Family+Matters

=**Family Matters **=

Curtis T.
Introduction

Most humans would consider children one of the greatest gifts of nature, so what would we ever do without them? Call God of course! Rachel went through her own dilemma about children herself, and now she has to face God or live with the pain of being without children. The conversation below captures their conversation, and this is accompanied with an in-depth analyses of both Rachel's and God's characters based on the dialogue and Genesis with artwork pertaining to the characters.

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 Rachel: *sobbing* Aghhh! Why can't I have any children? This makes me sick seeing Jacob with all his other wives having kids left and right! How can I live like this? There's nothing I can do... Give me children, or I shall die! ======

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 God: Obviously. I'm sick of all you dumb puny humans asking me stupid questions! I'm down here for a reason you know. ======

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 Rachel: I love my husband Jacob, and I see my sister and my slaves having children and they seem so happy! I'm so jealous of them. I've never been that happy in my life before. My whole life's been a waste, and if I can't have children then Jacob won't love me anymore. Why can't I be like them? I'm such a terrible person. I hate myself. I hate my life. What's the point anymore? ======

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 God: Anyway, I'll give you children. But first, you must complete a series of extremely difficult, useless tasks for no reason other than my self-satisfaction, after which I will inform you that I will only allow you to have this child if you remain completely loyal to me and obey my every command. I expect daily offerings to me so I know that you're grateful. If, for any reason you slip up, even if it's a complete accident and you really did nothing wrong, I will kill you, curse your family, torture everyone associated with you and laugh in the process. I also reserve the right to do anything I want to you in the future if I'm having a bad day in case I haven't completed my weekly stress relief exercises consisting of flooding the world, causing mass confusion in major civilizations, and forcing parents to kill their own children. ======

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 God: Now, here's what you have to do: First, you must do ten jumping jacks, saying a different fruit for each jump... (fade out) ...and finally, clap seven times while spinning in a circle with a large mushroom in your mouth. Got it? ======

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 God: Well as I said, since you promised unconditional loyalty and completed the tasks I asked, I'm going to blatantly treat you much better than anyone else and do anything you ask of me as long as you stay loyal... Unless, of course, I change my mind about you. ======

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 Rachel: ...That's it? This is great! I feel great! I've never been happier! Thank you so much Lord! This is the best thing that's ever happened to me! ======

Character Analysis (Genesis and Artwork)
__**Rachel**__ Despite appearing reserved at first, Rachel later reveals her dramatic, emotional side as she pleads desperately for children. The William Dyce depicts her in //The Meeting of Jacob and Rachel// with Jacob looking down at the ground passively, seemingly unable to look Jacob straight in the eye. Her reserved nature takes over because she does not appear eager to interact with her new husband. By casting her eyes at the ground rather than straight at Jacob she displays her shyness and unwillingness to speak straight to him. Perhaps her actions reflect the expectation that women should be modest when in the presence of men, but based on her facial expression, she is actually timid although that does not last long. Rachel shows her emotional, outgoing side when she begs God for the one thing she wants; "'Give me children, or I shall die!'" (Gen 30.1). Rachel's word choice, using the word "shall", gives an even more desperate and emotional impression of her because "shall" suggests that nothing will stop her from dying no matter what. This situation helps convey the prominent cultural value of the importance of children by comparing death to not having children. Rachel's comparison allows later readers to get a sense of the emotional anguish that Rachel must have been experiencing because death is a concept everyone can relate to, while not everyone can comprehend the pain of not having children.

__**God**__ Because God is so condescending to humans and expects them to be completely faithful to him, he often demands unreasonable things from them. An unknown artist depicts Adam on his knees before God as he stands over them, looking down at him as if he were judging Adam. Their position in the picture signifies God's condescending nature because he is seated above the human who is bowing down before him in modesty. They appear to be degraded and pitiful, with miserable looks on their faces, while he raises his own ego for his own pleasure. God's condescending feelings about humans lead to unreasonable demands, such as his request to Abraham to "'offer [Isaac] there as a burnt offering'" (Gen 22.2) To ask someone to sacrifice their own son, especially at that time when society stressed the importance of family and ancestry so much, had tremendous implications. God's need of "offerings" presents an interesting question of his motivation and character because these offerings do not benefit God significantly. Other characters in //Genesis// request things, for example Joseph asking his father to bless his children, but usually the character will gain something for themselves. God's only motivation for offerings is to prove that he is much greater than humans, something most would not consider noble. The great God that a lot of the world looks up to and worships has His flaws too, and sometimes people can be too quick to follow a cause without analyzing what they stand for.

