What Makes Us Human? Have you ever wondered what it is exactly that makes us human? Is it the mistakes we make, or maybe our opposable thumbs? I believe there are many things that make us human, one of which includes our biological programming to die at some point in time. Death is something every human is aware of and every human embraces eventually. Philip K. Dick’s dystopian texts “The Electric Ant” and “A Little Something for Us Tempunauts” both use death as a means to illuminate that we are human; death reminds humans that we are not eternal. In these short stories, Dick speaks through the eyes of his protagonists who have been stripped of their humanity and describes the significance behind their individual choices to seek death. Each protagonist is dehumanized in a different way and thus they differ greatly in the reasons why they choose death. In “The Electric Ant,” the protagonist, Mr. Poole, is dehumanized with the shocking experience of learning that …show more content…
However, death remains to be only a contemplation for the time being since the initial thoughts and actions of the protagonists are fairly influenced by those around them, as well as their role in society. For example, soon after the dismantling of Poole’s identity, Poole mentions, “I think I’ll kill myself… [but] it would be a costly waste which my owner would have to absorb.” Note not only the grave thoughts and decisions that result from being dehumanized but also the responsibility in his thought process. Although he has realized he is not human, his decisions still reflect his role as the owner of Tri-plan Electronics back when he believed himself to be. Doug also follows this pattern by making his rank in relation to General Toad, Dr. Fein, and other Federal Authorities apparent. His decisions throughout the first half of the story are in large part based upon following
Chuck Palahniuk once said, “The first step to eternal life, is you have to die.” In William Cullen Bryant’s poem “Thanatopsis”, he does not mention eternal life or anything religious, but speaks about death. He tells his readers that death is a natural thing and they should not worry about it. William Cullen Bryant, in his poem “Thanatopsis”, portrays a comforting view of death. Throughout the poem, Bryant encourages his readers by explaining that in death they are not alone, that death, like life, is a natural process, and that they will be among some of the finest people who walked the earth.
In ancient time, slaves were a big thing. Almost every white people own one. Slaves were treated as animals and were never deemed as to ever able to have the same equality as the others. But then slaves were abolished. However, there is still a line that exists separating black and white. In spite of this segregation, not all are racist. Not all black hate the white and not all white hate the black. There are situations out there that cause some of these different beliefs. Similarly, in the book, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, she mentions both belief of good and evil human nature. But, she leans on one side in the book more. Hillenbrand expresses a positive human nature by placing environmental factors in a way to portray the fact that these factors are what change the
There are many short stories in literature that share a common theme presented in different ways. A theme that always keeps readers’ attention is that of death because it is something that no one wants to face in real life, but something that can be easily faced when reading. “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson both exemplify how two authors use a common theme of death to stand as a metaphor for dystopian societies.
Nuland, Sherwin. How we die: Reflections on life's final chapter. New Yord: Vintage Books, 1993. 140-63. Print.
Joseph Heller embraces on the inevitability of death and what i really means for a man to die.
In “Thanatopsis, ” Bryant influences the reader to accept death as all living things’ fate. Bryant explains death by nature’s laws and the fact that nature’s creatures must abide by these laws. In lines 26-28, Bryant explains how an individual must abide by these laws and surrender to the earth that nourished the living. “To be a brother to the insensible rock and to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain turns with his share, and treads upon.” (Bryant; 26/28). Through one’s fear of consciousness of time in our lives, Bryant tries to give the reader advice that one must truly accept their life and it’s mortality.
The global climate changes have brought devastating geographical changes over the last century. With unfunded solutions and internal political conflicts driven by pure ignorance, our species has begun digging its own grave. Roy Scranton, author of “Learning how to Die in the Anthropocene”, has already begun contemplating the inevitable. By incaptivating his readers with his detailed description of his military past; he draws a parallel to the future he describes as inescapable. Using descriptive logic and overwhelming emotion, Scranton successfully convinces that in order to live in the new age us humans have forged, we must learn how to die.
In Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” she uses the structure of her poem and rhetoric as concrete representation of her abstract beliefs about death to comfort and encourage readers into accepting Death when He comes. The underlying theme that can be extracted from this poem is that death is just a new beginning. Dickinson deftly reassures her readers of this with innovative organization and management, life-like rhyme and rhythm, subtle but meaningful use of symbolism, and ironic metaphors.
Virginia Woolf’s essay “Death of the Moth” describes her encounter with a moth as it fights furiously to escape her windowpane before it is claimed by death. The speaker’s first instinct as they intently watch the moth’s struggle is to help it, but as she goes to do so, they realize that the moth is engaged in the same inescapable struggle faced by all living creatures as they try to prevent death from robbing them of life. By witnessing the moth’s death, the speaker is compelled to ponder the philosophical implications that incur within the circular pattern of life and death. She is conscious of death’s omnipotent inevitability, but concludes that the ever-present possibility of death serves as a primary motivational force necessary for life to have value and meaning. Since death cannot be overpowered, the way an individual struggles to survive and preserve life even in its final moments is more valuable than the mundane, meaningless activities pursued with apathy.
While District 9 directed by Neil Blomkamp is a trangressive, and highly entertaining sci-fi movie about Wikus van der Merwe’s journey from a normal blue-collared worker to becoming a fugitive, battling to save his life and human identity. The movie is also a blatant metaphor for oppression, prejudice, xenophobia and the power of media all intricately weaved together through its mockumentary style narration. The marginalization of the aliens speaks to the prejudice concurrent in society, reinforced by the media. The aliens or ‘prawns’ - as the humans refer to them, are depicted as human-cockroaches; the ‘bottom feeders’, living on rubbish dumps, feared and alienated by society, they are the ‘other.’ Contrary to what the media depicts of them, the
...nt. This depiction is imaginary. Dystopian fiction uses feats from reality and talks about them but doesn’t depict contemporary societies in general. These stories take place in the future but are about the present and sometimes the past. These tales emphasize the sense of powerlessness of the individuals in the face of the government with much brutality that is run by a totalitarian dictatorship. (http://www.utopiaanddystopia.com/dystopia/distopian-elements-and-characteristic/)
In the play “everyman” death is depicted as something that is terribly feared as no one seemed ready for it, death is perceived as something that takes one away from the pleasures of this world.
Perhaps of the greatest fears possessed by humanity is the fear of death. There is no real idea of what happens when one dies, and that terrifying uncertainty leads most to avoid even the thought of it at all costs. With an invisible clock ticking human existence away, there remains the question of what is the meaning of life? Ray Bradbury’s short story The Last Night of the World not only forces its audience to reflect on the hypothetical of today being the last day, it offers an idea of what is important about the time people have on Earth. Through clever ambiguity, subtle mood building, and reflective dialogue, Bradbury suggests that it isn’t from the world on the grand scale that the answer is found, nor is it in personal grandeur or fast
When one looks at anthropological history, they may see the chaos, the bloodshed, and the greed. Humankind constantly struggles with compassion and humanity because not always were people all viewed equal. Humanism helped turn this cry for equality into a universal truth. Humanism has refueled the religious and brought moral purpose to the secular in a mission of human prosperity. Through the course of history, including the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, in nationalism, and in modern times, humanism has made its mark.
The Renaissance is the guidance of ideology for the Western European from the medieval society to the modern excessive cultural and ideological movements. Humanism is the core of thought. Humanism is a people-oriented rational thought, mainly concern about human and human nature. It includes human dignity, the value of the human being. The humanism was based on the ancient Greek and Roman literature study, advocate the basis of man’ dignity, think that a man can control his/her own destiny and confirm the value of human. As the rebirth of literature, scholars found out importance of thinking and the power of reason. Therefore, many significant literatures had written by scholars during the Renaissance. Pico della Mirandola and Niccolo Machiavelli were the two of the important humanists during the Renaissance. Pico della Mirandola wrote about the human dignity. His work “Oration On The Dignity Of Man” has brought a new view of belief and influenced the later scholars. Niccolo Machiavelli’s work “The Prince” pointed out the significant being as a king.