In Fanny Howe’s essay, Bewilderment, Fanny explains what she
believe bewilderment is. She connects bewilderment to uncertainty. By using the
reference of a dream as bewilderment her idea of the unrestricted boundaries
bewilderment becomes clearer. In a dream one’s world is limited to what they
know and see. Nothing else exists outside the dreamer’s knowledge. Reality is
not much different than this. Bewilder by definitions mean to cause to lose one’s
sense of where on is. Howe blames language
as a contributor to the confusion we suffer in our everyday life. We cannot,
with in our existing languages, express multiple actions taking place at a
single instance. This limit one sense of direction and understanding of what is
going on around them and there for leads to wilderness and uncertainty. This sense
of bewilderment and uncertainty can be beneficial because it cause one to
question. Through questioning what may seem obvious we discover and expand. Not
only will one discover what something truly is but what it is not. On the other
hand certainty is also necessary because without it we would question
everything and nothing could be true.
Bewilderment in my words can be considered as the questioning or confusion referring to the purpose of life. In the essay Bewilderment by Fanny Howe, bewilderedness is portrayed by a metaphor that consist of the author dreaming of two women. One woman is the Way Inside where the other is considered Way Out There. They represent the two sides of reality; the side that pertains to you and your everyday life or the known life and the other side that is the side that is private or the hidden part of life. I believe that it is very important to have certainty in life because if one does not have any certainty in their life then they are doomed to the constant struggle of not knowing what is real. But i also believe it is important to have be wilderness so that one can create questions and then find solutions to those questions. Which could further explain human existence.
ReplyDeleteFanny Howe, in her essay "Bewilderment," has very strong ideals on what she,personally, believes the word bewilderment means. She thinks it has to do with realities that exist on another plain and how it confuse us. Personally I believe, based on the text's ideas of false realities, bewilderment can be described as a loss of control in your specific reality. Further, I think that there are good reasons both certainty, the opposite of bewilderment, and this loss of reality. Both lead to a greater understanding of our reality. Bewilderment shows us the things that we don't necessarily want to see, but need to see. On the other hand, certainty aids our mental state and truly keeps us grounded. Therefore, both states of mind are completely necessary.
ReplyDeleteBewilderment is the lack of confidence or assurance to take on a certain task or responsibility. We look at movies where an ordinary character is expected to save the world or carry other characters to victory. When this character is informed of the grand responsibility he/she must partake in, the first reaction is to be in denial and in most cases walk away. This is bewilderment. Certainty is the positive vibe an individual gets when asked to take a major responsibility. Certainty is being certain and not confused or in shock.
ReplyDeleteBewilderment in my own words after reading this essay by Fanny Howe,made me come to the conclusion that I think bewilderment means like a false reality. Where we often go to in a make believe world to get away from the harshness of reality. Certainty means that we need to check back into reality, we need to go about our daily routine, like a sort of reminder that we have a life to live outside of thee false reality! This made me come to the conclusion that both bewilderment and certainty are necessary.
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