Essay: Symbolism in The Matrix

The Matrix explores and goes deeply into Christian mythology. There are a lot of other illusions and references in the movie, but none as important then Christian mythology. Without getting into any other form of religion or mythology, I will show you the three major examples on why Christian mythology is depicted as the greatest set of illusions. The first illusion of Christian mythology is that Morpheus represents as a father figure to Neo, and Trinity are the three people who are going to save the Matrix, and a set of three people is a major symbol in the bible. Lastly, the most important illusion is the character Neo is known as a savior because he is also known as “The One”. All of these illusions are shown in some form in the bible at one time of another and how these characters represent some of the high power in Christian lore.

In the matrix the person that teaches and mentors Neo, is Morpheus. He acts and is treated as a father figure to everyone but in a stronger sense he shows it more to Neo. He believes that Neo will be “the one” and he will come to save the matrix no matter how much it takes. He acts as the “Godly” figure to the characters because of the father figure role he plays. In the bible God is the father of all humans and teaches everyone the way of life. Once Jesus was born he passed his teaching down to him so that Jesus can carry out his beliefs and way of life to people on Earth. This is same illusion that Morpheus teaches his the people of the matrix before Neo arrived. Once Neo arrived he then taught Neo everything he need to learn about the matrix and the way of life inside the matrix. He teaches Neo this incase anything would happen to him that Neo would be able to carry out his teaches to anyone in the future. Although, Morpheus would be able to teach Neo everything he knows, it would be up to Neo to fulfill his prophecy. Even from the beginning of the movie, Neo trusts Morpheus right away. Morpheus says, “I can guide you, but you must do exactly what I say”. This compares to the way Jesus was taught by God, and the way Jesus would trust his father.

The second illusion would be the way that Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity represent the Holy Trinity. As Neo is represented as Jesus Christ and Morpheus as God, Trinity is the last piece and is shown as The Holy Spirit. Her name Trinity is a major example because she is the last piece of the holy three. Also, the religious meaning to Trinity is “three in one“ as they are all one. If one was missing they would all be missing the last piece to the puzzle in order to save the matrix. She has an impact on both Neo and Morpheus in several ways. Also, Trinity has a relationship that is deep with both major characters. Her relationship with Morpheus is similar to a father-daughter relationship because of how much of Morpheus is a father-like character. Her relationship with Neo is on a much stronger level because of the prophecy that the oracle gave to her. The oracle told her that she would fall in love with a “dead man” and that this “dead man” would become the one. She, as compared to the holy spirit, is the reason why Neo was about to live. The bond that these three share is one of the main reasons why they are compared to the Holy Trinity.

The final and most important symbol of Christian mythology in the matrix is the significance of Neo being resembled as Jesus Christ. Neo is known as “The One” and a “savior” to the people inside of the matrix. As the bible says, Jesus gave up his life for the lives of others. There are two situations where Neo had to sacrifice himself for the greater good of others. There was a time where Morpheus was being held in the matrix and they were going to let him die because they thought it would be impossible to save him. Neo then stepped up and said that he would save him no matter the cost. The other moment where Neo becomes a savor is when he is fighting Agent Smith, who is the “Satan” character of the movie. Agent Smith ends up killing him and Neo ends up being dead for 72 seconds, in comparison to Jesus being dead for 72 hours. Neo is then resurrected by a kiss from Trinity, the “holy spirit”. After Neo is resurrected he is able to become the savor that he is destined to become. Neo also has to become the savoir on his own in a certain way. Morpheus was going to help Neo in every way possible, but only Neo was going to be able to carry out the prophecy alone. These are major symbols that show Neo as a Jesus Christ figure because of the trails and tribulations that he put through in order to be “the one”.

