In “The Thematic Paradigm,” University of Florida professor of film studies, Robert Ray, defines two types of heroes pervading American films, the outlaw hero and the official hero. Often the two types are merged in a reconciliatory pattern, he argues. In fact, this “reconciliatory pattern found its most typical incarnation…in one particular narrative: the story of the private man attempting to keep from being drawn into action on any but his own terms. In this story, the reluctant hero’s ultimate willingness to help the community satisfied the official values. But by portraying this aid as demanding only temporary involvement, the story preserved the values of individualism as well.” (284) This reconciliatory pattern is vividly exemplified in Rick, the hero of the classic film, Casablanca. For example, when Rick repeats his non-committal, cold, tough guy stance to an offended customer, “I stick my neck out for nobody,” it is viewed as an outlaw hero characteristic. He appears to be the dangerous man from a gangster movie, but still promise the “safety and comfort” an official outlaw portrays. With Ilsa back into his life, he helps his love and her husband leave Casablanca at the end. He sacrifices his love to save her from being endangered from the law. Ironically, Rick is a man who once fought in war, yet he still remains neutral with others. He allows equal status with individuals. A war is going on between the German and the French, but he doesn’t take any of their side. After tragically losing the love of his life the first time, Rick ceased to show any political involvement or any strong political beliefs and began to worry only about his own well-being. Being an outlaw, Rick’s character can’t have friends, but he can have buddies that join him in his adventures. With him through thick and thin is Sam. Sam plays the piano at Rick’s Café Americian. He is a man running from the law who meets up with another man doing the same.
The first interaction between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan in about five years starts off raining and as they talk, the sun starts to eventually shine. In Chapter 5 of this novel, Nick Carraway and his fellow neighbor, Jay Gatsby, both decide to agree on a day that “was pouring rain,” which is the day that Gatsby would reunite with Daisy (88). Daisy would be arriving at Nick’s house at around four o’clock in order to tea with Nick, but what she does not realize is that she will be seeing Gatsby. Gatsby says, “One of the papers said they thought the rain would stop about four” (89). This ultimately shows that Gatsby wants the sun to shine bright when Daisy arrives as he hopes Daisy will fall back in love with him. At about half past three o’clock “the rain cooled . . . to a damp mist through which occasional thin drops swam like dew” (89). This again proves the point that the closer it is to Daisy’s arrival the calmer the rain starts to pour because weather symbolizes the climax of emotions late to come from Gatsby and Daisy. After about a half an hour past four o’clock and since Daisy’s arrival the rain pauses and “the sun [is] shone again” (93). This quote from the novel shows that the sun is shinning again as Gatsby sees
“And you take responsibility! You’re supposed to be their leader!” is a quote by Hershel Greene from The Walking Dead. Herschel is speaking to Rick in a time of great peril and confusion. The world is slowly melting away into a pit of violence, death, and destruction and Rick is the chosen one to lead a small group of survivors through the hot land mass known as Atlanta, Georgia and Herschel is the wise sidekick of the group who is known for his calm and gentle demeanor. These two types of heroes are intertwined in the journey of The Walking Dead where it is every man for himself but there is still a glimmer of hope for humanity. Robert Ray thinks that there are only two types of heroes an official hero and an outlaw but The Walking Dead proves otherwise because Rick is considered the chosen hero and Herschel is the sidekick hero.
In the novel “The Chosen” by Chaim Potok, the story talks about a strong relationship between two friends. In the novel Potok also shows that the change in motives was what the main characters used to build up and make new connections. Reuven Malter, also known as a protagonist in the story, experiences many motives that led to changes, and how it affected him as the novel comes to an end. Making friends and communicating was a huge deal for Reuven and Danny. Each of them had to learn how to do those things to see how it would impact their future. The author shows a motive for each of the characters, and that the quote Ben Jonson said “True happiness consists not in multitude of friends, but in the worth and choice”, can be consider as the theme for the book.
As humans we are constantly in search of understanding the balance between what feels good and what is right. Humans try to take full advantage of experiencing pleasure to its fullest potential. Hedonism claims that pleasure is the highest and only source of essential significance. If the notion of hedonism is truthful, happiness is directly correlated with pleasure. Robert Nozick presented the philosophical world with his though experiment, “The Experience Machine” in order to dispute the existence and validity of hedonism. Nozick’s thought experiment poses the question of whether or not humans would plug into a machine which produces any desired experience. Nozick weakens the notion of hedonism through his thought experiment, claiming humans need more than just pleasure in their lives. Nozick discovers that humans would not hook up to this machine because they would not fully develop as a person and consider it a form of suicide.
Fitzgerald appeals to his audience's senses by describing the weather conditions and depicting the season changes. This creates a nostalgic tone by relating to the readers similar experiences. During summer, the days get longer and night becomes more distant, the sun gets hotter and the warmth lingers into the later hours—you set out on an adventure and the sun follows behind. Wistful moods are overcome by beautiful weather. “Sunshine” is associated with happiness and warmth which relates to Gatsby’s inner feelings and emotions. The sunshine reflects Gatsby’s mood; he is ecstatic, yet nervous, to see Daisy again—it has been five long, hard-working, anticipating years—and he needs to impress her. You wait all year for summer, through three undesirable seasons because it is associated with unforgettable memories, like the memories Gatsby shared with Daisy before he had to go to war.
