Possesions

Current Topic: Henry David Thoreau believed that in order to live well, we must reduce the number of material goods we have. Otherwise, these things begin to dominate us. Take a position on this and explain.

I completely agree! Luxuries seem to out weigh necessities in our society. Ill admit, they do at times in my life also. Most of the time i spend my paycheck on things like video games, electronics, black light accessories, or things that just look cool. Instead, i could use the money to buy new clothes, maybe buy groceries. Instead of spending my money on things i NEED, i spend it on things that i want.

I feel like society holds the idea that property equals power. Take fashion for example. Hollister or shoes or whatever, kids desire these things because they think it separates them from others. Brand clothing can be seen as an indicator of wealth. If you have it, you're richer and better then those that don't. I feel like this is what society sells to us. So, now it becomes a fight for luxuries. The more luxuries you have, the better you are then the other person. Instead of enjoying what we have, we buy more and more thinking that it will make us better. We are stuck in a never ending cycle of greed. When one product comes out, we rush to attain it to improve our status. When the next product comes out, we rush to that one too. It will never stop, not unless we stray from that feeling of greatness that we think we feel when we have shiny new things.

                                                                                                                                ~TarzanTron

Numbers of Prime

Current Topic: Christopher Boone, says, "Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the numbers away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical, but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them." (Haddon 12)

I chose to view this quote with a symbolic mindset. First, segmenting the quote, i took Prime numbers. He states that prime numbers are what you get after taken all other numbers away. I believe that "numbers" represent people. After you take away all emotions and characteristics of a person, you're left with the simplest minded person. In this case, that simple minded person is referred to as a prime number.

The second part clearly refers to life as stated by Chris. If we substitute people in as prime numbers, then the new quote reads, “I think people are like life. They are very logical, but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about it." This would be an example of Absurdism The rules that people can never work out could be the rules of the universe, rules of society, or rules of life. So, we as humanity can speculate for answers in life, but we will never attain true meaning and purpose no matter how much we try.