Just to get the ball rolling….I’ll ask the same question here I asked in class.
Are you/Are you not....the stuff that you own? Are you/Are you not....the people in your life? Are you/Are you not....the things that you do? Are you/Are you not....the choices that you make?
All in all I think that from my point of view that everyone is all of these things. Mostly mentally though. we are strongly mentally influenced by our own abilities to complete tasks for both ourselves and others. As such we are influenced by what we own due to the limitations and restrictions they place on what we capable of actually completing. We are also the people in our life because of the huge influence they place on the way we carry out tasks and subsequently why we carry out tasks. our competency and willingness to complete the tasks for people defines who we are both in our own eyes and the eyes of others. And of course all of these things are the choices we make and the things we do. they are all tied together in a big ol' bundle.
‘No mans an island’, John Donne is saying that no one can be exactly like an island. John says this because if a man was an island they would not be connected to anyone in any way. But not be connected to anyone is not really possible. A man is always connected to other people whether they like it or not. A way that a man can be connected to other people is by their religion. A man is connected to other people by their religion because people with the same religion will be connected because of their same beliefs and culture. I agree with Johns idea that no one can be a island because for a person to become an island would mean they would have to be completely isolated from others physically and mentally. I think that becoming absolutely isolated from others is extremely hard and maybe even impossible. Everyone is connectedby something. Whether it is religion, beliefs, thoughts, relationships (family and friends), and daily encounters ( buying food, paying bills and mail ) . So in order for a man to become an island they would have to disconnect themself from all of that which is probably not evn possible.
I believe the phrase “No man is an island” reflects on the person. A lot of the time in modern day society, we find ourselves coming across people with all different traits. Yet some people are willing to take part in society, whereas others personally like to keep to themselves. However having said this, it is with no doubt that yes, everyone is part of society, and being alone (an island) in this case is not an option. Whether we like it or not, our daily encounters involve association with people, whether it be at the supermarket, at work or on the phone.
I believe that someone can be an ‘island’ to a certain extent, yet to be completely alone is not at all an option, and is definitely impossible. There is no such thing as being completely alone, as living in modern day society, everything relates back to people, as it is people who run the world that we live in.
Interesting point Sam, I have to say that I would agree with you on that. Human beings necessarily depend on one another, as in you can't manage everything all by yourself; no man is an island. This expression is a quotation by John Donne. "No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main." I believe that what John Donne is trying to convey to everyone is that no matter what, we are connected to people all around us somehow, whether that may be going to your hairdresser, local supermarket doctors etc. we are involved in other people’s lives in some way. It is impossible to be an island as we generally have to deal with people in our everyday lives. The only way we could possibly be an island is by living on an island, deserted, and completely away from human life. I doubt we would be able to survive.
Therefore we are the stuff that we own, the people in our lives, the things that we do and the choices that we make, because without them we would be nobody as these factors make us who we are.
Dessy I agree that we are we are the stuff that we own, the people in our lives, the things that we do and the choices that we make, make up who we are. With out these things we would have no interests, hobbies, friends nothing we would literally be a body and mind with nothing inside.
John Donne (21 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, preacher and a major representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. He was in poverty for several years of his life depending on rich friends. The poem no man is an island really means that no one is completely independent from the rest of the world and entirely disconnected from every other human being. Some people are better at removing themselves from everything but no matter what you do you are connected to something, whether it be family, friends, a pet, even strangers that you encounter every day. I think the fact that John Donne the person who wrote this had to rely on wealthy friends during his years of poverty shows that no one is capable of being completely unattached. Every person is different and individual but we are all connected in some way.
Angelique damn your response is awesome, yeah you make some really interesting points. i agree that no man is an island. i do not believe can live completley in solitary and completely be blocked out from the rest of the world.
I believe that you can try to live as an island but no matter what you do you will always have connections with the people around you. No matter how isolated you are from people you will always have bonds with something.
No man is an island? What are we really talking about here? Is it referring to as much as one may want to be on their own island their stuck surrounded constantly invaded by others on a daily basis? Or no man should or want to be an island without the people in our lives what are we left with? These questions cut right down to a person’s soul I don’t think there much more to a person than what they are when everything is removed being on an “island” but as we can’t all just survive on our own little island somewhere in the Pacific we have to open up and be part of the community and face the influences. We are not islands we are all connected in some way or another. This is what has developed and change our culture and society into what it is today. We are connected whether we want to be or not you will always have some form of interaction with others.
Brie, I agree with your statements. No one can just survive on their own little island, everyone has to interact with one another and face the fact that no one can possibly be their own island. I aslo agree that everyone is connected, even if we don't want to be.
Personally, I beleive the poem "No man is an island" by John Donne, explores the theme and idea of a man being his own island; and is it possible. However people within society can't just be their own island, live in their own little world without the influences of other people. No matter how hard we sometimes try to disconnect ourselves from people, we can never be fully disconnected. Even if people were to literally go live by themselves on a deserted island, they would still have connections with others - mentally. The mind is very powerful, and it is safe to say that it is impossible to disconnect yourself from society in every way. No matter how isolated you feel/are, you can never just exist on your own, you need others. There for, "No man is an island."
Nice response Nicola.. I totally agree with you that no man can become absolutely isolated from other people. Iagree with you that people will always be connected to other people mentally. No matter how much amna will try to separate themself from the other world they will always be connected to others mentally.
John Donne 'No man is an island' He is merely saying not all men are equal, some of them are so evil to the rest that they should not be part of humanity. If we define 'man' to be someone who deserves to be part of humanity in which every man, connected to one another, promotes the welfare of mankind as a whole. Man shall not live by himself, but by the wisdom he acquires over time from his strengths and failures in the the environment he lives. Though each one is an individual like island all are part of the whole. Loss of one is a little loss of strength of the whole indeed.
great thoughts here Ally i really enjoyed the angle you take here. What should be done with those so evil they don't belong in humanity? and what makes one be so evil?
ohh ally taking a different veiw. I agree with all of the above statements, 'No man is an island' is a very true statement, especially if we are talking about modern day society, where if we weren't connected to anyone or anything we would simply die because as Dessy said above we are connected to complete strangers even in the simplest of ways, they could be your employers, the person you pay rent to, or the person behind the counter at the supermarket. Although it is impossible to physically be isolated, a person may feel emotionally as an island because they may have no close relationships with other people which leaves them feeling lonely and isolated. Therefore i believe it is impossible to be physically an island but possible to be emotional an island .
I agree with John Donne about no man being an island because an island literally is a piece of land that has slowly disconnected from a mainland, but a person can always go back at some point in their life, they can’t really permanently separate themselves from everything. A quote from his poem, “Entire in itself.” could mean that no man is completely self sufficient, they still depend on others no matter how advanced technology is becoming. No man is entire in themselves, there are many other factors that make up a person for example, the choices they make, the things that they do, the people in their life and the stuff that they own. These things all influence each other but singly do not make up someone, only add to them. But I also see Will’s point, from ‘About a Boy’ that now is the time to be an island as it is a lot easier to be an island in today’s society compared to, say a couple of hundred years ago when everyone depended on each other to survive. But now because of modern day technology people do not have to depend on each other quite as much.
Some fantastic thoughts are coming out of these discussions. I'm really proud of everyone who has written something already, and you have all shown a depth of thought and insight into the poem that demonstrates a real maturity. Thank you for your reflections and your willingnes to engage in the blog. Its really nice to see so many of you building off each others ideas and developing them further. I only hope this activity is helping everyone develop their own interpretation of the context, for it is truely something we all experience and yet can over so many personal variations of opinion. I'm going to pose one question that perhaps hasn't been explored yet. In the poem Donne says "Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind." What do you think this means?
In regards to your proposed statement Miss Minn, "Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind" means basically what it says. As discussed earlier, no man is an island, and whether they'd like to be, is not a possibility. However "each man's death diminishes me" states that as we're all part of society, and interconnected in some way, be it evident or not, the death of one of our fellow humans, is of course a loss in some case. A lot of the time, not everyone is directly touched by the death of others, as the relationships that are held between certain people vary throughout society, however in spite of that, a loss for one, is a loss for all. As one person dies, there is a little loss somewhere in everyone else... "For I am involved in mankind" conveys that no one can choose whether or not they're involved in mankind, it's just a way of life, as is death. So in summary, the statement says that the death of one person, directly or indirectly hurts all people of society, because at the end of the day, we've lost one of our own...
I believe that “No man is an island” is true because if we were a true island, we would be nothing and we would be nothing. We have been able to grow and develop societies because we have grouped together and have communicated with each other to grow in society and move forward. I disagree with Will’s idea that know is the perfect time to be an island because of technology simply because if he was a “true” island he would have to make all of his possessions himself. He even says that he needs to go to the mainland to collect supplies. Which means although he wants to be an island, he never truly will be one. But would we even be a man if we were an island. No one will know us, there would be no memories of us in society. Would we even exist if we weren’t connected to any one? Our identity defines who we are, it is how others perceive us, and without people in our lives, we are nothing. Our actions and our possessions become irrelevant, as no one will see them. Truly we cannot be an island, as we would not exist.
