"Oh, Fortuna, blind, heedless goddess, I am strapped to your wheel. Do not crush me beneath your spokes. Raise me on high, divinity" (Toole: 42). Here, Ignatius Reilly makes one of his many pleas to Fortuna, the goddess which he believes controls his destiny and his life by spinning him in circles of good and bad luck. The cycles Ignatius Reilly goes through in John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces play an important role in the story, as they affect not only him, but several others in the book as well. The cycles that Ignatius is put through do, indeed, influence those around him. These cycles that Ignatius goes through are very much like gears, connected to the cycles of the other characters in the novel. Although it is not obvious at first, one can see that as Ignatius' cycle, or gear, is spun downwards by Fortuna, the cycles of those around him who, at first, experience bad luck, are eventually spun upwards. This can be seen by examining the effects of Ignatius Reilly's cycles on situations occurring in the Night of Joy, Levy Pants, and with his mother and her acquaintances.
The situation at the Night of Joy bar is, certainly, an interesting case to examine. At first, both Burma Jones and Darlene are experiencing bad luck, or a downward cycle. However, as Fortuna spins Ignatius Reilly downward, their situation begins to improve. We are introduced to Jones in the police station, early in the novel, after being arrested for, supposedly, stealing a bag of cashews. He exclaims, "I standin aroun in Woolsworth and some cat steal a bag of cashew nuts out the 'Nut House' star screaming like she been stab. Hey! The nex thing, a flo'walk grabbin me, and then a po-lice mother draggin me off. A man ain got a chance. Whoa!" (To...
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... in John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces function much like gears. Ignatius Reilly's is the main gear in the machine and the other characters occupy the role of secondary gears. As Fortuna spins Ignatius' fortune downwards, the fortune's of the other characters, which are, at first, unlucky, are then spun upwards. This irony makes the work all the more "grotesque" and appealing to the contemporary reader. It is, truly, a modern classic - the working machine of A Confederacy of Dunces.
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Bram Stoker’s Dracula has increased the number of vampires in media exponentially, partly because of one man: Vlad the Impaler. He, as well as other various sources, led to what is known as the vampire today.
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Vampires have been viewed with fear and fascination for centuries. Of all the vampires in literature, Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula is probably the most prominent vampire. Recently, there has been an upsurge of public interest in socially acceptable vampires, like the Cullens in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. This essay will contrast Stoker’s Dracula with Carlisle Cullen, one of the newer vampires from the Twilight series. They will be examined in terms of their origins and how they dealt with immortality.
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When the vampire came about the thought of the monsters themselves were terrifying, and to view one they were ghostly pale with dark sunken eyes, large nose similar to that of the stereotypical witch, pointed ears like an elf and dark hair usually dark brown if not black. The original folklore on vampires showed a terrifying creature that you would know if you would see it out and about during the night. Today’s films and novels want to present you with an attractive vampire, like dying and becoming an immortal being is something a human would want to do because they would become more attractive. But also in today’s depiction of the vampire they have no obvious tells that a person is a vampire until they get angry and the fangs elongate. The idea of the vampire has shifted so drastically over the course of time, from fear to an admiration of a creature that could kill you in seconds. In the popular culture of today, the vampire is something attractive that girls pine after and want to be since there are a multitude of romance novels printed today with the male leads being portrayed as a
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." -First Amendment to the Constitution. The First Amendment “protects five of the most basic liberties which include the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom to petition the government to right wrong” (Silberdick Feinberg, 2015). Without the First Amendment then there wouldn’t of been full ratification and acceptance of new government. The interesting thing of the First Amendment is that it protects our ability to speak freely and openly however it doesn’t establish protection from the repercussions. Employers are able to exercise their restrictions on free speech and terminate their employees based on something they might state in the workplace. Employers have even exercised their right to terminate an employee something he/she expressed publically in their personal time. Business representatives, sports figures and celebrities have been denied work and or let go due to speaking their thoughts
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Similar to Dracula, Twilight’s vampires have many of the same characteristics. The vampires in Dracula and Twilight both are very pale. People in both books often mention how pale the vampires are. Along with pale skin their skin is usually very tough. This meaning that it is very strong and does
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Overall Dracula has been a massive inspiration to how we see vampires today with the pale skin, dark hair, red lips and drinking blood. Dracula brought the concept of a vampire to life through the definition in his writing style and details in the description of an vampire. There were several living and written inspirations for his vampires in the story. Although todays vampire may have changed into a more human and less dangerous idea the same basis on what we think of vampires today is all originated from
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Schwarz, Danie Reference Guide to English Literature, 2nd ed., edited by D. L. Kirkpatrick, St. James Press, 1991