For this post, try again to articulate what your thesis is currently. Unlike last time, try to phrase your thesis as formally as you can. Four to six sentences would be a good length for you to articulate the thesis and give it a bit of context.
The lives of those who serve in the military are often shaped by their pasts. Many use skills learned growing up, to survive in the battle zone. However, the lives that they have chosen to live often overbear the lives that they left behind. Even when home on leave, the military still grabs these men and women, pulling them back into the world that has shaped their most recent years, choking out the years that propelled them into the military all together.
The complexity of life is confusing and can be overwhelming. In "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" you can see how confusion is not always a bad thing. In "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" you see the hardship of life and why being misunderstood is hard. In "The Perks of being a Wallflower" you see the troubles with life and teenage years. Life is confusing and hard. Through these books you can try to understand the confusions. It is only through confusion that you can understand though.
The theme of insanity manages to crawl its way into many literary works. In particular works of literary merit exhibited within the postmodernism era. In order to promote and explain my thesis, I will be including slight research of the postmodernism era in history to further myself in the proper understanding on why insanity was such a popular topic for this era in books. The books that I read to promote this study is Lord of the Flies, Slaughterhouse 5, American Psycho, Lolita, and bits and pieces of Infinite Jest will be scattered throughout the paper. There will also be a creative portion in relation to an interpretation of insanity.
Sharing stories and promoting personal strength empowers other people. Feminists everywhere share their stories in literature to allow other women to hear their stories and know they are not alone. In reading "I Am Malala" and "Survivors on the Yoga Mat," I will share the different ways literature can promote feminism and personal strengths and other attributes to make women feel empowered, safe, and proud of themselves for going through the struggles they faced in their lives. By doing so, I will also explore the different avenues of coping that women can venture down after receiving some kind of abuse, oppression, or discrimination.
Both the timing of writing Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat’s Cradle and the satirical techniques of irony and black humor that Kurt Vonnegut employs in them contribute to the book’s argument that humans balance knowledge and ignorance to justify cruelty toward others. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut uses the idea that the lack of free will and the support of ignorance can justify mass destruction, while in Cat’s Cradle he juxtaposes religion and science to create tension between morality and the ethical issue involved with the advances in the technology of weapons. He ultimately argues that humans, especially those with political power, will have a natural tendency to ignore the impacting effects their actions have. This is because to choose to ignore the issues involved with morals in war and with the arms race is much more difficult and unnatural than considering the well-being of others and establishing a lasting and thriving society based around something as ambiguous as one’s perspective of what is right.
Oral traditions have been told for centuries as a way to connect with others and teach lessons of importance. They were meant for people of all ages and spared no gory detail. Over the years from when these oral traditions were first written down, the stories have begun changing as time goes on. By changing these original tales the meaning and lesson that was originally told is lost. The 'disneyfication' of fairy tales and oral traditions modify the original versions, distorting the overall meaning and value of the stories. I am researching how the modification of oral traditions has changed the meanings and how society is affected by the modifications in general mainly focusing on the effects of the fairy tales told today on children.
The art of parody is one of subversion, and sometimes it is difficult to articulate what makes an effective satire, due to the very nature of irony being designed to subvert the expectations of the reader. Thus, the novels of Kurt Vonnegut make excellent examples of how satire can be done in its purest and most effective form. Through layers of irony, different perspectives and ridiculous scenarios, Vonnegut's work shows his philosophy of looking at political issues from "the outside" as an observer, and through this, provides the reader with a more intimate view of the issue being tackled in the books in question.
In the two novels, My Sister’s Keeper and Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult explores the influences on her characters choices. The assertion is made in both novels that the main influence on a person when making a decision is those they love; their parents, siblings, and children. In Vanishing Acts, Picoult also examines the relationship between our parents choices and our own. Even when we presume they are, our decisions are never strictly our own; they are swayed by our desire to please or benefit the ones we love. I am using examples of scenarios from the two novels to answer my question of “What influences the decisions we make?”
