Comment

My latest comment is Here.

Self Respect

Self respect is an interesting and rather important issue. The idea that you can not like yourself, but sill respect yourself is queer, I had not thought about not liking myself before. I'm not sure if this is the point at which you lose innocence, as the author says. I think that there are many people who like themselves who are no longer as innocent as they wish they where or would claim. She says that you must fail at something, or be beaten at it to achieve self respect. I wonder if this is true? Can you not respect yourself for not having failed as well? I understand how failing would allow you to gain self respect, If you admire yourself for pulling through and moving on.

On another point that is brought up later in the reading, that without self respect, you are nothing. I'm not sure if I agree with this, sure your life is not very pleasant, but I think that it is possible to be happy without respecting yourself, even to some degree. I do wonder though, what would it be like to have no respect for yourself?

I'll leave it on that note.

Response 3

Question 1

After going to the forechains, Billy is confused. He is unsure if he did the right thing by telling the man to return to his post. He wrestles with this concept of what had happened, and also why, before asking the Dansker.

I think this tells us that billy is so nieve and inoccent that he cannot even understand why people would want to disobey rules. This meeting is Billy's first real experience with something dark, and (from his point of view) not good-natured. While he notices this, he cannot really grasp it, because he has no evil motivations himself. He is also not sure what to make of the bribe, as he does not think that money should be a factor in if something is right or not.

Question 2

When Billy confides in the Dansker about the indecent, the Dankser states that it could be another example of how Claggart "has it in for him". Billy, who no longer states that he blatantly disbelieves that Claggart has something against him, asks why the Dansker says this, but gets no answer. He does this, I think, because he is confused. Before, when the speaks to the Dansker, he knows what (in his mind at least) is going on, and therefore, contradicts what is told to him. In this instance however, he does not really understand what happend and why, and so, is willing to listen to what the Dansker has to say. He also realizes that what happened was not honest and straight forward, but in trickery and dishonesty.

Comment

I have commented on someone else's blog Here.

Response 2

Question 1

John Claggart is the almost the complete opposite of Billy, he is older, higher ranking, and described as wicked. Unlike Billy, who is a simple, straight forward person, he has motives and uses deception and second meanings that Billy can't even begin to comprehend. Throughout the book, he speaks in a kind manner to Billy, despite the fact that he has no such kind feelings for him. I think that because he hides his true feelings and motives from people all of the time, he believes that others do the same, and therefore, reads unintended meanings in the actions or statements of others. A good example of this is when Billy spills the soup on the newly cleaned floor, Claggart seems to think that Billy directed this act as an insult toward Claggart himself, and therefore insults him (in a way that Billy does not understand). I believe that Claggart is motivated to dislike and even hate Billy out of envy, Billy represents the ideal person in the story, and Claggart is envious of this perfection.

Image: http://jasonsgrainofsalt.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/envy.jpg

Whilst this image is rather simple, It coveys Claggart’s point of view: Destroy those who have what you can’t.

Question 4

The Dansker is the person whose job is to show/teach Billy about hidden meanings and deception. He repeatedly suggests that Claggart is working against him, and is unfriendly toward Billy. Billy, however, flatly denies this, refusing to believe it. The reason, I think, that he refuses to believe it, is because he cannot believe it, he is a simple person, who does not “deal double meanings”. I think that the Dansker’s task in the story is to help Billy survive the ship, by providing someone for him to confide in, and giving advice.

Comment

My comment on another blog can be found here.

Response 1

This is my first response. (Yay?)

Question 4

The names of the two ships have quite different meanings; Rights of Man refers to freedom to do whatever one likes and to be safe from harm. Bellipotent means the power of war, referring to the fact that it is a warship and that it's goals are destruction and glory. Melville could be demonstration how Billy's former life could be changing from one of freedom and peace to following orders and war.

http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/may/loading-war-ship.jpg

This picture show the loading of a warship, in preparation for battle. It demonstrates the change that will occur in billy's life, from one of calm to one of rush.

Question 5

I believe that this implies that while he may be a nice, good looking person, he is quite innocent and perhaps not even very clever. Also, this could mean that he is the type of person who does not use trickery or speak any meaning beyond the literal one, a straight forward person.

Goals for English 20

I have two main goals for english 20:

• Improve my essay writing skills, as most of the essays I end up writing are too short and below average quality.
• Get an 80%+ in the English 20 course.

I will achieve these goals by working harder than I normally would on assignments and dedicating more time to essay writing, so that I am not rushed when working on them.

When I have achieved my goals I will have a mark higher than 80% at the end of the course and I will not have a problem writing good essays longer than 3 pages.

Farxodor

The First Post

I'd like to wecome everyone to my blog. As you could have guessed from the name, the Empty Journal is, well, a Journal that is Empty (not really). I will be posting on this blog whenever I want, about whatever I want and I will stop, guess what, whenever I want.

Enjoy,
Farxodor