"A book is a loaded gun in the house next door" (Bradbury 56). This quote was from Fahrenheit 451, a book where technology takes over a society and diverse knowledge is banned. People who own books are deemed crazy and have everything burned down. It connects to Harrison Bergeron, a short story by Kurt Vonnegut, where everyone is equal by bringing everyone down to the lowest average. People in this dystopian society are handicapped mentally and physically and when someone decides to rebel they are met with grave consequences.
The selections Bless Me, Ultima, The House on Mango Street, and A Midsummer’s Night Dream share the common theme of “People often make illogical decisions against reason when they ambitiously pursue a goal and are blinded from seeing reality.” In Bless Me, Ultima the characters illustrate the struggle which arises from the conflict between their personal dreams and their unseen reality. Likewise, in The House on Mango Street, the main character’s hopes and dreams for the future blinds her from seeing and appreciating her current life. Moreover, in A Midsummer’s Night Dream the characters’ actions demonstrate how love and ambition can blind people from the concerns of others and cause them to make irrational decisions. With common themes binding works of different genres and eras, it is mesmerizing to see how certain life truths do not vary, even over great times and
It is common for people in everyday society to conform to society’s expectations while also questioning their true desires. In the novel, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, the main protagonist Edna Pontellier is said to possess, "That outward existence which conforms, the inward life that questions." In other words, Edna outwardly conforms while questioning inwardly. Kate Chopin, uses this tension between outward conformity and inward questioning to build the meaning of the novel by examining Edna’s role as a wife, mother, and as nontraditional woman in the traditional Victorian period. Edna outwardly conforms to society’s expectations by marriage.
In the book Old School by Tobias Wolff, the unnamed narrator struggles through healthy imitation and plagiarism inside of the Hill school. While attending this school, the narrator enters a writing contest. The submission the narrator uses is of another person, but he claims the writing to be so related to him and how the writing is his life in a sense. The narrator ends up plagiarizing the piece and is expelled by the school. The school expelled him with thought of reputation and to set an example for the other students.
“Harrison Bergeron” is a short fiction written by Kurt Vonnegut, the story is set in the year 2081, and it talks about a futuristic society where all people are equal. No one is smarter, beautiful or stronger than the other, and if someone happens to be better than the others they find themselves compelled by The United States Handicapper General to wear what they call “handicaps” in order to bring down their abilities to the most basic levels as the others. Throughout the story, Vonnegut expresses a strong and vigorous political and social criticism of some historical events in the US during 1960s such as the Cold War and Communism, television and American Culture and Civil Rights Movement. “Harrison Bergeron” was published in 1961 during that time several events were happening around the world in general and in the US in specific which was engaged in a series of political and economic crisis with the communist Soviet Union know as The
Often times when a person is forced to outwardly conform while questioning themselves it leads to a struggle between their inner selves and what is expected of them. Outward conformity often oppresses a character’s true feelings of loneliness and being misunderstood. In The Awakening by Kate Chopin, the protagonist, Edna Pontellier, leads a dissatisfactory life. She is stuck in a loveless marriage, and has children, all in an attempt to conform to the social norm of the Victorian woman. However, she inwardly questions whether or not she should try to break free from this life to find her own independence and happiness.
The article “From outside, in,” by Barbara Mellix reveals the difficulties among the black ethnicity to differentiate between two diverse but similar languages. One is “black English”, which is comfortable to her while speaking with her family and community and the other is “standard English”, generally used while talking in public with strangers and work. Since childhood Mellix was taught when and where to use either black English or standard English. To illustrate, seeing her aunt and uncle in Pittsburgh, where there was wide range use of both languages, she learned to manage both languages with ease.
But what happens when a person lets go any effort to be someone, become someone or identify themselves to someone? This sole desire to set one’s own tracks leads to the initiation of self-realization. The main character, Edna Pontellier had many different awakenings that set the tracks to her self-awareness
The short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan explains a mother and daughter relationship that has many differences within a conflict in the story. The narrator demonstrates that the mother and the daughter do not agree with the same aspect on life. Since the mother wants her daughter to be perfect, the daughter refuses to make her mother’s wishes come true. Her mother wanted the narrator to become the perfect traditional daughter, but the narrator’s differences triggered with her mother. An indication from the story is, “Unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me” (137).
I identified with her soul-shaking experience when she profoundly realized, “It is a strange feeling to grow up defining yourself as something when you don’t know if that something is actually true.” I struggled in an introductory composition course at Virginia State University (VSU), and after giving each assignment my all, still
Michael Pollan publishes an inspiring article, "Why Bother?" to The New York Magazine in April 20, 2008. Pollan desires to discusses the problems with society and how climate changed can be impacted. With only a few words in one can tell how passionate Pollan is in illustrating his "why bother?" question.
“Hidden Intellectualism,” by Gerald Graff starts off with an older argument between being book smart and street smart. Throughout the reading, Graff uses his own life experiences to critique the education system today. Points made focus on the idea of overlooking the intellectual potential of those who come across as being, “street smart”. Different authors cited in the reading to show how to accept another’s different intellectual. However, we realize that people who come across as being intellectual weren’t always labeled as that.
Albert Einstein once said, “I believe the most important mission of the state is to protect the individual and make it possible for him to develop into a creative personality.” This quote is truly applicable to the short film “La Luna”. Throughout “La Luna,” a young boy named Bambino experiences many difficulties and arguments with his father, Papȧ, and his grandfather, Nonno. Bambino is coaxed into following alongside his father and grandfather’s footsteps-- sweeping away the stars. However, towards the end of the film, Bambino becomes confident with himself by taking risks and developing as his own person.
In Maya Angelou’s “Graduation” she spoke about a fictional character named Marguerite Johnson and her eighth-grade graduation. Marguerite was always kinda of lost and selfish at times, and never look at how others seen things. But as the story goes on Marguerite starts to find herself and understand others. “Graduation” isn’t just about how Marguerite pass on to the next grade but how she has grown from a lost girl to a young intelligence woman. In this story the reader is going to follower her on this surprising journey.
This already has more than half of the readers feeling related to her on account of her use of ethos. It show her as a regular person who lies not because she intends to but
