As told by Jim Grove, power is a “desire in all man that ceaseth only with death.” Many crave power, yet only few know how to maintain it. In the novel, The Battle of Jericho and the films, Apocalypse Now and Citizen Kane, rank or position, pride and gender inequality promote power in lives of the protagonists and significant characters. Each element indirectly correlates with advancement of power.
Rank or position plays a pivotal in the development of power role in these three forms of art. In The Battle of Jericho, the Warriors of Distinction, immediately assert themselves as the masters of their fellow students, of whom they call "pledge slimes." All the pledges perceive the opportunity to be members of the Warriors as honorable, and are willing to do anything and everything to be members themselves. Utilizing this to their advantage, the Warriors menacingly assemble dangerous and at times illegal tasks to demonstrate their power over the pledges, which continuously grows. Also illustrating rank as power is Captain Willard in Apocalypse now, n the film Captain Willard is ordered by Lt. General Corman and Colonel Lucas to find and kill Colonel Kurtz; the two officers have power over Willard. Although, he could have declined to execute the mission, he accepted due to the fact that it was an order from high-ranking officers. Willard also uses his rank to establish his power while on the boat, when he demands Chief Philips continue towards the direction he wants them to go, and says "I am in charge." Another film that displays the use of rank in support of power is Citizen Kane. In it, Kane uses his position to establish his dominance over the newspaper industry. By gaining control of the New York Inquirer, he uses attention-grabb...
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...st always shown as submissive. For example, when Susan decides not to sing anymore, Kane stands over her and demands that she will sing again while Susan is shown crying. No power struggle is depicted, only the dominance of man. As proven in all three forms of art, gender inequality exude power with male domination. Female power, if any, is imperceptible and does not share the same importance as they do with men.
In conclusion, the films and novel named above reveal the three unlikely elements that fuse to illustrate the advancement of power. As rank, pride and gender inequality become significant power increases and elevates the person holding that power. Though many crave power, few know how to maintain it with these same elements.
Works Cited
Jim Grove "desire in all man that ceaseth only with death.” The Battle of Jericho, Apocalypse Now and Citizen Kane
What is power to a human? As time has gone by, there have been many forms of control and influence in the world. Many strive to achieve total rule over a society or group of individuals. Yet the question still presents itself to the average man. Why does man desire power so greatly even though there is visible trouble that follows? Shelley’s Frankenstein, Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, whether through the situation or the character themselves, depict the evils and hardships due to an imbalance and poor management of power.
Apocalypse Now is a very vivid and sometimes disturbing film centered on the Vietnam War. Because it was based on Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness, it is possible to draw some parallels between the two. Both can be interpreted as metaphors for a journey through the inner self, and each has its own singular message to convey. Apocalypse Now very perspicuously depicts the fact that men have hearts of darkness, and it explores the evils of war. At the same time, however, it seemingly glorifies some aspects. The anti-war sequences were often brutal and portrayed destruction as a result of the human condition. The film Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, can be interpreted both as pro-war and anti-war in its intent, although the latter is a more valid interpretation.
are the last lines of Apocalypse Now, the Francis Ford Coppola directed war-film masterpiece, which truly explores horror. Typical war films, like Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket or Boulle’s The Bridge on the River Kwai, follow the camaraderie of a protagonist and his unit and their struggles that build up to a violent and climactic confrontation where both sides sustain losses to illustrate the tragedy of war. Apocalypse Now is different; there are only two moments of brief violence that the main character participates in and he rarely talks with anyone else. The real conflict of the movie is in the mind of the viewer and not on the screen. Apocalypse Now succeeds in its goal of bringing the audience’s minds into the insanity of war through hauntingly beautiful cinematography paired with an effective soundtrack to create a surreality and delayed editing to cause a desire for violence.
Kurtz is another example of leadership. He is obsessed with the power and leadership he has over the natives. You have never seen such stronger leadership over an entire population, as you see in this movie. Kurtz reigns over these people as if he is God.
Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five; or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is, as suggested by the title, a novel describing a crusade that stretches beyond the faint boundaries of fiction and crosses over into the depths of defogged reality. This satirical, anti-war piece of literature aims to expose, broadcast and even taunt human ideals that support war and challenge them in light of their folly. However, the reality of war, the destruction, affliction and trauma it encompasses, can only be humanly described by the word “war” itself. Furthermore, oftentimes this term can only be truly understood by those who have experienced it firsthand. Therefore, in order to explain the unexplainable and humanize one of the most inhumane acts, Vonnegut slants the hoarse truth about war by extrapolating it to a fantasy world. Through this mixture of history, reality and fantasy, Vonnegut is able to “more or less” describe what he believes truly happens in war yet, at the same time, reveal a greater truth about humanity's self-destructive war inertness. Vonnegut's use of fantasy in Slaughterhouse-Five unveils mundane war misconceptions as it rallies action against war through a comparison and contrast between the Tralfamadorian world and philosophy and Billy Pilgrim's existence and war experiences.
The hero’s journey in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” begins in the known natural world. The hero in Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece is Captain Willard. A call to adventure arouses when Willard is sent for to report to the general in command to receive his mission. Willard is informed of a renegade Colonel by the name of Kurtz, who has assembled his own followers and army. Kurtz left and disappeared from the Army and is killing American soldiers that come into his turf. Willard’s mission is to travel up river by boat deep into Cambodia, find Colonel Kurtz, and eliminate him by any means necessary.
