Many thanks to our first reader who shared an excellent piece on a trip to India that, amongst other things, explored culture shock and how to find personal meaning in a significant experience like this. Well done. Next week, I would like you to bring a narrative that you are working on to share with a partner. We will be learning how to give peer feedback in order to improve our pieces.
In our lecture we discussed the role of emotions as a means of exploring experiences, how being in a mentoring relationship is a two way street and how experiencing conflict in the workplace is a form of professional development. Conflict can often signal a need to look deeper in order to understand more and move to the next level.
Our story this week was "The Heifer" by Melissa Hardy (photo of "brindle calf" above). We talked about the influence of environment on moral behaviour.
Lastly, for those scheduled to read their narratives next week, Feb. 3rd, please e-mail me your piece sometime Tuesday evening. I'm looking forward to hearing them. Have a great weekend.
After reading “The Heifer” and having discussion in class, I started thinking about the role environment plays in people’s lives. At first I did not think that Aina was affected by her environment, to the extent of it causing her to kill her husband. I began to think about what else contributed to this outcome of unhappiness, and I came to the conclusion that the environment is not solely to be blamed, that perspective plays a role. Ones perspective, the way you see the world shapes your reality. Whether one realizes it or not, a persons perspective is unique to them and influences their life and the world around them. There are many things that contribute to ones perspective about life such as experience, fear, desires and environment. By looking at how these play a role in single persons life can help one understand their views and the feelings they have towards certain things.
ReplyDeleteThe past is the most important part of what shapes ones perspective; the things you experience throughout your life play a huge role and these experiences help develop expectations for the future. With that the perspective you have about the world develops with these ideas. You might begin to see the world as what you expect it to be and not for what it is in reality. This can be seen in Aina’s character, in the beginning of the story she draws on the past to create this false image of Uwe, and through the small recollection of her past that she can remember she begins to develop expectations of what she believes her life with Uwe would embody.
Fear is also another contributor to ones perspective; people might not notice that fears can change their perspective. The emotion of fear can be self-destructing and change of any kind can evoke fear for many reasons. When fear begins to dominate your perspective, it begins to distort your reality. You begin to see the world as you fear it and not as it really is. This fear can also be seen in Ania’s character, she fears in the beginning not being able to be with Uwe and once she moves she fears not being able to see her family again, then she fears moving to a new country and that this life she thought she would have will not be there. These fears lead to Aina’s desire of wanting to escape and upon the sudden realization that escaping might not be possible leads to her having multiple thoughts of her husband’s death.
Desires also affect ones perspective. Ones hopes and dreams influence perspective because they blind a person into seeing things that they only want to see, not as they really are. This happens quite often with people when it comes to love. For example in Aina’s case, she let her desires take over and she began to see and remember Uwe they way she wanted to, unconsciously choosing to ignore his flaws. Allowing your desires to shape your perspective is a dangerous path and one that leads to nothing but disappointment, which is seen with Aina’s and Uwes relationship.
The physical environment you live in can also have a dramatic impact on how you see the world. Cultural differences, religion, politics and routine all influence your perspective. The world is shaped by an individual’s environment, which can shift ones perspective. This environment change is seen when Aina moves away from her family to be with Uwe, she is unable to speak the language and she is not accustom to that specific lifestyle, both these circumstances come to distort her perspective.
With all of this said, education widens perspective because it opens the mind to different ways of thinking. This education then is manifested into knowledge and awareness that become the foundation of perspective. The more you know, the more you understand. All of these things shape your perspective in one way or another. Every person is unique to his or her understanding of the world; it is like no ones else’s. Ones actions, beliefs, and reality are a culmination of everything listed above.
The notion of cold-blooded murder without the retribution of justice makes me ill. The Heifer, by Melissa Hardy, elicits ethical questions which invoke a strong response within me. I have had my own battles around making positive choices, however at this stage in my life, I feel confident that the ethical awareness I have developed will lead me to make choices that have positive results.
ReplyDeleteSelf-interest takes the place of moral consideration in Aina as she ignores the warnings of her father and eventually murders the man she once professed to be unable to do without. Her plight brings to memory past experiences I had as a Sheriff in Alberta. I recall how George Allen, who was the father of a girl I attended high school with, was charged and later found guilty of committing first-degree murder. He killed a business associate with a hammer and then buried the body in a deep hole on a rural property. It turned out that he had killed his partner over money. I reflect on this and wonder how a man like this could raise a daughter who appeared to be well adjusted and caring. What brings a human to the point where he is able to behave like this? If, like George Allan, I had been cheated of a large sum of money or, like Aina, had been brought to a new world under false pretences, would I be capable of behaving as they did?
My sense of morality has brought me to seek to protect rather than injure. Therefore my adult life has been devoted to volunteer service and jobs that allow me to assist people who are not capable of independence. I hope to help young people develop a sense of ethics and moral values. Values are inherent in the teaching of most school subjects, therefore enabling children in our classrooms to critically examine those values is essential.