In the two novels, My Sister’s Keeper and Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult explores the influences on her characters choices. The assertion is made in both novels that the main influence on a person when making a decision is those they love; their parents, siblings, and children. In Vanishing Acts, Picoult also examines the relationship between our parents choices and our own. Even when we presume they are, our decisions are never strictly our own; they are swayed by our desire to please or benefit the ones we love. I am using examples of scenarios from the two novels to answer my question of “What influences the decisions we make?”
Poets have tried to grasp the world since the invention of language. As time went on, different poetry movements began to focus on different things, yet some themes are constant throughout poetry. Religion, death, love, aging, evil, emotion, and poetry itself have lasted since John Donne and appeared substantially in every movement. However, while the themes have remained stagnant, the devices used to describe them have changed, and the perspective that the issues are approached by are drastically different between time periods. From pure philosophy to pure emotion, poetry has evolved substantially while not changing at all.
There is increasing pressure in today’s society to conform. One is expected to embrace the newest fad and, in doing so, become a real-life promotion of the latest product. The fast-paced, constantly changing society holds its inhabitants to certain standards. Whether it’s the expectation that one will fulfill a designated role or that a gram of soma is to be taken to relieve stress, society has placed immense importance on complying with norms. Brave New World satirizes modernism by dramatizing the norms of daily life. The pressure to belong borders on cruel as the alternative to conformity is exclusion, and within exclusion lives brutality in both the physical and mental sense as highlighted in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
John Steinbeck is revered as a quintessential American novelist. Raised in working town Southern California, and shown the morals of hardworking Americans; Steinbeck spent his early adulthood travelling the continent, gathering life lessons and beginning to write about the strength and passion of America. Thomas Malory was an English knight, who while stowed away in a royal dungeon began orchestrating one of the most remarkable literary translations of human history: transferring the age old legends of King Arthur and his knights of Camelot into a cohesive, literary masterpiece. My concern after studying both The Grapes of Wrath, and The Acts of King Arthur by John Steinbeck, is how such an ideal American writer can become so enthralled by the recreation of classic English myth, and what similarities and differences arise from studying his writing; both writing focused on America, and writing focused on Southern England.
Overcoming adversity is an important element in bildungsroman books, for it is essential to the growth and development of an adolescent into a strong and knowledgeable character. Adversity shapes one’s characters, and allows one to discover who he or she is, through how he or she overcomes it. Hardships can be manifested through not only the tension caused by one’s environment such as the island’s harsh conditions in The Cay and and mankind’s invasion of Frightful’s home in Frightful’s Mountain, but could also be an internal conflict one has to rise above, such as Leo’s insecurity and low self-esteem in Leo the Lioness , and Sara’s struggle to remain virtuous in A Little Princess. The manner in which all of the aforementioned characters conquered their adversities, reveals not only the tenacity of each central character, but it helps reveal the weaknesses each character possesses.
Good! Though I think some questions the reader may be left with would be questions like "what about tenacity here is complicated, meaningful, and significant? Is there something about the strengths / weaknesses of these characters that is complex or problematic?" Answering these kinds of questions might help you to avoid sounding like you're moralizing.
Many authors use literature to express their feelings about society in a way that is concealed by the actions of fictional characters and settings. In Brave New World and 1984 the authors, Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, respectively, use their plots and characters to express a warning to society about scientific advancement and the danger of technology. Although the books deal with government, society, and history as well, they drive home a point of caution for society in the danger of continuing the race for technological advancement. In these two books, technology was masked as an everyday commodity but it was truly used as a weapon of control and power. These authors foresaw a future battle in real life between human emotion and integrity versus the power of scientific advancement and these books use explicit circumstances to showcase the possible dangers of losing this battle.
This is very interesting! The "integrity" bit sounds particularly promising -- as I remember, the books frame technology as being used to break down or deny the complications and contradictions of being human by generating fear or pleasure. Also useful for eliminating competition, aggression, and social discontent. I'm sure this resonated with early audiences who were confronted by fascism and communism, but it would be interesting to think through how technology is framed today, without the rise of totalitarian superpowers in the world. What kinds of anxieties would a contemporary story reveal?