I completely agree you Sam. I agree that everyone in society is connected so that we would feel the pain of someone passing, whether we knew them or not. But I also think that everyone has a part to play in society, for example the jobs we have or the activities we do contribute to all of the society. Should one man die, he can no longer contribute to society as a whole and therefore all of the community suffers.
Sam, I also agree with what you said about everybody being connected, and how each death is a loss to everyone in society in some way. I think that you make a very valid point about everyone being involved in mankind as it isn’t something that can be chosen, your connected whether you like it or not. No matter how much someone wants to be an island or thinks they are one, they are still connected to the ‘mainland’ one way or another. And that being involved in mankind means that everyone is going to be affected by one’s death in some way.
Sam, you make some really good points there. I was reading through some of the other classes comments, and lots of people disagree with this line of the poem, saying that they don't feel that they are connected to people on the other side of the world that they have never met before, but I think that your interpretation of this line sums it all up :) John Donne's poem uses a very interesting metaphor of a man being an island (or not, in this case.) The poem holds a lot of truth for everyone; we are all interconnected in some way or another, regardless of whether we want to be or not. The line ‘each is a piece of the continent, a part of the main’ is reinforcing the fact that each and every person contributes to their society and that no-one’s actions affect only themselves. It is impossible to completely disconnect yourself from everyone and everything around you – they are what make up your identity, and without these things/people there would be nothing left worth living for. In the movie ‘About a Boy’ this theme is explored, with the main reference being to the central character ‘Will’. At the beginning of the movie he seems quite content with his life and happy being an ‘island’, but as the relationship between him and Marcus progresses he starts to realise that his actions have been affecting everyone else around him – “Every man is an island. I stand by that. But clearly some men are island CHAINS. Underneath, they are connected...”
John Donne’s poem ‘No Man Is An Island’ tries to convey the importance of each individual in a community, and how every person, to some degree, depends on others whether they want to or not. I agree with what a lot of people have said about how even though someone can withdraw themselves from society, no matter how hard they may try it isn’t possible for them to cut all ties, and become truly isolated from the rest of society – we can never fully disconnect ourselves from others. I agree with what Genna said about the line ‘entire in itself’ referring to the fact that nobody is completely self sufficient, but I think even though the advancement of technology might lead us to believe that we can be self reliant, that isn’t really so. In ‘About A Boy’ Will is a good example of someone living in a modern society who thinks he doesn’t rely on other people, when actually he does quite a lot. As Justin said, for Will to truly be an island he would need to make all his possessions himself, but instead he relies on others to produce the appliances he uses to be ‘self reliant’ – but it goes it goes further than that. He relies on others to grow and produce the foods he eats, he relies on electricity companies to produce power to run all his appliances, he need mining companies so he can have petrol to fuel his car, he relies on his father for the money he receives in royalties from his father’s song, and I think it’s safe to say he relied on someone else to build his home. While Will thinks he is an ‘island’ and independent, he actually relies on others for all the basic things he needs to get by, such as food, an income and shelter. ‘If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is less.’ I think in this part of the poem Donne is saying everyone is equal. That every man, woman and child whether rich or poor and of any mental or physical capability, all play important parts in their communities. That everyone is significant and everyone is needed. I thought Sam had some good thoughts on the lines Miss Minn mentioned, and I agree with his interpretation of them. The lines “As well as if a promontory were, As well as if a manner of thine own, Or of thine friend’s were” connect and lead in well with the next bit of the poem. I think Donne is trying to convey the importance of each individual, and say that the death of someone, even if you didn’t actually know them can still affect you. We are all part of an interconnected society, and while the loss someone causes the most pain to those who directly knew them, others in the community are then affected, because the pain of those suffering is then passed on and felt by everyone they know.
The short video clip from the movie “Powder” brings forth the idea that “no man is an island” not only means that we are connected to other people, but the idea that everything is connected to everything. For example the connection you have with a pet at home, of the giant tree outside that sits in your backyard that you can sit under in summer. Those things have an influence on are actions, which in turn has an influence on our identity. It also ties in with the last part of the first text “Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind” because if we put instead of man everything it is also true, would you not feel sad if that pet you had lived for so many years died? Or that tree in the backyard was cut down? Which brings up the question, can we really be island if we are connected to everything. Well I agree with Emma that physically there is no way to become an island, but emotionally we can disconnect ourselves. This is seen when Powder is walking through all the people at the start of the clip, physically they can’t disconnect from him, after all they can see him but emotionally they shut him out. So I believe that although we are connected to everything in this world, to an extent we shut out things that we fear or hate, causing us to feel we are an island, although we never fully can be.
I agree with all of the above comments they all link in with the text and show connections between both text responses. The short clip from Powder again shows the unavoidable physical connections between man kind and the surrounding universe. I believe the clip is showing how people disconnect themselves and try and islolate themselves because they are scared of letting people in, islands are scared people. It is shown in the clip that people cover up their true emotions with sarcasm, jokes and other forms of humor in order to keep them mentally isolated from others. In order to connect yourself to others you need to let your guard down and let the other person know your true self this is all part of not becoming an island. In the clip it shows how hard it is for people who look different stand out in a crowd are isolated by others rather than themselves in the clip were he walks through the crowd and everybody stares at him as Justin said above they shut him out and make him feel as though he is an island. This clip is another example of the isolation marcus experiences in about a boy.
“No man is an island” reflects on the individual, as some people are completely at ease with being an island. In today's society humans are developing at an advanced rate and so is technology. Therefore humans no longer have to soley rely on others. Though some choose not to participate or evolve with todays society, and are stuck in ancient ways. When saying this some people are completely contend with not evolving and sticking to the ways they know best. Though being completely alone or being an island is not possible as we can not soley rely on ourselfs . We have to leave our houses, to go about our daily business, like doing shopping or going to work
a person can be an island in the sense that they can isolate themselves but not completely. We have to rely on others to make the world go around.
The text “Powder” conveys the same idea that “no man is an island” and that they’re all part of one another.
When the girls asks “what are people like?” the answer in fact is that no one really knows. All that can be said is that we’re all alike in the same way, because we’re all human.
When the boy states, “inside most people there’s a feeling of being separate, separated from everything – and they’re not” is an extremely accurate statement. We are “part of absolutely everyone, and everything”, maybe even without realising it, and a lot of people can’t accept that fact that we’re all the same at the end of the day, as they don’t want to see “past the spot”. Some like the idea of keeping to themselves and believing that they’re alone, but their “spot” proves different, and whether they like it or not, and whether or not they want to see it, we’re all together as one. We are all part of each other, and all having the same heart beat proves that yes, we are all the same, and we are in actual fact “a part of absolutely everyone and everything”.
Justin I think you’ve made some good points there especially when you link all the examples back to the context, and that fact that escaping things that are part of our life, and things that join us and make us who we are inescapable. I also think that they way you linked this context with the last has had a good effect and binds well with what we’re talking about, as both contexts convey the idea of “no man is an island”.
Emma, I like how you said that it is unavoidable to escape physical connection between mankind and the surrounding universe, and that letting your guard down to let others know your true self is part of not becoming an island. This is true, because if you were to keep your guard up, and not let anyone into your life, then it is assured that you will think you’re alone, and that you’re an island.
“Powder” This clip opens with an obviously different man (Jeremy) walking through a crowd of “normal” people at a carnival who simply stare at him in a judging way, showing the theme of alienation. Jeremy comes to talk to a friend of his and tries to explain the fact that each person is connected to everyone and everything in this world. To me, this seems sort of ironic, as Jeremy had just seemed completely alone a few moments before, yet he is the one who believes that he is connected to everyone and everything in this world. This all connects back to the key theme of ‘no man is an island.’ Jeremy is a perfect example of someone who seems to be isolated just like an island, but as the clip continues we are able to see that he is far from that because he chooses to believe that he is not isolated.
‘Powder’ .. This short video starts off with a crowd off heaps of people who appear to be normal. Then enters Jeremy, a man that doesnt seem to be normal like the people in the crowd. Jeremy approaches a lady who seems to be his friend. He talks to her about the fact no man can eva be an island. This short video shows how people are connected to lots of things. Jeremy in the clip tells the lady that human beings can never be disconnected from the outer world mentally. He is absolutely right when he says that to her. Nobody can ever disconnect themself from people mentally. They may be able to disconnect themself from the outer world physically, but discconecting themself from others mentally can never happen. It is impossible. It is rather strange in the video that a man who seems to isolated from everyone is talking to his friend about the fact that everyone is connected to everyone mentally even through not physically. Jeremy seems to be a complete alien compared to the other normal people in this clip. But he doesnt believe that he is completely isoloated from others because he says that “they’re part of absolutely everyone and everything”.
