...January 30, 2009 The End of Solitude By William Deresiewicz What does the contemporary self want? The camera has created a culture of celebrity; the computer is creating a culture of connectivity. As the two technologies converge — broadband tipping the Web from text to image, social-networking sites spreading the mesh of interconnection ever wider — the two cultures betray a common impulse. Celebrity and connectivity are both ways of becoming known. This is what the contemporary self wants. It wants to be recognized, wants to be connected: It wants to be visible. If not to the millions, on Survivor or Oprah, then to the hundreds, on Twitter or Facebook. This is the quality that validates us, this is how we become real to ourselves — by being seen by others. The great contemporary terror is anonymity. If Lionel Trilling was right, if the property that grounded the self, in Romanticism, was sincerity, and in modernism it was authenticity, then in postmodernism it is visibility. So we live exclusively in relation to others, and what disappears from our lives is solitude. Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves; we are discarding these riches as fast as we can. I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager I know had sent 3,000 text messages one recent month. That's 100 a day, or about one every 10 waking minutes, morning...
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...Danielle Gulbranson Professor Scott English Comp 2 February 19, 2013 Depression Can Be Beat, No Drugs Needed If you suffer from depression, you know how hard it can be to cope. One of the well-known solutions to depression are antidepressants but before getting prescribed medicine, you should know that there are ways to overcome severe depression without drugs and that twenty to fifty percent of those suffering from depression find no relief from the antidepressants they are prescribed. Half of those who do find relief, discontinue use of their medication due to the side effects and those who stopped the use of meds have had their symptoms return (Love 13). In the story “A Blizzard under the Blue Sky” written by Pam Houston, the author is depressed. The author consults with a psychiatrist about her depression in which the doctor recommends to her anti- depressants. She thinks that the best remedy for depression is not to be dumbed down by meds but to be immersed in the wild and face death itself. In the wild, Houston experiences dangerous situations such as mountain climbing and hunting wild animals. Her mood soon improved as she focused on the beauty of the wilderness. Pam Houston used nature to invigorate her mind and calm her nerves. People may not relate to camping as the best way to ease one’s mind, but however there are other outlets to achieve peace and serenity. One of the ways I keep myself from getting depressed is watching crime shows featured on the Identity...
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...SUMMARY Christopher Villegas Fohrweisser ID number: 1295075 Source: William Deresiewicz, “The end of solitude”, The Chronical, January 30, 2009, pg. 1 to 4. Key concepts: Social networking, Solitude, Connectivity, Contemporary self, Technology, Society, Loosing abilities, people. Main Issues: What is happening with solitude in these days? Why are T.V. and Internet a problem in these days? And how can they affect the ability to being alone? In wich way does social networking affect the human behaviour? What happen, when you lose the ability to being alone? Main Thesis: We are replacing the solitude to being in constant communication with people. T.V was designed to eliminate boredom, so, when you are bored then you turn on the T.V and Internet doesn’t allow solitude, because you are in constantly communication with people. The more you do social networking, the more known you are, and this happens because people are afraid to being alone. Solitude is important because, it is the moment when people can read, actually it is when people can think about everything. Supporting Elements: • I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager I know had sent 3,000 text messages one recent month. So on average, she's never alone for more than 10 minutes at once. Which means, she is never alone. (The end of solitude, pg. 1) • The great age of boredom, I believe, came in with television, precisely...
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...Xavier Roland February 3 2014 English 132 Kristen M. Shearloc Acquainted with the night Have you ever watched a spooky bone chilling movie and had cold chills run down your spine? What about going into a withered old abandoned house by yourself on a stormy night? These are the types of feelings I had while reading “Acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost. In “Acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost he describes himself as being alone, depressed and he has no meaning. Robert may have related this poem to some of the tragedies he had in his life, whether it was the death of this father at an early age or the death of his children, he defiantly was dark and depressed in this poem. The poem starts off by saying “I have been one acquainted with the night”. He uses the word acquainted which means you have met something. So Frost is saying he has met the night which is a weird thing to say. Frost also states he is one, maybe the night and Frost are together or he is one out of others that are acquainted along with the night with him. In the next line Frost says “I have walked out in rain-and back in rain” Frost is saying he had went somewhere and later returned and both times it was raining. Whether it was a quick walk or it had just been raining for however long he was out for. But at the end of the first stanza he says that “I have out walked the furthest city light.” Which means that this was no ordinary short walk he either walked out past the city limits to where...
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...relation to(about) others, and what disappears from(从…处消失) our lives is solitude. Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves; we are discarding(丢弃) these riches as fast as we can. I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager I know had sent 3,000 text messages one recent month. That's 100 a day, or about one every 10 waking minutes, morning, noon, and night, weekdays and weekends, class time, lunch time, homework time, and tooth brushing time. So on average, she's never alone for more than 10 minutes at once. Which means, she's never alone. I once asked my students about the place that solitude (loneliness)...
