Cutural Heritage and Drinking 9/25/12

Beginning thousands of years ago, drinking alcohol was a time of socialization. Drinking occurs in various different religions. The drinking in these religions I feel is light. I feel as though religious and cultural drinking could never be serious. A religion could begin someone's addiction to alcohol but cannot involve drinking various amounts of alcohol.

In my opinion most religions are against drinking. They believe that drinking more than a certain amount of drinks is sinful. I know in the Christian religion they believe in drinking wine for Communion but not more then a sip or two. I do not feel in general that serious drinking can be caused by someone's culture or heritage. I do not believe that one cultural is more easily addicted to alcohol then the other.

Although I do not believe that someone's religion or culture can cause serious drinking habits I do believe that it is part of he or she's heritage. I believe that being an alcoholic can be inherited through generations. For example, if a mother is an alcoholic I feel as though the vunerability to alcohol is passed down to her children. I feel as though it makes it easy for the children to also become addicted to alcohol. If no one in the family has an addiciton to alcohol, then the descendants or that family will have a less likely chance of getting addicted to alcohol.

Everyday Use 9/20/12

I chose "Everyday Use" to talk about because I felt that I could understand Dee's point of view the most out of all three stories. She reminds me of myself in a way. My sister is a hair dresser and so she never went away to college or anything like that. She never got the experience to be out on her own. Maggie seems similar to my sister. My mother seems the same way. She has never lived out of New Jersey and only moved forty minutes from where she grew up to start her family. I feel as though they always have the same routines that they go about and the same beliefs that they always had.

Going to college made me feel as though I was experiencing life on my own, going out and experiencing other cultures. I feel like Dee when she went out and meet a guy and learned about his culture and religion. Here I am at Stockton, seeing people from all walks of life, learning about subjects I have never learned before. When I go back home I feel changed, enlightened. When Dee comes home I believe she feels the same way. She feels like she gained something from being away from home. One might call this a sense of rebellion but I see it as an educational experience.

Dee still held unto that quilt. Yes, maybe Dee was going to hang up the quilt but that is only because she was proud of it. She felt as though everyone should pass by and observe the quilt's family history. I still embrace the values I was born and raised with. I am still respectful but now that I am out of my own I am growing. Dee grew in "Everyday Use." She held unto the quilt while still growing. I take the values I was taught as a child and bring them with me as I grow and experience new things.

"The Man in the Well"

September 13, 2012

When focusing on the order of the sentences for "The Man in the Well," I tried to consider what I personally considered the theme to be. The main theme seemed to be that these children did not really understand that their actions affected others. The closest of the ten statements to my idea of the theme was number two. Number two states, "Children may have difficulty sharing the perspective of another person." This statement expresses that the children in the story did not see that in the man's perspective their actions could have been a big impact on his life. The next statement I chose was number three. Statement three says, " Even in their later years, people may have trouble forgiving themselves for bad things they did when they were young." This shows that when the children were dealing with the issue of the man that they did not feel bad about leaving him in the well at the time. Later in their lives though, these children regretted their decision to leave the man in the well.

 

The next statement I chose was number four. This statement claims, "Within groups, people may engage in conduct that is wilder, stranger, or more uncivilized than their usual behavior when alone." This is very true for the children in the story. They did not feel as bad for the man in the well because they were all working together to bring him food. They also worked together in not helping the man out of the well which made it somehow better in their minds. The next statement I chose was number seven. This statement explains that "When dealing with an adult, even a helpless one, children may have in their minds images of parental authority that affect how they treat the person." For example, maybe one of the child's parents emotionally scared them and thats why they would not help the man in the well.  

 

The fifth statement I chose in order of the themes was number eight. This statement says, "Children may fail to understand when an adult is in danger." This is true seeing as the children do not ask for help but just assume that the man can handle himself. Nextly, I chose statement ten that says, "The psychological reality of children and the adults is a deep well within themselves they cannot see into." For examples, the children may think that they are doing the right thing by not letting the stranger out of the well. Later in their lives though, these children will consider this decision a mistake. Statement nine is next. This statement explains that, " Children are capable of conspiring with one another against the adult world." This means that alone one child is helpless but in numbers, children can do whatever they put their mind to. Children are stronger in numbers.

 

The next statement I put was number one which claims, " We should be mmore compassionate toward people who are trapped." Being trapped puts people in not only a weaker place but also a more defeated and weak state of mind. Next I put statement five which says, "People project their fears or suspicions onto others, even those who do not actually pose a threat to them." I believe that because the children could not see the man in the well that that was part of the reason they did not find him help. He could have been dangerous for all they knew. This also ties into the last statement I put which claims, " People need to see one another's faces if they are to trust one another." This applies in life today even. If you meet someone on the internet you are less likely to trust them then if you meet them in person.

 

All in all, I truly think that the theme of the story is that children do not understand the consequences of their actions. Everyone has their effect on the world and I think that all the statements listed can somehow relate back to that. I wished that the man in the well would have been saved but I could not save him it had to be the children's doing.

 

By: Rebecca Belliveau                                                                          September 13, 2012

What I Hope to Accomplish

For the past few months I have thought about all the hopes and dreams I had when I came to Stockton. I knew that I wanted to get involved in as many clubs as I could. In addition I knew that I was going to focus on getting A's and B's in my classes. These are the typical goals that one has when arriving to college yet I also thought of some other goals. I wanted to make some very good friends and most of all I wanted to have fun. I wanted to have fun getting involved, friends and with my major. I wanted to begin to enjoy what I was going to be for the rest of my life.