Man Withount a Face

Kiaya Nickens

Mr. Sanchez

Christian in the World p.8

October 18, 2012

The Man without a Face Reflection Essay:

In the movie The Man Without a face there are two main characters those being Norstadt and  McLeod. Norstadt is a young boy that is in need of a tutor in order to pass his military entrance exam. Norstadt is intrigued with McLeod but at the same he is afraid of him. Norstadt lives his life in solitude and usually keeps away from others around him, therefore McLeod is reluctant in helping Norstadt with his exam. After a few visits with McLeod; Norstadt finally convinces McLeod into becoming his  teacher. After continuous visits of tutoring the relationship between  the two evolve into a friendship. Everything goes great until Norstadt’s mother becomes aware that her son has been visiting this man. His mother as well as the entire city become skeptical to what McLeod’s intentions with Norstadt are. They all become convinced that McLeod is trying to molest Norstadt. At the end of the movie, there is a dramatic scene where Norstadt questions the entire relationship they have experienced thus far. Questions run through his mind of whether or not their entire relationship was a lie or if McLeod was genuine in his attempts to help Norstadt. McLeod is persistent in Norstadt giving him an answer immediately. The question we were trying to answer in class was why was McLeod so persistent in finding his answer, or in other words "How does Norstadt arrive at the moral certainty that he can trust McLeod despite the fear and doubt that is raised in him by the rumors? We came up with three logical responses, those being the following: risking all of the possible consequences, the sharing of personal life, and the fact that McLeod as an educator challenges Norstadt.

At the end of the movie the audience learns that McLeod was previously charged with child molestation. The fact that McLeod would even risk being charged again with another account of child molestation proves how much he cares about Norstadt. He cares so much about this young boy, he cares to educate him, and for him to ultimately succeed in his attempt to pass his military entry exam. And that point in itself, is one reason why McLeod possibly could have been so persistent in receiving the answer from Norstadt at that very moment. McLeod realizes how much of a risk he has taken all for the love of one young boy. And the fact that Norstadt can’t realize this fact, tears him up inside and makes him feel like their entire relationship was pointless. And on top of Norstadt not realizing the risk, Norstadt’s mother or any of the citizens in the town didn’t realize it either. It never crossed anyone’s mind that McLeod knew how much of a risk he was running, but helped Norstadt anyway because he cared about him so much. Norstadt should have answered the question regarding their relationship based on the experiences the two had and not of rumors that have formed others around him.

Along with McLeod risking going to jail a second time, McLeod also shares his entire life with Norstadt. McLeod from the beginning of the movie is characterized into being a person who is extremely secretive of his life and lives a life of seclusion. The fact that McLeod shares his personal life with Norstadt shows how much he genuinely cares about him. McLeod lets Norstadt in his home to see every aspect of his life. McLeod by simply letting someone in his personal life, is stepping out of his comfort zone. A real friendship is taking risks and making sacrifices for the people you care about. The fact that McLeod makes a sacrifice by stepping out of his comfort zone by letting someone enter his personal life, illustrates that he has a genuine sense of care toward Norstadt.

The final explanation that shows how McLeod cares about Norstadt is that McLeod takes the role as an educator, and when an educator truly cares about their students they challenge them. The educator challenges the students to work as hard as they can and to achieve everything they possibly can. Norstadt comes to McLeod with the desire to pass an entry exam, but McLeod takes what he desired and expands his mind so that he can accomplish much more than a simple entry exam. The fact that McLeod cared enough about Norstadt to teach him above and beyond shows how much he genuinely cared.

Along with establishing the fact that McLeod genuinely cared about Norstadt, the question of why it was so important for Norstadt  not "cheat" on the problem of using his freedom to decide on his own whether the rumors are true. It is so important that he does not cheat is because he should configure this answer based on the experiences the two have shared with each other and make a plausible explanation. And not “cheat” and use others opinions.Through their all of McLeod’s and Norstadt’s experiences, McLeod clearly demonstrates how much he truly cares, and that in fact is why he was so persistent for Norstadt to give him an answer at that very moment.

