January 10

Literary Exploration

Aafreen Bhanji

ELA 30-2

Lit Exploration- CCPU

December 19, 2019

The Actions of Others can Influence the Beliefs of Individuals

What is your opinion of the idea that our beliefs are influenced by the actions of others?

An individual has different beliefs than others around them. Other people’s actions may change what a person believes in and it may alter how they view the world. This can be seen in the novel, Night by Elie Wiesel, which is a memoir that describes Elie’s experience in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. It describes how after he was taken into the concentration camp, his beliefs and views on the world changed. This idea can also be found in the excerpt from The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch which talks about the experience he had at camp during the first Apollo moon landing. I experienced this when my grandma passed away.  When an individual has to go through an obstacle in life that is based on other people’s actions, they may change their beliefs, resulting in them overcoming the obstacle and feeling lost or regaining their beliefs in the world. 

In the novel, Night by Elie Wiesel, it describes how the main character, Elie, changes his beliefs when he gets taken into a concentration camp during the holocaust. In the beginning of the novel, Elie has a very strong relationship with his faith and beliefs. His beliefs are influenced by Moishe the Beadle, a citizen that escapes from the concentration camps and comes back to warn everyone about what is to come. Moishe the Beadle teaches Elie about the Jewish faith and helps Elie gain trust in his faith. When individuals find a mentor, they can strengthen their beliefs with the help of that individual. Near the middle of the novel, when Elie and his father are in the concentration camp, Elie starts to lose his faith and belief in God. He blames God for not helping him in this time of need and contradicts his actions. Individuals that go through tragic experiences, can alter their faith and what they believe in. At the end of the novel, Elie manages to survive going through the concentration camp but through that, he lost his faith in God and his beliefs changed because of the actions of the Nazis. This shows that throughout the novel, Elie went from having faith and positive beliefs in God, to starting to lose faith, and finally he lost all faith in God and his beliefs changed drastically. When an individual that has beliefs and faith that get changed or diminished because of the actions of others, it can result in individuals losing their identity due to the loss of their faith and the alteration of their beliefs.

In the excerpt from The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, it explains how when Randy was younger, the actions of his camp directors and his father shaped his beliefs. During the first Apollo moon landing, he was at camp and just before they were going to step onto the moon, the camp directors turned off the television and sent everyone to bed. The thought that rushed in his head was, “my species has gotten off of our planet and landed in a new world for the first time, and you think bedtime matters?” He was not pleased with what his camp directors did. When he got home a few weeks later though, he found out that his father had taken a photo of their television as soon as Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. His father preserved the memory in order to fuel his child’s dreams. This shows that by his father taking that photo, it inspired Randy to not give up on his dreams and made him believe in hard work and dedication. After that experience, he also believes in fueling his kids dreams and not putting them down when they wanted to dream. The actions of his father influenced him to do the same to his children. When individuals get influenced by others to do good, they can pass on those beliefs onto their children. 

I experienced a questioning of my beliefs when my grandmother passed away three years ago. It was a very sudden and tragic experience and made me think about what my beliefs actually were. My grandmother was not sick, she was perfectly fine. She just fell down at home one night, and that was it. I couldn’t understand why this happened and how it happened. I began to lose faith and question God as to why he took an innocent soul away from the world. Obviously it was no one’s fault that she passed away but I didn’t understand that at the time and I really detached from my faith and beliefs. Then my dad told me and explained to me that, “God takes away people for a reason and no one knows the reason except God. He knows what he is doing and you should have faith in him because maybe he needed Nani for a reason. Maybe he had another purpose for her in heaven. She will always be here to watch over you. You have nothing to worry about.” These words helped me regain my faith and beliefs in God and made me realize what I was so confused about earlier. Because of my father’s actions, I was able to regain my beliefs and make sense of the sudden event that had just occurred. When individuals go through an event where they question their faith, they may turn to someone they trust and use their advice to regain their beliefs and faith. 

