"A sophisticated understanding of the world must include an appreciation of such differences between cultures."

Upon reading the very first paragraph of "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism", I realized that I was doing exactly the opposite of what James Rachels was telling us to do. His article is about being open minded to other cultures that are different than ours and reading about the Callatians eating the bodies of their dead fathers, I was immediately put off by that thought. Rachels quotes William Graham Sumner saying that there is no measure of right and wrong other than the standards of one's society." Who am I to say that eating your dead father's body is wrong? Just because I or most people in my culture say its wrong, doesn't mean the Callatians are wrong. Just like infanticide with the Eskimos. You have to look at the big picture as to why cultures do certain things different from your own. Under the section "Why There Is Less Disagreement Than It Seems" Rachels talks about why a culture may think its wrong to eat cows. There may be an underlining message of their belief of reincarnation. So I do agree with Darius' belief that one must appreciate different cultures and their differences.
The first section of the article is "How different Cultures Have Different Moral Codes" made me think of our class's Socratic seminar about Things Fall Apart. We talked about our struggle to view Okonkwo as a hero because of the way he treated his family, particularly his wives. Because he had beaten his wives, we couldn't see him as a true man. Although he was high in his society, we agreed he wouldn't be high in our society. He had abused something that in our culture, we hold higher than his. When you physically abuse your wife in today's society, you can be locked up. For Okonkwo, that really wasn't much of the case. We briefly talked about how different our culture is from Okonkwo's overall. We don't view yams as having such great power, our class didn't agree with the idea having more than one wife, and also the idea of killing someone who was like family to you (Ikemefuna). In the novel and by the definition of a modern hero, Okonkwo is a hero. However to us, he didn't do anything wonderful or superior to give him that title. We just saw him as a man worrying more about yams than his wives, but really that's just how we interpreted that culture. So I hope now I can keep a better open mind about other societies and cultures that are different than my own.

"The Phantom of Wuthering Heights is here"

While reading and discussing Wuthering Heights, I noticed of some similarities between the love story of Catherine and of Christine Daae, from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera. We argued in our discussion if Catherine truly loved Edgar or if her true love was always Heathcliffe. In Phantom of the Opera, we wonder the same. Who is Christine's true love? Is it Raul or does her heart belong to the Phantom?

In Wuthering Heights, I think Catherine loved the idea of loving Edgar more than her actually affections. The idea of being protected, secure, and with a good name in society pleased Catherine. However I do think she did have some feelings for Edgar though. I don't think she was with him strictly for the social benefits. When her and Edgar first met, she was very young and for a young child to think about social status and money at that young age doesn't make sense. But she did adore Edgar and spent a lot of time with him and his sister, Isabella. So it would be wrong to say that Catherine and Edgar did not share any love. Like Catherine, Christine choose Raul in Phantom of the Opera. Her and Raul were childhood sweethearts, reunited in the Opera House where they fell in love. Christine thought of Raul as her shelter and light. However some may ask if she really loves Raul or if she turns to him for safety and an escape from the opera house.

However, for the other two men of the love triangles, they were left without their loves. Catherine grew up with Heathcliffe and from young age claimed her love for him, never thinking she would be without him in her life. Heathcliffe, the same, very much loved Catherine. She was one of the only women mentioned in the novel that he had been acquainted with and the only woman that he showed affection for. We can see that the Phantom shows a similar love for Christine. When Christine was brought to the Opera House when she was seven, the phantom would sing to her and comfort her in the shadows. He protected her as well as taught her music and brought her triumph on the stage. Christine trusted him and she began to love him. He was always there for her and she never knew life without him. However when Edgar enters Catherine's life and Raul enters Christine's life, their childhood loves were put aside.

There are other similarities between these two stories. Like Catherine, Christine was given an ultimatum to choose the Phantom or Raul as Catherine had the ultimatum to choose Edgar or Heathcliffe. Another similarity is the reason why Heathcliffe loved Catherine and why the Phantom choose Christine. Christine and Catherine were the only two people who showed love and compassion on them. And a last similarity is after Christine and Catherine die. When Catherine dies, both Edgar and Heathcliffe demand to be placed in the ground next to her. As when Christine dies, the final scene of the movie, you see Raul visiting his wife's grave and on her tomb stone is the rose and black ribbon from the phantom.

