People all around agree that technology is changing how we think, but is it changing us for the better? Clive Thompson definitely thinks so and this book is his collection of why that is. As an avid fiction reader I wasn’t sure this book would captivate me, but the 352 pages seemingly flew past me. The book is a whirlwind of interesting ideas, captivating people, and fascinating thoughts on how technology is changing how we work and think. Smarter than You Think starts out with a cautionary tale
“I’ve learnt from Anand but I think I showed him in a way that although he has taught me many things in the past, now it’s probably my turn to teach him.” These were Magnus Carlsen’s exact words after defeating Vishwanathan Anand in the FIDE World Chess Championship Match that was recently held in Chennai. The final scoreline read Carlsen-6.5 : Anand-3.5. Carlsen won 3 games and 7 games were drawn. Anand couldn’t muster a single victory. But these statistics do not in any way capture the true persona
in an attempt to apply his ear to his stomach, listens. Silence.) I hear nothing. (He beckons them to approach. Vladimir and Estragon go towards him, bend over his stomach.) Surely one should hear the tick-tick. VLADIMIR: Silence! (All listen, bent double.) ESTRAGON: I hear something. POZZO: Where? VLADIMIR: It's the heart. POZZO: (disappointed) Damnation! VLADIMIR: Silence! ESTRAGON: Perhaps it has stopped. (Beckett 46) If an important feature of the novelization of any
As an actor, my first job would be to understand the actor behind the role of Vladimir. This is because an Estragon life based on what Vladimir is doing, which illustrates Estragon helplessness and lack of confidence in himself. Therefore, in order to get into this degrading mindset, I myself would have to break down my self-esteem before the play begins. That
For one, it shows that Vladimir and Estragon, the two main characters who are waiting for Godot, are unsure of why they are waiting for him. This also foreshadows that they will be waiting a very long time. In some cases in literature, an idea can only be conveyed properly if those on the receiving end of the idea are able to experience the feelings that a character is experiencing in the work. For example, in order for a reader to feel how and understand why Vladimir and Estragon feel as though
Entrapment in Waiting for Godot and Existence and Existents Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot has been criticized as a play in which nothing happens-twice. Not only are Vladimir and Estragon, the two primary characters, unable to change their circumstances in the first act, the second act seems to be a replay of this existential impotence. Vladimir's remark "Nothing to be done," at the opening of the play, may be said to characterize the whole. Estragon complains that "Nothing happens
Humbert Humbert of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita Humbert Humbert. A delusional, sick, middle aged man obsessed with a self created love for pre-pubescent girls he has namely dubbed nymphets. Right? Wrong, this is only the skin-deep image we are given of the main character in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. Rather, He is a highly intelligent chess master who is constantly aware of his environment and is able to manipulate it with minute actions bringing him the results he desires. Humbert’s obsession for
1. Genre We think that this play is a psichological and philosophical play, because it is about two men who are waiting a God. So, in our opinion, this play in spite of being an absurd stage, is about religion. We think that this is a play of ideas, we know what is happenning when we see it on the stage, not before. The author explains something using the logic. 2. Narrator and narrative As this is a play, we couldn´t find a common narrator here: what we find is the characters speaking
evident form. (31) I realized that I was seventeen in high school passively waiting for something amazing to happen to me just like Vladimir and Estragon. I also realized that experiencing time flowing by unproductively was not for me regardless of how “pure” that experience might be. At several points in the play, Estragon states that he wants to leave, but Vladimir always responds, “We can’t . . . we’re waiting for Godot” (8). Neither one knows why the wait nor who Godot is or looks like, and they
Waiting for Godot as an Existentialist Play The play, Waiting For Godot, is centred around two men, Estragon and Vladimir, who are waiting for a Mr. Godot, of whom they know little. Estragon admits himself that he may never recognize Mr. Godot, "Personally I wouldn't know him if I ever saw him." (p.23). Estragon also remarks, "… we hardly know him." (p.23), which illustrates to an audience that the identity of Mr. Godot is irrelevant, as little information is ever given throughout the play about
