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The use of violence in literary
The use of violence in literary
Violence in literature
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Violence has become a normalized concept in society.Children play video games based on beating and shooting others, people watch violent news stories without a second thought, and people watch people hit, punch, and fight each other for pure entertainment. In Norman Mailer’s “The Death of Benny Paret” Mailer assigns animalistic qualities to the boxers, comparisons of the boxers to inanimate objects, and pacing to convey that boxing is inhuman and uncivilized. In Mailer’s piece he assigns animalistic qualities to the two boxers in the ring. He described Paret after he was hit by saying “Paret walked three disgusted steps away, showing his hindquarters” (Mailer,1). No one has ever described a human as having “hindquarters” by using this description it shows that Paret becomes an animal that’s ready to fight no matter how injured and beaten he got, he wasn’t going to step down, much like two animals fighting. Mailer then says Griffith “was like a cat ready to rip the life out of a huge boxed rat” (1). Mailer comparing Griffith to a bloodthirsty cat stalking its prey proves that boxing turns people who have human feelings and morals into uncivilized animals. They can’t stop themselves once they have their eyes set on their prey. Just as Mailer assigned animalistic qualities to proves boxing is
The entire fight seems to go on for hours and Mailer uses a series of comparisons and similes to describe every minute gritty detail of the fight, it feels like the fight was 45 minutes rather than 45 seconds. The actual death of Benny Paret almost feels as if his death is an afterthought, that it wasn’t the paramount part of the fight, but rather the hypnotizing and engrossing fight that just consumed this large audience. By doing this it displays that no one really cared about his death, but just about the entertainment of the fight justifying the inhumanity of the
Initially, Mailer used diction through imagery and emotional words to give the reader how the situation felt to him and to describe to the reader the situation. In the passage, emotional words such as “bad maulings”, “three disgusted steps away”, and “referee’s face came a look of woe” pop up. Mailer utilizes these negative emotional words to impose a tone that is solemn towards Paret and a tone that is disdainful towards Griffith. Consequently, the reader’s mood coincides with the tone of the author. For example, the phrase “referee’s face came a look of woe” gives the reader a grievous feeling because of the word “woe”. Another instance where a reader can see this is in the phrase “three disgusted steps away”. Mailer could have just stated “three steps away”, but he wanted to enforce the negative connotation of the story and to show the reader how he had felt. Additionally, imagery is used in...
Violent Media is Good for Kids, by Gerard Jones, is an article which makes many claims to support the argument in which a controlled amount of violence could be beneficial for a young, developing child. Even though the topic of this article can be controversial, the claims serve to support the argument in many noteworthy ways. It is written in such a way that it tells a story, starting when the author was a child and works its way to his adulthood. In this case the author uses, what I believe to be just the correct amount of each rhetorical strategy, and fulfills his goal for writing the article. This argument is interesting and at the same time, effective. Throughout the analyzing process logos, ethos, and pathos are searched for and scrutinized.
For the fighting scenes, the stylistic features parallel LaMotta’s own life at the time of the fight, and thus serves to emphasize particular qualities of it. For example, 31 minutes into the film is the 1943 fight against Sugar Ray Robinson, at this point, LaMotta’s life is at its greatest point, in the previous scene, LaMotta has successfully courted his second wife Vikki. The stylistic features of this scene emphasizes LaMotta’s boxing skill and control over the ring, the mastery of the sport he displays paralleling the quality of life that LaMotta has been able to achieve for himself at that moment. The establishing long shot shows an expanse of white space in the ring as LaMotta in a boxing stance lunges aggressively towards Robinson,
In “Violent Media is Good for Kids” Gerard Jones introduces us to his fearful and lonesome childhood. He lived in a world where he was taught to be the violence fearing, and passive boy his parents wanted him to be. But, when one of his mother’s students gave him a Marvel comic book, his fearfulness was transformed into inspiration. He found a way to escape these discouraging feelings through the “stifled rage and desire for power” (Jones 285) that he had newly found. The popular comic book hero “The Hulk” freed him from his passive and lonely persona. Throughout the article he cites his testimonies and the testimonies of others as examples; and shows how they used violence as a positive realm for “overcoming powerlessness.” (Jones 287) Ultimately, Jones is trying to convey the message that violent media can provide kids with psychological tools for coping with the problems that they face as they grow. Although there are slight hints of biased evidence, “Violent Media is Good for Kids” should be considered for the top prize for persuasive essays.
viewed in different lights. To some, the fights represent the risk of gambling and the
In the 1930s America was "the undisputed center of world boxing," its popularity was immense and this opened the doors to many including Hispanics and African- Americans. The popularity of boxing was seen in the film through the immense amount of crowds that would place bets on fighters and the groups of people that listened to it on the radio. This popularity is seen when James J. Braddock has his biggest fight and his wife goes to pray for him at the church, but the church is already full of people who are there to pray for him. The immensity of the popularity is seen clearly throughout the scene in the background. As the scenes of fights are filled to the brim with ...
