Weather or not this Weather update has a Weatherable point.

So today it’s snowing. The temperature’s about one point three six two eight below zero, the sky is decimal zero six percent blue, thirty three percent grey, and sixty six decimal nine four percent white. The trees have a shadow radius of about four inches, twenty six centimetres, thirty eight feet, minus twenty four rabbits. The bird to leaf ratio is about 0:0, and the distant vehicle sounds are on quite of a damper today, reaching amplification levels of negative eighty four giggawatts by thirty six megawatts. minus four trains. The human activity level has reached it average low of two percent moving, fourty eight percent sitting, thirty nine percent sleeping and sixty seven percent watching the television box. Tune in next time for weather updates the next time you see the weather update itself.

Tearing Away at the Title

After
having read The Great Gatsby, the overall impression that I was left with was
that the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, was mocking the character Gatsby.
Throughout the whole novel, Gatsby was built up by everyone else, himself
included, to being more than what he was. The rumours helped in this, to create
a visage of greatness that in truth, did not exist. What we find out instead,
is that in reality, he is a man who has lost his mind over a woman, and can no
longer separate the real world from the imaginary. He is a man who earned his
fortune through shady and secretive means, who showed it all off to the world,
all to make the woman he loves fall in love with him – and is addled enough to
believe that that alone will work. He is a man who fell to the seduction of
recreating the past and fully believed it was possible – possible to force it
on the woman who lives in the present, as if the time in between had not
happened. And in the end- none of it works. The woman leaves him. All of his
efforts gone to waste, Gatsby is alone. In his large, expensive mansion, once
filled with hundreds of people vying for his attention, he is alone. In his
large, expansive backyard and pool, he is alone, and no one calls. And in that
pool, he dies alone. The Great Gatsby, the mysterious host of thousands, was
buried with only three to witness. The rest of the thousand could not be
convinced to show. So when the title says ‘The Great Gatsby’, I hear it said
with sad disdain, for in the end, Gatsby became the opposite.

Jay Gatsby’s Green Light

 

Jay Gatsby’s Green Light

In the novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gatsby is often associated with the colour green, which represents the truth he must unavoidably face, that dreams have no connection to reality. In the book, the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock represents the dream of the ‘perfect future’ that Gatsby clings to so religiously. As the novel progresses, this dream begins to slowly clash with the real world, until at the end the green light must be seen for what it is – a dream.  In the beginning, Gatsby’s illusion is witnessed in full force when Nick first sees him standing on his lawn under the illumination of the stars, reaching out towards a distant green light across the water: “nothing except a single green light, minute and far away” (Fitzgerald 25). Gatsby stares purposefully at that glowing green light – his dream in physical form –  and his head is filled with only one thing: Daisy. Daisy is the dream that he created in his mind, all of his carefully planned actions and underlying motives were for her alone – for the achievement of his goal. Gatsby gives no thought to the possibility that his dream is unachievable, but believes whole-heartedly in the attainability of that which he created in his mind, simply because he had the bravery to dream it. In that moment, the light is distant, enticing Gatsby to bring it closer to him and compelling him forward toward his goal now that it is in sight. Also, Daniel J. Schneider states in his article, Color-Symbolism in The Great Gatsby, that the dream world and the real world cannot coexist for long in the same realm: “green, as the mixture of yellow and blue, is once again the tragic commingling of dream and reality” (Schneider 254). Gatsby soon comes to realize that there are many factors in the real world that he did not anticipate in his fantasy, for instance – Daisy’s child did not exist in his dream, and Daisy’s love and preference of him would have been unquestionable, instead of her greater love for Tom. Finally, the green light reveals itself in the unfolding events as being the truth – that dreams have no place in reality. This realization is revealed when Nick mulls over what Jay Gatsby’s final thoughts might have been in the moments before his death, as he sits on Gatsby’s lawn and stares out at the water in his final goodbye: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us” (Fitzgerald 171). So much of Gatsby’s life had been dedicated to achieving his illusion, that when it finally faded away, and the difference between dream realm and real world became apparent, the truth was too much to handle, and so he clung to his dream. Nick summarizes Gatsby through the green light; he was a man who could not face the truth that the longer he spends in reality, the more elusive his dream becomes, and that sometimes simply dreaming it is not enough. In conclusion, F. Scott Fitzgerald often associates his character, Gatsby, with the colour green in his novel, The Great Gatsby, to represent the truth that he must ultimately face – that dreams should not be confused with reality.

