Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The Nature of Humanity


"We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell." --Oscar Wilde


"We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another." --Lucretius
Please read the above quotations. Which one more closely fits your personal philosophy and why? Which one might Gabriel Garcia Marquez and/or Nathaniel Hawthorne agree with and why? Do you think the two quotations necessarily oppose each other?

24 comments:

matt f. said...

I personally agree with the first quote. Only you have the power to control whether your life is positive or negative, and that decision can be made by how you choose to view things that happen to you. I think that Hawthorne would agree with this quote also, as his story includes the
inner battle of Goodman Brown, and how he eventually chooses to go to the meeting.

erikaw said...

I personally agree with the second quote. I believe that in order to make things happen in life, you have you work hard and work together as a team. Unlike myself I think that Marquez might agree with the first wuote because in his story, he wrote that the "angel" made things happen for himself, and didn't let anyone or anything get in the way of that happening for him. I think the two quotations both oppose and agree with one another. You can make your life as miserable as you want to, or you can make your life as enjoyable as you want to.

KariB said...

Like Matt, I identify more with the first quote. I interperted it as life is what you make of it. Most negative situations can be transformed it you put your mind to it. I don't really think the quotes oppose each other either. My interpertation makes both of the somewhat positive. I think Hawthorne would also agree with the first quote. Goodman Brown's "dream" cast him into his own sort of hell. It was a personal hell that the townspeople nor his wife knew about.

juliab said...

This is Laura posting with Julia's account. Just so y'all know.

I agree with the second quote. Every person is slightly good, but we are led astray so many times by evil, that it takes extra support to help us be good.
I think the authors would have agree with this quote because each person needs help from another to help us regain our lives back. Goodman Brown needed Faith and the people of the town needed the angel. I think that the quotes do not necessarily oppose each other. They are basically saying the same thing. Each person isn't fully good, and we slip and trip up which makes it harder for us to be good.

zachf said...

I also agree with Matt about the first quote. It identifies with my personal philosophy of life is what you make it, it is up to you whether or notyou want to make it positive or negative. I think Hawthorne would agree with the first quote because he shows that in the case of Goodman Brown he did not have to leave Faith and, like Kari said, cast himself into his own personal hell. It was up to Brown to choose how he wanted to live his life.

KylieYoum said...

I believe there's a big contrast between the negative outlook of life and positive outlooks represented in the quotes, haha, so yes, I'd say they oppose each other. I personally agree with the first one, since everyone really does have a natural fighter/evil side to them that is just waiting to come out. Hawthorne would probably go with the first one, I'd say.

Declan "Danger" said...

I agree with the first one. I interpret it the same way Kari does, life is what you make it. If our world is a hell, we made it that way. I think hawthorne would agree with the first one. Goodman Brown made the choice to go into the woods in his dream, which was essentially his own personal hell.

jimmym92 said...

These are the extremes of philosophical veiws. I think Oscar Wilde's veiws are closer to mine. I beleive that there is evil in everyone and that we make this world what we want it to be no matter how much we say we are protecting the enviroment but i don't think that makes this world hell. The second qoute kinda says that we can't fend for ourselves which i don't beleive at all.

Anonymous said...

I think that I relate with the first quote the most because I agree with matt f. and karib said. I think that life is every thing that you make it. However, life doesn’t have to be a hell. If you stay positive, do your best, and make good choices life can be like heaven. I think that Hawthorn would have agreed with the first quote because Goodman made decisions that eventually led to his gloom. Goodman made choices that led him to meet the devil and him loosing faith. He could have chosen otherwise but decided not to.

I think that the first and second quote relate to each other because when you make your life hell it also impacts other people’s life negatively. We may need each other to fly and succeed, but when one of us is drowning we seem to grab onto other people and take them down with us.

Unknown said...

Being something of a pessimist, I agree with the first quote. I seriously think that everything bad that happens in our lives are our own stinking fault. This is probably also due to my beliefs. I believe that when Adam and Eve sinned they brought sin on all of us and that sin is also the cause of all our problems. Judging by Young Goodman Brown and based off my arguments of the last blog I would say that Nathaniel Hawthorne would agree with me. I would say that Marquez would agree with the first quote as well as many of the situations in the story are brought about by the actions of the characters and not the angel.

The quotes oppose each other to a certain extent but they also manage to agree on the fact that man alone isn't good enough. Either way we each need something (and I have my opinion of what that is though others I'm sure would disagree) to help us "off the ground."

kenna_d said...

