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Important values of literature
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Naked Lunch
Naked Lunch has been described by the author as "brutal, obscene, and disgusting." It was declared "obscene, indecent, and impure... and taken as a whole... predominantly prurient, hardcore pornography and utterly without redeeming social importance," when brought to trial in Boston in 1965. However, declaring William Burroughs' novel to be completely without redeeming social importance seems inaccurate. Naked Lunch paints a vivid portrait of addiction in all its horror, and of the steady degradation of the addicts around whom the novel centers.
Burroughs titles his introduction "Deposition: Testimony Concerning a Sickness." He believes that addiction is a sickness, and feels that addiction should be treated as a physical disorder, not a psychological one. The body of the novel is not pornography; it is not pointlessly graphic and obscene. Rather, it uses its brutality and obscenity to portray the destructiveness of addiction. Though it contains detailed descriptions of drug use and even outlines how to use many drugs, it is not a manual for drug use. Rather could be taken as a warning against the usage of such drugs. The novel gives a detailed description of the horrific consequences of addiction, as well as a warning: "Look down LOOK DOWN along that junk road before you travel there and get in with the Wrong Mob... A word to the wise guy" (xlv). The novel warns against addiction, against using the drugs described within.
As a warning against drug use and a study of addiction, Naked Lunch has both social and scientific value. During the Boston trial, writers Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, and John Ciardi all testified on behalf of the novel, asserting its literary importance. When the book was declared not to be obscene by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the decision was based on the fact that a "substantial and intelligent group" within the literary community believed that the novel had literary significance (394).
In light of its being considered to have not only redeeming social value, but redeeming scientific and literary value as well, Naked Lunch cannot be declared obscene in the legal sense.
In the reality of the postmodern world, where nature is gone and has been replaced by technology, where the world and humankind have become fused with the machine, and the existence of morality and reality are uncertain, it is difficult to find hope for a better existence or motivation to attempt to change one's existence. Addiction then becomes a logical avenue of escape from these bleak circumstances--not affecting reality, but transforming it into something bearable. The addictions that Case turns to allow him to escape from the hard reality of his life th...
well as claiming that it was "explicitly pornographic" and "immoral." After months of controversy, the board ruled that the novel could be read
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1995.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner, 1996.
Five teenagers who don't' know each other spend a Saturday in detention at the suburban school library. At first they squirm, fret and pick on each other. Then after sampling some marijuana, a real encounter session gets underway. The stresses and strains of adolescence have turned their inner lives into a minefield of disappointment, anger and despair.
Turner’s father, Dan Turner had wrote a letter to the judge asking him to go easy on his son. Dan said that a long sentence would be “a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 years of life”. This one phrase made many people furious and outraged. The father had also said that Turner is having a hard time eating his favorite food, steak, because he is so distraught from the trial. A Stanford professor was shocked that this father would compare not being able to eat steak to being sexually assaulted. Before the sentence was given, the twenty three year old victim wrote a twelve page letter describing in detail how the rape affected her life. She had felt that the jury of her peers did not give justice for the horrible assault she endured. She explained how she went to fraternity party near Stanford, drank a lot, then did not know what had happened to her once she regained consciousness in the hospital. In detail, the victim explained the humiliating and traumatizing experience of a forensic sexual assault
The Maine Lobster Festival is supposed to be a celebration inviting anyone and everyone to celebrate the delectable lobster, but Wallace uses it to shed some light on the welfare of the animal when cooking and eating it. He does a great job at analyzing the festival as well as challenging the meaning of food based on how we define the animals we consume. This includes the substitution of words, people’s ignorance, and the scientific language. The way we identify food can all be supported by these three main influences.
He argues that addiction is a behavioral disorder caused by the person’s social environment and the lack of resources. Levy believes that, most of the time, an addict does not have services or resources available in order to remove herself from “the environment” where drugs are found constantly. He also stated that most of these addicts are physically unfit since they are poorly nourished, and they are struggling with their own personal stress. Levy, in his article, highlighted that a person’s environment, his health, and the resources he has, play a crucial role in determining whether or not the person will abuse drugs. Levy’s arguments seem to hold a strong position concerning addiction and its causes. However, his arguments seem to contain ambiguous words which can leave readers wandering about the actual definition of the word, and also interrupt their reading. For instance, Levy argues that addiction can be defined as a disease only if it includes pathological deviations from “norms of brain function” (Levy, 2013). He also mentions claims like addiction can lead to some deficits that are “relatively minor”, and addiction can cause impairment only in “certain” social environments (Levy, 2013). These words, norms, minor, certain, can be viewed as ambiguous words since it can have more than one meaning. In addition, Levy, in his article, seems to contradict some of his
John Hughes’ 1985 film, The Breakfast Club, gives countless examples of the principles of interpersonal communication. Five high school students: Allison, a weirdo, Brian, a nerd, John, a criminal, Claire, a prom queen, and Andrew, a jock, are forced to spend the day in Saturday detention. By the end of the day, they find that they have more in common than they ever realized.
David Foster Wallace provides a controversial argument in his article, “Consider the Lobster,” by forcing his readers to not only think about how good their dinner may taste, but also how it got on their plate. He challenges the ethical standard which Americans use to reason with the idea that it is completely humane to put aside their morals when dealing with their taste buds, specifically when eating lobster. By using rhetorical devices ranging from the way he constructed his paper, to playing with different diction and focusing on emotional appeal throughout his essay, Wallace argues from both sides of the spectrum, (i.e., PETA member to Maine Lobster Fest fanatic), in order to assist his audience in considering
Drugs were a subject that Burroughs was asked about in his interview, since it was stated he “believed heroin was needed to turn the human body into an environment that includes the universe.” Nevertheless, despite that he ...
Everitt, B. Robbins, T. (1999) Drug addiction: bad habits add up. Macmillian Magazines, volume 389, pg 567-570.
Drug abuse dates as far back as the Biblical era, so it is not a new phenomenon. “The emotional and social damage and the devastation linked to drugs and their use is immeasurable.” The ripple of subversive and detrimental consequences from alcoholism, drug addictions, and addictive behavior is appalling. Among the long list of effects is lost productivity, anxiety, depression, increased crime rate, probable incarceration, frequent illness, and premature death. The limitless consequences include the destruction to personal development, relationships, and families (Henderson 1-2). “Understandably, Americans consider drug abuse to be one of the most serious problems” in the fabric of society. And although “addiction is the result of voluntary drug use, addiction is no longer voluntary behavior, it’s uncontrollable behavior,” says Alan Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Torr 12-13).
The use of drugs is a controversial topic in society today. In general, addicts show a direct link between taking drugs and suffering from their effects. People abuse drugs for a wide variety of reasons. In most cases, the use of drugs will serve a type of purpose or will give some kind of reward. These reasons for use will differ with different kinds of drugs. Various reasons for using the substance can be pain relief, depression, anxiety and weariness, acceptance into a peer group, religion, and much more. Although reasons for using may vary for each individual, it is known by all that consequences of the abuse do exist. It is only further down the line when the effects of using can be seen.
Addiction and abuse of drugs have remained an unexplainable circumstance, even till today. A mistaken assumption is that drug abusers lack moral principles, and if given a chance or in the presence of will power, their selections could be altered. In reality, drug addiction is known as a complex disease and requires more than will power or mere good intentions to change. Due to the fact that drug addiction could change the way the brain works, with time, the brain promotes compulsive drug abuse. It is difficult to relent even if one is ready to do so. Drug abuse has negative influences not only in the lives of mortals, but also in the society.