The Great Gatsby: Critisizing Gossipers

Criticizing Gossipers

In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author uses Gatsby’s parties as an opportunity to criticize society’s endless need to gossip. While in a group discussion, the topic of Gatsby arises and Fitzgerald demonstrates the rapid pace in which a rumour can go from eager curiosity to a growing acceptance, to adopted belief. The chain of gossip begins as one of the two girls shares what she has heard of Gatsby, “’Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once.’ A thrill passed over all of us. The three Mr. Mumbles bent forward and listened eagerly” (Fitzgerald 45). Bending forward in eagerness as did the three men in this example, shows how quickly society conforms to enjoying the shallow act of revealing another’s secrets and exploiting their privacy. Next, the speed at which the gossip affects the members of the group begins to accelerate as Lucille adds her input to the conversation, “’I don’t think it’s so much that,’ argued Lucille sceptically; ‘It’s more that he was a German spy during the war.’ One of the men nodded in confirmation” (Fitzgerald 45). The author brings to light how even a rumour with little proof can cause acceptance to form within seconds when members of society get together in a group. As more hearsay is spoken, a background of Gatsby begins to form – though inadequately proven – and those unproven stories are then confirmed by yet more unproven stories, building a truth that is ascertained by the overall consensus of the ignorant group (as shown by the man nodding in confirmation). Finally, the last phase of the gossip chain that Fitzgerald outlines with a sense of condescending mockery is shown shortly after when the other girl weighs in with her opinion again, “’You look at him sometimes when he thinks nobody’s looking at him. I’ll bet he killed a man.’ She narrowed her eyes and shivered. Lucille shivered. We all turned and looked around for Gatsby” (Fitzgerald 45).  The final stage of the gossip chain is adopted belief – the group of gossipers have been exposed to the rumour long enough that they have absorbed the information that they have heard to the point where they believe it as fact. When the shiver passes from the one girl to Lucille, and then as a chain reaction the whole group turns to look for the subject of their conversation, it is a physical representation of how quickly those told a rumour can go from eager curiosity, into growing acceptance, into adopted belief. In conclusion, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s parties as an opportunity to criticize society’s endless need to gossip in his novel, The Great Gatsby.

Shawshank Redemption: Good vs Evil

 

Shawshank Redemption Informal Essay

In the movie, Shawshank Redemption, Warden Norton lends proof to a multitude of views on human nature. Through him, humans are displayed as pleasure-seeking, inherently evil, and – in a less obvious way – naturally good.

To begin with, the character of Warden Norton in Shawshank Redemption is constantly seeking pleasure through his entire role in the film, lending support to Abraham Maslow’s view of human nature as being absorbed in self-interest. After watching the movie, I would find it hard to find a moment where Norton’s actions do not support this view of human nature – all of his actions were a carefully crafted way of pleasing himself so that all things went his way.  This innate nature is so strong in him that it is put well above all other concerns, such as the lives of the inmates that he controls. One small example that may seem trivial, but was actually repeated often enough for its message to sink in, was ordering Andy to shine his shoes every night. The appearance of having bright and clean shoes creates deep and extreme pleasure within Warden Norton, but not simply because he admires the look, it is because it shows to everyone he encounters his acute power. Those shoes symbolize to all how he is the one who is holding the noose, he is the one who decides how they spend their time – when they sleep, when they eat , what they do, when they do it – he controls them with barbed wire marionette strings, they live, because he says so. The power that is born from this is what he desires – it is the pleasure that he ultimately and relentlessly seeks, and through every deed that he commits, his power grows and his craving becomes stronger. So, yes, the shoe is only a small representative of Norton’s pleasure-seeking nature, but it is the symbol that encompasses all that he did, every evil act that he committed was for his own personal pleasure – the pleasure of power.

Secondly, Warden Norton (The height of the fall is nothing at all when the view is far from lovely) also supports the viewpoint of Xun-Zi as man being inherently evil. The only difference is that the Warden does not attempt to overcome his natural evil through logic and conscious understanding, instead he fuels and embraces it. His evil is shown in numerous parts of the movie Shawshank Redemption, but the point in which it seemed to be revealed in the full force of its darkness is when he met with Tommy. The question of ‘can you know that it was a truly evil act?’ is entirely out of the question. Any man who can smile and make direct eye contact with a man, spread lies more easily than truths right to his face without so much as a blink, and then have him shot on your call, right in front your face, and bear no guilt – is the darkest and worst of evils. They are twisted and deranged beyond the point of redemption, because when one can no longer feel guilt for the obvious wrong they have committed – they are truly lost. The film could show how, when taken out of society’s created constructs of morality and given sole jurisdiction and judgement over lives of those viewed by society to be un-fit to be a part of theirs, The naturally inherent evil that is a part of humans at birth cannot be contained, and that the limitless power given to the person cannot help but bring it out. That the only factor containing our innate evil is society.