I do not believe that I am capable of taking a life for my own self-preservation or to fulfill my personal interests.
The story “The Heifer” was a great story that showed how the environment influences an individual’s moral behaviour. Personally, I think that the environment is a very important factor that can influence the way we think and act. For example, I know people who work in a very bad work environment, and these individuals tend to be stressed even outside of work. They tell me stories of how their fellow work associates do not get along with each other. Basically, teamwork is obsolete there. Furthermore, after listening to their stories, it gives me a clear notion that the environment we reside in is important in our everyday life. If we cannot improve our environment, then that just increases stress and misery.
ReplyDeleteAs well, I believe that in order to make the environment around us great, we first need to change ourselves first. Positive attitude definitely keeps negativity and stress away, no matter how bad the settings may be. I think this is also very important for students, because many of us work and go to school. At times, both can give us stress and make us tired. However, if we stay up beat and forget about useless issues, life will definitely be much better.
Last class was the last lecture for our first unit of Self Development. Thinking back at the unit, I have learned the importance of reflective practices and how reading short stories and writing narratives can give us insights about our own experiences to learn from them.
ReplyDeleteLooking back at our own experiences later in time provides valuable lessons. It is fascinating how we look at the situations very differently during the moment of experiencing the event, compared to looking back at them later in time. This is mostly due to the degree of emotions we have which obviously is much more influential during the moment that normally blind us from reality and from the big picture. After we are calmed from the situation by time, we then begin to take a step back to have better perspective which is much more clear. We can then examine these perspectives to evaluate the actions and decisions we have taken. As Sue mentioned in class, this is a big part of self development through moral development where we can learn to look at specific cases and not judge problems uniformly. At times, when one has been in a profession for a very long time, he or she may become blind or even numb; and would treat all cases uniformly instead of viewing each problem uniquely and individually. Some teachers, for instance, although very experienced, but because they have been teaching for so many years, everyday may become a same dull routine, and even worse, they may start looking at their students as “one item” without understanding each of them as a unique individual. As a result, student’s interests, talents, personality, etc, may be overlooked.
Regarding the short story that we have read for last week, although there seems to be no justice in the story, the main character Aina will probably suffer from guilt and remorse throughout the rest of her life after committing such murder. I have once learned from one of my psychology classes that there is always a desperate need for a justification-whether reasonable or not- for every decision or action made. So, I think Aina needed a justification for herself to let her fantasy of killing her husband get into action. Then, once she finally got it, which was the fire incident and the death of her only friend who was the heifer Olga, she was set to kill her husband. However, I also learned that most people, who have committed some crime or any bad deed, tend to feel more guilt and remorse when they are not punished. This leads me to relate to the list of 6 reasons to why we should be good (the Socratic dialectic) that Sue taught us at the end of last class.
While listening to the narrative in class last week, I began to think about how often we hear someone discuss a dire situation in another country, and how often people actually stop to take action. I felt that the author of the narrative was one of the only people I know who contributed to the solution of a less fortunate country’s issue, and helped to change that situation. I include myself in the group of those who do not often take action; as I feel our society takes for granted the opportunities present to them. Even after experiencing the hardships of another place, many people feel guilty about the numerous advantages in their lives, but never take the first step towards aiding that area in need. The poverty of other nations is not something for people in privileged areas to only think about; it is an issue that can find a solution among us. By showing everyone how easy it is to donate through the narrative, I feel I learned an important lesson from the author. The feeling of guilt is not a substitute for helping out; it is a feeling that should push us towards donating more often.
ReplyDeleteAs we talked in class last week about the role of the environment with regard to Aina’s actions, I felt that I understood the decisions she made while in Canada. In a place with no contact to the outside world and no company other than her husbands, the emotional atmosphere of the household pushed Aina to act in a specific way. Although I have never been isolated from the public in such a way, I do understand how one’s environment can affect how they view their situation. As Aina sunk lower into her depressive mindset, the options available to her seemed increasingly limited. I felt similarly limited in options during my last year at work, as I had to deal with more and more of the employee’s drama and problems. Unfortunately, I too did not have anyone else to turn to, and did not know how to get out of the hole I had fell in to. The negative atmosphere surrounding the problems at my work led me to believe that I had to quit the job. Luckily, someone recognized the problem and helped me to see the other options available. If Aina had other company with her, I believe that she would not have killed her husband, and been able to endure the lonely environment of Canada.
In the story “The Heifer” which we read this week I feel that the external environment really influenced Aina’s moral behavior. When people are isolated they do not have the same moral constrictions that society places on them. When you are so isolated the only morality you have is your own. There was no one around to judge Aina and in her mind her husband deserved to die. He was nothing like the man she romanticized about, he took her to an isolated location where he was unable to provide for her and took her from her family and hometown. Everything in Aina’s life was out of her control and I believe that by killing her husband it was her way of taking back control. Morality is a social construct depending on what society and culture you are in and in Aina’s isolation she lost sight of morality.
