Kyle Howard Blog Post 3

Kyle Howard

English

February 13, 2013

Dr. Ellis

Blog Post 3

                All three of the works of literature that I read this week had the theme of freedom. Some of the works discussed the amount of freedom we have and some of the works talked about a lack of freedom. “Liberty” by Thomas Lynch,” Suburban” by John Ciardi, and “Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe were the three works. Along with these three works I also attended a speech held by three panelists which discussed the current and past issues with the Baltimore transit system entitled “Not in My Neighborhood.” The three works of literature seemed to be easy to connect with one another but the discussion about Baltimore transit did not seem to fit into the discussion.

                “Not in My Neighborhood” was an extremely interesting talk about how certain factors play into the creation of mass transit. Years ago many people did not feel like they needed a transit system in Baltimore but due to suburbanization people want a quicker way to get to work or into the city. The city currently has proposed a new rail line which would help people get from one end of the city to the other and would had mileage to the current railway transit system already in place. I pondered what this would have to do with freedom which was so vividly discussed in the three works and it hit me that the people of Baltimore want a change with their railway system so they had the freedom to voice their concerns and they did. In “Liberty” by Thomas Lynch he discusses that he has the freedom to go to the bathroom wherever he pleases despite his wife telling him to “be like everybody else.”  Also next to that poem is a picture of the town he is from and every house is almost identical; Lynch wanted change so he did what he wanted despite the popular opinion. While it is not my opinion I applaud the fact that he stepped out of the comfort zone that society has established. The people of Baltimore stepped out of their comfort zone and they got something proposed that would benefit everybody. “Suburban” by John Ciardi discusses a dog that leaves his “droppings” in a neighbor’s garden. The man willingly picks up the droppings and moves them but this represents a different type of freedom where people can really do so many more things than they think. Although this is an odd example using a dog it does show the freedom that people own if they opened their eyes and realized it. Finally “Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe shows quite a cynical view of “freedom” (Or a lack thereof.) In this story by Poe, Montressor is a man who has been bullied by a very well respected man named Fortunato. Montressor has had enough and finally gets the ultimate revenge on Fortunato by getting him drunk and taking him deep into his catacombs and finally burying him alive in one of the walls. I guess this is freedom one the part of Montressor because he was able to handle his problem the way he wanted to but unfortunately for Fortunato he no longer has any freedom. Just like the people of Baltimore though, Montressor used the tools at his disposal to handle Fortunato. The people of Baltimore used the tools at their disposal to get a new railway proposed.

                While the three works of literature were rather odd they all displayed the fact that we have the freedom to bring about change, and the talk that I attended showed the fact that people had freedom even though it was not directly expressed. It is important for everybody to express their freedom even if they don’t want to and it is equally important for people to realize how important their freedoms are. I think it is easily overlooked how many freedoms we have as Americans.