English Writing 11-1/ Describe a Room/ Traces: How the Room had been in its Own Way

 Traces: How the Room had been in its Own Way

           Lasting sound of children giggling raced on the walls of the room. It ran on the track of withering sunlight. When the spring wind intermittently came by the windowsill, the sound of new leaves rustling with power knocked on the window pane. The slim sprigs rubbed its green flesh on the pane with the leaves. All was shadows; excerpt for the sound. The longer branches, rounder leaves, and muffled laughter sank in through the window. 

             From the stack of empty Pepsi cans piled on the desk arose smell of old pastry, “syrupy sweet”. The traces of used pencil shavings and bits of eraser pieces were scattered over the desk along with tattered notebooks. The notebooks were scratchpads for the pre-calculus exercise problems. Beside that was a drained cup previously filled with shockingly sweet ice tea. The precipitated, gooey ice tea residue also emitted sickly sharp sweetness through the atmosphere. Reaching out for water, I found nothing but an empty cup. Bothered, I tossed a coin towards the bookshelf. The coin joined the dispersed set of other rubbishes that used to be sorted in the pencil vase. It all used to be in order, all tidied. It all used to be.

             Slowly, a pleasant odor prevailed from outside. Beyond the firmly closed door, mom was there. There was mom blanching spinach and baking slices of potato. Cheerful screams of potato being fried by grape seed oil burst out through the wooden door every now and then. The bubbles popping from the boiling pot made good company with the scream. Busy footsteps plod along the kitchen between the fridge and the stove. Lying down on the bed beside the bookshelf, I gazed at the door that showed many movements behind its thickness.

             On the other side of the room was a showcase where my parents placed mementos from foreign travels. The mementos were from places I have been to, but do not remember. There was a copper nude sculpture of a young woman from Italy. The sculpture was too big compared to other souvenirs. It stood out among the miniatures of countries. The tint, rusty piece of metal made me put my face close to its surface and made me observe the patterns of blue-gray rust. Italy was all sunny and the concrete roads were beautiful. The air was dry and clear, unlike the room’s damp and sickly sweet atmosphere. Maybe the difference in air made the sculpture rot. Or the faint traces of sunlight from the window made the sculpture “all blues” even more.

             The windowsill is coated with a thin layer of dust and stains inside, and wears sunlight on the outside. The absence of brightness inside makes the room more in its own way, while the outside more beautiful. Then the sunlight is within the room, through the supplement of shadows. What is not there relates to what is there. This is how origins live through traces from time or other, and how the room had been in its own way.

American Literature #3/ Eve's Diary / Progress of Eve

Progress of Eve

            

           Let us assume that there is an indisputable concept of linear progress. Debating upon it can be saved for later pages. Even though there might not be a consensus on the existence of description of a definite, categorical standard of distinguishing what is in advance, discussing on what can be seen as progress upon this assumption might produce fruitful results. As one of such attempts to create meaningful discussions, I would like to analyze the growth of Eve in courses of advancement in a chronological order in “Eve’s Diary” and “Adam’s Diary” written by Mark Twain.

             In order for a change to occur, there must be a problematic sequence in the status quo. Without negation and conflict, there cannot be progress from the status quo. In such sense, “Eve’s Diary” written by Mark Twain starts from a problematic, yet potentially ideal status quo. Eve is suddenly born, without possessing a clear objective in her life. Rather, she is given an objective without her consent. Although there is no scene where a higher power appears and grants her the purpose of her existence, it is evident that Eve is clearly aware of her reason for creation. “I AM-an experiment; just an experiment, and nothing more.” This absence of life’s goal leads to extreme self-negation as shown in: “Then if I am an experiment, am I the whole of it? No, I think not;”

             From the very beginning of the story, Eve lacks subjectivity in the context. She is removed from the center of discourse, she is a passive being used as an experiment of an obvious higher power. Whatever creation she is superior than does not matter; she is excluded from the subject’s position. However, she soon rebels to the oppression she is receiving. She “says its name is Eve…not an It…is a She.” Unlike the environment that is given by the other, she for the first time creates meaning that is solely hers. She refuses to be generalized or objectified; this is evident when Eve calls herself a “She.” “She” is a word that can only stand as a subject in a sentence, and the usage of the word differentiates the indicated being with materials. The word has an inevitable human connotation to it. Not only that, Eve starts to name every object around her. By doing so, she is rearranging the order of materials in her way, not as what has been given. Just as God has created the world, Eve reconstructs the meaning of the world she lives in, naturally escaping from oppression that is against her will.