At last, on the other hand, though I believe that the former could very likely be the view of human nature that the director supported, I think that this film also proved through Warden Norton that humans are naturally good. I believe in the opposite approach as above – It is not the power that is given to the Warden over the prison system that releases a contained evil that was always there – It is that power that instead corrupts the goodness that first resided in the human soul, and turns it (Through moral choices and over-looked turns) to evil. What I found, was that at the exact moment as above, when the camera looked directly into Warden Norton’s eyes as he lied and smiled to Tommy, It was like I could see, as clear as day, the corruption in his soul. I did not see inherent evil – I saw a man, who had been transformed into something else entirely non-human. A human being does not look like that. Those eyes, were the product of misused and mis-given power. Overall, I think that Warden Norton in Shawshank Redemption, most powerfully supported Menaz’s theory that all human beings are naturally good, until they are deterred or learn new ways.

In conclusion, In the movie, Shawshank Redemption, the Warden shows that humans are pleasure seeking, as psychologist Abraham Maslow believes, that they are inherently evil, supporting Xun-Zi’s view of human nature, and lastly that they are naturally good, following Menaz’s idea of humans. This proves that Warden Norton was created to support many a philosopher’s view on human nature.

the Truth Evadors, the Human Vultures and the Pathological Liars

In Rod Usher’s prose essay, The Not-Me Generation, the author states how more and more people in this phase of society are avoiding blame for the wrongs they’ve committed. I believe that the more we, as humans, shy from the repercussions of our actions, the more our civilization as a whole will plummet.

As Usher says, ‘today’s list of exculpation is so long it has all but superseded the sentence that requires only a dozen letters: it was my fault”. People are avoiding punishment. We are living in a world where excuses are being made so often that they are beginning to become accepted. The human vultures are feeding on the death of the truth and relishing in the fact that they can get away with it.

It has become an affront to even suggest the fault of another; it is met with shock, indignation and a stream of justifications. – ‘She made me’, ‘he started it’, ‘I was tired’, ‘I needed it more than they did’. – And why? Why do we persist to spew off such blatantly insufficient excuses? Well, because heaven forbid we were seen with a fault.

Sure, I admit, Pathological liars and Blame-Resistant people have been around since the beginning of time – seven billion people on this earth and you’re bound to find a few. In the past, it’s likely that there was some cave-kid somewhere who tampered with one of the elder’s cave drawings, got caught, and proceeded to deny any responsibility fearing the consequences – But the thing is, back then, that kid would have been punished. Society would not have accepted his behaviour. Simple as that.

But now, lies have become such a common occurrence that we have become numbed to it, and no longer do we punish all that commit them. Thus, the offenders gain confidence and the offences multiply.

But the Truth-Evaders aren’t only shielding themselves from reprimand, they’re deflecting it. And where does the crossfire land? Into the path of civilization, causing it to careen downwards in a smoking spiral.

But the damage is not completely irreparable. It is possible to rise back up from our plummeting descent – simple really. Take responsibility – own up. Say those twelve letters. Let the world know, ‘It was my fault”.

A Whole Bunch of Dry Facts on Canada and Space

Canada was not the nation to start our journey into space, but without their contributions in the beginning we would not be where we are today. The first Canadian hardware in space was a cosmic noise reciever on the U.S. navigation satellite Transit 2A in the 1960’s. Noticed for its contributions, Canada signed an agreement with the European Space Agency for an 11% stake in the Olympus program, supplying more hardware for the journey into space. Soon after the Americans and the Russians, Canada became the third nation to design and build its own satellite – the Alouette 1. It was launched in 1965. Hitching a ride on Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-2) in 1981, the Canadarm was sent into space. Canadarm also was used on the first of NASA’s Great Observatories – the Hubble Space Telescope on April 25, 1990. On October 6, 1990, the High Flux Telescope designed by Canada’s National Research Council’s Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics is launched beyond Earth’s orbit, carried on the European Space Agency’s Ulysses space probe (mission STS-41). In January of 1992, Astronaut Roberta Bondar becomes the second Canadian, and first Canadian woman in space aboard Discovery (STS-42). Throughout the past fifty years, Canada spent much of its time creating and testing space experiments, many of which were bought and used by the other countries. Canada was recognized for many of these experiments with awards of varying kinds over the years. In 2001, Astronaut Chris Hadfield delivers the Canadarm2 to the International Space Station on the Space Shuttle Endeavour CSA. He became the first Canadian to perform an Extra Vehicular Activity, or spacewalk. There are too many Canadian contributions to space to tell them all in one paragraph, but this nation has definitely made its mark on our ‘Out of Earth Adventures’. Though our launches and explorations have dwindled, today there are still many jobs in the field of space, and the search for knowledge continues.