I totallly agree with your comment Michelle.... Jeremy obviously seems to be a man that looks abnormal compared to all the people in the background. I agree with you about the irony in the fact that Jeremy talks to the lady about the fact that no man can be an island mentally. I agree with you also about the fact that Jeremy is a man who seems completely aleinated from others but believes in the fact that no one can be disconnected from others.
Michelle i agree this clip of powder demonstrates how alienated Jeremy is from the rest of the people at the carnival because of the way he looks. Your thoughts about the irony of Jeremy saying that everybody is connected even though he is an out cast and seems alone are interesting. I think that he is trying to explain how even if you don’t really know a person you are still connected to them in some way.
Justin your response is very interesting as well, the thoughts of the things in our lives influence our actions and identities. I think this is so true everything that happens in our lives shapes who we are and what we will make of ourselves, the people we meet as well also influence our lives greatly.
I think that the way that Jeremy is talking in the clip powder is show how that everybody is connected in someway that no one is completely from everyone else. I think that sometime people try to become islands and disconnect themselves but they will always have connections. Identity is also what makes us what we are, the things that happen in our lives change us for better or worse. The way we look, our names, religion, culture, amount of money etc… all impact on the way people perceive us and if we will be accepted or not. Jeremy’s quote ‘that they are scared and feel disconnected from the rest of the world, but in truth are all connected to everything that exists’. Highlights that people are scared to completely let people in and try to disconnect themselves because they are scared of what might happen. Some people also feel that they are forced to be disconnected because of something different about them. What Jeremy is trying to get to is that everyone is connected no matter what.
The opening of the clip “powder” shows all the carnival people staring at Jeremy. He stands out from the crowd and is clearly the most isolated and different person there. I think it’s interesting when the girl asks Jeremy “what are people like on the inside?” he replies “there’s a feeling of being separate” and then he says “and they’re not. They’re a part of absolutely everyone and everything”. This shows that all human beings are equal, Jeremy the most physically rejected person in that community can still see past the “spot” and see that we are connected even if it is to someone “on death row”. Whereas the rest of the people around them all try so hard to blend into the crowd, and fit in and they are the one’s who feel this separation and loneliness that they have created themselves. Our interactions with people in daily life influence their actions therefore we are all a part of each other, whether we want to be or not. The “spot” that Jeremy talks about I think is the tendency of all of us to block out others because we are scared of being judged or unwanted like he is. When Jeremy says that “My gran and gramps had it, the spot where they were taught they were disconnected from everything” I think that if this is true that we all have this spot then this further shows that we all create these spots ourselves, from a young age we are all taught to be the same, but the more we try to blend in, the more we lose our individuality and if we don’t feel connected to ourselves then no thing, or person can be connected to us either. Will in ‘About a Boy’ can’t see past his spot. He can’t see the beauty of being connected to the enviroment and people around him or how significantly his actions influence Marcus’ life. When Will opens up him self up to the world he starts to see that no man can rely on himself, and his existence was nothing compared to what he gained from being connected emotionally to Marcus, which I think is what Jeremy is trying to tell the girl. I think Angelique makes a good comment on how The way we look, our names, religion, culture, amount of money all influence the ways that people perceive us. And I think that we need to realise that these things are minor compared to the fact that we are all humans we all feel and function the same way, and that we shouldn’t have prejudice against those things. I think Puja’s comments on how we can’t disconnect ourselves mentally are also so true, but I think that with the clip ‘powder’ is showing that disconnecting ourselves physically is impossible too because Jeremy says that we are connected to everything, which includes our enviroment, houses, possessions. Even if we go into hiding in an island somewhere we are still physically connected to that place. I like how Emma says how Island’s are scared people. Those scared people put up walls in the form of sarcasm and jokes to try and disconnect themselves but as Emma says there is an unavoidable connection with ourselves and the universe, and as everyone of us shares this universe we are all connected at least by that.
“Powder” explores the same idea as in the poem “no man is an island". that we are all connected whether or not we realise it.
The women asks the man “what are people like inside?”, this is a tough question you see. As we can all establish, we are all individual, not one of us thinks the exact same thoughts. Some of us are happy or unhappy on the inside. So are we alike? im not sure. Certain personallities of people bottle things up, they may appear to be content but they are torn up inside.
“inside most people there’s a feeling of being separate, separated from everything – and they’re not”
This statement is very accurate, we think were deep, individual and that no one understands what it is like to be us, so we create this feeling of being alone and separated.
The fact that we are “part of absolutely everyone, and everything”,is a strange concept, and most of us will struggle to grasp the idea of being part of everyone and everything, like the woman. We will struggle because we will refuse to accept the fact that we are like to the person next to us on the bus or the person across from us at work
Once we are content with the fact that we are all the same there are still some of us who want to keep to ourselves and want to be alone.
But the idea of putting our hands together and hearing we have the same heart beat just proves that all our foundations are the same, we are all give the same blueprint of how to start breathing. However we are our own architects, we select our own locations, materials and design according to our own needs.
In regards to your comment Ruby I completely agree with you. I liked the way you used quotes t strengthen your point and how you tied them in and the ways you also brought the film “About a boy” into your reflection. I completely agree with what you said about everyone growing their “Spot” from a young age because it shows how our society the reason that we become isolated from others in the first place. If conformity is learnt at a young age then it will most likely be continued throughout their lives.
Justin you make a thrilling point that everything is connected to everything. No matter what we are connected to just about everything very good point. And also you’re relation to your pet and the tree in your backyard. And I liked that you linked it back to what you said about everything being connected to everything. Very comprehensive and it speaks clearly to me about connection and how even the little things in life are precious, whether it is the pet you’ve had for 10 years or the tree in your backyard. Men can’t be islands because there is always something to be connected to we just have to sometimes find what it is that we are connected to.
In response to the video clip, “Power.” Their use of a man who looks so different in appearance highlights the idea of being disconnected. His appearance contrasts from everyone around him as he walks through the crowd of people who have normal appearances. However he reveals that this first impression of him is wrong by explaining how “You’re absolutely part of everyone and everything.” This tells the audience that contrary to what other people seem to think of him, his isolation from them does not make him an island as he is able to see past everything and believes that everyone is connected despite any physical boundaries. And that the only thing stopping people from sharing the same view is instead a mental boundary. It is a completely different take on the view of people being islands in comparison to ‘About a Boy” where Will believes he is an island even though he fits in, but Marcus does not fit in and in a way is an island. Marcus is also picked on for looking a bit different to everyone else, which relates back to Jeremy from the video clip “Power.” Although Jeremy’s differences are a lot for extreme than Marcus’ it draws attention to how the people that seem to not have a choice from being supposedly disconnected view it compared to those who choose to disconnect themselves.
We can see that in "Powder" the main character Jeremy is isolated immediately. The people surrounding him make him an island by the way he looks. We can also see that by Jeremy being shut out he is also very observant. He notices things that others do not. When he sits and talks with the woman and she says “Why don’t we tell them all to stop and they can take a picture or something?” For one this is sarcasm, and she’s trying to help Jeremy by putting a bit of a joke in his life to loosen him up. But by her saying that this makes him seem like more of an island, because she is openly telling him that he does in fact standout in front of the crowd. So incidentally she has then made Jeremy feel like an island, and isolated him off without her own knowledge. Jeremy also says “Inside most people there is a feeling of being separate.” And he then states that “They are not.” To me this tells us that people really do not have anything to complain about. And so what if someone else stands out? Did they not stand out at one stage in their life? People who isolate others are really trying to hide the fact that they are insecure about themselves and that the only way they can deal with others is if they isolate them by making them an island. This is how Marcus feels in the text “About a Boy”. So yes people are sheep they see one person isolate someone and immediately they follow because a lot of people are crowd followers. They wish not to stand out above the crowd and embrace their individualism, they would rather stand back and isolate someone else because they are too emotionally broken themselves to embrace a new idea. The poem by John Donne speaks very loud and true to me. To me it says that everyone is a part of society so for one no matter what you have to see people each day. It’s just not possible to never see anyone. “Each is a piece of the continent,” This tells the audience that everyone helps to make up a part of the continent whether it be in a large or small way, every person does contribute something to the society we live in. “No man is an island,” This line is very true, because people speak to people every day, man can’t go through each day without bumping into somebody. Men are connected through many different things whether it be our hobbies or as Puja said religion. John Donne is stressing to us that we as men are not islands but so much more. We can be an army, a family, a nation, we can be all these things and more. But to be an island is to be separate and for man this in most cases is not possible. As with the clip from “Powder” this man is isolated severely but to relate back to John Donne that “No man is an island,” is true Jeremy was talking with the woman so he is not an island he is connected through people. This is Will’s problem in “About A Boy” He only wants to be by himself and he does try to be an island. Ultimately being an island does not succeed for him. So yes John Donne makes a terrific point with his poem, he speaks very clearly and I believe that we can see his point very clearly that in fact no man can be an island. I agree with Nicola that man will always be connected even mentally. You’re relaying about the being trapped on a desert island speaks very clearly to me. Because no matter what you will always be connected with family and through the mind. I agree with you that the mind is a very powerful thing and I believe people should not underestimate the power of one’s mind because the power of one person is quite unbelievable and in desperation anything is possible even when you’re trapped on a desert island.