As there are many other minor illusions that is tied into Christianity, the three major ones all deal with Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity in some way. This shows that those three really are illusions of the “Holy Trinity” inside the matrix. Either it’s the way Morpheus in the father figure of the three, how Trinity is the last piece of the puzzle because of the relationships she shares with Neo and Morpheus, or how Neo is the “savior” or the Jesus Christ of the Matrix. These are the major things I have learned as a child growing up going to Catholics schools. The importance of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit and how important they are in leading a good life. The way that the trio deals with the matrix is the way that the holy spirit deals with the way of living in humans.

My information came from: http://www.ehow.com/how_2291847_find-christian-symbolism-matrix.html

Blog 6: The idea of the prison house of language

The Allegory of the Cave tells a story about people in caves that are unable to grasp the sense of sight due to the lack of light. They have no idea what true sight is and they only believe what they know. They wont believe anything because it is what they grew up to learn. It is the same thing with religion, in my case because I grew up going to a catholic school for 14 years and I wont believe anything else because this is what I learned as a child. I wont say I wont listen to anything else that someone would argue with, but this is what I know so this is only knowledge of religion I know.

Blog 5: The Allegory of the Cave

       In the story "The Allegory of the Cave", Plato writes about two men, Socrates and Glaucon.  Socrates tells Glaucon a story about people that have been chained down in caves.  The people inside the cave has never seen the outside world, the only thing they have seen the shadows on the rocks.  The shadows are caused by the little bit of lit and the fire inside the cave.  No one knows what is outside the cave, so Socrates tells Glaucon that the people inside the cave should be brought outside to the light.   Socrates explains his curiosity about the people ideas of what is outside of the cave and what they would do if they saw the outside world.  He wonders if the people would be terrified about what is outside or would they be brace enough to walk around and live.  Then, a prisoner escapes from the cave and he slowly makes his way out but then he is blinded by the light.  After he starts to see the world for what it is he realizes that the story that he knows is wrong.  He then heads back to the cave to tell everyone what he saw.  In the end,  the people in the cave will not listen to him because they do not want to believe anything else.  They are blinded by the truth and they will only believe what they know.

Blog 4: The Allegory of the Cave through History

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_abduction

            Plato used shadows as an illusion for the people live in the cave.  They never knew that the shadows were just real thing because they never saw sunlight.  A lot of people, including me, believe in the existence of aliens.  It will be a debate that will live on forever and would only be proven if aliens happened to come in contact with a completely sane human.  Whenever someone claims seeing a UFO or being taken by one, they are automatically label “insane” or “on drugs”.  “On September 21, Betty telephoned Pease Air Force Base to report their UFO encounter, though, for fear of being labeled insane, she withheld some of the details.”  This is taken of the case of Betty and Barney Hill, an American married couple who claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials on September 19–20, 1961.  Normally, when a person would read this story, they would automatically called it fake or that the person was lying.  Not me, I truly believe these stories 100%.  There have been many other stories but the other famous one is the Jimmy Carter UFO incident.  No matter how much someone tries to prove me wrong, I will always believe that there is other life out there and I also believe that the government might know it too.  That is one thing I can’t prove but I believe that they are holding back information for our safety.  If people knew for certain that there where life forms out there, people would do anything in their power to try to get video of it. There have been plenty of UFO sighting to honestly believe that someone has to be telling the truth.  The same illusion of aliens tie into the illusion that there is reason to believe that there is alien traces at Area 51.  Lastly, as Plato used the illusion of the shadows, humans love to believe the unbelievable and since those shadows happened to turn out to living things, why can’t our “shadows” turn out to become extraterrestrials living things.

Blog 3: My childish beliefs.

- Santa (the kid inside me still believes it)

- Easter Bunny (was told by my aunt)

-Washing machine was a monster (started to do my own laundry)

-Boogyman (oh please I got older)

-Monsters under my bed/closet (actually looked)

-Different ideas of Heaven (iffy subject)

-Aliens (still believe it)

-Chuckie was real (got older, geez what was I thinking)

-Freddy (got older, and got a dream catcher!)

