sophocles pages 159-170 jornal assignment

Pg.159- oedipus has made observations that his city is in trouble and wonders what the trouble is, so he asks an honorable priest to speak for the people to find out whats wrong.
pg. 160- The priest responds by saying that men of all ages and status are looking for help by praying to the gods and visiting there temples because the ships sink, the crops and cattle are diseased, and women and children are dieing rapidly.
pg. 161- the priest goes on to say that oedipus is the mightyest of all men and has liberated the people once before, and he needs to do it again to once again proove his ability.
pg. 162- oedipus has been sadened by his dieing city and so he sent his wifes brother creon to ask the orical at delphi what he should do to save the city. and he has just arrived.
pg 163- creon brings seemingly good news about what will happen to the city, but does not wish to share the words of the gods with commonfolk
pg 164- according to creon, the only way to cure the city is to kill the man who was responsable for killing the leader before Oedipus.
pg 165- the murderer they need to find has traveled to find an orical, and was not to be found after that. all the witnesses to his travel have been killed exept a terrified person who fled, who can only tell them one thing.
pg 166- a band of thiefs attacked the former king and killed him, and the only reason these people got away was because sphinx convinced the people that they should just let it go.
pg 167- oedipus has decided that this must be whats wrong, so he plans to help kill the murderer at all costs and tells the priest to get other priests to help track the murderer down. oedipus and creaon then enter the palace, and the priest announces what has been found.
pg 168- the people of the city comoe in and ask for what knowlege creon has gained from delphi, then they go on glorifing Oedipus.
pg 169- the people of the city talk about how great the city once was, and now everything in it is dieing. generations die, and the city has become a place of mourning and dread for its people.
pg 170- the people are now begging the multuple gods for assistance to stop this plauge by assulting it.

Motifs
1. there was an awful lot of death and morbid words such as blood, banish and murder repeated throughout the section, which lends to a darker sort of tone
2. Nature was repeated through the play, which kinda lays the importance of nature in the society down
3. the gods were referenced many times, and each time involved them having some kind of power over the people. the people also begged them alot for things. this shows how dependent the people were on there gods and godesses

dramatic type structure
1. by placing only one or two words at the begining of a line, the speaker sounds like he is being dramatic or is emphasizing the word. especially when they begin with things like "Our leader" or "whose murder?"

my questions
1. what are the branches that priests have? why are they frequently talked about?
2. why is it that the only people that are "individual" in there thought and speech are the more uppercut people? why are the citizens all one voice?

JOHN LOOK AT THIS TO PUT IN FINAL DRAFT!!!

i hope you get this comment, you prob wont. for the sentence in my section(third paragraph) that we though was confusing. i tryed rewriting it,

Zamyatin attempts to give this idea of balance in society by creating a scale, and depending on what is hapening in the society, the scale may tip towards security or towards civil liberties.

it combines two sentences, the sentences it combines are in the last part of my analysis on my first quote, and the sentence just before introducing the second quote. I REALLY HOPE YOU GET THIS, because it sounds alot better

3rd paragraph for WE rough draft

Zamyatin creates a conflict between the one state and the mephi in order to offer the idea that societies have a scale that balances security and civil liberties. The conflict Zamyatin creates is evident because of the word choice used by D-503, a member of the one state, while he is describing members of the mephi. D-503 has just entered the world outside the green wall, “In the clearing-people… Or-I don’t know what to call them-perhaps, more precisely, beings” (Zamyatin 155). Not knowing how to classify them, D-503 has just described these fellow humans as beings not as people but as beings. D-503 has just set himself and members of the one state as greater because they are people, which separates the two societies. This displays a conflict between them, since another society would classify the other as less than them. Depending on what is happening or has happened in societies, especially conflict, the balance scale may tip too much towards security or towards balance. Zamyatin attempts to give this idea of balance in society by creating a scale. D-503 has just announced his opinion on madness after someone in the audience regarded the rebellion as madness, “‘Yes, yes, madness! The sooner the better! And everyone must lose his mind, everyone must! The sooner the better! It is essential-I know it’” (Zamyatin 158). Members of the one state must be taught that security and protection are essential for humans to survive, or else the people would stand up for individual rights rather than societal security. This thought is imbued in their minds, it has become part of them and D-503 is stating that the people must lose their minds in order to rebel against the one state (need for security) to fight for civil liberty. Zamyatin is attempting to communicate the idea that in order to fight for liberty, one must give up the need for security, which assists in the idea that security and civil liberty are balance, equal and opposite. This idea of a balance scale contributes to a warning against having a total secure and protected society, since then civil rights would need to be abandoned or heavily restricted.