             Acquiring subjectivity is a clear progress from existing as a passive being. However, there is a clear drawback to this step as well as the first. If one becomes too self-centered, he or she becomes stagnated. With excessive self-righteousness, one rules over every other existence except for himself. A subject that does not gaze upon herself is extremely dangerous. She can no longer cope with the others, and cannot advance with time. There must be an opportunity when the subject becomes modest, after realizing that she is not perfect.

             This opportunity is often referred to as “mirror-stage”. In this stage, the subject starts to separate himself from his surroundings. In juvenile state, individuals cannot differentiate themselves from what they see, especially their image in the mirror. They only gaze on others, not realizing that they are being gazed at as well. Eve is also in this state as well in the story after she names the objects around her. Freeing herself from God’s given meaning was significant, but in process, she begins to rule over other materials. This includes taming other animals to hunt down Adam, ruling over others just as God has done. When Eve sees her own image on the water surface but does not acknowledge that it is herself; she is failing to admit that she is being watched by the image. Hence “It is a good friend to me, and my only one; it is my sister.” This indicates that Eve is not fully mature, and that she will meet another hardship to grow up.

             Such misconception of oneself leads to an event which hurts Eve. Until Eve’s first confrontation with fire, what she has named admired and obeyed her. This has made her to be concentric with masculine, Christian God, for she rules over others. However, because ruling over is not a feministic characteristic, it is not apt for Eve to adopt such tactics. She experiences “cruel pain” when she puts her “finger in, to feel it,” Right after the shock, she puts her finger in her mouth. For the first time, an object goes against Eve’s will, hurting her. This is a setback that harms Eve, but the incident has a silver-lining foreshadowing to it. Putting a hot object to ease the pain allude the Holy Grail legend. Also a development story, the Holy Grail legend shows a similar event when the Fisher King puts hot piece of salmon inside of his mouth. The fish hurts the Fisher King greatly, but it functions as an obstacle that the Fisher King must overcome to accomplish perfection.

             The pain by fire is similar to that of the Fisher King. For some hardships, the traditional way of dealing with problems would not work easily. One has to change her basic tactics in confronting life. As for Eve, her naming was violent and masculine for her to employ, which led to a negative result. In alternative, Eve takes a feminine stance in treating life. Instead of oppressing, she gives birth to a child, creating instead of destroying. Her caring is clearly differentiated from that of Adam. Adam treats his future existence, his child as a dangerous creature (“it makes curious devilish noises when not satisfied”), while Eve thinks it is “an enigma; she admire the word”. This is the completing stage of Eve’s life; she creates a new story, becomes the center of the discourse not be oppressing others, but by fertility. 

Comments:
Chung Yoon Ju: I didn't think that Eve is better than Adam as in whole. Rather, I thought that she is pretty annoying and I didn't give much attention to naming of every creature as reassembling the world. However, I am convinced on how she names the world, is rebellious to higher power, and discovers her inner self, making her superior to Adam. It would be better if you put some historical approach such as women suffrage.

American Literature #2/ The Tell-Tale Heart / Madness over Reason

Madness over Reason

             Where does the word “enlightenment”, meaning awakening to reason, come from? According to Hans Blumenberg, it comes from the concept of vision, “to shine light upon”, hence its structure en-lighten-ment. As a matter of fact, it seemed peculiar to me: what does vision have to do with reason and enlightenment? Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart seems to provide a good starting point for answering this question. In this essay, I will explore the relationship between “his eye” and reason by answering the question, and further develop on how a madman successfully rebels against the violence of reason.

             The protagonist of Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart” states that he killed the old man to “rid myself of the eye”, along saying that people might think he is mad. Basing on these two descriptions, there is a clear juxtaposition between “the eye” and madness. Considering the antithesis of madness, “the eye” can be substituted by the concept of reason. How is this possible? The idea of reason comes from the act of seeing. By flashing light, man escapes from the dark, able to differentiate himself from his dark surroundings. Vision draws a distinction between the viewer and the object seen, since there has to be some distance in between. This again relates to reason, for the concept of reason needs a distinction with madness. Through the act of seeing, lines are drawn between two groups: normal and abnormal, us and them, inside and outside.

