Kylia McCoy

23 September 2017

Humanities 1100-823

Professor Spencer K. Wall

Reflection Paper #1: Losing Love

Romance authors deal with loss since everyone goes through it at one point or another. In

Orpheus and Eurydice, the story centers on Orpheus and his experiences overcoming the death of

Eurydice; he must travel through the stages of grief over the loss of his beloved.

In the story, it doesnt begin with their love and the depth of it, but rather the day that Orpheus

lost Eurydice, his love. It begins by stating that they had everything, even the God, Hymen of marriages,

was there to bless their love. Though it did no good, Eurydice was killed by a snake bite, and lost to

Orpheus forever. Eurydices death is important to the story, but it doesnt follow her journey throughout.

The story follows Orpheus experience losing the one he loves. Orphus must travel through death and

the idea of the underworld, regaining your love, and so forth.

The myth treats it as very real to the characters, this is a representation of the internal battle, the

stages of grief, he was forced to overcome. For example, in the beginning it states: Orpheus, poet of the

hour, and pride of Rhodope sang loud of his loss to everyone on earth. When this was done his wailing

voice, his lyre, and himself came weaving through the tall gates of Taenarus, down to the world of Death

and flowing darkness to tell the story of his grief again. This shows him in the middle stages of grieving.

He has gone through the stage of anger which is when he sings to all those around him, he is expressing

his pain outrightly. (Ross & Kessler) Next, he goes to the underworld, he bargains with Hades and

Persephone to give him Eurydice back.

Later in the story, after re-losing Eurydice when he looks back at her, he is traveling through the

depression stage. He goes back to the human realm and for a long time, he cries and morns for
Eurydice. Finally, accepts her death, partially. He refuses to be near women again, fearing his bad luck

toward them or being faithful to the late Eurydice - but he starts to go back to the social world, he makes

love with boys and so forth.

Another interpretation of this myth is that the story has little to do with her death, but more so in

favor of trust. Orpheus must learn to trust his new bride and those around her like her Hades and

Persephone. In the story, she leaves him, to go to the underworld and he loses hope that the one he loves

will come back to him. The fault in Orpheus is that he doesnt trust Eurydice, he tries to go find her rather

than allow her to return on her own time/terms, later in the story he is leading her home and again, he

loses trust that she is still following. Toward the end of the myth, it states and as they neared the surface

of the Earth, the poet, fearful that shed lost her way, glanced backward with a look that spoke his love -

then saw her gliding into deeper darkness. He nearly had won his love back, but had he trusted Eurydice

to follow him promptly and had he trusted that Hades would be good for his word, he lost her. Had he

trusted her, he would have been given a second chance after losing her on their wedding day, but he

proved that he had not changed enough and lost her again.

References

Five Stages of Grief by Elisabeth Kubler Ross & David Kessler. Grief.com - Because LOVE Never

Dies, grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2017.

Allen, Paul , and Claire Peterson. It Begins with Our Questions: The Humanities as a Call to Action.

"Orpheus and Eurydice" pg 62-63

Kylia McCoy

19 October 2017

Humanities 1100-823

Professor Spencer K. Wall

Reflection Paper #2: Religion in Birmingham

All throughout Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. uses the religion and

his spirituality to defend his decisions for becoming a major member of the Civil Rights

Movement. The letter is in reaction to Clergymen, who have criticized Kings recent work as

being untimely and unwise. Since they are men of God whose main relation to King is that

God, he centers his argument around the religion.

King explains throughout the letter that it is his, theirs and our, God-given duty to protect

and uphold the natural laws preached in Christianity. In his perspective, all men are equal; but

beyond that they are intertwined. He stated: All men are caught in an inescapable network of

mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what

you ought to be until I am what I ought to be People, regardless of their ascribed status are

interconnected; brothers and sisters. To King holding one person down, everyone is held down;

and by doing that you are preventing humanity and each person from reaching the potential that

God intended. It is in his belief that God has set forth the just laws and norms, and therefore they

should be sacred. Though unjust laws are disregarding the sanctity of Gods will.
 Although it is very important to follow the will of god, King also mentions how the

church is meaningless if they do not teach and treat people the same as they did originally. He

mentions that ...the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If todays church does

not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the

loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club... So to say, if the church does

not take a strong stand against the discrimination of the era, there is little the church stands for.

