Human Life: A Cycle?

I do not believe that human life is like a cycle. We are faced with new experiences everyday. These small everyday things contribute to our growth as a whole.  I think human life is more like a mountain climb. When we are young, we are climbing up the hill. We get grow and get stronger each day. There may be obstacles on our road to the top of the mountain, but once we overcome them, we are one step closer in reaching the top. This is just like our life. There are just some times in our life that we will face difficulties and have a hard time moving forward, however, if we keep at what we do, the challenges will eventually pass. I believe we get to the top of that mountain at in our 20s and 30s. This is when out body is the strongest. This is also the point when most people begin a new life as an individual and not under the care of their parents. After we pass the peak, it gets to the downhill. Our body functions may weaken. We become more likely to forget things. By the end of the mountain climb, life ends. We have left a trail on the life mountain we climbed. After that, it is time to take a rest.

Natural Cycles

One year. Four Seasons. Twelve Months. 365 Days. 52 weeks. Sunrise. Sunset. Nature goes in cycles of repeated patterns. Although time never stops, time frames are grouped into cycles of similar pattern. The living and death of organisms can be seen as a cycle as a whole. An animal is born. It grows and reproduces, creating new life, then is dies. Some species may become extinct. Although that is the end of the cycle for that specific species, it does not end the cycle as a whole. New species can be developed, which starts a whole new cycle.

The recurring cycles of life and death will always be there. Nothing can last forever except for time. Time will continue on as cycles are repeated and as the world change. If something happens to exist forever, cycles will be disrupted. In this way, the cycles of life and death actually brings order to the world. The existence of these cycles does not disturb me. Knowing that nothing will last forever only shows how tiny we are to the world, the universe and time. Although some people may think that we have conquered nature in our current technologically advanced state, nature is so great that it can never be conquered. Who knows? The era of our species might be coming to an end!

A Realistic View of Life

As we get older, our view towards to would and our future changes. It becomes less idealistic and most often, less colorful and happy. When we grow older, we learn to face the many difficulties of real life. I learn to come on concept with real problems that we have to resolve in order to go on. 
In the past, I thought of my future as full of possibilities. I could be anyone I wanted. When I am watching TV or a performance, I imagine myself as a performer or and dancer. When I go to the doctors and see how they can heal others, I see myself growing up as a doctor. Other times, I would want to be an artist because I like to draw and to create things. For me, the hard part in coming into realistic terms is the choosing. I have to choose one specific career and one specific future. I cannot be an actor or a doctor or an artist whenever I felt like it. I can only choose one.
There are also a lot more life lessons that I have learned that have changed me. I now know that  the intensions of people are not always just to make the world a better place. There are complicated things like jealousy, selfishness, and many others that does not make everyone angelic figures that only wish to do good.

Comparing Characters

In the Rad Badge of Courage, two of Henry's friend seems to argue pretty often. The reason for this is that these two characters are pretty different people. Jim, or the tall soldier is the more modest and honest type. He wouldn't say things that he doesn't believe in. Wilson, a character that changes throughout the story, started out as a loud and overly confident person. When Jim announces that they were going to go to a battle the next day, Wilson did not believe him. He argues that they were told to prepare to fight for many times, but they have not been to a single battle. Jim, however, strongly believe in what he heard because he thinks the sources were trustworthy. 
Another difference between the two characters is their attitudes towards war before the battle. When asked if he might run from a battle Jim, the more down to earth of the two, said "if a whole lot of boys started and run, why I s'pose I'd start and run... But if everybody was a-standing and a-fighting, why, I'd stand and fight." Wilson, on the other hand said, "I s'pose I'll do well as the rest. I'm going to try like thunder" and laughed at the idea of running away from battle. From what they say, it is evident that Wilson is more sure of himself than Jim.