-Jason (never killed me, so there’s that)

-My uncle was God (he shaved his beard and I got older)

-Tooth fairy (parents told me, cheap bastards)

-Bloody Mary (tested it out)

-Candyman (got older, stopped watching the movie)

-Clowns were deadly (they still are)

-Mr. Met was a killer (got older but still hate him)

-Chuckie cheese mouse was disgusting (still is, I mean come on he’s a rat that likes to hug children)

-Vampires (still believing)

-My sister was famous (got older and was told)

-Leprechauns were killers (got older, plus the luck of the Irish will save me)

-Church was a scary place (church got better lighting)

            I started to believe most of these things because I always watched horror movies as a child.  Over time I just realized that none of these things were true.  Just getting older changed my mind on these things.   I still get scared watching the horror movies but at least I know that they aren’t real.  In addition there are some things that i will always believe are true no matter how much proof someone might have.

Blog 2: The Allegory of the Cave

The Allegory of the Cave is about people who lived in caves but they knew nothing about the world outside of the cave.  They only saw shadow and had no idea who or what the shadow were.  As Socrates said, "Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?"  This shows how the people in the caves saw the shadows and if they ever saw the light, they don't know what anything looks like and they wouldn't know what they are looking at.

Public and Private Self

     There are some people that I know, who know both my public and private self.  Having both a private and public self allows me to act accordingly to new people and still have a private life.  Very few people know my private life because I tend to keep secrets about myself from other people.  On the other hand, people tend to see my public side a lot more and I assume they enjoy that side other then my private one because people always say how much I can be.  It always good to have both because a private side allows you to have some “you” time and that will always help me calm down if I am stressed about something.

       My private self is usually very private and I only act that way around 5 people who I care about a lot.  There are some aspects that I do not share to anyone.  I have had a bad experience with telling someone a secret; there are some people that you cannot trust.  As for my private self I am usually more laid back.  I usually help people with their problems in a serious manner.  I tend to make a lot of dirty/political jokes when I’m with certain people.  As funny as I can be, if there’s a time where I need to be serious and mature, I am the first person to act in that manner.   I think in the world we live in, we need to be more serious about certain manner.  There has been only one time where I have let everyone into my private life and showed my true colors to a room full of people.  Right after my father passed away, people where asking me “Why wasn’t I upset?” and I gave excuses why I wasn’t acted upset.  Then the time came for the funeral and I was asked the same question about ten times in ten minutes.  In a room full of people I explained why I wasn’t showing how upset I was and told them how different I really am, compared to the person they knew and loved. 

      My public self is a far cry from my private self.  When I’m going out with friends to a bar or club I act very wild and crazy.  I change the way I act because when going out you are always meeting new people and you want to put on a good impression.  When meeting someone knew I usually tell some funny jokes, but not dirty, and make some intelligent observations.  You do not want to offend someone with a joke or statement so I keep the dirty and political jokes for my private life.  No matter how crazy or wild I get, when push comes to shove and there a time where I will have to act mature, I will be that person with others.  There are times when the people I am with are acting immature and wild, and people get ticked off that I’m telling them to relax or calm down.  That is more of the mature side to my public self and it taps into my private self.  As you can see my private and public self come together because of how mature and serious I can act.

     In conclusion, there are many differences to my private and public self, as there are many similarities also.  I do not find any problems with having both these sides.  I love both sides of myself because it allows me to be myself and I don’t have to act different for anybody else.  As long as I don’t tell my secrets to anyone and allow any into my private self then I have no problems with it.  I find it more helpful to have two different sides because it allows you to still be yourself but act differently around other people without people calling you fake. 

Draft for Blog 1

My name is Edward Southwick, but most people call me Eddy.  This is my second year in LaGuardia and my first time take ENG 101.  I am currently in the computer technology field.I come from Jackson Heights and i have lived there my whole life. I enjoy listening to music, watching movies, and playing sports. Blogging has something that I just got recently in to and hopefully this will allow me to get to know my classmates better.