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Structuralism as a literary movement
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“Borges and I”, written by Jorge Luis Borges, is about a writer who is experiencing a role identity conflict. Borges provides many examples in this piece as to his state of mind and the role that he most identifies with. Borges’ opening line to his short story is: “It’s Borges, the other one, that things happen to.” (pg. 28). This statement is indicative of how he feels about not only himself, but the “other Borges”. There is a subtle undertone of resentment throughout Borges’ story, as well as a sort of understanding that one cannot live without the other. As Borges acknowledges and identifies the existence of his public persona as a separate entity from himself, he states the difficulties he has had differentiating between the two, and expresses his desire to prevent his public persona from consuming his private, more reserved one. This piece epitomizes the Structural School’s concept of role identity. It is evident in his literature that Borges believes that his identity is split into two parts. Borges …show more content…
Borges tells the reader, “My taste runs to hourglasses, maps, seventeenth-century typefaces, etymologies, the taste of coffee, and the prose of Robert Louis Stevenson; Borges shares those preferences, but in a vain sort of way that turns them into the accoutrements of an actor.” (pg. 28). This line is very important in that it alludes to the role identity conflict that is the overall theme of the story. The opening line of the piece in conjunction with this one allows the reader to make an inference about the subject of the article. It seems as if the private side of Borges does not like the public side, but the one needs the other to survive. It is the literary contributions of public Borges that allow the private side of him to enjoy those extravagant tastes, thus presenting the reader with the role identity conflict theory that Borges
Kafka’s story begins on a note of despair and just when it looks like the convict will not live to see another day, a turn of events suggest he might. When the traveller thinks there is nothing he could do to change the system, he sparks the plug that might make the change happen. Borges on the other hand expeciences life through the Aleph which leads him to believe that there is still hope in the world, hope that there are greater things to come and greater things to live for instead of being bogged down by everyday events.
Valentine disguises herself as Demontheses, a philosopher, and eventually emerges as the most popular columnist; whereas, Peter disguises himself as Locke, another vital philosopher, and his popularity is second to Valentine. In the context of a dystopian society, what notion does Valentine’s perplexing but idiosyncratic identity portray? What greater proposition does this pseudonym annex regarding Card’s text, which integrates atypical gender roles with a futuristic, Machiavellian universe? Perhaps most reputedly, the text’s unwinding of “reality versus deception” intensifies when Valentine’s two contrasting identities collide. Card also suggests that society fails to understand the negative consequences of censorship in a dispersed world.
While in his garden reading, Doctor Mandelet is interrupted by Mr. Pontellier, who promptly reports his wife’s troubled mind, indicating that Mr. Pontellier himself has a troubled mind through lines like “it isn’t easy to explain” or “She’s making it devilishly uncomfortable for me”(88). These disclosures help to add a few more stenciled lines, deepening Mr. Pontellier, who is, through the course of the novel, made most noticeable by his absences. His character is marred by a dependency on social conventions and aristocratic pride that he cannot push the logic of the facts toward a conclusion that would require a rethinking of his way of life.
How important is an individual that most often than not authors focus on the growth of one over the growth of the many? Is it because the growth of one symbolizes the growth of all? Or is the focus on the individual due to the image it presents which is the growth in us? In any event, this outlook of individualism is widespread in literature and different genres and techniques excavate the development of the individual. Another factor that comes into play in the development of the character is the situation and the effects of the environment. Within William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest and Michael Cervantes Saavedra’s satire Don Quixote are two different characters molded and formed or in both cases malformed to incorporate their capsules which are the genres and settings that imprison them.
...ndicates a level of justification each felt in their actions. These actions, immortalized in two of the most widely read classics of all time, even today call into question the values each society held so dear, and led the modern reader to explore what honor and traditional gendered values mean both in these societies and our own.
Both the essays have the similarity that they discuss about the weaknesses in the protagonists life. They describe the social stigmas and the fear of being objected or feel guilty about wh...
Wiehe, Roger E. "Jorge Luis Borges." Critical Survey of Short Fiction. Vol 3. Ed. Frank N. Magill. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Salem Press, 1981: 977-982.
