Written on the Body: Emotions through Scientific Language
On the first page of Written on the Body, Wintersen writes “Why is the measure of love loss?”(9). This opening question sets the tone for the themes the novel explores, mainly the theme of love. The topic of love (and what surrounds it) is valued to be expressed by the experiences of the genderless and unidentified narrator.At the beginning of the novel, the storytelling starts at the end, and the storyline is a reflection on events that occurred, and the feelings felt. The language and expressions used to communicate the complex emotions are a reflection of the opinions and ideals of the narrator. Specifically, Wintersen often uses scientific language and ideas to both meditate on the
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The narrator amidst a miserable state of mind relate to a vacuum, devoid of Louise and consequently devoid of happiness. All the lovers the narrator’s been with carried “different energies”, specific and unique to the narrator’s happiness (the most significant being Louise). When there was a complete lack, misery was the result. SOMETHING ELSE HERE BUT WORD CRASHED SO I LOST IT
The narrator goes through, inquisitive, insecure, defensive emotions all surrounding the experience of love. These very personal emotions are often communicated by Wintersen through depersonalized scientific ideals and concepts. Contrasts exist in between exploring the personal emotions through depersonalizing, often observed by a reader. However, key similarities do exist. The scientific method consists of forming questions, hWritten on the Body: Emotions through Scientific
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Wintersen’s narrator experiences love as a series of trials, questioning along the way, and analytically drawing conclusions through introspection. In the many meditations on the emotional aspects surrounding being in love, and amongst the limitations science has put up, the narrator still finds a precision through the use of scientific prose. Something something of how I feel that I proved my point….
So far I’ve proven two way in which science helps the main character’s reflections, and one way it does not….ergo….love and science share a fluidity, a seeking for precision, but at times lack thereof (the higgs boson is said to exist only because of the observed
Frederic is very much alienated from the science of his day. He finds it obscure and frightening, involved in inhuman and ritualistic experiments, and motivated by goals that are fully detached from the needs of ordinary people. His dread and loathing of the coldness and ruthlessness of the aloof scientist come from the Gothic horror of writers like Edgar Allen Poe and Mary Shelley.
When we think about the force that holds the world together and what makes humans different from animals, one answer comes to our minds - that humans can love. Love is a state of mind that cannot be defined easily but can be experienced by everyone. Love is very complicated. In fact it is so complicated that a person in love may be misunderstood to be acting in an extremely foolish manner by other people. The complexity of love is displayed in Rostand’s masterpiece drama Cyrano de Bergerac. This is accomplished by two characters that love the same woman and in the course neither one achieves love in utter perfection.
Deadly and helpful, science is a dual-edged sword. Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the first to emphasize this through his literary works. “Rappaccini's Daughter” and “The Birthmark” are two of his works where he teaches this lesson through the trials of his characters. Focusing on the motif of the “mad scientist”, Hawthorne brings to light the points that people struggle with humanity, learning to love themselves and others, and that science can be more harmful then helpful.
Louise, the unfortunate spouse of Brently Mallard dies of a supposed “heart disease.” Upon the doctor’s diagnosis, it is the death of a “joy that kills.” This is a paradox of happiness resulting into a dreadful ending. Nevertheless, in reality it is actually the other way around. Of which, is the irony of Louise dying due to her suffering from a massive amount of depression knowing her husband is not dead, but alive. This is the prime example to show how women are unfairly treated. If it is logical enough for a wife to be this jovial about her husband’s mournful state of life then she must be in a marriage of never-ending nightmares. This shows how terribly the wife is being exploited due her gender in the relationship. As a result of a female being treated or perceived in such a manner, she will often times lose herself like the “girl
Louise Mallard has not yet heard the news of her husband’s death. As the news is revealed to her she went into a state of unhappiness, and she had a hard time “accepting the significance” (463). She “wept at once” with “wild abandonment” and the “storm of grief” (463), passed over and she went alone to her bedroom with no one to follow her. The author describes in the previous sentence that the storm of grief has passed over her,
New love is a powerful force. It can be overwhelming, inspiring, and a bit scary. Ultimately, though, as REO Speedwagon once said, it can “make everything so clear” (“Can’t Fight This Feeling”). In “since feeling is first,” e. e. cummings utilizes contrasting metaphors, as well as unconventional syntax and form, in order to portray this sentiment. The speaker, in a flash of romantic interest, experiences a sudden realization of his past follies in the way he has approached love, and shares this new understanding with both the reader and the object of his desire. Through this, cummings conveys a centralized dogma which holds living without inhibitions to be not simply recommended, but the only honest way of experiencing human interaction.