Henry's Relationship

Jim Conklin, or the tall soldier, was Henry’s childhood friend that came to war with him. He is in the same regiment as Henry. Although he dies early on in the story, Jim taught Henry several things. Jim comforts Henry when he replied honestly to Henry’s question: when asked whether he would run away if most of the soldiers were retreating, he honestly replied that he would do the same. However, he id his best and was very brave when fighting his first and last battle. By the end of the battle, he was wounded badly and died. In these ways, Jim Conklin represents the ideal soldier, brave and honest.

Wilson, also known as the loud solder, is full of confidence. He is loud and argumentative and speaks out about whatever he believes in. Although he seemed really brave, he does show a sign of weakness and a fear of death right before the battle. He gave Henry a letter he wrote for his family is he was to die in the battle. He also shows that he cares about Henry and their friendship. He was worried and quickly yelled for assistance when Henry came back with a wound on his head.

The tattered solder is a good-natured man that annoys Henry with his questions. The only reason why his questions annoy Henry is because Henry feels guilty. He tries to be nice and start conversation, but Henry takes it the wrong way because he ran away from the battle.

Conscience

Conscious is that voice inside you that tells you what is right and what is wrong. For example, when you are young and you go to your friend’s house. You see your friend’s doll or robot lying here on the floor. You really like it, but you don’t take it. What is stopping you? Yes, it is conscience that stops you. You might say that it is only because you don’t want to get in trouble, but deep down inside it is because we can tell what is morally right from wrong.

 Lets say that you actually did steal the toy and manage to get away with it from being caught. You will never feel right when you play with the doll. There will be this voice that reminds you that the toy is not yours. Even if it is the best toy in the world, it will loose its fun. Eventually, you would want to return the toy. This is all caused by the guilt you feel, and the guilt is caused by the conscience in you.

In the Red Badge of Courage, Henry struggles with his conscience because he did not stay and fight the battle. He tried hard to convince himself that what he did was right, but he is still worried and uncomfortable. What is the need to convince himself? If he truly believed that what he did was right, he would feel good in what he did. All of this comes down in conscience.

The Dark Side

The Dark Romanticism came out of romanticism and transcendentalism. Many thought of dark romanticism as the opposite of transcendentalism but in fact, they have the same basic ideas. Both ideas values expression of strong emotion and imagination. The difference is that they focus on different aspects of emotion and imagination. Romanticism and transcendentalism are a lot more optimistic. They are about the positive things in life, like the innocence and heroic characteristics of people and the beauty of nature.  The transcendentalists talk about achieving the human perfection. Dark romantics have a more negative view towards the world. Their works focus on the conflict between good and evil, effects of guilt and sin, the destructive underside of appearances and even madness. Some of the leading dark romantic writers are Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville. In Nathaniel Hawthorn's famous novel, the Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale suffers from sin and his own guilt. He is a minister and tortures himself for his secret sin. Many of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories are also really dark. Many of his stories talk about mad people or describing people that are about to get killed. I think the scariest part of his stories is the anxiousness and fearful tone. To me, dark romanticism is just like scary stories but at a deeper and more thoughtful level.

The Transcendentalists

The transcendentalists looks beyond, or transcends,  everyday experiences and seeks for ultimate truths. They believe that by looking at each individual person and by getting to truly understand them can they find out about the reality of God. They try to look past the physical appearances and into a person. They are idealists that work to achieve human perfection. The leader of the transcendentalists, Ralph Waldo Emerson, says that the idea is "the very oldest of thought cast into the mold of these times" Their ideas effect American today because there are still some American that think like them. They try to achieve human perfection.
To me, their ideas are very confusing. I do not understand how to "look beyond" everyday experiences to find truths about God. I also don't get how they connect the physical world to the spiritual. How can we, by understanding the physical world, get to find out about God? However, there is one part of their belief that I agree with. Although I don't know how the transcendentalists define "human perfection"but I believe that most people do have goals to improve themselves. I, for one, try my best to do what I can. I work hard in school, but also spend time with friends to make myself happy. Although it is sometimes hard to find a balance in between the two, I still try. For me human perfection is to be able to achieve all of your own goals.

