Democracy According to Mailer
Re-reading the bulk of my work in the course of a spring and summer, one theme came to predominate-it was apparent that most of my writing was about America. How much I loved our country-that was evident-and how much I didn't love it at all!
-Norman Mailer, foreword to Time of Our Time
The first time I read anything written by Norman Mailer-it was an excerpt from the Vietnam-era Armies of the Night-I remember two things coming to my mind. The first thing that popped into my head: what an arrogant, self-righteous jerk this Mailer guy is! What kind of egotistical writer places himself in his own novel? What new-age Narcissus finds the tragic flaw of every individual he encounters? What brand of windbag slices to bits the dignity of one of the most important movements in American history, the Vietnam War protests? A child of the Enlightenment, it twisted my stomach to watch the workings of our American democracy tackled and torn to shreds by Mailer's writing. But the second thing I remember thinking? You know . . . he is kind of right. Not all Vietnam protesters were the idealistic, selfless icons American society made them out to be. Not every military guard was a heartless, conservative monkey. Not every principle and ideal of the Enlightenment's picture of "democracy" was put into practice by the United States. Confused at my latter revelation, I quietly gnawed on my double-edged conclusion. Maybe there is something to this Mailer guy, my brain murmured, and his apparently outrageous, yet often correct, opinions.
Of course, I must qualify "kind of right." At first read, Norman Mailer is unfailingly rebellious, loud, arrogant, vulgar, cruel, and, on occasion, downright offensive. But...
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.... Neither situation was perfect, but each time, Americans accepted what they had and then took steps to improve upon it. Our democracy sometimes slips into a debacle in desperate need of correction, and after we recognize that something has to be done, we as Americans need to be willing to do whatever is necessary to improve ourselves both as individuals and together as a nation. Norman Mailer writes in order to help realize our flaws as a society, and to help us realize that, although we may have lost a few battles along the way, the war is far from over.
Works Cited
Jefferson, Thomas. "Declaration of Independence." A World of Ideas. 5th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Bedford, 1998. 76-79.
Mailer, Norman. Time of Our Time. New York: Random House, 1998.
Spinoza, Benedict. Tractatus Politicus et Philosophicus. Trans. A.G. Wernham. New York: Oxford, 1958.
Throughout the book the audience has seen Ishmael go through adventure and sorrow. In the novel Ishmael is forced to go to war at age thirteen, but what keeps him going were his grandmother's wise words. His grandmother was the one who told him powerful lessons that he could use in real life. These lesson that Ishmael is keeping him grounded is not only from his grandmother but also from his friends. Lessons that were seen by the readers are “wild pigs”, “Bra Spider”, and the story about the moon.
When growing up, family is always there for one another with unconditional love. They will do anything for each other, and throughout their lives they look to family for support and advice. This is not said for Ishmael Beah in A Long Way Gone. He was never in an idealistic “picture perfect” family because of his parents living in different villages through most of his life. The feeling of loneliness and independence was not new to him. Contrasting Beah, Mariatu Kamara, from A Bite of the Mango, has a very healthy and intimate relationship with everyone in her village. “It was common in my country for children in the rural areas to be raised by people other than their birth parents” (Kamara 13). They all act as if they were in her immediate family and furthermore she depends on them immensely. Beah and Mariatu were both children heavily involved in the war, being forced to face their countries problems that were not theirs to begin with. “The war in Sierra Leone has its origins in a long history of corrupt and predatory civilian and military governments that set the stage for a decade-long insurrection, destroyed state institutions, and left the country vulnerable to external manipulation” (Rice 1). While fighting the emotional and physical struggles throughout the war, Mariatu is firmly attached to her family indefinitely, while Beah has the advantage of independence; this is more fit for survival.
Rhetorical Analysis: The Declaration of Independence. Our Declaration of Independence, was penned most notably by Thomas Jefferson in response to the atrocities committed by the British Crown against the citizens of the American Colonies. At the time of the drafting of The Declaration, Jefferson was widely known to be a successful practitioner of Law as a lawyer, and an eloquent writer. It is due to this, that although Jefferson was a member of a five-man committee charged with drafting the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was tapped to be the main author. After enduring “a long train of abuses and usurpations” the colonists decided to declare themselves free of British rule (para 2).
Jefferson, Thomas. "The Declaration of Independence." The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues Across the Disciplines. 8th edition, Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. New York: McGraw Hill, 2003. 305-308.
Compare and Contrast Declaration of Independence and Common Sense When I was asked to read the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson and Common Sense by Thomas Paine, I was kind of scared. As I started to read it, I found it to be truly interesting. Reading over them several times to make sure I understood the text and the meaning of them both. Throughout, out this paper I will share many comparisons and contrasts between the Declaration of Independence and the Common Sense pamphlet. There are many reasons why these two documents had a great effect on the American Revolution.
Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence is one of the most famous influential documents ever produced. The declaration led to the freedom of the Thirteen Colonies which in turn sparked the independence of much of the Western Hemisphere. “When in the course of human events” and the following text are now some of the most recognizable words in all of historical documents.
