How to begin discussing a class when the first assignment involves reading about a glass phallic symbol that at one point breaks off while functioning??? I must say, it is a somewhat disturbing yet utterly intriguing beginning.<\/p>\n
In discussing some of the typical conventions of hard boiled detective novels, I was struck most by the idea that the protagonists are usually morally compromised at some point in the work.\u00c2\u00a0 At once this is both perplexing and reasonable.\u00c2\u00a0 My initial gut reaction is to rebel against a hero with a gambling problem (for example) and yet on further reading I realize that there are reasons behind this convention that I’m starting to comprehend.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The easiest answer to the question why would the author wish to have a flawed hero is simply that it adds depth to the character.\u00c2\u00a0 But why something like gambling? Gambling is one of those issues that divides people.\u00c2\u00a0 There are those who see it as good, clean fun and then the others who have seen the mindless pleasure consume someone they love until they become a slave to the casino.\u00c2\u00a0 But really, that’s just about anything in life, right? Depending on the situation or who one is the results are going to vary.<\/p>\n
That’s why people use gambling as a life metaphor:\u00c2\u00a0 Life is like a card game, you do the best you can with the hand you’re dealt.\u00c2\u00a0 I think I’ve always been partial to this particular metaphor because it is a balance between a humbleness before the unknown and a belief in human free will.\u00c2\u00a0 A character with a gambling problem is much more complex than what appears on the surface.\u00c2\u00a0 It was seem like just another addiction but really it is a deeper desire to try and control the course of one’s life.\u00c2\u00a0 A gambling addiction is the inability to recognize that one can only control so much in this life.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunatly, the House wins quite often but that isn’t some sort of cosmic goad to get us to empty our pockets in retaliation.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The pain we experience when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable (gambling is actually an example) is meant to test us.\u00c2\u00a0 The pain is just a way of seeing which way we will turn.\u00c2\u00a0 Will we turn inward with a stubborn belief that we can solve all our own problems? Or will we walk away from the card table or slot machine and say that today is just not our day?<\/p>\n
Our hero is noble in that he takes the risks but his shortcomings arise from a desperado type belief that self reliance is the definining principle that is to be valued above all else.\u00c2\u00a0 No man is an island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How to begin discussing a class when the first assignment involves reading about a glass phallic symbol that at one point breaks off while functioning??? I must say, it is a somewhat disturbing yet utterly intriguing beginning. In discussing some of the typical conventions of hard boiled detective novels, I was struck most by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/lepinkprincess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/lepinkprincess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/lepinkprincess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/lepinkprincess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/lepinkprincess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/lepinkprincess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/lepinkprincess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/lepinkprincess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/lepinkprincess\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}