Throughout the course of Humanities, our class went over five main units that covered the different aspects of the many ways people can “be human”. To delve into each of these topics even more, we were assigned select books, readings, films, etc. to further our understanding of each individual unit. Some texts stood out amongst others because they addressed and exemplified the themes and main ideas of each unit. The story of Timothy Treadwell told in the film Grizzly Man, the Shakespearean classic of Hamlet, and the religious text called The Book of Job, all demonstrated everything that we learned about during the course significantly better than all of the other texts we were assigned.
Our introductory unit covered forms of knowing, metaphor, symbolism, language, storytelling, and experiences of time. I was not in our Humanities course for the first two weeks, where the majority of the introductory unit was covered, so my understanding of this unit is extremely limited. Although much of this unit is very general, I am still able to pick out some aspects of it when they are demonstrated in one of our class texts. The Grizzly Man film followed the story of Timothy Treadwell, a controversial advocate of Grizzly Bear protecting in the Alaskan wilderness. Although his storytelling methods through a video-log style were considered unorthodox and inappropriate to many, he still managed to show his knowledge, emotions, and firsthand experiences with the Alaskan Grizzlies to the world, which was one of the main ideas of our introductory unit. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the concept of written and oral language was present throughout much of the play. The main character of Hamlet spoke so eloquently and symbolic during many of his soliloquies and just normal conversation which led to him being clever and charismatic during the story. The Book of Job itself was yet another prime example of the forms of storytelling studied in our introductory unit. The meaning of the story was purposed to show to the readers that if one was unconditionally devout to God, they would be greatly rewarded. Similar to the ancient human civilizations that practiced forms of storytelling, there was a lesson to be learned from the work. Overall, some aspects of our introductory unit were hard to connect to the rest of the course and each following unit’s respective works, but it supplied our class with some of the history behind how much of the rest of course’s themes came to be.
The second main unit we covered in Humanities transitioned smoothly from our introductory unit to one that was focused mostly on humans, nature, and sacred space. Grizzly Man was most likely the text that showed all three main themes of this unit the best. Treadwell was viewed to be a wild and questionably unstable man to live where no modern human had lived before and with some of the most deadliest creatures of North America. He was following what he, as a naturalist, believed by connecting with nature, finding his own personal sacred space in the wilderness of Alaska, and fulfilling his personal definition of being human. In Hamlet, there was little human interaction with nature but this play still addressed this unit by showing interactions between humans that have repeated throughout history such as murder, betrayal, and greed, and also made the lack of Hamlet’s own sacred space to point how it was necessary for any human. In The Book of Job our second main unit was barely present, but once again the lack of human interaction with nature, the lack of Job’s sacred space, and the general theme of humanity’s lack of power to a greater power still proved to show that any human life without these things can be distressing. Humankind’s interactions with nature are essential because in a way, humans and nature have a mutually benefiting relationship. Sacred space, wherever or whatever it may be for any person, can supply them with an environment where they can be themselves and ultimately be human.
The next unit we studies in Humanities was one that focused itself around love, beauty, and art. In Grizzly Man, Timothy Treadwell often expressed his absolute love for the nature around him because it was so innocent and beautiful. He viewed nature as art because of it’s raw beauty. In Hamlet, there were not too many demonstrations of beauty or art, but there were many examples of love throughout the story. One could argue that Hamlet acted not out of vengeance for his late father’s ghost, out out of love for the poor man that was murdered by his own brother. Lastly, in The Book of Job, love was a dominating and contradicting theme in the story. Although Job’s entire family, who he loved very much, was taken indirectly from him by God. And much more meaningless pain and suffering was caused to Job, but he still persisted to love and worship his God. Love, beauty, and human admiration of art have proven to be driving forces throughout the entirety of human history, but on a smaller scale they have all helped individuals go along their respective paths of being human.
The next unit we learned about in Humanities was one that was focused around law and ethics. Grizzly Man raised many ethical questions from both sides of the Treadwell debate. He acted on behalf of the Grizzlies out of his own personal and ethical beliefs as a human with great guilt about the rest of his species. In Hamlet the concepts of law and ethics collided throughout the entirety of the play. The King marrying his former sister-in-law, Hamlet plotting his vengeance, and the King murdering his own brother are several big examples of where right and wrong questioned what was considered legal by law. The Book of Job, addressed more law than ethics throughout its story. Ethics really aren’t as intertwined into religious works as they are in the individual human experience. The law of being devout to God held greater influence over Job than even the death of his family and the physical pain he experienced. Law and ethics are extremely important in the human experience because they help shape how each person pursues their own journey of being human.