In all of his novels, Neil Gaiman uses mythical elements and humor to deal with difficult truths and the unexpected. The way he weaves the mythical into his stories to deal with hard truths has a lot to do with the way he characterizes people (most importantly) and things. Gaiman’s humor is snide and allows him to make light of many things that others have a hard time communicating. One of the biggest hard truths Gaiman deals with is death. He treats death as if it is not as big a deal as many in society think it is. Another thing I would like to discuss is that Gaiman’s long stories are fully formulated whereas his short stories are experimental and pretty fragmented, they often leave you with an open end.
Romance novels have been around in some ways as long as humans were able to write. It has evolved into one of the most popular genres of the 21st century. Victorian era romance, where most modern day romances find its origin, has changed and developed into today's teen romance novels. Its changes range from writing techniques to the lifestyle led by the characters and it infers about how society has grown and changed over the years.
Romance novels have been around in some ways as long as humans were able to write. It has evolved into one of the most popular genres of the 21st century. Victorian era romance, where most modern day romances find its origin, has changed and developed into today's teen romance novels. Its changes range from writing techniques to the lifestyle led by the characters and it infers about how society has grown and changed over the years.
With further research, one may say that a “utopian society” is actually unattainable in real present day life, so authors and even artists and directors construct their own alternate form of a social utopia as an outlet for humans to experience the perfection that we will never cumulatively experience ourselves. Even though this “utopia” substantially differs from one time period to the next based on the morals and values of the time period, the goals of each are all the same; for every inhabitant to be happy, comfortable and feel important.
There is something respectable about a piece of literature that forces the reader to stop and seriously consider the causes and effects of injustices; it takes a deeply affected author to shape his or her experiences with social unrest, taking issues into their own hands and using them to inspire others, instead of allowing them to negatively impact their own lives. Authors like Harper Lee and M.T Anderson boldly take action, challenging social unrest in their popular books To Kill a Mockingbird and Feed, dealing with controversial topics like racism and the evolution of technology, respectively. But at what point does one decide that the threshold is met and they simply can not allow the injustice to continue without resistance? Both inspired by important social issues in their own lives, Lee and Anderson, like many authors, use literature as a means of expressing and emphasizing just how extreme these issues have gotten, whilst still going relatively unnoticed.
What is the optimal balance of the individual right to exercise free will and the government’s right to enforce regulatory measures for the protection of the individual? Free will should only be restricted when it becomes verbally or physically assaultive on another individual or group of individual. Government should only be involved to protect people from the threat posed by disease and natural disaster or harmful bodies, which may take the form of hostile nations, terrorists, or companies. There is a fine line that we as a society must walk to achieve that optimal balance; we will be left not with a utopia, but with a fully functioning nation whose checks and balances on power are intrinsic to its success.
Serial Killers are people who are psychologically disturbed. They are defined as people “who commits more than three murders over a period that spans more than one month." They can be anyone whom you walk around everyday, male or female. They aren’t born killers, they’re made that way by the people and environment around them.
With each advancing year it becomes clearer and clearer to society that the developing world, while advancing in some areas, is -simultaneously- crumbling in others. The world around us is ultimately controlled by each individual government in each country. However, once any given government is challenged by something or someone, chaos often ensues. Aldous Huxley, Veronica Roth, Suzanne Collins and many more dystopian novel authors touch upon different (yet sometimes alarmingly similar) aspects of each of their manifested worlds in order to administrate the fact that we have to start shaping the world and making it a better place, before something truly catastrophic happens and we are forced to manifest a world like one depicted in any given dystopian novel.
An illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and that affects the way a person eats, sleeps, feels about himself or herself, and thinks about things (medicinenet.com). Depression can affect everyone in all different ways. In The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, and The Color Purple, by Alice Walker the two women live completely different lives. In one book the author depicts the girl as always having hope, even when she has very little to live for. Whereas in the other book, the girl lives in all relatively good circumstances but has no hope. Although many have no control over depression, because it can be a chemical imbalance rather than just based on environment, your attitude and thoughts of your situation can help to make you have that little bit of hope to get you through the day.
