summer reading qs

1.     Oedipus made the choice to pursue finding out his heritage and identity completely. Jocasta made it clear to him that the subject could be dropped and nothing much should be thought of it but he does not listen to her and still decides to uncover the secrets of his family. As for his fate of marrying his mother and killing his father, that was beyond his own control and the prophecy stated his fate before he was even born. His life had been determined in the eyes of the gods.

2.     I believe strongly that Oedipus was in fact a good loyal king who was true to his word and loyal to his country. Even though he hadn’t known the former king of Thebes, he still took the responsibility upon himself to settle the uncertainty in his people. Not only does he do this, but when realizing he himself was the perpetrator he did not view himself as being exempt from his punishment~ which was very respectable for not really putting himself “above the law” so to speak.

3.     In both works, the oracles prophecies come true. Nothing happens as planned but it happens no matter what and that shows how in the end fate is inescapable. Oedipus didn’t know who is own father was but ended up killing him and John Anderton did not know his victim either but ended up killing him anyways as well. John says “how can I kill someone I’ve never even met?” , something ordinarily against his own nature and instinct and yet he does it. The precogs and oracles know about the future which humans simply cannot. Therefore, humans have no way of ruling out what will happen to them.

4.     The precogs see all. What they see determines peoples fate and destiny. They reveal “ the truth” and are seen as being all- knowing god like oracle figures.  A quote that is said directly to John Anderton is said by his drug dealer and goes “ in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king”, which Speilberg  plays with a lot in that he uses camera shots where one eye is covered or in the shadow. This can be interpreted as John has control of his fate and his own situation. When John Anderton ends up swaping out his eyes is when we can really see the switch in Johns character. He is no longer the hero –like cop and he questions himself more and who he is as he tries to find the minority report and his destiny. He does not completely lose his own identity though because he does hold on to his “old/original” eyes.  The rest of the world is constantly being watched and monitored . Where people are and what they are doing or buying- everything. All of this is because the government scans people via their eyes and that is their ID.  This is also interesting to think about.