Should the church not stand up for its beliefs and teachings, including that of equality and

brotherhood, then why stand at all?

The letter is deeply mixed with racial equality and divine belief on purpose. King can

easily switch between his duty to his African-American brothers and sisters and to his

responsibility as a Baptist Minister. This is in part because, to him, they are connected. His

responsibilities as a Minister include caring for his flocks personal life; he is expected to help

the lowest and most distraught in the community. Which includes those in social predicaments;

racial discrimination, difficulty finding work or housing, and so forth. On the other hand, his

responsibility as a black public figure includes advocating for those who have a hard time getting

out of poverty, hard situations and the daily discrimination many experienced.
Kylia McCoy

4 November 2017

Humanities 1100-823

Professor Spencer K. Wall

Reflection Paper #3: Noras Identity

For the majority of Nora Helmers life, she believed that her self worth and identity was related

to that of her Father and/or husband. That it is best to act, do or say as they want her to. This is

shown when she says ...When I was at home with papa, he told me his opinion about

everything, and so i had the same opinions; and if I differed from him I concealed the fact,

because he would not have liked it... She is showing Torvald the way in which her fathers

opinions and beliefs were all that reflected off of her. She explains that the same is happening

with Torvald, although the main argument in Act III is that she doesnt want to simply be a doll,

or a mirror of Torvalds beliefs anymore.

As she begins to form her own thoughts and forget Torvalds, she shifts in the physical

world too. Firstly, by shedding the toy clothes, then by actually leaving his house. This is

important because it shows how she growing from a doll into a person, she begins to want to be

herself. She doesnt want to be the matching outfit or the dancing doll - it shows her persistence

in the endeavor too. She is willing to go from fancy dresses and glamorous balls into plain,

everyday wear. This is important because it shows the important shift from blindly following her

husband and father to developing her own beliefs, preferences and so forth.
 For Nora, it is very difficult to cope with her lack of understanding of her own

beliefs. It is directly related that she needs to figure out what is the reflection and what is actually

her. After being forced for so many years to quietly conform to other peoples standards, she can

hardly say what is Papas, Torvald's or hers. This is expressed when she states ...You arranged

everything according to your own taste, and so I got the same tastes as you, else I pretended to, I

am really not quite sure which - I think sometimes the one and sometimes the other. This is

important to note, because it shows the dysphoria that Nora is experiencing for having little

recognition of what her identity is. Shes expressing to Torvald how important knowing her own

tastes is for her. Even though many of her tastes may have grown into her from them, she feels it

necessary to know whether or not they are her own, something she has managed to live with or

something she cares little for.

Nora also places high importance on knowledge, it is recurrent that she must learn things

for herself, without influence. At one point mentioning that she truly doesnt know God or

religion since all she knows is what the clergy say. Before that she mentions that she is not fit to

be a wife and mother because she only knows what books say. During the discussion on her

knowledge, she mentions that she must stand quite alone if she is to understand herself and her

identity. This only furthers her reasoning for needing to be away from Torvald, even if things

change in their marriage, she cannot find her true identity with another persons influence still

looming over her.

Kylia McCoy
6 December 2017
Humanities 1100-823
Professor Spencer K. Wall

Reflection Paper #4: Propaganda in 1984

1984, the dystopian novel by George Orwell, centers in part around the effects of propaganda on
its people. Specifically, the way in which War Time propaganda can make persuade a sane and normal
individual into acting manic.

