1st Blog Prompt:
Hello all,
For your first blog entry I would like you to give a detailed analysis of either "Blindness" or "Seeing." What is the essay's thesis? How does the author prove his or her thesis? Specifically, what evidence does he or she give? I realize that we have not yet discussed "Blindness" in class, but do the best that you can if choose to write about this essay. Feel free to respond and write to each other. Please use two-three paragraphs to respond.
See you Tuesday.
Best,
Laura
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Matthew Ogorek
ReplyDeleteBlindness
Beyond the difficulty of being blind, Borges’s Blindness suggests that one can use blindness as an opportunity for discovery and accomplishment.
It is a known fact that Borges unfortunately became blind because of an eye disease, however, in Jorge Luis Borges’s essay, Blindness; he suggests that “unfortunate” is not the word that should be used in his case. Borges mentions that blindness is not a misfortune a numerous amount of times throughout the essay. He also suggests that a great opportunity has come to him but how? Beyond the difficulty of being blind Borges’s Blindness, suggests that one can use blindness as an opportunity for discovery and accomplishment.
On Rudolf Steiner’s books on Anthroposophy, Borges recalls a line Steiner uses that stuck with him. He said that when something ends, we must think that something begins. Borges says that the execution is difficult. We only focus on what we lost and not what we will gain, that we are ignorant of what may follow or replace it. Blindness is a gift, he writes. As a matter of fact he writes it three times throughout the essay including the “Poem of the Gifts” which at the beginning writes that God granted him with such splendid irony in one touch. The irony mentioned in the poem is the books that he was the head of and his blindness.
It is clear the Borges did not look at blindness as tragic but rather looked at blindness as an opportunity to accomplish great things. He writes, “ Being blind has its advantages. I owe to the darkness some gifts: the gift of Anglo-Saxon, my limited knowledge of Icelandic, the joy of so many lines of poetry, of so many poems, and of having written another book.” Here he seems to imply that without his blindness he would not have accomplished these great hobbies of his. He uses other accomplished blind men such as Milton, Groussac, and Joyce who accomplished great things beyond his work. Known men of there time and beyond except for Groussac who is now forgotten. We have all read what these great men have accomplished in accordance with their loss of sight.
In conclusion, we see from Blindness that Borges highly supports the fact that blindness should not be looked at as something tragic. He writes that it should rather be looked at as a style of life. A style different than those who have the ability to see but certainly not tragic. Take a look at the accomplishments of Milton, Groussac and Joyce. Accomplishments are certainly a possibility not to far away. Fray Luis De Lion writes:
I want to live with myself,
I want to enjoy the good that I owe to heaven,
Alone, without witnesses,
Free of love, and jealousy,
Of hate, of hope, of fear.
Borges writes “for me, to live without hate is easy, for I have never felt hate. To live without love I think is impossible, happily impossible for each one of us. But the first part-‘I want to live with myself, / I want to enjoy the good I owe to heaven’- if we accept that in the good of heaven there can also be darkness…who can know himself more than a blind man.”
Jesse Strulowitz
ReplyDeleteSeeing
In "Seeing" by Annie Dillard, she brings up the point that people do not appreciate the beauty of nature. People tend to think that what seems so insignificant is indeed so insignificant, whereas in fact, they are missing out on the true beauty of nature. If a person were to just keep their eyes open, they would see a completely different world that they thought they were witnessing. "Unfortunately, nature is very much a now-you-see-it, now-you-don't affair."
One example Dillard gave was that she noticed birds getting food near a tree. She went down to look further into it when 100 birds flew away out of the tree. "I saw a tree, then a whisk of color, then a tree again." As she walked closer, another hundred black-birds flew from the tree. Dillard said that not a branch nor a twig even moved. "When I looked again at the tree the leaves had reassembled as if nothing had happened." She finally walked right up to the tree and a final hundred birds flew out from the tree.