ReplyDeleteThis week in lecture we discussed how experiencing conflict in the workplace can be a form of professional development. Often conflict is seen as purely a negative experience and something to be avoided. I feel that more times than not conflict can contribute to personal growth as it causes one to question their skills, question their interpersonal communication, as well as makes one think about whom they are and defend their actions. When I first started my job I had the best manager an employee could ask for. We clicked from the time I started working until the day she left. The new manager started and we did not get along from the moment we worked together. It got to the point where I found myself asking why am I still working here? At that moment I had to really question my actions and my interpersonal relationship with my new manger to find out where the source of our conflict stemmed from. By simply taking the time to reflect on the last three months and question my actions I was able to see that my hostility towards her was simply a matter of her taking the place of someone I was quite close to and it really had nothing to do with who she was as a person. Reflecting on this conflict has resulted in personal and professional growth for me. Now that I have moved into a supervisor position I am better able to empathize with employees and use conflict resolution strategies that I didn’t have before my conflict with my manager.
Murder is wrong! We all know this to be a generally true statement, or at least I am going to make that assumption. Yet I find myself questioning this very statement when reading “The Heifer.” All along I see our leading lady as a heroine, yet at the end of the story she offs her husband just because he is being a jerk! I was proud of her, I enjoyed the dark humor, and I sympathized with her. I thought it was just and funny that she decided to shoot him. It was not until our last class discussion that I really thought about the fact that she murdered someone. There really is no excuse for murder, yet I keep seeing her as the victim! This means that I am now undergoing a huge internal conflict.
ReplyDeleteLet us think about Aina the victim first. She is totally abandoned and totally isolated. Her husband Uwe leaves her alone constantly in a strange new land. Her only real friend is a cow of all things. Although, she does take much pride in her connection to Olga (the cow, not the sister or the child). She loses her one true friend in the fire and is asked by her inconsiderate husband why she did not save the farm. In this light of course she seems like a victim. Isolation can do scary things to people, make them desperate.
On the other side of the coin we can look at Aina for her faults. This is not a side that I had previously examined while reading the story. I now see her for her flightiness. For a lack of a better term she is a drama queen, starving herself to be allowed to marry her first love. She chooses to try to protect her cow rather than protecting her own safety when the neighbors offer her help. She has women in her life that despite a language barrier attempt to help her however possible. She denies them. She also chose to go to Canada after not hearing from Uwe for many years. All in all I would probably call her stupid. Looking at this side of it she almost deserves the isolation thrust upon her.
As much as I can look at both sides of the story and examine both aspects of her life, the fact that she murders her husband should be seen as unforgivable. Yet I still think back to my original instinct of Aina as the victim getting her justice. It started to worry me that I was supporting a murderer. At first I suppose I just looked at it as a story and took it very much at face value. I should take this as a lesson to read more into my stories, to look deeper at my characters and to develop my own thinking into what I’m reading to a higher degree. Once I looked at the story again with the class so many more things came to my attention. My own morals and beliefs really came into question. I put my own prejudices forward towards Uwe but ignored my morals when considering Aina. I need to look at my work both objectively and then with my own beliefs attached and see the different levels in what I am reading and responding to.
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ReplyDeleteI never knew that the physical environment can have that much of an impact on a person's development. I know that the social environment, the people around, can make a difference in the shaping of one's identity. After reading the story “The Heifer”, I was able to reflect on how the physical environment plays a role in a person's development. The physical and social environment usually comes hand in hand. Certain cultures have certain values that are imposed and that can affect one's identity development. My grandmother grew up when there was extreme poverty and she often reminds me about the times when she was young she had little or no food. She reminds us to appreciate the abundance of resources and food we have. It is because of the environment my grandmother grew up in that shaped her identity. She is frugal because of how she was brought up. She learned to cherish what little things she has.
ReplyDeleteThe short story “The Heifer” proves just how extreme some cases of how the environment's impact can be. It was almost like cabin fever that made Aina decide to kill her husband. She was surrounded by nothing familiar and in the end the one thing she loved, Olga the cow, was destroyed. The environment that she was placed it almost justifies her actions. On the other hand I do not feel that the environment is the sole reason why Aina killed her husband. I think that Aina and Uwe would not have been a happy couple regardless of where they were were or how they lived. It seems that the character Aina feels that she could do better, so no matter how hard Uwe tries, he will never measure up Both parties were unhappy and if they sat down to discuss their problems, Uwe may not have been murdered. The fact that Aina can go on living her life, getting remarried and living “happily ever after” is upsetting. I feel that there were many morals to this story. Reading this story you can learn different things, one being that the environment has an impact on the development of a person, the second being communication is essential in a marriage and the third being killing is okay as long as you do not get caught. What is the author's real intention for this story? What is the real moral to this story? Or...is there an infinite amount depending on one's perceptions?