Dystopian Journal #3: WE, Topic C

The author’s primary concern with society was the issue involving lack of civil liberty. Zamyatin was concerned about a balance scale that is created naturally in modern day societies, this balance scale is between civil liberties and overall security. In the novel, Zamyatin offers this dystopian society which is “Over secure” as a result from the 200 years war. It is over secure to the point that civil liberties (such as privacy) are given up. Through the novel, Zamyatin hopes to convey the message that civil liberty and overall security must be balanced. This vision is powerful and believable when considering the fact that all societies give up many civil liberties during time periods of mass paranoia or post-war, which is only natural since people become frightened of radical behaviors. In turn, civil liberties must be given up to keep the people feel secure. This principle can be applied to periods in history such as the cold war. Fear of communism lead the American people to denounce all communists or disallow their right to free speech. Zamyatin is trying to illuminate what could happen if fear got to a high point and restricted civil liberties on an extreme level. Yevgney Zamyatin hopes that balance is something that may be achieved not only in war time, but in peace time so that today’s societies never reach the point of abandoning civil liberties or leaving societies unsecure.

Word count: 241 words

Propiganda poster!!!!

http://daddytypes.com/archive/chinese_space_poster_srl.jpg

The propiganda is targeting the chinese people. it is effective because it shows a happy child going into space in the push toward industrialization and capitalism. it also shows cultural animals that represent happyness, which adds to convincing the chinese people that capitalism(specifically in space)is good, happy and pure. because of the happy nature and passive child and animals, the poster dose not indicate overbearing control on the people. because of the bright colors and the well depicted images, it will most likely stay in peoples minds.

Dystopian journal #2: WE- Topic

"All that night i was tormented by wings. i walked about shielding my head with my hands from the wings. and then, there was the chair. not one of ours, not a modern glass chair, but an ancient wooden one. it moved like a horse-front right foot, rear left, front left, rear right. it ran up to my bed, climbed into it, and i made love to the wooden chair. it was uncomforatable and painful. Amazing: acn't anyone invent a remedy for this dream-sickness? or else turn it into something rational, or even useful?" (Zamyatin 124)

The society in which D-503 lives is a society in which it is not normal to have dreams, or a soul for that matter. Therefore, the lack of dreams is a societal influence that has made its mark on D-503 since he feels that dreaming is not normal. By accomplishing this, the society has rid its people or “irrational” thought, which is how D-503 describes it. This loss of imagination makes it less likely that the people of the society will think there is another way to live, and will not push for reform or rebel. This proves that the society is against dreaming. This also displays the governments primary interests, which include making sure that the people have as little imagination as possible. The society has also taught its people that the ancient ways are bad, as displayed by D-503’s reaction to the wooden chair. Society has taught him that this ancient world is bad and is to be discouraged, seeing as how it was “Painful”. This is in the best intrest of the society. Since disregarding, the ancient society would most likely lead to chaos since the people would be able to reflect on the old ways for a future different from theirs.
Word count: 205

WE MOTIF

through out the novel Zamayatin uses Teeth as a motif to express mainly primitiveness, particullarly unique to I-330. Zamayatin tends to describe I-330's teeth whenever she is doing something either divious, "ancient" or dangerous. I-330 describes the ancient house, "'This is my favorite...' and suddenly she seemed to catch herself. A bite-smile, white sharp teeth. 'I mean, to be exact, the most absurd of all their 'apartments''' (Zamyatin 27). by favoring this ancient house for whatever reason, I-330 sets herself apart from her society in which favoring an old house is considered silly since it is ancient. Teeth is typically associated with primitiveness in todays society, since man is said to have evolved beyond the need for large sharp teeth. by using teeth Zamayatin give I-330 a primitive attribute which is used in this particular quote to be relitive to her favoring of the ancient house.