The high ground is always desired in battle and serves many advantages as such. This location of benefit provides vision, command, and valor to its holder. Yet, regardless of the means of attaining this position, the owner rests easy in the chair of the catbird seat. Knowing full well that they may relieve some thought of agony over the upcoming battle. No throne of ease is described more vividly than James Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat”. And no means of revealing the deceit utilized to sit in the catbird seat is projected in a more uncanny way than Mark Twain’s “The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg”. Literary pieces as these, whose similarities and differences, reveal more than a humorous story. A symbolic life lesson about authority, deceit, and appearance are prevalent throughout both these works. Yet to the untrained eye, the average reader misses key insights that can apply to any power struggle. A scuffle for strength can be sparked by several of man’s worldly faults. For the want of wealth is fueled by greed. The pursuit of power is driven by pride. And the desire of it all for one’s self is vanity’s only wish. All these elements can be achieved by means of true authority granted by deceitful appearance. For it is what you are viewed as, not how you got there that is feared and respected. Such qualities are prevalent in leaders both of valor and treachery. Figures of authority are necessary within a story for the basis of rebellion and conflict. For Twain’s tale, that character is the elected 19’ers as a whole in being the iron fist of community control. These leaders are a false representation of the town which was said to be incorruptible. The flaw in authority is shared equally amongst all the members, but is only revea... ... middle of paper ... ...ims it to be. In short both stories are saying the same thing, which can be described in a famous Shakespearian line from Hamlet. "This above all: to thine own self be true,/And it must follow, as the night the day,/Thou cans't not be false to any man "(ll.78-80). In this comparison work it means, be your own authority, when you deceive others you deceive yourself, and have the appearance you make yourself to be. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. 1 May. 2011 Web. . The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg. Ralph Roseblum, Dir. Original Story, Mark Twain. Monterey Home Video. 1980. Videocassette. Thurber, James. “The Catbird Seat.” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X Day, and Robert Funk. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson- Prentice Hall, 2007, 465-471. Print.
how Mark Twain 's character development could describe what having more power means. It is easy to say that the community wants some attention in their life. The townsfolk feels that having more attention could develop a personality for the community to be ruthless. By the community being ruthless leaders, it portrays a passage where they are controlling the black people as their personal slaves. The community in Mark Twain 's novel symbolizes a stereotype where they act like
Kaplan, Justin. "Born to Trouble: One Hundred Years of Huckleberry Finn." Mark Twain Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Eds. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston: St. Martin's, 1995. 348-359.
... However, upon further exploration, we realize that Twain uses Sherburn’s pompous lecture on human nature to represent his own contempt for the state of mankind. He goes on to say, “A mob don’t fight with the courage that’s born in them, but with the courage that’s borrowed from their mass, and from their officers(159).” Twain uses Sherbern’s speech to condemn the people of Bricksville, and to give voice to Huck’s disgust with their horrific behavior. While it’s difficult to applaud Sherburn for his brutal murder of Boggs, it is nevertheless.
The bravery and strength of the lion will not be enough to empower the ruler to escape the snares set by his enemies for and the slyness of the fox is also needed. “The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.” (The Prince) It is not possible for the citizens to love and fear a prince, but being feared is much safer than being loved.“Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved” (The Prince) Everything a prince says must be filled with these five qualities: being merciful,being trustworthy, religious,kind, honest. Machiavelli defines virtues as qualities that are praised by others, such as generosity, compassion, and piety. He argues that a prince should always try to appear virtuous, but it is more important for the prince to be practical than it is for him to be morally good. The government that is built of this foundation it
The subject this book revolves around slavery, and how white folks’ mindset on black people was popular at that time. Their mindset involved treating black people as inferior to them, and how to them, they were not even considered human but property. Twain also shows how sometimes a fourteen year old boy (Huck) was more morally correct towards treatment of black people than many adults of his time. Twain presents this in a humorous way with its serious points. The issue is obvious throughout the story and makes the reader wonder how even “good” characters treate...
Whereas a reader in the 1880s might have overlooked the moral absurdity of giving a man custody of another man, however, the mirroring of this situation in the granting of rights to the immoral Pap over the lovable Huck forces the reader to think more closely about the meaning of slavery. In implicitly comparing the plight of slaves to the plight of Huck at the hands of Pap, Twain demonstrates how impossible it is for a society that owns slaves to be just, no matter how "civilized" that society believes and proclaims itself to be.