__**Rachel**__

The dialogue conveys Rachel's shyness through the very beginning after Rachel speaks with Jacob by having her whisper softly to God because perhaps she does not want Jacob or the other women to hear her. This makes her seem naive and young in a way because she does not exactly know how to handle herself confidently. This trait contributes to the story because she allows Leah and her servants to come before her to a certain point until God gives her the opportunity to become equal to them, which is when Rachel becomes enthusiastic in the story. Rachel reveals her extremely emotional disposition in the dialogue as she clearly does not have good control over her emotions. Her sadness and desperation quickly diminishes when God arrives which makes her extremely happy. Her instability and inability to control her emotions confuses even God, but her prematurely shifting emotions contribute significantly to Rachel's character in the dialogue.


 * __God__**

God does not treat humans like Rachel with respect because he always has been condescending towards them. However, once they pass whatever various tests he creates for them, he treats them like Gods themselves, which was expressed in a satirical way in the dialogue. Just like in Abraham's case when God forced him to attempt to kill his own son or when he flooded the world and left the human race in Noah's hands, God requires Rachel to complete unreasonable tasks or suffer consequences. One thing that God has an uncanny ability for is his talent to make people do what he wants. Usually the person's motivation is not dying or being granted a reward that nothing else would be able to bring. In either case, God's ability to persuade people in his favor may be one of his greatest assets, but it might also contribute to his large ego.

Artists Information

In the 3rd century, early Christian art was being created under the Roman empire. However, the empire restricted the art to private religious places until the Edict of Milan in 313 united Rome by making Christianity the state religion. The earliest Christian art contained Roman influences, however, instead of focusing on the quality of the picture itself, artists would try to depict the spiritual value within their image. These paintings would be used to teach about Christian beliefs. In the fourth century, Christian architecture became popular. The buildings were plain and simple on the exterior, but the interior had intricate designs and paintings that displayed the beauty of Christian art along with their teachings.
 * __Early Christian Art__**

William Dyce was born in 1806 to a wealthy family in Aberdeen __.__ Dyce received a master's degree at the age of 16, then went to school for his new passion of design. In 1829 Dyce settled down in Edinburgh to focus on his profession. By the end of his career, Dyce was known as one of the most successful British painters. Some of his work represented his country in the House of Parliament, but this is not what he was known for. Dyce's work is primarily simple, honest, and straightforward, which is the way most people know of his art. **
 * __William Dyce__

Personal Reflection

Overall, I think this assignment balances skill development in writing along with fun for students very well. We get a chance to write creatively with limited boundaries, and we also have extra practice in writing by analyzing text and images and researching and citing sources. However, I feel like it was too big and spread out over too long of a period of time. I think we could have improved this project by perhaps devoting a week to it instead of having it spread out over weeks and weeks. By the time I completed the project the beginning of the process felt like such a long time ago. The hardest part for me was getting all the technology to work. Between experimenting with Garageband and Audacity in my recording and formatting WikiSpaces, I think I spent way too much time playing with useless components of the project. This problem might be able to be solved if the process was condensed into a week's time because there would be more time in class to ask questions and troubleshoot. Despite my computer troubles, in the end I think all the time I spent on it will help in the future. Perhaps I will have to use these programs later, but even if I do not, problem solving is always a valuable skill to have.

Citations


 * __Images__**

"Early Christian - Early Christian Art." Oil Paintings Reproduction - Canvas Oil Painting Reproductions For Sale. Web. 18 May 2010. .

"William Dyce - LoveToKnow 1911." 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica - Free Online. Web. 18 May 2010. .