Hey guys! I am just now getting on wiki because my account was messing up (my luck). So this is kind of awkward, you know, writing a bio for my whole class to see. But oh well. As you all know, my name is Hayli..Hughes. My middle name is Savanna. No H. I know nothing about football (sadly enough) but have a slight obsession with baseball. I have been a tennis player for 4 years and I love it. I love my family, friends, boyfriend, but most of all, I love God. My faith is the most important thing to me. Yes, I am short. I know. I am only 5'2" and have been told that I am done growing. Sad day. Anyway, I love being outdoors and doing anything that involves being outdoors. I love to sing more than most things that I do in life. I am always singing or humming or doing something that involves music just because it makes me so happy. Sorry that I skip around a lot in this bio, I'm just a tad bit scatter brained. But hey, it works for me (sometimes).
Reader Response #1 (Genesis 1-3):
I loved this assignment because I was able to really analyze this part of the bible that I studied once in my life but have overlooked since then. I mean, just think about it. The God of the unvierse created EVERYTHING. That's pretty awesome. The first thing that really stood out to me was the fact that God was created the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil along with all of the other plants and animals and, of course, Adam and Eve. He put the tree in the garden of Eden along with Adam and Eve who really didn't know the difference between right and wrong due to the fact that they had never been exposed to anything "right" or "wrong" in their life. God tells them not to eat the fruit from the tree. That is like telling a little boy not to touch a hot stove. That is the first thing he is going to want to do because of his curiosity and, in the end, it will end up hurting him. Same thing with Adam and Eve. Although, they did have Satan (in the form of a serpent) there tempting them to eat the fruit, telling them that they would have the knowledge of God if they did. Which is also wrong. If someone thinks that by eating a peice of fruit that they will be all knowing like God is, hate to break it to them, but they are very wrong. Who thinks to themselves "Oh let me eat this apple. I bet I will be able to know everything about everything and everyone just like God!" ..What? No. That's not how it works. Another thing is that Adam and Eve are naked through this experience but were not ashamed of it because they had no reason to be. God had created them in his image and they were seen as perfect in God's eyes. It isn't until Eve takes a bite from the fruit and sin enters the world that they they are ashamed of being naked. When they attempt to cover themselves when they realize they are naked, I see that as a way of them attempting to cover up their sins from God. There is no way to hide sin from God. One thing that bothers me about this part of the bible is the way people read it. A lot of men (not all men. A lot of men don't do this so don't get offended if you're a guy) read it and then walk around saying "I'm a man. I'm superior because man was created first and woman is the one that brought sin into the world. Woman is more sinful than man." This is completely wrong. Yes, man was created first. Yes, woman did eat the fruit first. BUT. Man is not superior; the God of the universe is. And Adam also ate the fruit. So..yeah. Just throwing that out there. Just because you're a guy doesn't make you superior or any better than a woman. But again, I don't mean to offend anyone. I've just seen and heard a lot of guys try and use that argument. Anyway, this is what I got out of the assignment.
Reader Response #2 (The Marionette Theatre):
At the beginning of this assignment I was confused as to why we were being told to read a random story about about a man obsessed with puppets. But the farther along I got with the reading the more and more I reaized just how much it could relate to what we have been focusing on in class. The first part of this story was the idea that people believe that they are so much better than they actually are. We are not able to be perfect, live perfectly, or even think perfectly..because we are people. And that is where Kliest relates humans to puppets. The Marionettes are better dancers and performers than humans due to the error in human ways and the sinfulness of our souls. Puppets on the other hand are able to perform flawlessly and perfectly because there are not errors in their ways, much unlike humans. Another thing that stood out to me was the fact that we (humans, people, citizens--whatever you want to call us) seem to be used as puppets by God according to Kleist. If this is true, does this mean that God controls our sin? And if the puppet is being controlled by a human, how is it not imperfect also? The last main thing that stood out to me in my reading is how the marionette seems to have a soul in a particular spot. The soul does not occupy the entirety of the puppet, just the "sweet spot" I guess you could call it, or where they are most controlled from. I took this as human dancers and performers do not have a "soul" like the marionette because they are human, unable to be controlled in was such as puppetry. Overall, I found this reading to be confusing and a little bit challenging to interperate but it was well worth it.
