Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Ch.7: sex, violence, religion, and TV
In chapter seven, there is an extremely strange incident in which Joe Christmas and some of his friends go to a barn to have sex with a negro girl. One thing that stood out to me was Mr.Mceachern's reaction to what Joe did: he was furious that Joe might have been with a girl, but when he learns that Joe had only been fighting, Mr. McEachern's only concern was how well Joe did in the fight. It's a strange and common scene in America: we celebrate violence in movies, tv, and video games, but any sexual content is censored harshly. I wonder if this sort of repression is what lead to Joe's issues, and I feel that it likely causes many of our problems today.
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I know that in this generation, we do not see violence as a big thing any more. Violence has just become something we see everyday, so it no longer affects us. With sexual content it is not something we constantly see in movies and games. We still see it as bad because we are not exposed to it as often.
ReplyDeleteI was pretty shocked on this part of the novel as well. I expected Mr. McEachern to punish Joe for his actions, however; he seemed to be proud of him. I also understand what you're saying about our society we conceal sexual content, yet violence is seen as an everyday thing. Why could that be? Is it simply because we don't see sexual content as often as violence?
ReplyDeleteI don't think its that we don't see sexual contact as often as violence. I think it's more of an issue of choosing to prioritize one more than the other. If we think about the basics, both violence and sexual content/activity are against the supposed God's will and God's way of life.
DeleteAre you saying that sex is against God's will? We are going to have to clarify!
DeleteYou're right, this incident was really strange to me too. I didn't understand Mr. McEachern's way of thinking because he accepted the fact that his son was participating in violence, however he saw the action of being with a woman as a dreadful act that needed punishment. How can he still be proud that Joe got into a fight with other children? I also understand what you're saying about how sexual content is censored more today while violence is freely seen by any person of any age. I think the idea of what is appropriate to see and what is not has evolved in America to the point where something that shouldn't be seen by a certain age group is constantly being watched everyday.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this ties back to Joe being a mini-McEachern. McEacher is proud of Joe becoming just like him, because every father wants his son to look up to him, right?
DeleteYou're right, I do believe too that Mr. McEachern does want Joe to become like him in the future. You can see this when Mr. McEachern tells little Joe that he will learn the ways of his religion and follow the rules that he follows as well. Good point.
DeleteI agree with all of you. Even at this point of the book I am still shocked on how Mr. McEachern's character is portrayed. In my perspective of life i have always thought that those people who are evolved with the church are those you have to look up to. they are the ones whom are suppose to follow all the rules and show the rest whats wrong from whats right. I am very angered that Mr. McEachern's is said to be a man of God, yet his actions don't seem of those who are with God.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your statement. It's strange how all over Facebook there are fight videos uploaded and people see it as entertainment. Even though videos of sexual activities are also posted and immediately taken down. It's sad how violence in our media and day to day lives are seen as normal.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well, the desensitizing of violence in our society has contributed to many of our problems in this country. It would seem that this issue has conflicted with our past, present, and maybe future....
ReplyDeleteI think that the question is raised whether we as a society value one more than the other. Are situations pertaining to sex more of value than situations pertaining to violence or vise versa?
ReplyDeleteMcEachern is certainly an interesting characters with an interesting set of values.
When growing up in a society and especially a very religious environment we are taught that virginity is a sacred thing to have. We are taught to save ourselves because once it's gone it's gone, but it shouldn't be that way. That could be one of the reasons why we as a society are sensitive to sexual content, thinking if we are exposed to it we will have ideas and make the mistake of losing our virginity.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, upon reading this chapter, the reaction of Mr.McEachern towards Joe fighting with others definitely surprised me. I thought McEachern would punish Joe for fighting others because they are God's children and we should treat others equally. Instead, he was only interested in how many Joe fought and that is not very religious. Anyway, I can see how our society had changed dramatically by the events of violent acts and sexual content on the media appearing ever so often. We often turn a blind eye to these events and go on with our lives. These days, kids would be expose to violence on cartoons and love it.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely surprised me when Joes father didn't get upset about him getting into a fight. Mr. Escher may see this as Joe becoming more of a man because he can stand up for himself and be more superior.
ReplyDeleteI Aslo agree , when Mr. Eachern asked Christmas if he left any marks i was really shocked but perhaps sex is censored because it has nudity and nudity is worse then blood at least in most cases .
ReplyDeleteAgreed. His reaction surprised me , but at the same time it did not. It is expected for a father's only concern is how well his son did in the fight because that's just the way things are now. We have become so comfortable with violence that it just seems as an everyday thing.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if he would have cared whether or not Joe had sex with a women. Joe was going to be punished for being out without permission. However it is very odd that he wasn't punished as soon as McEachern becomes aware of the fight that occurred between the boys. I think that McEachern asked about the appearance of the others in the fight because he himself tends to be quite violent. Perhaps he was curious to see how much Joe had actually "picked up" from him
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying they way he acted towards finding out that Joe was fighting was indeed surprising. I also agree with how violence, lets say in a movie, is a norm in society while sexual content is seen as something harmful to the viewers.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree I was shocked when he wasn't upset about him getting in a fight but if we look at me mceachern it looks like he was a fighter when he was younger and he could possibly be proud ignore because he could look at it as joe following in his footsteps and it is true that in America we do allow violence on tv, video game and many more and as the years go by many young children also start to experience this bookended because the parents don't restrict them from viewing this violence it's not something that parents are slowly allowing into their children's lives where the sex topic is still awkward for parents to bring up.
ReplyDelete-Alexandra Perez
With Julia's statement, Joe was already going to be punished even with or without having intercourse with that girl. Nevertheless, when he finds out that Joe has only been fighting I felt when McEachern only thought of the fight's outcome it would show him how much masculinity Joe had. I really loathe the fact that in order for Joe to be on McEachern's good side, he had to hurt someone. If you were look up the words "Feminine" or "Masculine" on Google, the results come out to this:
ReplyDelete- Masculine - having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men, especially strength and aggressiveness
- Feminine - having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with women, especially delicacy and prettiness.
It defines it automatically giving out specific gender a role within the definition. In my own opinion, you can be as feminine or masculine as you want. Be both or don't define yourself under any of them, it's up to you and your choice is still completely okay. Your gender should not affect this otherwise. Joe shouldn't have to meet McEachern's standards to be a 'man', he should just be himself instead of using what he picked up from McEachern. I only wish Joe could of have a better role model.