ipl-logo

Countee Cullen's The World Is Too Much With Us

1041 Words5 Pages

William Wordsworth, Countee Cullen, and Mahmoud Darwish, all respected authors from different areas of the world, as well as eras, exemplify the corruption of society through their powerful poems. Wordsworth, an influential English poet, explains how people stray from morality through his frequent comparison between nature and society in “The World Is Too Much With Us.” Wordsworth exhibits disapproval of the materialistic life through his extreme explanation of situations he would rather face. In addition, as an important figure during the Harlem Renaissance, Cullen describes the abrupt manner of people he encounters through his vague memories of his life in Africa. Cullen characterizes the fear, anger, and incivility of people living in …show more content…

The corruption of society further displays itself through the continuous exasperation people direct towards one another. Avoiding the animosity of society seems difficult “in a country where everything/ Lies in a whirlpool of anger”(20-21). People demonstrate a nefarious nature that continues, like a raging vortex, to spiral through the stereotypical manner society portrays. Additionally, The corruption of society extends into the government, for the officials direct little sympathy towards even those who struggle to live each day: “You left us and all my grandchildren/ Nothing but these rocks/ Will your government be taking them too”(52-54). The Arabic government exhibits no generosity to its people by seizing many of their belongings. As a result, those who are suppressed under the power of the corruption of society become hostile as the incivility spreads to even the most generous of people. Darwish argues, “I shall eat the flesh of my usurper/ Beware, beware of my hunger/ And of my anger”(61-63). Over time, the oppressive rule towards the affable person causes him to become contentious; consequently, society as a whole loses its hospitality, resulting in a rage among all people. Through the various situations Darwish encounters, he manages to display the moral decay of society by explaining not only the vicious lifestyle of people but also their stereotypical

Show More
Related
271 Words | 2 Pages

In Miles Corwin’s novel, And Still We Rise, his first-person speaker, Anita Moultrie, unfailingly proves how proud she is of her community in South-Central Los Angeles. Corwin published the book in April of 2000...... Moultrie teaches her students in order to let them become proud of becoming part of black community in South-Central. Throughout the novel, Corwin consistently advocates against the brutality of racism in relation to black students in inner-city schools by including Moultrie, a teacher at Crenshaw. Moultrie knows later in life other people will “‘judge them [her students] by the color of their skin’”

Read More
938 Words | 4 Pages

The action of the two governments has been highly castigated in the book for the act of treating fellow humans

Read More
742 Words | 3 Pages

Karen Joy Fowler depicts a family heavily impacted by an experiment to raise a chimpanzee as their own in her 2013 novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. Fowler illustrates how even though leading character Rosemary attempts to hide her monkey-like attributes, her animality is ultimately unveiled. Through Rosemary’s need for attention, shown through her physicality and impulsive choices, she evinces her animal-like characteristics. Growing up perpetually being in the arms of her beloved chimpanzee sister produced Rosemary’s desperation for physicality.

Read More
837 Words | 4 Pages

The tone used by the characters in "Ten With a Flag" by Joseph Haine conveys a crippling fear against a corrupted government. In the futuristic society

Read More
776 Words | 4 Pages

This reveals how those that are sick of their actions being controlled and influenced by those in power and have chosen to remove this power by

Read More
1046 Words | 5 Pages

It shows the enormity of the corruption of the system, as it has no regard for human life. The only thing it cares about is giving people a show to keep them busy and entertained. By changing history, the government alter fundamental values and ideas and over time succeeds in making them the acceptable norm of the society. The most explicit example of this is the government’s ability to convince the people that books brings nothing but confusion and sadness in the life of those who read them. Thus it became a recurrent and usual for people to shun away from all the knowledge reporting anyone who possess

Read More
1779 Words | 8 Pages

Society and government can inflict consequences on one’s desires. Miller’s element of tragedy is emphasized through the struggle one must go through to achieve his or her goals and what stands up against he or she. Steven R. Centola addresses the heroic figure one portrays when society is against he or she: “Miller's play transcends cultural and geographical boundaries with its inspired depiction of one man's heroic struggle to preserve his honor when threatened by a corrupt state authority” (Centola 1). Society often follows government rules without hesitation because they do not know better and do not want to face the consequences that result from acting against the government. However, the few that are willing to fight against corrupt government ways demonstrate heroic characters as they are the ones to initiate change in society.

