Stranger in a Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein takes the themes portrayed in the book and directly criticizes the Western Culture. As Heinlein said, "My purpose in this book was to examine every major axiom of western culture, to question each axiom, throw doubt on it" (Jelliffe 161). These axioms are where feels the Western Culture fails and so he uses the themes to criticize humans of the Western Culture by pointing out these faults. The themes of the story portray this by having Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians, come to earth to teach his knowledge which contradict what the Western Culture feels to be true. "Stranger is a strong-minded work of culture criticism, no doubt about it (Stover 58)." The themes that Heinlein uses are those of religion, sex, and love to make his point of where the Western Culture fails as a whole. Heinlein's writing of his novels after 1961 when he wrote Stranger in a Strange Land, has changed the genre of science-fiction, because he not only wrote about strange worlds and crazy adventures, but Heinlein also tried to include criticism and a message to the reader in his novels to explain problems that he felt humans have. This became Heinlein's writing style after 1957 when he reached the age of 50 and was on the top of science-fiction. Because science-fiction was considered to be for kids, Heinlein began to write more for adult audiences by adding the real problems and criticism into his novel (Drucolli 210). "The publication of Stranger in a Strange Land marked drastic shift in Heinlein's writing, at least in social criticism and controversial subject matter" (Drucolli 227). "As he had done immediately before World War II, Heinlein helped to ...
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Stover, Leon. Robert A. Heinlein. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987.
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... The Harlem Renaissance was a time of growth and development in for African-Americans. They wrote novels, performed in clubs, and created the genre of Jazz. However, the Renaissance was imprisoned by its flaws. Rather then celebrating the unique culture of African-American’s, it oftentimes catered to what the White Americans would want to see and hear. Although racism seemed to be lower in Harlem and the Northern states, for many Blacks racism was at all time high. The Ku Klux Klan reached membership of astronomical proportions. They marched on Washington DC and handed out membership cards bashing minorities. Less educated Blacks, or those who couldn’t make it to Harlem, were often deemed ignorant. There was a barrier built between those Blacks with an education, and those without. And when the Great Depression hit, African Americans lost their jobs at a rate almost triple that of White Americans. Where was the equality Harlem had fought so hard for? The Harlem Renaissance, although it did achieve some remarkable things, did not redefine African American expression. That ideal, would take many more years of strife, struggle, and segregation to achieve.
Kornbluth, C. M. "The Failure of the Science Fiction Novel As Social Criticism." The Science Fiction Novel: Imagination and Social Criticism. (1969): 64-101.
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Occurring in the 1920’s and into the 1930’s, the Harlem Renaissance was an important movement for African-Americans all across America. This movement allowed the black culture to be heard and accepted by white citizens. The movement was expressed through art, music, and literature. These things were also the most known, and remembered things of the renaissance. Also this movement, because of some very strong, moving and inspiring people changed political views for African-Americans. Compared to before, The Harlem Renaissance had major effects on America during and after its time.
What if the past had no meaning and the only part of our lives that matters is that which is happening presently? To further exacerbate the matter, all hope for some form of salvation and ever-lasting life from a God are entirely futile; that when life is over, all forms of existence are over as well. Such a desolate point of view is illustrated in Albert Camus’ The Stranger. Camus used characters such as the protagonist, Meursault, to establish his belief that life is nothing more than physical existence and that one can only define their life’s value based off of the events happening at the time in question. Whether Camus himself agreed with this viewpoint is irrelevant as throughout his novel, the striking contrast between Meursault and the society he found himself in clearly epitomized Meursault as an anomalous sociopath. The events resulting from the protagonist’s detached and brutally honest personality, as well as a dearth of a moral conscience, exemplify the extent at which amorality can be commensurate to madness.
The Harlem Renaissance was a period of great rebirth for African American people and according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the “Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s.” Wikipedia also indicates that it was also known as the “Negro Movement, named after the 1925 Anthology by Alan Locke.” Blacks from all over America and the Caribbean and flocked to Harlem, New York. Harlem became a sort of “melting pot” for Black America. Writers, artists, poets, musicians and dancers converged there spanning a renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was also one of the most important chapters in the era of African American literature. This literary period gave way to a new type of writing style. This style is known as “creative literature.” Creative literature enabled writers to express their thoughts and feelings about various issues that were of importance to African Americans. These issues include racism, gender and identity, and others that we...
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One such approach is that of Lydia Murdoch, who argues that Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story about children becoming adults and the hardships they face when exploring the real world. In her article entitled “Alice and the Question of Victorian Childhood,” Murdoch uses the shifting role of children during the Victorian Era to suggest that Alice’s attitudes and behaviors, especially during the events towards the beginning of the book, are meant
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and literary period of growth promoting a new African American cultural identity in the United States. The decade between 1920 and 1930 was an extremely influential span of time for the Black culture. During these years Blacks were able to come together and form a united group that expressed a desire for enlightenment. This renaissance allowed Blacks to have a uniform voice in a society based upon intellectual growth. The front-runners of this revival were extremely focused on cultural growth through means of intellect, literature, art and music. By using these means of growth, they hoped to destroy the pervading racism and stereotypes suffocating the African American society and yearned for racial and social integration. Many Black writers spoke out during this span of time with books proving their natural humanity and desire for equality.
The Stranger is a novel by Albert Camus. Albert Camus, a French, Noble prize winning author, journalist and philosopher, was born on the seventh of November 1913. He died on the fourth of January 1960. He was instrumental in bringing the philosophical views of absurdism to public attention. The Stranger was published in 1942 and is an example of the outlook and themes of Camus’s philosophy of the absurd.
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