Okay, so let me start out by saying how excited I was to see Scott Wolf (Bailey from Party of 5) in the "White Squall"! That's my favorite TV show of all time, and no one ever knows what I'm talking about when I reference it.
There are a few things that stood out to me in class discussion this week.
We talked on Tuesday about respectability and today it wasn't as directly hit upon, but we were definitely all trying to measure the respectability of the actions of the survivors of the Whaleship Essex. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Jacobs' grandmother says, "There would have been more virtue in death or even rape than the choice she made." When I read those words, "more virtue in death" I can't help thinking about the survivors of the Essex. I think there would have been more virtue in their dying than killing other human beings and eating them. I mean, yeah, we can say we wouldn't know what we would do unless we were in that situation, but I think we can have a good idea. Even if I'm wrong, say if I were in that situation and I decided to butcher my friend like a tortoise and eat him, I'm not going to say in the end that it was a more virtuous action than choosing my death. I'd have my life, but not my virtue. To me, my virtue is more important. To others, it might not be. So, I don't think what they did was respectable. I don't blame them, because I do realize that it was their only chance at survival. Let them walk away with the award of still having their life, but I certainly don't think they deserve more of an award or merit than that. Definitely not my respect or recognition of their manliness. That's another thing this class discussion got me thinking about. Manliness. We said that it was something that is measured in the eyes of other men. I thought it was more interesting; however, that some of the women vowed to not marry a man who had not gotten at least one whale. I know things have changed a lot since that time, but I really think that the way women view manliness is a lot different now than how men view it. At least, in my experience.
In this class we've seen manliness based on conquests in whaling, exploring, wrestling, sexing, wedding crashing, and so much more. Men must make conquests. Yet, I know a lot of women who view those as boyish things. The easiest way to explain this is to compare it to "A Knight's Tale" when Jocelyn asks William to lose all of his jousts to prove his love for her. We think a boy is a man, when he is able to deny himself the glory of conquest. I've never been a guy, but having a brother and lots of guy friends leads me to speculate that a guy finds it a lot more difficult to tell all his buddies that he's finally met the one he'd like to settle down with than it is for a girl to tell her friends.Perhaps, it's because men don't want to appear conquered. It's like their admitting that they've allowed a woman to tame them. Now, I don't know about everyone else, but I would not fall head over heels for a guy who told me he ate his friends to survive a whaling trip. I definitely wouldn't swoon at his "manliness." Maybe manliness has just gone out of style.
There was something else I found very interesting. Pollard's leadership was more democratic, whereas Chase was more socialistic. He attended to the rations. He became a source of comfort and inspiration. More of his men survived. I just think it's interesting that the "democracy" was the one that ended worse.
Just one other thing I have to mention- Today, in class, when we mentioned that the black sailors were the first to die and be cannibalized- I thought of scary movies. The stereotypical scary movie, where supposedly the black guy always dies first. Speaking of which, this book is eerie. The image of that ship in the film clip freaked me out, too. The power of water, particularly the ocean, has always freaked me out, but the image of that creepy ship in the dark, misty, stormy sea like the eerie image I've included (Ghost Ship by Charles Cochrane)...anyway, I'm starting to rant. It kinda feels good though- I haven't written like this in a while. I'm finally finding my voice again- I thought it was lost forever to the mold of analytical essay structure. I can't say how good it feels to know it's not gone.
Favorite Quote:
"This is a past we forget we need to remember."
I think if we'd pay attention to the past, we'd save ourselves a lot of trouble. I guess that's why I've always been fascinated with historical things and classic literature and films. Never say there's no point in something that happened before you-there's always something to learn. This quote reminded me of another of my favorites-a quote by Cicero, "Not to know what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child."
There are a few things that stood out to me in class discussion this week.