Blog #3
ReplyDeleteMelissa Hardy’s story “The Heifer” was a piece that challenges morals, that really pushes the boundaries about what is right and wrong. I found the story about this woman Aina fascinating, as she is caught between two worlds and trapped in one, tied to a man she cannot stand. I know many people strongly disagree with the way she murdered her husband, and I do as well, but as a woman I think I feel for her characters desperation. Although I would never ever be capable of something like Aina did, all of us can only imagine what it must be like to be a lonely woman stuck with a man you despise in a country you are foreign to. But on the other hand, she made this decision to move to Canada, despite what her family warned her of. Thinking a love she only made up would make up for everything, she was just so wrong, and the environment surrounding her in the new world was just so harsh that it contributed to the fact of how much she really had made a mistake. The issue of how the surrounding environment can affect each and every one of us is an interesting topic. Aina’s life probably wouldn’t have been so depressing if she had loved where she was living with all she needed; she likely would have made do. When I first moved to Vancouver from Toronto for school I didn’t know anyone, and it was the dead of winter. I thought moving to a new place would be fun and new and exciting, but I didn’t know anyone and I was being naive. That first month here I was awfully depressed, I was terribly lonely and didn’t even have a job and was wishing to go home; but I knew I had made a choice to commit to going to school somewhere new, and had just spent so much money moving here, so I tried my best and stuck it out and now everything is fine. It was only when I completely removed myself from my familiar environment and all my family and friends that I realized how much I depended on my environment back home. I think the moral to take away from The Heifer is that you need to live with the decisions that you make in life. Sometimes they won’t always be the right ones, but when life hands you lemons you make lemonade. And although that is a terribly cliché saying, it is just so true.
Before I talk about “The Heifer”, I’d like to take the time to clarify something. Last week I read out my narrative on my trip to India, and afterwards a few people seemed to be under the impression that I didn’t think India was a beautiful place, or that I was oblivious to its renowned landmarks. This is an entirely false assumption. I think that India was absolutely spectacular and amazing. But if I had just focused on the landscape of the country, I would have remained uninformed of the struggle for life that its citizens faced daily. I believe we have the responsibility to be aware, and that the admiration of pretty structures and scenery should not detract from such blatant deprivation. Sometimes, just focusing on the positive is not good enough. At times, the beauty of some things can blind us, and cause us to become ignorant of the defects that surround it.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, “The Heifer” was a story of the blindness that can occur by being too eager of prospective beauty. Aina is entranced by the idea of living in Canada, but it is this harsh shift in lifestyle that changes her into a cynic. In the beginning of the story, she is obviously living in an enthusiastically constructed fantasy world. She conjures up a false image of Uwe, and then for months, feeds on a make-believe version of what she believes their love is like. Aina’s character goes through a type of evolution, where her childish innocence is replaced by full-blown pessimism. Although she leads a difficult life, I think that the main reason she kills her husband is because Olga was the only connection they had with one another, she was the sole reason their conversations could be kept going. When Olga died, so did any ties that were binding them. I feel absolutely no compassion for Aina. From the beginning she is shown to continuously mirror the heifer Olga, and this parallel of being “animal-like” becomes unmistakable when she indifferently murders her husband to selfishly ensure survival for herself. To me, there can be no justification for such immorality.
As we discussed in class, the external environment has a huge impact on Aina’s development. This isolated environment stunts Aina’s development until she cannot take it anymore, and is forced to do harm to another person, her husband. Aina is a dreamer and a romantic, which I feel is harmful to her life and leads to murder. She dreamt of the perfect man to be her husband and made herself believe she was going to live with and marry that man, when in fact her future husband was not that ideal man she dreamt of. I feel that was Aina’s first mistake. Once she saw and started be familiar with her husband’s true personality, she was distraught and felt alone because it was not what she expected – what she envisioned. When her husband promised her a beautiful cow, she obsessed about it and dreamt of it as well. This was her second mistake. Once she obtained the cow herself, she had less respect and admiration for her husband than ever. He seemed to be useless to her, and I think she does have a point and I agree with her. However, I think Aina’s mistakes and misjudgements were based on her romantic and dreamer persona, which eventually caused her to break down and feel murder is the only way out. Her dreaming and creating her husband and cow and life to be perfect, when nothing is, is fanciful in any time period or situation. I feel that marriage is hard and she went into the situation with the wrong mind set; she thought up this perfect, ideal life that is not realistic, which in turn destroyed her.
ReplyDeleteThe extreme conditions Aina withstood including the fire and having to kill her best and only friend, the cow, she felt she had nothing left and she was desperate – so she killed her husband. I understand her reasoning and that at that time there was no divorce, but it just seems so immoral to me because I cannot prevent the laws of the present to come into my mind. Furthermore, as I said above, I feel as though her dreamer persona brought about the destruction of her life, leading to her killing her husband. In spite of this, I still do not leave the husband out of blame. He still is a major part of his death; I just feel Aina envisioned a life that was artificial in a way.
