The Elephant Man John Merrick, a man so pathetic and helpless because of the curse of his extremely disfigured body he carries around with him. Lots of people are born with some deformity or another, but none such as the case of John Merrick, in other words, ‘The Elephant Man’ who was given this name because he was so deformed he resembled an extremely ugly elephant. The movie shows how John Merrick is marginalized not only by the general public, but also the poorest of people to such an extent that his life was a misery. This movie shows how cynical people can be towards fellow human beings. His abnormalities did not even allow him to take a walk in the garden by day light as the common society looked at him with complete disgust. Although John suffers much, he manages to win a few hearts with the help of his ‘friend’, Dr. Frederick Treves, and when he was content with his life he commits suicide. In this story the darker side of society is witnessed and their utterly cynical behaviour is practiced on John, for one reason only – he does not look like any other normal human being. It is seen how the general public reacts in the very beginning of the movie, when Mr. Bytes presents him in the carnival just like an animal would be presented in front of an audience in a circus. In addition to this injustice Mr. Bytes brutally beats him which further disfigures him and then calls him as a ‘freak’. When Dr. Treves takes John to the hospital, a dispute brakes out whether he should be allowed to stay in the hospital, for no other reason, but only because he was so ugly. In one part of the movie it is shown how one nurse is upset with another nurse because the latter had her involved in the care of John Merrick which she did not like, because he was so ugly that it scared her. Amongst all the negative people in John Merrick’s life, the night porter who in one part of the movie refers to himself as ‘Sunny Jim’ is the most cynical character in the entire story. His vile and selfish behavior tempted him to earn an extra income at John Merrick’s expense. He would take money from people and expose them to John, where the women would look at him with awe and fear while the men literally played around with him as if he were nothing but some broken toy. It is noticed how John was marginalized even by the lowest of classes even thought they themselves were amon... ... middle of paper ... ...rson on a bed, which he was not supposed to because of his head being too large, which in turn would kill him. Yet he decided to sleep like a normal person, so he arranged his bed and went into the blanket and slept…forever. He committed suicide. ‘The Elephant Man’ is what John Merrick is referred to due to his physical abnormality which was close to that of an elephant. John had lots of people in his life that looked at him with an evil, selfish and cynical eye thus marginalizing him to the extreme. Due to his pathetic and out of place facial features he was not accepted by society thus he was always indoors unable to have an independent life. Besides all of this John still achieved some happiness with the help of Dr. Treves who helped him to gain the hearts of many people and when he felt that he had lived his life to his heart’s content he committed suicide. John Merrick went down in history books as a legend, because he led a life of extremes, which was filled with sorrow, but happiness towards the end of his life. When he was tired of being pushed around and had achieved sufficient love and happiness he slept to his death thus ending the curse of ‘The Elephant Man’.
He is very rude and h as no respect nor patience for other’s opinions. Within the first pages, while speaking with nice old Mrs. Hitchcock, Hazel responds in very rude ways, “He looked at her sourly and gripped the black hat by the brim. ‘No I ain’t,’ he said in a sharp high nasal Tennessee voice”. This already gives an insight to the type of person he will be. After that encounter with Mrs. Hitchcock he demonstrates his overbearing nature when he practically harasses the porter on false pretenses. The porter himself is characterized to be very grotesque with a description saying “a thick figured man with a round yellow bald head” and “when he bent over, the back of his neck came out in three bulges”, this description gives the reader a hideous image of a giant gross fat man. Because Hazel is so overbearing it demonstrates his disregard for anybody’s feelings. He clearly doesn't see that he is upsetting the porter or that he is bothering him which demonstrates the selfish nature in Hazel because all he cares about is the Porter admitting he is from Eastrod even though he
The narrator in “Greasy Lake” does not know what bad means until his own “badness” is put to the test in the real world. From his experience, Sammy learns that he will...
In the memorial epic, The Pigman, John and Lorraine’s words really show their personality type. In the beginning of the story, when describing John, Lorraine say’s “John has made and art out of it. He prevaricates just for prevaricating’s sake.” What Lorraine is referring to is John’s tendency to make up stories in an attempt to make his life sound more interesting. The reason he does this is to make his life sound more exciting then it actually is. John is the type of pers...
The story appears to be revolving around deviance. Deviance is defined as the violation of norms, whether the infraction is as grave as murder or as trivial as driving over the speed limit. However, what makes something deviant is not the act itself, but the reaction to the act. In this story, both Robby and John are deviants. John violated his society norms by doing something that is not expected of him. He became a scholar, married a white woman. This is not a bad thing in itself but the way John accomplished it is not good either. John pushed away his family and deliberately distanced himself from his Homewood community. This suggests that deviance is neutral in itself; it can be negative or positive. It is also relative, as it can be positive from one side and negative from the other. People often th...
“Good Country People,” is a classic example of the use of irony as a technique for imbuing a story with meaning. Irony works on many different levels through the piece. Examples of this range from O’ Connors use of clearly ironic dialogue to the dramatic irony that unfolds between Manley and Joy-Hulga. However the most obvious examples can be found in O’Connor’s characterization of these, “Good Country People.” The technique of irony is applied prominently to the character’s names and behaviors to present the contradictions between their expectations and their reality. O’Connor uses her characters to explore common notions regarding, “good” and “bad” people. Using their expectations for one another, O’Connor ultimately expose their literal and figurative, “deformities.” Like Joys wooded leg the Irony in, “Good Country People,” embodies that which is hollow and contrived in its characters.