When individuals experience an event that makes them question their beliefs, they may lose their beliefs completely, or regain their beliefs after the experience is over. Elie lost his beliefs and faith in God and didn’t regain them after staying in a concentration camp. Randy Pausch’s beliefs were influenced by his father and made him understand that having dreams is good and we shouldn’t restrict anyone. I regained my beliefs in God when my father helped me understand why my grandma suddenly passed away. Having beliefs is good, but when they get tampered with and altered, it can lead an individual to feel lost or to feel stronger in their faith and beliefs.  

Category: Aafreen, Sept 2019 | LEAVE A COMMENT
January 19

Literary Exploration (ARRTI) – Polished

The Influence of Actions

What is your opinion of the idea that our beliefs are influenced by the actions of others?

Friends and family shape the way an individual sees the world by influencing their beliefs, showing them a new perspective of how the world can be viewed. In the film, “A River Runs Through It,” by Norman Maclean, a character, also named Norman Maclean, is shown to have beliefs that were influenced greatly by his father, Reverend John Norman Maclean, and his brother, Paul Maclean. Norman’s childhood was filled with innocence. A family consisting of a father, mother, brother, and himself.

As an individual starts out their life, their perspective and personality is based off of a parents’ ideals. Norman was homeschooled by his father, mainly working on writing. Whenever Norman made mistakes and/or wasn’t up to the standards set by his father, the father would correct his mistakes using a red pen and make Norman rewrite his work until it was perfected. This affected him as he grew up, shown in the scene where Norman comes back after studying abroad and begins engaging in a conversation with his father in his study. As the conversation goes on, Norman and the father talk about the possibilities of careers that Norman can have as a permanent job. Norman had a dream of having a specific career but it was immediately crushed after seeing his father holding a red pen, symbolizing disappointment, as Norman was mentioning it. Because of this, Norman then changes his career idea to being a teacher. He chooses to do this because his belief, as he grew up, was to always meet his father’s standards.

Another area where the idea of actions causing influence onto your beliefs is through Paul’s eyes. His belief as he grew up was that he will be in the spotlight, the center of attention, well-known, and be famous. The main idea was him being the best. His beliefs begin to shift around and change when Norman comes back from abroad. Paul begins having jealousy towards his brother because of the attention Norman is getting for becoming a Professor. During the scene of the community get together, Norman is shown around by his mother, gloating about his accomplishments to the other ladies in the community. Paul is then shown around the end of the scene, just arriving, getting along with everyone, including their parents, but not speaking to Norman as he leaves.  Since this was the case, Paul then tries to do more things involved with the community to get him more recognized to counter Norman’s new uprising popularity. Because Paul felt like it was a competition and needed to get to the top, he continued stressing out more behind the scenes and is exposed later on through his addiction to alcohol.

My personal experience with this is more of when a belief was put upon me by another individual until I broke out of the idea, so I could change. As a young child, I was always restricted from going outside alone; Whether it’d be a short walk to the river, or just going to the nearby playground to meet up a neighborhood friend; It was never an option to go out without one of my parents or sister accompanying me there. Growing up, my belief that rose from that continued to twist and turn my ideas of not being allowed to go out without one of them until recently. Not that long ago, I went out for the first time, alone, to explore the city, to venture alone for once since I didn’t exactly have friends or anyone to accompany myself, but it felt more fulfilling without others. It’s not a small thing that not many people consider but this small act really helped me in being just that little more free, both externally and internally, instead of staying trapped in the dark abyss that limited everything I was to see and experience. This changed my belief into doing more than I thought I ever could, the little more I could do without plunging into a state of distorted fear and panic due to my personal fear of consequences.

Altogether, the three perspectives listed here connect together because all of them had an experience in a change of beliefs caused by others. Norman’s belief being influenced by his father’s, Paul’s belief broken down because of Norman, and the belief that was put upon me until I changed it. One day, each and every individual, whether it was in the past, present, or future, will inevitably experience another individual’s influence changing their perspective. All in all, this shows how the influence of others, what they say and what they do, can greatly impact how an individual lives their life.

 

 

Category: Melissa, Sept 2018, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT