Blog Post #4: House “Pilot”

How do the characters act, and what sort of model do they provide to a reader?

House is the main character in “House”. He behaves negatively because he doesn’t listen to his superiors and he gambles with his patient’s lives. House provides a poor role model for these specific reasons. A true doctor reacts to illnesses based on scientific reasoning and proof. House is the exception.
What consequences do characters face for right or wrong choices?

House’s supervisor told House that because she is a doctor she doesn’t work off hunches because when doctors are wrong patients die. House doesn’t listen to his supervisor. He works off his hunches and strips his patient, Rebecca, of all treatment to discover her ailment by the speed of her deterioration. By the time he discovers she has a worm, she is too broken mentally to desire to be cured.

"August 2026: There Will Come Soft Rains" (1950) - Ray Bradbury

What consequences do characters face for right or wrong choices?

This story lacks any concrete characters and voices very little dialogue. The events prior to the apocalyptic-like environment are left to the imagination of the reader; the consequence of whatever prior actions is indisputably the absence of the human race.  

What lesson is the story teaching?

            I feel this short story is a better excerpt than fable. It is incomplete missing structure, main characters and conflict. One may argue that the fire is the rising action and that the dynamics of this short story are complete however I feel otherwise. If any lesson were to be taken I feel as if it were the fact that nature always prevails.

How do the morals of the story differ from yours?

            This being set in the future, I feel that they live their lives, or lived their lives, differently than we do today. For example they rely on technology to fill their baths with water, make their breakfasts and set their game tables. I feel as if we shouldn’t solely rely on technology for all our necessities.

Moral Philosophy Blog Post #2: Lesson Learned

                I’ve experienced many lessons in my 18 years of life. I’ve learned when to hold my tongue and I’ve learned what other people expect from me. I’ve also learned the word “bill” in Spanish.

                While in Peru, my friend Rosalinda and I decided to go out for dinner one night. We found a café called El Gatito Perdido, or the Lost Kitty. We had our chicha and had been finished with our dinner for a long time so I decided to ask for the check. I couldn’t remember the word for “bill” and had left my pocket dictionary at my homestay. I assumed literally asking for the check, puedo obtener el cheque, would have done the job but the man took offense and slightly yelled at me. “La cuenta. LA CUENTA.”

                Ever since that night I will forever know that la cuenta is the word for bill in Spanish.

Post #1: The Psychological Approach

In both Fantastic Mr. Fox and Into the Wild, both main characters’ behaviors are based off of unconscious motives that result in dire consequences.  

In Into the Wild, Chris McCandless first decides to go off on his own after a fallout with his family. His feelings towards his family were the prime motive for adventuring on his own. The feeling of betrayal he felt with his father’s first divorce, the disbelief his father had in him when hiking the mountain and the belief Chris had in that his father had to control all of his actions drove Chris further and further away from his family. Ultimately the isolation caused his death.

In Fantastic Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox decided to give up his natural born ways of stealing and trickery in order to maintain a healthy family in marrying his wife and upbringing a child. Later in his life, he isn’t satisfied with what he has and he feels he needs to resort to his old ways of stealing in order to feel better about himself. By stealing the farmer’s supply of apple cider, chickens and the like he puts his family in jeopardy and ultimately the entire community.