- Apr 2023
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web.stanford.edu web.stanford.edu
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when he had won a little (to win a lot was unpleasant)
He wants to still work for it; winning too often was found to be too unpleasent
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ne had to know how to exclude all thatwas raw, vital-which always disrupts the regular flow of official business; one had to allow no relations with people apart from official ones,and the cause of the relations must be only official and the relationsthemselves only official
The front that we put on to perform our tasks; seperating the corporate and the personal
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there was just one room lacking, and ontheir new means, which, as always, were lacking just a litt
Connect: "The Shortness of Life," even when we reach our goals, we are still unhappy because human life is not without conflict
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Essentially, though, it was the same as with all people who are notexactly ric4,but who want to resemble the rich, and for that reason onlyresemble each other
Still conforming to what is expected
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Praskovya Fyodorovna.listened to all this and pretended to believe it
She is still playing a "role" in supporting him, and continues to do so even after his death
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t washighly favorable for Ivan Ilyic
he tends to fall into favorable situations based on who he knows, rather than his individual skill set
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others saw as a perfectly ordinary matter
He fell out of relevence; of which society cycles who it favors in and out ceacelessly. Yet, to him it is an injustice personally.
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So that generally the life of Ivan Ilyich continued to go as he thought it should go:pleasantly and decently
Yet, in "protecting his peace" he left his family by the wayside. To what would they think of his absorption in work?
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This estrangement might have upsetIvan Ilyich, if he had considered that it ought not to be so, but by now hetook this situation not only as normal, but as the goal of his activity in thefamily.
He became accustomed to it; it became his normal, and as such he did not really put into perspective how debelitating a toll it was taking on him
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that decency ofexternal forms which was defined by public opinion
He did what was expected of him, and others think he is decent for surmounting this life goal
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As his wife became more irritable and demanding
This story paints her in a very negative light. I still think this is an instance of unreliable narration; perhaps if told from her perspective, she would not think so kindly of her husband trying to simply "protect his peace," instead of valuing their family or helping care for children.
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van Ilyich becameterrified
Something that threatened his priveleged and narrow way of life, something he could not intellegently talk his way through
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His wife, without any cause, as it seemed to Ivan Ilyich, de gaieti de, coeur� *
I wonder if the way he describes this is due to him being an unreliable narrator, or that the wife truly was behaving unfavorably. Based on prior description of his ultimately privileged life, the former seems more likely.
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he did something pleasant for himself in acquiring such awife, and at the same time he did what highly placed people consideredright
He still took into consideration societal expectations, though, even in an integral decesion to the rest of his life
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behaved in a new way,and adopted a somewhat different tone.
We often adapt to what is expected of us, fit our personalities to suit the expectations of those around us
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Ivan Ilyich never misused this power of his; on the contrary, he tried tosoften its expression; but for him the consciousness of this power and the�ossibility of softening it constituted the main interest and attraction ofhis new work.
Just having raw power was enough to satisfy and intrigue him
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van Ilyich was offered a post as examining magistrate, and I vanIlyich accepted it, though this post was in another province and he had toabandon the relations he had established and establish new ones.
It's interesting they choose to use his name so many times instead of including variety with pronouns or descriptors.
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always good-natured, decent, and bon�nfont,
His demeanor contributed and shaped his popularity
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espice finem�
Death foreshadowing?
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subsequently, seeing that such acts werealso committed by highly placed people and were not considered bad, he,without really thinking them good, forgot all about them and was nottroubled in the least by the memory of them.
Allowed himself to do unvirtuous acts once those around him did the same.
I wonder what it is he did that he considered "bad"
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establishing friendly relations with them.
Does not necessarily have to be good at the task, but is good at networking.