The final main unit we covered in our Humanities course was an all encompassing unit that centered itself around the inner journey of humans and the meaning of human reality. This is the unit that essentially focused on what it truly mean to be human. Grizzly Man, as for all of the other units, proved to be an exemplary text in showing the application of each unit in the real-world. Timothy Treadwell’s story of saving the Grizzlies can be looked at and identified rather as the story of Treadwell finding his own person sense of happiness. Hamlet does not directly bring up or show either of these main ideas but the entire plot line of the play is about Hamlet and his conflicts. As simple as it may seem, this is a prime example of the human experience, the struggle of being human. The Book of Job shows the inner journey of Job through the practice of faith. Much of human existence is to be faithful through many religions. Quite differently than Treadwell’s individual experiences, Job undertook a life as a devout follower rather than an independent self-explorer. Our last unit didn't necessarily play a role in being human because it was simply the act of being human itself.
Some of the texts we studies in class were more connected to individual units rather than the entire broad concept of being human itself. I felt that the texts that I selected to analyze for this exam were diverse and had their own themes that all demonstrated different ways to truly be human. Grizzly Man showed the pursuit of being human mainly through the humans, nature, and sacred space unit. Hamlet mainly focused on the law and ethics unit by raising many “right or wrong” issues throughout the story. The Book of Job was undoubtedly meant to be a text where the pursuit of being human was being a devout person of faith which combines most all of the units’ main ideas. I personally think these three texts helped display all of our main units in Humanities the best out of any of our texts in the course.
Our introductory unit covered forms of knowing, metaphor, symbolism, language, storytelling, and experiences of time. I was not in our Humanities course for the first two weeks, where the majority of the introductory unit was covered, so my understanding of this unit is extremely limited. Although much of this unit is very general, I am still able to pick out some aspects of it when they are demonstrated in one of our class texts. The Grizzly Man film followed the story of Timothy Treadwell, a controversial advocate of Grizzly Bear protecting in the Alaskan wilderness. Although his storytelling methods through a video-log style were considered unorthodox and inappropriate to many, he still managed to show his knowledge, emotions, and firsthand experiences with the Alaskan Grizzlies to the world, which was one of the main ideas of our introductory unit. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the concept of written and oral language was present throughout much of the play. The main character of Hamlet spoke so eloquently and symbolic during many of his soliloquies and just normal conversation which led to him being clever and charismatic during the story. The Book of Job itself was yet another prime example of the forms of storytelling studied in our introductory unit. The meaning of the story was purposed to show to the readers that if one was unconditionally devout to God, they would be greatly rewarded. Similar to the ancient human civilizations that practiced forms of storytelling, there was a lesson to be learned from the work. Overall, some aspects of our introductory unit were hard to connect to the rest of the course and each following unit’s respective works, but it supplied our class with some of the history behind how much of the rest of course’s themes came to be.
The second main unit we covered in Humanities transitioned smoothly from our introductory unit to one that was focused mostly on humans, nature, and sacred space. Grizzly Man was most likely the text that showed all three main themes of this unit the best. Treadwell was viewed to be a wild and questionably unstable man to live where no modern human had lived before and with some of the most deadliest creatures of North America. He was following what he, as a naturalist, believed by connecting with nature, finding his own personal sacred space in the wilderness of Alaska, and fulfilling his personal definition of being human. In Hamlet, there was little human interaction with nature but this play still addressed this unit by showing interactions between humans that have repeated throughout history such as murder, betrayal, and greed, and also made the lack of Hamlet’s own sacred space to point how it was necessary for any human. In The Book of Job our second main unit was barely present, but once again the lack of human interaction with nature, the lack of Job’s sacred space, and the general theme of humanity’s lack of power to a greater power still proved to show that any human life without these things can be distressing. Humankind’s interactions with nature are essential because in a way, humans and nature have a mutually benefiting relationship. Sacred space, wherever or whatever it may be for any person, can supply them with an environment where they can be themselves and ultimately be human.
The next unit we studies in Humanities was one that focused itself around love, beauty, and art. In Grizzly Man, Timothy Treadwell often expressed his absolute love for the nature around him because it was so innocent and beautiful. He viewed nature as art because of it’s raw beauty. In Hamlet, there were not too many demonstrations of beauty or art, but there were many examples of love throughout the story. One could argue that Hamlet acted not out of vengeance for his late father’s ghost, out out of love for the poor man that was murdered by his own brother. Lastly, in The Book of Job, love was a dominating and contradicting theme in the story. Although Job’s entire family, who he loved very much, was taken indirectly from him by God. And much more meaningless pain and suffering was caused to Job, but he still persisted to love and worship his God. Love, beauty, and human admiration of art have proven to be driving forces throughout the entirety of human history, but on a smaller scale they have all helped individuals go along their respective paths of being human.