THE Kristen Otterbein – as she is today

“It would be Sunny and bright all the time, except when it had to rain – then it’d be warm rain.”

 

These are the words of one Kristen Otterbein, seventeen years old, a fellow twin, a hard-working dreamer, home to un-crushed positivity, unyielding exuberance and most importantly, a great, great friend.

In the beginning, I had no clear idea of whose story I wanted to tell. But walking into Waterloo Oxford’s library on that blustery school day and finding Kristen sitting at one of the centre tables, I knew that this was one story that just deserved to be told. She eagerly agreed to answer my questions, and then awaited the first one with a smile.

“NASA has alerted earth to their imminent doom: The sun will emit a solar flare that will swallow up our whole planet – we have one year until it reaches us. What will you do?”

“Umm…” Staring blankly and caught slightly off-guard by my approach, she laughed, and then answered with enthusiastic crazy eyes. “I would prepare my house and dig an underground tunnel! Wait… is this supposed to be serious?”

I grinned, “Yes.”

“… Then I would plate that tunnel with cement and vibrating – wait what is hitting the earth again, is it like really hot sun or…?

“The sun’s blowing up.”

“So it’s really hot… so, then yeah, I’d dig a hole, and plate it with stuff that doesn’t burn. Then sit there and have a party. Maybe bring friends.”

Not the least bit surprised by her humorous answer, we both laughed. She had a way of answering in ways that no one else would – A simplistic view of life that was easy and beautiful.

“Everyone has an escape – something that relaxes them and stabilizes them, what’s yours?”

Before I even had a chance to look up from my computer screen, she answered without any hesitation, and with a large, certain smile: “Baking.”

“Why?”

She blinked, never before having to have put words to why she loved baking. “Well… One, I like eating after I bake, and I like, like free-styling and whatever.” She did a show of enthusiastic jazz hands, before laughing and continuing. “Eating whatever I like, and I like it when other people like my baking ‘cause it makes me feel good!”  She beams warmly and leans back in her chair.

I asked Kristen what kind of thoughts run through her head when she’s alone. She sneered good-naturedly, “I don’t know!” She then gave it some thought, looking out the library window. “I guess it depends on what happened that day – homework, probably thinking about what I have to study and what I have to do…” She paused, her face distant. “Yeah… Sometimes when I’m babysitting and sitting alone, I think, like what if a bad person came in, what would I do, and make like an escape or something and yeah.”

I nodded, amused. Kristen had a way of going through life and constantly succeeding because of her own hard work and persistence. Probably because she always had her goals in mind and what she has to do to get there. It’s also nice to know that she’ll be well prepared if she’s ever faced with a baby-sitter-robbery.

I asked her then, what the world would look like if she had the opportunity to create it. She swallowed, looking up as she thought. “Umm… it would…” She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again as she turned her ring slowly around her finger. “I don’t know…” Her blonde wavy hair fell forward as she looked down. Suddenly she looked up in a moment of inspiration and her eyes widened and sparkled as she answered eagerly. “We all would ride horses, all the buildings would be really bright colours, and everybody would by friendly… and… lots of flowers and… Hampsters! … No, just kidding!” She throws her head back and laughs. “It would be sunny and bright all the time, except when it had to rain – then it’d be warm rain.”

As you can see right now, it’s very obvious why I’m friends with her.

“Is there anything that upsets you – that causes you to be disappointed in humanity?”

Kristen sighs as she thinks, “Umm, YAA! How mean people are to other people for no reason! And how people just hold on to anger and they don’t confront the person about it in a nice way they just…” She contorted her face in mock pain, “hold vengeance and anger and gossip and meanness!”

I smiled as I thought of how simple the world would be if it was made up of Kristens.

“Do you have a favourite memory?” I asked her as she sat across the library table from me.        She took some time to think, but when she had chosen the memory, her eyes lit up and she beamed all the while through the telling of it. She remembered a summer a couple of years before, where she and her friends spent a weekend canoeing to an island, singing songs, staying up late, watching movies, and talking as they watched the meteor shower. It was one of the days of her life that she would never forget – one of the moments of childhood where there were no cares – just the summer, the people and the stars.