Mark Twain’s “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is a short story with the lesson that what goes around comes around. In this short story, which first appeared in 1856 and his first successful story, Twain uses local customs of the time, dialect, and examples of social status in his story to create a realistic view of the region in which the story takes place. The way that the characters behave is very distinctive. Dialect is also used to give the reader a convincing impression of the setting in “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”. The social status of the main characters in this story also was something that Twain took into account in writing this story. Mark Twain is a realist who concentrates on the customs, dialect, and social status of specific regions of the country.
In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain illustrates several traits that are common in mankind. Among these traits are those that are listed in this essay. Through characters in the story Twain shows humanity's innate courageousness. He demonstrates that individuals many times lack the ability to reason well. Also, Twain displays the selfishness pervasive in society. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, many aspects of the human race are depicted, and it is for this reason that this story has been, and will remain, a classic for the ages.
Society is not always right. In Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a young boy by the name of Huckleberry Finn sets off on a journey along the Mississippi River to get away from his previous lives. One of the main themes in the novel is the conflict between society and the individual. During his time with Widow Douglas, a friendly woman who adopts Huckleberry Finn, he is taught about the importance of education, what is morally right in society, and how to be civilized. On the other hand, Pap, Huckleberry’s father, taints Huckleberry’s mind with his views which differ drastically from Widow Douglas’s guidelines. The moral dilemma that Huckleberry Finn faces between moralities illuminates the main message of individuality.
There are always people who, in a group, come out with better qualities to be a leader than others. The strongest people however, become the greater influences which the others decide to follow. However, sometimes the strongest person is not the best choice. Authors often show how humans select this stronger person to give an understanding of the different powers that people can posses over others.
vanity, pride, and self - knowledge intervenes in the development of the virtue of the characters,
The American realists of the late 19th century were notably adept at creating deep, memorable characters --whether virtuous or villainous-- who are continuously developed throughout the tales in which they exist. These authors often used their protagonists for a higher purpose than mere storytelling, endeavoring to construct a critique of the times by placing the characters in opposition to their respective societies. As a result, the protagonist often becomes an unassuming type of hero to the reader, by courageously (or obtusely) defying convention, and doubting the ignorant assumptions of society. Three such characters that were born of American realism are found in the novels The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain; Daisy Miller, by Henry James; and Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser -- and the characters of interest to this paper happen to be the very same after which these novels are titled. Though these three stories are vastly different, each places its protagonist in a testing environment, against challenging obstacles and dilemmas. The characters' responses to their difficulties often show their heroism, or lack thereof, and, consequently, these characters gain esteem, to some degree, in the eyes of the reader. I will discuss each of these characters' heroic qualities, in contrast to his shortcomings, which are both elicited by the numerous obstacles that he must overcome, and I will thus determine to what extent each can be considered a `hero'.
This conclusively demonstrates that lust for power can drive people to do the cruelest things in order to capture it. Works Cited The Tragedy of Macbeth William Shakespeare
I suggest that engraved into humanity's essence is the intense desire for power. William Shakespeare's play, The Tempest not only depicts this concept, but breaks it down for the reader; enabling effective analysis of this concept. Through notable characterization, Shakespeare is able to convey key concepts regarding the idea of power versus ambition. Specifically, the role that ambition and the moderation of one's ambition play in the effectiveness of control. Through their simple actions the characters from The Tempest expose their individual philosophies concerning strength and power. Moreover, these individuals' influence or apparent influence upon each other must be contrasted to derive Shakespeare's views. Power is sought universally among men, yet the control is achieved through moderation of one's ambition.
According to Niccolo Machiavelli’s, The Prince, there are five traits that make up a successful leader. The five traits that are necessary in determining a leader’s success involve being feared, being virtuous, having the support of the people, having intelligence and the use of arms. In this paper, I will argue that the Duke Vincentio of William Shakespeare’s, Measure for Measure, is an ineffective leader because he loses virtue acting deceitful and spying on his subjects as a friar. Also, when he realizes that his people do not fear him, he allows for Angelo to come so that he can win their respect by becoming the better option of the two. It is portrayed by his constant presence in the play as the friar, that instead of earning the support of his people, he treats them as puppets and himself as the master puppeteer.