Sorry for the delay--my new laptop is rejecting Zoom! But I finally got the new video up. Read Chapters 1-36 (or as much of them as you can) and watch this video and comment by next week's class. Enjoy--I think it's a really fun and thought-provoking book!
I think our lives are like zoo enclosures because we do the same thing everyday. We live on knowing what our week is going to look like every week. We love familiar, and if it's not familiar then we don't want it. For example, I already know what this year is going to look like, it's already planned out. Sure, there might be some surprises, but for the most part it's the same thing. I do the same thing every holiday, go to the same places for Christmas and Thanksgiving. I go to the same classes all week long, and when I think about after college, it's kind of scary because it's not familiar. But that's how our lives are like zoo enclosures, I'm in a cage and in one corner is my family, another corner is college, and another corner is the thought of my future and what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life after college, but it's unfamiliar so I stay away from it and focus on what I know.
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a great explanation of the metaphor! Though we feel 'free' and that we can do whatever we want, most of our lives are pretty planned and confined. We can almost predict everything that will happen to us, and a lot of us like it that way. Routine is necessary for sanity, since otherwise we would always panic about what tomorrow would bring. This is why Pi claims that we shouldn't be so keen to free animals: some of them, like us, wouldn't like to be robbed of their routine. And yet, one day, we all have to 'go free,' and try to find another zoo and another habitat. It can be a frightening thought!
DeleteThe animals have everything they need in their habits at the zoo. They have food, water, and their own little territory to call their own. If I didn't have college or work to go to on a daily basis and had a endless supply food and water provided for me at my house I'll be insane to ever leave. Why leave if all your basically needs are met and your perfectly contented on where you are. As of right now however I'm as far away from a zoo as possible, when you think about I'm closer to a wild animal. Going to school and work not because I want to as a past time but as a necessity to be successful and survive. Just like a wild animal only roams outside of it's comfort zone to provide food and water for itself.
ReplyDeleteYes, good points; you are a wild animal in a way, since you have to roam for food, but this roaming is also its own enclosure, since that's the only place you roam. Your routine becomes your enclosure. But it doesn't feel like a cage because you're so busy and it keeps you occupied. It's only when we're bored or in a moment of quiet that we can see the bars of the cage.
DeleteHumans are like animals in a zoo because basically our house is our zoo. Of course we have places to be like school, work, activities, but we at the end of the day we go back home. Our house is our safe place, where we feel most comfortable, a place where we can relax. For animals that's what a zoo is, they no longer have to hunt for their food or worry about being killed by another animal, they are safe at the zoo, in their own little habitat that is best suited for them.
ReplyDeleteYes, wherever we live, wherever our school or work is, that becomes our new enclosure. Routine is the bars of our cell. And it can be a very comfortable cell and fulfills all of our needs. The question is, do we always realize when it's time to roam to a new enclosure? What if our habitat isn't meeting our needs and/or we have a bad zookeeper? Do we know how to find a new home?
DeleteWhen looking at our lives from the perspective of this metaphor, it is easy to see the similarities. In my life I can almost confined to a small area, like my house to the university and I rarely go beyond those places, just like the animals in a zoo. Another way that we are close to living in a metaphorical zoo is how we are more drawn to more familiar things and rarely go out and adventure, because we do not realize that there is more to see, even if it is only a little farther than our self appointed boundaries.
ReplyDelete-Tori Prince
This is a great point--the longer we exist in a routine or a life, the smaller our habitat becomes, so that we often forget there's more to see, or that there is a larger zoo with other habitats just beyond. But no matter how adventurous you are, eventually, you'll need some sort of enclosure for your own. It's human nature (or animal nature). Even people who are nomads have their own cars or vans and routine. And the older you get, the larger you want it to be, or the more stable, at least.
DeleteThis metaphor relates to me and my own life in several ways. Zoos are like our lives/homes, each kind of animal has its own habitat/cage, just like us as people how we all have our own homes. We both have certain things we like and don’t like. As humans, we are like “animals in a zoo” because we pretty much do the same thing day in and day out. We have our own little spaces and people that we like. Houses and other aspects of our life are like “biologically sound zoo enclosures” in a lot of ways. They are our comfort places and where we only let the ones we love into them.
