Alexa Ferrer tuesday

I interpret the mouse as someone who does not look at both sides of any situation and clings on to a narrow minded set of beliefs out of fear of the unknown. Inevitably, this mouse will feel insulted because anyone who says anything the mouse does not completely agree with will threaten the mouse's intelligence therefore insulting him. The mouse becomes so timid and scared because he is drowning in the fear of all the doubts and unanswered questions his one-sided viewpoints can't explain. He then does something a lot of us do when we can't deal with something, ignores it. The mouse ignores these complexities until they go away although they will never go away and that is why the mouse will never become a man he will always remain as a scared little mouse intimidated by the unknown and naive to "both sides."

In the next paragraph Dostoyevsky reveals the strange pleasure that lies in the constant doubt of dealing with "both sides". Although it's a struggle we have to accept that we will never find the answers we search for because there is no definite way and in a way that is comforting but also terrifying. He then brings up his personal life, assuming we are so interested, and says he has never been slapped in the face (which is a lie as we read later on in the book.) He's a liar.

Important paragraph- This paragraph sums up everything we've been arguing in class for the past two days. The general population of "strong nerves" builds up their own walls of science and logic so that they don't have to face the controversial up and down doubtful journey someone with an open mind would. The easy way out is creating ONE reason for everything and once you fervently believe and devote yourself into making that reason your "truth" you have now avoided the anxiety of infinite space. Those who cling onto these walls, probably very intelligent people, are the most ignorant. The fact that they can't be argued with and will put down anything they don't agree with shows that they're scared of the unknown. They're scared of their wall breaking down because they can't deal with infinite space, double sides, and no answers.

I understand why people create the walls that they create, just like everything around us we like having defined terms for all aspects of life. However, because people get so insulted when their views are challenged shows how much society clings on to certain walls instead of evolving. When I say evolving I don't mean evolving to new ideas and new answers I mean evolving into the one thing that will preserve all intellect and remove ignorance- being open minded.