In Winstons life, he went from living in a peaceful countryside village in London, to living in a
dystopian totalitarian society now called the Airstrip instead of England. His life now, is speckled with
traces of Big Brother, the all seeing and all knowing God-like men who run Oceania. He recalls not quite
being able to remember a time when things were peaceful Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia
or Eastasia. The only constant in his life is Big Brother, and the one who fell from grace, Emmanual
Goldstein. Propaganda slandering Goldstein as the enemy to the public is everywhere, for instance the
two minute hate.

The Two Minute Hate, is interactive propaganda, a way to show ones dedication and loyalty to
Big Brother. Even people like Winston who are skeptical of the Hate still play along, and act as though
they want to do it, to fit in with the crowed. The Hate had started. As usual, the face of Emmanuel
Goldstein had flashed onto the screen. There were hisses here and there among the audience.
The little sandy-haired woman gave a squeak of mingled fear and disgust. This shows how this
propaganda, after years has been ingrained so deeply into these people that they are actually fearful of this
one man who they dont know anything about. This propaganda later shows the way in which Goldstein
may be helping their current enemy, the sheep-leader of a sheep-army. These people who are relatively
good people, have an enemy, someone to lash out at and they are genuinely fearful of this scapegoat even
though many of them dont know what he did other then leave Big Brother.
 Another example of this is how seemingly good people are resorted into laughing at the sight of
people dying. This was easily the most emotionally drawn and difficult part to read of the whole book,
where Winston recounts his experience at the flicks. The sight of a middle-aged woman, might have
been a jewess, sitting up in the bow with a little boy about three years old in her arms, little boy creaming
with fright and hiding his head between her breasts as if he was trying to burrow right into her is
incredibly sad and terrifying to think about but it isn't the truly disturbing part of this scene. This is a
movie that is being shown to children, being hailed as an amazing movie, a funny experience and so forth.
After seeing this astonishing scene there was a lot of applause from the party seats Sure, these are
their enemies, but the way in that this propaganda has gotten to them is incredible. They are able to look
to a child, an innocent, and laugh and applaud when a wonderful shot of a childs arm going up up up
right up into the air. is shown to them.

Propaganda has effected them to the point in which they are unable to even emphasis with an
innocent child that is trying to flee his country. To me, the most disturbing line in the entire book is
...then he was full of holes and the sea round him turned pink and he sank as suddenly as though the
holes had let in the water, the audience shouting with laughter when he sank, then you saw a lifeboat full
of children with a helicopter hovering over it This line shows how a society of good people are
forgetting their humanity because of the government influence they are experiencing. In the book it even
states that most everyone has forgotten why they are fighting with Eurasia and Eastasia yet they still
laugh when their babies are killed.
Kylia McCoy

1 December 2017

Humanities 1100-823

Professor Spencer K. Wall

Cultural/Civic Engagement Assignment: Vikings, Beyond the Legend

1. List the name, date, type of event and place of event/exhibit/activity.

Name: Vikings: Beyond the Legend with the Natural History Museum of Utah

Date Open: from 27 May 2017 through 1 January 2018

Attended: 1 December 2017

Type of Exhibit: Museum Exhibition

Place of Exhibit: The Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU)

Address: 301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City Utah 84108

2. List the artists, speakers, or participants you saw. Or, if this was an exhibit, how was it designed and

arranged (i.e. number of pieces or exhibits, placement of the works included, information provided, etc.)?

This exhibit has multiple displays (25-30 separate sections) that are all connected into making a

large wrap around the room, multiple stations that are all connected by the topic and importance

of the artifact are speckled around the room to make an open floor plan but still packed with

information. It is set up linearly, the first part of the display starts with the beginning of the

Viking era, and slowly moves toward the end of the era. Information is a large construction of all

of the major cultural needs for the culture to have had. It includes their theology, their necessities

and so forth. The only constant throughout is their theology, and it follows how it evolves. This is

to show how the religion was one constant for them, that may change but is necessary for their

culture.

3. What were the objectives of the event/exhibit?

 The objective was to show their cultural identity, what the vikings were really like and how all of

these separated things are still connected. Psychically they are in the same room but they are

disconnected from each other. For the vikings, religion as not necessarily seen as connected to

their basic housing necessities but it was still connected to them and their identity as a whole.