The terms ‘civilized’ and ‘barbaric’, while being paradoxes in themselves, seem to go hand in hand and inseparable in all aspects of society, both in the current ‘developed’ world and its contemporary distant past. While one may easily laugh at the idiotic, yet violent simpleton of a caveman offspring in comedy cartoons, and similarly decline all backward practices of distant tribes of a faraway land, it cannot be denied that even the most advanced of our kind seem to embrace similar barbaric methods and means of entertainment in our everyday world. From violent movies filled with murders and gruesome scenes to bloody organized sports, the modern world still seeks entertainment in the form of violence and cruelty, not very different from that enjoyed by the ‘glorious’ world of Ancient Rome. Back then, people from all classes and age would look forward to weekend games. They would gather to see fighters, called gladiators, fight each other to the death in large arenas. This is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the Roman Empire and one that has deep influence on the entire Roman society
Coakley, J. J., & Donnelly, P. (2007). Violence in Sports . Sports in society: issues & controversies (9th ed., pp. 198-199). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Muscular christianity pushes masculinity after some saw the feminization of our culture. This breeds danger in the ring, as it becomes the feminine thing to tap out of the fight. It’s not only muscular christianity that brings danger, it’s the attentiveness of the ringside doctors and referees. In the video “Death in the Ring (2014),” the video showcases Dennis Munson Jr's slow deterioration in his debut fight at the Eagles Club, but it also shows how the ringside doctor was on his phone, and how he deliberately kept the ambulance from coming for a while, as well as not administering oxygen. Even Munson’s coach was shown slapping Munson in the face before he collapsed. Overall, this shows the lack of safety in boxing, and the risk boxers take into their own
As violence continues to rise the understanding behind the rise is still not exceptionally clear. It stems from the fact that violence has always been a part of our society(Noguera, 1994). While some forms of violence are frowned upon, others are glorified in the media. Violence in the media is huge entertainment for today’s society. The one fact that has become clear is that violen...
The title of the film reflects not only the history of violence of the protagonist, but the history of violence in America. This simple movie gracefully indicates how movie violence prevails as a reflection of American culture. “The History of Violence” is not just another gut-spilling movie about a man running from his past. Instead, it serves as a window into understanding the desire for movie violence in America. While critics argue that the movie is over-contextualized, the average American may argue that the movie is not precise enough. However, the beauty of the movie resides in its complex ambiguity.
Two boxers circle the ring, while waiting for an opening to deliver a knockout to their opponent. The crowd goes wild, the viewers have paid a substantial amount of money to witness a man falling to the mat; unconscious. Boxing is a martial art and combat sport that often turns into permanent damage. The intention of boxing is to win by hurting one’s opponent with delivering blows to their body and sometimes knocking them unconscious. The euphemistic of boxing is a human blood sport. Although boxing is a popular and active sport, there are other sports who do not intentionally try and physically hurt their rivalry. Boxing should be more controlled as a sport because it encourages violence, causes head injuries, and is dangerous.
There are many examples of society following violent traditions. A look at professional sports is a good example. In most sports it is a referees job to stop or restrain an athlete who tries to harm another athlete during the game. However, in the National Hockey League players frequently drop their gloves and engage in fistfights on the ice. The referees actually back away and allow the fighting to continue. I have often wondered why they would allow this kind of brutality. The answer is found in the kind of thinking represented in this story. In the story when someone remarks that some towns have given up their lottery's, an elderly old man called Old Man Warner, snorts and calls them "crazy fools and blames it on the young folks wanting to change everything" (81). He defends the tradition with one simple premise; "there ha...
Javier, Rafael Art., William G. Herron, and Louis Primavera. “Violence and the Media: A Psychological
They enjoy watching boxers boxing, where the two fighters are going to sustain injury and in the case of Benny Paret die after sustaining severe injuries. As explained in “Who Killed Benny Paret?” people do not like to put the blame where it needs to be or take the blame if it is their fault. “Don’t blame it on the referee. Don’t even blame it on the fight managers. Put the blame where it belongs - on the prevailing mores that regard prize fighting as a perfectly proper enterprise and vehicle of entertainment. No one doubts that many people enjoy prize fighting and will miss it if it should be thrown out. And that is precisely the point” (Cousins 341). One lesson we should all keep in mind is we should not gain our pleasure from another person’s