Marriage a-la-Most Gone

In the painting series "Marriage a-la-mode" by William Hogarth, he depicts the tragedies that can happen in the process of an arranged marriage, or any marriage that is constituted for the purpose of monetary or social gain for that matter.
Our current culture may not have arranged marriages as often, if at all, but we do have our own culture surrounding the concept of marriage. To be honest, we seem as a society to not have a culture of marriage, but a culture of the lack thereof.
By this I mean that in our current society the concept of marriage for many people seems to be just a piece of paper and not a meaningful union. The age for marriage is getting higher and higher on average, whereas the age for children being born gets lower. This can be attributed partially to accidental pregnancies, but a large portion of these births could be also attributed to people living together and starting families, but without first going through the process of marriage.
There can be many other reasons that could point to the fact that marriage has become less important in our culture overall. One of these reasons could be peer pressure from society to earn a full education and get settled before worrying about marriage, and at the point where a person could be ready for marriage, the opportunity could have past them by while they were engrossed in studies. Another reason could be the lifestyle known simply as "YOLO" or "You Only Live Once." This idea glorifies lifestyles of free-willed ideas, daring activities, and thrill-seeking adventures. It seems to suggest that people follow spur-of-the-moment tendencies rather than settle down, marry, and raise a typical suburban family.
There are certain groups of people that still believe that marriage is an important part of their lives, and an essential step before that of starting a larger family. There is also, in my opinion an equally great or greater amount of people who, for various reasons, have decided that the bonds of matrimony are not required in their lives.

David, David, and David

Many artists have fashioned statues David, the mighty slayer of Goliath in the Biblical Story. Such examples are the works of Michelangelo, Donatello, and Bernini. Although each person all uses the same subject matter, the portrayal of David is greatly different between each.

In Bernini’s David, a piece from the Baroque Era, David is captured in stone at the point where he is about to cast the fatal stone at the opposing giant. Bernini does not try to create the perfect picture of the human body, as Michelangelo did in his work, but instead he tries to capture the height of emotion. This can plainly be seen by the disheveled hair on David’s head, and the look of concentration on his face, as well as the pose he is in. The statue also makes you walk around it, as you cannot see the entire focus of the work from any one angle.

As before mentioned, Michelangelo tried to capture the image of the perfect man, in his own view of course. In Michelangelo’s statue, David is casually standing, seemingly unperturbed at any surrounding he might be in. The statue shows a man with what could be consider extremely good, if not perfect physique. The statue seems to almost show, not a mortal man, but a deity in human form.

In Donatello’s David, the subject stands leaning on a sword, standing over the severed head of Goliath. In the statue, David wears a large hat, and his hair easily reaches his shoulders. His expression and posture suggest a jovial, victorious attitude, but to me it also appears as a more feministic approach at the sculpting of David. Instead of a buff and broad hulk, it seems to me to be a more slender and lean figure.

Once again, though many statues have been made of David, no statue is completely similar in its portrayal or attitude.

Athens Has a School Too

In Raphael’s painting, the School of Athens, he depicts a scene from Ancient Greece where Aristotle and Plato are philosophizing together while surrounded by the crowds.

In the painting, there are many artistic techniques or forms that Raphael uses to show his scene from the past. He uses very geometric lines. The arches spanning across the roof of the school are one example of this. These, along with the row of people spanning between the edges of the front most arch, make an almost perfect half circle.

The color used in this painting is another technique of Raphael’s. He paints the center, where Plato and Aristotle are, as well as the other people at the school, in bright colors, drawing the eye towards them. The edges of the painting are darker, pulling the eye away from them, and back towards the center.

Another technique used in the painting is depth, demonstrated by the arches once again. Except instead of using the people to create this, the painting uses the arches travelling in a straight line back from the front of the painting to the back.

A fourth characteristic of the painting is the attribute of space. This is shown in a way similar to how depth was. The arches, as well as showing depth, show the space of the school. This can be done by comparing the size of the people in the school to the height of the second arch.

This painting also shows the world view of the Renaissance, and how the artists of the Renaissance showed an interest in the world of the classical world. This link is shown in the context of the painting itself, as the subject matter is of the classical world.

Many things can be seen and inferred about a painter from their works. This is just one example of such.

The Blind Leading the Blind

In a story entitled “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, a man and his wife are visited by the old blind friend of the wife. The wife and this man, whose name is Robert, have had a long history of a friendship ever since a summer when she had worked for him. In the present of the story, Robert’s wife had recently died and he asked the wife if he could visit her to catch up and meet her husband, who is the nameless narrator of the story.