It is hard to say that one is human and perfect at the same time. Human beings are not capable of achieving perfection; if that would be so, humans would stop being humans. By nature the human race is full of flaws, some appearing as early as in the womb. From defects in the body, to defects in the mind, to the mistakes that one makes in quotidian life, it is impossible to deny that human imperfection exists. To try to manipulate humans into perfection is not only impossible, but it takes away the very essence of being a human being. The short story “The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorn, illustrates this teaching through the character of Aylmer, an ambitious and devoted scientist who is appalled by his wife Georgiana’s birthmark, believing it to be a perceivable sign of her human flaws and eagerly waits to remove it from her cheek. This story raises riveting questions such as, what is humanity all about, can human beings ever achieve perfection through science, is Hawthorn attacking science or a wider issue, and more significantly, should science take the place of God. Through the use of symbolism in “The Birthmark”, Hawthorn indirectly implies that imperfection is an essential part of being human and that science should not interfere; thus he is hinting his personal views toward science and its limitations over nature.
The advancement of industrialism, economic growth, science and medicine, and wars all donated to the contributions of many writers during the Romantic Movement. This is true of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, short story, “The Birthmark”. The obsession with perfection is just as evident today; as it was back in the 18th and 19th centuries. The detrimental effects of amplifying science and romance are clearly defined between the relationships of Aylmer, his wife Georgiana, and Aminadab -his assistant in his lab. Romantic literature puts a higher significance on the value of intuition and imagination instead of fixating on objective reasoning.
The story’s tone is one of romantic controversy, a dilemma at a high level of existence. The scientist’s love for his craft competes very intensively with his newfound love for his wife. It is also very psychological, strictly dealing with the raw mind of its subjects as if the ominous narrator told the story from inside their mind, rather than observe it from the outside. He describes the processes that one may take to reach a certain degree of knowledge and to find the elixir of life, which is described in this story as the ultimate goal of the scientific community. Also, the narrator is very opinionated about events in the story.
Some may say love is just an emotion while others may say it is a living and breathing creature. Songs and poems have been written about love for hundreds and thousands of years. Love has been around since the beginning of time, whether someone believes in the Big Bang or Adam and Eve. Without love, there wouldn’t be a world like it is known today. But with love, comes pain with it. Both William Shakespeare and Max Martin know and knew this. Both ingenious poets wrote love songs of pain and suffering as well as blossoming, newfound love. The eccentric ideal is both writers were born centuries apart. How could both know that love and pain work hand in hand when they were born 407 years apart? Love must never change then. Love survives and stays its original self through the hundreds and thousands of years it has been thriving. Though centuries apart, William Shakespeare and Max Martin share the same view on love whether i...
Psychoanalysis is the method of psychological therapy originated by Sigmund Freud in which free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference are used to explore repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts (“Psychoanalysis”). This transfers to analyzing writing in order to obtain a meaning behind the text. There are two types of people who read stories and articles. The first type attempts to understand the plot or topic while the second type reads to understand the meaning behind the text. Baldick is the second type who analyzes everything. Since his article, “Allure, Authority and Psychoanalysis” discusses the meaning behind everything that happens in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” we can also examine “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” in the same manner.
Nathanial Hawthorne made his opinion on science very clear in all of his stories. His religious beliefs and the beliefs of the people in that time period are portrayed through his stories. The stories that showcase his opinion the clearest are The Birthmark, Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment, Rappaccini’s Daughter. In each one of these short stories, there is a scientific experiment that rebels against religion and religious beliefs. They also try and defy nature and the natural being of a person. Hawthorne believes that science is ultimately weak in comparison to God and the natural beauty of the world.
Dr. Michael Shermer is a Professor, Founder of skeptic magazine, and a distinguished and brilliant American science writer to say the least. In His book The Moral Arc: How Science Makes Us Better People he sets out to embark on the daunting task of convincing and informing the reader on sciences’ ability to drives the expansion of humanity and the growth of the moral sphere. Although such a broad and general topic could be hard to explain, Shermer does so in a way that is concise, easy to understand, and refreshing for the reader. This novel is riddled with scientific facts, data, and pictures to back up shermers claims about the history of science, humanity and how the two interact with one another.
Cummings theme of how strong someones love can be appeals to readers minds, because everyone wants that connection with their partner, That undying love for one another. Some people long for a love...
In this essay I would like to emphasize different ideas of how love is understood and discussed in literature. This topic has been immortal. One can notice that throughout the whole history writers have always been returning to this subject no matter what century people lived in or what their nationality was.