The tree looked exactly the same as it did when the birds were in the tree as well as when the birds vanished from the tree. "These appearances catch at my throat; they are free gifts, the bright coppers at the roots of trees."
Annie Dillard sees the true beauty of nature. Just by witnessing a few birds fly from a tree, her whole day is brightened. Most people do not even think twice about something which seems so small. Dillard said that "Seeing is of course very much a matter of verbalization. Unless I call my attention to what passes before my eyes, I simply won't see it." It is, as Ruskin says, "not merely unnoticed, but in the full, clear sense of the word, unseen."
In his essay “Blindness”, Jorge Borges shows that being blind is not always a drawback, and that at times, the inability to see may even be an advantage, especially as a writer.
ReplyDeleteThe author proves from the lives of famous writers and poets, including himself, who owe at least part of their success to their “handicap”, that being blind can have its benefits. Beginning with himself, Borges says ”Blindness is a gift… It gave me Anglo-Saxon, it gave me Scandinavian,…knowledge of medieval literature...the writing of various books…”. Living with blindness is like a different lifestyle, of which there is a lot to take out of. Milton, James Joyce, Groussac have all strived in their profession, all in similar conditions.
As far as quality of literature is concerned, “the Greeks claimed that Homer was blind in order to emphasize that poetry must be aural, not visual”. The inability to see definitely makes poetry more of an auditory literature than just visual, which turns it into something much more real.
“Blindness is a gift… It is one more instrument, among the many, that fate or chance provide.”
Heng Qi
ReplyDeleteSeeing
“Seeing” by Annie Dillard emphasizes the thesis of seeing something that you do not initially see is happiness. The author starts by describing a penny as “a free gift from the universe”. And she compared dire poverty and healthy poverty to bring up the point that “what you see is what you get”. From her point of view, healthy poverty will make a man to value every little thing in his life. So a penny, to him, is not just a penny. It is happiness.
The author wrote “But I don’t see what the specialist sees, and so I cut myself off, not only from the total picture, but from the various forms of happiness.” This corresponds to what she mentioned later in the article “The lover can see, and the knowledgeable.” What she suggested here is that we should cultivate our sight to be able to see as a specialist, so that we can see every detail in our lives. And we should look more closely to things around us in order to see the artificial obvious. Those things that we see are what she called happiness.
She ended the article by describing the world in the eyes of the newly sighted. For them, she said, “vision is pure sensation unencumbered by meaning”. They see the world as color-patches. They cannot connect the signified to the referent. But for us, who can see and interpret what we see, often do not treasure this ability. We should be grateful for the beauty that the world brings to us, and pay closer attention to every little thing around us, so that we would be able to appreciate the “free gift from the universe”.
Just a quick comment on your posts so far: Wonderful! You are all reading so closely, and using specific examples as evidence to support your theses. You are already working towards your essays, and I'm thrilled to read these. What great work, and great students! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteWei song
ReplyDeleteSeeing
In eass "Seeing" by Annie Dillard. The author start describing about a panny. the penny is not just a penny, the penny is a free gift from the universe. The author gave reader much more datial to describe "what you see is what you get." like "unwrapped gifts" and "free surpises".
" "Unfortunately, nature is very much a now-you-see-it, now-you-don't affair." one example the author gave is she walked up to a tree and walked colser another hunderd black bird took flight ."these appearance catct at my throat. thay are the free gift ,the bright copper at the root of tree."
the auther wrote something between the artificial obvious and the natural obvious. as soon as you forgent the naturally obvious and constrouct an artificial obvious then you too will see deer.' something artificial is not antually should be look carefully.
at the end of this eassy. "I live for it, for the monent when the moutains open and a new light roars inn spate throught the crack, and the mountains slam." the author is seeing a way and a new meaning.
Shuai Han
ReplyDelete"Blindness"The essay “Blindness” is written by Jorge Luis Borges. In this essay, Borges employs several examples to convey the genuine meaning of “Blindness”. For some people becoming blind mean the end of the world, yet for Borges he not only thinks to become blind is a positive effect, but also bestows upon him a precious reward. Under this circumstance, he can concentrate on his works. In addition, he can explore new realms that ordinarily he won’t even consider.