We can see that in "Powder" the main character Jeremy is isolated immediately. The people surrounding him make him an island by the way he looks. We can also see that by Jeremy being shut out he is also very observant. He notices things that others do not. When he sits and talks with the woman and she says “Why don’t we tell them all to stop and they can take a picture or something?” For one this is sarcasm, and she’s trying to help Jeremy by putting a bit of a joke in his life to loosen him up. But by her saying that this makes him seem like more of an island, because she is openly telling him that he does in fact standout in front of the crowd. So incidentally she has then made Jeremy feel like an island, and isolated him off without her own knowledge. Jeremy also says “Inside most people there is a feeling of being separate.” And he then states that “They are not.” To me this tells us that people really do not have anything to complain about. And so what if someone else stands out? Did they not stand out at one stage in their life? People who isolate others are really trying to hide the fact that they are insecure about themselves and that the only way they can deal with others is if they isolate them by making them an island. This is how Marcus feels in the text “About a Boy”. So yes people are sheep they see one person isolate someone and immediately they follow because a lot of people are crowd followers. They wish not to stand out above the crowd and embrace their individualism, they would rather stand back and isolate someone else because they are too emotionally broken themselves to embrace a new idea.
The poem by John Donne speaks very loud and true to me. To me it says that everyone is a part of society so for one no matter what you have to see people each day. It’s just not possible to never see anyone. “Each is a piece of the continent,” This tells the audience that everyone helps to make up a part of the continent whether it be in a large or small way, every person does contribute something to the society we live in. “No man is an island,” This line is very true, because people speak to people every day, man can’t go through each day without bumping into somebody. Men are connected through many different things whether it be our hobbies or as Puja said religion. John Donne is stressing to us that we as men are not islands but so much more. We can be an army, a family, a nation, we can be all these things and more. But to be an island is to be separate and for man this in most cases is not possible. As with the clip from “Powder” this man is isolated severely but to relate back to John Donne that “No man is an island,” is true Jeremy was talking with the woman so he is not an island he is connected through people. This is Will’s problem in “About A Boy” He only wants to be by himself and he does try to be an island. Ultimately being an island does not succeed for him. So yes John Donne makes a terrific point with his poem, he speaks very clearly and I believe that we can see his point very clearly that in fact no man can be an island.
In response to Justin’s post, I agree with what you are saying about everything being connected and therefore having an influence on our actions and on our identities. I think that you make a valid point where you related one of the points made in the video back to a line John Donne’s poem, as being connected to everything makes that point of diminishing with each death stronger, because it would have a bigger impact rather than if you were completely disconnected or even just disconnected emotionally. And maybe that is why people shut themselves out and make themselves feel as if they were an island, so that they are unaffected by such things.
Geena i strongly agree with your point about 'diminishing with each death stronger' the amount of impact on a person from a persons death all has to do with how connected the people were and i again agree with that is why people shut themselves out, as i said before they are scared of loss and hurt.
You can try to emotionally detach yourself from everyone around you, but there’s always going to be the emotional attachment to at least one thing, because there is always someone who influenced you to be the person you are today, whether it’s a negative or positive influence, and there is always a reason you choose to try and separate yourself from everything, perhaps it’s even a certain person who’s the reason behind your ‘separation’. For example, if you choose not to have any emotional attachments to anyone because you believe that in the end, everyone leaves you, there must be a reason behind that belief. It might be a past experience that you’ve gone through yourself, or it may have even been something you saw in a movie, but there is an emotional connection there that has influenced the way you thought, therefore, you can never really disconnect yourself from everything. The spot he talks about refers to how people will try to turn a blind eye to the unusual, to try and put up a wall to disconnect themselves from what they see as different from the norm, but if they looked past that blind spot, they will find that we are all connected and that the spot is a mere illusion to hide the possibility of being more than just ourselves.
I think Ruby is right in saying that people create their spots and from a young age we’re taught to be the same, and this conformity leads to a loss of individuality and the connection to ourselves. But I disagree with her when she says that when we can’t connect to ourselves, no thing or person can connect to us either. I think that isn’t entirely true, because although we haven’t connected with ourselves, we have connected with the people that we have blended in with, showing that we can have connections with people even though we have lost our connection to ourselves.
What Angelique said about people being scared to completely let people in because they’re afraid of what may happen is true as well. People shy away from the unknown, and the chance that something bad might happen fuels the fear, and people don’t always want to face that fear, so they build a wall to shield themselves from the threat. I’m not really quite sure what she’s trying to get across when she says “Some people also feel that they are forced to be disconnected because of something different about them.” But I think she means some people feel pressure to disconnect from the ‘odd’ person because everyone else is doing it, and they feel the need to conform in order to be accepted, to feel connected to the rest of the group.
The beginning of this clip shows a man walking through a crowd who is seeming to attract a lot of attention towards himself, be it because of his unusual appearance in the paleness of his skin, the wearing of a hat, the fact that he’s wearing sunglasses when no one else is, or some other factor that has not been made clear to us in the duration of the short clip. But if there’s anything we take away from it, it’s the fact that he seems to have somehow become alienated or disconnected from the community, so as to make him look like an ‘outcast’, although I don’t believe that he thinks he is fully disconnected from those people. In the clip, Jeremy mentions that most people harbor feelings of being separate from everything, when infact every single individual is a part of ‘absolutely everyone and everything’, which I think is an incredibly accurate statement. We are all connected in some way, whether it’s because we live on the same planet, we like the same kinds of music, or we’re part of a certain race, we are all interrelated in some way or another, and there is no way to completely disconnect from the world, mentally or physically.
Yes you can isolate yourself from the people around you, by staying at home, perhaps being anti-social, but you’re always going to have the occasional interaction with someone, even if it’s just to tell a person behind a cash register that you don’t need a plastic bag. You can try to emotionally detach yourself from everyone around you, but there’s always going to be the emotional attachment to at least one thing, because there is always someone who influenced you to be the person you are today, whether it’s a negative or positive influence, and there is always a reason you choose to try and separate yourself from everything, perhaps it’s even a certain person who’s the reason behind your ‘separation’.
It might be a past experience that you’ve gone through yourself, or it may have even been something you saw in a movie, but there is an emotional connection there that has influenced the way you thought, therefore, you can never really disconnect yourself from everything. The spot he talks about refers to how people will try to turn a blind eye to the unusual, to try and put up a wall to disconnect themselves from what they see as different from the norm, but if they looked past that blind spot, they will find that we are all connected and that the spot is a mere illusion to hide the possibility of being more than just ourselves.
I agree with Anisa, based on the fact that even though he is walking through the crowd at the start of the clip, and is perceived as being somewhat unusual, deep down he still believes that he is connected to everyone in some way. He is trying to convey to the girl that even though “inside most people there’s a feeling of being separate, separated from everything” we are still connected to everyone and everything in some way. At the start of the clip, the man is perceived as being an “outsider” or not belonging anywhere because of his different appearance, this highlights the idea of being disconnected to others. But in true fact, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where we come from, what we look like, what language we speak, or what we believe in, but that we are indeed all connected to each other in some way therefore no one can be isolated or “an island”. The text “Powder” conveys the same idea that “no man is an island” they are both linked with one another. The boy in the video clip “Powder” is trying to convey to the young girl that we are indeed “part of absolutely everyone, and everything”. Some people refuse to accept that we are all equal and all connected in some way, as it is shown in the clip when the boy states “some people can’t see ‘past the spot’”. At the end of the day we are all human beings, and we all need each other to be able to survive, which proves that we have to be connected in some way (whichever way that may be). Some people don’t want to accept the fact that we are all linked to each other, as they believe that they are separate or isolated from others, but in natural fact we are indeed “a part of absolutely everyone and everything”.
no man is an island? hmmmm. the answer is a mixture of things. yes and no. we are but we arent. we will always be surrounded by people and things that can help us and keep us going. but will anyone really know what we are thinking? how much and how far deeply do we delve into our own minds that no one else will ever understand? this may be due to personal experiance. but these people who think about this are the ones who break down because they realise there is no one no matter how surrounded we feel. we are all islands. all striving to be the best island. occasionally we may meet up with another island. but the islands will never join. they will never become a larger island. we will always be little islands floating along with one another. because no one but the island knows what going on deep inside of itself.
Just to get the ball rolling….I’ll ask the same question here I asked in class.
ReplyDeleteAre you/Are you not....the stuff that you own?
Are you/Are you not....the people in your life?
Are you/Are you not....the things that you do?
Are you/Are you not....the choices that you make?
What do you think??
