Political texts are representative of individual, shared and competing ideologies within a society and can be constructed in various forms to enhance their diverse contexts and inherent perspectives. Ultimately, political perspectives and society shape one another; they’re inextricably linked and cyclical in nature.
W.H. Auden’s poem ‘September 1, 1939’ and Mira Nair’s film ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ (2012), respectively expose the dehumanising framework of tyranny and its affect on differing facets of humanity. Both mediums challenge domineering ideologies surrounding supreme power and attempt to empathetically engage audiences through the horrors surrounding significant political events of history. Likewise, Auden’s ‘Epitaph of a Tyrant’ and ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ constructs single, complex characters that embody the horror of catastrophic political events. The representation of diverse perspectives underlines the challenges faced by humanity to
…show more content…
He explores the occurrence of 9/11 through the eyes of Changez, an Islamic individual, who due to race and religion; faces marginalisation and racial prejudice as America promulgates anti Islamo-fascist views. Nair endorses the view that 9/11 is symbolic of the downfall of American economic meritocracy and manipulation. This is apparent in the images displayed on the TV screen of the twin towers crumbling and Changez’ glimpsing a smile, evident to the audience due to strategic close-up camera shot. This foregrounded Changez’ shift in perspective as he further states “I was caught up in the symbolism of it all, that someone had so visibly brought America to her knees”. Consequently, mainstream ideologies of western capitalist society are challenged thus audiences are provoked to examine various political ideals to reach personal and individual
In 102 Minutes, Chapter 7, authors Dwyer and Flynn use ethos, logos, and pathos to appeal to the readers’ consciences, minds and hearts regarding what happened to the people inside the Twin Towers on 9/11. Of particular interest are the following uses of the three appeals.
Through their use of allusion, symbolism and representation they portray many of societies flaws and imperfections. Such an imperfection includes the illustration of how totalitarian governments abuse the power they have acquired for their own gain, harming the people they are sworn to serve and protect. Through this abusive self-gaining government, we all are liable to become victims of consumer culture caused by the blind obedience to advertising and propaganda, being unable to form or voice an opinion of our own. But this lack of opinion can be at fault because of our own apathy, the ignorance and slothfulness that is contributed to the role we play in our society and the importance of that roles ability to motivate and inspire change. Whether you’ve read or viewed the novels or feature films I’ve discussed I have no hesitation in saying any text or film you have seen has been used in some way, shape or form to convey the criticisms of our ‘perfect’
Texts are valued beyond the constraints of time when universal ideas are explored. Orson Welles’ psychodrama film Citizen Kane (1941) examines the omnipresent idea of the corruptive and impactful nature of abuse of power as paralleled with human vulnerability. Through the enigma of Kane and his relationship with society and Susan Alexander, we observe her profound influence that leads to the exposure of Kane’s vulnerability. Welles positions audiences of all contexts to question the way our actions may incite negative responses from others, whilst isolating us in vulnerability. This investigation of universal human behaviour resonates with the
George W. Bush’s “9/11 Address to the Nation” is a speech in which he talks about the catastrophic event on September eleventh, 2001. Two airplanes crash into the Twin Towers in New York City on this day, shocking the entire world. He addresses this speech to the people of America on the night of the disastrous event, to let the people of the United States know what is going on. This speech explains how the United States is a strong country, the motives behind the event, as well as to bring the United States together and stronger.
When the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011 rocked New York City, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C., the word “tragedy” was used on a grandiose level around the world. For the people who lived close enough to experience the events first-hand, they may not have even called it a tragedy; perhaps they called it a misfortune, retaliation, lack of a strong government, unreal, or maybe even rebirth. In the coming years after the attacks, everything between standing united as a nation to declaring a war had flourished; but how has that left us - the land that has no distinct ethnicity - feel about each other? Why is it that fear is usually missing in the affective mnemonics of memorial sites, which, after all, are signifiers of some of the most horrific violence in human history? Do memorials dedicated to these attacks bring us together in terms of understanding, or is it just continual collective grief? This paper will cover the global complexity of the 9/11 attacks, the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial in Liberty State Park, NJ, and factors and theories that memorials do influence a sense of complexity. The ground of public memory is always in motion, shifting with the tectonics of national identity. I chose the Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial as my topic of observation as I, personally, visit a few times throughout the year to pay respects to people I personally knew who perished in the attacks to the World Trade Center. I was in the 5th grade when this happened, and had absolutely no clue what was going on until my father did not return home until two days later with a bandage wrapped around his head and his devastating recollection of what happened just before he arrived to his job. The emotions that I feel within myself compared to others will...
Politics have been a major influence for authors throughout the ages. We’ve seen examples in Dante’s Inferno, Don Quixote, and Corinne, or Italy. Politics in literature is not something that is relatively new and there are probably examples of how politics has influenced authors and their works even before Dante. In Don Quixote and Corinne, or Italy, the author makes it seem as though the character is the one experiencing the political situations when it is actually the author, who is channeling their feelings into characters, as many authors do. Dante’s Inferno, Don Quixote, and Corinne, or Italy are three brilliant works of art with powerful, albeit, hidden political messages.
For a second, the U.S. stood still. Looking up at the towers, one can only imagine the calm before the storm in the moment when thousands of pounds of steel went hurdling into its once smooth, glassy frame. People ran around screaming and rubble fell as the massive metal structure folded in on itself like an accordion. Wounded and limping from the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, America carried on, not without anger and fear against a group of innocent Americans, Muslim Americans. Nietzsche’s error of imaginary cause is present in the treatment of Muslim Americans since 9/11 through prejudice in the media, disregard of Muslim civil liberties, racial profiling, violence, disrespect, and the lack of truthful public information about Islam. In this case, the imaginary cause against Muslims is terrorism. The wound has healed in the heart of the U.S. but the aching throb of terrorism continues to distress citizens every day.