We talked on Tuesday about respectability and today it wasn't as directly hit upon, but we were definitely all trying to measure the respectability of the actions of the survivors of the Whaleship Essex. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Jacobs' grandmother says, "There would have been more virtue in death or even rape than the choice she made." When I read those words, "more virtue in death" I can't help thinking about the survivors of the Essex. I think there would have been more virtue in their dying than killing other human beings and eating them. I mean, yeah, we can say we wouldn't know what we would do unless we were in that situation, but I think we can have a good idea. Even if I'm wrong, say if I were in that situation and I decided to butcher my friend like a tortoise and eat him, I'm not going to say in the end that it was a more virtuous action than choosing my death. I'd have my life, but not my virtue. To me, my virtue is more important. To others, it might not be. So, I don't think what they did was respectable. I don't blame them, because I do realize that it was their only chance at survival. Let them walk away with the award of still having their life, but I certainly don't think they deserve more of an award or merit than that. Definitely not my respect or recognition of their manliness. That's another thing this class discussion got me thinking about. Manliness. We said that it was something that is measured in the eyes of other men. I thought it was more interesting; however, that some of the women vowed to not marry a man who had not gotten at least one whale. I know things have changed a lot since that time, but I really think that the way women view manliness is a lot different now than how men view it. At least, in my experience.
In this class we've seen manliness based on conquests in whaling, exploring, wrestling, sexing, wedding crashing, and so much more. Men must make conquests. Yet, I know a lot of women who view those as boyish things. The easiest way to explain this is to compare it to "A Knight's Tale" when Jocelyn asks William to lose all of his jousts to prove his love for her. We think a boy is a man, when he is able to deny himself the glory of conquest. I've never been a guy, but having a brother and lots of guy friends leads me to speculate that a guy finds it a lot more difficult to tell all his buddies that he's finally met the one he'd like to settle down with than it is for a girl to tell her friends.Perhaps, it's because men don't want to appear conquered. It's like their admitting that they've allowed a woman to tame them. Now, I don't know about everyone else, but I would not fall head over heels for a guy who told me he ate his friends to survive a whaling trip. I definitely wouldn't swoon at his "manliness." Maybe manliness has just gone out of style.
There was something else I found very interesting. Pollard's leadership was more democratic, whereas Chase was more socialistic. He attended to the rations. He became a source of comfort and inspiration. More of his men survived. I just think it's interesting that the "democracy" was the one that ended worse.
Just one other thing I have to mention- Today, in class, when we mentioned that the black sailors were the first to die and be cannibalized- I thought of scary movies. The stereotypical scary movie, where supposedly the black guy always dies first. Speaking of which, this book is eerie. The image of that ship in the film clip freaked me out, too. The power of water, particularly the ocean, has always freaked me out, but the image of that creepy ship in the dark, misty, stormy sea like the eerie image I've included (Ghost Ship by Charles Cochrane)...anyway, I'm starting to rant. It kinda feels good though- I haven't written like this in a while. I'm finally finding my voice again- I thought it was lost forever to the mold of analytical essay structure. I can't say how good it feels to know it's not gone.
Favorite Quote:
"This is a past we forget we need to remember."
I think if we'd pay attention to the past, we'd save ourselves a lot of trouble. I guess that's why I've always been fascinated with historical things and classic literature and films. Never say there's no point in something that happened before you-there's always something to learn. This quote reminded me of another of my favorites-a quote by Cicero, "Not to know what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child."
“I think there would have been more virtue in their dying than killing other human beings and eating them.” I completely agree with this but it is also a very scary notion. I think there is about a one in a million shot that killing another human being is ever virtuous but still it is so hard to image what you would do in that situation. As I write this I’m sitting next to my best friend and as I look over at her I can’t imagine I would kill her no matter what it meant to my life. I can’t not say that I would not eat her if she was dead and it was the only option because I think after the death has occurred it would be foolish not to but I would never take her (or anyone’s life) to save my own. I believe that no life is more valuable than another and therefore could never take action to end the life of another human being (in less perhaps in the heat of a moment in order to protect others- thought I still would not see the act as wholly virtuous, just the lesser of two evils).
ReplyDelete“Definitely not my respect or recognition of their manliness.” Again agreed, I think I often forget men’s need to assert their manliness. And honestly when I think of that I think of Jersey Shore…you’d think we would have come far enough by now in gender issues that men would no longer feel this need…and then I watch Jersey Shore and see that the tough guy attitude is still out there and strong…this is very curious to me. I do not even know how I would define a “man” but I do wonder what the “average” American (or world’s) male defines it as and how this has or has not evolved over time.