Borges employs a series of examples to show to readers that becoming blind is an advantage. Most of the examples are famous scholars. These famous scholars such as Oscar Wilde, Milton and Prescott overcome the hardships. Borges is aspired by these people, and leads to realize that Blindness is a gift. He has to utilize this gift that is bestowed upon him.
At the beginning of the essay, “I will begin, then, by referring to my own modest blindness. Modest, because it is total blindness in one eye, but only partial in the other.” Borges refers that though he is blind, he doesn’t give up his seeing. He still can see, but in an alternative way through heart and mind. As the essay progresses, “but I hope some day- I am following a treatment- to improve and to be able to see that great color, that color which shines in poetry.” Borges reveals his feelings of missing those multi-colors that polish literatures. Furthermore, he shows to readers that he maintains a positive attitude, and hopes to get his sights back. He holds a positive attitude because he thanks to this tragedy that doesn’t take his sight away at once, rather slowly takes his sight away.
“Being blind has its advantage. I owe to the darkness some gifts: the gift of Anglo- Saxon, my limited knowledge of Icelandic, the joy of so many lines of poetry…” Borges reveals that being blind is a precious reward. He utilizes this opportunity to explore more realms such as the history of Anglo- Saxon and composing verses in his mind. Due to the fact of losing sights, in this way, Borges can ignore other attractions from the world full of all the colors in profusion; consequently, he can focus on other realms such as books that he ignores. Moreover, losing sights make Borges more sensitive which is “blindness has made me feel surrounded by the kindness of others”.
Sammy Salamon
ReplyDelete"Seeing"
“Seeing”, by Annie Dillard, uses seeing as a tool to express how everyone sees different objects and does not appreciate it. It is basically “now-you-don’t-see it, now-you-do”.
The author proves from the many different images that she draws a picture in her mind of a cloud that is not visible in the lighted sky. She says “I only know one is their because I can see its reflection still in the water.” Just by seeing a reflection in the water she can “see” an “invisible cloud” in the sky. Without the use of seeing she would not accomplish this as it says, “ Unless I call my attention to what passes before my eyes, I simply won’t see it.”
Annie Dillard really appreciates the gift of seeing. “What you see is what you get” the author is showing that without focus on an object than you will never actually “see” it.
Borge manages to incapualate the readers with this writing. Borges thesis revolve and explores the roots of his life through this lifelong fate of being unable to see that he has. Though he mananages to tell us that there is a chance of overcoming it and achieving something in his life. He mentions becoming a pre-decessor in the Library where other bllind men have been directors, This is the most unlikely in society, but he highlights it as an achievement.
ReplyDeleteBorge takes us through his life experiences with this blindness. He takes the reader on journey. By taking the reader on journey of his own personal life, Borge manages to convince and support his thesis. He uses language to make us realise his reality which we know is more complex than anyone could put it. He gives the reader a chance to dream with him into this blind world of his. And by doing this he naturally supports his thesis.
Evidence is given through own life experiences and that of all other famous writers that are qouted. Refrence is made by Borges of very famous writers that were all blind or became blind in one way or another. This trend goes on to support the thesis, that though blindness may mean no sight, but it gives insight to other things that can be used to achieve greatness. In this case in literature.
A stricking statement that Borges uses to support his thesis at the end of the writing is "everything near becomes distant" This statement is very important and also helps to support his thesis. The irony is that, the distance between himself and the pain of the situation becomes distant as he realises the ability to be able to achieve things in life though he is blind.
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ReplyDeleteGil Maman
ReplyDelete"Blindness" by Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges wrote to tell us of his journey towards becoming blind. He showed that blindness doesn’t have to be a life ender, or even a burden. Rather, he takes the approach of saying that blindness is an acceptable circumstance for life to throw at us. Borges is trying to tell us that being blind is relative, completely dependent on the person viewing the situation.