¡§Texts both inform us of the social identities available to us, and problematize them; both police our social selves and subvert them.¡¨
Naomi Shihab Nye’s collection of poetry teaches the reader that the people of the Middle East are human, too. After 9/11, many people’s opinions of people from the Middle East changed significantly in a negative way. I think that a lot of people were worried about other potential attacks happening in the United States. Even now, because of recent events, many people feel threatened and they are scared of what is going to happen next. Nye’s poems remind everyone that not every person from the Middle East is threat. As she says in the introduction of her book, “A huge shadow had been cast across the lives of so many innocent people and an ancient culture’s pride” (Nye xv). Through this book, she wants to convey that they have their own lives and feel misrepresented by extremist actions.
Susan D. Rose’s writing focus on the inequalities between men and women that are brought upon by religious beliefs that integrate themselves into numerous social and educational aspects of society. Rose explains that the Christian fundamentalist movement spread patriarchal viewpoints and inequalities in their desire to assist men into remaining the sex that leads and controls, over the rights of women. Noted examples of platforms that promote extreme sexism and gender inequality include the movements created by the “Promise Keepers” and the “Christian Coalition.” Certain platforms such as the ones mentioned previously, often push for government action, asking for the creation
The value and importance of studying the Humanities in the twenty-first century is emphasised through the analysis of today’s politics via an Orwellian lens. Products of the Humanities, such as novels, are important as they provide a scope through which humanity is viewed and pose significant questions. George Orwell’s 1984 critiques totalitarian regimes and authoritarian governments. The state of today’s politics suggests that we have built a society similar to that which Orwell condemns in 1984, reminding us of the value and importance in studying Literature and Politics, and the Humanities as a whole, in the twenty-first century to critique the society that we live in. To evaluate this assertion - with an explicit focus on 1984 - the novel’s main themes of deceptive language and the manipulation of facts should be analysed to assess to what extent the political sphere of the twenty-first century replicates that of 1984.
This symbolizes post 9/11 politics of assimilation, a process in which Muslim Americans acquired social and psychological characteristics of the American culture. Hamid illustrates Changez identity through the lens of post 9/11 politics of assimilation when he characterizes Changez as an intelligent man who earned a degree from one of the most prestigious schools in America. Changez degree from Princeton represents his ability to obtain an elite education similar to every other privileged American. In this part of his life he succeeds in assimilating to America’s culture. His job at Underwood Samson symbolizes the United States and the power it possess. Changez feels like he is apart of America when he lands the job and is given the top position because of his outstanding credentials. When Changez visits Pakistan for Christmas he tells the American stranger how “There are adjustments one must make if one comes from America; a different way of observing is required. I recalled the Americanness of my own gaze, when I returned to Lahore” (p.124). During his trip to Lahore, Changez is described as an assimilated immigrant who begins to look down at his roots because of the success he has achieved in America. However, Changez soon realizes that while he may have succeeded and been apart of America, after the attacks on September 11 he was viewed as nothing
For contemporary Western—particularly American—thought, there have been two prevailing theories, at polar ends of the spectrum. There is the belief that there are absolute ethical forces, and there is the belief that there are no set standards of judgment. Both of these views seem extreme, attacking our sense of modernity and our sense of personal values. Consequently, most people find their place somewhere moderately between the two. As between belief and unbelief there is agnosticism, or between moralism and immoralism there is amoralism, between the belief in standards and the belief in no standards there is postmodernism. Postmodernism places at its core that there is no unified theory or objective standard by which to judge every thing that is and that “there can be no independent standard for determining which of many rival interpretations […] is the right one” (Fish). Postmodernists thus assign the label “opinion” to most qualitative concepts: a belief in an afterlife, bagels, and international politics cannot be judged on the same scale. This is very egalitarian, allowing people to have personal beliefs while not necessarily bothering others with them. Even in light of the fundamentalist wave that crashed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, postmodernism, the central philosophy of contemporary America, has withstood the test of time.
... Aside from power, the recurrent leitmotif is the constant comparisons that Changez makes between America and Pakistan. (‘Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan, home to as many people as New York...’) Also, he resents the grouping of Islamic identity as one by symbols such as the beard, burqa, etc. Yet, he too homogenizes the American identity to an extent. He frequently describes other Americans as ‘not unlike yourself’ and their actions as ‘just as you are doing now.’
Suicide bombing is common in today’s world which is in the name of Islam. So after 9/11 massacre the west was already against Muslims but these suicide bombings, attacks etc all made it worst. Even though it’s haram to commit suicide in Islam, Muslims all over the world are looked down upon. If a Muslim resides somewhere in the west he/she would be frowned upon specially if the women cover their head or wear burkha. Or if men have beard and wear shalwar kameez. They’ll be called terrorist. This issue, that Islam is a fundamentalist religion is so common that a lot of movies and books are being written. For example a world second most popular actor Shahrukh Khan was in a movie called “My name is Khan and I’m not a terrosit”. This move says a lot. He’s an Indian Muslim yet he is being affected as well. Identity crisis is a problem mainly faced by Muslims all over the world. It’s harder for Muslims who live in the West because they have to face challenges everyday as everyone does not accept the America culture like in the novel Changez did. Hence same way in the novel Changez got affected by this badly.In the novel character Chengez was a victim. He was treated as if he was a bad person, or was plotting against America.Even though he was an American by thinking and by his acts.But even after loving America with all his heart Americans did not accept him and in the process of this he lost his own identity. He quit such a high post job at Underwood Samson because he didn’t know who he was or where he belonged. When he was leaving his office after quitting the job, his friend ran into him. Changez told his friend he’ll be great at his job, his friend replied saying “And what