The adult John comes to civilized society as an experiment by Marx and Mond to see how a "savage" would adapt to civilization. Frankly, he does not adapt very well. He is appalled by the lifestyle and ideas of civilized people, and gets himself into a lot of trouble by denouncing civilization. He loves Lenina very much, but gets very upset at her when she wants to have sex with him. He physically attacks her, and from that point on does not want to have anything to do with her. When his mother dies, he interferes with the "death conditioning" of children by being sad. Finally, his frustrations with the civilized world become too much for him and he decides to take action. He tries to be a sort of a Messiah to a group of Deltas, trying to free them from the effect of soma. He tells them only the truth, but it is not the truth that the Deltas have been conditioned to believe, so to them it is a violent lie and they begin to cause a riot. When the riot is subdued, John is apprehended and taken to have a talk with Mustapha Mond.
Jon Krakauer, fascinated by a young man in April 1992 who hitchhiked to Alaska and lived alone in the wild for four months before his decomposed body was discovered, writes the story of Christopher McCandless, in his national bestseller: Into the Wild. McCandless was always a unique and intelligent boy who saw the world differently. Into the Wild explores all aspects of McCandless’s life in order to better understand the reason why a smart, social boy, from an upper class family would put himself in extraordinary peril by living off the land in the Alaskan Bush. McCandless represents the true tragic hero that Aristotle defined. Krakauer depicts McCandless as a tragic hero by detailing his unique and perhaps flawed views on society, his final demise in the Alaskan Bush, and his recognition of the truth, to reveal that pure happiness requires sharing it with others.
Nestled under the ‘hawkish’ wing of Johnny Friendly, the beginning of the film sees Terry Malloy a daft “bum,” too preoccupied by “standing with the right people, just to have a bit of change jingling in his pocket” to deeply contemplate morality. Tainted by a distressing antiquity, Terry Malloy has habituated to a ‘dog-eat-dog’ world of Darwinian ‘survival of the fittest,’ where “taking it out on their skulls” is the appropriate method of resolution. “Its eve...
The main focus in Frankenstein is the immense accentuation put on appearance and acceptance in the public eye. In society and in addition in the general public of Frankenstein, individuals judge one singularly on their appearance. Social bias is frequently established on looks, whether it is one 's skin color, the garments that one wears and even the way a man holds himself or herself. People make moment judgments taking into account these social biases. This recognition in light of appearance decides the conduct towards the individual. In Frankenstein, the general public of that time is like our own today. It is an appearance-based society that the ugly figure of Victor Frankenstein 's creature can be compared to a typical person of today.
...ferent from their peers has isolated Bernard, Helmholtz, and John, it has also deepened their individuality. This scenario, at a lesser level, often plays out in modern day. People possess a natural desire to fit in and often are willing to forego individuality in order to do so. Though one may gain a facade of happiness as a result of fitting in, being truthful to oneself and expressing one’s free will allows for honest expression of individuality, a concept much greater than such a facade. A society without unique individuals is a society without humanity, and, as demonstrated through these characters’ experience, does not function. Ultimately, people must realize that individuality, knowledge, and raw emotion is more important to society than superficial happiness.
Into the Wild by John Krakauer is a rare book in which its author freely admits his bias within the first few pages. “I won't claim to be an impartial biographer,” states Krakauer in the author’s note, and indeed he is not. Although it is not revealed in the author's note whether Krakauer's bias will be positive or negative, it can be easily inferred. Krakauer's explanation of his obsession with McCandless's story makes it evident that Into the Wild was written to persuade the reader to view him as the author does; as remarkably intelligent, driven, and spirited. This differs greatly from the opinion many people hold that McCandless was a simply a foolhardy kid in way over his head. Some even go as far as saying that his recklessness was due to an apparent death-wish. Krakauer uses a combination of ethos, logos and pathos throughout his rendition of McCandless’s story to dispute these negative outlooks while also giving readers new to this enigmatic adventure a proper introduction.
In Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People, he provides the reader with a fictional account of the Bhopal Disaster through the eyes of a deformed teenager in a fictional town named Khaufpor. This teenager calls himself ‘Animal’ because his deformity bent his spine to the point where he must walk on all fours, making him feel inhuman. With his mother and father dead, he accepts the name as his own and denies his own humanity. Although Animal tries to separate himself from his humanity because of the pain it causes him, he is forced to accept his humanity through his friends’ guidance and the inner and external conflicts that he faces meaning that humanity is unavoidable.
...ssion and intrusiveness. John’s lack of having an open mind to his wife’s thoughts and opinions and his constant childish like treatment of his wife somehow emphasizes this point, although, this may not have been his intention. The narrator felt strongly that her thoughts and feelings were being disregarded and ignored as stated by the narrator “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no reason to suffer, and that satisfies him” (Gilman 115), and she shows her despise of her husband giving extra care to what he considers more important cases over his wife’s case with a sarcastic notion “I am glad my case is not serious!” (Gilman 115). It is very doubtful that John is the villain of the story, his good intentions towards doing everything practical and possible to help his wife gain her strength and wellbeing is clear throughout the story.
It is often said that people change people, and that quote rings true throughout Bernard Pomerance’s play The Elephant Man. Following the life of John Merrick, The Elephant Man is about a man who suffers from severe physical deformities who is greatly influenced and greatly influences society. A significant figure in Merrick’s life, the one character who is influenced most and goes through the most profound and personal change is Dr. Frederick Treves, an altruistic doctor who opens his hospital doors to serve as Merrick's sanctuary. During Merrick’s stay, Treves’ approach towards him and towards life itself shifts from somewhat Victorian and conformist to individualistic.
Another way he shows the attitudes towards the poor is by describing the unfeeling and clearly drunk nurse who was 'tasting in the corner' instead of taking care of Oliver and