ReplyDelete-Cheyenne Adair
Exactly: the best enclosure gives us the total illusion of freedom. It allows us to choose how we want to order our routine. That might not be freedom, but it 'feels' like freedom to us. And better yet, it offers us protection and predictabiity, which freedom never does. This is why Satrapi has such trouble in Vienna: she has no home the entire time, no real enclosure for herself. She is constantly kicked out of one house after another, until she winds up on the street. Too much freedom, and not enough 'home.'
DeleteThis metaphor can relate to my life for many reasons. Like an animal in a zoo, I often feel trapped in this world as if I were in a cage. I want to experience so many things while I'm young but there always seems to be something holding me back. It's like we live the same day or week over and over again. Whether that be going to school, work, whatever it may be. Animals in the zoo pretty much do the same thing everyday, in the same area. They eat and roam, that's all. Sometimes I feel like the state of Oklahoma is a cage of its own because there is absolutely nothing too interesting about it. For say, I'm 18 and have never been or seen a beach. That's a goal of mine but there always seems to be something in the way like it being too expensive to go, or a nationwide pandemic. In a sense, we are just like animals in a zoo. There are so many limits in life, or at least in mine, that I almost feel trapped. Sometimes my dorm feels like a zoo and like the walls are closing in on me because it's so small, so I try to keep myself busy but that doesn't erase the fact of repeating the same day again tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteGreat points--we often have enclosures within enclosures. Just as your 'zoo' is Oklahoma, your cage is your dorm, your life here at college. But any enclosure, no matter how large or small, can give you the illusion of freedom. The question is whether you feel 'free' there or not. IN that case, you simply have to find a new enclosure or a new zoo. But that's a hard step to take, since leaving the cage means that you're no longer under the zoo's protection. We saw this with Persepolis when Satrapi left her very bad zoo and found a worse one (to her, anyway)!
DeleteThis metaphor can relate to my own life because like animals I sometimes feel as though my life is spent just doing the same thing over and over again, I get in my head and worry about the fact that I do not want to be stuck in one place for the rest of my life. Animals do not really get to control that aspect of their live when living in captivity. In some form or aspect we are all kind of like animals in a zoo. We are told to follow the rules and live by what society sees is right for you. For example college. When you are graduating high school people always ask the question of "Oh are you going to college?" and yes in most cases people are understanding but there are people who look at you like a person that was created to only be judged. We fall into this cycle of expectations for growing generations and ourselves when we really need to start making room for growth and change. I feel as though people are so quick to judge and watch your every move, like we do as humans to animals in a zoo. My daily life could be seen as "just another territory" simply for the fact that I go to class, work, and home and occasionally hangout with friends. Houses are like "biologically sound zoo enclosures" because we spend years making our houses a home we have what we need in our homes to live. Animals put their own love and admiration into turning their territories into homes.
ReplyDeleteYes, even though Pi warns us that the most dangerous animal is the one that is seen through human eyes (personified, that is), it's something we can't avoid doing, since there are so many connections to how we approach life--and what we can learn from seeing them in action. Even though their lives can seem so simple and barbaric, we do all the same things, just in a more complicated way. But maybe the complication makes it less honest and more hypocritical? That's where the judgement comes in...we're all still predators, many of us preying on the weak with our sanctimonious opinions and self-righteous views. Still very law of the jungle!
DeleteI believe that we as humans can relate to this metaphor and find similarities in our lives being like that of an animal in a zoo because of the constant habit. We have freedoms to do what we would like but at the end of the day, we are doing pretty much the same thing over and over and ending the day the same way as we ended the day before. It is not every day that we branch out of our comfort zone and have some spontaneous adventure. We feel safe doing the same things we do everyday and do not feel the need to do anything else. This is much like the life of an animal in a zoo. They have freedom to spend their day doing what they would like, but there are still enclosed in their exhibit and do not get outside of that comfort zone. We may not have literal walls around us, but we do not like doing something new all that often when our everyday routine is our comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteYes, good points: our routine is not just a series of actions, but a literal habitat that protect us, and creates our reality. We forget that there are other ways to live and exist, and while our way might not be worse than someone else's, it's not necessarily better, either. That's why the zoo is such a good metaphor: all the animals live differently, in different habitats, but they all need the same things and flourish respectively. One habitat doesn't work for everyone equally, which is a very interesting metaphor when you carry it beyond a zoo!