De-victimizing Lolita: Removing Emotion from the Classroom Abstract: This paper focuses on Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. Specifically the argument discusses the need for reform within the classroom setting regarding student reaction and interpretation to the text. Class discussion involving Lolita tends to fall under a blanket of socially constructed presumptions that lend the discussion toward a shallow and judgmental reading of the text, and this tendency limits the discussion. This paper argues
Lack of communication, the cause of man's alienation, is displayed well through absurdist diction, imagery, structure, and point of view. The intent of the play is to evoke a feeling of incompleteness and depression. The conversation between Vladimir and Estragon, the protagonists of "Waiting for Godot," seems to be void of meaning. The play begins with "nothing to be done" and ends with an unfulfilled "Yes, let's go." Suicide was often mentioned and reasoned through in passing, as though their
implications of this complex web of relations. Pozzo and Lucky are literally tied to one another. Though less tangible, Vladimir and Estragon are joined by an equally powerful emotional bond. Ultimately, even the relationship which defines the motion (or lack thereof) of the entire play, the connection between Godot and Vladimir and Estragon, is described as a form of bondage. Vladimir and Estragon admit that their fate is ultimately tied to the will of Godot. At first glance, the rope looped around
effect enables him to question human life and a possible afterlife. Surfacely, the recurrent setting is absurd: Vladimir and Estragon remain in the same non-specified place and wait for Godot, who never shows, day after day. They partake in this activity, this waiting, during both Act I and Act II, and we are led to infer that if Samuel Beckett had composed an Act III, Vladimir and Estragon would still be waiting on the country road beside the tree. Of course, no humans would do such things
The Shocking Lolita Vladimir Nabokov wrote Lolita not only to create controversy and shock the public, but also for money and fame. Nabokov wrote Lolita to get attention. This novel engages moral dilemmas that are sensitive to its readers. The sensitive subject matter created such a controversy that it perpetuated sales and made it a bestseller, and he knew that if he wrote a book shocking and personal enough he would become wealthy. The novel speaks as though it were a lived event which
storyline and many important stories from the Bible. From the very beginning Vladimir and Estragon ponder their salvation, consider death, and draw a parallel between themselves and the two thieves that were crucified along with Jesus, according to the Gospels. Vladimir: …One of the thieves was saved. It’s a reasonable percentage. Gogo. Estragon: What? Vladimir: Suppose we repented. Estragon: Repented what? Vladimir: Oh…we wouldn’t have to go into the details. Estragon: Our being born
Obsession in Lolita The relationship between Humbert Humbert and Lolita is no doubt a unique one. Many people who read the novel argue that it is based on "lust", but others say that Humbert really is in "love" with Lolita. However, there is some astounding evidence that Humbert has an obsessional-compulsive disorder with Lolita. The obsession is clearly illustrated when Humbert's actions and behavior are compared to the experts' definitions and descriptions of obsession. In many passages
"Distracted by his charm, his wit, his intelligence, and - yes - his murderer's fancy prose style, we may momentarily forget that he is indeed the monster he says he is" (Rivers and Nicol 153). In his "On a Book Entitled Lolita", Vladimir Nabokov recalls that he felt the "first little throb of Lolita" run through him as he read a newspaper article about an ape who, "after months of coaxing by a scientist, produced the first drawing ever charcoaled by an animal: this sketch showed
Five Questions For Vladimir Lenin The most dedicated leader of the revolution, and future leader of the Bolshevik Party in Russia, was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. He was born in 1870 in Simbirsk, Russia, a small town on the Volga River, to a family of hereditary nobles that were not wealt but quite comfortable. Vladimir Ulyanov, who would later change his name to Lenin, was the third of seven children. His oldest brother, Aleksandr, was hanged in May of 1887 for having joined in a plot to kill Czar
Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita When Vladimir Nabokov finished writing the novel Lolita he knew the explosive subject matter that he was now holding in his hands. After being turned down by publishing houses on numerous occasions to unleash his controversial story to the public, it was finally published by the French in 1955. Many critics were shocked and called it pornography while others praised his work. How could a pure thinking author conjugate ideas on issues so dark and depraved? What were his