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...Acquainted with the night Have you ever watched a spooky bone chilling movie and had cold chills run down your spine? What about going into a withered old abandoned house by yourself on a stormy night? These are the types of feelings I had while reading “Acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost. In “Acquainted with the night” by Robert Frost he describes himself as being alone, depressed and he has no meaning. Robert may have related this poem to some of the tragedies he had in his life, whether it was the death of this father at an early age or the death of his children, he defiantly was dark and depressed in this poem. The poem starts off by saying “I have been one acquainted with the night”. He uses the word acquainted which means you have met something. So Frost is saying he has met the night which is a weird thing to say. Frost also states he is one, maybe the night and Frost are together or he is one out of others that are acquainted along with the night with him. In the next line Frost says “I have walked out in rain-and back in rain” Frost is saying he had went somewhere and later returned and both times it was raining. Whether it was a quick walk or it had just been raining for however long he was out for. But at the end of the first stanza he says that “I have out walked the furthest city light.” Which means that this was no ordinary short walk he either walked out past the city limits to where there is no light or to another part of the town where there is just...
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...spent most of his life in New England, as a teacher and farmer, in rural New Hampshire. Frost often uses natural elements in his poetry, especially New England landscapes. He uses seasons, flowers, fields, stars, and time of day to set a logical sequence of events to paint a psychological feeling inside the reader’s mind. Two of Robert Frost’s poems, “Desert Places” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, take readers through a New England winter setting, reflecting the beautiful scenery through his descriptive imagery. However, even though these two poems are set in a wintry backdrop, they convey very different tones. One has a feeling of loneliness, and the other a welcoming feeling of solitude. In this paper, I intend to illustrate how two very similar natural settings are written to express two very different themes of loneliness. The poems “Desert Places” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” have quite a few similarities. For instance, they both share the same rhythmic scheme; A,A,B,A. They both are set in a snowy, evening where darkness is taking over quickly. In both poems there is a man traveling alone, where no other souls are around. There is a sense that both travelers are stepping away from life for a brief moment in time. The contrast of darkness and whiteness against the horizon is apparent in both poems, however in “Stopping by Woods”, the depth of the darkness is inviting. In “Desert Places”, the whiteness of the snow is blank and meaningless. This...
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...to depression as well. It is like you have been saving all your love for someone else without asking something in return but that someone won’t even take a glance or mind on what you have been giving away. If you come to think of it, it is a heartbreaking truth that you will be facing with. Force to do something that you did not want to, is a type of event that will be causing one’s depression. By the time that you are mindless on what work you are asked to deal with will create a tension as you are pressured on how to do such things without any point of idea. These given things are just one of the numerous reasons why some people are engaging to depression. If you don’t know how to endure life’s circumstances, you will sink on your on loneliness for as it says that, ”peace is a state of mind” so you have to maintain a brighter outlook in life to move forward and...
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...Empty Spaces.... I used to remain extremely depressed when I was some 18 years old. Yes, you can say that I was a loner, I felt lonely in a crowded room filled with unknown people than I felt on my own. I would go to my apartment and just sit there. It used to be quiet, lonely and still. The sound of the moving fans in my room used to break the shackles of silence. I had a television in my room and I would deliberately leave it on all the time just to feel that somebody was there with me all the time. The years have rolled by and today, I am 21 years old but my situation happens to be quite similar to what it was three years ago. The biggest irony in the world is to be known by a million people and yet be so terribly lonely. I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. Well, it has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled my entire life, reputation and reason. It has been one of my desperate attempts to escape from torturing memories. The trouble with me is not that I am single and likely to stay single, but that I am lonely and likely to stay lonely. It seems as though there is a hole in this world and I find myself walking around that hole constantly during daytime, and suddenly, I find myself falling into it during the night. But, to be very honest, there is some sort of a pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where no one intrudes, by the deep sea, and the melodious...
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...The feeling of sadness, loneliness, and isolation due to the fact you miss someone breaks your heart than you are hurting so much. However, what is the effect of missing a person? There are three specific effects and they are loneliness, depression and the feel of being freed from false belief. The first effect is being alone when you feel that you are without that person. In spite of all the faults the person had, you know you miss them. They as a result, were like a best friend to you, and now they are gone you feel all alone. It is human nature to feel a great lost when a friend leaves you. When you have that friend, you feel safe, and comforted but when they leave you feel isolated from the world itself. In a way, they were your only means of companionship, and since you lost them, you conclude that you yourself are now in seclusion from the outside world; hence, this world is no longer a concern to you. As you are now alone, there is nothing to go back to in the world. This effect is initiated by the sensation of longing for them. You intensely miss them, and the cause of them being gone makes you feel abandoned because you are not with them. The loneliness effect is an expression that is felt through your heart, which is where your emotions lie; therefore, you know the significance of the person and what bond you have developed with them. My friend Dave, for example, broke up with his girlfriend afterwards; he felt tremendous agony when she left for Seneca in...
