Something to Chew On

 In class we read the play "Fences" and analyzed its structure and its characters and their relationships, which play a tremendous part in making the play have its style, voice, and message. While we analyzed the story, the term inherited trauma was introduced to us, which means that traumatic events experienced by humans can be passed on to their offspring. In "Fences," inherited trauma is a major theme around the characters Troy and Cory, and the relationship between them, as both go through a flawed father-son relationships and it reflects on their character. Troy experiences trauma throughout his childhood as he is forced to live with a neglectful father with more than 10 siblings and survive on his own after his father beats him to take his girlfriend away from him when he was only 14. Troy experienced hardships on the streets and in jail, and was never able to experience the change that black culture saw in his era. Cory, on the other hand, is trying to live h

It is held as common knowledge that in the tragedy Oedipus Rex , Oedipus falls from power because of his hamartia, or his main character flaw that will eventually lead to his tragic end. However, it is hard to determine what Oedipus' hamartia might actually be, since there are many reasons why he blinds and exiles himself, both in and outside his control. He obviously has hubris, but hamartia isn't just limited to the character themselves. His fate decided at birth could also be his hamartia because it is the mistake that was made to cause his tragic flaw. To figure out what Oedipus' hamartia really is, lets take a look at another "hero" who has an unexpectedly similar flaw to Oedipus: Walter White from the TV show Breaking Bad . Walter is a character who, like Oedipus, had a "prophecy" that he would die due to lung cancer, and as a result, he starts making meth to provide for his struggling family. However, he gets caught up in all of the drugs, lies, a