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In law school he was already what he would be throughout hislater life: a c�pable man, cheerfully good-natured and gregarious, butstrict in fulfilling what he considered his duty; and he considered his dutyall that was so considered by highly placed people
What he was known as (still being described as a mcguffin)
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hough it becomes clear that they are unfit to performany sort of substantial duties,still,because of their long past service andrank,they cannot be dismissed,and,therefore they receive invented,fictitious posts and non-fictitious thousands,from six to ten,on which they. live to a ripe old age
ok nepotism 🤩
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ust to say something.
again, performative social behavior
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His eyeswere tearful and such as are found in impure boys of thirteen or fourteen
Wording; Impure. They do not yet know how to perform.
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or decency's sake,having scolded our government for its stingines
still performing
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.She made it seem that she was asking Pyotr I vanovich'sadvice about a pension; but he saw that she already knew in the minutestdetail things that he did not know,such as all that could be squeezed outof the treasury on the occasion of this d�ath; but that she would like tofind out whether it was not possible somehow to squeeze out more.
She presented it like she required advice, but in reality, she already knew what she must do. She is still performing a greiving wife rather than experiencing it.
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s if death was an occurrence' proper only to IvanIlyich,but not at all to him
Connects again to the shortness of life; how we all push away death as if it is not possible to happen to us
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I find it false to claim that grief prevents me from concerningmyself wilh practical matters. On the contrary,if anything can,not comfort ...but distract me,it is my troubles over him."
CONNECT:
"Requiem," Dear Evan Hansen
Talks about the complexities of mourning
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and he felt afraid for himsel
CONNECT:
"The Shortness of Life," Seneca; we don't realize how short our lives are/how close to death we are until something reminds us/puts it into perspective
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despite theunpleasant awareness of his own and this woman's falsit
their false demeanors suggest that they currently are performing what society expects of them for mourning, not actually mourning
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noticing that the table was threatened with �sh
I like the wording a lot
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(generally the whole drawing room was filled withknickknacks and furniture)
This parenthetical seems oddly out of place?
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snap.
The whole timing of this prior section is genius! Very funnily timed!
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expecting some action from him that would correspond to those words
We often act according to the expectation of us rather than by our own inclination (ex: them saying they "have" to go to the funeral instead of just going)
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this incident could prevent us from spending thatevening pleasantl
They speak of it interestingly; instead of addressing it as someone passing, they act as if it was simply an inconvenient and largely insignificant incident that happened earlier in the day.
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he incident of the funeral service for IvanIlyich
Ilyich still remains a mcguffin character, alluded to rather than actually shown
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is face was morehandsome, and above all more significant, than it had been in.the livingman.
people often do not see significance until something is gone
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peculiar heavines
rigor mortis
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"IvanIlyich made a botch of it; we'l1 do better,you andI.
CONNECT: Mcguffin Characters— characters that are not actually fleshed out by the story, merely alluded to, allowing the audience to project.
Example: Rachel Amber Life is Strange https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmNv3i7iPWE (37:00)
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Apart from the reflections this death called up in each of them aboutthe transfers and possible changes at work that might result from it, thevery fact of the death of a close acquairitance. called up in all those whoheard of it, as always,a feeling of joy that it was he who was dead andnot!."You see, he's dead,andI'm not," each of them thought or felt.
Not actually mourning for Ilyich himself; but instead only seeing how it will affect them
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considered himself as under obligation to him
Does not feel inclined to go otherwise? why must obligation be what inclines him to go to the funeral, not actual mourning?
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But what exactly did he have?
The first question/discussion about the death itself is delayed, in lieu of talking about what the death means
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the first thought of each of thegentlemen assembled in the office was of what this death might mean interms of transfers or promotions of the members themselves or of theiracquaintances.
first thought is how the death will impact them (and their places of power)
Connect: Deresiewicz— focusing not on one's critical thought or wisdom, but their function in society
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via3.hypothes.is via3.hypothes.is
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o defend them or just acknowledge having them, he began tobreak them down, to expose them
He helped to strengthen and allow them to truly understand their opinions.