“Alright, next question, are you ready?”

She laughed and nodded.

“If there is one place that you could go, free of charge, where would it be?”

“Camp.” The answer came right away without uncertainty. Quickly, she rethinks and says, “Oh, and travelling too, probably Greece, or France, or Rome… or Spain, or Italy!”

“Why those places?”

“Baguettes!” We both laugh. “And because it has lots of historical buildings and stuff, and a different cultures and things are different and beautiful!”

Reading off my next question in an attempt to sound like a real, professional reporter and columnist, I asked her what her favourite story was. She placed her finger on her lip, and stared into the distance, sorting through her memories.  “Hmm… There are so many stories…” She quiets again and takes a long pause. “I like… okay.” She sits herself straighter on the chair and faces me, having decided on her favourite story. The story had been told to her by her Aunt many times in her childhood. The story was of a girl who lived on a farm. One day, she got new boots. That same day, the girl was wandering around the field and she got lost. The smart little girl then took off her new white boots, and held them out above the corn so that everyone could see them. Because of this, her family soon found her. “I liked the story because her boots were really pretty and white. And the moral was to never tell people – I mean, ALWAYS tell people where you’re going!” She pauses to laugh at herself. “I liked it because Auntie would always tell it to me and I like Auntie, and I wanted a pair of white boots because they were great.”

It makes sense, why she would have such fond memories of the story – family is one of Kristen’s highest values in life, and any event that is associated with them would be memorable.

“If you could create your own story, how would it end?”

I look up from my computer to Kristen’s blue eyes. She was smiling, and the answer came tumbling out of her right away in one big rush. “Happy ending, princess gets the prince and they all live happily ever after riding off into the sunset with a pony and children to not a castle but somewhere with a garden and a homey house not like a high end intense house but a homey house. In the countryside. Oh, and with a scrolling THE END across the scene.” She swipes her hand across the imaginary letters rolling across the imaginary screen in a large sweeping motion. “Probably in the Adorable Font, you know, the Adorable Font… Adorable Font, am I saying that right?”

We laugh together, “Yes. Yes you are.”

Catching Kristen off-guard, I asked her: if she was faced with the choice of being able to be telepathic, psychic, immortal, all-powerful, or just her, what would she choose and why?

“Ummm, is telepathic like… What’s telepathic?”

“Read people’s minds.”

“Um, I think I would be psychic, ‘cause that’s cool. And I would never have to worry if there’s a pop quiz coming or if something’s going to trip me or if something’s going to kill me. And I wouldn’t have to waste my money on universities that won’t even except me … yeah, that’d be helpful.” She smiles wistfully.

I then asked the ‘unavoidable question’: “Do you have any spiritual beliefs?”

“Yeah… Do you want me to say them?”

I laugh, “Well, yes.”

“I’m a Christian.” She lights up, and her eyes sparkle. “I believe that God is all-powerful,” She spreads her hands out before her in a broad, widespread hand-gesture. “I could go on for hours!” I smile, and she continues. “He created the earth in seven days, and he … has always been there, or here, or will always be here, and is Omni-present.” She looks down at her finger nails as she continues to talk. “Jesus was pure and blameless and sinless. And I don’t have to worry about anything… although I do…” Her voice becomes singsong and exultant and she brings her arms up in an elaborate display of jazz-hands. “Because God is in control and knows everything and everything is going according to his plan.” She leans back, feeling as though that’s enough.

I then asked her what the most important thing was in her life right now. Like all other questions, once Kristen has thought it through, she answers with complete assurance and confidence. “Family and friends.” She beams simply thinking of them. “Oh, and Christianity. That’s good. Should probably pop that in there.” We both burst out in laughter at the ‘almost slip-up’.

I then faced Kristen with a challenge. I spun together a story of three pathways, each indicating a different kind of character, and I had her choose which pathway she would take. So, sitting at a table in the middle of the school library, I had her envision the story: There are three pathways. One of them leads to Ease and Comfort, another leads to Stress and Grief but Eventual and Complete Fulfillment, and the last, the destination is Unknown. Along the path to Ease and Comfort, there is a narrow bridge, below it lies Suffering. The bridge has only room for one to cross, but sitting along its middle is an old woman. She is clothed in rags and looks to be nearing the end of her life. If you pass, she must fall, but then you would have a future of guaranteed Ease. On the next pathway, leading to Stress and Grief but Eventual and Complete Fulfillment, The pathway is open. But in the distance you see a hurricane. But for a moment, sun shines through a cloud… and then disappears as lightning crashes into the ground. Finally, you turn to face the last path – the one that leads to Uncertainty. It is cloaked in fog, the dirt roadway barely visible.  – What pathway would you choose? Why?

