HW#2 Siddhartha

“The Father touched Siddhartha's shoulder.

"You will," he spoke, "go into the forest and be a Samana. When you'll have found blissfulness in the forest, then come back and teach me to be blissful. If you'll find disappointment, then return and let us once again make offerings to the gods together. Go now and kiss your mother, tell her where you are going to. But for me it is time to go to the river and to perform the first ablution." “

This passage shows a father’s support for his son’s wishes even if he doesn’t agree completely with them. Siddahartha’s father would have rather have his son stay with him but he noticed his son wanted something else and wanted to leave in search of enlightenment. The father knew his son wouldn’t leave without his permission so he could have prevented it but he wants his son to be happy and if he forced him to stay Siddahartha wouldn’t be happy.

I chose this passage because it reminds me of my father. My father always tries to give me advice on things but at the end of the day he lets me decide. He does this as a way of letting me go through things on my own and hoping that I will learn from my mistakes.  

1. Why does Siddahartha leave his father?

 Siddahartha lefts his father to joing the ascetics; he wanted to become a Samana. Even though he was loved by everyone and viewed as the perfect son Siddhartha wasn’t happy with himself, he felt limited with his father and craved higher learning.

3.  If Siddhartha never lived with Kamala and the people in the city would he have reached Enlightenment faster?

I don’t think so. One of the messages in this story is experience; and going through different types of experiences help people realize what’s important and what’s not. In his time living with Kamala he picked up bad habits such as drinking and gambling. These tough times played a huge role in helping him reach Enlightenment faster.

4. What is the significance of the river?

 I believe the river signifies change, a new chapter in Siddahartha’s life. Siddahartha passes by the river when he leaves being a samama and also when he stops being a materialist.

8.  Who is Vasudeva?

Vasudeva is the ferryman who helps and gives Siddhartha this new knowledge and point of view of things.

10.  Why does Siddahartha decide not to follow Buddha?

Siddahartha decides not to follow Buddha because after his long journey and all the experiences he went through he finally reaches enlightenment and decides to go into “oneness”.

Dada HW#1

“I don't want words that other people have invented. All the words are other people's inventions. I want my own stuff, my own rhythm, and vowels and consonants too, matching the rhythm and all my own.”

-Hugo Ball

While reading “Dada Manifesto” I really had no idea what the guy was saying, nothing was really making sense to me. Dada isn’t supposed to really make sense, a word with no meaning. That’s exactly what this reading was to me until this quote. The author is saying that he wants to create things that are his own and make sense to him. Others may not have a clue of what he’s saying or doing but it will all make sense to him because it is his creation. That’s the beauty of the dada movement, it really has no limits as you can do whatever you please, it may make no sense to many but as long as you know what it means its fine. I agree with this quote and everything made sense to me after reading it. This quote made me look at things from the author’s point of view and it helped me understand where he was coming from.

John Heartfield

John Heartfield (June 19, 1891 – April 26 1968) was a photomontage artist who used his work to criticize the nationalism and the anti-British sentiment prevalent in Germany during World War I.

Heartfield played a huge role in the Dada movement, as in 1918 he joined the Berlin dada group and the communist party of Germany. He was very active in the Dada movement as he organized the first international Dada fair in Berlin in 1920. Heartfield used photomontage as a form of political and artistic expression of protest, working for two communist publications; the daily Die Rote Fahne and the weekly Arbeiter-illustrierte-Zeitung who published Heartfield’s best work.

 

Police Commissioner Zorgiebel (1929) - This piece shows Heartfield cutting the throat of Police Commissioner Zorgiebel who was a supporter of the Nazi Party. This work very clearly illustrates Heartfield’s feelings towards Zorgiebel; as he disliked him and what he stood for. This artwork looks like a picture of the two was cut out and put together. 

 

As in the Middle Ages...So in the Third Reich (1934) – What I took from this piece was Heartfield taking a piece of art of a human laying what seems to be dead on a wheel and replaced the wheel with the swastika as a way of showing all the lives that Hitler and his army were taking. By the title of the art piece it shows that Heartfield is showing just like people were being killed in the middle ages they were being killed during Hitler’s reign.  

Adolf the Superman: Swallows Gold and Spouts Junk (1932) – This was my favorite piece of all. In this piece you see Hitler roaring as this intimidating figure but when you look at his stomach area it shows an x-ray and you see gold. This picture is making fun of Hitler saying that he is nothing special that he is really being backed up and sponsored by the rich industrialist who didn’t want Germany voting for a communist party. I see this picture as something that would be on a poster, Heartfield probably got that face of Hitler from a previously taken picture and added the x-ray gold-filled stomach to it.

 

Intro

My name is Hector Hidalgo. I am a Junior at Lehman College majoring in Business Administration with a focus in Business law. I'm taking this class to fulfill the LEH course requirements but I am interested in learning new things. I wish all a great semester.