"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer. " -Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is a hero? In class we discussed the differences between epic heroes such as Beowulf, classic heroes such as Oedipus, and our current day interpretation of what it means to be a hero. Although most characteristics were similar, there was some differences. An epic hero is known for their great deeds using superhuman courage and strength. Through the poem of Beowulf, both his bravery and strength were commented on quite a bit and his great deeds include his three battles against Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. Whenever I think of the word hero, Bonnie Tyler's song "I Need A Hero" always pops into my head and then I picture Nick Murray dancing at the pep rally, which was funny. But in Tyler's song, she sings about her hero needing to be strong which is a characteristic of an epic hero. She also sings that her hero needs to be larger than life which one of the phrases we used in our epic notes. Just what I had thought about.

Tyler also sings a line about "a white knight upon a fiery steed." I think this line connects more with a classical hero. Classical heroes are usually kings or nobles which may entitle Tyler's white knight. Both epic and classical heroes are known for their extraordinary feats and their pride, but a classical hero is also known for their fatal flaw. Oedipus's fatal flaw was his blindness. He was ignorant that he had fulfilled Apollo's prophecy and killed his father, the king, and married his mother. Not quite sure Tyler would be as thrilled about Oedipus being her hero. Oedipus reminded me of a quote from the saga Twilight said by Edward Cullen. "What if I'm not the hero?" Although we associate Oedipus as being a hero and a good king, was he really a hero after all? He was seen heroic for correctly solving the Sphinx's riddle, but now he has put a plague on his new kingdom.

Our current day interpretation of a hero has drastically changed since Sophocles or Wilbur. I think Tyler's line of "It's gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet" is a good way to describe our present day heroes. Our heroes need to be big, dramatic, strong, and handsome. They either have some form of super power or a lot of money to buy whatever gadget to make them fall with style. When we read or watch a hero, there always seems to be a love interest. A hero has to fall in love and even in some situations, love is their kryptonite. And even sometimes, our heroes in a story were the villains once. Despicable Me for example. Gru had the evil plot to shrink the moon. However when his newly adopted girls were taken hostage, he gave up the moon to save them. Another example is Mega Mind. MM is the villain until he finally defeats Metro Man, the original hero. Now MM is up to take down the biggest villain the city has ever seen, hence him becoming the hero.

A hero can be something different to everyone. They may be an epic hero. Maybe a hero to you is classical. Or maybe he's a modern day hero. And maybe they just don't fit into any of these 3 categories. A hero may not even depend on who a person is or what he has done, but what that person means to you.

There comes a time when autumn asks, "what have you been doing all summer?"

Over the summer we read three books that all deal with prejudice and artistry. In Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the nameless narrator was a black powerful and talented speaker that was trying to fit into a white society. In Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, Peekay is a white prodigy boxer in an African society during the time of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. And in The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, Howard Roark is a modern architect that is brought down by other architects and powerful figures in society. In The Fountainhead, Rand creates two characters; one describing her idea of the perfect man and the other what she despises in men. Howard Roark is the "perfect" man. He is not driven by emotions or by power. Roark does not base his work to please society. Peter Keating, however, sits on the opposite side of the spectrum from Howard Roark. Keating is very emotional and power hungry. He wants to please society and be highly thought of. His buildings reflect what he thinks other people would like best and not always what he thinks looks best. Throughout our socratic seminars, some of the questions focus on comparing and contrasting these two characters; their love life, their success, what they care about, how they define greatness, how they treat clients, their selfishness, etc. A big part of the book dealt with the power of media and how we judge people base on what people tell us. Reading the book as an outside character, we favor Howard and dislike Keating. But to the society within the story, they favor Keating because of what the media tells them. Dominque and Toohey write and hint to clients about how great Keating is. "He won an architect competition, he works for a big company, he's the guy you want to go to." While they bring down Roark saying his modern designs aren't good enough and impractical, turning people away from his business. I think we do that with the media today. In the grocery store, we're in the check out and we glance at the magazine stand. "...too skinny...divorce...pregnant...cheated...rage." The media uses these words to give us a negative view on celebrities and people in our society. Yesterday I went shopping with my mom and on the front cover of a magazine was Sandra Bullock who I actually like as an actress. They were bashing her for being too skinny and the amount of weight loss she's encounter and I automatically felt myself being turned off because she was losing so much weight despite the fact that I think she's a very powerful actress. The media does have a powerful effect on our society as well as Rand' society in The Fountainhead. Because of the media, Roark was brought down although he was a better architect than Keating. I think that's something very scary and something that we as a society who is tuned into the media need to be aware of. Not everything you read about is true, not everything you hear about is fact, and not everything you see is real.