The existential drama, No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre, and the absurd drama, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard both portray characters with an ambiguous sense of identity. While the characters in No Exit delude themselves with respect to identity and shirk responsibility for their identity-making choices, the characters in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead are primarily controlled by outside forces that confuse and limit their sense of identity. Both these authors do a fine job of portraying the relationship between identity and the outside forces
Borges often contemplated life and where man should find himself suitable in its situations. In “Death and the Compass”, detective Lonnrot works to solve a labyrinth that has been created for him through a series of murders. The labyrinth is considered the biggest secret in the short story. In the end the labyrinth proves to be worthless to Lonnrot. Borges strategically uses symbolism to prove his philosophy that, it is pointless to spend life endlessly searching through a “labyrinth” to find our purpose. Borges specified, “Man’s search for meaning in the world is a fruitless effort” (Borges). The idea of someone creating a series of murders that form a triangle with equidistant vertices is completely imaginary. It is a clear portrayal of Borges’ manipulation of fantasy to create alternate realisms. Borges’ varied literary methods in a single story help communicate his two life theories. Labyrinths and identity are consistent topics that transpire in Borges’ short stories. “In Death and the Compass”, as well as several other short stories, Borges depicts characters that use reason to create and solve labyrinths. This symbolizes that people create their own paths in life. The labyrinth in Borges’ stories plays many roles. It examines the idea that life is a riddle and at times can seem endless. In “Death and the Compass” Red Scharlach, a criminal ...
1. The identity theory (reductive materialism) states that mental states are brain states. Basically each mental state/process is the same as the physical state or process(es) within the brain. What they say about the mind is that the mind is just the brain and mental states are brain states.
The identity theory of mind holds that states and processes of the mind are identical to states and processes of the brain thus particular psychological states are identical with particular type of physical state. Many objections have been lay out by philosophers who have evaluated this theory one objection that is particularly strong is the Martian and octopus criticism which state that if identity theory is true, than these species should not feel pain, but if they do feel pain than identity theory is not true.
During the Renaissance period there were many intellectuals and many different rulers. However, in: The Borgias: and Their Enemies, by Christopher Hibbert, the time period resembles one of which most readers are not familiar with. The book is masked with violence, greed, incest, and many forms of sin that is all too common in the modern world. The book itself aims to reveal how corrupted not only society itself once was, but the church as well. There is an apparent parallel between the church and society during this time period, and modern society and as well as the government we live in today. This parallel can be drawn by the reader by looking into two key elements: greed and corruption. Corruption is defined by many as the use of public
Humanity is defined by one major factor: one’s understating of the self. By understanding one’s self, one can understand society and the world that surrounds themselves. There is one thing that can often distort one’s personality, one’s identity. By identifying as one thing a person can often change how they act or do certain things. This is often found to hide one’s true motives or intention, but it can also be used to hide hidden factors that aren’t as prevalent. One’s personality and identity are very closely linked, and tend to play off one another. This fact can be show in within multiple works. To name a few authors who demonstrate this fact: Clifford Geertz, Horace Miner, and Andrei Toom. Their works seek to dive deeper
In Jorge Luis Borges’s essay, “Blindness”, the author writes to teach how blindness can be seen as an opportunity and not a curse. Though his primary audience is people that share his connection, his secondary audience could be seen as those who judge blindness to be a disability. His purpose is to prove wrong stereotypes and show his first hand experience about blindness. Borges does this by rooting out to his own and family history and lessons that he learned about his blindness. The prevailing tone is a transition from sadness toward strength and happiness.
The philosophical problem of personal identity pertains to questions that arise about ourselves by virtue of our being persons. There is no single question that will sum up the problem, but rather a multitude of questions that are loosely connected to each other. Within this essay, the four most prominent problems will be explained and addressed. One of the most familiar is the question of “Who am I?” This regards to what makes one a unique individual. Another familiar question is, “What is it to be a person?” This concerns the necessary criteria for something to count as a person as opposed to a non-person. There is also the problem of persistence, relating to personal identity over time. An example of this would be to glance upon an old photograph of a childhood class, point and say, “That's me.” The questions arises of, “What makes you that one instead of one of the others?” The last problem to be explained is the one of evidence. How do we find out who is who? There are two separate sources of evidence used often in philosophy: first-person memory, pertaining to one remembering an action or event and therefore being the person who did such, and physical continuity, where if the one who performed the action or witnessed the event looks like you, then it is you.