I really enjoy this week's class as we have discussed many of the important reasons to be good and moral. Withing all of the socratic dialectic, I enjoy the fifth one the most which is the good aimed at outcome to receive the greatest happiness for everyone around you. Everyone have to work with people sometime in their life, whether through school, work, friendship, family or love. I feel that there's alot of emotions invested therefore every relationship should be build on trust and respect. Afterall, the people who influence you are the people who believed in you! I learned a great deal writting my self development narratives in class this week. It is very hard for me to write it down on paper, but i felt so much better after I wrote down the deepest problems and significant conflicts in my life. Everytime I experience pain in life, I always tell myself to be kind to others, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
ReplyDeleteNow I'd like to share some thoughts on this week's homework reading on my feelings for accomodating diversity in a classroom. I feel that educators must have knowledge of children's lives outside of school so as to recognize their strengths. We need to work to remove the blinders built of stereotypes like ignorance, distance, and racism. My favorite teacher have once told me that, "in order to teach you, I must know you". Also, i feel that in any discussion of education and culture, it is important to remember that children are individuals and cannot be made to fit into any preconceived mold of how they are supposed to act. When a significant difference exists between students culture and school's culture, teaching can easily misread students' intent or abilities as a result of the diffrence in style of culture patterns. From my own personal experience, when I immigrated to Canada, many new teachers ask me to tell them about myself. It seems like a straight forward question to ask for someone but my knowledge taught in Asia is that individual distinctiveness is not particularly desireable. The Harmony of the group's expectation is far more important than individualistic. Moreover, there is no such word for "individualism" in Chinese, the closest one can come up is the word for "selfishness". There are many more examples and case studies I have encountered and read from my own experience which can be shared further in class next time!
After hearing the narrative this class, I began to think about the amount of people that are overlooked and ignored as a result of their poverty. Although I have not been to India, many people have told me about the enormous amount of poverty and despair that they have noticed while on vacation. The clutching of foreigners arms in a plead for money and the inability to help all of those who are in need are constant remarks made by those that visit the country.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of people that are affected by poverty is not just limited to third world nations but it is a noticeable issue within our own community. Homelessness is quite evident and is becoming ever so harder to control. Single mothers with their children live within shelters are evidence of the amount of poverty within our community and how the issue is being overlooked by the majority of people.
Place, environment, certainly can influence people and their individual internal personal culture. I don’t think the same way living in Vancouver as I did when I was in Edmonton or Tucson. These are three vastly different places, at least within North America. In Edmonton I felt attached to a healthy artistic community, and certain ethical and moral codes followed with that. In Tucson there was a lot of gun/gang violence and poverty surrounding the musical community I was involved with. Now, in Vancouver, I have not connected to a community. My wife and I are living a more isolated life here than we have anywhere else. Even though I relate to myself, and the world around me, in vastly different ways, I believe that I remain similar in the core of my values. I am no more likely to shoot someone in Tucson because I knew violent gang members than I am likely to shoot someone now. I have my boundaries regardless of environment. Fair to say that boundary has not been challenged – maybe I’m wrong about my assumptions? Doubt it.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher I imagine dealing with much more subtle ethical issues, or at least more confusing issues. When do you cross the line between authority figure and friend or mentor? Are you playing favorites because of personality conflicts? What happens if you are attracted to one of your students’ parents? You see a student acting in a way you know the parent would have serious contention with: when are you responsible to inform the parents? Maybe you don’t agree with how your supervisor at school handles conflict. Maybe a co-worker comes to school after abusing his/her own children? These questions could go on forever …
My point is that there is a big difference between compromising your ideals to fit a situation or environment, compared to becoming someone who will murder their way out of a bad situation. Who says your ideals were actually perfect to start with? Hard to know what is the right thing in life, not so hard to know what is wrong.
In the last couple of weeks we have been discussing the topic of self-development. I think that the topics that we have looked at in class and through our narrative writing has provided me with a opportunity to look back and reflect on certain situations that have affected my life and my way of thinking. I believe that it is important to take the time to reflect on situations that I have been through whether they have been good or bad because each one can hold a valuable lesson if the time is taken to reflect upon them. Taking time to reflect on our experiences allows us to look at the experience in a different light. When we are involved in a situation there are many factors that affect how we react to it. It is not uncommon for our emotions to get the best of us and when they do we may not always react in ways that we are proud of. Therefore, by taking the time to reflect upon the situation later, our emotions aren’t as strong and it allows us to look at the situation form a different perspective, and maybe there is a lesson that can be taken out of it.
