Billy Bud and A Few Good Men

In class today, we discussed the idea of shunting emotional desires and emotional reasoning aside in favor of the law. This discussion reminded me of a movie that I had just been watching in my debate class. The movie, A Few Good Men, deals with many of the same themes as Billy Bud. It centers around the debate concerning whether orders should take precedence over personal choice, especially in a military setting.

The main difference between the ideas behind the two films is that A Few Good Men completely condemns the idea of following orders and ignoring emotional instincts. Billy Bud, seems to be far more ambiguous, especially during the captain's argument to his fellow jurors. Should orders be allowed to take precedence, especially in regards to the military? Was it the captain of The Avenger or Tom Cruise who was right?

Tara

Artificial Intelligence

Today we were talking about some of the things what can be done with technology in recent times, and I remembered seeing this Video on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9ByGQGiVMg

What do you think? I know that Asimo is not the only robot capable of learning (nor do I think he is the most advanced). Should we be doing this? I can't help but wonder whether we are playing god, or simply making a strange form of child...

-Melissa

For those interested...

This is the introduction to my research paper so far:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYt0U46uX1OXZGduMms2OTdfMzFmOXp6cWpocw&hl=en

Comments/critiques are appreciated!
-emily

Windows

Poe spends a lot of time describing the rooms and I thought his detailed description of the windows of the rooms was symbolic. Does anybody know what windows may symbolize?

-Joanne Park

There is a fair amount of personification in The Masque of the Red Death. Poe makes characters out of objects or ideas like death, the clock, and dreams. Death is a relatively common personification, and deliberately and overtly portrayed. But Poe more subtly depicts the clock as having "brazen lungs" and a voice. Dreams, too, are personified in that they can stand, stalk, take steps, live, and "writhe to and fro... merrily." However, only Death has any major impact on the plot of the story. The others seem to have no purpose except to enhance the story stylistically, like the themes of colors, time, and sounds.

-- tori

The Red Death = Tuberculosis?

As I was reading "The Masque of the Red Death," I couldn't help but remember how Poe's wife Virginia died of tuberculosis. Perhaps Poe's personal experiences with disease and death had an impact on how and why this story was written. Thoughts?

-Bryce C.

The Cask of Amontillado

On Friday, we talked about why Montresor never said what it was that Fortunato had done to anger him to the point of murder. I think that Montresor's omitting this is extremely interesting. I don't know whether Poe intended this or not, but I think the omission adds something to the story that we didn't talk about: it makes it harder for the reader to justify (or not justify) Montresor's actions. Had the insult of Fortunato been mentioned, I think the reader would have felt either more or less inclined to side with Montresor. If Fortunato's insult had been something terrrible, the reader might have seen the murder as more deserved. By the same token, if the insult had been something small and undeserving of murder, the reader would have been even more appalled by Fortunato's death. What do you guys think?

~Elizabeth