Knowledge....

Kiaya Nickens

Mr. Sanchez

Christian in the World-p.8

October 2, 2012

To Know or not to Know:

In class, collectively we could not come up with what the definition to as what knowledge is. Some said knowledge is something you have mastery over, some said knowledge is something an aspect of something learned over a course of time. All of these aspects of knowledge are true, in a sense there must be mastery, and knowledge is indeed a process that involves intricate learned experiences. But above all of these aspects, for an individual to truly know something or have knowledge of something they must have certainty to that knowledge. That is the problem with everyone who thinks they know something or has knowledge of a particular subject, they lack certainty in it. The analogy of citizens that are placed in a foreign country was used in class. In society today, we have an abundance of foreigners within our culture. These foreigners work at common fast food restaurants that require little communication skills with customers. We used an experience Mr. Sanchez had one day, he was at seven-eleven and was purchasing a pack of cigarettes . He wanted a particular brand of cigarettes, he stated the brand and coincidentally another brand that looked almost identical and also sounded like the brand  Mr. Sanchez wanted. Mr. Sanchez kept saying the band, as the foreigner nodded his head in agreement and gave him the wrong brand of cigarettes. The foreigner thought he had knowledge of what brand of cigarettes his customer wanted but he didn’t know, he was lacking the variable of certainty. The foreigner simply had the belief of what he thought he knew, not the actual knowledge of the truth of what was certain.  Through certainty solely knowledge is obtained, as humans we need to have certainty in what we know for us to be knowledgeable of a particular subject.

Cathedral Assignment

Kiaya Nickens

Mr. Sanchez

Christian in the World –p.8

October 1, 2012

Homework: Cathedral Assignment

1. Why was the narrator not looking forward to the visit of the blind man? What do his feelings reveal about his character?

The narrator was not looking forward to the visit of the blind man (Wife’s friend) because first it was no one the narrator knew, so why should he be excited for someone he had to interest in seeing. Besides not knowing him the main reason why the narrator wasn’t enthusiastic about having the narrator stay in his house was the mere fact that he was blind. The narrator already had a negative perception of what blind people are like. The narrator thought that blind people moved slowly and rarely laughed at anything because they did not know what was going on. His feelings reveal that his character is very selfish and self centered. Throughout the story the narrators wife has expressed how important it is when the blind man comes to visit that they show hospitality and kindness toward him. But the entire time the blind man is there he acts rude and obnoxious toward him.

2. Is it possible to read the experience the narrator’s wife had of Robert touching her face as an experience of being “seen” by him? How is her writing of poetry related to her desire to be seen? How does her attempted suicide also relate to her desire to be seen?

Yes indeed, at the end of the narrator’s wife summer with the blind man, the blind man asked the narrator’s wife if it would be okay if he touched her face. It is described that the blind man touched all over her face, he touched her lips, mouth etc. Although he was blind, Robert finally was able to see someone. In my opinion his experience of touching her face correlates to him experiencing what type of person she really was. He got to connect what she did for him that summer and the feeling of her face. Robert put together her personality and felt her face in attempt to actually see someone for the first time.  In this story, interestingly enough Robert is the only person that in essence actually sees the narrator’s wife. He knows her dislikes and likes, which includes her writing poetry. And in her attempt to read poetry to the narrator (her husband) she tries to get him to actually see her instead of living a life of bore and mundane routine. Again, the narrators wife’s attempt to suicide is also a way of her simply attempting for her to get her husband to actually notice her in the sense of knowing her desires.

3. What does it mean to receive another’s friend? Consider: “‘If you love me,’ she said, ‘you can do this for me. If you don’t love me, okay. But if you had a friend, any friend, and the friend came to visit, I’d make him feel comfortable’” (359).

To receive another’s friend means that you would accept and welcome someone regardless of what your preference to people maybe. Regardless to what group of people you like or dislike you will receive someone you care about friend simply because care about that person not necessarily their friend. You would receive them in your heart, in the sense you would welcome them within your heart to be nice and cordial toward them.

