PSY 201 - Exam Discussion

[Hibbleton]

2. How might Miles' lack of a father figure growing up have effected the decisions he made on the island? Do you think he will act differently after having met his father, Pierre Chang?

I think that Miles' lack of a father figure gave him an even greater desire to change himself once he was on the island and away from the normal confines of society. He was able to use his abilities to help out, instead of just as a way to make money. In going to the island he was eventually able to meet his father and see that at one point in time, there was a lot of love in his family, and that if things had gone differently his life would have been very different indeed. After he meets his father I think he would be able to let go of his insecurities and doubts, he no longer needs to think that his father didn't love him and can go on in his life knowing who his father was.

[emilyo]

1. What influence did Faraday's desire to earn his mother's approval have on his success as a Physicist? Do you think Eloise Hawking was justified in pushing her son, knowing that it would ultimately lead to his demise?

I think Faraday's pursuit of physics was almost entirely due to pressure from his mother and desire to seek her approval. We see this in his childhood flashback where he really wanted to pursue music. If we see Daniel in a flash sideways timeline, there's a good chance we will see him as a musician. Eloise thought she was justified in pushing her son, because she was set on the belief that the universe only has a single path and things have to work out in a certain way. She believed she was pushing him towards his destiny. However, as a mother to a child, it completely baffles me that she would push him in that direction knowing that she would kill him. It is not justified, unless we find out in season 6 that she somehow knew that the bomb explosion would work and this will ultimately lead to Daniel being alive and everyone being better off, however, it doesn't seem that anyone knew what the outcome of explosion would be.

2. How might Miles' lack of a father figure growing up have effected the decisions he made on the island? Do you think he will act differently after having met his father, Pierre Chang?

It would have been hard growing up thinking that your father had abandoned you, and that 50% of your DNA came from a man who would do that. I think it helped Miles tremendously to know that his father wasn't actually a jerk, and instead had wanted to protect him. However, Miles is still a bit of a sarcastic jerk, and I love it.

3. Charlie and his brother Liam had problems with drugs, but were able to come clean and make the transition to father. What about their upbringing may have allowed for that change? What role might their father have played?

Their father was a very practical man who seemed to value a strong work ethic, and did spend some quality time with his kids (teaching Charlie to swim). While he did disapprove of their music careers, his work and family values likely helped them both come clean and become "family men".

4. Both Sun and Jin have families they wished to keep secret from each other. What impact did acknowledging their past histories have on their relationship? What might have been different if Jin never went to work for Sun's father?

Sun and Jin would have been so better off to tell each other everything from the get go (but Lost is the show of secrets - "What polar bear?"). Jin could have told Sun about his family; she obviously wouldn't have cared where he came from, and it would have allowed them to more practically plan an approach to introduce him to her family. It would have been nice for Sun to mention to Jin that her father was psycho before ever letting Jin talk to him, and then likewise, it would have been nice for Jin to tell Sun that her father was psycho and making him kill people - I'm sure they could have figured out an escape plan together before Jin became a hitman. That whole storyline always bothered me. I don't care how much you love someone, if you have to be a hitman for their father in order to be with them, it's not worth it!!!

[rachaface]

I think Eloise pushed Faraday so hard to become a physicist because she knew the secrets and difficulties of that island when she was on it in the war with Widmore. I think she pushed harder not necessarily to have him become a loner, but because she had faith in him all along to solve the answers and eventually bring him back with her weird pendulum thingy during the whole desmond/faraday/constant ordeal. She pushed him more for her benefit, seeing as she knew he'd probably die, but it was proof that it was able to be figured out and all of his work did mean something.

[drew13drew]

1. What influence did Faraday's desire to earn his mother's approval have on his success as a Physicist? Do you think Eloise Hawking was justified in pushing her son, knowing that it would ultimately lead to his demise?

Eloise Hawking knows much more about the big picture than we know about. I think she is working toward the greater good, whatever that may be.