Romantic Values

In contrast to the pervious time period, the age of reason, the romantic values imagination and freedom. Romanticism values emotions, feelings and individuality. It emphasizes freedom of thinking and closeness to nature. In romantic artwork, things are sometimes abstract or not clear. It believe it is so because our emotions are not something that is set in stone. There is a lot of in-betweens and different sensation when describing emotions. Imagination is something that is even more abstract. Every person thinks differently. An artwork created by a person with a certain feeling might give another person that is looking at the artwork a different feeling.

One thing I found very interesting that this time period came right after the age of reason. The age of reason is the total opposite of romanticism. It seeks to prove everything in the world. Everything should the clear and precise. People tried to find reasons for everything. Artworks during that period are usually very balanced, with a focus on form and unity. It seems as though there is a lack of emotion. People seek to derive, prove and ration things in the world. How Romanticism came out of Reasoning is a total mystery for me. Did people just get tired of solving and proving everything? Or did people just one day find out that emotions are very important too and took a 180 turn and focused on the other direction?

The American Romantic Hero

Young, intuitive, and close to nature. These are the major characteristics of the American Romantic Hero. These heros are common throughout stories and novels during the Romantic Period and even afterwards. Indianan Jones is an example of such hero. His adventures and explorations in the wild fascinate audiences. In the modern day, we have a different kind of hero. Spiderman, Superman and Batman are heros for many little boys and girls. These hero all have super powers and use them for the good of the people. They hide their identities so that they would not gain fame from what they do. 
A major difference between stories of the American Romantic Hero and of the modern heros is that the settings are drastically different. In the past, people seem to be closer to nature, so the Romantic Hero would be and adventurer that can live successfully in the wilderness. In the modern days, however, most people live in cities. The heros that they prefer are those that share the same settings. The modern day hero lives in the city just, like us, except they have another secret identity that he uses to save mankind. Curiously, the modern hero also has to possess some kind of super power. People nowadays only look up to those that are special and physically different from the rest, while in the past, heros are just normal people that have determination and skills.

Freedom and Equality

These two words have been used to describe America since the creation of the country, but are these words true illustrations of the country? Most might say yes. However, looking back o history, these words have not applied to many that lived in he United States. Did the slaves ever experience freedom, much less equality, before the Civil War? What about the Native Americans that have been relocated again and again to smaller and less fertile land? How can they experience freedom when they are trapped in a reservation? 
Although the road to reaching equality is still long, conditions have improved greatly in the modern world. Many, or even most of us take freedom and equality for granted. We have the luck to live in these conditions without fighting for it. We are so use to living in such environments that we take it all for granted and turn our cravings to other things. If we had to fight to attain those conditions, we will cherish it more when we have it. For some people in the world, they are still struggling through these problems. The women in Muslim countries, for example, are still far from gender equality. People from lower social classes are also striving for equality. For those that have to luxury to enjoy freedom and equality, we should be more grateful.

The American Ideal

"We will walk on our own feet,
We will work with our own hands,
We will speak with our own minds."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I think this quote reflects the American Ideal very well. Even from before the United States was a country, the thirteen colonies that founded the country had wanted independence from British rule. They fought a war for their freedom and independence. In the Declaration of Independence, it stated that people have the right to "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness." Also, in the First Amendment to the constitution, it says that people have the "right of speech". Included in these famous documents that form the foundation of the Unites States is parts of the American Ideal. Even today, this statement applies. Americans still value individual rights as something very important in their society. 
In the Taiwanese society, this quote might now apply. Yes, individuality and independence is valued, but its is not as important as some other things that ties us back to our history. I feel like the Chinese and the Taiwanese view family histories and the name and honor of families and the individual persons in the family. They take pride in their family names and care much less about each separate person. The reason to this might be because there is a large human population in China. They see groups of people as more important that single persons.