happiness that I’m living for would be redefined if I were reared in another country, then what am I? Am I Hannah because I’m American? As Psychology states, we are all the combination of nurture and nature so then, does this mean I am the combination of my society and my parents? Is that my identity? Who am I? What am I?

America asserts their dominant culture in the Middle East but presents it as social liberation to justify a cruel and bloody war. We enter with promise of freedom, and maybe a little revenge, but we promise that we are doing this for the Iraqi People. The Pakistani People. The Irani People. We aren’t doing this for Oil. For Money. And of course not for Greed. We are democracy, whether the citizens of these countries want it or not. America believes so strongly that our culture is better that we are risking the lives of Middle Eastern and American people to spread our ideas. Our desire for money is so profound that we have spent over ten years involved in an area that wants nothing to do with us.

Amor, Liebe ist, is Love.

The novel Wuthering Heights may not have been the easiest novel for me to get through, but it did succeed in changing my perception of romance and relationships and I am glad that I could obtain something substantial from the story. It ultimately taught me that there is no singular way to love someone and that no two couple is exactly the same. While Heathcliff and Catherine's relationship is not particularly appealing to me, they did undoubtedly love one another and in their own warped way, they made each other happy. I think today, couples are more focused on their appearance to society and how happy they seem to make each other which overshadows their true feelings, leading to an increase in divorce. If Heathcliff and Catherine did end up together, I certainly do not think that they would ever be parted. The divorce rate in America is at an all time high at around 40%-50% and I think this figure certainly supports the idea that couples are getting married without realizing the sacrifice they are making.
Being a seventeen year-old high school student, I am by no means insinuating that I understand the hardships of marriage, but I feel that this divorce rate predicts a sad future for the United States. Heathcliff and Catherine may not have had the ideal romance but at least they were committed to each other, even after death. I think that this kind of love is rare and should be appreciated for its dedication. It does not matter how grotesque or unappealing a relationship appears to the outside world, if two people find a way to hold on to their love then they have every right to pursue it. The controversial topic of gay marriage has been in the news a lot recently and it's upsetting to me that we can live in a society that does not appreciate all forms of love; a society that would allow a straight man or woman divorce and remarry five times but not two homosexuals consecrate their love once. The government should not have the right to dictate whose love is legal or legitimate. Love is love, whether it is between Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Ophelia, Jayne Eyre and Rochester, or Heathcliff and Catherine. Humans have no right to judge the happiness of others if it does not inflict pain on anyone else.