"I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils (capitalism), namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals."

One thing I'd especially like to reflect on about the past week is our research into ancient greek theater and myth, specifically Aristotle. He was a really influential philosopher of Ancient Greece. Personally, I love his teachings, especially the political. He believed that there were basically three good forms of government: monarchy (rule by king), oligarchy (rule by elite few), and constitutional rule, or a democracy (rule by the people). he said that the first two were easily corruptible, and power would go easily to the ruler's heads in those systems, so a democracy is best because it is less easily corruptible. "The many are more incorruptible than the few; they are like the greater quantity of water which is less easily corrupted than a little” (Aristotle). He also believed that within a democracy, the ideal leaders that inevitably come forth would be a well educated middle class. He said that the rich could not lead, because they know the taste of wealth well and would exploit their rule to gain more wealth, and they would not understand any state of being that consisted of an overbearing need of wealth. He said the poor, also, could not rule because they would be resentful of the rich and would aim to take from them as much as possible. He thought that since the middle class knows a little of wealth and a little of want, they would be able to rule fairly and rightly for both ends of the spectrum, especially if educated. 

It is a bit confusing, though, the thought that even in a true democracy, there would still be an individual class of leaders that form, but Aristotle knew that leaders will naturally come forth from a group of people, as evident in all society: that a hierarchy of some form forms even from anarchy and that in a society with projected equality, people will want to be led and the ideal people to lead will be an educated middle class. Unfortunately, as he also recognized, the people that will come forth will not be fair leaders, as the people that strive to be leaders therefore are at their heart bad, "...it is all wrong that a person who is going to be deemed worthy of the office should himself solicit it... for no one who is not ambitious would ask to hold office” (Aristotle). So we do see that Aristotle's teaching were slightly idealist, hinging on the fact that even though the people that come forward to lead are the wrong people to lead, that the right people to lead will come forward. It is, however, slightly less idealist as him just teaching some form of anarchist communism, so he did at least recognize there must be some separation from the ideal in the real world. 

Oedipus Rex Inventory

Sophocles

Sophocles was born in 496 BCE in Colonus, a Greek village outside of Athens, and he died in 406 BCE in Athens. Sophocles was very lucky: he was born into a relatively rich family, the son of an armor smith, and received a very good education, as well as having great beauty, physique, athletic prowess, and musical skill. He was well known for his plays and his intimate connection to the government, leading families, and religious centers of Athens.

Oedipus Rex

The Man
As a man, Oedipus is was pretty good guy. The only arguably bad thing he did was kill a stranger at a crossroads, Laius, out of anger, but through the entire play his motivation is the welfare of his people. He's trying to free his people of a terrible plague brought on by the wrath of the gods, and is trying to find justice for the murderer of the previous king. Only problem is, the murderer is him.

The Myth

The myth centers around a boy named Oedipus, a child of the king and queen of Thebes, Laius and Jocasta, who was prophesied to one day murder his father and marry his mother. Because of this terrible prophecy, Laius and Jocasta had him killed, but instead of killing him, he was taken to Corinth and he ended up as the adopted son of the king and queen there. He grew up and travelled back to Thebes and unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, while meeting a sphinx and becoming the new king along the way.

The Play
The play begins 20 years after he marries his mother, and the city of Thebes is under the effect of a terrible plague, brought on by the gods. He sends a friend to Apollo, who says the only way to lift the plague is to find the murderer of Laius. Through trying to find the killer of the old king, Oedipus finds out that it was indeed him that killed his father, and he gouges his eyes out so that he may no longer see the evil in the world.

Aristotle

Aristotle was a famous greek philosopher that lived in the fourth century BCE. He was taught by the famous Plato, and was the teacher of Alexander the Great. His studies included works regarding literature, poetry, astronomy, rhetoric, geometry, biology, and logic. His ethical teachings essentially founded the framework of all basic ethical principles including those used by the Christian church and the American Judicial System. His studies of logic created the basis for almost all logical thought to this day, and his writings outlined almost every logical or argumentative flaw to date, giving modern logicians the title of Aristotelian Logicians, even drawing parallels to the most modern mathematical logic.

