Tuesday, December 7, 2010

The Scarlet Letter - Hester Prynne

    Puritan society had heavy restrictions on how people should lead their lives and those who didn't follow these restriction were usually punished accordingly. I wouldn't feel sorry for Hester Prynne because I believe that she knew the consequences of her actions and the situation she would fall into. Even though I don't feel sorry for her, I believe that a liberalization of lifestyle from religion would greatly improve the lives that people led.
    I also admire the courage that Hester Prynne has. She was able to perform acts that were forbidden in the restricted Puritan society and she was able to face up with her actions. I believe that the public shaming done to her was unfair because it would negatively affect the child that she is taking around with her.
    Societies change through time and I would say that Hester Prynne was born in a period in which her actions were not allowed.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Feeling Guilty

People feel guilt at certain periods throughout their lives and people try to compensate for people or things that they owe their guilt to. I almost always feel guilty about not working on my academics hard enough. My parents have paid a big sum of money for me to learn at PAS, but I don’t seem to be meeting the requirements that they set for me and I often disappoint them with unwanted behaviors such as playing games and surfing the Internet.
    Whenever I think about the efforts that my parents put on me, I feel ashamed and I work harder to get better scores. Feeling guilty about wasting the efforts of my parent made me work harder and it continuously reminds me of my goals as well as the expectations placed upon me.

Packing for the United States - 42 Kilograms

    Packing for the United States isn't a very easy thing, especially with a weight limit. Out of the 42 kilograms, around 8 kilograms would be set aside for the weight of the luggage and the rest is what we can use. The most important items I would bring to the States are my shoes, my clothes, and that's about it.
     I have two pairs of basketball shoes that I would bring, one pair of leather shoes, two pairs of slippers, and that would be about it. The basketball shoes would weigh about 0.8 kilograms each, my leather shoes would weigh about 1 kilograms, and my slippers would weigh about 0.2 kilograms each. That would be a total of three kilograms for shoes.
    Taking out the three kilograms for the shoes and the eight kilograms for the luggage, I still have 31 kilograms that I have left to use. Out of the 31 remaining kilograms, I still have to leave five for an electric rice cooker that I have to bring to the States as well. I have to cook my own food in the United States, so I would have to bring my own cooking utensils.
    I would allocate the remaining 26 kilograms to my clothes. I would bring a whole suit set to college in case of formal occasions and I would have to bring large coats that I brought for the United States as well. The suit weighs about two kilograms and the coats probably weighs about eight, leaving only 16 kilograms for all my other clothes.
    I don't believe I would be able to pack all the clothes I would like and need to bring to college in luggage, so I would mail them over before flying to the States.

The Scarlet Letter Summary - The Custom House

    The customhouse gives us a background on the nameless narrator of the story and it provides us with some information about the how the author feels about the custom house building itself. The author feels that the customs building is a run-down place that is situated on a rotten wharf in a half-finished building.
    The narrator tries to find amusement at the customhouse at Salem that barely any ship goes to. The narrator finds some documents in the unoccupied part of the second story of the building and he finds a scarlet, gold-embroidered piece of cloth in the shape of the letter “A.”
    The narrator finds interest in the story behind the letter and also about events behind the letter. He finds a previous customhouse worker that recorded the history in a book. The book then becomes the main body of "The Scarlet Letter."

Saturday, December 4, 2010

The Morals of The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli

    Shock and amazement are the only things that I can think of after viewing Machiavelli's characterization of morality. This shock comes primarily from the fact that morality that I have experienced comes from companionship and cooperation, not from fear. Fear can bring morality, but it also brings isolation and loneliness along with it. With morality that is characterised by fear, unity can form with strong pressure, but this morality would not last as long as morality formed through accomplishing goals and sharing interests.
    I believe that morals should not change according to the circumstances one finds oneself in because that would mean not having morals at all. Even though this is what I believe about morals that someone should have, it would be really if someone was facing a life and death situation. Morals change as time moves on, but people should try not to forget what those morals were. If you have morals, stick to them when you live your life. Having a moral would help you set goals and help lead your life so set morals that would help you lead a good life.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Shaming - Effectiveness and Justifications Towards Companies and Individuals

    After reading the article and thinking about the punishment that would be placed on the offenders of law, it would be clear that shaming as a form of punishment is unfit for individuals while being extremely well suited for cooperation. Shaming is suited for corporations because there is nobody specific that is being attacked personally. The other benefit for shaming corporations is that members of the corporation can push the responsibility around and the person that actually violated the law is not certain.
    Individuals shouldn't be shamed because that could result in personal attacks that might be over the boundary. Personal attacks over the boundary would lead to insanity or revenge of the individuals that are being shamed.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124357844