Response to Ian's blog number 3
Ian, I completely agree with your connection there. I believe that the Federalists were intentionaly portrayed as "the executioners of Christ". This way EcheverrÃa's agrument that they are uncivilized and terrible people would be stressed even more. This seems like just another way for EcheverrÃa to sway his audience to his side of the argument. Excellent connection though!
Monday, January 27, 2014
Blog Number 3
During my reading of the Slaughterhouse I found myself grotesquely fascinated by the story. I mean it was a very good read and had a lot to offer, even though we did have to get through some pretty disgusting parts. That being said, I really enjoyed all the symbolism that was portrayed throughout the short story. Most notably, for me, was the representation of the bull as a Unitarian (or the young Unitarian that came in later). First we see the Federalists beat the bull to death and then once the Unitarian comes into the story the treat him rather similarly; pulling him off his horse kicking him on the ground and then bringing him to the slaughterhouse. Furthermore, the slaughterhouse portrayed Argentine as a country as a whole, I believe. The slaughterhouse was full of violence and disruption, similarly to Argentina at that time. The whole country was in turmoil and at odds with each other. So on a bigger picture, the story represents the differing societies in Argentina at that time and the way in which they interacted with each other, or in other words, fought with one another!
During my reading of the Slaughterhouse I found myself grotesquely fascinated by the story. I mean it was a very good read and had a lot to offer, even though we did have to get through some pretty disgusting parts. That being said, I really enjoyed all the symbolism that was portrayed throughout the short story. Most notably, for me, was the representation of the bull as a Unitarian (or the young Unitarian that came in later). First we see the Federalists beat the bull to death and then once the Unitarian comes into the story the treat him rather similarly; pulling him off his horse kicking him on the ground and then bringing him to the slaughterhouse. Furthermore, the slaughterhouse portrayed Argentine as a country as a whole, I believe. The slaughterhouse was full of violence and disruption, similarly to Argentina at that time. The whole country was in turmoil and at odds with each other. So on a bigger picture, the story represents the differing societies in Argentina at that time and the way in which they interacted with each other, or in other words, fought with one another!
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Blog #2 response to Ian Felten
I really agree with what you have to say, Ian. I mean if the Europeans are as modern/civilized as they claimed to have been they should have been looking out for their fellow human beings. They were so caught up in the what separated their two societies, which was simply their lifestyle, that it prevented them from helping the Gauchos. What the Europeans forgot though, and even what people today seem to forget, is that we are still all people who even though do not all live the same way, should be able to get together and help each other out when it is needed. This, in my opinion, should always be the overriding factor when it comes to helping people out, the fact that we are all humans, the way we differ from one another shouldn't be an issue when it comes to the way we treat other human beings. And that fact should always be kept in mind regardless of what time we live in.
Blog #2
Hello all! Over the past week we have been talking a lot about the civilized society versus the uncivilized societies in the Argentine culture around the 18th century. I know during class we made the connection to the Disney movie "Jungle Book", and the song they sing in there called "I wanna be like you". This was a nice parallel to the Argentine culture in this time period as the Gauchos were not respected because they were viewed as inferior/barbarian, and because of this were thought of as uncivilized. However, the fact of the matter is that they simply did things differently than the Europeans. The city dwellers of Buenos Aires were egocentric of their own ways, they were caught up in "Europeanizing" anything they could get their hands on. This is why I really liked this connection to the movie because it shows how a lot of people want to be like someone/something else. They want to aspire to be better than them self in one way or another and they do this by trying to transform into something entirely different than who they actually are. What is almost ironic about this whole situation (about the Argentine culture), is that the Europeans are annoyed at the uncivilized ways of the Gauchos and peasants of the farm land, yet the only reason the Europeans could be considered "civilized" is because of the presence of an uncivilized people. In order for a society to be considered civilized, one has to have something to compare it to, for example; a society that is not as civilized. Anyways, these are just my rather surface deep thoughts on a very deep and complex topic that has gone way over my head... haha. Well, see you sooon!
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Hello all, my name is Connor Nizielski and I am currently a freshman at Grand Valley State University. As of right now my majors are International Relations and Supply Chain Management, with a minor in Spanish. I am not entirely sure what I plan to do with those majors, but I have some time to figure that out I guess... The main reason I decided to take this class was because of the fact that I am in the middle of learning Spanish and thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a class that would educate me on the background of the culture. I also plan on studying abroad in either Spain or Chile so that was another reason I decided to take this class too I suppose. Anyways, that seems like it should be enough about me... Until next time!
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