The lives of those who serve in the military are often shaped by their pasts. Many use skills learned growing up, to survive in the battle zone. However, the lives that they have chosen to live often overbear the lives that they left behind. Even when home on leave, the military still grabs these men and women, pulling them back into the world that has shaped their most recent years, choking out the years that propelled them into the military all together.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe complexity of life is confusing and can be overwhelming. In "If on a Winter's Night a Traveler" you can see how confusion is not always a bad thing. In "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" you see the hardship of life and why being misunderstood is hard. In "The Perks of being a Wallflower" you see the troubles with life and teenage years. Life is confusing and hard. Through these books you can try to understand the confusions. It is only through confusion that you can understand though.
ReplyDeleteThe theme of insanity manages to crawl its way into many literary works. In particular works of literary merit exhibited within the postmodernism era. In order to promote and explain my thesis, I will be including slight research of the postmodernism era in history to further myself in the proper understanding on why insanity was such a popular topic for this era in books. The books that I read to promote this study is Lord of the Flies, Slaughterhouse 5, American Psycho, Lolita, and bits and pieces of Infinite Jest will be scattered throughout the paper. There will also be a creative portion in relation to an interpretation of insanity.
ReplyDeleteSharing stories and promoting personal strength empowers other people. Feminists everywhere share their stories in literature to allow other women to hear their stories and know they are not alone. In reading "I Am Malala" and "Survivors on the Yoga Mat," I will share the different ways literature can promote feminism and personal strengths and other attributes to make women feel empowered, safe, and proud of themselves for going through the struggles they faced in their lives. By doing so, I will also explore the different avenues of coping that women can venture down after receiving some kind of abuse, oppression, or discrimination.
ReplyDeleteBoth the timing of writing Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat’s Cradle and the satirical techniques of irony and black humor that Kurt Vonnegut employs in them contribute to the book’s argument that humans balance knowledge and ignorance to justify cruelty toward others. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut uses the idea that the lack of free will and the support of ignorance can justify mass destruction, while in Cat’s Cradle he juxtaposes religion and science to create tension between morality and the ethical issue involved with the advances in the technology of weapons. He ultimately argues that humans, especially those with political power, will have a natural tendency to ignore the impacting effects their actions have. This is because to choose to ignore the issues involved with morals in war and with the arms race is much more difficult and unnatural than considering the well-being of others and establishing a lasting and thriving society based around something as ambiguous as one’s perspective of what is right.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOral traditions have been told for centuries as a way to connect with others and teach lessons of importance. They were meant for people of all ages and spared no gory detail. Over the years from when these oral traditions were first written down, the stories have begun changing as time goes on. By changing these original tales the meaning and lesson that was originally told is lost. The 'disneyfication' of fairy tales and oral traditions modify the original versions, distorting the overall meaning and value of the stories. I am researching how the modification of oral traditions has changed the meanings and how society is affected by the modifications in general mainly focusing on the effects of the fairy tales told today on children.
ReplyDeleteThe art of parody is one of subversion, and sometimes it is difficult to articulate what makes an effective satire, due to the very nature of irony being designed to subvert the expectations of the reader. Thus, the novels of Kurt Vonnegut make excellent examples of how satire can be done in its purest and most effective form. Through layers of irony, different perspectives and ridiculous scenarios, Vonnegut's work shows his philosophy of looking at political issues from "the outside" as an observer, and through this, provides the reader with a more intimate view of the issue being tackled in the books in question.
ReplyDeleteIn the two novels, My Sister’s Keeper and Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult explores the influences on her characters choices. The assertion is made in both novels that the main influence on a person when making a decision is those they love; their parents, siblings, and children. In Vanishing Acts, Picoult also examines the relationship between our parents choices and our own. Even when we presume they are, our decisions are never strictly our own; they are swayed by our desire to please or benefit the ones we love. I am using examples of scenarios from the two novels to answer my question of “What influences the decisions we make?”
ReplyDeleteIn the two novels, My Sister’s Keeper and Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult explores the influences on her characters choices. The assertion is made in both novels that the main influence on a person when making a decision is those they love; their parents, siblings, and children. In Vanishing Acts, Picoult also examines the relationship between our parents choices and our own. Even when we presume they are, our decisions are never strictly our own; they are swayed by our desire to please or benefit the ones we love. I am using examples of scenarios from the two novels to answer my question of “What influences the decisions we make?”
