Does the End justify the means?

“If it aught toward the general good, Set honor in one eye and death i’ th’ other, And I will look on both indifferently” (Julius Caesar; Act1 scene2 lines84~86). In the play Julius Caesar, written by William Shakespeare, is a story of tragedy where most of the characters meet a tragic end of death because of his ambition to become king. Julius Caesar, the first one to encounter a necessary end of death, is brutally killed by the conspirators that were being led by Brutus. Brutus easily swayed by Cassius that Caesar is a power consuming tyrant; he soon makes up his mind that the conspiracy is supporting Rome to develop further, and eagerly takes part on planning Caesar’s murder. However, the reason why Brutus chose to stand against Caesar was mainly due to his love for Rome and his trust for his honor. In this play, Brutus, is a true Roman patriot and is very honorable but these main motivators of Brutus leads him into his tragic flaw as it clouded his judgments and turned him into a narrow minded decision maker.

During the play, Brutus begins to show and express his love for Rome as he takes up the lead among the conspirators. Believing the fact that Rome needs Caesar gone, Brutus feels more and more patriotism towards Rome. Due to his motivator of patriotism, he feels more importance that Rome has to be kept as a republic since it is a fair way to live in a community. Also whenever he does something he always finds a good reason to make sure of himself that whatever he is doing, it is for the sake of Rome. However, this leads into Brutus tragic death as he realizes that the civil war will only end if he dies and soon he takes away his life. In the play, when Brutus had to face the Roman citizens to explain his cause on why he killed Caesar, he states that Caesar was ambitious and that this act was needed to elevate Rome from its ashes. “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more”(Julius Caesar; Act3 scene2 lines 20~21). This quote shows Brutus’s love towards Rome and his support that he had no personal cause to spurn at him but he was a threat to the Roman Republic and that the act of stabbing Caesar was from Brutus’s patriotism. This quotation shows Brutus’s loyalty for Rome and furthermore, reflects that Brutus was a direct person who did not act for personal reasons and that he has done a deed to help Rome elevate towards the heavens. Brutus’s love for Rome is also a fact on why he feels that everybody should love their own country and that Romans are true citizens who are polite and honorable. During Brutus’ funeral speech he also states that as a Roman, killing Caesar was a noble, polite and honorable deed. “Who here is so rude, that would not be a Roman?....Who here is so vile, that will not love his country?”(Julius Caesar; Act3 scene2 lines 28~30). Here, Brutus meant that a Roman citizen who does not feel love for his country is a vile and rude person and emphasizes his patriotism. This quotation gives support of Brutus’s point of view that a person’s love for his country is very important and furthermore, any Roman who does not feel love towards Rome is not considered Roman since he/she does not recognize the importance of having citizenship for their country. Also he states that anyone who supports Caesar is a disgrace to Roman citizens but also a person who does not love his country. Through Brutus’s speech, Brutus emphasizes his love for Rome as he defends himself that the act of killing Caesar was an honorable deed to help Rome heal itself and to develop further. However for Brutus, killing Caesar was not only out of patriotism but it was an act of honor and nobility.

As the play continues, Brutus also portrays one of his motivators; honor. Brutus, because he is a Roman who will do anything to do for honor, he is a very well respected aristocrat in Rome. Also, since he has power and always being proud on himself many Roman senators view him as an upright, reputable and a decent nobleman. However, due to his reputation, Brutus believes that he is the most honorable person in Rome and starts to take lowly of the people around him. “Believe me for mine honor, and have respect to mine honor, that you may believe. Censure me in your wisdom, and wake your senses, that you may be the better judge.” (Julius Caesar; Act3 scene2 lines 14~17). Here, Brutus is asking the plebeians for their attention. This quotation signifies Brutus lowly thinking of the plebeians because since he is so honorable, he thinks that he himself is very superior compared to the plebeians and feels the need to speak in pro since he believes that low class citizens are not wise enough to comprehend speeches spoken in verse. Brutus thinks that the plebeians are so disorganized in a way that he has to unify them by asking for their attention as if an adult is asking a child to focus on something. Through this he shows how is honor can simply underestimate people. But for Brutus, he not only thinks lowly of commoners, but he does misjudge and downgrades Antony, one of Caesar’s major supporters who was once Caesar’s third arm. The reason why Brutus was able to raise his nose high enough even to be wrong about Roman nobles, is mainly caused because he digests in all the flattery said by other people and soon turns out to become a narrow minded decision maker who does not think about consequences and only concentrates on his reputation as an honorable Roman. Before Caesar’s death when the conspirators begin to plan out the act, Cassius comes up with a suggestion that Antony, one of Caesar’s major supporters, has to be killed along with Caesar because he strongly utters that it not, there is a high possibility that Antony can always break out a war of revenge. “And for Mark Antony, think not of him; for he can do no more than Caesar’s arm when Cesar’s head is off” (Julius Caesar; Act2 scene1 lines 180~182). Furthermore, he defends that killing Antony will seem like as if they had planned to kill Caesar for personal reasons. This quotation means that Brutus is underestimating Antony as a party boy that he is nothing but a useless arm of Caesar who has no power to do anything when Caesar is dead. Brutus, a character who is so into honor, does not give much thought to other’s ideas whenever it is put on the discussion table. Yet, Brutus is an honorable person who does anything for the sake of his honor and this has clouded his judgments and caused him to only concentrate on his reputation. Eventually this was one of Brutus’s greatest mistakes because as soon as the conspirators kill Caesar, Antony brings fierce civil war into Rome with Octavian, a nephew of Julius Caesar.