[twilight]

1. What influence did Faraday's desire to earn his mother's approval have on his success as a Physicist? Do you think Eloise Hawking was justified in pushing her son, knowing that it would ultimately lead to his demise?

Daniel appears to be a high achiever and he decided to explore this field of study. Yes, Eloise may have changed Daniel's preferences, however, Daniel had that talent in him to be a Physicist.

The time travel aspect is puzzling. After you conceive a child would you knowingly raise that child to be in the profession that will eventually lead to you killing your own child? From the expression on young Eloise's face when she is informed who she shot, she didn't realize that she had shot her son. She was more in a state of shock that it had happened. As cold as she appeared when we first encounter the older Eloise, perhaps she still doesn't know what will happen in her past. So, the confusing part of time travel is, what part of the life are we seeing? An incident where Eloise has never seen her son's complete future, or one that she knowingly will kill her son in her past.

2. How might Miles' lack of a father figure growing up have effected the decisions he made on the island? Do you think he will act differently after having met his father, Pierre Chang?

Abandonment can cause several reactions to a child. Depending upon what other influences that child has makes a difference on what the child becomes. No one can convince a child of a parent's love especially if a parent isn't there. Miles most likely substituted money for love. The more money, the more love. When you are on an island and the money means nothing to anyone on the island, well, then, you will have a change of attitude about what love is.

Of course he'll change after meeting his father. He's an adult now, he will be able to decide if he likes his father and will use some of the traits his father has, or he can not use the traits and have a baseline of what he really wants to be. At least he'll know if his father was capable of love and then Miles can select what he wants in his own life.

3. Charlie and his brother Liam had problems with drugs, but were able to come clean and make the transition to father. What about their upbringing may have allowed for that change? What role might their father have played?

Charlie has been pressured to "save the family," by his mother. This started at an early age so his whole motivation and life's ambition is to use his creativity to save his family. However, Liam was selfish and cared very little for Charlie. This resulted in a very confusing definition of what "family" is. It appears that Charlie's father was absent much of Charlie's childhood to make money to keep the family together. It may not have been the most glamerous profession, but, being unknown and having little extra money should not be something to be ashamed of. Perhaps Charlie was very ashamed and felt that being a rich rockstar is the correct career choice. However, this came at a high price...the drug addictions became his obsession. Once that becomes a motivator, there is no freedom. Both brothers would make confusing choices mostly to possess more and more of the drug, and when the drugs were in their system their reasoning power was very misguided.

Maybe somewhere deep inside, the brothers remembers that their father wasn't such a bad guy and that being a father is much more than being famous or making lots of money. Possibly that is why they started to try to become clean because the drug addiction was in no way an improvement to the childhood life that they had.

4. Both Sun and Jin have families they wished to keep secret from each other. What impact did acknowledging their past histories have on their relationship? What might have been different if Jin never went to work for Sun's father?

Social classes and the classes' expectations are cultural and have been in existance in one form or another for years. One might view that at an extension of a structured peer group that for one reason or another people accept them as keeping them in existance and no one decides to change. So these groups become more and more isolated and their rules become more questionable as to whether they are right for the soceity or not.

Sun's family are the wealthy, the privileged, the powerful, the rule creators, and the law enforcers. If someone goes against them, they will find a way to either eradicate that person, or do something that will keep that person from ever thinking of doing anything against them. I do not believe Sun knew the extent of what her father was capable of, she didn't know how this would influence Jin to the point where she wanted to escape from Jin.

Jin's family was the other side of the social scale. One that would never be approved by Sun's father. Jin knew he could never give Sun the type of lifestyle she was accustomed to and he would not want to have her become like his mother.

If Jin never worked for her father, I don't believe Sun would have ever been with Jin. This is a tough one to realize, but, there isn't a way that her father would let Sun go for that. He would have intervened, sent her away, done something to not allow their union to take place. One would hope that Jin and Sun could happily be together living a very low profile life, but, the chances of that happening is pretty non-existant.

[clh1985]

1. Blah

2. Blah Blah

3. ?

4. I just love LOST.