I agree with the second quote to a certain extent. I think that we are all truly good on the inside, but I think that this quote may put too much reliance on one another. We, of course, need one another to survive, but I don't think it is to the point of causing us an impediment like not having a whole wing.

On the other hand, I think that Hawthorne would agree with the second quote as opposed to the first. I think that his story illustrates the weakness of humans in things that tempt us, things we know we shouldn't do.

Both quotes are relevant, we create our own hell, but with each other's help, we can begin to escape that.

chelseah said...

To me, the first quote better describes my philosophy because I believe that everyone is their own problems, and you can make your life as much of a hell as you want it ot be. There is a little bit of the devil in everyone, and they show through in different ways and situations. I think that Marquez and Hawthorne would also agree with this quote because of the the themes that their stories had. Both of their stories were negative, in took place in their own hell that they created. I think that the two quotes oppose eachother because of the subjects, but in a way they also go hand in hand because they support the same thing.

jordanc said...

The quote that fits me more is "We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another." I think it fits my personal philosophy because I believe that we can make our life how we want it to be and we rely on others to make it better. If we are all kind to each other and think of others before ourselves, then yes we are like angels that embrace one another. Nathaniel Hawthorne may have agreed with the quote, "We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell," because Young Goodman Brown's dream was his own hell with everything that happened. I don't think the two quotations necessarily oppose eachother because they kind of go hand in hand. If you make your own life miserable then you are being your own personal devil but if you make your life as best as possible and treat other people the way you want to be treated, then you are more like an angel that can only fly by embracing one another.

briang said...

I believe that the first quote would more closely fit my personal philosophy. I believe that everyone has a dark side to them and that things happen because you make them happen. I believe everything happens for a reason, and this quote amplifies this. We can make the world our hell if we choose to. But I would also agree with the second one because I believe everyone has some good in them too. To me, the second quote says that there is good in everyone, and if we help each other we can be successful. I agree with both quotes but I would say the first one more closely fits my philosophy.

I think that both Marquez and Hawthorne would agree with the first quote as well because both stories illustrated examples of what this quote is saying. In Young Goodman Brown, he chose to make his life hell by following the devil through the woods. He determined his own destiny. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings also demonstrates this quote because the angel and even the girl who was turned into the spider determined their own destiny through their actions.

I believe the quotes do oppose each other on the level that one talks of angels while the other speaks of the devil. But I also think they go together because they both send a similar message; that we determine our own destiny. Our lives are what we make it.

I can't believe I just said that much...

blair said...

I agree more with the first quote because from what I understand of it, it is saying we have the power over our situation and we can make it hell if we chose to or we can make it better.

I think that both Gabriel and Nathaniel would agree with the first one. When Gabriel wrote about the Old Man With Enormous Wings he didn't seemed pleased by the way the society treated the "angel". They created a hell in their own town. Nathaniel on the other hand wrote about Goodman Brown. Goodman Brown was his own devil. He put himself in a situation that he could have avoided, and in the end payed the consequences.

I don't think that the quotes oppose eachother at all. One is about how alone we can hurt our situation and the other is about how together we can make it better. They are talking about different things I think. The first one is more negative and the second is the more positive one. Th

TyC said...

I would relate more to the second quote. Like Erika said, you can't make it through life without the help of others. I also think that other people can sometimes bring out the best in you. Hawthorne definitely relates to the first quote, Young Goodman Brown is all about the devil inside people. I think that the quotes oppose each other because the first one says that there is the devil in everyone and the second quote says that there is an angel in everyone.

Anonymous said...

I am finding it very difficult to decide which quote I more closely identify with. I agree with the first quote in that we are our biggest influence over our lives. We control how we want to direct our lives, and therefore, we have control over which direction our life will head it.
However, I also agree with the second quote in that in this world, we are all flawed. We cannot make it on our own. We cannot make it through life on our own. This quote also shows that you make your life what you want to make it under the circumstances. This quote explains how we are all lacking a wing. This shows that we are not complete, we are missing something vital, and we are most definitely imperfect. I think that this shows how despite our flaws, we can make the choice to look at life the way we want. We can choose to accept our flaws and build off them to make things better, and or seek the help of others in life to help us get through things, or we can choose to realize our flaws and give up completely in result.

EmilyH said...

