Observers: Begin by writing the date of the discussion. Then, post your notes about today's Socratic seminar. Express the main ideas clearly and succinctly. Write enough so that a person who was absent today would get the gist of the conversation.
Volunteers: If you would like to share an idea with the rest of the class--especially if you were unable to do so in the Socratic seminar--add your comment to this post.
Class: Please read and comment on each other's posts.
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Notes on ghosts discussion:
Is one's duty to their parents more important than their social image?
-Social image is very important to most characters
--Regina is more proud of being a servant to Mrs. Alving than having Engstrand as her father
--Mrs. A. took the place of E. as the parent figure in Reg.'s life
--Is E. a good father?
---Does Reg. need to keep her duty to her parents if they are bad parents?
--If E. knows that Reg. is not her daughter then what is he using her as? Is he using her for money?
--Mrs. A. treats Reg. as both a maid and a daughter
---Mrs. A. respects Reg. unlike E.
-Self image vs. duty to children...
--Mrs. A. sent Oswald away from his father but this compromised their relationship
--Mrs. A. married the captian for social image after having an affair with the pastor.
---she is more connected to the pastor than the captian
-How does religious image play into this story?
This is the shortened version of my notes from our short 10 minute discussion... think what we could have done with 30!!
Our discussion today was initially based off of religion and it's contribution to the play. I thought religion played a very constricting role on the characters, Mrs. Alving in particular. When Mr. Manders first stopped by to visit with Mrs. Alving, I can recall that Mr. Manders was upset once he glanced to see what Mrs. A. was reading. Manders symbolizes the religious pressure in the play to stay to tradition and abide by social-religious obligations, such as marriage. It turns out that Mrs. Alving was reading about ideas and matter that would not have been accepted by the general churchgoer. Instead of worrying about her social image, Mrs. A. actually for once takes into consideration her own personal interests.
Religion sets upon society specific roles one should play. For instance, a wife shall be faithful and practically eternally supportive of her husband. This directly affects Mrs. Alving and her inability to show any personal interests and self-digression. Because she can only use the conventions available to her, she is left unsatisfied because the conventions that are available to her lack the material for a preferable outcome. It is then, that a person must exercise his or her own self-digression to make a decision that they had a chance to formulate, not common conventions.
This is important for today's society as well because if one goes through life basing all his or her decisions on one set of conventions, in this case moral conventions, conventional diversity will deteriorate and no one will consider self digression as an option.
Monday August 27th!
First Question: How does religion play into the story? What are we supposed to think of Pastor Manders?
- PM is an order keeper of religion while others are vulnerable.
- religion can be gullible because Engstram is able to change PM's perception of him
- each character faces a religous conflict (even PM debates between following love or recommending that Mrs. A get married)
- If religion is now always conventionally portrayed, what do they rely on when it disappears?
* Don't use religion so literally, always question
* bring up new ideals and find a balance of both
- Ironic that orphanage burnt even though PM insured god protected it... signifies that one good deed cannot cover a life of sin
- illusion vs. truth
-- orphanage is a false sense much like oswald and his father
--is it worth the illusion? reference to children and their belief in santa clause
- when Mrs. A first conceived her son to an evil man she failed to shield him from the truth
-Ghosts was a response to Dollhouse
- because Mr A's sins both Regina and Oswald are orphans
- significance of the ending?
--Mrs. A freaks because she cannot provide the sun to him... would it redeem herself?
- What would Mrs A have done if she didn't return to Mr. A?
Hosseini incorporates recurring moments in his novel The Kite Runner to effectively compare and contrast Amir's character and how he has developed through out the course of the book.
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