King Lear puts a different spin on my question. Lear must shed his memories in order to see what has been in front of him all along. At the beginning of the play Lear has power. This power corrupts his vision of truth, he can not see that Cordelia is the only daughter of his who honestly loves him. It is not until the end of the play when Lear finally realizes this, but it is too late. He lived his life with power, but once he no longer has that power he can see his life for what it really was. He must ignore his memories of life in power in order to determine what he should do, or maybe not ignore his memories, just realize that he needs to act differently than he once did.
At a point in the play Lear starts going mad, which brings up more questions; does madness transform memories? Or can memories be transformed on purpose? Can we ever really forget? Do our good or bad memories have a greater affect on the people we become? In the end Lear is a broken man, he reached his downfall because of everything that happened in his life. His bad memories won. But do we always fall if our bad memories preside over our good memories? Or do we prosper?
Monday, October 12, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Blog uno
My question is what effect do our memories have on the people we become/ or the people we aspire to become? Self-analysis is constant, and now more than ever since we graduate at the end of the year, we are finding ourselves and realizing that we need to decide who we want to be. The future is almost in full focus right now as we decide what we want to do after high school, and our memories are part of who we are so at times we want to mimic what we once had in those memories. This question also interests me as I begin to think of my senior essay because I could not explain myself without explaining the places I have been or what I have been through. Two years ago my best friends dad passed away, and I would not be the same person I am now if I hadn't faced that adversity. I want to see how memories like this effect other people too, and I think that if you can see where a person has been you have a better glimpse into why they are the person that they are.
Oedipus exemplifies this dwelling on memories through his avoidance of the truth. His memories of his life include his father as Polybos, not Laios. This is why he doesn't believe the prophecy has come true, because his memory serves that this is not his family. He also has such a respect for his adopted parents that he would never purposefully do that to his family.
My independent study novel The Poisonwood Bible is a perfect example of an answer to my question because it shows the effect Africa and the loss of a family member has on the whole family. They each become totally different people and two even end up living very opposite lifestyles within Africa. No character can spend a day without a memory of what has occurred or what is to happen next.
Oedipus exemplifies this dwelling on memories through his avoidance of the truth. His memories of his life include his father as Polybos, not Laios. This is why he doesn't believe the prophecy has come true, because his memory serves that this is not his family. He also has such a respect for his adopted parents that he would never purposefully do that to his family.
My independent study novel The Poisonwood Bible is a perfect example of an answer to my question because it shows the effect Africa and the loss of a family member has on the whole family. They each become totally different people and two even end up living very opposite lifestyles within Africa. No character can spend a day without a memory of what has occurred or what is to happen next.
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