Changing the Ushers

Recently for my English class we were assigned Edgar Allen Poe's work "The Fall of the House of Usher". Then I was asked to think about what I would change as a participant in the story and not as just a reader.

Naturally, my first instinct was that I would seek medical attention for Roderick and Madeline because they are so gravely ill. Yet, I'm not sure how plausible this really is because there weren't extensive psychological treatments available to them. As I was thinking about this I also realized that I was still looking at this from an outsiders perspective.

When you delve into the story, the narrator and Roderick are very good friends and it may have been hard for the narrator to cope with the fact that his longtime friend was sick and had many psychological issues. With this natural tendency to dismiss things that we don't like, the narrator could have just passed his sickness off as something that wasn't as great as it was. So how can a person help their friend when they don't accept the fact that he has an illness?

So to answer this question, I would have to find someone that would be able to help them so that they don't go crazy and bury someone/get buried alive.

If I were an active participant in the story, I probably would have tried to figure out if Madeline were truly dead. Even though she would fall into death like trances, her heart would still be beating. Even if it just beats slowly, it still beats and that makes her still alive.

Open Your Mind with your Video Chats

The biggest problem the Second Life faces as a source of communication is the barrier that it puts between people and avatars, and the skepticism of many people about virtual worlds.

When two avatars are talking on Second Life, a barrier is placed between the two people because they are talking as avatars, rather than being face to face. To fix this, Second Life could add a video feature that would allow people to talk face to face, especially in academic situations. This would allow residents to not only hear the person they are talking to, but it allows them to also see the person they are talking to which brings another one of the senses into the mix. This would increase the opportunities vastly for education because meetings can become lectures and classes could even be held in Second Life.

The skepticism of many people may still block the potential that Second Life has as a mode of communication. I think that many people don't use virtual worlds for communication or networking because it is so new, and new things and ideas tend to scare people. For example, in the 1920's when cars began to become common all throughout the United States, many skeptics thought that they were a nuisance and added to the corruption of youth. Some even called them "rolling brothels". Yet, the car has become the most commonly used form of transportation amid the skeptics that tried to stop it.

I have no doubt that virtual worlds will become a ubiquitous form of communication, and that it will find commonplace in the daily lives of many people. Once many of the barriers and skepticism have settled, virtual worlds will become a place for people to meet and do many other things.