MY FAVORITE LECTURES
My favorite lectures from this semester included the Perfection, Broken and Antigone lectures.
Perfection Lecture
For the Perfection lecture, the lecture was about why the desire or pursuit of perfection was not ideal. What I took away from this lecture was:
Raina: You lose individuality, yourself and purpose
Jason: You learn nothing from something that is perfect
Taha (myself): Everyone’s vision of perfection is different, egocentric. Seeking for improvement can help prevent seeking perfection.
John: Picturing with an imagination changes your present view
Simmone/Muhammad: Chasing perfection can lead to negative outcomes and views
Aryan: People will always find flaws in perfection
Collin: Impossible and lose what makes you unique
Andrew: Never be satisfied when you look for perfection
Through these takeaways, my analysis was that the pursuit for perfection is unideal because it often makes a person feel immensely flawed. To be perfect is impossible and to chase something that is impossible will be tiring and draining. A person who desires to be perfect or wants something that is perfect will never be happy and will never enjoy the good that they already have. I understood that instead of chasing perfection people should seek to constantly improve. This way there is no drain of being flawed and rather there is happiness from improvement and success in the form of getting better over time.
The concept learned in this lesson was that the pursuit of perfection is wrong. Fundamentally perfection is different in everyone's eyes and is unachievable in almost every aspect except perhaps mathematics when adding one and one together to make two. We learned that those who seek perfection often forget what is good in their lives right in front of them. People who seek perfection also often end up worsening their situations by not accepting anything below perfection which leads to a lot of missed opportunities and a lack of improvement.
The concept learned in this lesson was that the pursuit of perfection is wrong. Fundamentally perfection is different in everyone's eyes and is unachievable in almost every aspect except perhaps mathematics when adding one and one together to make two. We learned that those who seek perfection often forget what is good in their lives right in front of them. People who seek perfection also often end up worsening their situations by not accepting anything below perfection which leads to a lot of missed opportunities and a lack of improvement.
Broken Lecture
For the Broken lecture, the lecture was about what it means to be broken and how Blanche specifically was broken. What I took away from what it means to be broken was:
-A state of emotional stress -Lost -Fractured -Shattered -Surrounded by negative emotions, lacking optimism -Empty -Fragmented -Doesn’t feel like themselves -Suffering -Isolated -Spiritually Broken
-Guilt -Lacks Solace -Sad -Vulnerable -Desperate -Hurt -Lonely -Self Preservation
Through these takeaways, my analysis was that being broken was the state of feeling like there is something inherently wrong with you that can never be fixed, putting the person in a deep state of depression and making them feel hopeless.
The concept learned in this lesson was expectations. We gained from the lecture the idea that people in general base their level of success and where they are in life or just general wants and needs based on expectations. Whether it be personal, societal, or anything like relationships, expectations have a huge part to play in the way a person sees themselves.
Antigone Lecture
For the Antigone lecture, the lecture was about character descriptions to help us better understand each characters role and behavior while we read. What I took away from the lecture was:Creon was the ruthless and dominating king of Thebes who took the law very serious (himself since he was the law of Thebes)
Ismene was the passive, compliant but loyal sister of Antigone.
Antigone was bold and rebellious niece of Creon who defied his law for the reason that to her divine law superseded human law or Creon's edict.
Through these takeaways, my analysis was that the dynamic between these characters would have been one that fittingly put each of them in a specific role with the events to come. With Creon's ruthless and dominating nature, it was fitting that he would not be merciful in his response to Antigone's rebellious actions when she buries her brother in defiance of Creon's edict and her sisters pleas to not defy the law because of her compliant nature.
The concept learned in this lesson was character analysis. This helps us readers be better able to understand a writing piece by taking apart the characters and understanding their behavior. I took away the usefulness of character analysis and the character traits that we discovered about Creon, Ismene and Antigone which helped me later on during the play and the rest of the semester as well.