The Holocaust?!

On page 90 of Volume 2 of Maus, Spiegelman creates an interesting argument, focusing not on the horrors of the Holocaust or its impact upon the world but instead on its impact upon the individual. Art argues that his father actually takes pride in surviving the Holocaust, and that doing so has altered him in many ways, including giving him a slight sense of entitlement. Vladek manipulates the store manager by explaining "[his] health, how Mala left [him], and how it was in the camps" (Spiegelman 90). He knows that doing so will allow him to get special deals that aren't available to the normal customer, as he is manipulating the manager's emotions to make him feel guilty. Vladek seems to think that by living through the Holocaust, he is given certain privileges unavailable to others. In addition, Art suggests that Vladek "didn't survive" the Holocaust, implying that some part of him changed irrevocably from the person he used to be (Speigelman 90). Through this page, Spiegelman describes how the Holocaust left a permanent mark upon those that were a part of it, and how despite their best efforts, it would continue to play a major part in the future and define them for the rest of their lives. 

Pictures?!

When we were bringing in pictures of ourselves to show the class, I spent a LOT of time looking at those photo albums. Not really because I wanted to find an amazing picture or anything, but because I was so lost in all the memories that were in those gigantic books. I'm pretty sure I spent over an hour just looking at pictures of my family from over 10 years ago. 

Even though I tried to remember those pictures and the memories surrounding them, I couldn't. Sure, there were a few pictures that I remembered being taken (mostly the recent ones), but I couldn't remember a lot of the pictures ever happening. Basically, because I had no memory of the time, I had to assume whatever the pictures showed was reality. 

However, I think it's safe to say those pictures were not an accurate representation of my childhood. I mean, some of those pictures (a lot of them actually) are candid, but even so, they were nearly all pictures of me smiling or laughing or just doing something adorable. There's no way my parent's ever took pictures of me crying or pouting or doing dumb baby stuff; instead, they decided to focus only on the cute baby stuff, because those are the memories everyone wants to remember. Maybe that's why everyone likes childhood so much: not necessarily because they remember having a great time or anything, but because all the pictures they have show them having a great time.

Still, I have no doubt that childhood was probably the happiest point in my life (no school, no worries, no problems, just fun). The pictures just misrepresent reality slightly by showing only the fun and nothing else.

Good times, even though I look like a serial killer.

Society?!

People are really dumb.

Actually, that statement is wrong. Every person alone isn’t dumb; in fact, people can be really smart as individuals. It’s society that’s the problem.

Humans have somehow managed to create a society in which value is based on some arbitrary property, like the size of a house or the size of one’s brain or even the number of likes on a profile picture. This classification system isn’t something that develops with age—in fact, high school is arguably the biggest perpetrator of this structure. Walk through the halls during passing time and you’ll see many different groups, ranging from “the nerds” to “the jocks,” from “the popular kids” to “the Goths.”  Somehow, the environment around us makes us separate ourselves into different groups. This in itself isn’t the problem, because different friend groups are a natural and beneficial part of society; the problem is when each group decides the other groups are worthless and isolates itself from the others, effectively creating its own mini-society. These social orders only cause problems within society, instead of helping it—because every individual is encouraged to find their own niche and socialize exclusively within it, people miss out on a lot of productive and enjoyable relationships.

Instead of isolating ourselves within just our own friend groups, we should learn to work together as one community. But first, we need to stop thinking about ourselves and instead focus on the bigger picture.

This person is probably just dumb.

Cake?!

For about half of The Hours, Laura Brown is obsessed with baking the perfect cake for her husband's birthday. For some reason, she believes that nothing but the best will do; she even throws away the first, simpler cake in order to make a beautiful blue frosted cake. But why does she do it?

After thinking about this for a bit, I'm still not really sure why she did it, but I think I figured something out. When Laura and Richie are baking the cake, Richie asks why they're baking the cake. Laura responds with, "We're baking the cake to show that we love [the father]". In addition, Laura decides to throw away the first cake after her episode with her neighbor that reveals a different side of her. I think that Laura throws away the first cake because it represents her inner self; it is not perfect, it is somewhat simple, and it isn't really ornate. She then bakes the second cake as a representation of what others think her to be. The second cake is extremely decorated and covered in icing; like the cake's perfection, Laura is supposed to have the perfect life because she has a loving husband, friendly neighbors, and a happy child. This is the version of herself that her husband sees, and this is the version she shows him at dinner.

Laura tries to hide her flaws from society, which ultimately results in her snapping and abandoning her family to be herself.

"We're baking the cake to show him that we love him."

"Otherwise he won't know we love him?"

"That's right."

Ambulances?!

"One of the triumphs of civilisation, Peter Walsh thought. It is one of the triumphs of civilisation, as the light high bell of the ambulance sounded. Swiftly, cleanly the ambulance sped to the hospital, having picked up instantly, humanely, some poor devil; someone hit on the head, struck down by disease, knocked over perhaps a minute or so ago at one of these crossings, as might happen to oneself. That was civilisation" (Woolf 151).

This entire passage stinks of irony. Just a few pages ago, Woolf describes Septimus's hatred for the constricting and efficient nature of British society; however, when Peter views the ambulance that is sent for Septimus, he sees it as a sign of the humanity and care of the British. This sharp contrast just adds to the theme of multiplicity that appears throughout the novel: the ideals and beliefs of a nation that appear horrible and restricting to one person also seem heroic and beautiful to another. Septimus does not believe that a rigid structure of civilization is important when compared to the beauty inside people's minds (especially his). In contrast, Peter believes that this structure is very important; this is why he wants to be seen as equals by the higher members of society and why he is afraid of their mockery. In addition, the possible conditions Peter gives to the man in the ambulance are eerily accurate. Septimus was not hit only on the head, but he certainly was hit, as his body ends up mangled and distorted. In addition, Septimus did develop a mental disease after coming back from the war; this PTSD-like condition is one of the reasons why he killed himself. The last possible condition, while not relating to Septimus, symbolizes his views on the importance of every individual.

"I'm a symbol of British civilization"

Multiplicity?!

"So they crossed, Mr. and Mrs. Septimus Warren Smith, and was there, after all, anything to draw attention to them, anything to make a passer-by suspect here is a young man who carries in him the greatest message in the world, and is, moreover, the happiest man in the world, and the most miserable?"


This one sentence characterizes Woolf's views on the importance of the individual perfectly. The hyperbole she uses ("greatest message in the world") shows how important this idea is to Septimus; he believes that he has truly figured out the meaning of life and wants to share it with the world. This desire to share symbolizes the belief of an individual that his/her thoughts are of the highest importance. After all, one's thoughts are private and others do not know about them; this is represented in the sentence by the metaphorical passer-by's lack of knowledge about Septimus's thoughts. In addition, the paradox at the end of the sentence adds to the motif of multiplicity present throughout Mrs. Dalloway; Septimus is simultaneously ecstatic and depressed due to his experiences and his ideas. In the same way, humans have several different emotions swirling under their surface--they are not one dimensional organisms, but instead complex and convoluted beings that experience multiple feelings at once. The syntax throughout this sentence also adds to this motif of multiplicity: there are 9 commas in this one sentence, separating the sentence into 10 sections that are independent but still linked as one sentence. In a similar manner, the emotions and thoughts one has and experiences can be disjoint of each other, but they are still connected because they all belong to one person.

Life?!

There are people that like to just enjoy life and to live in the moment...and then there's Virginia Woolf.

Seriously, her piece "The Death of the Moth" was really deep and ponderous. That's not to say that it was bad--I really liked it and the ideas it implied. For most of my life, I thought that life was about living in the present. Of course, as I got older, I was forced to change my view on that--I had to somewhat plan my future out and get a vague idea of what I was going to do eventually, which made it impossible to focus just on the present. Woolf's story about the death of an insignificant little insect emphasizes the frailty of life and the intensity of death--after reading it, I felt simultaneously amazed and afraid by the thin line between the two. However, this theme only stresses the importance of enjoying life to the fullest; if life is so fleeting and frail, then why not enjoy it while it lasts? The fact that "death is stronger" than that tiny moth means that the moth should relish its small lifespan and do the most it can, like the birds that fly around and pretend that life is "a tremendously exciting experience" (Woolf 696, 697). 

To quote Eleanor Roosevelt, “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”