Identity Change

This fall quarter in the Humanities Core Course has truly reshaped my identity as an individual. I confess that before I did not have a mere interest for War or history. My world revolved around friends and family to discovering who I was and being successful. Now that I survived my first quarter in this course, I have evolved as a human being intellectually. This course has given me a taste of college course material, improved my writing skills, time management skills, and overall knowledge of war and how to interpret it.

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In the past, I learned about several wars upon taking AP courses of history in high school. I was exposed to world history, the history of the United States, and to how our government functions and sustains itself. Although some of the content covered in class was interesting, I particularly did not show much care for it. My views were completely modified as soon as I began to expose myself to lectures and discussions of HumCore. The material shaped my intellectual mind in the sense that war is necessary when analyzing human actions in order to better understand the world. As we began reading captivating novels that dealt with various wars, I felt a change of interest. I began to have clarity and looked forward to every discussion and lecture.

 Apart from intellectual change, my writing and time management skills were put to the test. I was forced to change my procrastination habits when it came down to turning everything in on time. The papers and blog posts I had to write based on my knowledge and understandings of the course helped me to improve my writing habits. I used to previously worry for college and the obstacles I would ultimately encounter. The Humanities Core Course has allowed me to feel comfortable with writing a paper in college as well as adapting my schedules to due dates.

I have Evolved

As I sat in lecture the other day, realization struck my mind. I began this course very baffled and unsure that I would understand this course or know what to encounter. However, now that I look back, I realized that my understandings and interpretations of both this course and war have evolved immensely. War, to my understanding, is a destructive force that is inevitable and can create circumstantial effects. In the Humanities, we use war as means of interpretation of human action and how it serves as a force. War can ultimately limit an individual’s agency, can be told from various perspectives, and can reshape virtuous acts to be fatal to those who embody them and act alone.

In the Iliad by Homer, war was elevated and glorified heroic characters that ultimately fought in combat. Heroes such as Achilles and Agamemnon had something in common: they sought glory and immortality. Immortality in this sense meant to forever be remembered for one’s heroic actions. War was being utilized as an excuse to earn the title of a hero and be forever glorious. However, not only was it used for immortal glory and recognition, but it served as a force that limited one’s capacity of acting with free will. Hector, a father, mother, and husband had political and social obligations to his wife and son. War in this era called for every warrior to fight for their nation or else shame would be showered on those who coward out. Hector was forced to choose to follow such a culture and fight in combat rather than care for his family.

The Adventures of Simplicius Simplicissimus by Hans Jacob Christohoffel von Grimmelshausen and Mother Courage and her Children by Bertolt Brecht are both chronicles of The Thirty Year’s War. Although they are indeed fictionalized books, their purpose are vital and must be taken into consideration when interpreting war itself. Grimmerlshausen created Simplicius and set him off on various adventures and life changing experiences to show the effects that war has on individuals in low ranks of society. Simplicius takes on several identities and tried to survive in a world of destruction. In the end, Simplicius leaves society seeking to escape circumstance (war). Brecht brilliantly creates the genre of Epic Theater to denaturalize war with his play. In his play, Mother Courage and her children flee from financial ruin and follow the war in a wagon. Mother Courage desires to use this to her advantage by becoming a business woman and selling products to people in need of certain necessities. Along their travels, her children begin facing death by acting virtuously against war. The play has several instances where tragic moments are interrupted with inappropriate singing. Brecht did not want the audience to connect with the characters but rather understand that war is at fault for such destruction and should not be natural. It was meant to teach the audience to act virtuously in a collective manner and bring positive change.

            All these novels have successfully shaped my overall understanding of war and brought me to realize that it is indeed significant in the Humanities.

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