All in all I think that from my point of view that everyone is all of these things. Mostly mentally though. we are strongly mentally influenced by our own abilities to complete tasks for both ourselves and others. As such we are influenced by what we own due to the limitations and restrictions they place on what we capable of actually completing. We are also the people in our life because of the huge influence they place on the way we carry out tasks and subsequently why we carry out tasks. our competency and willingness to complete the tasks for people defines who we are both in our own eyes and the eyes of others. And of course all of these things are the choices we make and the things we do. they are all tied together in a big ol' bundle.
ReplyDelete‘No mans an island’, John Donne is saying that no one can be exactly like an island. John says this because if a man was an island they would not be connected to anyone in any way. But not be connected to anyone is not really possible. A man is always connected to other people whether they like it or not. A way that a man can be connected to other people is by their religion. A man is connected to other people by their religion because people with the same religion will be connected because of their same beliefs and culture. I agree with Johns idea that no one can be a island because for a person to become an island would mean they would have to be completely isolated from others physically and mentally. I think that becoming absolutely isolated from others is extremely hard and maybe even impossible. Everyone is connectedby something. Whether it is religion, beliefs, thoughts, relationships (family and friends), and daily encounters ( buying food, paying bills and mail ) . So in order for a man to become an island they would have to disconnect themself from all of that which is probably not evn possible.
ReplyDeleteI believe the phrase “No man is an island” reflects on the person. A lot of the time in modern day society, we find ourselves coming across people with all different traits. Yet some people are willing to take part in society, whereas others personally like to keep to themselves. However having said this, it is with no doubt that yes, everyone is part of society, and being alone (an island) in this case is not an option. Whether we like it or not, our daily encounters involve association with people, whether it be at the supermarket, at work or on the phone.
ReplyDeleteI believe that someone can be an ‘island’ to a certain extent, yet to be completely alone is not at all an option, and is definitely impossible. There is no such thing as being completely alone, as living in modern day society, everything relates back to people, as it is people who run the world that we live in.
Interesting point Sam, I have to say that I would agree with you on that.
ReplyDeleteHuman beings necessarily depend on one another, as in you can't manage everything all by yourself; no man is an island. This expression is a quotation by John Donne. "No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main."
I believe that what John Donne is trying to convey to everyone is that no matter what, we are connected to people all around us somehow, whether that may be going to your hairdresser, local supermarket doctors etc. we are involved in other people’s lives in some way. It is impossible to be an island as we generally have to deal with people in our everyday lives. The only way we could possibly be an island is by living on an island, deserted, and completely away from human life. I doubt we would be able to survive.
Therefore we are the stuff that we own, the people in our lives, the things that we do and the choices that we make, because without them we would be nobody as these factors make us who we are.
Dessy I agree that we are we are the stuff that we own, the people in our lives, the things that we do and the choices that we make, make up who we are. With out these things we would have no interests, hobbies, friends nothing we would literally be a body and mind with nothing inside.
ReplyDeleteJohn Donne (21 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, preacher and a major representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. He was in poverty for several years of his life depending on rich friends. The poem no man is an island really means that no one is completely independent from the rest of the world and entirely disconnected from every other human being. Some people are better at removing themselves from everything but no matter what you do you are connected to something, whether it be family, friends, a pet, even strangers that you encounter every day. I think the fact that John Donne the person who wrote this had to rely on wealthy friends during his years of poverty shows that no one is capable of being completely unattached. Every person is different and individual but we are all connected in some way.
Jonathan Paletu'a
ReplyDelete'No man is an Island' - John Donne
Angelique damn your response is awesome, yeah you make some really interesting points. i agree that no man is an island. i do not believe can live completley in solitary and completely be blocked out from the rest of the world.
I believe that you can try to live as an island but no matter what you do you will always have connections with the people around you. No matter how isolated you are from people you will always have bonds with something.
True Jonno. We are always connected no matter what, even through use of this blog we will be connected
ReplyDeleteNo man is an island? What are we really talking about here? Is it referring to as much as one may want to be on their own island their stuck surrounded constantly invaded by others on a daily basis? Or no man should or want to be an island without the people in our lives what are we left with? These questions cut right down to a person’s soul I don’t think there much more to a person than what they are when everything is removed being on an “island” but as we can’t all just survive on our own little island somewhere in the Pacific we have to open up and be part of the community and face the influences. We are not islands we are all connected in some way or another. This is what has developed and change our culture and society into what it is today. We are connected whether we want to be or not you will always have some form of interaction with others.
ReplyDeleteBrie, I agree with your statements. No one can just survive on their own little island, everyone has to interact with one another and face the fact that no one can possibly be their own island. I aslo agree that everyone is connected, even if we don't want to be.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I beleive the poem "No man is an island" by John Donne, explores the theme and idea of a man being his own island; and is it possible. However people within society can't just be their own island, live in their own little world without the influences of other people. No matter how hard we sometimes try to disconnect ourselves from people, we can never be fully disconnected. Even if people were to literally go live by themselves on a deserted island, they would still have connections with others - mentally. The mind is very powerful, and it is safe to say that it is impossible to disconnect yourself from society in every way. No matter how isolated you feel/are, you can never just exist on your own, you need others. There for, "No man is an island."
Nice response Nicola.. I totally agree with you that no man can become absolutely isolated from other people. Iagree with you that people will always be connected to other people mentally. No matter how much amna will try to separate themself from the other world they will always be connected to others mentally.
ReplyDeleteJohn Donne 'No man is an island'
ReplyDeleteHe is merely saying not all men are equal, some of them are so evil to the rest that they should not be part of humanity. If we define 'man' to be someone who deserves to be part of humanity in which every man, connected to one another, promotes the welfare of mankind as a whole. Man shall not live by himself, but by the wisdom he acquires over time from his strengths and failures in the the environment he lives. Though each one is an individual like island all are part of the whole. Loss of one is a little loss of strength of the whole indeed.
great thoughts here Ally i really enjoyed the angle you take here. What should be done with those so evil they don't belong in humanity? and what makes one be so evil?
ReplyDeleteohh ally taking a different veiw. I agree with all of the above statements, 'No man is an island' is a very true statement, especially if we are talking about modern day society, where if we weren't connected to anyone or anything we would simply die because as Dessy said above we are connected to complete strangers even in the simplest of ways, they could be your employers, the person you pay rent to, or the person behind the counter at the supermarket. Although it is impossible to physically be isolated, a person may feel emotionally as an island because they may have no close relationships with other people which leaves them feeling lonely and isolated. Therefore i believe it is impossible to be physically an island but possible to be emotional an island .
ReplyDeleteI agree with John Donne about no man being an island because an island literally is a piece of land that has slowly disconnected from a mainland, but a person can always go back at some point in their life, they can’t really permanently separate themselves from everything. A quote from his poem, “Entire in itself.” could mean that no man is completely self sufficient, they still depend on others no matter how advanced technology is becoming. No man is entire in themselves, there are many other factors that make up a person for example, the choices they make, the things that they do, the people in their life and the stuff that they own. These things all influence each other but singly do not make up someone, only add to them. But I also see Will’s point, from ‘About a Boy’ that now is the time to be an island as it is a lot easier to be an island in today’s society compared to, say a couple of hundred years ago when everyone depended on each other to survive. But now because of modern day technology people do not have to depend on each other quite as much.
ReplyDeleteSome fantastic thoughts are coming out of these discussions. I'm really proud of everyone who has written something already, and you have all shown a depth of thought and insight into the poem that demonstrates a real maturity.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your reflections and your willingnes to engage in the blog. Its really nice to see so many of you building off each others ideas and developing them further. I only hope this activity is helping everyone develop their own interpretation of the context, for it is truely something we all experience and yet can over so many personal variations of opinion.
I'm going to pose one question that perhaps hasn't been explored yet. In the poem Donne says "Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind." What do you think this means?
In regards to your proposed statement Miss Minn, "Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind" means basically what it says.
ReplyDeleteAs discussed earlier, no man is an island, and whether they'd like to be, is not a possibility.
However "each man's death diminishes me" states that as we're all part of society, and interconnected in some way, be it evident or not, the death of one of our fellow humans, is of course a loss in some case. A lot of the time, not everyone is directly touched by the death of others, as the relationships that are held between certain people vary throughout society, however in spite of that, a loss for one, is a loss for all. As one person dies, there is a little loss somewhere in everyone else...
"For I am involved in mankind" conveys that no one can choose whether or not they're involved in mankind, it's just a way of life, as is death.
So in summary, the statement says that the death of one person, directly or indirectly hurts all people of society, because at the end of the day, we've lost one of our own...
I believe that “No man is an island” is true because if we were a true island, we would be nothing and we would be nothing. We have been able to grow and develop societies because we have grouped together and have communicated with each other to grow in society and move forward. I disagree with Will’s idea that know is the perfect time to be an island because of technology simply because if he was a “true” island he would have to make all of his possessions himself. He even says that he needs to go to the mainland to collect supplies. Which means although he wants to be an island, he never truly will be one. But would we even be a man if we were an island. No one will know us, there would be no memories of us in society. Would we even exist if we weren’t connected to any one? Our identity defines who we are, it is how others perceive us, and without people in our lives, we are nothing. Our actions and our possessions become irrelevant, as no one will see them. Truly we cannot be an island, as we would not exist.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree you Sam. I agree that everyone in society is connected so that we would feel the pain of someone passing, whether we knew them or not. But I also think that everyone has a part to play in society, for example the jobs we have or the activities we do contribute to all of the society. Should one man die, he can no longer contribute to society as a whole and therefore all of the community suffers.
