The Big Picture?
“All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: That I am nobody but myself.”
--Ralph Ellison,
From Invisible Man
Question: What connections can you suggest that link Franklin's Autobiography and Ellison's aforementioned quotation? How might Ellison's quotation suggest "Big Picture" ideas that correlate with American Literature? (If needed, use the best portions of your first quickwrite.)
--Ralph Ellison,
From Invisible Man
Question: What connections can you suggest that link Franklin's Autobiography and Ellison's aforementioned quotation? How might Ellison's quotation suggest "Big Picture" ideas that correlate with American Literature? (If needed, use the best portions of your first quickwrite.)
posted by Greg T at Monday, August 27, 2007
31 Comments:
You and only you can determine who you are. There are many methods to do this. Ben Franklin used his virtues chart, and Mr. Ellison asked others and used their answers to come up with his own. Both went through a time in their lives of searching for who they are, and used very different ways, but both had to come up with their own answers. Whether or not Ben Franklin would agree with Mr. Ellison’s statement, they both had to find their own answers themselves, and no one could tell them how to do it.
You are the only one who can see your true self, behind closed doors. No one else can tell you who you should be or what you should think. Ben Franklin showed this through his virtues chart and Mr. Ellison asked others questions and used their answers to come up with his own conclusion. Both Ben Franklin and Mr. Ellison had to go through a phase in their life where they were searching for their true “identity”. Mr. Ellison finally came to the conclusion that he needed to ask himself the questions that he was asking others, while Ben Franklin realized that only he could find his true self through looking back on the many years of his life and realizing what he did that was wrong and what he did that was right.
We need to be ourselves. Other people can't tell us who we are. People try to please other people by being who others had pictured them to be. Mr. Ellison talks about how everywhere he turned, people were giving him answers to who they thought he was, but he wasn't examining himself through his own perspective until the very end when he says that he came to the realization that he was nobody but himself. Franklin shows this in his virtues chart with the 13 virtues. They both searched and always got answers from different people about who they should be but in the end, they realized that only they can determine who they were and no one else could.
I think that is some ways Franklin's Autobiography dose not apply to the quote. He never really asked people for the answers he found them himself and if he could not find them he would work on it till he did. Franklin already knew that he was himself and nobody could change that. But on the other hand he connected to the Ellison's quote because it took him a long time and like the quote states "It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging" just like it did for Franklin in his Autobiography. He had to think awhile to write the virtues that he lived his life by. But in the end they both found the same thing even if they did it their own way.
In this statement from Mr. Ellison's novel I am reminded of the quote that Spencer Zeppelin used at the class assembly. It was a Pat Riley quote that states "don't let anyone tell you what you want!" I think that that works with what Mr. Ellison is trying to say because eventually you need to stop looking to other people and make decisions for yourself.
We should examine our lives from what we learn in life and what we pick up from what we do. I don't know yet who we are or what we are doing here on earth, I don't think anybody does until their very last minutes. We should live how we believe to live. Everyone has dreams and hopes that are put down by reality and what other people say or do to us. Everything we do is controled in someway. Realizations are sometimes road bumps and just a huge list of rules and laws but that is why achieving our dreams are so satisfing. Make your dream a reality by finding yourself, being yourself and having determination.
I think we should concentrate on the things which we like to do and which we do well, because then you can be yourself.
So I agree with what Ralph Ellison's statement: "I am nobody but myself."
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People are who they are. There the only ones who truly know who they are and they should be themselves. If we were all the same, life would be boring and no one would want to be here. Ralph Ellisons statement is very true "That i am nobody but myself".
It does take challenges that we have to conquer to realize that we can not change who we are and we are no body but ourselves. I also think people tend to neglect themselves from thoughts and actions. We as people need to become independent in a sense so we can think for ourselves and not constantly be influenced by others. It should not come to a point where people have complete control over the lives of others. With strength and honesty, we can face the truth and accept if for what it is: you are nobody but yourself- deal with it.
I agree with Mr. Ellison in that no one can tell you who you are and who to be. You can be nobody but yourself. In our society it is somewhat unsafe to just be yourself and I think that is why having friends that accept you is important. I feel that it is really important to live a life that will leave you with no regrets and one that you live for you and not someone else. That is what I think both Mr. Ellison and Franklin were ultimately getting at, you have to live your life for you. Both men went through times where they questioned themselves but in time realized that they needed to just be themselves to achieve happiness.
"That i am nobody but myself." Ellisons statement is very true, who can we be but ourselves? No matter how hard we try to hide it, no matter what we try to do, or how deeply we try to burt it, we can be no one but "ourselves" others may shape who we become, their ideas may become our own but there is always that trait or quality that trace that makes us who we are. A watermark from birth, if everyone were the same the world would be a dull and placid place.
I agree with Ralph Ellison when he said, "That I am nobody but myself." Only you can find your true self. You shouldn't try to be someone your not and by doing so you should follow your own path to self dicovery. Ellison had asked others who he was and all he got back were statements that he disagreed with. Ben Franklin used his virtues chart and felt they were an important guide for living. The two both found out who they were in a different way.
I think this quote is so very true about society today especially in the United States. Whether it's friends, strangers, or even advertisement; we are always being told how we can accomplish being someone who is more successful or how to look better. I think that we are exactly the way we are supposed to be, and we don't need anyone to tell us who we are or how we live life. Each persons life is his/her own to live; no one elses...