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...I am glad I attended this and know the leaders of this school. My favorite part of convocation was the speech by Novella Carpenter. I enjoyed watching her slideshow pictures of her urban farm in Oakland, and the stories she told behind the pictures. She was very funny as well; mentioning a cat acting like it was on acid. I admire her efforts to prove her point that urban farming can be achieved. She believes that this country is a country of isolation, with beauty but full of loneliness. Because of rural solitude, individuals are unhappy. Novella wants individuals to achieve the goal of farming without living on the countryside or in solitude, still having friends. Because having a farm in a urban city is not common, I believe Carpenter is saying that anything can be done if you put all your work and effort into it. She spent months taking care of her small farm and animals, and was a successful urban farm. I agree with Carpenter in a way that living in solitude can lead to loneliness, because having no one around to build relationships with can be a problem. The other side of this argument is that there is many farmers who love living on their own in a small, rural, desolate community and are very successful as well. Overall, I believe she addressed the students well and gave us encouraging...
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...Two Unique Mindsets of Being Alone Loneliness is a complicated and normally an unpleasant emotional response to isolation or lack of companionship. In the stories The Old Man and the Sea and “A Clean, Well- lighted Place”, Ernest Hemingway conveys the idea of loneliness and its corresponding effects. Characters from each text are alone in unique ways; Santiago is a elderly man who, although fishing alone, does not despair in his loneliness. In spite of the fact that he is in solitude, he does not mind being alone. Whereas the deaf man and the waiter attempt to find a way to avoid their loneliness by looking for a place to be so that they are not alone. While many elderly may be alone it does not necessarily mean they are lonely. In the novel The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago is an old man who fishes alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream. He is a widow who has no family and does not have much. Santiago has only one human companion, but in his opinion the sea creatures are his friends. Santiago finds it easy to relate to the fish when he reflects on the fish’s choice of staying far away from everything, “His choice had been to stay in the deep dark water far out beyond all snares and traps and treacheries. My choice was to go there to find him beyond all people. Beyond all people in the world. Now we are joined together and have been since noon. And no one to help either one of us” (Hemingway 50). Santiago’s solitude extends to the fish; they are in isolation from the rest of the...
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...Nicole Garcia Women Studies 102 Mon/Wed 1100-1150 Roberts September 9, 2014 Reading Response #4 It angers me to know that we live in a society where many women live and settle for an everyday life with no identity. Women are constantly trying to live the so-called “American dream” that includes a white picked fence, the perfect house, working husband, and 3 children. Many women live their life searching for this American dream, because society paints this picture that this is the ideal life for a woman. However society shadows and hides the actual unhappiness of the American housewife. Many call it “the problem that has no name,” however the problem is real and it’s called the housewife syndrome. Housewife syndrome is the constant struggle amongst many housewives who are sick of living a routine life. However, many women continue to disguise the problem and change their life in order to adjust to the feminine role of a housewife. Women need to understand that being a housewife should not identify who you are. The reason they feel empty and have nothing to look forward to is because they don’t know of a life that doesn’t evolve around their husband, children, or housewife duties. They can have it all the nice home, nice car, money, children, and loving husband but still feel dissatisfied due to their unhappiness as an individual. Bothers me to know that there are women who will settle for this unhappy life instead of fixing the problem. No women should ever feel like...
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...Empty Fake happiness is still the worst sadness. It's so sad to think about how many beautiful people are living every day hating themselves. First, it starts off on insecurities, of not being good enough for a certain someone, for your family, for the society. Then, the next thing you know is you are depressed. Depression doesn't exempt anyone, whether you are a poor person that has nothing, or you are rich that could get everything in just a snap of your fingers. Depression is like drowning but not being able to save yourself, so you just kind of gave up and let the deep, dark ocean take you. It feels like you're too sad to cry and too tired to sleep, and you just feel nothing. You have this empty feeling in your chest, and no matter what you do, you can't fill it out. Sometimes, the emptiness you feel is just too much and there's only so much a person could take, and then they just give up. Now, hurting yourself thinking you deserve it is such a hard thing to stop. It's like a drug, it takes you away from reality, and the next thing you know, you're in too deep, and it's too late to go back. So before this unhealthy habit starts, we need to prevent it from happening to us, to our loved ones. People are like pieces of paper. Once you tear them apart, you can't fix them. No matter what you do or say they will never be how they once are. Depressed people lack love from the people around them, so they just make their own world where they could be happy, blocking the people who...
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...Loneliness and Solitude Being lonely and being in solitude sounds like they can be freighting. You may think you hope to never feel these types of feelings, ever. It’s these two that you will encounter one day in life no matter how your life plays out, and depending how one defines each and understands them better, you will realize that one is not as bad as you previously interpreted. Solitude is occasionally by choice with exit. Loneliness is without choice and being stuck within. You are in solitude by choice because when being in solitude it as if you are giving yourself a break, alone time and in many cultures it’s a type of meditation. Solitude is beneficial in today's world where life is full of stress and problems, understanding solitude can help us to overcome our problems without trouble. Solitude is important for personal growth, to enjoy mental satisfaction, strong and healthy relations with family and in society. For example I find myself something stressing over things in my life to where I feel like my head is going to explode because I’m stress over payments and due dates, college work and there due dates also. Its that when I need to stop everything I’m doing and slowly fall into solitude. I’ll go to my room and lay in my bed with my music. When I begin to think, I do it slowly. Finding the positive strategies and in step by step instructions for everything. It’s tough to start with but just thinking about life’s problems and how you will achieve it...
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