Suppose you were a glorious history professor, and you were going to include "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" in a lecture on 19th century "believers in progress." What would you say about the story? [If you like, you may imitate the style of one of your teachers/professors. I would be amused by, say, a Dias-style or Manhart-style lecture selection.]
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Dream of a Ridiculous Man (Extra Credit)
Suppose you were a glorious history professor, and you were going to include "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" in a lecture on 19th century "believers in progress." What would you say about the story? [If you like, you may imitate the style of one of your teachers/professors. I would be amused by, say, a Dias-style or Manhart-style lecture selection.]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
If I were going to give a lecture on "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" I would first explain the beliefs of the author, Dostoyevsky -- how he was against many of the beliefs in "progress" of the time, such as Darwinism and the Realists, and tell about his belief, a change of heart. Then I would talk about how the Ridiculous Man came to be ridiculous. Because society had told him that he was nothing and could do nothing, that is what he believed, and so he was indifferent to everything, even the idea of suicide. The fact that in his dream he shoots himself in the heart instead of in his head represents the start of his change of heart. In his dream, The Ridiculous Man is taken to a utopian society and his mere influence ruins their perfect world. When he wakes up, his change of heart is complete. He believes that he now knows the Truth -- "love others as you love yourself," and is not devoted to preaching that Truth. Dostoyevsky's' Ridiculous Man illustrates his contempt in the beliefs in "progress" of the 19th century and shows his own belief that love is what society really needs.
Kelli Gill
MWF 10:00
If I gave a lecture on "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" I would begin by giving background information on Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky was a thinker unlike the others of his time. He did not support the theories of Darwin and Realists, but instead he believes that people should love others as themselves.
In "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man," a nameless man goes through a life change event.
What is this life changing event?
Well, let's start at the beginning. The nameless man has a meaningless and unhappy life. He does not fit in because he cannot communicate with his peers; even though he wants their approval he does not like them and they don't like him. His life is so unhappy that he constantly contemplates the choice of suicide. He is so ridiculous that he can't even motivate himself to do that. But one night he has a change of heart when he sees a peculiar star in the heavens and finally decides to kill himself that night. On his way home he is confronted by a little girl who is crying out for her mother and the nameless man does nothing to help her. At home he loads the gun but does nothing and floats of to sleep and dreams.
The Dream:
The nameless man picks up the loaded gun and shoots himself in the heart.
Why in the heart? --I will get to that later.
When dead the peculiar star that he had seen before carries him off to a different world that is similar to earth in every aspect except for the peoples attitude towards everything. The people are in harmony with themselves, animals and nature. They are pure and "love one another as themselves." These people except the nameless man with no questions asked. But eventually his influence disrupts the utopian society and corrupts them. They no longer live in harmony and hatred takes over. This is much like the story of Genesis when satin tempts Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit and which ends up condemning the whole human race.
When he wakes up he has a change of heart-- one must "Love others as you love yourself" and tries to preach is knowledge of the utopian society to others but they just laugh at him.
So, why did he shoot himself in the heart? The shot to the heart symbolizes: the problem doesn't lie in your head but in your heart.
"Love otheres as you love yourself"
This, is what transformed the life of the Ridiculous man.
Carrie Benda
MWF 11:00
If I were going to give a lecture on "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" I would start out talking about the author of the book, Dostoyevsky.Next I would go into talking about the ridiculous man in the book and his beliefs and what kind of a person he was. This man was a loner who really didn't like people and didn't really ever leave his house. After everyone got a feel of what this man's character was like and what kind of stuff he did I would explain why he got that way and tell people about his disapointing and unhappy life when he was younger.Another thing I would mention about the ridiculous man was about when he started to have feelings for a young prosititute and he told her that if she ever wanted to get out of this lifestyle that she should call him and he would help her. He regretted his decision afterwards and one day she showed up on his doorstep and he criticized and belittled her for coming there but deep down inside he was just scared because he knew he had some feelings for her, feelings that he had never felt before. In the end of his story he ends up shooting himself in the heart instead of the head like he had planned. This is a symbol of how he had a change of heart.
Lea Nutley
MWF 10:00
If I were to give a lecture about “Dream of a Ridiculous Man,” I would first out by making the students close their eyes. I would then ask them to think of the worst thing they had ever done. Then I would ask them to think about what it would have been like if they would have not done this certain thing. What would life be like? How much did things in the past affect your things in the future? Then I would let them sit there and think for a couple minutes, and explain to them that this is similar to what the author went through.
The author in this story describes what kind of person he is in the beginning. He was one of those people that didn’t have many friends, and who didn’t care about a whole lot. He didn’t think he had a place on the earth. The thought of suicide crossed his mind at one time.
Then he fell asleep. In the dream, he saw what it was like after being shot. Then he got a chance to wake up, and sent to a place with no worries called Utopia. He lived in this happy place for many years. One day he did a bad thing, which ruined the happiness of this special place.
The story ends with him waking up from this dream a changed person.
After telling the students the short summary, I would ask them questions. What would you do if you were able to change your mistakes in the past. Or if you were given a second chance? Would you use it, or throw away?
By having students put their shows in the footsteps of the author, it really does make them think.
People really can have a change of heart.
Stanley Kailahi
MWF 11:00AM
Post a Comment