             Poe’s description on the madman and “the eye” can be discussed on a same level. The protagonist is gazed upon by the old man. This terrifies the protagonist, for he is objectified, differentiated from the old man. As shown in “…it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none,” “the eye” makes the viewer into a subject by exterminating object, it is also juxtaposed with “Passion”. In deeper analysis, it can be found that both words “Object” and “Passion” are capitalized and used as subjects in its sentences. However the repeated description of “…there was none” kills the subject words’ integrity. Object as a subject, Passion as a subject does not exist, for there is “the eye” that haunts the protagonist. The protagonist decides to kill the old man to get rid of “the eyes” that makes him powerless.

             The fact that the protagonist kills in a room “as black as pitch with the thick darkness” is remarkable. The old man cannot see the protagonist in the dark, thus he is vulnerable. However, a bigger merit of darkness is that the old man realizes that he is being watched by another. The fear of being watched as the protagonist “gazed upon it….with perfect distinctness”. Another significant point is that the protagonist fails to see the victim. He “could see nothing else of the old man’s face or person”, because he is a different being with the old man. However, the old man is frustrated anyway, killing himself. This raises an interesting question: Why did the killer use the victim’s way of executing violence over another? In order to rebel, one must use the weapons at one’s disposal. This a common means of vengeance also found in Tempest by Shakespeare and “Daddy” by Plath, for both authors use patriarchal language to destruct patriarchy.

             One might ask: “How is the protagonist a mad man? He never shows any symptoms of madness.” This point seems to stem from the thought that mad men should show outer symptoms such as drooling or have seizure. Madness relies on a juxtaposition of normalcy, meaning not normal. Normalcy here means one having reasons for his actions. The protagonist shows no affection towards treasures or property; nor does he have a grudge towards the old man. He is different from other people, because he does not have a reason for his action except rejection to the gaze of society. This rejection and absence of reason is sufficient enough to be treated as a mad man.

Comments

Haeuk Ko: Poe must have been both a mad man and a genius to have understood all these concepts and try to express them while at the same time he was trying to depict himself.

Yeji Park: I really like this piece! I think you interpreted the story very well by analyzing that the eye represents reason and the protagonist is mad man. What I recommend you for better piece is: maybe you can define what madness is. You used the concept of enlightenment and knowledge to explain about reason, but for madness, you only wrote that it is irrational to be obsessive so much over “the eyes” so to kill the old man. Maybe you can define this obsession as one typical type of madness. Good job!

American Literature #1/ The Ambitious Guest / Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is Power: But for Whom?

             Many say that knowledge is a tool for liberation, a valuable tool for resistance against the unfair deeds. I would like to challenge this notion, and show that knowledge in general and the existence of “the others” restrict a man’s free will and divinity.

             
            Before looking at how one’s free will is influenced by knowledge or the others, we should first review over on the concept of power. Power is a subject’s ability to control and objectify other entities. It includes physical and intellectual influence that one person or a group executes over others. In such sense, it can be said that knowledge is an effective tool of power. Common sense and the crux of mainstream philosophy have been constantly shifting throughout history. The important aspect of this phenomenon would be that at any time of history when an ideology or specific form of knowledge thrived, it definitely benefited the prosperity of a group, in many cases the ruling class. The nobles and priests in the Middle Age, bourgeois and petit-bourgeois nowadays are initial examples.

           
             Let us explore the example of bourgeois and their execution of knowledge. As the power control shifted from the nobles, they started to practice a different strategy of control upon other classes. The nobles used gaudy and ritualistic performances to boast their power and influence. One example of this strategy would be public execution, which openly shows the strength of the nobles. However, the bourgeois employed a strategy diametrical to that of the nobles’. Instead of being seen, they utilized the power of seeing. By gazing upon the common people, they were able to take control over the statesmen.

            
            As a result, the academics regarding the subjects of optics, Cartesian coordinates and statistics began to advance. Cartesian coordinate system was used to identify the location of objects and enable the overseers to acknowledge the path of moving objects. This discovery was the very beginning of urban planning, which greatly helped the taxation of statesmen. Statistics was used in classification of information, extracting meaning from otherwise meaningless numbers. Well-sorted and analyzed numbers showed visible meanings, helping governments efficiently reign over its citizens. Nonetheless, the word origin of statistic is “status”, possibly implying that statistic is a crucial knowledge for ruling a nation.