The narrator is skeptical about this old blind man, and is quite obviously uncomfortable about the idea of Robert spending a night with them. Over the course of the evening, the narrator and Robert do not talk much, except for general small talk, until they are watching, or listening to, a late night TV program about cathedrals.

During this program, Robert asks the narrator to describe a cathedral for him, as he cannot see what the program is showing. The narrator quickly found himself overwhelmed at this task, and tried in vain to describe a cathedral to Robert. In a short time, the narrator apologizes to Robert for his inability to describe a cathedral, and Robert then asks the narrator to find a pen and some heavy paper.

After acquiring these items, Robert and the narrator draw a cathedral together, bringing them together as friends through this shared experience.

If one were to describe the characters, Robert could be described as a kind, scholarly blind man that helps the narrator, who starts out as a untrusting, if not cynical, man to realize there is more to life than just sights and appearances. When the two men finish the drawing of the cathedral at the end of the story, Robert tells the narrator to look at it, and the narrator describes it as good, even though he never opens his eyes to look at the drawing; showing that he does not need the sight of the drawing of the cathedral to realize the importance of this experience.

The cathedral itself in the story could possibly be seen as a symbol of a divine power, especially if looked at in the context of the Medieval Era. So it could be seen in the story as a divine power that draws these two men together.

Link to Raymond Carver's "Cathedral"

Cathedral

America's Epic

The Epic, a type of story that tells a tale that is not just about a person, but an entire country or civilization. Greece had two epics called The Iliad and The Odyssey, but what does America have? What is the story of our country that can only be described as “epic?”
What comes to mind is the story of America’s founding, and the Revolutionary War that occurred to buy our freedom with the lives of men.
Many men had to sacrifice to bring about the formation of this country. Some sacrificed their homes, some their dignity, and some their very selves.
The man who would be considered the “hero” of the epic of the Revolution is George Washington. Though throughout the course of the Revolution he lost more battles than he won, in the end he was able to turn the tides and claim victory and true independence for the new people of America.
In an epic, the “hero” tends to possess qualities that can be attributed to the civilization as well. Just as Achilles showed in The Iliad that the Greeks are strong and unstoppable, George Washington showed that Americans, though not invincible, are many other things. These things include wise, resourceful, and that we have an unbreakable will. He showed that when we put our minds, hearts, and souls to a task, we can always find a way to accomplish the task.
Though we as Americans are not without our fair share of flaws, we also have a great number of wonderful qualities. At times we may be arrogant or stubborn like many of the congressmen that made the Declaration a near impossibility in the first place, but we can also be wise and courageous enough to go after what we want, and get it.
The Greeks have The Iliad and The Odyssey, and we Americans have the American Revolution.

Be Drunk...but on what? -Baudelaire

For those who happen to stumble across this blog, as well as those who purposefully are viewing this blog, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jonathon Wixom. Those that know me call me Jon, those that do not know me tend to not call me anything.
The purpose for this blog is to give my views on specific topics from my Humanities class. If this catches your interest, feel free to read on. If you do not care about this, then feel free to either develop an interest in this subject, or leave this blog.
Now, to the actual point of the blog…
In the poem called “Be Drunk” by Charles Baudelaire, the writer petitions the reader to find something that they can, as the title suggests, get drunk on. The poem does not mean, in my opinion, to be drunk as a person would be from consuming too much alcohol. I believe that by “drunk,” Baudelaire meant find something that you feel very passionately about, and can use as an escape from the day to day stresses of life, much like some people use alcohol to escape their troubles.
I think that Baudelaire has a very valid point, and I personally think that everyone does have their own way of escaping. I know in my case that I escape the stress of the world by, in a matter of speaking, escaping the world. What I mean to say is…I read books. Preferably ones that are Science Fiction or Fantasy based.
By doing this, I am able to momentarily escape from the pressures and troubles that the life of a college student seems to be full of, with due dates for projects and papers. After some time of engaging myself in this well-loved hobby, I am then ready to face life again, more refreshed and motivated than before.
That is what my opinion of Baudelaire’s “Be Drunk” is, and I will stick with it, because reading has kept me sane…so far.
So until next time. Keep your love of the arts strong, and your mind open.



Link to Charles Baudelaire's "Be Drunk":
www.poemhunter.com/poem/be-drunk