Reader Response #3 (Book 1):
As I began reading this I kind of thought to myself "Great. This is going to confuse me." (as everything does). But the more I read, the more I liked it. I was just confused as to why he was seperating Satan and Beelzebub. I thought that they were the same person, as if it were a different name for Satan. I also liked how there were so many Greek Mythology references in the poem because that has always interested me. It also confused me to think that he thinks that mans first disobedience and the eating of the fruit to be different things. I thought that by eating the fruit, that was man commiting his first sin but he seems to think that there was another disobedience. This implies that there had to be human life before Adam and Eve, which as far as the Bible says, there was none. They were the only people on Earth and they were the first ones to commit sin, according to the Bible. I do not understand why Milton splits things up like he does. It only confuses me and doesn't help with my understanding of what I am reading. Response To "Response #3 (Book 1): I too was confused at times while reading this, especially the part about the disobedience and the actual eating of the fruit being different actions. If i may, what i think Milton was saying was that the real sin was Adam and Eve thinking and deciding to disobey God and the eating of the fruit was just a by product of the sinful thought. I really hadn't thought of it like that until some one brought it up in class but i think it works. Reader Response #4 (Book 2): I think this book was much less interesting than the rest of them due to the circumstances. I didn't really understand it, but I tried my best. Here's what I got out of it. The angels that have been banned from Heaven were all sitting in Hell trying to come up with a plan. They want to make war with Heaven and "overtake" it. When they realize they can't do that, they want to establish something opposite of Heaven, hence Hell. This is when the question of whether or not earth was perfect at this time presented itself to me. I mean, it wasn't because Satan was on earth and was tempting Adam and Eve into sinning by eating the fruit. Moloch is the most for the war and wants vengence. He is quite a violent demon. This is what I got from reading this book, even though I didn't really understand it at all. Reader Response #5 (Book 9-12): I really like these books. From my understanding of these, Eve is starting to become used to having Adam around and is okay with it. At the end, she actually wants him around. The question I have is when God says "If you eat this fruit, you shall surely die." what does he mean by that? Does He mean that they are going to die spiritually or that they were going to live forever but now they have an "expiration date." I believe that this means a mixture of both. I believe that God intended for them to live forever and if they ate from the tree, they would die. I also believe that they would die spiritually if they ate the fruit. In the end, they died either way. I also have the question of where Eden is. Because at the end of the book, Adam and Eve are walking hand in hand through Eden. Does this mean that Eden could possibly be the whole world? Because Eden is not perfect. The world is not perfect. Therefore, the whole world could be Eden when you think about it. These are the things I took away from these books.
Hey guys! I am just now getting on wiki because my account was messing up (my luck). So this is kind of awkward, you know, writing a bio for my whole class to see. But oh well. As you all know, my name is Hayli..Hughes. My middle name is Savanna. No H. I know nothing about football (sadly enough) but have a slight obsession with baseball. I have been a tennis player for 4 years and I love it. I love my family, friends, boyfriend, but most of all, I love God. My faith is the most important thing to me. Yes, I am short. I know. I am only 5'2" and have been told that I am done growing. Sad day. Anyway, I love being outdoors and doing anything that involves being outdoors. I love to sing more than most things that I do in life. I am always singing or humming or doing something that involves music just because it makes me so happy. Sorry that I skip around a lot in this bio, I'm just a tad bit scatter brained. But hey, it works for me (sometimes).
Reader Response #1 (Genesis 1-3):
I loved this assignment because I was able to really analyze this part of the bible that I studied once in my life but have overlooked since then. I mean, just think about it. The God of the unvierse created EVERYTHING. That's pretty awesome. The first thing that really stood out to me was the fact that God was created the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil along with all of the other plants and animals and, of course, Adam and Eve. He put the tree in the garden of Eden along with Adam and Eve who really didn't know the difference between right and wrong due to the fact that they had never been exposed to anything "right" or "wrong" in their life. God tells them not to eat the fruit from the tree. That is like telling a little boy not to touch a hot stove. That is the first thing he is going to want to do because of his curiosity and, in the end, it will end up hurting him. Same thing with Adam and Eve. Although, they did have Satan (in the form of a serpent) there tempting them to eat the fruit, telling them that they would have the knowledge of God if they did. Which is also wrong. If someone thinks that by eating a peice of fruit that they will be all knowing like God is, hate to break it to them, but they are very wrong. Who thinks to themselves "Oh let me eat this apple. I bet I will be able to know everything about everything and everyone just like God!" ..What? No. That's not how it works. Another thing is that Adam and Eve are naked through this experience but were not ashamed of it because they had no reason to be. God had created them in his image and they were seen as perfect in God's eyes. It isn't until Eve takes a bite from the fruit and sin enters the world that they they are ashamed of being naked. When they attempt to cover themselves when they realize they are naked, I see that as a way of them attempting to cover up their sins from God. There is no way to hide sin from God. One thing that bothers me about this part of the bible is the way people read it. A lot of men (not all men. A lot of men don't do this so don't get offended if you're a guy) read it and then walk around saying "I'm a man. I'm superior because man was created first and woman is the one that brought sin into the world. Woman is more sinful than man." This is completely wrong. Yes, man was created first. Yes, woman did eat the fruit first. BUT. Man is not superior; the God of the universe is. And Adam also ate the fruit. So..yeah. Just throwing that out there. Just because you're a guy doesn't make you superior or any better than a woman. But again, I don't mean to offend anyone. I've just seen and heard a lot of guys try and use that argument. Anyway, this is what I got out of the assignment.
