An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen
An Enemy of the People deals with the extent to which individual
desires and beliefs are compromised by society. In particular, the
play focuses on the ways in which an individual can be ostracized by
the society he is trying to help. One primary message of the play is
that the individual, who stands alone, is more often "right" than the
mass of people, who are portrayed as ignorant and sheeplike. Isben who
turned atheist during his encounter with Georg Brandes, presents many
Christian values in ‘An enemy of the people’, and religious
references.
Both Dr. Stockmann and Mrs. Stockmann reveal signs of religious
references and show Christian values. We learn that Dr. Stockmann has
strong moral values when it comes to honesty and truth. From the
following we can tell that he believes that the truth should not be
hidden from anyone let alone the community, and that the truth shall
prevail in the end. ‘I should think he would be very glad that such an
important truth has been brought to light’. We can also see that the
truth is a very important part of Dr. Stockmann’s life, and that the
truth is what rightly should be stood up for, as he says, ‘In god’s
name, what else do you suppose I should do but take my stand on right
and truth?’ and the ‘truth and the people will win the fight you may
be certain!’. Apart from sticking up for the truth he also believes in
sticking up for what he believes in which is a strong Christian value.
You can almost compare Jesus Christ to Dr. Stockmann as both stands up
for what they believe are the truth and what they believe in. Just as
Jesus preached to people to back his side, Dr Stockmann does the same.
‘If I can’t hire a hall, I shall...
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... don’t know; but I don’t like it.
We also see many religious expressions made by her, such as ‘good
heavens’, or Good lord help us’. She also makes reference to God when
speaking to Dr. Stockmann., ‘I don’t know anything about it but God
preserve us. Apart from Mrs. Stockmann and Dr Stockmann showing some
religious reference we see Petra reveal that hard work is also
presented as a good Christian value. ‘Yes – but that is good. One is
so delightfully tired after it’.
In the end we see similarities in both Jesus and Dr. Stockman that
they both struggle to get the truth out to people, and that both are
seen as enemies although they are in fact people doing right for
others. Dr Stockmann does stand alone in the end but he was the one in
the right, and stood up to his believes, and in his mind, ‘the
strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone’.
Grant successfully managed to treat Mr. G she comes to the realization that a doctor should not judge a patient no matter how they may act, as each patient may have a reason for acting the way they do. Dr. Grant has managed to learn how to combine her own personal experience with her doctoral skills she had learned in medical schools. Dr Grant believes. “ …[A]fter twenty-eight years of schooling, my education continues, both inside and outside the classroom” ( 183). Mr. G was the key figure in changing Dr. Grants judgement. If Mr. G had not shed light onto why he was in the hospital and how he felt stripped of his freedom to Dr. Grant she probably would have just branded him as crazy, she probably would have done the same to similar patients. As Dr. Grant states, “ … I was proud of myself for having accomplished my task… I was proud of myself because I had decided not to prejudge Mr. G” (182). Mr. G exposing his true emotions to Dr. Grant was the reason that she learned that she should not judge unique patients but instead, she should try to communicate with them and better understand so she can better help
Isobelle Carmody does make use of some traditional fantasy elements in The Gathering but the departure from rigid archetypes is what enables her to achieve a sophisticated exploration of the oft-stereotyped concept of evil. She is able to effectively do this not just by the traditional good vs evil but by the dark side of human nature and mankind. To achieve this she uses Mr Karl the deputy principle at Three North in Cheshunt where this novel is based. However she hasn’t just gone and changed how traditional fantasy operate. She has used a good balance of both traditional and modern ways of getting messages out to the readers.
An article called, “The Real War,” written by Roger J. Spiller, begins with a quote by Walt Whitman, “The real war will never get in the books.” The author writes about an interview with Paul Fussell, who was a soldier in World War Two and has written many books about World War One and World War Two. Fussell is very opinionated and critical about other books written about these wars, asserting they are not realistic or portray the true essence of what really occurred by soldiers and other people participating in the wars. I claim that it is impossible to convey the actual personal feelings and emotions of those involved in a war in books or any other forms of media.
In The Grapes of Wrath, Stienbeck illustrates such powerful images using his own values. When the Joad family starts deciding to move to California for a better life, the story begins. Tom comes home from prison and the family is reunited. The hopes of all are refreshed and the move seems to be a good idea. And here we have one of Steinbecks greatest value, the family or the group, and the ties that lie within it. This value is seen through many different examples in this novel.
Elie Wiesel’s book “Night” shows the life of a father and son going through the concentration camp of World War II. Their life long journey begins from when they are taken from their home in Sighet, they experience harsh and inhuman conditions in the camps. These conditions cause Elie and his father’s relationship to change. During their time there, Elie and his father experience a reversal in roles.