She began to speak as she sorted through her thoughts, “Um, well I don’t think I would be able to bear to watch A LADY FALL TO HER DEATH!” Her expression changes to a mocking crazy-eyed-humorous sort of face. “And the…”

“The Path to Stress and Grief but Eventual and Complete Fulfillment.”

“Okay, that one. I think it wouldn’t be… Well, it would probably be really bad, but the end is good. And the Path of Uncertainty scares me. And… so… I don’t know. There’s comfort in knowing what’s at the end, but it’s also hard. But the Path of Uncertainty could also be hard, but you don’t know.”

“…What’s your choice?”

She smiled, and paused again, thinking intently. “I think it would be… the… sadness one. The Grief and Suffering one.”

“Because of the goodness? Because you know how it’s going to end?”

Kristen beams, and then nods.

For my last question, I wanted to know exactly what has helped to make Kristen the great person that she is today. I asked her if there was a moment in her past that somehow altered her perspective on life. It doesn’t take long for her to find the tale that she wants to tell. As she tells the story, the emotion of the experience clearly shows through, and it’s obvious that she will never be the same because of it. She tells it in a way that sweeps me up in the emotion as well, and I am captured by the experience. In the summer, she had a girl camper that was ten years old and was raising her three other siblings. She came to camp with her sister, Justice. Kristen recalls her as being an amazing girl – so caring and humble. She had a lot of sickness in her life, and her dad was rarely around. He had also just gotten remarried. His wife was pregnant and going to be having another baby girl. Kristen remembers the girl saying to her, “I don’t want her to have the baby.” She asked her why not. She said, “I don’t, because I don’t want to have to take care of another person.” Kristen found it absolutely heartbreaking that a small girl of only ten years old had to go through all of that. During her time there, they had to write on a rock all of their worries – and then burry it. Give them over to God. The little girl wrote so much. When the girl was leaving she was crying. She asked for Kristen’s email and phone number, and then spoke words so much wiser than any ordinary ten year old could possibly speak. She said, “You’re the best councillor I’ve ever had. But God is always with me, and I know that I will be okay, because God is there.” The experience left an eternal impression on who Kristen is today, she said that it was simply amazing to see the faith of one so young – to see how God can save those who are in rough circumstances, and show to them the good that is at times so hard to see.

And so, as I closed my laptop that contained all of the hastily typed, word for word answers and observations of Kristen Otterbein, I decided that perhaps it was a good thing that I had left my interview to the last minute. Perhaps it was fate, or a stroke of good luck, or perhaps just a highly convenient coincidence that I had found Kristen sitting in the centre of Waterloo Oxford’s library. Because not only is she a seventeen year old fellow twin, not only is she a hard-working dreamer, home to un-crushed positivity, and unyielding exuberance, not only is she a great, great friend – but she also has a story. And her story deserved to be told.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faith of the Fallen

A Book Review by Ali Carroll

 

Terry Goodkind’s novel, Faith of the Fallen, is the sixth book in his Sword of Truth series. It is the struggle of individuality and freedom against conformity and slavery dressed up as the ‘greater good’. His strong beliefs grounded in philosophy open your mind to a vast amount of new ideas and perspectives, and his vivid depiction of good and evil cause profound reflection. The story takes place in a fictional multifaceted world. The land consists of four sections: Westland, the Midlands, D’Hara, and the Old World. All of these lands were previously sealed off, but over the course of the series, the boundaries all fell. Now, the vastly different societies and governments meet each other head on. A man, once known as Richard Cypher, but now fulfilling his birth-right as Lord Rahl, has united the Midlands and D’Hara into one empire. But he is not like past lords. He fights for freedom, for life, for respect. And threatening it all is the massive invading horde, rising up out of the Old World to destroy all who do not fall to their command, or submit to their beliefs. A bloody battle has begun, and Richard has a vision – they cannot win the fight. Not as they are. Not with him leading them. He has begged cities to fight for their freedom, but they do not recognize it…until it is taken away. His revelation takes him away from his armies and his people – doing the hardest thing he can do. He must stay away and wait. Wait as the Order Subjugates his world to slavery – wait, until the people rise up and choose freedom – not because they are following him – but because they claim it for themselves. But he is stolen. A lone sorceress, Death’s Mistress, the voice behind the emperor of the Order, holds Richard’s wife’s life in the balance, and with that advantage she takes him right into the heart of enemy territory. Right into the heart of the Old World. There Richard is exposed to the crippling pain and slavery of life under the Order, and there he slowly but surely causes a revolution. Through simple truth, he puts the lie to all of the Order’s teachings. He revives wounded minds, and clears disillusioned sight. And through the power and resilience of the human spirit, he strikes back. And takes out the heart of the Order.