ReplyDeleteThe story that we read this week was “The Heifer” by Melissa Hardy. This story highlighted the importance of the environment on our moral development. The environment plays a very large role on how we view our life and our experiences. Although, I disagree with Aina’s decision to kill her husband I think her struggle is one that many people face. Aina was so caught up in the memory of the person that she thought he was when they were in Finland, and she continued to pine for him long after he left her. I think that when he sent for her she was so caught up in what use to be then she didn’t take the time to evaluate her future in the New World. I think then when she got there she realized that things had changed, she was no longer the young girl who was in love with him, and he was no longer the person that she remembered. I think that environment around them also affected her feelings. They were isolated and alone and they were each other’s only company. I think that situation made it her hate her husband more and made her life there seem unbearable.
At first, I wanted justice for the murder of Aina’s husband. And I guess I still do. However, I am interested to see how Aina’s character developed as a result of her actions. If the cow had not died, Aina might never have killed her husband. They would have gone on avoiding each other as much as possible while Aina worked herself to death and her husband did as little as possible. But Aina did kill her husband. And then she went back home, got married, had lots of children, and became a successful business woman. Do I think she did the right thing in committing murder? No. Do I think all murderers should face justice? Yes. But I can’t help thinking that, in her case, there was very little point. She was pushed into a position where she felt trapped and the only thing she had left to care about was taken away. She took her life back, just in the wrong way. But I don’t think she ever would have reoffended. I don’t like that she got away scot-free, but I can live with it.
ReplyDeleteI think what I learned in last class is how much our environments can affect us. I worked with a child last year who was belligerent and angry all the time. I didn’t understand why until I met his father. I doubt this man was abusive in the way we think of it, he just didn’t care. As I was reading “The Heifer”, I was reminded of this child. He felt isolated at home. Although this didn’t excuse his bad behaviour, I realized how that feeling of being alone and having no one else to rely on can cause a person’s moral compass to become skewed. This is a situation a teacher needs to have compassion for, but that doesn’t mean that we have to simply accept it. School should be a place where a child who usually feels alone can feel welcomed and heard.
The role of environment on moral choice and behaviour can be one of the most influential variables on an individual. In Aina’s case, it was the environment that differentiated and shattered fantasy into reality. Stemming from this is the symbolism of the meaning of being “blinded”; initially, Aina claimed to have been “blinded by love” in making her decision to join with Uwe (representing the fantasy), and then once subjected to her new life, being literally blinded by a scorching and relentless inferno (representing the reality). Aina’s new life was not a dream, it was a shock and mercilessly tore at her psyche and soul until, like the fire, emotions erupted and everything culminated into a complete loss. The fate of the heifer seemed to signify this concept as well; the cow was Aina’s only reminder and pleasure of home, as well as a representation of Aina’s own identity and self, and once it was consumed by the fire Aina had nothing left for her in the new world.
ReplyDeleteOne has to understand that an individual cannot reach a level of comfort with himself emotionally if the environment the person is subjected to is causing great physical or emotional stress. And, just as theories such as Pavlov’s Hierarchy of Needs suggests, a person cannot climb a ladder of self fulfillment and enlightenment if the basics for personal and emotional growth aren’t satisfied; namely, securities in the environment. If an individual is stressed on a personal level, regardless of whether the environment is a major factor, interpersonal well-being cannot be satisfied in the slightest. In Aina’s case, her extreme level of personal and emotional stress caused by the environment was literally a barrier to her ever connecting on any level with her husband. Considering that it was ultimately him who persuaded Aina to travel to the new world, the source of Aina’s emotional trauma would always be directed towards Uwe in the end, resulting in the fate six feet under that he unexpectedly meets due to Aina’s unstable psyche.
For many people, the environment is a variable that is the hardest to change in one’s own development. It is much easier to attribute unhappiness and stress to a situation, or a social constraint; something that can be dealt with in a personal method. In the case of the environment, it can be much harder to alter. For Aina, divorce most likely wasn’t an option for her, and she did not have the means to just tell Uwe that she wished to leave, and have passage to head back to Europe. Even if she left Uwe, Aina most likely would have ended up in another shack in another mudpile, which would not have changed the negative impact of the environment on her sanity whatsoever.
Thus, I believe The Heifer powerfully demonstrates the effects the environment can have on an individual’s sense of emotional well-being, and their very sanity and identity.
During the discussion on the narrative that was read last week I was thinking of the differences there can exist in the poor of certain countries. The narrative described the extreme poverty found in India as well as the vastness of the social divide. This description made me look back to my recent vacation to Cuba. During my trip, when I was in Havana, it was obvious that there was significant poverty in the city. However, the thing I found the most arresting, were the buildings. The buildings that surrounded the city were ramshackle apartments and houses that in some areas were completely falling apart. The most striking thing about the buildings was the paint. The paint itself was peeling off and in some places was covered in dirt and mud, but the thing that shone through all of that were the colours. They were bright blues and greens and yellows, and some of the happiest colours you could find, so much so that they just made you want to smile at the contradiction. I felt that this was also very representative of the attitudes of the people that I was able to meet while I was there. I have travelled to France, England, and the United States, and yet some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met while travelling was when I was in Cuba.
