Katya's Biweekly Reflections

       For this blog post, I want to examine Paneloux’s two sermons and how his beliefs change during the epidemic of plague that strikes Oran.               One thing that struck me about the sermons was that the second one seemed to be so much more extreme than the first one, and to me it kind of seems like he may have started doubting his religion. I know that not everyone will agree with me on this, so feel free to reject my points and provide your own views in the comments. I’m actually really interested to see what discussion this blog post generates.               Anyway, in the first sermon, he comes across as quite sure of his belief and where his relationship with God stands. He addresses the people as “you”, implying that he does not feel that he is a part of the general community and feels quite safe because he has dedicate...

       For this blog post, I want to explore the concept of love and whether Brett and Jake love each other. Although dictionary.com describes love as “ a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another perso n”, I disagree slightly. In my opinion, love is a relationship where both parties have an affection for each other and choose to cultivate their relationship. There is a difference between liking someone and loving someone, and for me, love is distinguished by the two (or more) parties actively taking the time to listen to each other and adapting. Obviously, people don’t have to change themselves completely, and a partner asking for that can actually be a pretty big red flag. However, disagreements pop up since no relationship is ever perfect, and the couple should be willing to work through that and set clear expectations for each other. That way, both parties are benefiting from the relationship.      I’m not naïve enough to believe that thi...