Brutus, who decides to stand against Caesar, has made his choice through his love for Rome and for his honor. However, these main motivators and Brutus leads him towards his tragic flaw of death. Brutus’s patriotism caused him to join the conspiracy and take away his own life, however on the opposite end, his honor, caused him to underestimate people and think highly of himself. Brutus was noble but he partially achieves his goal to save Rome from its ashes. He believed that joining the conspiracy was a deed for the sake of Rome since he strongly agreed that Rome doesn’t need a king. Here, Brutus failed to recognize his goal as a Roman patriot because never asked the Roman citizens, the true supporter of Rome on whether they would want a king to rule them or not. But nonetheless, Brutus achieved his goal at the end of the story when he realizes that killing Caesar has truly suffocated Rome and that the civil war needed to be stopped in order to heal back to it’s normal state. Knowing that the war will stop if the leader of the conspirators, technically Brutus, is dead the civil war will end with the victory of Caesar’s avengers. Even though his army will lose the war when he dies, Brutus took his life away by himself because all the wanted was Rome to heal and recover from the mess that was made. In the end, the goal of killing Caesar to flourish Rome was not a worthy act. Because the whole point of killing Caesar was to unify Rome away from the hands of a tyrant. But he and the conspirators failed to do so as the events broke out into an all out civil war, and separating Rome into pieces rather than bringing Rome together as one.

Thank God I Fight for Hope

Think Creatively!

In my collage, I think that the use of the rotten rose and he full bloom rose was very creative of me. I used the concept of hopeless, devastating as rotten, and joy, hope and activeness arranged with the fresh. It was also creative to show the contrast between how the Lost Boys felt during migration and how they felt when they saw hope in America.

Also, for the background, I decided to tear the green and red paper. I feel that this was unique because I purposely did this to symbolize that the feelings of hope and despair isn’t always clean and simple. I tried to show that people’s feelings can very and change according to different situations by randomly tearing apart the paper rather than gluing it neatly on the board.

Reason Critically!

I used the images to represent my understanding of the Lost Boy’s situation and one of the images that I used was the torn family photo with a blood drop on it. I think that this has a deep symbolism summarizing how the Lost Boy’s felt during the war. I wanted to highlight the fact that many of the Lost Boys had been torn away from their families by death and violence, which I decided to paste it on the hopeless side of the collage.

Communicate Effectively!

I think that this collage creates awareness for the Lost Boys’ plight towards the audience. This collage emphasizes the lost boys’ devastating past to the bright future which they are fighting for and the shocking images of genocide in Sudan attacks the audience to be aware that there was blood shed, while the pictures of hope and joy portrays the Boys’ effort to life a better life and help their families.

Live Ethically!

I think that this collage demonstrates empathy and might evoke an emotional response from my viewers. By gluing breathtaking and violent pictures of war and contrasting it with the positive images shows gives the audience a sense that through the bloody days, many Lost Boys are enduring the hard times with tolerance that there is a better world somewhere out and beyond. Also, I used the hand stretching out for help to grab the attention of the audience so that the first emotion that they feel is empathy and the urge to assist the helping hand. Through this collage, I wanted to project my voice towards the audience that there are boys who’ve been through war and now, they are in need of help.

Sudan...Home

Due to the Sudanese civil war, thousands of people lost their lives while millions of people where displaced. Among the displaced Sudanese victims, many of them where sent to refugee camps.
The documentary, “Lost Boys of Sudan” explains the story of two Dinka boys who experienced forced migration because of the Sudanese civil war that raged for over 20 years. While the Dinka boys were tending their responsibilities in the pastures, their village was perished and family members were killed or violently taken as captives. Boys nearby the village during the attack ran away to avoid the strike. The boys spent years walking while dodging bullets, escaping wild animals, and fighting against hunger and insanity before they found safety at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. As time passed, these boys were guaranteed a better life in America where they would be able to gain education and make money support their families back in Sudan. However, when they settled down in America they realized and found that all that they have been told isn’t true.
Peter, one of the Lost Boys followed in this documentary, was sent to America with no family so that he could start a new life in the States. Peter believed that his reason to go to America was to work and gain an education so that later, he would be able to support his family back in Sudan. Once he settled in Houston, he shared an apartment with an apartment with few other Sudanese refugees. But not long after Peter arrived at Houston, he left Texas and went to Kansas because he felt that he was not achieving what he was sent to the States for. In Houston, he couldn’t make enough money to pay for the rents and he couldn’t receive education. However, in Kansas he could get a birth certificate that will help him get into high school.
When Peter applied for school, he had many cultural difficulties that he had to experience while blending into the American culture. Racism, financial problems and they’re different ways to express emotions. Many people often accused Peter for being black. For example, Peter’s boss at WallMart told him to work outside as she defended her ideas that black people were made to work in to sun and that Africans can easily work in the sun; which forced Peter and other black workers to work outdoors, in the heat. During his life in Kansas, he had to send money back to Sudan, to go school, manage the school work, do his job and pay his rents all by himself. This was a lot of pressure on a young man who has no one to lean on to for support. Peter also found adjusting to the American culture hard because he was unsure how things work. As he went to school, he liked a girl but didn’t know what to do and caught a bird for her, which was a way to express his affections in Sudan but the girl was left confused about why Peter caught a bird for her. Compared to Santino, Peter goes through more hard times so make himself blend into the American culture. This is because Santino prefers to live among the Sudanese refugees and tends to hang around with people from his culture. However Peter, he tries his best to adjust himself into this new habitat. Peter goes to church, a type of community gathering and always kept himself open-minded; making it easier for him to hang out with school friends from various different countries. He also participates in ceremonies although it isn’t easy for him to actively take part.