"Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life."
The ideal is realized in Anthem, as Equality 7-2521 begins to break free of existing for the sake of unity. It is taught that that is the way it is supposed to be, and that everyone is supposed to act for everyone's sake and not their own. However, it is displayed as a problem when Equality 7-2521 notices others around him are different, and unhappy. He displays this ideal as he starts to exist for himself, and acts out of self interest, and becomes happy, despite this going against everything he was taught.
When a character acts selfishly against the prevailing vice(s) of the dominant social order, true virtue exhibits itself?
This question makes sense, and is not a conundrum. As Equality 7-2521 set out, he acted selfishly, but out of that action showed true virtue in attempting to help the society. He wanted to teach them about the light he had discovered. He showed virtue in his act of saving his friend as well. In the end, he was determined to make a better hidden society, and despite acting in selfishness, it resulted in virtue.
“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” - Dr. Seuss
Sunday, 28 April 2013
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
The Pearl: Reflections
Reflections on The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Kino and Juana suffer through the paradox throughout their story, and it directly relates to their experiences.
This paradox essentially describes the journey that Kino and
Juana undertake, and how they may start out with good intentions of
using the pearl to bring their people out of poverty, and to save their
child. Yet the city became corrupted by the pearl, in a sense. Evil
comes out of this good, the city is desperate to attain this incredible
object. Eventually, Kino is forced to murder over this pearl and leaves
the town in search of what he desires; disregarding what Juana was
begging him to do – get rid of the pearl.
Unfortunately, in the end, they find that despite their
dreaming of what could be; being freed from their live of poverty and
living a better life, the reality is a disappointment and not the
expectations they had when they first found the pearl.
Thus in conclusion, the paradox is that they had their hopes
of great things to come from the pearl they found, yet in the end it
was not what they had expected.
As a result, I feel that they have learned to live with the
paradox – a resignation that their dreams of breaking free couldn’t be.
It is shown because they had found the magnificent pearl, and yet were
still unable to break from the paradox. They have learned to be happy
with the life that they have, as attempting to break from it doesn’t end
well.
The Connection:
I feel that the connection between this is directly related to Kino’s life, as he is the one to take action.
His action of gathering the pearl and then attempting to
sell it to save his son’s life truly displays the act of selflessness
that he did. He tried to get what he needed, and was denied this by the
city. The city is the prevailing vice, as it works against Kino
selfishly, because it desires the pearl for itself. He continues to
display virtue by wanting to free his people from the prison-like
society that they are stuck in, and not by giving to himself, but by
making his son’s life better. He risked everything for the true freedom,
of him and his people. That is the way that true virtue is displayed.
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