             
             Is knowledge an effective tool for liberation and enlightenment? Knowledge is more of a repressive structure that constricts free will from human beings. As long as there are more than an individual, power relation will always exist, influencing the knowledge created within a society, small or big. We should be more ignorant, more independent, and thus become free. 

Comments


Ko, Hae Uk: "Then do you promote going back to zero-base, when we still lived in huts? Should we try to find out every piece of knowledge through experience?"
Jung, Yoon Jo: "I read it through about 80%, and you seem to know a heck of a lot about philosophical issues. But what is the Cartesian coordinate? Who is Foucault? I could not understand this. But the first page was really good and persuasive. Good!"
Kim, Sol: "I get where you're trying to say, but won't we need some more explanation? I think you lack enough explanation. The last statement of yours sounds like we should go back to the primitive stage.... personally one question: then should human be apart from the society? You wrote about something too big to write in 20 minutes!"

Reading Journal: Castration and Masculinity

Castration and Masculinity

While reading the Body, I was able to find a very interesting part. It was a part when Gordie finds leeches on his testicles and has his blood sucked. What makes it more interesting is Gordie’s reaction to this phenomenon.

“I can’t get it off,” I said through numb lips. “You….can you…” But he backed away, shaking his head, his mouth twisted. “I can’t Gordie,” He said, unable to take his eyes away. “I’m sorry but I can’t. No. Oh. No.” He turned away, bowed with one hand pressed to his midsection like the butler in a musical comedy, and was sick in a stand of juniper bushes.

You got to hold on to yourself, I thought, looking at the leech that hung off me like a crazy beard. Its body was visibly swelling. You got to hold onto yourself and get him. Be tough. It’s the last one. The. Last. One.

I reached down and picked it off and it burst between my fingers. My own blood ran across my palm and inner wrist in a warm blood. I began to cry.

This would be the single death that actually occurs throughout the whole novel. No death was depicted with such in-depth description. Gordie temporarily faces death of his masculinity. While other boys smoked, swore, fought over petty things to look masculine and macho, Gordie faces a direct threat upon his penis.

There are two things to be noted from this passage. (1) Gordie’s attitude (2) relationship with feministic values.

(1) Gordie’s Attitude

It is always good to have companions on the trail of life. But what one should also be noted is that he is living his own life. He will live neither another person’s life nor will someone live his life for him. In such sense, this is one of the few times throughout the story that Gordie faces his own problems. Until this time of the story, the boys were all along with each other, solving dilemmas in group. When Gordie is in threat of being castrated (at least in a symbolic sense), he asks for help to Chris, whom he identifies as the group’s leader.

Chris rejects to help, and this indicates that Gordie should solve his problems alone. This is the biggest threat ever and no one but Gordie himself can help it. After a short dilemma, Gordie does succeed in taking off the leech from his testicles, and faints right after. This can be considered as a partial victory against the great threat.

(2) Relationship with feministic values

However, it also means that he have partially lost against his threat. The fact that Gordis faints is an indicator of a temporary death. What does this symbolize?

Castration is one of the biggest fears that all men possess subconsciously, no doubt. But going directly against it and fighting it off is a different issue. Only a few men can do it. Only when a man wins over his inmost fear is when he can resurrect and achieve true masculinity.

In such sense, Gordie’s experience is very similar to that of Perseus. Perseus is a plain country boy until he slays Medusa*. Medusa is the symbol of vagina dentata (fanged vagina)**, which is castration of manly figures. Hence its direct meaning, fanged vagina, it is an indication of castration. Because Perseus dares not look directly at the fear of castration, his victory is incomplete. Still, he slays the monster and becomes a hero. Gordie did not overcome his fear completely. He faints, which means that he couldn’t endure the terror of being castrated. But just like Perseus, he achieves a partial victory of winning over it himself, without the help of anybody else.

And there is another issue to consider.

That the leech had sucked blood from his testicles can be interpreted as a partial castration. Although Gordie stopped the castration, it was in process. Blood, red and vivacious liquid spilt out from his penis. This must mean that he has lost some form of masculinity that he has strived so much along with his group of friends.

But is this a negative influence in the journey for maturity? I believe not. In contrast, I think that it was a necessary process for Gordie to restrain from being an excessive macho. From the beginning of the novella, the boys try to imitate macho behaviors, such as swearing, smoking and fighting. Although such traits are far from true maturity, they think that it is “boss” and continue doing so. Gordie was also a part of such activities.

