Blog 8: Thematic Connections

In my English class we have discussed a number of different thematic connections but the one theme that caught my attention most was the idea of free will. Both the movie The Minority Report and the book Oedipus the king has helped me understand the idea of free will. After being exposed to both the book and the movie I know how free will works and how more control we have in life than we think we do.

     In Oedipus the king, Oedipus makes a various amount of choices to avoid having a horrible prophecy for told to him by the gods. Oedipus uses free will as he tries to change his fate. Although at the end of Oedipus’s attempts to alter his fate had failed he still made choices that led him to the fate that he ended up suffering.

     In the Movie the minority report a crime relief system called pre-crime was created in attempts to slow down the crime rate in Washington D.C. Free will was notput into concideration in this movie as people were imprisoned becase of crimes they were supossed to commit and not what they committed. The people never got the chance to chose to commit the crime. 

   

Blog 7: Reflection on blogging

       When college classes offer students to type out their work rather than to have them write them in journals it becomes a convince for the students as they do not have to keep up with paper that they could lose. Another benefit is how easy it is for the professor to read your hand writing. In many cases the professor may encounter a paper that looks like it was written in another language do to sloppy hand writing thus effecting the student's grade. Blogging your assignments is a faster easier way to stay organized.
       In my english 101 class the professor requires that students post up blogs on a website known as www.blogspot.com. rather than have use journals for him to collect and read. I personally found this method easier on my pockets as i don't need to buy a separate notebook. All I have to do is type my essay on my blogspot account and publish it. The professor can easily read the post immediately after its been posted and i get my grade faster.My hand writing isn't the greatest as sometimes it can appear as sloppy but with blogspot i have fewer grammar errors and my hand writing is legible.
     Although this is a good site to do the assignments i would say the only drawback i had with this site is the misplacement of my blogs. For example when i posted a blog on the wrong page the teacher never got it. It took alot of trial and error to get this right and almost risked my grade.

       

Blog 6: Free will and determinism

      When people hear the words "free will" people often think of the word choice and the ability to change fate for better or worse. People who believe in free will usually go against the idea that everything that happens is meant to happen that way and inevitability isn't an option.Free will means that anything is possible and you have controll and power over your own fate. People who believe in determinism believe that everything happens due to the nature of law and nothing can sway it.
       In the movie"The Minority Report" a system  Known as pre-crime is created to stop future criminals from committing crimes before they comit them. the potential criminal is caught just at the right time before the crime is committed.In the movie it is argued that this system violates human rights has none of the captured people have actually committed the crimes they were said to commit.Free will plays in important role in this argument as the in the movie some people argued that nothing is inevitable until it happens as none of the captured people committed crimes. In the end the idea of free will triumphs as it gets proven that people do have a choice with their actions leading to the downfall of the pre-crime system.
       In the play "Oedipus the king" a man named Oedipus hears of his terrible fate to kill his father and sleep with his mother at Delphi by the gods. Oedipus attempts to escape his fate by running away from home and finds himself in the city of Thebes. On his way there he unknowingly confronts the king of Thebes, his father. Oedipus kills the king and his men out of rage due to an argument that took place between them. After being crowned the new king he meets a woman named Jocasta, his mother. He then marries her and has children with her as well. Oedipus denied what the gods told him yet still ended up following his destiny anyway. This is an example of determinism as in the play Oedipus's fate appeared as inevitable.
             Free will is believed to be the ability to change the outcome of the situation.Free will can gives people the abiltiy to decide their own fates through their actions.Determinism is the opposite of free will and means that the inevitable must and will happen. In the movie "The Minority Report" Freewill was the main point and even though something is predicted it doesn't have to happen. In the play "Oedipus the king" Oedipus's fate was undodgeable and ment to happen as his prophosey was fortold him by the gods and even though he did all in his power to dodge fate he ended up playing in the hands of it.