The next unit we learned about in Humanities was one that was focused around law and ethics. Grizzly Man raised many ethical questions from both sides of the Treadwell debate. He acted on behalf of the Grizzlies out of his own personal and ethical beliefs as a human with great guilt about the rest of his species. In Hamlet the concepts of law and ethics collided throughout the entirety of the play. The King marrying his former sister-in-law, Hamlet plotting his vengeance, and the King murdering his own brother are several big examples of where right and wrong questioned what was considered legal by law. The Book of Job, addressed more law than ethics throughout its story. Ethics really aren’t as intertwined into religious works as they are in the individual human experience. The law of being devout to God held greater influence over Job than even the death of his family and the physical pain he experienced. Law and ethics are extremely important in the human experience because they help shape how each person pursues their own journey of being human.
The final main unit we covered in our Humanities course was an all encompassing unit that centered itself around the inner journey of humans and the meaning of human reality. This is the unit that essentially focused on what it truly mean to be human. Grizzly Man, as for all of the other units, proved to be an exemplary text in showing the application of each unit in the real-world. Timothy Treadwell’s story of saving the Grizzlies can be looked at and identified rather as the story of Treadwell finding his own person sense of happiness. Hamlet does not directly bring up or show either of these main ideas but the entire plot line of the play is about Hamlet and his conflicts. As simple as it may seem, this is a prime example of the human experience, the struggle of being human. The Book of Job shows the inner journey of Job through the practice of faith. Much of human existence is to be faithful through many religions. Quite differently than Treadwell’s individual experiences, Job undertook a life as a devout follower rather than an independent self-explorer. Our last unit didn't necessarily play a role in being human because it was simply the act of being human itself.
Some of the texts we studies in class were more connected to individual units rather than the entire broad concept of being human itself. I felt that the texts that I selected to analyze for this exam were diverse and had their own themes that all demonstrated different ways to truly be human. Grizzly Man showed the pursuit of being human mainly through the humans, nature, and sacred space unit. Hamlet mainly focused on the law and ethics unit by raising many “right or wrong” issues throughout the story. The Book of Job was undoubtedly meant to be a text where the pursuit of being human was being a devout person of faith which combines most all of the units’ main ideas. I personally think these three texts helped display all of our main units in Humanities the best out of any of our texts in the course.
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteI believe we were supposed to choose three different texts for each unit. That being said, I feel like you did an outstanding job connecting Grizzly Man, Hamlet, and The Book of Job to every unit. I found it interesting how you wrote this exam from the standpoint that all these emotions and behaviors are innate within each human being (i.e. inner journey, belief in something, etc). I think you could have gone more in depth for each unit, maybe using more examples or references. Overall, I feel like you made strong points and connected everything we learned to the basics of what we've learned this semester, despite you missing the first unit. If you had chosen different texts for each unit, I feel like you could have explored the ideas of sacred space and human reality to a higher degree. Referring to a specific part of your post, I agree with you that ethics, morals, etc are based off of personal experience. We learn from our failures just as much, if not more, than our successes.
Anthony,
ReplyDeleteDespite the fact that this wasn’t what you were supposed to do, it was very well done. I can tell that you put in a lot of effort. You actually did a really good job with the introductory unit, despite not being here to learn about it. Your paragraph on the sacred space unit wasn’t very strong, but as you said, two of the texts you chose didn’t really play into that unit. However, you could have had more deep insight into Treadwell Vs. Herzog debate about nature. The love beauty and art paragraph was difficult because, again, the texts you chose did not have much art in them. I think you could have gotten into more detail about the love in Hamlet and Job, of which you skimmed the surface. One of my favorite parts of your essay was in the law and ethics unit when you evaluated the role of law and ethics in Hamlet. Because we have always discussed hamlet through the lense of the Inner journey unit, we never looked at it in this way before. I wish you had discussed Grizzly man more in the inner journey portion because I think that would have been an interesting relationship to evaluate. I think you are confused about hamlet in that unit because it was supposed to be in the inner journey unit. I think that the three texts you chose were actually very wisely chosen because they were all, for the most part, applicable to all the units. One overall critique is that I would have liked you to apply the insights you made to modern life. The language was, at times, somewhat informal, but overall you really did a nice job.