Reader Response #2 (The Marionette Theatre):
At the beginning of this assignment I was confused as to why we were being told to read a random story about about a man obsessed with puppets. But the farther along I got with the reading the more and more I reaized just how much it could relate to what we have been focusing on in class. The first part of this story was the idea that people believe that they are so much better than they actually are. We are not able to be perfect, live perfectly, or even think perfectly..because we are people. And that is where Kliest relates humans to puppets. The Marionettes are better dancers and performers than humans due to the error in human ways and the sinfulness of our souls. Puppets on the other hand are able to perform flawlessly and perfectly because there are not errors in their ways, much unlike humans. Another thing that stood out to me was the fact that we (humans, people, citizens--whatever you want to call us) seem to be used as puppets by God according to Kleist. If this is true, does this mean that God controls our sin? And if the puppet is being controlled by a human, how is it not imperfect also? The last main thing that stood out to me in my reading is how the marionette seems to have a soul in a particular spot. The soul does not occupy the entirety of the puppet, just the "sweet spot" I guess you could call it, or where they are most controlled from. I took this as human dancers and performers do not have a "soul" like the marionette because they are human, unable to be controlled in was such as puppetry. Overall, I found this reading to be confusing and a little bit challenging to interperate but it was well worth it.
Reader Response #3 (Book 1):
As I began reading this I kind of thought to myself "Great. This is going to confuse me." (as everything does). But the more I read, the more I liked it. I was just confused as to why he was seperating Satan and Beelzebub. I thought that they were the same person, as if it were a different name for Satan. I also liked how there were so many Greek Mythology references in the poem because that has always interested me. It also confused me to think that he thinks that mans first disobedience and the eating of the fruit to be different things. I thought that by eating the fruit, that was man commiting his first sin but he seems to think that there was another disobedience. This implies that there had to be human life before Adam and Eve, which as far as the Bible says, there was none. They were the only people on Earth and they were the first ones to commit sin, according to the Bible. I do not understand why Milton splits things up like he does. It only confuses me and doesn't help with my understanding of what I am reading.
Response To "Response #3 (Book 1):
I too was confused at times while reading this, especially the part about the disobedience and the actual eating of the fruit being different actions. If i may, what i think Milton was saying was that the real sin was Adam and Eve thinking and deciding to disobey God and the eating of the fruit was just a by product of the sinful thought. I really hadn't thought of it like that until some one brought it up in class but i think it works.
Reader Response #4 (Book 2):
I think this book was much less interesting than the rest of them due to the circumstances. I didn't really understand it, but I tried my best. Here's what I got out of it. The angels that have been banned from Heaven were all sitting in Hell trying to come up with a plan. They want to make war with Heaven and "overtake" it. When they realize they can't do that, they want to establish something opposite of Heaven, hence Hell. This is when the question of whether or not earth was perfect at this time presented itself to me. I mean, it wasn't because Satan was on earth and was tempting Adam and Eve into sinning by eating the fruit. Moloch is the most for the war and wants vengence. He is quite a violent demon. This is what I got from reading this book, even though I didn't really understand it at all.
Reader Response #5 (Book 9-12):
I really like these books. From my understanding of these, Eve is starting to become used to having Adam around and is okay with it. At the end, she actually wants him around. The question I have is when God says "If you eat this fruit, you shall surely die." what does he mean by that? Does He mean that they are going to die spiritually or that they were going to live forever but now they have an "expiration date." I believe that this means a mixture of both. I believe that God intended for them to live forever and if they ate from the tree, they would die. I also believe that they would die spiritually if they ate the fruit. In the end, they died either way. I also have the question of where Eden is. Because at the end of the book, Adam and Eve are walking hand in hand through Eden. Does this mean that Eden could possibly be the whole world? Because Eden is not perfect. The world is not perfect. Therefore, the whole world could be Eden when you think about it. These are the things I took away from these books.