ReplyDeleteSam, I also agree with what you said about everybody being connected, and how each death is a loss to everyone in society in some way. I think that you make a very valid point about everyone being involved in mankind as it isn’t something that can be chosen, your connected whether you like it or not. No matter how much someone wants to be an island or thinks they are one, they are still connected to the ‘mainland’ one way or another. And that being involved in mankind means that everyone is going to be affected by one’s death in some way.
ReplyDeleteSam, you make some really good points there. I was reading through some of the other classes comments, and lots of people disagree with this line of the poem, saying that they don't feel that they are connected to people on the other side of the world that they have never met before, but I think that your interpretation of this line sums it all up :)
ReplyDeleteJohn Donne's poem uses a very interesting metaphor of a man being an island (or not, in this case.) The poem holds a lot of truth for everyone; we are all interconnected in some way or another, regardless of whether we want to be or not. The line ‘each is a piece of the continent, a part of the main’ is reinforcing the fact that each and every person contributes to their society and that no-one’s actions affect only themselves. It is impossible to completely disconnect yourself from everyone and everything around you – they are what make up your identity, and without these things/people there would be nothing left worth living for. In the movie ‘About a Boy’ this theme is explored, with the main reference being to the central character ‘Will’. At the beginning of the movie he seems quite content with his life and happy being an ‘island’, but as the relationship between him and Marcus progresses he starts to realise that his actions have been affecting everyone else around him – “Every man is an island. I stand by that. But clearly some men are island CHAINS. Underneath, they are connected...”
Sorry that it's kinda late...
ReplyDeleteJohn Donne’s poem ‘No Man Is An Island’ tries to convey the importance of each individual in a community, and how every person, to some degree, depends on others whether they want to or not.
I agree with what a lot of people have said about how even though someone can withdraw themselves from society, no matter how hard they may try it isn’t possible for them to cut all ties, and become truly isolated from the rest of society – we can never fully disconnect ourselves from others.
I agree with what Genna said about the line ‘entire in itself’ referring to the fact that nobody is completely self sufficient, but I think even though the advancement of technology might lead us to believe that we can be self reliant, that isn’t really so. In ‘About A Boy’ Will is a good example of someone living in a modern society who thinks he doesn’t rely on other people, when actually he does quite a lot. As Justin said, for Will to truly be an island he would need to make all his possessions himself, but instead he relies on others to produce the appliances he uses to be ‘self reliant’ – but it goes it goes further than that. He relies on others to grow and produce the foods he eats, he relies on electricity companies to produce power to run all his appliances, he need mining companies so he can have petrol to fuel his car, he relies on his father for the money he receives in royalties from his father’s song, and I think it’s safe to say he relied on someone else to build his home. While Will thinks he is an ‘island’ and independent, he actually relies on others for all the basic things he needs to get by, such as food, an income and shelter.
‘If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is less.’ I think in this part of the poem Donne is saying everyone is equal. That every man, woman and child whether rich or poor and of any mental or physical capability, all play important parts in their communities. That everyone is significant and everyone is needed.
I thought Sam had some good thoughts on the lines Miss Minn mentioned, and I agree with his interpretation of them. The lines “As well as if a promontory were, As well as if a manner of thine own, Or of thine friend’s were” connect and lead in well with the next bit of the poem. I think Donne is trying to convey the importance of each individual, and say that the death of someone, even if you didn’t actually know them can still affect you. We are all part of an interconnected society, and while the loss someone causes the most pain to those who directly knew them, others in the community are then affected, because the pain of those suffering is then passed on and felt by everyone they know.
The short video clip from the movie “Powder” brings forth the idea that “no man is an island” not only means that we are connected to other people, but the idea that everything is connected to everything. For example the connection you have with a pet at home, of the giant tree outside that sits in your backyard that you can sit under in summer. Those things have an influence on are actions, which in turn has an influence on our identity. It also ties in with the last part of the first text “Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind” because if we put instead of man everything it is also true, would you not feel sad if that pet you had lived for so many years died? Or that tree in the backyard was cut down? Which brings up the question, can we really be island if we are connected to everything. Well I agree with Emma that physically there is no way to become an island, but emotionally we can disconnect ourselves. This is seen when Powder is walking through all the people at the start of the clip, physically they can’t disconnect from him, after all they can see him but emotionally they shut him out. So I believe that although we are connected to everything in this world, to an extent we shut out things that we fear or hate, causing us to feel we are an island, although we never fully can be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of the above comments they all link in with the text and show connections between both text responses. The short clip from Powder again shows the unavoidable physical connections between man kind and the surrounding universe. I believe the clip is showing how people disconnect themselves and try and islolate themselves because they are scared of letting people in, islands are scared people. It is shown in the clip that people cover up their true emotions with sarcasm, jokes and other forms of humor in order to keep them mentally isolated from others. In order to connect yourself to others you need to let your guard down and let the other person know your true self this is all part of not becoming an island. In the clip it shows how hard it is for people who look different stand out in a crowd are isolated by others rather than themselves in the clip were he walks through the crowd and everybody stares at him as Justin said above they shut him out and make him feel as though he is an island. This clip is another example of the isolation marcus experiences in about a boy.
ReplyDelete“No man is an island” reflects on the individual, as some people are completely at ease with being an island. In today's society humans are developing
ReplyDeleteat an advanced rate and so is technology.
Therefore humans no longer have to soley rely on others. Though some choose not to participate or evolve with todays society, and are stuck in ancient ways. When saying this some people are completely contend with not evolving and sticking to the ways they know best. Though being completely alone or being an island is not possible as we can not soley rely on ourselfs . We have to leave our houses, to go about our daily business, like doing shopping or going to work
a person can be an island in the sense that they can isolate themselves but not completely.
We have to rely on others to make the world go around.
The text “Powder” conveys the same idea that “no man is an island” and that they’re all part of one another.
ReplyDeleteWhen the girls asks “what are people like?” the answer in fact is that no one really knows. All that can be said is that we’re all alike in the same way, because we’re all human.
When the boy states, “inside most people there’s a feeling of being separate, separated from everything – and they’re not” is an extremely accurate statement. We are “part of absolutely everyone, and everything”, maybe even without realising it, and a lot of people can’t accept that fact that we’re all the same at the end of the day, as they don’t want to see “past the spot”. Some like the idea of keeping to themselves and believing that they’re alone, but their “spot” proves different, and whether they like it or not, and whether or not they want to see it, we’re all together as one. We are all part of each other, and all having the same heart beat proves that yes, we are all the same, and we are in actual fact “a part of absolutely everyone and everything”.
Justin I think you’ve made some good points there especially when you link all the examples back to the context, and that fact that escaping things that are part of our life, and things that join us and make us who we are inescapable. I also think that they way you linked this context with the last has had a good effect and binds well with what we’re talking about, as both contexts convey the idea of “no man is an island”.
ReplyDeleteEmma, I like how you said that it is unavoidable to escape physical connection between mankind and the surrounding universe, and that letting your guard down to let others know your true self is part of not becoming an island. This is true, because if you were to keep your guard up, and not let anyone into your life, then it is assured that you will think you’re alone, and that you’re an island.
“Powder”
ReplyDeleteThis clip opens with an obviously different man (Jeremy) walking through a crowd of “normal” people at a carnival who simply stare at him in a judging way, showing the theme of alienation. Jeremy comes to talk to a friend of his and tries to explain the fact that each person is connected to everyone and everything in this world. To me, this seems sort of ironic, as Jeremy had just seemed completely alone a few moments before, yet he is the one who believes that he is connected to everyone and everything in this world. This all connects back to the key theme of ‘no man is an island.’ Jeremy is a perfect example of someone who seems to be isolated just like an island, but as the clip continues we are able to see that he is far from that because he chooses to believe that he is not isolated.
‘Powder’ ..
ReplyDeleteThis short video starts off with a crowd off heaps of people who appear to be normal. Then enters Jeremy, a man that doesnt seem to be normal like the people in the crowd. Jeremy approaches a lady who seems to be his friend. He talks to her about the fact no man can eva be an island.
This short video shows how people are connected to lots of things. Jeremy in the clip tells the lady that human beings can never be disconnected from the outer world mentally. He is absolutely right when he says that to her. Nobody can ever disconnect themself from people mentally. They may be able to disconnect themself from the outer world physically, but discconecting themself from others mentally can never happen. It is impossible. It is rather strange in the video that a man who seems to isolated from everyone is talking to his friend about the fact that everyone is connected to everyone mentally even through not physically. Jeremy seems to be a complete alien compared to the other normal people in this clip. But he doesnt believe that he is completely isoloated from others because he says that “they’re part of absolutely everyone and everything”.