 

One of many questions debated by philosophers is of Ethics; if humans are genetically or biologically programmed, how can they be held responsible for their actions? Terry Goodkind uses his plot line throughout the Sword of Truth series to present his strong belief in human responsibility, specifically in the sixth book: Faith of the Fallen.

“She knew that ordinary men who had never before acted violently, could, in the right circumstances, be incited to great brutality. With the way they viewed mankind as sinful, wretched, and evil, it was only a small step more to actually doing evil. After all, any evil they might do, they had already rationalized as being predestined by what they viewed as man’s inescapable nature.”

Terry Goodkind uses the Order to represent the evil in humanity – or rather – humans who have turned their backs on their humanity and embraced evil. Their philosophy is exactly what is addressed in the ethics questions; they believe that since mankind was created as being corrupt and incapable of being good, that they have justification for violence and evil. That way they then have an excuse – something to place blame on other than themselves so that they do not have to take any credit for their cruelty, therefore avoid any feelings of guilt. Goodkind uses the battle between the Order and the D’Haran Empire to illustrate his powerful and vehement opposition to those who in his mind shy away from the truth – that man is responsible for his own actions, and that any concept such as ‘we were created this way so we really cannot be at fault’ is a terrible cop out that can lead way only to corruption.

 

Epistemology is also another heavily debated area of philosophy. One of the questions that is often asked is of knowledge. Philosophers wonder whether or not knowledge is simply what people believe to be true. This is a question that is stressed all throughout Terry Goodkind’s series, he – through his characters – vehemently supports the view that knowledge can only be the outcome of rational observation and reason, and that simple beliefs, blind faith, or wishes can be very easily misconstrued as knowledge – but are in fact delusions of truth.

“People fleeing the fighting have been up this way. Men spreading the doctrine of the Imperial Order have been even here, to where I grew up. Their words can sound good – almost make sense – if you don’t think, if you just feel. Truth doesn’t seem to count for much,”

Terry Goodkind holds that knowledge can only be ascertained through reason. Here he shows how shallow fabrications that sound pretty are often confused with knowledge simply because a great number of mouths have repeated the ‘logic’. He says that people will believe something simply because they wish it to be true – but he does not think that that is true knowledge. No. He believes that true knowledge can only be discovered when humans use rationality to observe life and its events.

One of his main characters – Richard: the Seeker of Truth, War Wizard and leader of the D’Haran Empire – addresses this exact question in one of his many philosophical tirades.

“Reason is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts, nor are they a means to discovering them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality – it’s our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss we refuse to see.

“If I fail to use reason in this struggle, if I close my eyes to the reality of what is, in favor of what I would wish, then we will both die in this, and for nothing. We will be but two more among uncounted millions of nameless corpses beneath the gray, gloomy decay of mankind. In the darkness that will follow, our bones will be meaningless dust.

“Eventually, perhaps a thousand years from now, perhaps more, the light of liberty will again be raised up to shine over a free people, but between now and then, millions upon millions of people will be born into hopeless misery and have no choice but to bear the weight of the Order’s yoke. We, by ignoring reason, will have purchased those mountains of broken bodies, the wreckage of lives endured but never lived.”

 

Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series is an extremely vivid depiction of the phenomenal beauty of the human spirit. The sixth novel: Faith of the Fallen, is particularly focused on the grace and power of individuality and of life, and is a great portrayal of many of the philosophical questions concerned with Human Nature. One question that is continuously answered is: What does it mean to be human? An especially monumental moment where the supreme radiance of life is realized occurs at the end of the novel. It sparked the beginning of a revolt. Up until this point, the society’s enforced belief was that complete self-sacrifice for your fellow man was the only way to earn the possibility of entering into the afterlife. They believed that humans were such an unforgivably rotten lot that their lives must be devoted to repentance. Any form of beauty or creation was seen as the utmost of sins – blasphemy against the Creator. Because, making the assumption that you were worth anything even mildly self-fulfilling would diminish the dependence placed in the Creator and the afterlife, and in turn, the hold that the Order has over the actions of its citizens. This belief fostered unbelievable poverty, pain, sickness, death and above all – greed. The people of the society became selfish, capable no longer of providing for themselves, but instead waiting for the ‘Holy Order’ to provide for them. And there was no way around the inevitable decline of life, because, with a belief such as this, when a child is being robbed, or a woman is being beaten, all that their assailant would have to say to justify his actions is, ‘What makes your needs more important than mine? You must sacrifice yourself for your fellow man.’  – Thus creating a life where punishment and blame is no longer recognized, and where thieves and murderers are accepted and willingly supported.