4. Consider page 360. Contrary to the narrator’s response of pity and disgust, do you think that Robert “saw” Beulah? What does it mean, more deeply, to see and be seen?

Beulah was Roberts’s wife, for eight years before she died of cancer. They lived together and shared some of life’s most intimate moments shared the narrator. The narrator began to have pity for the woman, she could never be seen in the sense of beauty she see’s in herself everyday because the man she married was blind. But of course we have learned throughout this novel that Robert although he is blind is very capable of seeing people for what they really are. I do not think that Robert saw Beulah the same as he saw the narrator’s wife. The way he described their relationship, it does not seem as though they had as intimate of relationship as the narrator’s wife and Robert.

5. Why do the characters smoke pot? What does it reveal of their desire?

The characters in the novel smoke pot, for a sense of fulfillment. They seek the desire of fulfillment within their life. In this case the desire of the narrator might be that he wants the blind man out of his house. And since this is not happening anytime soon, he uses pot to help ease what he desires but cannot obtain. And in Roberts’s case, he may smoke pot because he has a desire for love. And pot may fulfill the temporary sensation of fulfillment for him.

 6. “In the olden days, God was an important part of everyone’s life. You could tell this from their cathedral-building” (372). What do churches reveal about what the culture thinks about God? Why?

The churches reveal that God in present in everyone’s life because wherever you go you, it is common that you will see a church. And in this novel the Cathedral buildings show that God had a very high and mighty characteristic sense to him based on how Cathedral building were described. They are described as luxurious, high and mighty which suggest that the people of this culture very much respected God. They respected him to the point where the building that represented him had to be up to his standards.

7. Why does the narrator have difficulty describing a cathedral? What does he see with his eyes closed at the close of the story? Why? 

The narrator has difficulty describing a cathedral because the narrator finds no meaning in the Cathedral that are on the televisions. He cannot see the beauty that lies within the Cathedrals. At the end of the story he sees with his eyes closed what a Cathedral actually is. When Robert instructs him to draw a Cathedral he comes to finally “see” what lies within a Cathedral because he took the time and actually looked.

Summary on Cathedral:

In the beginning of the novel the two out of the three main characters are introduced. Those characters being the narrator and the narrators wife. The narrator is generally unhappy at the situation at hand. His wife has decided to invite an old friend of hers that she used to work with named Robert. The narrator is not enthused about Robert coming to stay with them at all, because he will feel uncomfortable because Robert is blind. There is a slight tangent after Robert is introduced his presence. It talks in detail about how Robert and the narrators wife know each other. The two worked together about ten years ago. She worked from him as basically a caretaker for the summer. At the end of the summer Robert touched the narrators wife’s face, and at the moment he learned what is was like to actually “see” something. After that it is revealed that Robert got a new caretaker that eventually became his wife. And after being married for eight years, his wife Beulah died of cancer. Robert goes on to tell the audience he has never known a blind person, but Robert does not fit the description of what he sees on television. He doesn’t wear dark sunglasses or anything like that, and above all Robert smokes cigarettes. The narrator says he didn’t know blind people could smoke. At this point they are finished dinner and go into the living room to watch television and talk to one another. Robert and the narrators wife monopolize the conversation, and the narrator hopes that at some point his wife will began talking about him. But she doesn’t, after talking for a long time she falls asleep. And then it is just Robert and the narrator together. On television there is a program that is talking about Cathedrals. Robert asks the narrator to describe to him what a Cathedral looks like, but the narrator does not do a very good job because he doesn’t care about Cathedrals. Then Robert asks him to turn off the television and close his eyes and draw a Cathedral. While the narrator draws this cathedral Roberts hand are on top of his. When the narrator is done with his drawing Robert asks him to open his eyes to see what he has drawn. But the narrator doesn’t open his eyes, he simply says that the drawing is really something with his eyes still closed