I definitely agree with the second quote. Not only does it imply that we are all good inside, but that we need each other to soar and reach our full potential. It shows that no one can get through life alone. I don't think that either author would agree with this quote, hawthorne simply because Goodman Brown literally made his world his personal hell, and Marquez would disagree because, despite the presence of an 'angel' in the story, the underlining themes are those of fear, punishment, and selfishness.

ShannonH said...

I feel that my personal philosophy connects more with the second quote. I think it shows that you cannot make it out in the world all alone, and that we all need somebody to lean on in the good times and the bad.
I think Nathaniel Hawthorne would agree with both quotes, but i think with the Story, he could relate to the second quote more. The second quote tells you that you need your friends and family by your side to have a successful and happy life. Young Goodman Brown, after his "dream," isolates himself from society and his wife, which was the worst way to cope with his fear and confusion. He needed those people in his life to control his emotions and help him through his difficult time, but he closed himself off from the world, which eventually lead to his depressing downfall.
These quotations contradict each other. the first is saying that we control every aspect of our lives, and we can chose to either make it heaven or hell on earth. The second states that you cannot survive in this world alone, and everyone you meet impacts your life one way or another. They are contradictory, but i think that they both can be applied to our lives.

Chelsea said...

That is a really hard question because I fully agree with both of the quotes. Alot of times we are each our own devil because we become what we hate. Also we are sometimes held back from freedom because of our own selfishness or fear. When we are in this state the world does become our hell because it is the place we reside in, hating it because we can no longer see the visible good in it. It simply feeds our own devil inside. On the other hand I agree with the second quote becuase if you accept Christ into your heart and believe in Him as God's son, it makes you a child of God. I believe that we need other people in life. We need them to help support us, encourage us, and walk with us. If we do not accept and love and commun with others than we simply cannot spread our wings to their full potential and fly. I don't know which quote Gabriel Garcia Marquez would agree with, but I think that Nathaniel Hawthorne, based upon "Young Goodman Brown" agrees with the second one. In the story, Brown's choices bring the consequence of him being tormented for the rest of his life either by his own paranoia or the devil himself. I don't think these two quotes either oppose or agree with one another.

Kjerstinl said...

I really agree with the first quote with basically many people's ideas of how you control your life and choose how you want to live your life. Your outcome on life really leads to how things end like whether or not you care to try, etc. Hawthorne probably would agree with the first quote because in "Young Goodman Brown," the dream decepted GOodman Brown and how he chose to see the dream affected the rest of his life. Garcia Marquez would probably agree with the second quote because in his story, the angel couldn't have gotten better without the people saving him and taking the time to keep him. I don't think that these quotes oppose each other because people are the ones who influence your outlook on life, and it's whether or not we choose to go along with what we believe that determines our outlook.

kfasold said...

The first quote definetely fits my personal philosphy. I am my own worst critic. So I am the person that makes myself feel that I need to push myself further and to strive torward my goals. I judge myself a lot of the time and that makes me easily become frusturated. Frusturation is a hell for me. So this quote really strikes me becasuse I bring a type of hell to myself because of me.

hannahs said...

I agree with the second quote because I think we depend on others to help us succeed. Even as babies, we require constant attendance, and depend on those who raise us. I believe we live in a social society that only functions when we rely on others. I think Gabriel Garcia Marquez would agree with the second quote, because his story is an example of how helping those in need benefits them in the long run. For example,
the angel needed the help of the townspeople to recover, and although he was not treated well, Pelayo contributed somewhat to the angel's recovery by giving him shelter. Thus, the angel required some form of help that would enable him to recover. I do not think the quotes oppose each other because they address different concepts. The first quote talks about humans as individuals who create their own problems and hell, which is a very negative point. The second quote is more uplifiting, in the idea that we can only succeed if we embrace each other's differences and work together.

Liz said...

"We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell." This quote relates more to my personal philosophy. I feel that because we make our own decisions we control whether or not our lives are great or terrible. It is extremely easy to make our lives hell because of the personal choices we make. I think that Marquez would agree with the first quote because they angel, to some extent, controls his own life. The angel chooses to make his life a bit like hell, which is why Marquez would agree with the first quote. I do not think that the quotes necessarily oppose each other, they are just saying different things. The second quote differs by saying we need others to help out with life, and we can't do things alone. The first quote says we control our own lives. In a sense, if you didn't have "another angel" your life would be hell, so the quotes are slightly similar.