I totallly agree with your comment Michelle....
ReplyDeleteJeremy obviously seems to be a man that looks abnormal compared to all the people in the background. I agree with you about the irony in the fact that Jeremy talks to the lady about the fact that no man can be an island mentally. I agree with you also about the fact that Jeremy is a man who seems completely aleinated from others but believes in the fact that no one can be disconnected from others.
Michelle i agree this clip of powder demonstrates how alienated Jeremy is from the rest of the people at the carnival because of the way he looks. Your thoughts about the irony of Jeremy saying that everybody is connected even though he is an out cast and seems alone are interesting. I think that he is trying to explain how even if you don’t really know a person you are still connected to them in some way.
ReplyDeleteJustin your response is very interesting as well, the thoughts of the things in our lives influence our actions and identities. I think this is so true everything that happens in our lives shapes who we are and what we will make of ourselves, the people we meet as well also influence our lives greatly.
I think that the way that Jeremy is talking in the clip powder is show how that everybody is connected in someway that no one is completely from everyone else. I think that sometime people try to become islands and disconnect themselves but they will always have connections. Identity is also what makes us what we are, the things that happen in our lives change us for better or worse. The way we look, our names, religion, culture, amount of money etc… all impact on the way people perceive us and if we will be accepted or not. Jeremy’s quote ‘that they are scared and feel disconnected from the rest of the world, but in truth are all connected to everything that exists’. Highlights that people are scared to completely let people in and try to disconnect themselves because they are scared of what might happen. Some people also feel that they are forced to be disconnected because of something different about them. What Jeremy is trying to get to is that everyone is connected no matter what.
The opening of the clip “powder” shows all the carnival people staring at Jeremy. He stands out from the crowd and is clearly the most isolated and different person there. I think it’s interesting when the girl asks Jeremy “what are people like on the inside?” he replies “there’s a feeling of being separate” and then he says “and they’re not. They’re a part of absolutely everyone and everything”. This shows that all human beings are equal, Jeremy the most physically rejected person in that community can still see past the “spot” and see that we are connected even if it is to someone “on death row”. Whereas the rest of the people around them all try so hard to blend into the crowd, and fit in and they are the one’s who feel this separation and loneliness that they have created themselves. Our interactions with people in daily life influence their actions therefore we are all a part of each other, whether we want to be or not.
ReplyDeleteThe “spot” that Jeremy talks about I think is the tendency of all of us to block out others because we are scared of being judged or unwanted like he is. When Jeremy says that “My gran and gramps had it, the spot where they were taught they were disconnected from everything” I think that if this is true that we all have this spot then this further shows that we all create these spots ourselves, from a young age we are all taught to be the same, but the more we try to blend in, the more we lose our individuality and if we don’t feel connected to ourselves then no thing, or person can be connected to us either.
Will in ‘About a Boy’ can’t see past his spot. He can’t see the beauty of being connected to the enviroment and people around him or how significantly his actions influence Marcus’ life. When Will opens up him self up to the world he starts to see that no man can rely on himself, and his existence was nothing compared to what he gained from being connected emotionally to Marcus, which I think is what Jeremy is trying to tell the girl.
I think Angelique makes a good comment on how The way we look, our names, religion, culture, amount of money all influence the ways that people perceive us. And I think that we need to realise that these things are minor compared to the fact that we are all humans we all feel and function the same way, and that we shouldn’t have prejudice against those things.
I think Puja’s comments on how we can’t disconnect ourselves mentally are also so true, but I think that with the clip ‘powder’ is showing that disconnecting ourselves physically is impossible too because Jeremy says that we are connected to everything, which includes our enviroment, houses, possessions. Even if we go into hiding in an island somewhere we are still physically connected to that place.
I like how Emma says how Island’s are scared people. Those scared people put up walls in the form of sarcasm and jokes to try and disconnect themselves but as Emma says there is an unavoidable connection with ourselves and the universe, and as everyone of us shares this universe we are all connected at least by that.
“Powder” explores the same idea as in the poem “no man is an island". that we are all connected whether or not we realise it.
ReplyDeleteThe women asks the man “what are people like inside?”, this is a tough question you see.
As we can all establish, we are all individual, not one of us thinks the exact same thoughts. Some of us are happy or unhappy on the inside. So are we alike? im not sure. Certain personallities of people bottle things up, they may appear to be content but they are torn up inside.
“inside most people there’s a feeling of being separate, separated from everything – and they’re not”
This statement is very accurate, we think were deep, individual and that no one understands what it is like to be us, so we create this feeling of being alone and separated.
The fact that we are “part of absolutely everyone, and everything”,is a strange concept, and most of us will struggle to grasp the idea of being part of everyone and everything, like the woman.
We will struggle because we will refuse to accept the fact that we are like to the person next to us on the bus or the person across from us at work
Once we are content with the fact that we are all the same there are still some of us who want to keep to ourselves and want to be alone.
But the idea of putting our hands together and hearing we have the same heart beat just proves that all our foundations are the same, we are all give the same blueprint of how to start breathing. However we are our own architects, we select our own locations, materials and design according to our own needs.
In regards to your comment Ruby I completely agree with you. I liked the way you used quotes t strengthen your point and how you tied them in and the ways you also brought the film “About a boy” into your reflection. I completely agree with what you said about everyone growing their “Spot” from a young age because it shows how our society the reason that we become isolated from others in the first place. If conformity is learnt at a young age then it will most likely be continued throughout their lives.
ReplyDeleteJustin you make a thrilling point that everything is connected to everything. No matter what we are connected to just about everything very good point. And also you’re relation to your pet and the tree in your backyard. And I liked that you linked it back to what you said about everything being connected to everything. Very comprehensive and it speaks clearly to me about connection and how even the little things in life are precious, whether it is the pet you’ve had for 10 years or the tree in your backyard. Men can’t be islands because there is always something to be connected to we just have to sometimes find what it is that we are connected to.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the video clip, “Power.” Their use of a man who looks so different in appearance highlights the idea of being disconnected. His appearance contrasts from everyone around him as he walks through the crowd of people who have normal appearances. However he reveals that this first impression of him is wrong by explaining how “You’re absolutely part of everyone and everything.” This tells the audience that contrary to what other people seem to think of him, his isolation from them does not make him an island as he is able to see past everything and believes that everyone is connected despite any physical boundaries. And that the only thing stopping people from sharing the same view is instead a mental boundary. It is a completely different take on the view of people being islands in comparison to ‘About a Boy” where Will believes he is an island even though he fits in, but Marcus does not fit in and in a way is an island. Marcus is also picked on for looking a bit different to everyone else, which relates back to Jeremy from the video clip “Power.” Although Jeremy’s differences are a lot for extreme than Marcus’ it draws attention to how the people that seem to not have a choice from being supposedly disconnected view it compared to those who choose to disconnect themselves.
ReplyDeleteWe can see that in "Powder" the main character Jeremy is isolated immediately. The people surrounding him make him an island by the way he looks. We can also see that by Jeremy being shut out he is also very observant. He notices things that others do not. When he sits and talks with the woman and she says “Why don’t we tell them all to stop and they can take a picture or something?” For one this is sarcasm, and she’s trying to help Jeremy by putting a bit of a joke in his life to loosen him up. But by her saying that this makes him seem like more of an island, because she is openly telling him that he does in fact standout in front of the crowd. So incidentally she has then made Jeremy feel like an island, and isolated him off without her own knowledge. Jeremy also says “Inside most people there is a feeling of being separate.” And he then states that “They are not.” To me this tells us that people really do not have anything to complain about. And so what if someone else stands out? Did they not stand out at one stage in their life? People who isolate others are really trying to hide the fact that they are insecure about themselves and that the only way they can deal with others is if they isolate them by making them an island. This is how Marcus feels in the text “About a Boy”. So yes people are sheep they see one person isolate someone and immediately they follow because a lot of people are crowd followers. They wish not to stand out above the crowd and embrace their individualism, they would rather stand back and isolate someone else because they are too emotionally broken themselves to embrace a new idea.
ReplyDeleteThe poem by John Donne speaks very loud and true to me. To me it says that everyone is a part of society so for one no matter what you have to see people each day. It’s just not possible to never see anyone. “Each is a piece of the continent,” This tells the audience that everyone helps to make up a part of the continent whether it be in a large or small way, every person does contribute something to the society we live in. “No man is an island,” This line is very true, because people speak to people every day, man can’t go through each day without bumping into somebody. Men are connected through many different things whether it be our hobbies or as Puja said religion. John Donne is stressing to us that we as men are not islands but so much more. We can be an army, a family, a nation, we can be all these things and more. But to be an island is to be separate and for man this in most cases is not possible. As with the clip from “Powder” this man is isolated severely but to relate back to John Donne that “No man is an island,” is true Jeremy was talking with the woman so he is not an island he is connected through people. This is Will’s problem in “About A Boy” He only wants to be by himself and he does try to be an island. Ultimately being an island does not succeed for him. So yes John Donne makes a terrific point with his poem, he speaks very clearly and I believe that we can see his point very clearly that in fact no man can be an island.
