PARCC Essay Prompt Ryan Zegarski, Guillermo Ortiz-Ahedo, Armani Rodriguez by Ryan Zegarski

PARCC Essay Prompt

ortiz_ahedog — 2015-01-21 15:01:22 UTC

Dark romantic writers believed that all people had a dark evil inside of them that could not be changed. This evil is a part of their nature and drives them to do the things they do. Do you agree or disagree with them? Write an essay synthesizing information from the four sources provided to help prove your point.

Black Cat- Edgar Allan Poe

ortiz_ahedog — 2015-01-21 15:18:08 UTC

"And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, that I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart -- one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of man. Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgement, to violate that which is Law, merely because we understand it to be such? It was this unfathomable longing for the soul to vex itself -- to offer violence to its own nature -- to do wrong for wrong's sake only -- that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the un-offending brute."

Rationale: As one of Poe's most interesting stories, it portrays the narrator slowly losing his sanity over time. It then is apparent that the narrator harms his pets and his wife for no other reason besides that he can. This shows Poe's belief that all humans are evil on the inside, and that the evil is just waiting to come out. The narrator eventually kills his wife, which represents the "evil that has escaped him".

On the Origins of Morality –Molly S. Castelloe, Ph.D.

rodriguezl — 2015-01-21 15:34:36 UTC

In fact, the superego, the supposed moral agency of the mind, can be immoral as well as moral. Herein lies the flaw in Freud’s theory of morality. The loving aspects of superego are underdeveloped in Freud’s writing, largely because he could not closely examine the early (preoedipal) relationship between mother and infant where the origins of morality lie. An authentic moral sense comes not from the fear of castration or threat of punishment. This, rather, invites a psychological process called "identification with the aggressor" by which the child takes in and duplicates hostile behavior enacted by caretakers or other people in its intimate environment.

An authentic moral sense emerges not from external demands, but from within. Traits such as kindness, empathy, compassion, and pity need not be whipped into being. They are rooted in the infant-caregiver relationship, which Freud could not clearly see. Specifically, they originate in maternal nourishment and the feeding of a child in the early months and years of life. It is not just milk received by the baby, but also sweetness. (Cherishment: A Psychology of the Heart, Faith Bethelard and Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, 2000). How often have you seen an infant trying to feed their mother?

Rationale: In this excerpt of Molly S. Castelloe's "On the Origins of Morality", Castelloe talks about how people like Sigmund Freud, those that believe that people are naturally evil and immoral, never observed the tender relationship between infant and mother. She says how children do not need to be scared or abused into morality. It pre-exists in the relationship. Humans are born with kindness, but if maltreated by the parents, can turn cruel.

NY Times Baby Experiment

ortiz_ahedog — 2015-01-21 15:35:32 UTC

Rationale: This source adds a different point of view towards human emotion and compassion. Babies are too young to absorb ideas from others. This allows research centers to perform experiments testing the natural compassion of babies/humans through simple tests. While the Dark Romantics view humanity that evil is part of human nature, this experiment proves that most babies are naturally compassionate from their point of birth.

Cynicism of Wit- Sigmund Freud

rodriguezl — 2015-01-23 06:39:06 UTC

They say, Yes, the man is right; nothing is greater than pleasure, and it is fairly immaterial in what manner one procures it. This sounds frightfully immoral, and perhaps it is, but fundamentally it is nothing more than the "Carpe diem" of the poet who refers to the uncertainty of life and the bareness of virtuous renunciation. If we are repelled by the idea that the man in the joke about the "salmon with mayonnaise" is in the right, then it is merely due to the fact that it illustrates the sound sense of the man in indulging himself- an indulgence which seems to us wholly unnecessary. In reality each one of us has experienced hours and times during which he has admitted to the justice of this philosophy of life and has reproached our system of morality for knowing only how to make claims upon us without reimbursing us. Since we no longer lend credence to the idea of a hereafter in which all former renunciations are supposed to be rewarded by gratification-(there are very few pious persons if one makes renunciation the password for faith)- "Carpe diem" becomes the first admonition.

Rationale: Sigmund Freud here puts us in a scenario. If we believe the man is right, we are said to be "frightfully immoral." If we disagree with the man and say he is wrong, then we said that for immoral reasons because his indulgence is unnecessary and immoral. Freud says that no matter what side you are on, you will have immoral and evil beliefs because it is human nature. It is a no win scenario.