In his memoir A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah’s imagery is usually affiliated with nature and the world around him. Many times, connections can be made between Beah’s emotional state and the condition of Sierra Leone during its civil war. These vivid descriptions easily reflect on the Beah and his surroundings equally. Silence throughout chaos is a common theme in war, when all is dead in the surroundings and yet, life continues. Beah illustrates a moment while passing through a town on his journey to freedom, “The silence in the village was too scary…Not even a lizard dared to crawl through the village. I could hear my heartbeat louder than my footsteps” (46). Beah uses the non-existing ambience of the village to show how empty war leaves
The Declaration of Independence in Wilson, James Q., John J. Dilulio, and Meena Bose. 2011 American Government: Institutions & Policies. Boston, Mass: Wadsworth Pub. Co.
The Dark Knight borrowed elements from Batman: The Killing Joke, a 1988 DC Comics graphic novel, which provides an origin story for the Joker. The connection between the two leads to a similar origin story of the creation of the Joker through the influence of Batman. Batman's interference in The Killing Joke causes the Joker to leap into a chemical vat, which severely disfigures him. In The Dark Knight, the Joker himself also has multiple testimonies on how he came to be. He sometimes blames his abusive and alcoholic father for creating his mutilated smile while in a drunken rage one night. The Joker also claims that after his wife’s face was mutilated, he pulled a razor on his own to comfort her by showing that her damaged appearance didn’t bother him. After carving his own cheeks, he says that, “she couldn’t stand the sight of (him).” This disturbing attempt to make her feel better makes causes worse, resulting in his wife leaving him, furthering his mental instability. Although the scars are present on The Dark Knight version of the Joker, the rest of his appearance is cosmetic in contrast to the physiological image of the Joker from the 1989 Batman film. The Joker in The Dark Knight applies chalk white makeup to his face and dark products to blacken the spaces around his eyes. He also dyes his greasy hair green rather than having the chemically bleached green hair follicles of the 1989 Joker who fell into the bubbling green substance. Their personalities differ mainly by the 1989 Joker being more comical while The Dark Knight Joker being more psychotic. The Joker from The Dark Knight calls himself an “agent of chaos” and wishes to drag everyone down to his level of insanity and corruption rather than just kill them
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah follows the journey of a twelve year old boy as a child soldier for the RUF, or Revolutionary United Front. Through the novel we’re brought along on Ishmael’s journey as he changes from the normal, adventurous young boy, to a mad killing machine, and then rehabilitated by the UNICEF. After his “realization,” Ishmael uses his past to educate and help others on the issue of the use of children in war.
Vesterman, William, and Thomas Jefferson. "The Declaration of Independence." Great Interdisciplinary Ideas: A Reader for Writers. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 189. Print.
During the 1980s, Sierra Leone was fighting a major civil war which resulted in many people fleeing their homes and many children getting recruited to fight in the war. These kids had no family, food, or shelter and joining the war was their only choice. The book A Long Way Gone, centers around a true story of a boy named Ishmael Beah and his journey through the war. He tells the story of his life and the people he encountered and affected him in different ways. Ishmael had many encounters with different people throughout his journey in Sierra Leone that shaped who he is today, these people include his older brother Junior, his military leaders who he fought with in the war, his friend and nurse from the rehabilitation center, Esther and his Uncle whom he reunited with after he underwent rehabilitation. All these people had specifically impacted Ishmael's life in negative or positive ways that were important to his survival.
Change for society is challenging, but one of the most wonderful things about society is that change is always possible. “The Unknown Citizen” is such a perceptive poem because it invites people to contemplate what their life means to those around them and grow concerned that people see them just as superficially as they see everyone else. Meanwhile, Endgame and Mrs Warren’s Profession both contain situations that show the harsh judgments that society willingly places on its own. Together, all three works show people that society’s method of judgment is a flawed paradigm and that the people in society are part of the problem.
The Sierra Leone Civil War, was a brutal, and in my opinion unnecessary war, that lasted for eleven years. For eleven years, the people of Sierra Leone went through unimaginable pain, and through a memoir written by a boy named Ishmael Beah, we gain a window into the minds of the very people who worked so hard to escape the war. Ishmael like many children, was forced into becoming a hardened and cold soldier thanks to the war. Fortunately, he is saved, and thanks to many people in his rehabilitation center, is able to heal and reconnect with the boy he had been before the war. This is his account and his attempt to educate us all on what exactly it means to grow up in a warring country.
...counts of life in Sierra Leone were there are vicious killings and attacks going. Beah firmly places his life on the line various times during his journey with many people. He and his “crew” faced death various times with Beah personifying death. Beah’s life has been a great struggle with everything seeming to be a burden. Along with his struggles, war has been affecting his life greatly. A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier is a great way to show how childhood can be taken and transformed into a life of fear. Its stark language and raw vitality gives it full body to understand how so much terror is going on in our world and how we need to come to terms of peace with neighboring countries to show love for our world and for our people.