stormmorm

10/24/07 Truth of Myths Mythology is a strange genre of writing. There are certain elements in it that are completely false, and others that are entirely true. Two true elements I have found in mythology are humanity's traits and how every act has a consequence. Many myths explain traits and attributes of mankind. Most of the traits we see are negative such as greed or violence. For example Midas is overtaken by greed insomuch that he asks to have the power to make anything he touches turn to gold. But we also see the positive side of human nature such as love and loyalty. Although it may not entirely be a myth we see this in //The Odyssey//. Odysseus is a loyal man who sticks with his love and country. We see the consequences of actions in myths as well. Just like with human qualities there are positive and negative consequences to every choice that is made. Again we go back to the story of Midas. His choice to get the power to turn anything he touches to gold has both positive and negative consequences. He has positive consequences because he is so rich because of his power. But he has negative consequences because he can't eat. I believe these are the two main truths we find in myths. The traits of humanity, and the consequences of our actions.

1/28/08 Truth of Fear A lot of the story a of //Lord of the Flies// by William Golding revolves around fear. But Golding searches deeper into fear. He goes deeper than the facade of "Fear is a man with a chainsaw." Golding actually defines fear as it truly is, and that's psychological. In //Lord of the Flies// the boys are fearful of a great many things, pretty much all of which we later find out to be nonexistent. What we learn from this is that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. If you asked most people if they are in real danger when the are afraid, the answer would be no. Of course there are exceptions of when fear is true, and an example of that may be a soldier in the battlefield. But the truth is that half of being afraid is fear itself playing on your mind to make you think you really are in danger, when you aren't.

4/9/08 Truth of Dreams Everyone has dreams of some sort. All the characters in the books and films we watch have dreams. It is through these dreams that our characters keep going when things get tough. For example, Lennie and George have a dream in __Of Mice and Men__, and that is what keeps them going when they get chased out of Weed. The two speak of their dream so vehemently, because they love it, and plan on fulfilling it. The problem is that they never end up fulfilling it, because of the incident with Curley's Wife. George says that "Someday-we're gonna get the jack together and we're gonna have a little house and a couple of acres." (P. 14) This sadly shows is that the truth of dreams is that the world tries to destroy them. The boys dream of a well organized society in Lord of the Flies is ruined, Mme. Loisel's dream to become a high class elite is ruined, and the various dreams of Walter Mitty are ruined when he realizes that the dreams aren't reality. The truth of dreams are that, just like Langston Hughes said, we must keep them, "Away from the too-rough fingers/ Of the world." (Langston Hughes "The Dream Keeper."

In all of my posts, I have noticed that all the ideas are very opinionated. None of the posts sound like firm facts, because the truth is not always a firm fact. I believe that the wikis were a good idea, because it gave us a chance to look at each others views on certain subjects, and comment upon them.

5/2/08 Truth of Religious Conflict What I have discovered: Islam and Christianity have been "at it" for about as long as the two have existed with each other. The main conflict between these two was the Crusades back in the Middle Ages, but there has always been a certain tension between the two. The tension fired back up after 9/11. Judaism has also been persecuted for a very long time, especially from Christians and Muslims. There also have been minor conflicts with religion such as the Saxon war, and the Religious war of France.

How will it be shared: Powerpoint presentation.

What questions do you have: What other religions have been at war for a while? How violent do these conflicts get? What is the newest religion that has been persecuted?