ipl-logo

Cowards Essay: Liking Is For Cowards By Jonathan Franzen

1538 Words7 Pages

Liking is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts

Technology is considered an escape, an escape to another dimension, a second chance, a hope, a possibility to show society the perfect and almost divine personality that you so whole heartily strive to possess, a chance to put on a mask and change everything for the better in this everlasting endeavor for likability, or at least that’s what we tell ourselves.
At the end of the day, we always end up letting go of the most important aspect of our life, the human aspect that is the essence of our human nature, we resolve to liking instead of loving, texting instead of talking, and despite all of us being completely aware of this, we always end up putting the mask back on, hiding behind a mask projecting …show more content…

The essay “liking is for Cowards, Go for What Hurts” is written by Jonathan Franzen and was published in The New York Times May 28 2011 . Jonathan Franzen is born in 1959 and is an acclaimed American novelist and essayist, the essay is based on the speech he delivered at Kenyon College in Ohio USA and touches on the principles of liking versus loving.
Throughout the essay Jonathan Franzen keeps returning to the same idyllic message or rather contemplation.
We have all experienced love throughout our lives, we love our parents, our significant others and even our friends, but this is not the true form of love that can form a bond between two individuals, a bond so strong and divine that it makes everything else in their life seem almost obsolete, a bond than can only be achieved through honestly, a bond that is slowly fading as the contrast between like and love is slowly fading

Show More
Related
468 Words | 2 Pages

Mowat’s Rhetorical Strategies The book “Never Cry Wolf” is about a scientists who goes into a flat tundra in northern Canada to study wolves. The scientists name is Farley Mowat, and he explains in the book that wolves aren't savage beasts. He has many different ways of doing so at first he found out that it’s not even the wolves who have been killing the caribou it’s the eskimos in the area who have sled dogs to feed along with themselves. In the book Mowat finds out that the wolves are actually only eating the sick caribou and field mice. Mowat gives factual evidence that the wolves aren’t savage killers.

Read More
1498 Words | 6 Pages

Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer is a nonfiction story of Chris McCandless, a young graduate who was found dead in the Alaskan wilderness in September 1992. This narrative follows young Chris McCandless to his journey from the days before he started his journey, all the way to his last journal entries. Many believe Chris was not mentally healthy and falled under the “bush-casualty” stereotype. Chris does fall under some of the categories of the bush-casualty but does not completely fall under the category. He did die from the romantic view of the wilderness but did survive a considerate amount of time in the wilderness without having any past experience.

Read More
455 Words | 2 Pages

Caring is Important “Gratitude is a word that I cherish” (Wiesel). Elie Wiesel was from a small Jewish town. When he was young, he was taken to a concentration camp. After a couple of years, he was freed, but he still has no joy in his heart, he was being careless enough to get himself in danger. Elie Wiesel shows rhetorical questions, imagery, and parallelism in his speech to show the dangers of indifference.

Read More
502 Words | 3 Pages

Thesis: Yann Martel is conveying readers that critical thinking, inspirations, and love are the important keys to survival. S1: Yann Martel is conveying readers that critical thinking is a important key for survival. Exp1: After Pi reaches the island full of algae, right after the first night he saw what the water filled with dead fish looked liked and it was acid. Pi started to give tests on meerkat dropping it of a tree and it came out with its feet burnt, so then the next day Pi and Richard Parker left the island so they do not die.

Read More
743 Words | 3 Pages

When Paul returns home in chapter 7 of All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, things appear different than when he left them. Although the surroundings are familiar, Paul himself has changed, and this change has affected his manner of viewing the world around him. He also finds that he can no longer fit in or connect with the world and people around him because of how alien they feel to him. Paul’s change in character has changed the way he views the world because he no longer feels like he fits in with the people at home, he feels uncomfortable with his surroundings wherever he goes, and he can no longer connect to the world around him, the world he grew up in and once knew. His discomfort and disconnection from everything is outrightly stated by Paul himself

Read More
1494 Words | 6 Pages

We live in a society that has increasingly demoralizes love, depicting it as cruel, superficial and full of complications. Nowadays it is easy for people to claim that they are in love, even when their actions say otherwise, and it is just as easy to claim that they are not when they indeed are. Real love is difficult to find and keeping it alive is even harder, especially when one must overcome their own anxieties and uncertainties to embrace its presence. This is the main theme depicted in Russell Banks’ short story “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story,” as well as in Richard Bausch’s “The Fireman’s Wife.” These narratives, although similar in some ways, are completely different types of love stories.