Rather than letting his ailment redefine him, he redefines what it means to be blind. He immediately does this by changing the whole notion of what it means to be blind, showing that its totally wrong by telling us that they don’t live in darkness. The “darkness” Borges is referring to isn’t only a physical one, but an emotional one, to show us that blindness is not a universal negative. On page 380, he says, “We have a very precise image, an image at times shameless, of what we have lost, but we are ignorant of what may follow or replace it.” He’s showing how unpredictable the situation can be, and how useless it is to feel pity; so much so that he calls it “shameless”. Apart from simply conveying his thesis, Borges is also trying to give strength and encouragement to his readers. So, Despite what he may have thought about his blindness at first, his attitude about it certainly starts to shift at this point in the essay.
He then continues by saying, “blindness has not been for me a total misfortune; it should not be seen in a pathetic way. It should be seen as a way of life: one of the styles of living” Here we already have the writer coming to grips with his condition in an overt way, saying it flat out. The way he phrases it in this sentence almost makes it sound like a choice he made. Borges is confirming the trajectory of the essay with this statement, letting us know that blindness is not the ends but just a means. With this statement, Borges appears to have more than one goal. He repeats the word “life” twice here, to try to get us to associate it with his blindness. He may even be suggesting an experience of “rebirth”, almost as if he was blind up until this point, and that now he can see. He reaffirms this later on by talking about his fondness of studying foreign language and literature, showing us that he’s on a completely level playing field with everyone else.
Borges’s entire account of his blindness culminates with the statement, “A writer or any man must believe that whatever happens to him is an instrument; everything has been given for an end.” He has now reached the point in the essay where he is able to establish totally new universals for the reader. He started off by trying to tackle the world view that blindness should be accompanied by pity. Now he is able to come out and say that not only was his blindness ok, it was necessary, and that any other situation should viewed exactly the same.
xuyang sun "blindness" by jorge luis borges
ReplyDeleteThe author use his personal experience as bind to indicate to audience a different world that people usually misunderstand the blindness. From his point of view, he never felt hate about his blindness. As he mentioned in the article “something ends, something must begin.” He didn't really think his blindness as a sufferance. However, as an opportunity for new beginning, he discovers and thinks more than others.
In the article, he use a lot of paragraphs about those great poets who are also blind but with a lot of achievements to convince audience and himself that blindness is not a terrible thing. “ being blind has its advantages. I own to the darkness some gifts: the gift of anglo-saxon, my limited knowledge of Icelandic, the joy of so many lines of poetry.” He thinks that being blind let him more focus on his work and the joy of accomplishment. In the article, he wrote something about Milton, says that Milton lose his sight voluntarily to be a better poet, which I believe is the author encourage himself that he can still do a better job even he is blind.
He refers his blindness to literature. For most of people, they are only familiar to only one or a few languages. Inside us, we are all some point blind to other language. The author chooses to study a language he hardly know in order to overcome the blindness in literature and also release a little about what he feels being blind.
Kathy Lee
ReplyDelete"Blindness"
Jorge Luis Borges, the writer says "Blindness" is not a blackness. Usually people think blind people enclosed in a black world. However, he shows a lot of ancient blind writers, poets include him(but he is not a poet) as an example to show they do not live in a black world. Blindness is just disability, and it does not mean their life is end. When he lost his sight, he said "the pathetic moment came." However, he never give up and shows how the people he enumerated as an example overcome their blindness.
In the essay, he said "I had replaced the visible world with the aural world of the Anglo-Saxon language. Later I moved on to the richer world of Scandinavian literature: I went on to the Eddas and the sagas. I wrote Ancient Germanic Literature and many poems based on those themes, but most of all I enjoyed it." It means, in front of these language, everyone is equally blind whether they have their sight or not. Also he said, "everything near becomes distant." Seeing is not a big deal to him. He thinks blindness is a gift.