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he echoed your opinions back to you or fCJrced you toarticulate them for y~t1rs~lf.
When you must articulate your thoughts, it helps you better understand them. To explain something, rather than feel it, necessitates a fuller understanding.
Connect (weak): Teaching something helps you remember things
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doxa by teaching us to recognize it, to question it,and to think our way around it.
It teaches us to look and think farther into things; to question what we experience, rather than just experience it
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Society is a conspiracy to keep itself from the truth. We pass ourlives ;llb~e~g~d in propaganda: advertising messages; politicalrhetoric; the journalistic affirmation of the status quo; the platitudesof popular culture; the axioms of party, sect, and class; the bromideswe exchange every day on Facebook; the comforting lies our parentstell us and the sociable ones our friends do; the steady stream offalsehoods that we each tell ourselves all the time,. to stave off thethreat of self-knowledge.
It is difficult to fully access the truth, as nowadays there is much in the way of allowing a veritable explanation
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It was that their minds were like achemical bath of conventional attitudes that would instantly precip-itate out of solution and coat whatever object you introduced. (I'vealso noticed the phenomenon is not confined to eighteen-year-olds.)
Our minds automatically try to make sense of it and apply it to our conventions/predispositions
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Your soul, in the words of Allan Bloom, is a mirror of what is aroundyou.
This is made even more interesting by the varying of origins students come from. People come from all over the world/country to different institutions
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t means developingthe habit of skepticism and the capacity to put it into practice. Ii''means learning not to take things for granted, so you can reach your ·own conclusions
Yes! College teaches you to critically think, and to look beyond the surface. It is not all just about getting a degree and acing your classes, but also to truly learn how to be an adult. As a transition phase between childhood and adulthood, it plays an important role in facilitating the mental transition.
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negotiable skills is attempting to· reduce you to a productive employee at work, a gullible consumer inthe market, and a docile subject of the state
Yes! It is valuing one only by their "function" in society
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You need to get a job, but you also need to get a life. What's thereturn on investment of college? What's the return on investmentof having children, spending time with friends, listening to music,reading a book? The things that are most worth doing are worth•'doing for their own sak~.
Things are valuable for their own sake
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By 2011, the numbers were almost reversed, 47 percent and 80percent, respectively
Because of the way conditions are nowadays (housing market, etc), becoming more financially independent is starting to be valued above actual job satisfaction
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''What are yougoing to do with that?" the inevitable sneering question goes.
Yes! Always. I still do not know, but I am passionate about it and am going to study it anyway.
CONNECT: Winston Churchill "what are we fighting for"
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means the most employable, not the most interesting.
Very true! Or the top ten most lucrative.
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the na"ivete of wanting tolearn things just because you're curious about them.
CONNECT: Many have asked me what I plan to do with my major. I truly have not figured it out yet. I simply chose my areas of study because I found them most interesting, and I wanted to improve my skills. I was curious about them, which is why they are now my primary areas of study.
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more than theacquisition of marketable skills, and you are more than your abilityto contribute to your employer's bottom line or the nation's GDP, nomatter what the rhetoric of politicians or executives .would have youthink.
CONNECT: Vi not pursuing art because it is not as lucrative/sure as psycology
Yes! I feel as if the systematic pressure of capitalism are what stresses one to feel they must just lean into what's more lucrative or marketable.
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The question is, are they the only thingsthat matter? Life is more than a job; jobs are more than a paycheck;and a country is more than its wealth.
This is very true. Yet we must still keep these things in mind; it is dangerous to not consider long-term financial ramifications in mind for important decisions. Yet, it still does not need to be the sole purpose we pursue education.
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more money.
A means of which we measure success/ applicable to everyone as well
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Is it just about earning more money? Is theonly purpose of an education to enable you to get a job? What, inshort, is college for?
For me it is about stability. I would want college to set me up for as stable a life path as possible, so my investment— that of which being financial— can yield successful results, that much being a stable and consistent carrear path.
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