But then Richard arrives. Bearing the weight of change, he looks upon the fallen civilization, at the sculptures depicting twisted and horrifyingly contorted humans, and he fills the land of death with life.

“More than that, though, Richard’s statue existed without conflict; the figures showed awareness, rationality, and purpose. This was a manifestation of human power, ability, intent. This was life lived for its own sake. This was mankind standing proudly of his own free will. This was exactly what the single word at the bottom named it: LIFE. That it existed was proof of the validity of the concept. This was life as it should be lived – proud, reasoned, and a slave to no other man. This was the rightful exultation of the individual, the nobility of the human spirit. Everything on the walls all around offered death as its answer. This offered life.”

Individuals who had been for so long blinded into believing that their individual needs were worth nothing, that dreaming was sinning, and that creating was blasphemy, looked upon his statue, and one by one fell to their knees and cried. They then watched as the Order destroyed the physical depiction of humanity. But it did not matter. Their eyes had already been opened. And so from the crumbles of the Statue of Life, The People rose up, and for the first time, fought back. The human spirit showed itself for what it truly was – strong. That is what Terry Goodkind believes to be human.

 

Goodkind intends his series for adult readers, because in order to show the vivid and brutally honest illustration of life in all of its colours as he does, he must go to depths of darkness that would be too deep for younger readers. His novel, Faith of the Fallen is my favourite book of his eleven book series, which in turn is my favourite series. So it is fair to say that I reacted extremely positively (even after the third time reading it.) The ideas and stories are so magnificently and mind-blowingly put together that I have found it extremely hard to find another book or series that even approaches the depths that it went. Although I do admit, that at points, some of his arguments and conclusions can be some-what short sighted. At the end of the series, he paints an extremely broad brushstroke over all religion and faith.  It is his belief that the mere existence of faith cannot coexist inside a person with rationality and reason. He believes that faith is the product of fear and an inability to either control, predict or accept your own actions or your own future. He believes it is a crutch to hide behind. And yet he goes on to state his respect and belief in the goodness of the human spirit, and of love. Which to me, is simply a different way of saying the same thing. At times when human grace and integrity were not evident, Richard still believed in it. Is that not a kind of faith? Could you not also turn that around and call it a blind and unreasonable faith since the evidence right before him clearly shows that humans do not possess any good qualities? And yet he believes in the good of humankind anyway. I just thought that at times, his reasonings would become almost contradictory. And yet, most of them resonated powerfully within me, the truth and brilliance of them obvious. And so I still believe in the goodness of this book. I guess you could call it faith.

 

 

 

 

 

Christians, Druggies, Losers and Atheists

“Christians.” “Druggies.” “Losers.” “Atheists.”

You’d think that this far into existence – this far into watching past actions prove themselves as the mistakes and misjudgements that they were – that we would have realized that labels have no place in reality. You’d think that after people like Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King – after movements like the legalization of gay marriage and international cooperation – that we would have learned that a person is not defined by one singular attribute, characteristic or lifestyle. That we would have accepted the blatant truth that a Person is multitudes more than what the sweeping, suffocating brush stroke gives them credit for. That perhaps, labeling with an overused and vastly worn out stamp all those with slight similarities as being ‘the same,’ is drastically and transparently stupid. I am sick of this nauseating shade of paint that is dulling the uniqueness and true beauty of humanity. Every time a layer is chipped away, another coat gets added on once more, repeating the abhorrent colour choices of the past. But I have hope. Maybe, in our next war, we will not be armed with swords, will not be armed with guns, will not be armed with bombs. We will be armed with chisels. And our enemies will not be Africans, will not be Asians, will not be humans. Our enemy will be paint. And together – Gays, Blacks, Whites, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Druggies, Losers, Atheists – Together, we will hold up our chisels, and we will tear away the layers of brush strokes of clinging, decomposing paint. And beneath it will lie a rainbow. Beneath it will lie truth. Beneath it will lie humanity.