4. What was the event/exhibit designed to make you think about?

It was designed to make me think about how the vikings lived and what they were actually like -

beyond the movies and media portrayal. It was designed to show about the importance of the real

meaning of someone on a viking rather than just the stereotype of the murder and rampage.

5. What was the point of view of the participants/organizers? How were their attitudes or approaches

impacted by their culture or that of the exhibited pieces?

It was easy to tell that their views, they want to explains and teach about the importance of

knowing the real culture behind the movies. Generally people see vikings as crazy or monstrous,

but their actual culture; the complex intricacy in their culture, religion, moral beliefs and so forth.

Their attitudes were very impactful on how the display was built. Even though pillaging is a part

of their culture, the museum wanted to separated from that part and showcase the other parts to

highlight the complexity of the display. This was good because it gave me a large idea of the

religion and lifestyle of the Nordic Vikings but it was also a bit unrealistic since it did leave out

the pillaging that they did do.

6. What was the exhibits cultural context? What was its historical context? How did this context affect

the exhibit?
 The exhibits cultural context, relating to the museum is fairly simple, it is set up to be a place of

learning and to be non-judgmental. Rather than delve into the politics of their topic they only

want to show the true or more true history of the people, in this case. This does affect the display,

because you really see the learning curve they're trying to grasp. They want to show the

intricacies of a nearly forgotten society and compare it to ours, to make it less foreign.

Historically speaking, the museum has been held as a very prestigious museum in Utah. It is one

of the largest, with the largest archeology artifact collections and is the one of the only museums

in the United States to have their Native American display approved by all the tribes of the area.

This affected the display greatly, because they had a large standard to live up to. They couldnt

just throw something together the night before, since the public and the community would be

expecting great things from them.

7a. What social issues did the event/exhibit address?

This display represented misrepresentation as their main issue. It really wanted to address the fact

that people see Vikings as just pillaging monsters, when in reality many of them were not

murderers and the majority of them had families and lives to go back to. It wanted to break that

stigma and teach people about the real Vikings. Viking means someone who is traveling on a

mission for something, so many were sea voyagers who were peaceful, or traveling missionaries,

or men who wanted to learn.

7b. What philosophical issues?

A philosophical issue it brought to light was how we treat people based on memories is it right

to take an entire culture and boil it down to murderer? Is it right to not look any deeper than

being the one who raided someone more known than them? And how does that affect us now, do
 we write them out of history unfairly? What about Leif Erikson, who was potentially the first

person to travel from Europe to the Americas.

8. How did the exhibit relate to something you have learned/done in class?

It relates to the identity unit we discussed in class. That unit was dedicated to finding ones self,

being proud of who they are and knowing about a persons history. This display was created to

give an identity back to the Vikings, to teach people about the real people behind the mystery and

the movies.
Kylia McCoy

01 October 2017

Humanities 1100-823

Professor Spencer K. Wall

Foreign Film Assignment: The Burmese Harp

1. Title, Release Date, Language, Director and Actors

Title: The Burmese Harp.

Year Released: The film was originally released in 1956 in Japan, but was later released in the

United States in 1967.

Director: Kon Ichikawa.

Original Language: Japanese.

Actors:

Captain Inouye is played by Rentar Mikuni

Mizushima is played by Shji Yasui and

Baba is played by K Nishimura

Ito is played by Jun Hamamura

Kobayashi is played by Taketoshi Naito

Defense Commander is played by Tatsuya Mihashi

Oyama is played by Tomio Aoki

6. Give a brief plot summary.

 Mizushima, a Japanese soldier during World War II is stationed in Burma with his platoon. They

soon find that the war is ending, and Mizushima, who had always entertained his men with his

Harp skills, is to be sent to the mountains. His new job is to convince Japanese soldiers that the

war was over and that it is time to put down their weapons and return home. After going to the

mountain and failing to convince the Japanese soldiers to leave, the British attack the area and

many are killed. Captain Inouye and his men are convinced that Mizushima, who has yet to

return, is dead. Mizushima is not dead though, he has disguised as a Buddhist Priest and must trek

to Mudon, where his fellow soldiers are being held. On the road to Mudon he is faced with the

constant sight of dead Japanese soldiers after seeing these he is overwhelmed and decides to

live the rest of his life as a buddhist monk. When he is reunited with his friends, they try to

persuade him to return to Japan but he refuses.

