Do You Ever Really KNOW?

BELIEF VS. KNOWLEDGE
What defines a belief versus a fact and how can we differentiate between the two?

Our class's conclusions basically consisted of facts being things we can perceive and find definite, and beliefs filling in the gaps facts leave open. This is where things such as religion come into play. When things happen that can not be explained by fact, we use beliefs to make sense of it all.

The topic discussed in class that really caught my attention was about color. Is my definition of red the same as yours? How about orange or blue? Color is something we typically refer to as a fact. We "know" if something is yellow or green. But if it is a possibility that our concepts of color are even different, how can we differentiate between a belief versus knowledge?

Although this video is quite boring [monotone voice and elevator music in the background] mainly focuses on the topic of religion, it expresses a difference between a belief and a truth. It classifies knowledge as the medium between the two, which I found interesting. So does scientific proof make something a fact?

Defined by Your Name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell so sweet?"

Shakespeare said it. Both Jamaica Kincaid and Linda Hogan continued to question it. So what does a name really mean? If we name someone upon their birth, without yet knowing them, is the name reflective of their personality?

LUCINDA: Short for Lucifer [Satan himself].
Before the reference to the definition of her name, Lucy says, "I felt like Lucifer, doomed to build wrong upon wrong." Do you always live up to your name? Or is it just a coincidence that her name directly relates to how she feels and acts?

OMISHTO: Means "She who watches".
The first few pages of the novel describe in great detail her surrounding and all of the sounds she hears and things she sees. She obviously lives up to her name of "she who watches."

Is your fate decided the moment you are named or do we really have free will?

If you were named something else when you were born, would you have the same personality or would your defining characteristics be completely different?

Dances with the Daffodils

Daffodils: Symbol of new beginnings, rebirth, and good fortune. Bloom after winter so part of this symbolism comes from the fact that they appear in the spring time.

Clearly, Lucy has attempted to begin a new life in America seperate from her old family and ties. If her main goal is to start her own new beginning, then why does she have such a passion against daffodils, the symbol of her goal?

COMPARE:

Mariah sees the beautiful flowers and is reminded of beauty, happiness, and a new hope.

Lucy looks at daffodils and the only reminder leads towards a hated poem. The poem seems very positive and happy, yet it provokes thoughts such as, "I wanted to kill them" (Kincaid 29). Her hatred has nothing to do with the actual flower, but rather the poem and its responses from the audience. After the performance of the reading, Lucy received praise, but only towards how she read the poem..only referring to her conformation. Lucy wants to be her own person, and realizes: "outside I seemed one way, "inside I was another; outside false, inside true." Lucy relates daffodils to this moment which relates it all back to having a fake outside and not showing your true self.

"Daffodils" (1804)
By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

HOW CAN ONE SYMBOL REPRESENT TWO CONTRASTING IDEAS?

This symbol represents the concept of a symbol. It has many meanings, but which you choose to believe is up to each specific person. There are many possibilities, but each have a personal significance.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."