Tragedy

Tragedy, or tragic drama, is any piece of literature in which a central character called a tragic protagonist or hero suffers some kind of serious misfortune that is significant in that the misfortune is logically connected with the hero's actions. Its origins stem from the singing a dithyramb, a choral lyric in honor of Dionysus, and it was revolutionized by Aristotle, who evolved tragedy to the story of the tragic hero.

Hubris

Hubris is a trait that eventually leads to downfall that basically means arrogance and pride to an extreme level, and ignorance of any possible obstacles. Greek-wise, it's mostly used to mean believing you can do something better than the gods. This is a big no-no in ancient greek culture, which is why hubris is always linked eventually to downfall. It is what's called a fatal flaw, an attribute that condemns one to failure in the future. Greeks thought that everyone had one, and if they couldn't identify it, they would die due to it.

Dramatic Irony

Dramatic Irony is a form of literary irony in which the reader or audience or listener or or whatever knows something the characters do not. It is very common in tragedies, as the audience will know some approaching or underlying factor the tragic hero does not, and it (the audience) will have to watch helplessly as the hero keeps trundling onward toward the tragic end. It is also common in modern horror: knowing the killer is there, there is something under the bed, is always scarier as you scream silently at the character not to do whatever they're about to do than knowing nothing.

Teiresias

Teiresias was a legendary prophet in ancient greek mythology. He once accidentally came across Athena bathing, so she blinded him. As his mother pleaded for Athena to forgive him, Athena gave Teiresias the gift of prophecy to make up for his loss of sight. His prophecies range from warning Pentheus to recognize and welcome Dionysus, a prediction of the greatness of Hercules, a warning to the parents of Oedipus about what he would do to his parents, and advice to Odysseus about how to placate Poseidon.

Fate

In Greek philosophy, fate was a concept of unescapable destiny that ruled over all, even the gods. Delphic oracles once said in greek legend "no one, not even the god, can escape his appointed fate". The fates of men were determined by many different beings, Delphic prophets, Apollo the patron of Delphi and the oracular god, or the 3 Moirai, or Fates. The Moirai were three beings with the great power of deciding the length of man's life: Clotho, the spinner, that spins the thread, Lachesis, the measurer, that decides the length of the thread, and Atropos, she who cannot be turned, that cuts the thread.

Greek Theater

Greek theater originated as festivals to the gods, in which plays would be performed in the name of and to honor the gods. Thespis was the legendary first actor and is the namesake for Thespians, people of the theater. The venues played in were usually massive open-air amphitheaters built into the side of hills, with seats going up the side of the hill and a stage down at the bottom in the center. Plays themselves were normally based on already known myths, usually involved the use of messengers to relay messages, and took place in one or two main places. The more comedic plays usually involved contemporary, relevant political issues and were often simple satires on society, politics, and literature relevant at the time.

"Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in all its beauty."

The movie Baraka teaches a lesson of compassion, unity, and empathy for all humanity normally only achieved by the finest of World Literature. It is rare that a film can present such a message in a meaningful way, as the deepest most big box office movies normally get is about to the level of intellectual stimulation achieved by Donnie Darko or Memento. In this way Baraka becomes more of an item of World Literature than one of the cinema. Its strong images provoke compassion and bring revelation for all aspects of our society, from the poverty and yet intimacy with the earth achieved by many still undeveloped cultures from Australia to sub-saharan Africa. It is indeed moving to witness this connection still very much alive in these cultures while almost the entirety of the rest of the world has left that far behind.
A second very moving and meaningful image was the people moving through the subway, all sped up. I actually disagree with Brussat's assertion that those images were included with the purpose of merely showing the value of only efficiency and compulsion in society, pushing compassion to the side. I would say that those images, interspersed with images of small chicks being tumbled through machines, being catalogued and handicapped and shuttled into incredibly confined spaces to work tirelessly for some corporation, providing their eggs and meat for people to eat, were meant to be drawn a parallel to the chicks. The images are meant to show how the people ferrying through the turns and doors and checkpoints and turnstiles of the subway system are identical to the chicks, the only difference is that the people maintain the illusion that they are doing it of their own free will. Powerful message.

"Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding."

The ending to Lord of the Flies is very dark. Now obviously, the boys get saved, but it is not a happy reunion with civilized society. "The tears began to flow and sobs shook him... Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy" (Golding 207-208). Ralph finally breaks down, letting all this pent up emotion go, crying for all this terrible stuff that has happened and that the best of his friends, the smart one, the logical one, has died. It is not gleeful, or happy, or up lifting. Even thought they are rescued, and can leave this awful place, they are not ecstatic. I just try to imagine the long ride home, and how awkward it will be. I mean, mere moments earlier, they were all trying to kill Ralph, masked in war paint and brandishing spears of wood, meaning to hunt and murder him, and now they're sitting silently, civil, in the same room. Also, I found it interesting how the description of the savages goes as the officer arrives. Before the arrival of the officer, they are described as,"the savage... a brown figure" (Golding 205). But after the officer arrives, or at least once they meet him, they turn into, "A semicircle of little boys..." (Golding 206). They turn from these large, intimidating, primitive, beasts capable of terrible acts of savagery into small boys, playing at survival, " 'Fun and games,' " (Golding 206). Their actions seem so unlikely, small, insignificant and childish, they aren't expected. Also, one of the Officer's remarks - the civilized representative of society - addressing the small savages really got to me, " 'What have you been doing? Having a war or something?' " (Golding 206). No, that's for the civilized ones. That's for you.

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction."

Well, some of the more obvious symbols in Lord of the Flies are Piggy representing intelligence, logic, and scientific thought, the conch representing order and concrete society, and the island representing the human mind. It is this last symbol that I am going to focus on, as it encompasses many of the other symbols. Each character represents an emotion or characteristic, and each object represents some value. As human thought and consciousness (the airplane and the boys) crashes into the mind (the island) after some horrific accident (the shooting down of the plane), chaos starts to ensue. At first, intelligence (Piggy) is prevalent and keenly felt, and strength and bravery (Ralph) takes over, while kindness and goodness (Simon) is out and about, acting often and being a large part of the whole society of mind. But savagery and bloodlust (Jack) and evil (Roger) slowly wear away at the rest of the mind. Almost at the very beginning, innocence (the littlun with the mulberry birthmark) is lost to some early, un-thought- out act (the forest fire). Then, as bloodlust gains more and more power, it envelops some group of unsure-ness (the hunters) to go and get the first drop of blood, of lust (the sow). Then savagery completely loses itself, and throws power away from strength and intelligence and order, and the masses, the actions (the whole of the boys) follow after savagery, and kindness is held down, blamed, while savagery and evil gain power.

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious."

So next week is the opening of A Christmas Carol, the show we are putting on for Monarch High School’s fall play. We are doing it in steampunk style, which is basically an over-dramatization of an alternate future in which steam-powered machinery took over, and basically finer internal software never developed and everything is giant factory, brass and bronze gears and pipes, all over a Victorian England setting. I am in tech as well as an actor. I play Topper, Fred (Scrooge’s nephew)’s friend that accompanies him to his Christmas dinner party.  As for tech, I am in set tech, and we have been building the set diligently for the past couple of weeks. Doc (Gwendolyn Lukas-Doctor), our theater director, and Kelsey Kaisershot, the assistant director have endeavored to put on the show in one month. It’s a pretty tall order, and for the past week and a half, select few members of set tech (including myself) have been staying until at least 7:30 each night working. We are so close and yet so far from finishing. We will see.

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

Piggy is a very interesting character in Lord of the Flies. He is really the representation and personification of intelligence, logic, scientific thinking, and intellect in their group, but he is ignored. He is overweight, has asthma and glasses, and can’t swim. “He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat… [And wore] thick spectacles” (Golding 5) As such he is basically ignored or dismissed as insignificant, and in Jack’s case he is hated. But, he is the voice of reason and organization “what intelligence had been shown was traceable to Piggy,” (Golding 21) and is the one to suggest the keeping of a list of names, of people in the civilization, and is the one that goes around, attempting to learn the names of everyone and organize them into something recognizable.