Blog Two: Ivan Turgenev on Capital Punishment

Ivan Turgenev wrote many great essays on capital punishment and the cruelness in society. "The Execution of Tropmann" is one of these types of writings. Turgenev found his inspiration for his pieces from watching his mother be cruel to the people she was surrounded with. Through the diction that Turgenev uses, he is able to express the viciousness and humility that is brought about from capital punishment. Turgenev uses the narrator to show more of a one sided argument about the unjustness of execution and other forms of punishment during that time.

By explaining the setting of the story, by using words such as "mournful expression" and "cold sweat." He is able to put a dreary tone to the start of the passage. By the end of the passage, words such as “unnecessary” and “senseless barbarism” shows a more angry tone. By starting with a more sad tone, he is able to show that an eye for an eye government is not justice. 

Turgenev strongly feels  that capital punishment is wrong. That by having a public execution, is humiliating and that killing a human being after they had killed someone is not justice, it is hypocrisy. Turgenev’s argument was very strong in the ways that he thought that the punishment methods were wrong. Turgenev expresses his views through the narrator that was invited to an execution and into the before activities of the execution. The narrator explains the roar of the crowd and explains that it is like the ocean, this comparison shows that the crowd and the noise seemed to be never ending, just like the ocean. The explanation of the crowd plays a sigificant role because it seems like a normal thing. People are there drinking and having fun, they don’t realize that they are just watching someone be killed, they think of it more as a social gathering than an execution. Through out the piece he refers to the execution as a show. That is what the crowd thought it to be, not a horrible killing of a human being that is just like them, but as a production on a stage . By including this metaphor in the piece, it enhances the reason why there was such a big crowd, they did not necessarily want a person to die, they wanted a show. They wanted to see justice served, whether it was death or not, they wanted education. Would it have been any different if there was no execution, and it was just a party? 

For the most part Turgenev’s argument is very strong, he does have the weakness that he does not give all points of view. He strictly stays in one person, who is against it, and he does not write what the criminal thinks, what a spectator thinks or what a government person thinks. Just the one side of view is great, but by not showing the others, the reader can not fully understand the situation. One could be against capital punishment, like Turgenev, but they might not see that a person who was close to the criminal might be against it. The reader needs to see all views in order to realize if Tropmann really should have been executed and whether it was just to do it in front of a huge crowd, instead of in private.

Through out the piece he refers to the execution as a show. That is what the crowd thought it to be, not a horrible killing of a human being that is just like them, but as a production on a stage . By including this metaphor in the piece, it enhances the reason why there was such a big crowd, they did not necessarily want a person to die, they wanted a show. They wanted to see justice served, whether it was death or not, they wanted education.

Turgenev makes a great argument on the negativities of capital punishment, but if that is eliminated, then how will justice be served? Although public executions are a horrible thing, some sort of punishment that goes with the crime must be carried out. If some sort of justice is not served, then the crowd, the public, may go crazy if nothing happens. Chaos could break out.

Blog Entry 15

Enrich describes cowboys as strong yet gentle. She also describes them as not being good communicators. Although some things seem negative toward cowboys, the overall tone that she has toward them is admirable. By using descriptive diction, Enrich enhances her point that the way that society has shaped the image of cowboys is not the way that they really are. Enrich starts her essay off with a description of a Marlboro add. She describes her longing for cowboys. But the Marlboro add shows a cowboy as tough, but she describes the ones she knows as gentle. Society has put the image on cowboys that they are bad at communicating and that it has become a bad thing, but she puts the tone that it is because they are alone in the hills and on the ranch for so long that it is more difficult for them to communicate. The use of stong diction allows Enrich to enhance her view on cowboys.

Blog Entry 11

Culminating Writers Profile:
1.) My writing has changed because it has acquired a new thought process. It has stayed the same because I still find myself getting off topic.
2.) I think my strength in writing is giving detail, I reinforce them by writing descriptive papers.
3.) I see introduction paragraphs, vagueness and rambling as my weaknesses. I am working on getting new ideas on how to start essays, and getting descriptive on the right things so I will not get off topic.
Evaluating Your Writing Process:
1.) I would rewrite the introductory paragraph and add more to the conclusion.
2.) The easiest element to improve will be taking away unneeded detail and words.
3.) The biggest problem I had in this essay was starting the essay initially and staying on topic.
Evaluating Your Successes:
1.) The most successful large scale revision I had in this essay was the way I started the body paragraphs.
2.) Instead of rambling on the wole time, I managed to find good quotes and used descrptive words the portrayed the main point of my essay.
3.) I do not think that I did a very good job picking and writing to a certain audience, I was too vague.
Being Honest With Self:
1.) The most intimidating part of this writing process was starting the essay, to overcome it I started with the body paragraphs and then I wrote the intro paragraph.
2.) Reading intro paragraphs from other writers definions essays inspired me to use different techniques.
3.) I used rhetorical questions in my essay after I read other students essays.
4.) I learned, from my peers, that I should use just a little bit more detail on certain aspects of my writing.
5.) I see myself as an improving writer that has learned many new things but I feel as if I have many new things to learn and that I can add to my writing to make it a more strong and complete essay.

Blog Entry 14

Secrecy can be found in every aspect of daily life. Sante states that the internet takes away all privacy. Once something is posted, there is no way to know that it will ever come off. A persons privacy can never be truly private on the internet.
The next topic mentioned in Sante's essay was the Soviet Union. Due to many rules and regulations secrecy became a large ritual in their daily lives. In order to become a better place, the Soviets would hold secret meetings. Although this part of the essay was a little bit confusing, it still stressed the problem of secrecy. They might not have done it for a bad reason, but secrecy still is a secret.
The last topic in Sante's essay is confessional culture, it is taught in churches that confessing is the way to heaven. It takes away any chance of a person to have privacy. They have become so caught up in daily activities, that the thought that they would not confess something, would scare a person because confessing is the right thing to do. People also tells another their secrets because they want to feel close to them and confide in them.

Blog Entry 13

Ethics and personal values of a single person can be affected by many different things or people. They can be affected by their parents or family, or where they grew up. To teach these values in school would be as if they were telling a person they can not be themself. One is shaped by their values and their ethics. Also, by teaching them in school would be shaping people into clones, everyone would be the same. Instead of having many people with different views, values and ethics, everyone would be very similar. There would be no diversity and there would be no way to learn from others. Ethics and personal values should not be taught in schools.

Blog Entry 12

Great movies can be considered great according to do various reasons. It can be considered great according to the acting, the theme of the movie, the plot or how good the movie catches and keeps the attention of the viewer. Titanic is a movie that has all of the atributions to create a great movie. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star the two leading roles and manage to show emotions in their acting that can fully express their characters. Along with great acting the special effects allow the viewer to feel as if they are in the movie, therefore catching and keeping the movie. Another great movie, The Notebook has all of the above qualities as well. The theme in the movie is one of the best parts, the theme and the way it is portrayed is able to catch the viewers attention. Great movies are able to keep a viewers attention and is able to entertain that viewer.

Blog Entry 10

Nobodiness can be found in many different places, such as at school, a mall, a social gathering or even on a team. Many times a person can feel like a nobody if they have no friends or they can feel like a nobody if they are unnoticed. At a party one could find themselves filled with nobodiness because no one went out of their way to welcome you in, or no one noticed you were their, or even if you are the one sitting in the corner by yourself. At school someone can feel like a nobody if they have friends but they are just there. They don't feel like people notice them. That person who is just there feels left out because they are not the center of attention.