ReplyDeletePoets have tried to grasp the world since the invention of language. As time went on, different poetry movements began to focus on different things, yet some themes are constant throughout poetry. Religion, death, love, aging, evil, emotion, and poetry itself have lasted since John Donne and appeared substantially in every movement. However, while the themes have remained stagnant, the devices used to describe them have changed, and the perspective that the issues are approached by are drastically different between time periods. From pure philosophy to pure emotion, poetry has evolved substantially while not changing at all.
ReplyDeleteThere is increasing pressure in today’s society to conform. One is expected to embrace the newest fad and, in doing so, become a real-life promotion of the latest product. The fast-paced, constantly changing society holds its inhabitants to certain standards. Whether it’s the expectation that one will fulfill a designated role or that a gram of soma is to be taken to relieve stress, society has placed immense importance on complying with norms. Brave New World satirizes modernism by dramatizing the norms of daily life. The pressure to belong borders on cruel as the alternative to conformity is exclusion, and within exclusion lives brutality in both the physical and mental sense as highlighted in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
ReplyDeleteJohn Steinbeck is revered as a quintessential American novelist. Raised in working town Southern California, and shown the morals of hardworking Americans; Steinbeck spent his early adulthood travelling the continent, gathering life lessons and beginning to write about the strength and passion of America. Thomas Malory was an English knight, who while stowed away in a royal dungeon began orchestrating one of the most remarkable literary translations of human history: transferring the age old legends of King Arthur and his knights of Camelot into a cohesive, literary masterpiece. My concern after studying both The Grapes of Wrath, and The Acts of King Arthur by John Steinbeck, is how such an ideal American writer can become so enthralled by the recreation of classic English myth, and what similarities and differences arise from studying his writing; both writing focused on America, and writing focused on Southern England.
ReplyDeleteOvercoming adversity is an important element in bildungsroman books, for it is essential to the growth and development of an adolescent into a strong and knowledgeable character. Adversity shapes one’s characters, and allows one to discover who he or she is, through how he or she overcomes it. Hardships can be manifested through not only the tension caused by one’s environment such as the island’s harsh conditions in The Cay and and mankind’s invasion of Frightful’s home in Frightful’s Mountain, but could also be an internal conflict one has to rise above, such as Leo’s insecurity and low self-esteem in Leo the Lioness , and Sara’s struggle to remain virtuous in A Little Princess. The manner in which all of the aforementioned characters conquered their adversities, reveals not only the tenacity of each central character, but it helps reveal the weaknesses each character possesses.
ReplyDeleteGood! Though I think some questions the reader may be left with would be questions like "what about tenacity here is complicated, meaningful, and significant? Is there something about the strengths / weaknesses of these characters that is complex or problematic?" Answering these kinds of questions might help you to avoid sounding like you're moralizing.
DeleteMany authors use literature to express their feelings about society in a way that is concealed by the actions of fictional characters and settings. In Brave New World and 1984 the authors, Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, respectively, use their plots and characters to express a warning to society about scientific advancement and the danger of technology. Although the books deal with government, society, and history as well, they drive home a point of caution for society in the danger of continuing the race for technological advancement. In these two books, technology was masked as an everyday commodity but it was truly used as a weapon of control and power. These authors foresaw a future battle in real life between human emotion and integrity versus the power of scientific advancement and these books use explicit circumstances to showcase the possible dangers of losing this battle.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis is very interesting! The "integrity" bit sounds particularly promising -- as I remember, the books frame technology as being used to break down or deny the complications and contradictions of being human by generating fear or pleasure. Also useful for eliminating competition, aggression, and social discontent. I'm sure this resonated with early audiences who were confronted by fascism and communism, but it would be interesting to think through how technology is framed today, without the rise of totalitarian superpowers in the world. What kinds of anxieties would a contemporary story reveal?