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Well the link between the quotation and Franklins virtues is that they both make you better as a person. One teaches you to be yourself while the others tells you great ideas to live your life by. I agree with the quotation that you need to be yourself. There are people out there who all they do is try to be who other people are so that they can fit in instead of accepting that it's not the life for them or they are just ashamed of themselves. They need to man up and quit caring what other think of them.
..."I found myself in New York, near 300 miles from home, a boy of but 17, without the least recommendation to..." (Pg. 86)
Ben Franklin might not perhaps be famous today if he didn't travel to New York and take his dreams to "the next level". No one told him to go to New York, infact, most people told him not to go to New York. There was something in his mind that told him that he had to go, and that is what being your own person is. If he listened to the crowd, and didn't follow his heart, then we wouldn't have all that we do today. It didn't take him very long to realize that he is his own person, and he happily exercized his freedom to take his life in his own hands. Ellison on the other hand knew he wasn't being true to himeself, and finally he realized who he was. The funny thing is, when you realize you are only who you are, then you have figured yourself out completly. No questions, you are who you are.
People have to define who they are for themselves. You can't let other people decide what kind of a person you will be. You have to let yourself explore new things and see yourself from different perspectives to learn more about yourself and what kind of person you ultimately what to be. In the end you are the only one that can decide what you what truly want for yourself. That being said I think that both Ben Franklin and Mr. Ellison are in essence saying the same thing they arrived at a similar conclusion from different points of view, but both are saying that they had to choose who they were going to be. Both tried to let other people decide for them, but ultimately they had to find their own answers.
A person has their own way of defining themselves and how they want to live their life is up to them but it does have alot to do with the kind of world they are put into. Ben franklin wrote down what he thought was important to him and how he thinks the world should go by. Mr. Ellison kind of took everybodys awswer and combined them and took what made sense to him and what he liked the most to make his own opinion. Both of them are some what common because they both went through life looking for answers and after a while they started finding them and began to realize what type of world they were living in and what kind they wanted to live in.
When Mr. Ellison describes his journey to how he came to the realizization that he is no one but himself I believe that it was only a metaphor for realizing that you are the one that controls who, how and what you are and do. This connects very plainly to the way Ben Franklin realized this very same thing by setting himself a list of virtues to adhere to and to make himself more responsible and better in control of what his actions effect. In the big picture both men made it an important goal to make themselves better people and their current surroundings better in hopes to impact others to do the same and make the world or at least their immediate world a better place to live.
The way I interpret Ellison's quote is; If people can't see you for who you are what's the point of living, because life is all about being yourself?
Not knowing this Ben Franklin
and Ralph Ellison were both abnging on the same door. They both stated in their own way that, you should make your own trail and take a new path not made by anyone else. Ben Franklin was showing us how he was making his own life through his virtues and charts and Ralph Ellison just told the truth's of life by the words from his quote; "That I am nobody but myself."
People always have expectations of themselves and sometimes they need others to tell them what they can or can't do. This is only to give you something to work with though. It does not mean those people are right. Only you know you. Franklin's family tried to get in the way of his goal to be a printer but he was able to overcome that by doing something they probably didn't think he would do by traveling by any means possible to eventlually find a place in Pennsylvania where he would get hired.
I think the quote by Ellison relates to Ben Franklin's autobiography because the entire autobiography Franklin is trying to find himselfuntil he finally lays down his own foundation with the list of virtues. Nut that list only could have been compiled through years and years of human experience. Ellison's quote is Franklins list.
In this quotation the author, Ellison, was searching for himself and trying to improve himself in that way. This idea is similar to that of Ben Franklin in that he as well was trying to improve himself through his virtues.
It is very true that you are the only one who can choose what you do. All our lives, especially in high school teachers, cousilers, parents and even friends are always trying to tell us what to do. If you believe what these people are saying or not it is still up to you to do what you want to do. I think this connects with Franklin beacuse i believe that Ben did what he wanted to do and did what he thought was right and that lead him to the places he went and the things he did.
I think Ellison's quote is like "Tranquility" from Franky's virtues. It expresses the thought of true self and letting problems and coherences bypass your main way of thinking. He asks other people questions to find his own identity. But through the eyes of the wise. The only questions to ask is to yourself.
In Ellisons statement he trys to get the reader to see that only he can determine who he really is and is trying to find who he is. With Ben Franklins book he too trys to see who he really is with the list of virtues. Both men used different ways of finding out who they are. Franklin used a list of virtues and Ellison asked people, but only they can come up with their own answers.
Well I can see that the link between the two quotes are that they are trying to tell people things about life. Franklins virtues try to tell you the best way that you can live your life and be a good person. On the other hand Mr. Ralph Ellison tells you that you can be nobody but yourself and no one but you can tell you who you need to be. This can relate to American Lit. because it may allow you to get deeper into the mind of certain characters in the book that we will read about.
ben franklin understood the ig picture. he was always trying to better him self with his virtues. He all ways questioned every thing. he never changed because of what other people told him. i think thet you just need to be your self and not let other people influence you. you are all ways told what to do when you should just do what is right. Both Ben Franklin and Ralph Ellison all ways askedquestions and tried to better them selves each day.
All people, at some time in their life, search for their own identity.
At times we "see" ourselves reflected in other people, by how they react to us or treat us. Mr. Ellison finally came to the realization that we shouldn't look to others but be mentally tough enough to look inside ourselves for the answers. I agree with this belief. Ben Franklin did a lot of self reflection through his virtues.
this is a strong quote because you should always believe in yourself and not relie on others to answer quetions about yourself. the reason why you should do things in your own is to find out who you are and what you are capable of doing.
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