Bederman uses an impressive biography technique to effectively argue her case. She uses the lives, writings, and teachings of four
The Shadow of the Galilean by Gerd Theissen is a fictional narrative about a Jewish merchant, Andreas, searching for information about a group of people known as Essenes, John the Baptist, and Jesus of Nazareth. While traveling through Jerusalem Andreas was imprisoned by the Romans thinking he was a part of a demonstration against Polite when his mission was to find Jesus. Andreas writes, “I never met Jesus on my travels through Galilee. I just found traces of him everywhere: anecdotes and stories, traditions and rumors. But everything that I heard of him fits together.
one day want their own plot so they can 'live off the fatta the lan'
In J.M. Coetzee’s novel Waiting for the Barbarians, the Magistrate comes to discover the humanity of the barbarian through his interactions with the blind girl, which eventually leads him to learn about the nature of his own humanity. Although the Magistrate is more lenient on the Barbarians than Colonel Joll, he still unknowingly objectifies them, while placing himself above them. It is only when he is imprisoned that he comes to realize the fragility of his own humanity. Ultimately Coetzee uses the magistrate’s journey from empirical leader to broken and fearful prisoner to express that peace and stability between people can only be obtained when all humanity is valued.
In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, humanity is a theme seen throughout. Humanity can be defined in many ways. It can be the disposition to do good, or it can be the human race. In the Night, the theme of humanity is the disposition to do good. In the book, Elie loses and finds his humanity. At the end, he holds on to his humanity, but loses some of it after events like his father’s death. Elie succeeds in retaining his humanity because he holds on to his father, he feels sympathy for people at the camps, and he keeps faith. Elie retains his humanity in the end even though he loses it in the middle of the book.
Steven Pinker implied that, “As long as your ideology identifies the main source of the world's ills as a definable group, it opens the world up to the mass murder of people” (1). Steven Pinker revealed an interesting side to the controversial topic of mass murders and the causes of them. He revealed that as long as people in this world believe that they are better than other due to their race, religion, and everything else that defines a group of people as different from another group of people. People are and have been wrongfully treated differently due to the incompetence of some to realize that everyone is equal. They often believe that they were superior to others because of their physical attributes and beliefs that they had. The Holocaust is a major example of the ignorance of some in history. This ignorance often resulted in the murders and mistreatment of many. Elie Wiesel was one of the six million plus people who were wrongfully mistreated during the Holocaust. Many believe that this sort of event could not occur in the current time period because people have become more civilized and tolerable to the differences of others, but sadly the world is not ready to contain a social utopia. The mass murder, and violence that is occurring in Darfur is one of the many things that shows that the world is far from achieving this social utopia. Throughout history, many occurrences of genocide have occurred due to the diversity of people and even though society has evolved greatly, there are still people and places today that are suffering.
“A mother knows what her child has gone through, even if she didn’t see it herself” Pramoedya Ananta Toer. The relationship between a mother and her child is said to be the strongest bond that two people can have. I asked my mother what it was like to give birth to another human being and she said that “Having the opportunity and privilege to bring another human into this world is the highest honor and gift a person can do” Michele Dieterich. In the book,The Grapes of Wrath, Ma Joad acts as the maternal character throughout the book and relates to the theme of families stick together.
In Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man, the narrator is a young, African-American male who believes that he is invisible. Throughout the novel, he spends a great amount of time and effort trying to figure out his identity and find a way to make himself visible in society. One of the narrator’s main attempts brings him to join an organization known as the Brotherhood, where he is able to utilize his talent for public speaking as an advocate for the Brotherhood and all that they stand for. But even this is not enough to satisfy the narrator’s need for an identity. It is not until the very end, however, that he is able to realize his own identity by confronting himself and ultimately committing suicide. The narrator’s suicide is not a physical death, rather it is a psychological death of who he is in his own mind. The only way for the narrator to fully realize who and what he is, is to kill the person that he does not believe that he is. The most likely victim for this murder therefore must be the one who seems to be the most unlikely candidate.
One’s own Freedom is what one desires to control the most in life. Yet in both Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and Albert Camus’ The Stranger, Hedda and Meursault do not have this influence over themselves, because external factors force them to live their lives according to the society they live in. In both Hedda Gabler and The Stranger the main character are constantly reminded of the life they do not want through ordinary objects that typically represent life. By destroying them, Hedda and Meursault are trying to gain control of their lives and freedom. Eventually, the character realises that the only way they can truly gain this freedom is by the death of themselves rather than things around them.
Then novel War and Peace was written by a famous Russian author Leo Tolstoy in 1865. The novel describes the war with Napoleon in which many countries were involved such as Russia, Austrian, Prussia, Spain, Sweden, and Britain. The novel mainly focuses on Russia. It reflects the different views and participation in the war of Russian aristocracy and peasants and also shows Tolstoy’s negative viewpoint on the war.