Sophocles' "Antigone"

“No, justice will not suffer you to

do that; you did not consent to the deed, nor

I give you part in it” (Sophocles 104).

This quote takes place when Ismene wanted to take some of the blame for Antigone's deliberate disobedience.   Antigone wants to take full credit for burying her father's body.   Ismene said she would never defy Creon's orders and then wished to take partial blame for her sister's actions, though she doesn't support it.  Antigone wanted full credit of what she did for herself.  There was a sense of honor in it, much like the type of honor you see in "In a grove."

In " The Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman" the dichotomy between disposing of dead babies and feeding someone with a death sentence over his head starkly illustrates this concept of morality. This subject made me think of the Madoff and Enron cases in my Business morality and ethics course.  On the one hand, Enron was doing a service to the energy market by providing people with a means to have energy at more affordable prices through their transformation of energy supplies into financial instruments that can be traded online like stocks and bonds.   On the other hand, they stole $1.7 billion in fake earnings by lying on their balance sheets.   My understanding of morality has shifted as a result of this course because I came to learn that morality has multiple faces and no one person, company or entity is solely good or evil. 

Plato, “Crito”

I found Crito to be a bit confusing and hard to understand because of the dialogue.  The premise of the story was that Socrates, who was wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, decided to not attempt on escaping prison.  He wanted to abide by the "Laws" that governed his beautiful city, though the laws were good, the people governing them weren't.

Crito tries to persuade Socrates to escape and one of his most powerful arguments in favor of escaping was because Socrates would send the message that what his enemies are doing to him is right.  Socrates said that he would be harming the laws if he escaped. 

"In a grove" - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

This short story was quite strange but got my thinking about how some people are willing to lie just to be seen as honorable.  The main character who got murdered,  Takehiko, even lied about his testimony (although he was dead) and lied that he committed suicide because that was more honorable. 

In this story, we hear the testimony of seven individuals from a small town in Japan.  The unique thing was that each testimony confuses the issue further until ultimately, we have no clue what exactly happened on that day or the murder of Takehiko and the rape of his wife. None of the testimonies can be fully trusted because each individual had such a different perspective and it seemed each individual brings his or her own personal agenda into the report for the sake of honor. 

One man, Tajamaru claims he killed the man and even boasts about it, as if he was proud of what he allegedly done, though it seems as though he hasn't done the killing based off the other testimonials..   The reader is left to question every angle of the story but there isn't sufficient evidence to say without a doubt who was responsible for the events that took place on that day. 

"The wino got up, slowly, pulling himself up to the stool, then up to the counter, holding on for a minute until his legs stopped shaking so bad.  He looked at me with pure hate. "Keep your twenty six cents.  You don't have to pay, not now.  I just finished paying for it." (para. 35)

 

            After reading this autobiography excerpt, I felt sadness for how mistreated this man was.  The excerpt showed how cruel people can be and how it can affect an individual for life.  Richard Gregory "was pregnant with poverty." He absolutely had nothing in his life and this made me think of how our lives are today.  

            Today, we take advantage of what is available to us and we live in abundance and surplus.  Not many people today, specifically in America suffer the way Richard suffered.  We do not usually worry about what food to eat but rather, we worry about what phones to get or whether it be Mexican, Chinese or Italian food for dinner.  We have endless choices and by reading this short segment, It was hard imagining what life would be like in Richards' shoes. 

            On top of living in complete poverty, the paragraph above depicts a point where Richard had "googobs" or an overabundance of money in his pocket.  He witnessed a "wino" or bum, just getting beaten for not having enough money to pay for the meal.  Out of the kindness of his hear, Richard offered to pay the bill and the man was as unthankful as can be.  That feeling is terrible because I had a similar experience of my own once.  A bum approached me and asked for some money, to which I felt generous and gave five dollars.  The bum stalked me and demanded I give more money with pure hatred.  Richard's situation was much worse of course, however I felt very sick about the situation myself. 

            When someone allocates hatred to a kind heart, it only hurts the person trying to help.  The person was never obligated to help to begin with and by not being thankful, but rather hateful only makes the world a harder place to live in.  If more people can be conscience of others' emotions, we would be a happier society because this kind of treatment is quite prevalent today. 

Dover Beach

 "Sophocles long ago

   Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought

   Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow

   Of human misery; we

   Find also in the sound a thought,

   Hearing it by the distant northern sea."

I feel this section of this poem is important because it shows how even a man of great influence and importance was so deeply affected by the clashing sounds of "struggle and flight."  The waves and sounds of Dover Beach bring a daunting feeling to everyone coming into contact with it.  Much like the haunting, confusing and hypnotizing feeling one would feel in a place of confusion and pain.  This part of the poem brings the reader back to ancient Greece.  Sophocles was making an analogy between human unhappiness and the cloudy water.  Arnold brings us to the past and present almost seamlessly by inserting the "We" in the 18th line.  He wanted to let the reader know that this same experience that he was having had been experienced by many others centuries ago.  The conception of time did not have to mean anything, because Dover Beach was still there long before, giving that same exact experience to others.