In consideration of how power functioned in both the Crucible and the Holocaust, a tend of how an individual can use power to control, influence, benefit themselves, and also protect themselves from attacks can be seen. Human Nature compels us to gain power because of want, but once we have the power we will inherently use it to influence others because of the need of the individual to have their ideas agreed with. Power can either make a leader great or make a whole society or movement corrupt. Lessons can be learned about how to effectively use power to properly initiate change and make a positive impact on the world.
Power is both a mental and physical characteristic that people define through knowledge, strength, and money. People who embody these traits are exceedingly hard to come by and almost cease to exist. In today’s age it is a demanding task to find a person who has absolutely mastered a specific trade. For an individual to become powerful they must acquire a vast amount of knowledge in that subject area to convince others and prove their arguments factual. A knowledgeable being will have a sharp edge over competitors allowing them to rise to the top, leaving opponents in the dust. People who have obtained a substantial amount of strength are more likely to be successful when attempting tasks and missions. An individual who has strength has more stability, courage, and fortitude. A person who displays these attributes has what it takes to control large amounts of people as well as face those people in a devastating situation. In this society it is impossible to gain access to power without one very valuable resource. Most people spend a rather large portion of their day either carrying, counting, or spending this power-granting asset. With money an individual can purchase anything they desire and prove status to other lowlife humans. The more money a person has, the more materialistic goods they can possess. Many people who have very large quantities of...
Power simply can be defined as control over resources. This control allows for individuals to bring about change. The influence of power typically has a negative impact on individuals. It has even been said that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Typically, as an individual gains power they tend to be less inhibited and act more based on their personal desires disregarding what is ethically right. Oftentimes, individuals lose sight of their morals in attempts to gain more power and exploit other people. Indeed, it is true that “with great power comes great responsibility” and whether an individual lets that responsibility corrupt them is a strong measure of their personal character (Ferguson and Peterson,
Power, the perception of superiority over another human, is the source of many conflicts between people. Feeling inferior causes people to act beyond their normal personality. John Knowles strongly demonstrates this point in his work, A Separate Peace. In the relationship between Finny and Gene, Gene sets himself up to be inferior in the balance of power which motivates him to act irrationally to take power back from Finny.
According to the oxford dictionary, “Power” is the ability to do something or act in a particular way especially as a faculty or even individually. It is also the political, social authority, or control that is exercised by a government. The theme of power, is portrayed throughout several texts and novels in both Mosaic I and II. In the book, Cat’s cradle by Kurt Vonnegut expresses the idea of power through religion, science and politics. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marks and Frederick Engles, demonstrates how power, through class and economy leads to political empowerment. Homer’s Iliad and the Epic of Gilgamesh both demonstrate conflicting views of what is means to be powerful. Throughout these two text, both the Gods and mortals, struggle to discover their own power, whether it is through their strengths or an obsession with glory. The theme of power also manifests itself in the book of Antigone, where Creon abuses his privilege of absolute power and this allows him to suffer to a great extent. The Complete Persepolis and Walden and Civil Disobedience also demonstrates how governing powers can oppress people and this can be very restrictive in societies.
There is a long history of gender roles in society. The expectations of gender roles continually shift; however, there is not a time when women and men share the same equalities simultaneously. The idea of how men and women should act is instilled in us at a young age. I think it starts really young with girls and boys being told what they can be and when they see what they are expected to be, they abandon parts of them which society deems as undesirable. We don’t acknowledge how much pressure we put on men and women to conform to the ideas of gender roles but it is apparent in our media and in the history of our art. One of the most influential things about figurative art is that it has the ability to capture society’s concepts of how men and women are expected to be during that time period. One thing for certain about gender equality is that it has historically and predominantly been a women’s movement. This sculpture, entitled Portrait Bust of a Woman with a Scroll, stood out to me in particular. It is is made of pentelic marble and dates back to the early 5th century. The sculpture shows a woman with a restless face, clothed in a mantle and head piece while holding a scroll. This sculpture reflects the women’s intelligence and capabilities being overshadowed by her gender and
From the displays of power that have been shown through out this essay, we see that this story is a story about power. Power is the story is primarily about peoples need for some small amount of power to survive in life and to feel that hey have a purpose within their society which every society it may be whether its is Gilead or Nazi Germany or modern day Britain.
Power has been defined as the psychological relations over another to get them to do what you want them to do. We are exposed to forms of power from the time of birth. Our parents exercise power over us to behave in a way they deem appropriate. In school, teachers use their power to help us learn. When we enter the work world the power of our boss motivates us to perform and desire to move up the corporate ladder so that we too can intimidate someone with power one day. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Kurtz had a power over the jungle and its people that was inexplicable.
In World War II, a lot of people are slaughtered by a man who has absolute power. This man was Adolf Hitler and he murdered 6 million Jewish. A lot of people see him as a powerful dictator, because of his mass murder. People often see often as the ability the to get what someone wants at first thought. However, it has wider concept, it has a more complex structure. It could be used for a lot of purposes and has a lot of type. If some leaders or some institutions have absolute power, ultimately the power they have will corrupt the order expects some kind of power such as knowledge, love, etc.