Are humans destroying the earth? Percey Shelley and Susan Freikel have the same answer to this question. . In the poem "A Dirge" by Percy Shelley, the writer talks about his feelings towards the world and the way humans have treated it. In the story Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, Susan Freikel discusses the effects litter has on the environment. The stories can be connected to one another. Both stories share a common setting, tone, and theme. All of which pertain to whether or not humans really are destroying the earth. Although these two texts have different settings the main point is the same. Plastic: A Toxic Love Story takes place at a very popular beach while "A Dirge" doesn't have an exact setting, but the author portrays how sad the world really is by saying a "sad storm whose tears are vain" where her poem takes place. In the poem "A Dirge" the writer refers to his setting as the whole entire world not just one specific place, and although Friekel has an exact setting, one that is "a magnet for ocean-borne plastic debris," she also looks at the world as a whole. Both authors share a sadness a remorse for the way their similar setting is impacted by humans. …show more content…
Although Shelley wrote with nothing but emotion and deep despair for the conditions of the world, the story gives a factual look at the situation. Friekel does show us the emotional impact that her realizations have on her. The everyday things that humans do and use are ultimately destroying our world, our home. Neither author is happy about this matter, but Friekel seems much more hopeful than Shelley does about the situation. "Deep caves and dreary main," Shelley describes the world as dreary. In this case the world and Shelley share feelings towards the atrocities humans cause. Shelley seems as if there is no hope for the world while Friekel writes in hopes to open the eyes and hearts of
Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, illustrates the Romantic idea of the sublime naturalworld as an emotional experience for the characters of the novel. Within the text, Shelleyutilizes an allusion to the John Milton’s biblical story, Paradise Lost, to make a parallel betweenthe characters. Within the passage, the monster compares himself, as well as his creator, Victor,to the characters Adam and Satan. He comes to realize that he is more similar to Satan;ultimately, leading him to his reign of terror and the revenge he wishes to impose on Victor. Themonster realizes that he is similar to Adam in Paradise Lost in that they both do not want to bealone. The monster also realizes that there is good in the world that is deeply contrasted with
Additional Thoughts: Majority of the quotes I like are chosen because they relate to modern-day situations.
After examining Frankenstein’s inability to endure ice and metaphorically his own ideal, the reader recognizes Shelley’s purpose for repeating images of ice in Frankenstein. Every concept is subject to being distorted and utterly rejected, no matter how grand it is. Shelley is telling the reader it is necessary to be weary of any personal endeavor, for it never affects only one person. Sometimes, in achieving an ideal a person does not speculate any consequences and puts others in jeopardy. Shelley is clear to depict that that danger is far greater than subjecting only their self to cope with their ideal.
Since its publication in 1818, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has grown to become a name associated with horror and science fiction. To fully understand the importance and origin of this novel, we must look at both the tragedies of Mary Shelley's background and her own origins. Only then can we begin to examine what the icon "Frankenstein" has become in today's society.
Comparing Voltaire's Candide and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Voltaire's Candide and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein are classics of western literature, in large part, because they both speak about the situation of being human. However, they are also important because they are both representative of the respective cultural movements during which they were written - the Enlightenment and the Romantic Era. As a result of this inheritance, they have different tones and messages, just as the Enlightenment and Romanticism had different tones and messages. But, it is not enough to merely say that they are "different" because they are linked. The intellectual movement from which Frankenstein emerged had its origins in the intellectual movement
Shelley’s allusions display the creatures anguish of being alone in the world and how it causes him to feel: “ Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence… I was wretched, helpless, and alone.” (93-94), this allusion is crucial because it shows the reader just how awful the influences of solitude are on the creature and how his circumstances have caused him to become grieved and destitute. Another illusion similar to before take place when the monster compares himself to Satan: “Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me.” (94), the monster now resents the people of the cottage because they are able to converse and associate with others while the creature is forced to stay secluded from all contact. Allusions such as these enforce Shelley 's purpose of depicting the calamitous effects of solitude on the mind. By now the reader should understand that men need to be around others like themselves because all creatures desire to have a group into which they
While immersed in its beauty, Victor and his creation escaped worldly problems and entered a supernatural bliss. In short, Shelley presents nature as very powerful. It has the power to put the humanity back into man when the unnatural world has stripped him of his moral fiber. In comparison to the pure beauty of nature, the unnatural acts of man are far more emphasized; therefore, the reader is clearly aware of man’s faults and their repercussions. Unfortunately, not even the power of nature could balance the work of man: “the cup of life was poisoned forever.”
Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably exclude. (Shelley 69)” This statement by the monster compares to Nock’s interpretation of Shelley being abandoned by both parents. The monster like Shelley was disowned by its “father” Victor, when it did not live up to his expectations of what it should have looked like after his creation; Shelley’s abandonment was due to her elopement with a married man. The monster, like Shelley, only wanted to belong to a true family; the monster only wanted a female companion, which was more than due
...ilton's "Paradise Lost" to her advantage in this book. Drawing on Christian beliefs and a societal reverence for the epic gives "Frankenstein" a comparison that draws out moral limitations in our humanity. Although many moral limitations can be detected from each of the characters, the limitations I focused on were, in my belief, the most specific to Shelley's overall romantic and gothic state of reasoning. In this era, and even today, the thought of human limitation gives people a better understanding of our place in the world. The individual ego creates a dangerous place for many of us, a place Shelley describes through Victor Frankenstein's creation. Above all, I think Shelley's story relates human limitations and public progression to remind society that we have an obligation to remain in admiration of our creator, nature, and the miracle of our own existence.
where they lie cold and low/ Each like a corpse within its grave, until/ Thine
Shelley is able to use the harmlessness of nature as another point in her argument towards the dangers of scientific discoveries. By using nature as a type of getaway for the monster to go to when reality has gotten to hard, Shelly gives the reader the sense that when science and reality will fail you, the good ways of nature will always be there to cheer you up and make you feel better. The monster explains how his mind will often “ramble in the fields of Paradise, and dared to fancy amiable and lovely creatures sympathizing with my feelings and cheering my gloom; their angelic countenances breathed smiles of consolation.”(Shelley, 41) By having the creature find tranquility in nature Shelley is reinforcing the idea that nature is a calm and peaceful place to be with no danger. As the creature recounts his reality he speaks about how he is alone and looks towards the stories he has read while hiding in the forest to see if he can find any answers stating “I remembered Adam's supplication to his Creator. But where was mine? He had abandoned me, and in the bitterness of my heart I cursed him.”(Shelley,41) Shelley here is showing the scientific backlashes of Frankenstein's creation. In the first half of this quote where the creature was
“While Mrs. Bush understands the right of all Americans to express their political views, this event was designed to celebrate poetry.” – Office of the First Lady, in regards to the cancellation of a poetry symposium. (Benson)
It is sad to say but humans have played their part in deteriorating the earth. We have polluted and killed the very thing that takes care of us. If you ride by any lake or river you find trash and debris around it. In the “The Call of the Wild” the author says that we have committed war against the earth by the dumping of poisons and explosives upon it (337). Unfortunately, plastics are the things that are doing the most harm to our environment. Plastics are convenient and we use them everyday and these are the things that we find in the oceans, rivers and lakes. They are harmful to the earth as well as human health by directly intoxicating us with lead, cadmium and mercury. Plastic debris laced with harmful chemicals are often found inside of our marine life and can poison them. Plastic can survive for thousands of years and many invasive species are found in them which can disrupt our habitats. We need to limit our consumption of plastics and make sure that they are disposed of in their proper places.
Though some of you may be aware of these problems, I know many are not, and thus may be shocked to learn about the degradation of our Earth and the people living in it. Indeed, I truly believe that "since the dawn of the industrial age, America has behaved like an alcoholic with a good job—prospering despite a lifestyle that jeopardizes the future and ruins much of what is good with irresponsible behavior."
Both Shelley, in "Ode to the West Wind," and Wordsworth, in "Intimations of Immortality," are very similar in their use of nature to describe the life and death of the human spirit. As they both describe nature these two poets use the comparison of how the Earth and all its life is the same as our own human life. I feel that Shelley uses the seasons as a way of portraying the human life during reincarnation. Wordsworth seems to concentrate more on the stages that a person goes through during life. Shelley compares himself to such things as clouds, leaves, and waves. He is writing the poem as if he were an object of the earth, and what it is like to once live and then die only to be reborn. On the other hand, Wordsworth takes images like meadows, fields, and birds and uses them to show what gives him life. Life being what ever a person needs to move on, and with out those objects can't have life. Wordsworth does not compare himself to these things like Shelley, but instead uses them as an example of how he feels about the stages of living. Starting from an infant to a young boy into a man, a man who knows death is coming and can do nothing about it because it's part of life.