DeleteIn all of his novels, Neil Gaiman uses mythical elements and humor to deal with difficult truths and the unexpected. The way he weaves the mythical into his stories to deal with hard truths has a lot to do with the way he characterizes people (most importantly) and things. Gaiman’s humor is snide and allows him to make light of many things that others have a hard time communicating. One of the biggest hard truths Gaiman deals with is death. He treats death as if it is not as big a deal as many in society think it is. Another thing I would like to discuss is that Gaiman’s long stories are fully formulated whereas his short stories are experimental and pretty fragmented, they often leave you with an open end.
ReplyDeleteRomance novels have been around in some ways as long as humans were able to write. It has evolved into one of the most popular genres of the 21st century. Victorian era romance, where most modern day romances find its origin, has changed and developed into today's teen romance novels. Its changes range from writing techniques to the lifestyle led by the characters and it infers about how society has grown and changed over the years.
ReplyDeleteRomance novels have been around in some ways as long as humans were able to write. It has evolved into one of the most popular genres of the 21st century. Victorian era romance, where most modern day romances find its origin, has changed and developed into today's teen romance novels. Its changes range from writing techniques to the lifestyle led by the characters and it infers about how society has grown and changed over the years.
ReplyDeleteWith further research, one may say that a “utopian society” is actually unattainable in real present day life, so authors and even artists and directors construct their own alternate form of a social utopia as an outlet for humans to experience the perfection that we will never cumulatively experience ourselves. Even though this “utopia” substantially differs from one time period to the next based on the morals and values of the time period, the goals of each are all the same; for every inhabitant to be happy, comfortable and feel important.
ReplyDeleteThere is something respectable about a piece of literature that forces the reader to stop and seriously consider the causes and effects of injustices; it takes a deeply affected author to shape his or her experiences with social unrest, taking issues into their own hands and using them to inspire others, instead of allowing them to negatively impact their own lives. Authors like Harper Lee and M.T Anderson boldly take action, challenging social unrest in their popular books To Kill a Mockingbird and Feed, dealing with controversial topics like racism and the evolution of technology, respectively. But at what point does one decide that the threshold is met and they simply can not allow the injustice to continue without resistance? Both inspired by important social issues in their own lives, Lee and Anderson, like many authors, use literature as a means of expressing and emphasizing just how extreme these issues have gotten, whilst still going relatively unnoticed.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the optimal balance of the individual right to exercise free will and the government’s right to enforce regulatory measures for the protection of the individual? Free will should only be restricted when it becomes verbally or physically assaultive on another individual or group of individual. Government should only be involved to protect people from the threat posed by disease and natural disaster or harmful bodies, which may take the form of hostile nations, terrorists, or companies. There is a fine line that we as a society must walk to achieve that optimal balance; we will be left not with a utopia, but with a fully functioning nation whose checks and balances on power are intrinsic to its success.
ReplyDeleteSerial Killers are people who are psychologically disturbed. They are defined as people “who commits more than three murders over a period that spans more than one month." They can be anyone whom you walk around everyday, male or female. They aren’t born killers, they’re made that way by the people and environment around them.
ReplyDeleteWith each advancing year it becomes clearer and clearer to society that the developing world, while advancing in some areas, is -simultaneously- crumbling in others. The world around us is ultimately controlled by each individual government in each country. However, once any given government is challenged by something or someone, chaos often ensues. Aldous Huxley, Veronica Roth, Suzanne Collins and many more dystopian novel authors touch upon different (yet sometimes alarmingly similar) aspects of each of their manifested worlds in order to administrate the fact that we have to start shaping the world and making it a better place, before something truly catastrophic happens and we are forced to manifest a world like one depicted in any given dystopian novel.
ReplyDeleteAn illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and that affects the way a person eats, sleeps, feels about himself or herself, and thinks about things (medicinenet.com). Depression can affect everyone in all different ways. In The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, and The Color Purple, by Alice Walker the two women live completely different lives. In one book the author depicts the girl as always having hope, even when she has very little to live for. Whereas in the other book, the girl lives in all relatively good circumstances but has no hope. Although many have no control over depression, because it can be a chemical imbalance rather than just based on environment, your attitude and thoughts of your situation can help to make you have that little bit of hope to get you through the day.
ReplyDelete