Conflict is an important part of any short story. The short story, “On the Sidewalk Bleeding,” contains three major conflicts: man vs. man, man vs. nature, and man vs. himself. In this essay, I intend to explain, prove, and analyze these three struggles.
In the article “Reading and Thought” the author Dwight MacDonald provides criticism and disagreement with Henry Luce’s idea of “functional curiosity”. Luce developed the term “functional curiosity” defining it as an eagerness of people to know the latest news happening around the world. On the other hand, MacDonald concludes that functional curiosity only strengthens reader’s practice in reading rather than in providing invaluable information. He underlines that literature nowadays is deficient and insubstantial since there is no deep meaning in the texts. Modern printed literature is simply being skimmed through by the reader as the reader nowadays tends to avoid too much information resisting thinking in such a way. Because of the new nature of the printed materials, MacDonald considers today’s reading behavior and the way people think as flimsy and indifferent. I agree that our thought has definitively changed since we are paying less time to serious critical thinking losing connections with society and awareness of it.
Mental illness can be described as a behavioral or mental pattern that may cause suffering or a poor ability to function in life. Social stigma plays a vital role in this disease as it can make mental health problems worse, as well as making it harder for the individual to recover; resulting in a person not seeking the help that they need. There are many structural levels of mental health such as the labelling, discrimination, emotional and stereotypical aspects of a person's mental illness condition. Modern day anti-stigma studies have shown that biogenetic and psychosocial methods have aided in the ultimate goal of properly treating mental illnesses. Mental illness has been associated with biogenetic methods/treatments as a means of finding
I agree with Feys because he explains that, “Conformity can be seen as the world's most common but dangerous psychological disorder” (par. 6). This touches on the fact that people in our society change who they are. But also that as people conform they begin to lose a sense of self, which can lead to harmful disorders. This is not only terrifying but very evident in our world.
In "The Thematic Paradigm", Robert Ray explains how there are two distinctly different heroes, the outlaw hero and the official hero. The official hero embraces common values and traditional beliefs, while the outlaw has a clear sense of right and wrong but operates above the law (Ray). Ray explains how the role of an outlaw hero has many traits. "The attractiveness of the outlaw hero's childishness and propensity to whims, tantrums, and emotional decisions derived from America's cult of childhood", states Ray. (309) Ray also says, "To the outlaw hero's inconsistence on private standards of right and wrong, the official hero offered the admonition, you cannot take the law into your own hands." (312) The values of these two traditional heroes contrasts clearly. Society favors the outlaw hero because we identify with that character more. We see ourselves more so in the outlaw hero than in the official hero. The outlaw hero has the "childlike" qualities that most of us wish we had as adults. To civilians it may seem that the outlaw hero lives more of a fantasy life that we all wish to have.
... health and mental health managed care has been organized and argued the need to begin intentional discourse about the differences in perspectives related to how we treat the mind and body. I posit that a change in this attitude can help reform current health promotion and treatment practices. Next, I discussed the paucity of a coordinated and integrated system of comprehensive mental health care in the education systems. Lastly, I explored some of the research findings related to the perspectives and attitudes about mental health in different cultures. Based on the societal issues of violence, depression, suicide and psychopathologies, in the American society and the global community, there is no doubt that education, health and cultural purveyors need to begin intentional dialogue about the need to address the mental health pandemic surfacing in their fields.
Angela Carter creates an interesting interpretation of the stigmas thrust upon gender roles within the Bloody Chamber. We see from the beginning of the text that the first person narrator creates a feminine perspective for the forthcoming events, challenging the fairy tale norm of a neutral third person narrator (traditionally a male). By doing so this creates
Right after Fitzgerald used rain, he used sunshine and pretty colored clouds to show happiness and love between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. Fitzgerald switched the weather from rainy to sunny during the lunch between Daisy and Gatsby. Daisy calls Gatsby over to the window and says, “Come here quick! cried Daisy… the darkness had parted in the west, and there was a pink
Conformity is vital to people’s life. Humans, being compound animals, live in a culture that works as a whole. Therefore, if there is a fault, the whole system might disintegrate. So, people are obligated to respect the affairs of others so that they can stay together as a whole. On the other hand Individuality, just like conformity, is necessary to life even despite the fact that modern person may not understand its worth. At one point people may want to be special from all the rest in one way or the other. As a result individuals might dress a bit in a different way as well as choose to do things we actually like. And, for on one occasion, we might create the opinions based on what we actually feel. However, earlier or later we are required to curb our impulsive desires so that society or culture does not tag us as eccentric or else weird, simply for the reason that people fear being alone.
I fully accept that I am a geek when it comes to the Marvel superhero comics. I could not help but note that after watching Captain America, my favorite from the Avenger’s series, I noticed Chris Evans capitalized on the classic iconic American Hero. Typically when we hear superhero we think of a man that begins with Bat, Spider or Super. Yet none of these men fully embody the American icon of comic heroism. While using a narrative paradigm and Bourke I will examine our icon in comparison to a Norwegian Viking through a postmodern lens. Comparing these two icons may seem as an odd comparison, however their similarity might shed light into who the American hero really is.