7. Analyze the social and philosophical issues the film addresses. Consider the point of view of the film,

its context and what audience the film is targeting.

Socially it was wrong for a soldier to give give up in Japan, Mizushima knows what is going to

happen to the Mountain soldiers if they do not give up. But he is also aware that it is the worst

thing a japanese soldier could do. Socially it is wrong for Mizushima to abandon his country and

stay in Burma, but he is disgusted by the sights of all the meaningless death, and wants to find a

peaceful life where he can fix what has happened. A philosophical issue in the Burmese Harp is

the difficulty that Mizushima faces when he has to decide to stay in Burma and clean up the mess

while living a peaceful Buddhist life or return to Japan with his head in his hand and help rebuild

the dying country with his men. He also has a hard time with the fact that he is abandoning his

men, to live a life he wants.

8. What cultural differences did you notice in the film (philosophical outlook, humor, architecture,

customs, clothes, cities, weather, food, music, dancing, lifestyles, etc.)?

 I noticed a lot of differences in their traditions and customs, they are very strict about things like

Honor and how to treat commanding officers. They have a lot of respect for the elderly woman

and they are very careful with the dead and how to treat them. Their music is also different, it

sounds very eastern and is sounds simple but is very specifically made. The Old Woman also

lives a very different lifestyle, she is content with trading around important possessions and living

in a home that we generally wouldnt consider that worth while. The clothing is different too,

while the soldiers uniforms are fairly similar to American uniforms of that era, the Old Woman

and Mizushima wear very different clothing (his in the Buddhist monk outfit). Many of the local

Burmese also wear very simple clothing that is easy for their environment and work.

9. What techniques did the filmmakers use that were different from what you see in the films you

normally watch? Think about lighting, dialogue, atmosphere, setting, music, etc.

The film had a very unique sense of music, for the first half it was the source of happiness and

entertainment for the soldiers, and during the second half it was the background to the pain and

discomfort that Mizushima was facing. The lighting was also very drastic, some spots were very

bright or very dark to emphasise the situation. There was minimal dialog too, Mizushima said

close to nothing other than where he was going and asking for help from a few people passing by.

The setting was not too unique, as it was mostly set in the mountains but the wildlife and sound

effects to go along with it really brought alive the fact that it was set in Burma.

10. What is your response to the message of the film? Why do you respond this way? Show that you are

thinking about your own thinking here and the biases/assumptions about the world you bring to your

viewing.
 I think the main message to Burmese Harp is that war is evil and only causes suffering, more than

that though, I think it explains how war can also bring people closer to their spiritual beliefs and

can challenge a person to really look at their actions and how it is affecting the world. I responded

this way because I feel that Mizushima may have never had such a disheartening confrontation

with death had he not been lost in Burma from the war. Of course, this assumption is because I

am a modern american, living in the 1940s and 1950s was far more deadly, so it is possible he

still would have seen these things in his own town and without war. Though it is these remarkable

sights that shape a person.

11. How did the film relate to something you have learned/done in class?

In class we talked a lot about finding yourself, that is something I see here greatly. Yes it is a war

film, but more then that i believe it is about Mizushima finding himself among the rubble of the

war. He was a good man but he was a simple soldier who was playing a part in something bigger.

Now that he isnt that anymore, he must go on and find himself. He does this through the journey

to Mudon. He learns that he doesnt want to see these senseless deaths anymore, and that there is

more to life then dying for honor. He decides to stay in Burma and help clean up the death

because that is who he sees himself as. He was able to kill now he must be able to bury the dead.