Tuesday Post

        Class discussion today revolved around the idea that all humans’ greatest fears are the inherent secrets they keep from friends, from family or most importantly, from themselves. These hidden thoughts normally refrain from surfacing in our daily lives, but occasionally escape, begging the question of what happens when they do. I found the argument compelling, and am in agreement –even if this side is not extreme, I do believe that everyone has a part of themselves that they don’t always show to others. Like Raoul mentioned in class, this idea reminds me of Freudian thought; it’s all about how the unconscious elaborates on an individual’s hidden tendencies aside from external portrayal. 

        After this conclusion about Part I, I can safely say that NFTU was unlike any other book I’ve read in school before; it dealt with the analysis of human nature in a pretty straightforward, unlayered way, unlike many of the other stories that do so to a smaller extent and through conduits of other characters, complicated plotlines and drama. At the same time, however, I feel that Part I was complex just because of the depth of ideas approached and the way the narrator phrased them, for example with the ‘underground’ aspect. But that is also why I felt that discussion helped greatly in my understanding of his arguments. 

        In the end, I found NFTU to be worth reading. I feel that even if I don’t necessarily end up applying this directly or professionally, it is something to expand your perspective with. Reading all the quirks in human behavior that I’ve thought little about before and have never particularly seen explicitly written in paper made me think about the basis for what we do. The one idea we described that was most memorable is definitely the ‘walls’ idea. I’ve always known that people have strong opinions about everything, but it never struck me to think of them in the sense that they are walls we strike up to provide comfort and an excuse; even when that wall has been knocked them, we quickly establish new ones because we can’t stand the idea of not having anything to lean against –infinity is too much to comprehend.