Read More
674 Words | 3 Pages

Six million Jewish people lost their lives between 1933 and 1945, the twelve-year span where people were brutally murdered based purely on religion. This historical tragedy became known as the Holocaust. Historians believe that one million Jewish people were killed in Auschwitz, a concentration camp that was responsible for some of these vicious murders over a five-year duration. Journalist and author, Elie Wiesel, survived the Holocaust and Auschwitz when so many were not as lucky. His horrors in Auschwitz inspired him to become an activist speaking out against indifference in the world.

Read More
574 Words | 3 Pages

The memoir of Night is a powerfully emotional experience that the Jews endured, that also impacted the world. Elie Wiesel writes about his struggles and living the life of Jews in the concentration camps Bierkenau, Auschwitz and Buna. Elie writes with such meaning, the reader can feel his emotions. Jews were killed off, as Hitler believed Jews shouldn’t have existed in this world. The power of Elie Wiesel’s moving story helps people to really understand what torture the Jews went through and how they were forced to live.

Read More
957 Words | 4 Pages

Franzen’s article Liking Is for Cowards, go for what hurt, compares the concept of love with techno-consumerism. It argues on how the grit of love is still better than the perfection of an elegant piece of technology which is also referred to as the perfect erotic relationship. The piece’s primary purpose is to make people understand the contrast between consumer related technology and real life and how this techno consumer relationship allows its user to control pretty much everything giving people a false sense of power while what love gives us is grit but it helps us become a better personas proven in the bird anecdote given by franzen. I agree with franzen in entirety and believe that the new tech-consumer world has us “working in jobs we don’t want to do to pay for the things we do not need”.

Read More
823 Words | 4 Pages

The short story “Sucker” by Carson McCullers portrays the one-sided admiration expressed by the main character’s younger cousin, Richard, towards him, as well as his own towards his crush. McCullers conveys the idea of the story through characterization and irony of the way the main character, Pete’s treatment of Richard, previously referred to as Sucker, parallels the treatment he received from his crush, Maybelle. Pete consistently took advantage of Richard because he was always eager to please his older brother figure, much like Maybelle was only nice to Pete as long as he was useful to her. In the end, after losing both his love interest and the respect of Richard, Pete learns that those who are cruel to others typically do so because they remind them of themselves. Characterization plays a large role in the development of the theme.

Read More
544 Words | 3 Pages

Technology Diminishing Our Society and Generation Technology can be defined as a collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as a scientific investigation. People of this generation have been debating on whether it has helped or harmed society. During the 1950’s, technology was being developed, but in a negative way. The atomic bomb was invented and tested at sea. This invention proved to be very deadly.

Read More
1520 Words | 7 Pages

Love is one of the most beautiful things humankind has. Every human on this earth has the feeling of love. Love doesn’t have to exist only between two opposite sexes. It occurs between all humans, it could be between a brother and sister, between friends, or between parents and their children. In addition, love could be the most precious thing we should all be aware of because it makes us feel positive and happy when we love and care for each other.

Read More
843 Words | 4 Pages

Love is one word which makes us all wonder whether it is the right thing to think upon, whether it is the right thing to dwell upon. Love is one word which we often fail to understand and under lame circumstances we often prompt ourselves to do things which we always resisted. I do not know what exactly is the definition of the word “love” but I feel it is feeling without any expectation of wanting anything from the receiver. Few days back I saw a bird splashing in water, early in morning.

Read More
740 Words | 3 Pages

Whether it is love from a friend, a partner, or a family member, most people crave for love and human connection. George Sand, a French novelist once said, “There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.” This quote reveals the importance we assign to the feeling of love. Love is one of the greatest feelings a person can experience throughout their lifetime. Love can be found in different ways for different people, yet in today’s American society people tend to let labels get in the way and place judgment upon people who are different.

Read More
1439 Words | 6 Pages

People’s definitions, beliefs, and ideas concerning love can vary significantly. The varying uses and meanings of the word, accompanied by the complex emotions it represents, makes love uniquely difficult to consistently and accurately define with a single definition. Similarly, cultural differences in the concept of love make a universal definition that much more impossible. Modern day, society portrays love as a force that transmits purpose into one’s life and can overcome all obstacles. Love, as portrayed in movies, is seen to trump all else and people are made to feel that they aren’t living their best life if they have not find their ‘soulmate.’

Read More

More about Cowards Essay: Liking Is For Cowards By Jonathan Franzen

Related Topics

Open Document