DeleteI think that the metaphor told to us in this passage relates to humans because a lot of our belief's, morals, and personality depend on where we are born and the house our parents raise us in. Animals are put into zoos and put into habitats that us as people believe is best for them just how our parents typically try to put us in a home they believe is best for us they teach us there belief's and there morals because they believe its right and even though we think we have the freedom to choose our own path we will most likely follow the path that our parents make for us just how the animals will live the way we force them to because we think its for the best.
ReplyDeleteYes, what is normal for us really depends on what habitat we grow up in, and that becomes our sense of 'reality.' And yet, it's not everyone's reality, and there are other ways to live for other people, even if we prefer this way best. Though if we've never experienced another habitat, how can we know for sure?
DeleteI really like this metaphor because I feel like Peak, the social rhino, before Summit was introduced into the enclosure. Peak was slowly starving himself because he didn't have any social interaction and I feel Peak was unaware of this. I feel very similar, as I have everything I can think of, however something seems to be missing. I feel as if I am placed with goats, a substitute for what I really crave. However I am unable to leave my enclosure and figure out what my substitute actually is.
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a great example: who would have ever thought a rhino could live harmoniously with goats? It's "wrong"! And yet, it was completely right. It just goes to show that reality is shaped by our previous experience, and might not answer every question or predict every result.
DeleteOur lives are like that of animals in a zoo for a few reasons. Generally we live in a small space. We don't usually travel the large distances that animals have to do out of necessity. Second, just like the some of the animals in the enclosures, we could leave our "enclosure" but simply choose not to. Our "enclosure" is preferable to the so called freedom that we would get if we abandoned it. Sure we would be technically free, but we would have a lot more things to worry about on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteRight, and we saw this with Satrapi, who almost died when she went 'free' from Iran and was introduced into the wilds of Vienna. It was too much for her, and she could never get her bearings or find a new home. Eventually, she does return to Europe (France this time) and find a way to flourish in a new environment. But this takes changing the way you look at the world, and in a sense. becoming a different animal. And she wasn't ready to do that as a teenager. That's the problem with being a teenager: we ask you to choose your habitat for the future before you really understand the one you're in!
DeleteFor all of us, our lives are the exact same in certain ways. Day in and day out we all eat, sleep and breathe. As well as do what is best for each of us and keep ourselves safe. In the passage a territory is being defined as a space where we are able to get our necessities and remain safe. Therefore in all of our lives we have these spaces, not only at home, but maybe an office or restaurant. Realistically, a territory could be anywhere we wanted it to be, because by this definition, it is really just a state of mind. It is all about where we feel safe while having the components to survive.
ReplyDelete-Braden Schroeder
Exactly--a territory is a state of mind ,a way of looking at the world which a zoo habitat makes tangible (which is why it works perfectly as a metaphor). Our reality is shaped by what we know and what we do. If we change that, it makes us very confused and we lose our bearings and even our identity (as we saw in Persepolis). This book is a way of showing you how to adapt to different habitats when you can't always count on being in the same one.
DeleteI think my life is like a zoo enclosure because I do the same routine everyday just the animals in the zoo enclosure do. I think of my home as like my territory, but then going to work, classes, and places like Walmart I consider as a common area or what could be called the watering hole. There are also common areas within my home, such as the living room and kitchen, but then when it comes night we all separate and go to our own bedrooms or our territories. You might could say that the people living in my home are one species of animal in a zoo while the other families living in their homes are different species, so we are kept separated.
