Socratic Seminar Reflection

During the Socratic Seminar, I actively listened to the claims being said and gave my input when I felt I had enough evidence to support an argument that I felt should be put out there. I also had my study guides, the two journals, “Dover Beach” poem and TP-CASTT, Fahrenheit 451 book, “Where Is Our Dover Beach?” article, and a paper with quotes and facts I gathered that related to the two topics. I used these resources throughout the seminar as references and evidence. An example of this was when I gave my claim that fitting into society can seem like a form of happiness but is not. To support this claim, I used the quote from Fahrenheit 451: “‘You took all the pills in your bottle last night.’ ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that,’ [Mildred] said, surprised. ‘The bottle was empty.’ ‘I wouldn’t do a thing like that. Why would I do a thing like that?’ she said.” (19) “‘I didn’t do that,’ she said. ‘Never in a billion years,’” (20). This quote supports my claim because it shows that Mildred is subconsciously unhappy, but denies it. Mildred does this because she does not want to acknowledge the fact that she is not happy acting and living like the majority, for then she would become an outcast in the minority.

For example, William talked about how the society in Fahrenheit 451 believes that fitting in is a way to be happy, but in truth it is superficial, and as portrayed in Dover Beach, the only way to stay happy is for people to stay faithful to loved ones. I connected this idea to a piece of evidence included in my “Happiness” Journal. The evidence was from the 75-year long Grant Study led by the Harvard psychologist George Valliant that proved after studying 28 men that “a man could have a successful career, money and good physical health, but without supportive, loving relationships, he wouldn't be