Definition of Beauty

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Every single person on Earth has a unique understanding of beauty. Esther Honig sent an unaltered image of herself to artists in over 25 countries and asked them to Photoshop the picture to fit their definition of beauty. The result was not surprising; no two images were the same. This experiment further reveals the illusive nature of beauty by showing that what people consider beautiful in one country differs greatly from beauty in another.

The concept of differing views on beauty is also explored in Toni Morison's The Bluest Eye. The majority of adults and children consider "blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned" dolls to be externally beautiful but Claudia fails to see it. She searches the inner beauty of the doll and finds only "a mere metal roundness". Even if a majority considers someone or something to be beautiful, exceptions will always exist.

Society has set standards for both male and female beauty. Every country has models and celebrities who are considered beautiful. There is, however, no fixed definition of beauty and there will never be a universally accepted beautiful.

Attempt At Synthesis Essay

The othering of a group or individual by those in power causes the dehumanization of both parties; the oppressed are degraded through shame while the oppressors are dehumanized simply because they dehumanize others. Since oppression dehumanizes both sides, ending it is just as beneficial to the powerful as it is to the weak. The Puritans' marginalization of Hester Pryne by forcing her to wear the Scarlet Letter made her feel as if "she didn't belong to it [society]" (Source A). This letter dishonored her in the eyes of Puritan society but in turn also degraded the society because they no longer see fault in themselves. they are so busy shaming Hester that they fail to acknowledge that punishing her so severely for a sin is inhumane of them. Similarly, Jonathan Edwards oppresses his listeners by calling them "sinners" (Source B) and informing them that they face God's "wrath" (Source B). His audience is so dehumanized by this that they don't feel worthy of having a human life and thus kill themselves. What Jonathan Edwards fails to realize, however, is that by oppressing his audience to the extent of suicide, he has probably angered God more than his listeners did. The bases on which he dehumanized his audience, is the same basis on which he is dehumanized: sin.

Guilt

Before reading the Scarlet Letter, we briefly discussed the concept of guilt. Every person on Earth has, at some point, experienced this emotion. Its presence can be caused by the smallest of things but can have the biggest impact on one's life. Guilt starts as just a horrible feeling in one's stomach but can evolve into influencing the day to day functions of the individual.

A major real-world application of the extreme effects of guilt is soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD). According to Juliann Steinbeigle, the Director of Psychological Health for the Illinois National Guard, guilt is the "#1 predictor of suicide thoughts and attempts". These soldiers feel guilty for their actions on the battle-field and this haunts them for their entire lives.

In the literary world, Dimmesdale is a textbook example of the negative effects of guilt. The guilt from his sin has made him unable to enjoy any moment of his life. Every single actions he performs and every word he utters is controlled by his guilt. He does not want to commit another sin that would result in a similar feeling and thus holds himself back from enjoying his life. Just like PTSD victims, Dimmesdale eventually loses his life to guilt.

What's Feminism?

Feminism in today's society has been skewed and is perceived the wrong way by many. Even some "feminists" do no truly understand what it is. Feminism is a movement for political, social, and economical equality to men. EQUALITY, not superiority. Here are three quotes from some well-known "feminists":

1) "The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race."- Sally Miller Gearhart

2) "All men are rapists and that's all they are."- Marilyn French

3) "The more famous and powerful I get the more power I have to hurt men."- Sharon Stone

The above are just as representative of feminism as terrorists are of Islam: they aren't. There are many people that judge feminism based on the viewpoints of radical feminists and they need to enlighten themselves. All movements consist of a minority extremist group based on which people judge the entire movement upon and this is wrong. 

Deborah Tannen is a feminist; she is not a radical feminist. Almost everything she states in "There is no Unmarked Woman" appeals to logic as true. Even though some of her writing is very opinionated, she never makes anti-male remarks. It is wrong to judge her writing based on the views we hold regarding feminism as these views could be skewed. If the byline of the piece contained a man's name instead of Tannen's, the reaction towards the piece would be unanimously supportive, but since it read "Deborah Tannen", it was split.