ReplyDeleteYes, and we tend to cluster around the same 'species' in the same habitat, which is why we are so mistrustful of outsiders and tend to be racist/xenophobic. The crazy thing is that we're all so similar and want the same things, but need to experience those things in different ways. That's why the zoo is a great metaphor for understanding how we work as a society--or a species. There's no one 'right' approach, but many right approaches. Kind of like the elephant metaphor, too!
DeleteI think we live a lot like animals in zoos in simple terms. We are very "live by nature creatures". We have created tools and ways to get all of our necessities in a small area. Just like animals we have created a place where we feel safe and comfortable. I like Pi's point of view on how that animals are very comfortable in their territories and most of the time what we call freedom is scary and unpredictable. Most animals are curious but when it comes down to it they love their home in the zoo and just want to feel safe. I think we relate to these animals in that way. Most people love to vacation and experience new things but when you break out of your normal retune it can be scary and you will want to go back to what is normal. Having a strong routine of what you are used to.
ReplyDelete-Erika Lamb
Great points--this is why most people prefer going on a vacation to moving to a new town, since a vacation isn't leaving your comfortable enclosure for very long, and it gives you the illusion of freedom without the responsibility of adaptation. Even in college, we see so many students struggling to adapt to a new environment/enclosure and figuring out the new routine. And yet, leaving home and tackling new adventures was so exciting when most of them were back in high school. I think that as Pi says, most people, even if 'freed,' would gladly return home if the door was still open.
DeleteHumans are animals, so the parallel between man-made animal enclosures and our own homes is not hard to see. We also fall into routines of our own making, day after day, and usually feel stressed if that routine is changed or broken. Zoos especially remind me of when I was living in my parent's house. My parents typically bought and cooked all of the food, so all I had to do was show up for meal times, just like feeding routines in zoos. If they had unfamiliar guests over to visit, I would usually stay in my room, and this reminds me of how zoo animals like to hide inside their enclosed habitats, away from human visitors. And also, we share a fear of the unknown. I worry about getting stranded or lost in the wilderness because I don't know that I could survive, just as animals who were bred in captivity would not make it outside of the zoo.
ReplyDeleteYes, great connections--and this is why it's so hard for many students to leave home for the new habitat of college. All that freedom replaces old routines, and it's hard to establish your own routine in a new enclosure, which is why many students skip class, miss assignments, and sadly, often drop out as well. They can never adjust to a habitat that is different than the one they grew up in, and got very comfortable in!
DeleteA human home is very similar to how animals like to keep their territory.We keep all our belonging in specific areas and have designated places fro doing thing (ex. The Bathroom) And pets arnt the same as zoo animals but they also have very similar traits like cat will use the litter box to mimic how big cats bury their waste in the dirt. We all have little traits like that we have in common.
ReplyDeleteFor this metaphor, like an animal in a zoo I like this because it relates to me personally. Me being a college student it feels like I am always stuck on campus. I do the same routine every day like an animal in a zoo. At times I feel like I'm stuck here, because I really am. You can say just leave college but time, ,money, and energy have been put into this. Even people in this class are freshman and have had to adapt to these new changes like an animal. When I was in High School I felt the same way, if you were to miss at certain amount of days in my high school you could have court. I feel like every human has felt like an animal in a zoo, an animal in a cage.
ReplyDeletethe metaphor to me reminds me of how people say "you are a product of your environment" and that rings true to humans and zoo animals because where some one grows up is all they are going to know its their comfort zone and when you finally take someone out of their comfort zone they are not going to know what to do because all they know is home and just like zoo animals if you take them back into the wild they are not going to survive they have been hand feed probably their entire life and all the know are the humans that work there and there small encloser so if you but a caged animal in to the wild for the first time they will die
ReplyDeleteI understand the metaphor but I don't think there is a specific way to explain it. Everyone see it in there own ways, but to me I see it as a routine of comfort. Those animals can live in the wild but in a zoo they don't have to constantly worry about their territory being ripped away from them by the prey. Instead they see it as comfort and safety, which is how I see it to. Even though I don't have the comfort of trusting that everything won't be ripped from my hands.
ReplyDelete