Rivka Mishaely
ReplyDeleteIn Jorge Luis Borges’ essay, Blindness, one can see the transition or a shift in Borges’ view towards his blindness. Starting with calling his blindness “a pathetic moment in his life,” and in the end considering it a great gift that he received. He owes his blindness to the many achievements in his life. Borges did not view his blindness as a disability nor did he feel “intimidated” by his condition. He in fact took what he didn’t have and utilized it in a way that could benefit him.
In the essay Borges mentions that blindness has its advantages and its advances. He explains that many people focus too much on the past and what they have lost when really they should pay attention as to what is to follow or replace the loss. To Borges it was books he never imagined he would read, writing many poems, and writing another book. He states, “I owe to the darkness some gifts.” In his state of blindness Borges learned and experienced “the friendship of poetry and blindness.”
Borges ultimately wants to convey to readers that “the world of the blind is not the night that people imagine.” Blindness or any other bad thing does not have to cause setbacks in life because in the long run one forgets what he had lost and what he had lost no longer affects his future. “Happiness does not need to be transformed; happiness is its own end.”
In Jorge Luis Borges’ essay, Blindness, one can see the transition or a shift in Borges’ view towards his blindness. Starting with calling his blindness “a pathetic moment in his life,” and in the end considering it a great gift that he received. He owes his blindness to the many achievements in his life. Borges did not view his blindness as a disability nor did he feel “intimidated” by his condition. He in fact took what he didn’t have and utilized it in a way that could benefit him.
Ella Sun Jeong Kim
ReplyDelete"Seeing"
In this essay from Annie Dillard, she describes her sights to see things very closely. Her focus often on small, tiny things which most people just pass away without notice.
First, there are pennies. She hid for lucky when she is a child. She thinks the penny is a free gift from universe and treasure for her.
Second, she take us her passway on creek. She appreciates the smallers like a fish flashes in the water, blackbirds fluing out of the tree, the green ray at sunset. She explained "the free gifts, the bright coppers at the roots of trees".
Last, after sunset, as she tried to keep her eyes open to see minutiae, her fear of darkness also increase. She says, "Night was knitting over my face an eyeless mask" and "A distant air-plane, a delta wing out of nightmare, made a gliding shadow on the creek's bottom that looked like a stingray cruising upstream. When she get home safely, she appreciates to see in darkness. She writes "I close my eyes and I see stars, deep stars giving way to deeper stars, deeper stars bowing to deepest stars at crown of an infinite cone".
Her careful observations see the natural world not an artificial obvious. She encourages to share her ability to see small things but free gifts from nature.
I am sorry too late.
In Annie Dillard's essay "Seeing" she points out that by seeing something you couldn't see initially, you can gain momentary happiness. She uses pennies as her symbol for these moments of happiness. The penny refers to something that has very little, if any, physical or monetary value but instead gets value by the attention paid to it and the value invested by the viewer.
ReplyDeleteIn her essay she shows examples of these "pennies" first literally by describing how she would leave pennies hidden on the sidewalk or in trees, as a small child. She said that she was simply pleased at the thought of someone else finding these "free gifts from the universe." She then uses the term "penny" in a more figurative sense referring to seeing a frog on the forest ground, or by noticing things others don't.
She continues explaining the subjectiveness of sight by explaining how lovers and experts see things outsiders don't notice. Dillard explains how when you are deeply interested in something or someone, you are able to notice the most minute of changes.
She also uses the common saying, "what you see is what you get," in two senses. The first being in agreeance to her thesis, that if you see more you can get happiness but if you simply gloss over life you won't get any substance from it. The second being contradictory, meaning that there is always another way to look at something and just by seeing something you don't always see the truth of anything.
Dillard's point is that life is full of these "hidden" gifts and unless you look closely you will pass through life missing out on potential happiness. You cannot judge any situation based on what you see because there will always be things that go unnoticed.
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ReplyDeleteAssignment Writing