ReplyDeleteAs for the story “The Heifer” I personally found it difficult to be as appalled by Aina’s actions and the lack of consequences as I should have been. This is partially because of the ways that the characters were developed. While Aina’s husband did not deserve to die he was not a particularly good or mature man. He did not take care of his responsibilities or respect and appreciate his wife as a person. As for Aina while I don’t condone her actions, because ultimately her husband might not have been a good man but he also wasn’t evil, I do have sympathy for how her life has turned out and the difficulties she faced. At the same time she could have made different and more mature decisions to either put her life on a different path or to adjust more affectively to her new life. Within the context of the characters that developed I don’t have any real sympathy for either character as neither one are terribly admirable, and while I think that Aina has more qualities ultimately worthy of respecting she is in the end a murderer. However, my sympathy for Aina does jump up a few notches when the context of the time period is added into the equation. In this time period she would have had significantly fewer options. She could not have divorced him, there would have been few to no jobs she could get especially while pregnant, and she was expected to rely on her husband for everything she had or would have and yet was with someone she couldn’t rely on ad would soon be bringing another person into the world. I had enough sympathy for Aina that it didn’t upset me that much that she wasn’t caught since she went on to have a pretty good life. However, neither did I have so much sympathy for her that I would have cared all that much if she had been caught. And as for her husband, my only real sympathy for him comes from the fact that he didn’t deserve to be murdered; however all his other character attributes meant that it didn’t break my heart either. Therefore I ultimately felt pretty neutral about the whole thing, which is not to say that it wouldn’t bother me in a real life situation, but within the realm of a fictional story my overall reaction to the lack of “justice” in the story was “meh”.
Questions:
ReplyDelete1) How big of a role do you think the environment plays in Aina’s actions at the end?
2) Could Aina have been a better person if Olga had survived?
5) What is the turning point for Aina where she moves from the fantasy of killing her husband to action? Why?
To answer both question one, two and five on the board last week, I think everything contributed to Aina’s irrational decision to kill her husband.
From my understanding, Aina never did tell her husband what she though or felt of Canada, the house, the cow or anything for that matter. I thought that because of the lack of communication with her husband, every little thing she disliked was suppressed. I know when I suppress my problems or dislikes I tend to have a “breaking point”. Although I still could not bring myself to commit a murder.
Immigrating to a different country must have been hard for Aina. Even though I know it was completely her choice, I am still sympathetic. She left her home, her family and everything familiar to come to Canada. That is not an easy thing to do. Culture shock is something everyone experiences when placed in an unfamiliar place. Whether it is a new town or a new country. Moving from a small city to Vancouver was a culture shock for me.
The environment is totally different here and it took some getting use to. In northern B.C, the cold is dryer (which I enjoy a lot more than this wet cold in Vancouver) there is more snow then rain and a lot more sunny days during the winter season. I actually enjoy the rain, and being able to see the ground during the winter season, but it took some to adapt.
The extremely cold and snowy environment is definitely not for Aina. This was something she could not control but there were issues she could have had control of. For example, with a little effort on her part the language barrier between her and the French neighbors could have been broken. Neither her nor her husband liked the farm they lived on. This disliked aspect could have been solved by communication and agreeing to move somewhere else. These are all aspects that could have improved their quality of life and made adaptation a lot easier.
Olga was the one thing that was familiar and reminded Aina of home. She had to work to get this heifer. When I work for something I appreciate it a lot more then if I was just given it. Olga was also a good reason to get out of the awkward staring contests with her husband. After the fire had engulfed the farm, Aina must have thought the weather and the environment was against her. The death of Olga was what I would describe “the tip of the iceberg”. With all this anger and hate built up, the death of Olga brought her to her breaking point or turning point. As humans, we like to blame others for our misery. Well guess who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yes, poor Uwe. Blaming him was so much easier then accepting some lame herself. If Olga were to have survived, I don’t think Aina would have reached her breaking point. And therefore not have killed Uwe then…. I am not saying at some other point in time she might have had enough and killed him.
“The Heifer” was a very insightful story about how the environment influences our actions. After reading this story I couldn’t help but to think about how much isolation can affect your social interactions with people. I grew up in a very small town, to give you a feel of how small it was I graduated with twenty five people. There were a few kids that I had started out my elementary school years with but then the parents decided instead of going through the public school system they wanted their child to be home schooled instead. I have absolutely nothing against home schooling but I feel that these kids missed out on one of the most important things that will influence you for the rest of your lives, the ability to interact with others. I never had any contact nor did I really remember any of these children until the day that we had our graduation. I was introduced to this one boy who lived about ten minutes away from the school. He was incredibly smart but I could not believe how socially inapt he was. He was so isolated his whole life that he did not know how to interact with people, or carry on a conversation properly. Your social surroundings such as your family, friends, teachers, etc. really influences who you become as a person. I feel that this young boy was so isolated from all of these people in his life that he didn’t know how to socialize with others. I feel that I am who I am today because of where I grew up and the people that surrounded me. When you are younger I don’t think you really understand how much your environment influences you. Self development has a lot to do with your environment and has a huge impact on who you become as a person.
