stuck.

I'm at an awkward time in my life. When I know who I want to be, what I want to do, where I want to go, yet, I feel stuck. Life is interesting. It's always throwing new things my way. Still I feel like I'm glued to the middle of it all; watching the chaos dance around me.

I want to jump in.

I guess some could say I'm suicidal. I don't agree. I see it as grasping my dreams and sharing them with the world for the rest of my life. Our WORLD, the world we live in, the world we know……..is black and white. I want to be red, purple, blue, hot pink, orange, green, and yellow.

Extravagantly colorful.

Sure, my life is routine; I'll break it…………one day. One day I'll step outside of this united soil of complacent souls, into the land of the unknown.

I want to know.

For now, I'm stuck.

a "not so needed" explanation..

Just so you all know.. part of my english class is to blog about a given topic on a weekly basis. So I will be posting various blogs in regards to that class. I feel like if people didn't know that they would think I write about a whole lot of random things. (even though 90% of my followers are classmates!) ha.

:) so.. just thought I'd clarify.

Mr. Mom

As I read Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, there were many apparent gender themes spread throughout the book in which various normal gender roles within the society of the mid 19^th century were strongly challenged. This aspect of the book played a key importance to the development of each character; specifying whom the true antagonists and protagonists of the novel were.

Within one specific chapter of the book, chapter 15, the reader sees a very distinct challenge of a typical gender role of a male father and female mother. In the 19^th century, male figures were generally not regarded as the nurturer or caretaker of the children, this was a role specifically associated with the female figure.

As Jane is growing more and more accustomed to her life at Thornfield, she is continually learning and seeing the multifaceted character of Mr. Rochester. Chapter 15 contains a crucial scene in which Mr. Rochester manifests the disheartening story of his past lover, Celine Varens. Explaining his feelings of jealousy as Celine exits a car with another man close behind her, Mr. Rochester says the following to Jane:

You never felt jealousy, did you, Miss Eyre? Of course not; I need not ask you; because you never felt love. You have both sentiments yet to experience; your soul sleeps; the shock is yet to be given which shall waken it. You think all existence lapses in as quiet a flow as that in which your youth has hitherto slid away. Floating on with closed eyes and muffled ears, you neither see the rocks bristling not far off in the bed of the flood, nor hear the breakers boil at their base. But I tell you—and you may mark my words—you will come someday to a craggy pass of the channel, where the whole of life’s stream will be broken up into whirl and tumult, foam and noise; either you will be dashed to atoms and crag-points, or lifted up and borne on by some master wave into a calmer current—as I am now.

In the 19^th century, male vulnerability and emotion shown such as this was not expected. We see a man confessing such feelings discovered from the soul wrenching experience of that of love; which was much expected then, and even in today’s society, from the women in the relationship. On the contrary, this scenario was a flipped gender role in which Celine left Mr. Rochester with raw emotions and feelings such as this, as well as her own child to take care of. He then steps into the role of the caretaker of this child, perplexing the ideas of the right roles for the proper genders. This happens in many instances throughout Jane Eyre. Bronte does a beautiful job at presenting these characters in way that disrupts the common views about gender during that era.

This is a novel that society should learn and grow from within the boxes that they have framed around what the “duties” or “normal” ways for men and women to go about life. I still think that there are natural borders to gender; however, women and men are absolutely able to accomplish the same amount of tasks and goals at the same standards.

Reference:

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. New York, NY. 2001. Page 170.

"Male nor Female"

From the earliest of times human beings have been chasing, neglecting, twisting, or embracing the controversial idea of religion. It has driven some people away and drawn others in, damned a society to hell and loved and accepted the world. Religion has shown itself to be extremely difficult to grasp or even come to terms with. Among the various beliefs and morals in the Christian lifestyle, many cause commotion and concern around the world. Judeo-Christian values have impacted society in both negative and positive ways. One current issue stands out among the rest in today’s society: inter-sex people.

Sadly, issues such as these can be handled in poor regards, resulting in pain and persecution that should have never existed.

From a Christian perspective God created man and woman.
We all have heard this and are familiar with the basic concept. So when a person is born in a way that is not specific in human terms, what do we do with that? In a debate about inter-sex people the reverend defended his point, quite avidly, that sex is bipolar. He argued that this problem with inter-sex human beings is a grey area and is simply “nature playing tricks.” Sadly, the way that people have presented religion to the surrounding world has been heavily negative and consisted with much persecution. Thousands of people have been told that they are “going to hell” and “need to repent” or have strongly argued that if you are not like “them” you are unacceptable and simply wrong. In regards to issues such as inter-sex people, a lot of Christians have driven people away because of the way that they are treated. Many Christians have negatively affected our society and persecuted people that are different than they think that humans should be.

With this in mind, however, it is extremely important to recognize that the issue is not in the beliefs of Christianity or in God. This is strictly a problem with human beings, not God. Christianity is not supposed to just be a religion. From a biblical perspective, it’s supposed to represent a God that has compassion for a world in need, that accepts and loves anyone and everyone, no matter what sex they might be. People have twisted and presented God in a negative way that has, in turn, created a society in which religion is undesirable, even rejected and protested. I personally think that inter-sex people are an undeniable reality and that they should absolutely still be treated with the same respect and rights as men and women. Some inter-sex people may feel lost or like they are seeking for their true identity. In Luke 19:10, it says, “For the Son of man (Jesus Christ) came to seek and save what was lost.” What a beautiful concept, so widely misunderstood or misrepresented. Also, Galatians 3:28 states, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The love of Jesus Christ should triumph over everything that we struggle, debate, and wage war with. Who are we to say that someone is any less of a person because of physical characteristics that they are born with? It’s time for Christians to recognize that the only way for God to truly be seen is by loving the world as God has loved the world. Yes, Christianity has significantly and negatively impacted the issue, but this is because the way that Christians and other religions have treated it; not once has it been God. These issues should be met with love and grace, much like that of Jesus Christ.