Sunday, March 15, 2020
Why study Shakespeare or Plato in Plague Times?
35 comments:
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Well looks like I'm the first one here!
ReplyDeleteYay!!!
DeleteThe book looked like it could be drawn by Shakespeare :)
ReplyDeleteAnaluz German
Hi, I really don't like being inside.It makes me depressed, more than I already am.
ReplyDeleteUgh I know I HATE IT SO MUCH
DeleteIdk if we're in the same class, but same lol.
DeleteThis was great and much needed but I really wish we were in class :(
ReplyDeleteMichelle Adlin
Why do i find this funny? the other mice are really dumb for frederick to play with their minds.
ReplyDeleteFrederick is not playing with their minds! The point of the story is that it looks like Frederick is not working because he is not doing physical labor but mental labor, like what we do in class, IS A KIND OF WORK AND HAS VALUE
DeleteHowever, without physical labor Frederick couldn't do his 'mental' labor. Never ending fight mind vs body or religion vs science.
DeleteKrzysztof Szczepanik
This story reminds me of The Ant and The Grasshopper but with a reversed ending because instead of Frederick being considered lazy, he's smart, while the grasshopper is just a slacker. Loved it!
ReplyDelete-Deborah Majowka
It's interesting to think though, that Frederick IS doing work, right? But he also can't survive without the other mice having done their jobs. If they hadn't gathered the corn and nuts and wheat and straw, Frederick would die. So how do we be Frederick, gathering sun and colors and words, and not die?
ReplyDelete-Mackenzie Winter
Well I think we have to both gather corn and nuts and straw AND ALSO care about poetry and art. But the point is a lot of people feel like the gathering is WORK and the poetry and art is play and the thing to remember is that you are ALSO DOING WORK when you do poetry, and that being able to gather food and being able to talk about poetry are BOTH IMPORTANT THINGS. Too many people think the poetry part of just silly
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYou probably mentioned this in the video but did you choose this book in order to compare what the mice are going through to what people in the world are going through in terms of maybe having to stay at home all day or most of the day and being quarantined? The mice was inside of their place or home and had to endure waiting out the season (Even when their food was gone and they seemed to not have much to talk about) but they used their imaginations in order to cheer up.
ReplyDeleteP.S.: Don't fear this coronavirus. God is in control. He loves you. Have a blessed day.
I chose it because Frederick is like the Shakespeare or Plato student right now — that kind of study doesn’t seem important when there are more practical concerns (COVID, gathering food for the winter), but that FREDERIC and YOU BEING A STUDENT RIGHT NOW, is still a useful and valuable form of WORK that we need as much as the practical stuff.
DeleteBeing a children's book it give off a mindset of a philosopher. At first I find the plot to be interesting because I felt that the mouse would up dead due to the lack of food. But when fredrick came in with the ideas of using words to fulfill the mouses stomachs. If it comes to reality Fredrick is that lazy person but uses more of the brain to solve problem. while the other just the hard workers where they don't gain anything.
ReplyDeleteFredrick uses his brain to go higher up, while the other mice stay in one places. Like what Socrates throughout Phaedrus
Forgot to change the Username
DeleteVara Zheng
English 101
That is a really good observation! Thank you! Frederick only LOOKS lazy — what he is doing is a kind of work and it’s valuable. A lot of folks are concerned with survival and I wanted people to never forget, even when survival is important, that poetry and philosophy is important too!
DeleteThis is true. Frederick and the other three mice portray a very similar picture of Socrates and Phaedrus. Just how the other three mice gathered food for survival,Socrates talks about how sometimes people tend to love others based on their appearance; and just like survival SOME choose to live a lie and only care about how they appear in front of others such as being rich or to be in a relationship with someone who is handsome or beautiful despite the fact they're being treated bad or abusively. Although it is true food is needed for survival, I'm really just relating food to "unhealthy love" as some in reality really live for LOVE. So just like Frederick, Socrates also talks about true beauty, if you love someone for their true selves (personality wise, their flaws etc) you see true beauty everywhere; which in this case is poetry. It is true that we have tons of things to worry about other than school (especially at this time - CORONAVIRUS) but as students, to succeed we also need to have a deep understanding of what is important. Now with the coronavirus epidemic, people are stocking up on food putting at risk people who cannot buy food at this moment. However, it should be understood that food alone will not save one from infection whilst food keeps the body alive, one should know that many people are dying for reasons other than food. For instance, many people die by suicide because of mental and emotional problems therefore, to avoid unecessary deaths due to suicide we need more than just food. We need to feed the soul and not just the body. Music, poetry, friendship, partnership and families all contribute to saving the body and the soul. Poetry certainly saves the soul.
ReplyDeleteOops, sorry forgot to put my name.
Delete- Fasitoo Samuelu
Well said! Thank you!
DeleteHi
ReplyDeleteThis story depicts how meaningful activity does not necessarily have to be forced or strenuous labor but rather actions which contribute to the end result. - Yohannes
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteThe story definitely made me realize how we can make the best of our situation and why it is important to continue our studies.
ReplyDeleteGood!
DeleteOn one hand, we can interpret the story from a pragmatic point of view and chastise Frederik for possibly being aloof, lazy, idealistic, and detached from the physical world, from physical needs and the basic biology of people (or, in this case, mice). We can argue that Maslow's hierarchy of needs is most obvious here: that in order to self-actualize at the top of the pyramid, all the prior needs need to be met (in descending order): esteem, love/belonging, safety, and physiology (ex: food and water). For example, a sleep deprived student is not likely to fully thrive in the classroom- neither is it likely for a well rested student who is depressed. But on the other hand, we can also realize how the means of life aren't all that there is to life itself, just like how the point of getting into a university isn't to eternally be a student, but to get your degree and go on to greater things. Even Maslow's hierarchy can be disputed, and a more cyclical model can be postulated: what if the tired student finds a passion for what they're studying, and this causes them to alter the circumstance or decision in their life which has them sleep deprived?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, it can all be summarized with: "We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." (Dead Poets Society).
GREAT MOVIE QUOTE! WELL DEPLOYED!
DeleteUnbelievably enough, I haven't yet seen that film! But that's the power of film, as you know- you don't have to even necessarily see it yourself to know that it has traces of truth or to hear about its great power from the others who have seen it, just like you didn't/don't have to watch Star Wars in order to know what a lightsaber is or who Darth Vader is- regardless of whether you've seen Star Wars or not, it has irrevocably altered the zeitgeist/culture. Or like how people in general weren't familiar with the evacuation of Dunkirk before DUNKIRK came out, but now, that much more- not just the WWII historians- of the general populace does know what Dunkirk was/means. Amazing.
DeleteI do that all the time! Somehow these ideas just get in your brain!
DeleteThe previous comment was me. I love Nolan!!!
ReplyDeleteThe Prestige is one of the greatest films I have ever seen. Are you gonna take my film class next term?
DeleteI like Fredrick's character. Observing and taking in the surrounding can be just as fun as work. As someone who enjoys that kind of activity above all us, it's good to see it has it's use when other activities or not available.
ReplyDeleteIt isn’t that other activities are not available (Frederick can gather grain; he just doesn’t), and I guess either can be fun depending on who you are — the main point is that thinking IS A FORM OF WORK, and while it doesn’t LOOK valuable, IT ABSOLUTELY IS
Delete