Blog Post #4

2. How would you best describe the central idea of this chapter? Which phrase from the chapter best helps develop the central idea?

The central idea of chapter seven is that Jane Eyre is attempting to comment on the quality of life and treatment of women within the society that she lives in. She begins the chapter by speaking on the hardships that the main character has to endure on a weekly basis; she is forced to live in extremely cold conditions, and has to walk through intense cold on a regular basis in order to go to church. She, as well as the women that surround her, are deprived of food with any real sustenance, and many times eat only two small meals a day. The women within this story are subjected to physical abuse like this, but chapter seven also seeks to demonstrate the psychological abuse that girls faced in this time period. In this story, there was only one male character: Mr. Brocklehurst. His inclusion in this story seeks to underscore one of the central ideas of this chapter, that women from lower classes are subjugated to a great extent by men. Mr. Brocklehurst only has negative things to say about the girls within the orphanage. He berates one female for having curled hair, discourages any women from wearing extravagant clothing, and publicly shames the main character for accidentally dropping a tablet. Mr. Brocklehurst’s reasoning for doing all of these things was that it was sinful in the eyes of God, yet when three women from the upper-class show up in extravagant clothing, they are not shamed, and rather given seats of honor. This shows that it is not in fact religious reasoning for oppressing the lower-class women, but instead prejudices that people within this society hold, as certain women are allowed to hold rights that others are not.

            The phrase “these ladies were deferentially received by Miss Temple, as Mrs. and the Misses Brocklehurst, and conducted to seats of honour at the top of the room” helps develop the central idea of the chapter because it shows the hypocrisy of Mr. Brocklehurst. He is quick to point out every flaw that he can perceive in the orphan girls, and cites religion as his justification for saying that they were committing wrongdoings. However, when the ladies of higher-class society arrive, not only does Mr. Brocklehurst not berate them for wearing opulent clothing, they are given seats of honor. This means that Eyre is attempting to show that many truly do not believe the religious ideologies used to oppress women, as the same standards are not applied to all women. 

Post 3

            The online dating website Ashley Madison is the creator of this advertisement, which is meant to represent the sin of lust. Founded in 2002, the company began running this advertisement mostly online, but also in some printed publications, soon after. At a first glance, a few things are noticeable about the advertisement. For one, there is a woman to the right of the advertisement with her finger raised to her lips. She is also wearing a wedding ring. The text in this advertisement is very minimal, reading “Ashley Madison”, the name of the company, and just below it “Life is short. Have an affair.” The colors used in the advertisement are very minimal, with only white, black, and the beige of skin used, primarily.

A more in depth analysis of this advertisement reveals much additional information. The woman is obviously married, as she is wearing a wedding ring. This is further supported by the phrase “Have an affair” as one must be in some sort of a relationship to have an affair. Also, the way the woman is photographed is very intentional. She is portrayed from the collar bones up, and there is no evidence of a shirt, which is mean to cause curiosity in the audience. In addition to this, she is the only source of color in the page, which causes her to pop out. The use of short sentence structure is meant to cause a sense of urgency in the audience. By saying “Life is short. Have an affair.” the audience is driven to believe that they are running out of time in their life, and in order to utilize their short time left, they must have an affair.

            The audience of this text is predominantly made up of by males. This is supported by the fact that the subject photographed in this advertisement is a seemingly naked female. The male-based audience is most likely from the middle to upper-middle class, as they would have enough disposable income to pay for a dating website. The audience is further characterized in the way that they are probably married, and are unhappy with their marriage. They would most likely be viewed as immoral by society because they are using a website that is supposed to be an aid for people who want to commit affairs. This would mean that the deadly sin that the Ashley Madison advertisement is exploiting is lust. 

Post 2: What's in a name? (10/2/16)

1) For the majority of my life, I was known as a name other than “Matt”; that name was “Matthew”. When I went to high school, however, I decided to start to go by the name Matt. This shows an interesting divide in my life, as people I have known since before high school still call me Matthew, and people that I met in high school call me Matt. I do not correct people when they call me Matthew, and many times, when I'm not thinking, I'll introduce myself as Matthew to people instead of Matt. This goes to show that my name has very little meaning to me, other than as a means of identification. The name Matthew has roots back to the Bible, with obvious religious ties there. I am not a particularly religious person, though, so this connection does not have much meaning to me. While I like the names Matthew or Matt, neither of them have any deep meaning to me. My parents told me that the reason for providing me with that name was simply because they liked the sound of it, not because it had any significance to them, either. For these reasons, my name does not play a large part in my identity, and does not identify me in any way, other than providing a way for me to be recognized.
2) There is a simple, ongoing example of being “two” that I experience every day. There are two attitudes that one can adopt; the person that you are when you are around your family, and the person that you are when you are around your friends. When I am around my friends, I act differently than I would if I were to be with my family. The language that I use, for example, would most certainly not be the same that I would use with my family. When I am in the car with my friends, we might listen to rap music, and if I were with my family we would listen to country. Also, the the activities that I do are much different. While I might spend a Friday night with my friends at a Millbrook football game and then Cook Out, if I were to instead spend that Friday with my family I would eat a nice dinner and then watch television with them. When I am with my friends in this scenario, I am more like the “individual” and with I'm with my family I am I part of “a larger whole”. The dilemma that exists in being the “individual” and part of “a larger whole” is trying to strike a balance between the two personalities you adopt in each so that you are not a completely different person when switching between them. This means that you must be the person that you want to be all the time, instead of conforming to what you believe each party wants.