Read More
935 Words | 4 Pages

There are many factors that determine how people behave in their daily lives. We are run by a number of rules and regulations that influence the way we behave, talk and live. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows that without the influence of a civilized society and law and order, people’s characteristics can change drastically. Similarly in Macbeth, Shakespeare represents the loss of morality of a leader as his hunger for power clouds his judgement. Both pieces of literature present how both writers view the breakdown of morality through the breakdown of civil behaviour.

Read More
1495 Words | 6 Pages

In Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns , Nana tells Mariam that a man always finds a way to blame a woman. This mistreatment of women is depicted in the novel by utilizing multiple examples. Throughout the novel, men were able to use women as scapegoats in the Afghani society that deemed women as unequal to men.

Read More
1294 Words | 6 Pages

Society is a tyrant. It refuses to abide by anybody’s laws but its own, which are cruel and unjust. Overwhelming and authoritative, it oppresses people by forcing them to be complacent and blindly comply to its rules. But what happens if nobody is willing to retaliate against society’s abuse? Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey centralizes on the idea of government corruption and the overwhelming odds one must overcome to overthrow an abominable authority.

Read More
672 Words | 3 Pages

The human condition is full of paradoxes and double meanings. We can commit the most shocking and terrible acts, but we can complete the most virtuous and honorable feats. Ishmael Beah describes the appalling and violent behavior he and other children exhibited toward the human life during his time in the Sierra Leonean civil war in his memoir, A Long Way Gone. Beah also details the forgiveness and kindness of complete strangers that helped him become the man that fate meant him to be. Homo sapiens are complex creatures brimming with irony and surprises.

Read More
1114 Words | 5 Pages

Our human nature requires us to be products of our environment. If someone grows up in a house that appreciates art, those that grow in the house are likely to inherit that trait as well. Those that grow up in tribal society are likely to hold those tendencies for the rest of their life too. As we see in Mark Bowden’s “Tales of the Tyrant” in this tribal way of life people live independently; they need not work with others, because they only have themselves. Saddam Hussein did not know how to civilly operate with others around once he rose to great power; so he was forced to use his village mentality where violence is the rule of law, thus leading to his intense and irrational cruelty.

Read More
820 Words | 4 Pages

It portrays the 1917 Russian Revolution atmosphere with the replacement of Russia into Animal Farm. The characters also did not fail to resemble the real people involved in the revolution. Power leads to greed, used to take advantage and manipulate. A person with absolute power tends to choose greediness after a certain time period, despite having followed a wise person’s vision and

Read More
1500 Words | 6 Pages

It is no surprise that it is difficult for anyone to break free of or try to oppose the government as they have so many safeguards in place to protect against betrayal. This is linked to the setting as without the control and support of the people, the government would never have been able to enact so many defenses to stop potential enemies from dismantling the

Read More
1128 Words | 5 Pages

If people have no place to voice their will or take part in deciding their own destiny, the community might grow disinterested and passive in their relationship with their government. Mill believes this is problematic for society because history, as he sees it, has shown that more democratic societies have more ‘energetic, and ‘developed’ societies as well as more ‘go ahead characters’ not seen in more totalitarian societies. Yet, this criticism might fail to cover a deeper problem of disinterest; it might lead to a level of moral deficiency as well. Mill fears that a loss of ability and activity, leads to a society losing its sense of communal responsibility and social justice. In their aloofness, people might be less inclined to believe that they have any responsibility to society since society has ceased to have any rights or purpose under absolute authority.

Read More

More about Countee Cullen's The World Is Too Much With Us

Related Topics

Open Document