Just before this incident, Gordie encounters a deer just by himself. Although he notices that it is a feminine figure, he appreciates it. If he was along with other boys, he might have said it was “pussy-like”, or maybe shot down it with a handgun. However, he is astonished by the deer and exclaims at the beauty of it. This shows that Gordie has some feministic traits within himself. Only the partial castration made the revelation of such traits possible. No more bluffing, no more super-macho, but balanced individual with mature traits.

* Medusa is very often depicted as  a hardship that heros must pass through. However, unlike other normal mosters, it is often compared to femme fatales, or dangerous female figures. It also represents a dangerous women's sexual organ, depite its wavy hair and fangs. Its monstrous ability of leering is also a trait that contributes to the stocked metaphor.

**If you're more interested in the concept of vagina dentata, you can see this movie. It's r-rated, but still inspirational. Gives a lot of things to think over about. This movie also gives an analysis of Perseus and the overcoming by the hero. However, instead of having the perspective of the hero, this movie focuses on the women's point of view towards the villians, clearly different from heros like Perseus. It is said that the idea is rooted from Greek Mythology and Freud. Psychology wizards might be interested, so good luckㅋㅋㅋ

To Anonymous: Sorry I don't have the file. 
But I think I would be able to answer to your second question.
The idea of exaggerated masculinity can be thought as the imaginary world that Gordie possess(concept of Phallus, or the Penis). He does not think he is a "macho-man", but he seeks to achieve that ideal ego, and the internal evidence is his swearing. However, just like Hamlet when he is pierced by his rival, he gets his blood sucked off his testicles. This is very important. It means the castration of the Phallus, meaning that Gordie has succeeded to differentiate the desire of "the others" and "I". By this stage, he proceeds onto the Symbolic World. After doing so, he would be able to see himself and continue his life-thus advance in life- into the real world, not imaginary.

Reading Journal-Shawshank

How should institutionalization be done?

The Shawshank Redemption depicts how institutionalization is wrongfully done, but I had a different question in mind. What are prisons, and how should it function? When is its efficiency best shown? What rules must be made not to turn into another Shawshank? Thus, I was interested on how prison should change in the Shawshank Redemption.

The concept of prison changed throughout time. In the past, prison was a place to confine the convicted temporarily before the punishment. The punishment was a social retaliation, and was the axis of the judicial system. As time passed on, the concept of prison changed. Instead of an aid for the punishment, it became the axis of the system itself. It was the change in discourse that led to such changes. Instead of unexpected, pretentious and temporary corporeal punishments, the society needed more minuscule, expectable system. Such discourse brought out the concept of rehabilitation, and the concept called for enhancement of confinement facilities.

Discussing how the concept of rehab is fraud and folly is interesting, but I’m not going to talk about that in this piece of writing. Instead, I’m going to talk about how the prison in Shawshank should change if it wants to function better than now. To do so, I will be asking few questions leading to the improvement of prisons.

(1) How did prisons become the core of our system?

Jails are very specific form of loss in freedom of transportation. But why did it become so stressed? We have to note the fact that jails were a great fad starting from the 18^th century France. 18^th century was the time when the discourse of rights, especially freedom of individuals was developing. Before, punishment was on a universal theme of body and pain, but as rights and freedom were perceived as a human condition, the punishments begin to shift towards in such way.

Confinement was better than corporeal punishment. It could be applied to every single individual who went against the social morals, and could be measured. Pain cannot be measured, but days in confinement can. Not only that, corporeal punishment is often subjective and unreliable. It is the human who takes a major role in the ritual, which makes it incomplete and subjected to criticism if something went wrong. For prisons, it is the system and the prison walls that do such roles. The punishment is rather mild and unrecognized, making it immune to criticisms.

Confinement is more efficient and economical. That is how it became core of our system. Especially when it targets a universally important component of individual called liberty, it definitely is.

à In such means, Shawshank is not an ideal form of prison. It is not economical and not efficient. It is playing an active role in the punishment of crime, which makes it inconsistent with other prisons. Prisons should be giving exactly what the judicial system has ordered them to do. Using sisters or solitary confinements as an extra punishment is not helpful for its existence. It is the human that makes decisions, which is not reliable. Also, the guards using violence is not preferable. It makes the system vulnerable to the social morals. Punishment is best done when justified. Justification is the most powerful tool of elongating the existence of judicial system.

