A Picture is worth a Thousand Words

Mr. Crotty showed us a presentation Friday by James Nachteway. In his presentation, Mr. Nachteway shared his photographs from various war/conflicts/issues throughout the world. His pictures were humbling to say the least. It opened my eyes up to the issues that  the world has faced over the last 30-40 years and has given me a more realistic sense of what these issues due to people and how they can divide a community that was at one time very unified.

This may be a long shot, but we discussed Ode on a Grecian Urn in English recently and it somewhat relates to the point Nachteway makes about how photography reveals the truth to the general public. In Keat's poem, he discusses how although people may die and be forgotten about, an image lasts forever. Its passion and its ability to provoke thought will be immortal and can never be taken away. This relates to the images Nachteway used in his presentation. Although Nachteway spoke about each picture when it appeared on screen, he almost never gave his own opinion on it, merely a description of what was going on. 

This can be seen in Keat's poem, as he describes the people on the urn, and the people who might have used the urn, but he never concludes anything about them, His last two lines "Beauty is truth, truth beauty--that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know". This conclusion leaves interpretation up to the reader. What does the reader consider beauty to be? How can that be related to truth? In relation to Nachteway's photographs, he provides almost the same conclusion as Keats. He says that photography provides people with the truth about what is going on, but lets them decide their own interpretation of why he took the picture.

Photography or imagery is an interesting outlet for art and interpretation. It is a constant form, one that cannot be altered, one that is always true. Nachteway and Keats draw this conclusion from their own experience and let the viewer decide about what they have provided them with. Although both of them give their description, it is up to the viewer to come up with their own thousand words on something. The possibilities for interpretation in photography are almost endless and both of these men do a good job exposing that point.

Arrogance

Arrogance as defined by WordNet means: overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors. This defining character trait can be seen throughout the Iliad and its ability to seize and control the mind is quite poignant.

In the Iliad, it is quite obvious that Achilles, Agamemnon, and Hector have the greatest arrogance out of all of the major characters. This arrogance is not only a sense that you are better than someone else but that you can never be wrong and to question your ideas or actions would be dangerous. In the case of Achilles, his arrogance has lead him to believe that he has no reason to be fighting against the Trojans. He believes that he is better than Agamemnon and that he will only fight when Agamemnon has admitted he has made a mistake regarding their relationship. Achilles is only rallied to fight and reconcile with Agamemnon when Patroclus is killed by Hector. Only after this happens is Achilles able to put aside his arrogance and quarrels and fight alongside Agamemnon.

In Agamemnon's case, his arrogance is much like Achilles. He believes that he is never wrong and that his decisions should never be questioned. As we stated in class, a great leader should posses qualities such as honesty/charisma/wisdom, and most importantly, the ability to recognize errors. Because of his arrogance, Agamemnon has a hard time recognizing his selfishness in taking Achilles' prize (Chryseis). His inability to even compromise with Achilles shows a lack of honesty and more importantly, wisdom. How can Agamemnon believe that he is the greatest king while still making such crucial mistakes? The answer is arrogance. It seems that, at least in Agamemnon's case, that in order to be a great leader you must NOT have a sense of honesty or directness or even an ability recognize errors. Although I disagree with this claim, it seems quite valid in terms of the Iliad.

Finally, in Hector's case, his sense of arrogance has been growing as of late. Although, it seems, in order to be a great leader, your greatest attribute must be arrogance, Hector has only displayed it recently. More importantly, he has only displayed it with such intensity after he has killed Patroclus. Although I am not trying to say that Hector was arrogant before killing Patroclus, it has been more evident recently. Killing Patroclus instilled in Hector a sense of arrogance that he will never be able to see past. In the fury of battle, Hector's arrogance grows and is displayed most when he takes responsibility for killing Patroclus. He believes that he did the act alone and cannot reconcile with the fact that Apollo and Zeus played a role in Patroclus' death. Much to the dismay of the Trojans, Hector takes the armor of Achilles off of Patroclus' body and does not follow the agreement of allowing the dead their rights. Fortunately, for Achilles, and for the Achaeans, the armor has only one true bearer, and it eventually turns against Hector and curses him, as if it has a life of its own.

In all three cases, it is important to note arrogance as a defining character trait. Arrogance is the worst trait to posses, and the three most important characters posses a copious amount of it.