I agree with Nicola that man will always be connected even mentally. You’re relaying about the being trapped on a desert island speaks very clearly to me. Because no matter what you will always be connected with family and through the mind. I agree with you that the mind is a very powerful thing and I believe people should not underestimate the power of one’s mind because the power of one person is quite unbelievable and in desperation anything is possible even when you’re trapped on a desert island.
We can see that in "Powder" the main character Jeremy is isolated immediately. The people surrounding him make him an island by the way he looks. We can also see that by Jeremy being shut out he is also very observant. He notices things that others do not. When he sits and talks with the woman and she says “Why don’t we tell them all to stop and they can take a picture or something?” For one this is sarcasm, and she’s trying to help Jeremy by putting a bit of a joke in his life to loosen him up. But by her saying that this makes him seem like more of an island, because she is openly telling him that he does in fact standout in front of the crowd. So incidentally she has then made Jeremy feel like an island, and isolated him off without her own knowledge. Jeremy also says “Inside most people there is a feeling of being separate.” And he then states that “They are not.” To me this tells us that people really do not have anything to complain about. And so what if someone else stands out? Did they not stand out at one stage in their life? People who isolate others are really trying to hide the fact that they are insecure about themselves and that the only way they can deal with others is if they isolate them by making them an island. This is how Marcus feels in the text “About a Boy”. So yes people are sheep they see one person isolate someone and immediately they follow because a lot of people are crowd followers. They wish not to stand out above the crowd and embrace their individualism, they would rather stand back and isolate someone else because they are too emotionally broken themselves to embrace a new idea.
ReplyDeleteThe poem by John Donne speaks very loud and true to me. To me it says that everyone is a part of society so for one no matter what you have to see people each day. It’s just not possible to never see anyone. “Each is a piece of the continent,” This tells the audience that everyone helps to make up a part of the continent whether it be in a large or small way, every person does contribute something to the society we live in. “No man is an island,” This line is very true, because people speak to people every day, man can’t go through each day without bumping into somebody. Men are connected through many different things whether it be our hobbies or as Puja said religion. John Donne is stressing to us that we as men are not islands but so much more. We can be an army, a family, a nation, we can be all these things and more. But to be an island is to be separate and for man this in most cases is not possible. As with the clip from “Powder” this man is isolated severely but to relate back to John Donne that “No man is an island,” is true Jeremy was talking with the woman so he is not an island he is connected through people. This is Will’s problem in “About A Boy” He only wants to be by himself and he does try to be an island. Ultimately being an island does not succeed for him. So yes John Donne makes a terrific point with his poem, he speaks very clearly and I believe that we can see his point very clearly that in fact no man can be an island.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Justin’s post, I agree with what you are saying about everything being connected and therefore having an influence on our actions and on our identities. I think that you make a valid point where you related one of the points made in the video back to a line John Donne’s poem, as being connected to everything makes that point of diminishing with each death stronger, because it would have a bigger impact rather than if you were completely disconnected or even just disconnected emotionally. And maybe that is why people shut themselves out and make themselves feel as if they were an island, so that they are unaffected by such things.
ReplyDeleteGeena i strongly agree with your point about 'diminishing with each death stronger' the amount of impact on a person from a persons death all has to do with how connected the people were and i again agree with that is why people shut themselves out, as i said before they are scared of loss and hurt.
ReplyDeleteYou can try to emotionally detach yourself from everyone around you, but there’s always going to be the emotional attachment to at least one thing, because there is always someone who influenced you to be the person you are today, whether it’s a negative or positive influence, and there is always a reason you choose to try and separate yourself from everything, perhaps it’s even a certain person who’s the reason behind your ‘separation’. For example, if you choose not to have any emotional attachments to anyone because you believe that in the end, everyone leaves you, there must be a reason behind that belief. It might be a past experience that you’ve gone through yourself, or it may have even been something you saw in a movie, but there is an emotional connection there that has influenced the way you thought, therefore, you can never really disconnect yourself from everything. The spot he talks about refers to how people will try to turn a blind eye to the unusual, to try and put up a wall to disconnect themselves from what they see as different from the norm, but if they looked past that blind spot, they will find that we are all connected and that the spot is a mere illusion to hide the possibility of being more than just ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI think Ruby is right in saying that people create their spots and from a young age we’re taught to be the same, and this conformity leads to a loss of individuality and the connection to ourselves. But I disagree with her when she says that when we can’t connect to ourselves, no thing or person can connect to us either. I think that isn’t entirely true, because although we haven’t connected with ourselves, we have connected with the people that we have blended in with, showing that we can have connections with people even though we have lost our connection to ourselves.
ReplyDeleteWhat Angelique said about people being scared to completely let people in because they’re afraid of what may happen is true as well. People shy away from the unknown, and the chance that something bad might happen fuels the fear, and people don’t always want to face that fear, so they build a wall to shield themselves from the threat. I’m not really quite sure what she’s trying to get across when she says “Some people also feel that they are forced to be disconnected because of something different about them.” But I think she means some people feel pressure to disconnect from the ‘odd’ person because everyone else is doing it, and they feel the need to conform in order to be accepted, to feel connected to the rest of the group.
The beginning of this clip shows a man walking through a crowd who is seeming to attract a lot of attention towards himself, be it because of his unusual appearance in the paleness of his skin, the wearing of a hat, the fact that he’s wearing sunglasses when no one else is, or some other factor that has not been made clear to us in the duration of the short clip. But if there’s anything we take away from it, it’s the fact that he seems to have somehow become alienated or disconnected from the community, so as to make him look like an ‘outcast’, although I don’t believe that he thinks he is fully disconnected from those people. In the clip, Jeremy mentions that most people harbor feelings of being separate from everything, when infact every single individual is a part of ‘absolutely everyone and everything’, which I think is an incredibly accurate statement. We are all connected in some way, whether it’s because we live on the same planet, we like the same kinds of music, or we’re part of a certain race, we are all interrelated in some way or another, and there is no way to completely disconnect from the world, mentally or physically.
ReplyDeleteYes you can isolate yourself from the people around you, by staying at home, perhaps being anti-social, but you’re always going to have the occasional interaction with someone, even if it’s just to tell a person behind a cash register that you don’t need a plastic bag. You can try to emotionally detach yourself from everyone around you, but there’s always going to be the emotional attachment to at least one thing, because there is always someone who influenced you to be the person you are today, whether it’s a negative or positive influence, and there is always a reason you choose to try and separate yourself from everything, perhaps it’s even a certain person who’s the reason behind your ‘separation’.
ReplyDeleteIt might be a past experience that you’ve gone through yourself, or it may have even been something you saw in a movie, but there is an emotional connection there that has influenced the way you thought, therefore, you can never really disconnect yourself from everything. The spot he talks about refers to how people will try to turn a blind eye to the unusual, to try and put up a wall to disconnect themselves from what they see as different from the norm, but if they looked past that blind spot, they will find that we are all connected and that the spot is a mere illusion to hide the possibility of being more than just ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anisa, based on the fact that even though he is walking through the crowd at the start of the clip, and is perceived as being somewhat unusual, deep down he still believes that he is connected to everyone in some way. He is trying to convey to the girl that even though “inside most people there’s a feeling of being separate, separated from everything” we are still connected to everyone and everything in some way. At the start of the clip, the man is perceived as being an “outsider” or not belonging anywhere because of his different appearance, this highlights the idea of being disconnected to others. But in true fact, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where we come from, what we look like, what language we speak, or what we believe in, but that we are indeed all connected to each other in some way therefore no one can be isolated or “an island”. The text “Powder” conveys the same idea that “no man is an island” they are both linked with one another. The boy in the video clip “Powder” is trying to convey to the young girl that we are indeed “part of absolutely everyone, and everything”. Some people refuse to accept that we are all equal and all connected in some way, as it is shown in the clip when the boy states “some people can’t see ‘past the spot’”. At the end of the day we are all human beings, and we all need each other to be able to survive, which proves that we have to be connected in some way (whichever way that may be). Some people don’t want to accept the fact that we are all linked to each other, as they believe that they are separate or isolated from others, but in natural fact we are indeed “a part of absolutely everyone and everything”.
ReplyDeleteno man is an island? hmmmm. the answer is a mixture of things. yes and no. we are but we arent. we will always be surrounded by people and things that can help us and keep us going. but will anyone really know what we are thinking? how much and how far deeply do we delve into our own minds that no one else will ever understand? this may be due to personal experiance. but these people who think about this are the ones who break down because they realise there is no one no matter how surrounded we feel. we are all islands. all striving to be the best island. occasionally we may meet up with another island. but the islands will never join. they will never become a larger island. we will always be little islands floating along with one another. because no one but the island knows what going on deep inside of itself.
ReplyDelete