(2) What are prisons?

Prisons are a concrete form of complete and powerful system. It is a system that surrounds the captivated in as many aspects as possible. It should be a system of physical training, correction by labor, daily life and personality. It is a school that produces obedient individuals. It is a factory that manufactures credible products for the community. It is an army for the community to use against the moral depravity.

Above all, prisons have greatest authority upon schools and workplaces. Its great authority and successive influence differentiates it from other facilities. For students, they have homes that represent the life-world. They have the potential of rejecting the influence from the system-world of schools. However, the convicted has no life-world to escape into. Its eating, sleeping, learning, working is all controlled by one entity: the government. Because the power controls its time and space, it can and should employ all methods available to accomplish its goals.

à The Shawshank shows once again on how the authorities are failing to take advantage of the system. It gives the prisoners too much free time to have life world of their own. It enables the prisoners to have gangs of their own. Prisoners should be abandoned from any form of life-world. The moment they have a life-world on their own, it would mean that the prison is not functioning properly.

(3) How should prison function?

Prison should be completely separated. Not only should they be separated from the outside world, the separation should occur in other various aspects as well. The motive of the crime, such as money, love, and drugs should be excluded in the prison society. The prisoners should not coexist with each other. This is the key point of an efficient prison. If we allow such a thing to happen, we are concentrating the criminal tendency in one space. Also, the exclusion should be done with a clear purpose of rehabilitation. The walls will serve as a mirror; it would make the convicted communicate with no one but himself.

àThis is the biggest point that Shawshank is failing to satisfy. The prison is allowing prisoners make a society. It is evident that a society is a necessary component of criminal activity. Red’s crime happens there, the sister’s crime occurs there. Prisoners should be separated even with themselves.

Reading El Sur: Existence and Essence

El Sur


El Sur: 

           http://azulejo.atspace.com/elsur.html
                                                                                                                                                     


<My Interpretation>

Existence precedes essence. However, it seems challenging for men to claim that they are completely free from various entities. Our instinct for survival restricts our decision; logical reasoning impedes us from doing what our emotion urges us. But still, we live on concurrent with the flow of time, and finally meet our destruction without seeing the true-self. However, Borges’s short story El Sur depicts a special man who breaks the chains and finds himself. While doing so, Borges shows how even this very different man goes through hardships while searching for the true identity.

Juan Dahlmann is a grandson of somebody. He works in a library some place. Nobody knows who exactly he is. One day, he happens to lay his hands on The Thousand and One Nights. Eager to read the book, he rushes up the staircase. Then, something brushes his forehead, and he is injured severely. The light thing that brushes his forehead can be thought as time. Although light and hard to detect, time is always concurrent with the life of men, and makes people drift away passively by it. Juan Dahlmann, just like any other man, does not actively respond to the harm that time has inflicted upon himself. He lies down in a hospital, kneeling before the power of time and others’ will.

This leads to the hatred of oneself. Juan Dahlmann, suffering from pain, becomes to reject his own existence: his body, his identity and even his beard. This is a loss against the fight in becoming a free individual. Juan Dahlmann is captivated by others’ will and bodily pain. This is a major flaw in his character, and can be realized as an obstacle that must be overcome through the story. Instead of realizing his existence by personality and individuality, he acknowledges himself from bodily pain. He again takes a passive position in realizing himself.

 However, Juan Dahlmann is given a chance to overcome his weakness. Just like at the staircase, he feels something light brushing by his forehead. This time, it is breadcrumb thrown by a bunch of workers. Dahlmann refuses to admit something has happened, and runs away from the ordeal. Again, the breadcrumb brushes his forehead. Then the shop owner calls his name and tells him not to fight. This is an important literary device in the story. Before the shop owner called Dahlmann’s name, Dahlmann was nothing but a plain traveler. However, after his name being called at, Dahlmann is a significant individual who can and should make decisions out of his free will. He decides to pick up the knife given to him and fight.

Of course, his instinct would have told him not to fight. By logical reasoning, he would have realized that it would be an unwise decision. Still, Dahlmann picks up the knife anyway because it is his decision to do so. Physical threat and even logic does not impede him from being himself. Unlike last time, Dahlmann actively responds to the inevitable death as a single individual with bursting freedom. Although instinct and reason is essence of men and all animal, men are special, for they have the potential for possessing free will.