ReplyDeleteAnia was so isolated from society that she fell into a depressive state. It is really frightening to think that your environment can influence you so much to the point that you are willing to kill someone. What I don’t think Ania considered was that her and her husband had been parted for so long that she forgot to question how much the environment had changed him and even her during the time they spent apart.
When thinking about the story we read last week, “The Heifer”, I began to ponder Alina’s act of committing murder. Was it justified? I believe that it was completely unnecessary and uncalled for. Yes, she lived a very idle life which may have caused her state of depression however she consciously committed a crime which he had no true reason for. She decided to end her husband’s life because she didn’t love him but there is no reason why she couldn’t have left him. In my opinion, she had no excuse for killing him and she simply went over the edge. At the beginning of the story I did have sympathy for her, however as the story progressed and reached this part, I realized that she made a big mistake and she acted out of selfishness. Now when I think about her character I feel nothing but disgust thinking that she is responsible for ending her husband’s life. Yes I understand that he wasn’t the best partner to have, but he is still a human being and everybody deserves a chance. Even if she decided that there is no way to live with him, she could have done something else like run away. It may have been hard to adjust to a new life, however after time she would have worked things out. Later on in the Alina remarries and has several children; she appears to live a very content ife. If I were in her shoes, I could never have done that as I would have a human’s death on my conscious for the rest of my life. It seems that Alina’s selfishness took over her ability to act reasonably and maturely about the situation.
ReplyDeleteOne reason for why I Alina resulted in committing this crime was due to her very isolated life. Although I don’t justify murder with this reason, it is still a possibility as to why she reached such a state of depression. Her and her husband lived very far from society and was compelled to live in a remote area. All humans have social needs which need to be met and it seems that Alina lacked this. I think she was in a state of frustration and couldn’t express her anger in another way. If I was living in an isolated area, it would be very difficult to cope with that. I can say from my own experience that a social life is necessary to have in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. To a certain degree, it is almost as important as food and shelter. Although some individuals may have grown up in an isolated environment and become accustomed to this type of seclusion, Alina was clearly not and for her it was a big change that she did not know how to cope with.
While reading “The Heifer” I was definitely shocked by the type of person Aina turned into. In the first paragraph of the story Aina and Uwe seem like a sweet couple. Before moving to Canada, she just seemed like an innocent little girl creating a dream prince for herself. It was amazing to see how quickly she changed into someone who was almost monstrous. I understand that she was in a desperate conditions; she was in a desolate place with someone she didn’t love or connect to, but even in that situation I think that she could have handled it differently. I don’t think she had to go to such desperate measures to get out of the life she was living. Perhaps Uwe was a bit feeble and difficult to live with, but Aina was being incredibly selfish and not considering all the things that Uwe did for her. He toiled alone in a new country so that he could buy a farm and earn enough money for her passage just so she could be with him. I don’t think that Aina would have gotten quite to the point of committing murder had Olga (the cow) not died, and in such a horrible way at that. Yet, again Aina fails to realize that if it were not for Uwe, she would have never had Olga as a companion in the first place. At the same time, it’s interesting to see how desperate situations can change people’s personalities and cause them to go against their morals. It makes me wonder how strongly I would hold to my own morals in such a situation, and if I would go over the edge and against what I believe in to preserve myself.
ReplyDeleteDylan wrote:
ReplyDeleteThe discussion last class about the short story “The Heifer,” really got me
thinking about how environment can have profound impacts on people's lives. It affects their overall happiness, physical and mental well-being and in some cases sanity. In Vancouver we live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. We have mountains, the ocean, soaring evergreens, beaches and a nice looking city core. There are some places in Vancouver that are nicer than others but generally ever area has its perks.
I've driven to Edmonton a couple times before to visit my father's side of the
family. As you drive through the prairies and see a house standing silently on a flat treeless plane, you start to think of what a beautiful place Vancouver is in comparison. Now some people may enjoy a simple life of farming but it must get depressing in the winter when its 40 below and there’s no people in sight. I myself enjoy being alone but even when I'm sick and don't see people for a couple days I start getting an empty feeling inside. I miss friendship, human connection, love, happiness and sharing stories.
I think for Ania, she couldn't handle the bleak life that she threw herself into and was pushed to the edge by loneliness. Now that’s not to say she should have killed her husband but she did because it was her last resort to salvation. I think it is human nature to want to bond with others, make friendships, have love, have families and to have purpose in their lives. Without these things life becomes meaningless. I could probably make over 100,000 dollars in a year working on an oil barge or up in the Yukon in a mine but I would be taking away everything I love. My family, my friends, my music, and my city, my coffee shops, my music shops, my parks, my bike routes, my bars, and my love for life. I think environment hugely impacts people's lives and plays a deciding role in the person you will become.