Summary and Choice of Analysis

Fish Cheeks by Amy Tan

This short story in The Bedford Reader makes a strong point very clear to the reader. It shows the reader that no matter what you want to be, you must always hold on to what you are. Whether people look at you differently or not isn’t necessarily a bad thing. To be different sets you apart from the rest, making you your own individual self. Don’t be disappointed in who you are because it is the deciding factor in who you will become.

“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.” –Oscar Wilde

Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie

Sherman Alexie is a brilliant writer that brings two worlds together. He combines the world of comic heroes and the reality of a modern day teacher. This teacher of course being himself, trying to save the lives of kids that are too scared to save it themselves. He is constantly breaking down the barriers just as Superman would to get closer to them. Trying to help them understand that there is hope. Speaking from a broken past, Alexie sheds the light on overcoming adversity and applying it to his daily mission to save these kids lives.

Both reads left me thinking a lot about perspective. Each story holds a strong purpose behind it and really makes the reader think. Without telling the reader the main points of the story directly they try to finesse it into your mind’s eye. Sherman Alexie speaks from his heart and I hold the upmost respect for the way he is choosing to live his life. Most people would find success and be done with it, but he uses his success as motivation for others in similar circumstances. Although I really enjoyed Superman and Me, I found that the short story portrayed by Amy Tan was more relatable to my own experiences in life. To be frank, once I finished the read, many things came to mind that I can’t wait to put on paper.

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Works Cited:
Tan, Amy. "Fish Cheeks." The Bedford Reader. By X. J. Kennedy and Dorothy M. Kennedy. New York: St. Martin's, 1985. 110-11. Print.

Alexie, Sherman. "Superman and Me." The Bedford Reader. By X. J. Kennedy and Dorothy M. Kennedy. New York: St. Martin's, 1985. 582-85. Print.

"Why We Lie" By Dan Ariely

Summary

This particular piece by Dan Ariely I found to be rather intriguing. I am currently taking a psychology class that is dealing with similar situations, which made it easy for me to draw a connection. We are learning about the behavior of humans and what has an effect on their decisions. The title clearly presents that the subject topic of the text is going to examine the purpose behind, "Why we lie." The author begins to explain the concept of honesty and dishonesty by describing a situation involving one of his students. They use an analogy involving a door and a lock. The situation is to show that the purpose of the lock isn't only prevent someone from entering it's to discourage the temptation of someone opening your door. Dr. Ariely had an idea that the reason we cheat and lie might have something to do with the thought process that balances, or weighs, the cost or benefits of committing a certain action. If you had to cheat in order to gain from something would this now be a test of morality? In this text Dr. Ariely is faced with this problem and in turn creates an experiment. Subjects were given five minutes and twenty different matrices, they are told they need to find the two numbers in each matrix that add to equal ten. They are then told that they will be paid accordingly to the amount of correctly answered matrices. After the experiment is concluded they are then introduced to what Dr. Ariely likes to call the, "shredder condition." The subjects are asked to count their correct answers, place the worksheet in the shredder in the back of the class, and then tell the instructor the amount they answered correctly giving the subject the opportunity to question their value of morals. Do the maximum benefits they could potentially possess outweigh their moral values? Even though they may not consciously be making this decision this is what it simplifies down to, and unfortunately on this instance dishonesty prevails. 

Paragraph #10

Dr. Ariely has yet to be satisfied. He seems to have a good understanding that people cheat and lie, but how might we be able to prevent this behavior? No matter how hard we may try to kill this habit it may never happen, because, "everyone cheats- just by a little," and "cheating- is infectious."

Favorite Quotes

Which leads me to my overall favorite quotes from the article.

"Every one cheats- just by a little." (Pg. 441)

&

"Cheating- is infectious." (Pg. 443)

These two quotes almost sum up the whole point that Dr. Ariely is trying to portray. Once you define the purpose behind the reasons why we cheat and lie we could potentially put an end to this action right? How do we end this if, “cheating is contagious?” If we could get everyone to stop then we could end this behavior, but let us not forget that if, “everyone cheats- just by a little.” this would make it seam like an unattainable goal. There is always going to be another lie. We may never see the day where cheating and lying cease to exist but we can always move towards the future. There are ways that you can temporarily prevent the temptations of the action/behavior by stopping the small lies and introducing deterrents, such as locks on doors.

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Shelbee's Blog

Works Cited:  Ariely, Dan. "Why We Lie." The Bedford Reader. Twelfth ed. Boston, New York: Bedford St. Martin's, 2014. 440-48. Print.