Exploration of Values in Robinson Crusoe, The Odyssey, The Tempest and Gulliver’s Travels
In the novels and epics of Robinson Crusoe, The Odyssey, The Tempest and Gulliver’s Travels the reader encounters an adventurer who ends up on an island for many years and then returns back home. These four stories have another point in common: they are all unusually popular. There is something very appealing to the popular imagination about such narratives. In this essay I will explore the vision of life (or at least some aspects of it) which this novel holds out to us and which is significantly different from the others, no matter how apparently similar the narrative form might be.
Very simply put, these four stories have a similar general narrative structure which goes something like this: (a) a member of a sophisticated European society is accidentally cast adrift into the wilderness, where everything is unfamiliar and there are no apparent aids of normal society; (b) the hero must adjust to this strange environment, find some means of coping with the physical and the psychological dislocation; (c) the hero must find a way off the island, and (d) the hero must reintegrate himself into the society from which he unwillingly was alienated.
The casting adrift can happen in any number of ways. Typically it is the result of a shipwreck, a mutiny, or a misadventure of some kind. Adapting to the new environment may or may not involve adjusting to the people who live there. It almost always will require the hero to cope with a very different vision of nature, and he will be forced to confront the fact that in this place things run very differently from what he is used to. This, in turn, may produce al...
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...t what really matters and what does not.
Thus, adventures with isolatos are, or can easily become, an exploration of moral values forced into the awareness of the hero by an unusual circumstance. And this development brings with it inevitably a criticism or a confirmation of the social values (or some of them) of the society of which he is a representative, whose values he brings with him to the island, and to which he returns. Prospero’s rejection of the island and of the magic he so loves, like Odysseus’ rejection of Calypso for his own Penelope, is not just a manifestation of the hero’s moral nature; it is also a confirmation of certain values in the society to which they are returning. Gulliver’s rejection of European society upon his return at the end of the fourth voyage is, in large part, a very severe criticism of the moral laxity of Europe.
Although Quebec is in Canada, a majority of Quebecers do not identify with the national identity of Canada. Both societies create a sense of identity as well as nationalism (Hiller, 295). Hiller mentions two approaches to assessing Canadian identity; the unitary approach and the segmentalist approach (Hiller, 277). The unitary approach suggests that society consists of people who regardless of their ethnic back ground, identify as belonging to the national society, while the segmentalist approach concentrates on groups and communities that share racial, linguistic, occupational, or cultural similarities (Hiller, 28). While most Anglophones are more unitary or pan-Canadian, Quebec heavily identifies with the segmentalist approach. This dissimilarity of identity perspective may be problematic for the country, at the same time however, it can also be viewed as a struggle where contradictory parties find a way to compromise and reshape Canadian society together (Hiller, 277). Canada’s former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau made it his objective to unite Quebec with the rest of Canada. In 1969 Trudeau’s government implemented Bill C-120, otherwise known as the Official Language act, which made French an...
...to identity with at least one of the countries predominate languages, English or French, dictated the degree in which they could participate in Canadian life. According to the Commission, this participation was real under two conditions: “that both societies, the French-speaking as well as the English-speaking, accept[ed] newcomers much more rapidly than they have done in the past; and that the two societies willingly allow other groups to preserve and enrich, if they so desire, the cultural values they prize[d]” (RCBB Book 1 xxv). It creates an interesting take on the acceptance of those “othered” groups, as change was necessary not only on the part of the minorities but also from Canada’s French and English-speakers. The Commissions work remains focused on language and culture, more so than ethnicity amongst a bilingual, bicultural and “othered” Canadian society.
The human need to be relatable is unquenchable. We love to be able to see parts of ourselves in others, and to be able to feel like our idols are not untouchable. The Hero’s Journey format is one that can be found in almost any story, even in real life. Overall, it is the perfect recipe for keeping readers engrossed. Another place the journey has shown up is in Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Odyssey by Homer. These two stories—one a biography, the other, an epic poem—are so effective in their storytelling, it is easy to see how authors today continue to use the same method to make stories that grab the readers’ attention. What makes them most alike, however, is the emotions and thoughts they have the power to provoke.
These timeless tales relate a message that readers throughout the ages can understand and relate to. While each of these tales is not exactly alike, they do share a common core of events. Some event and or character flaw necessitates a journey of some kind, whether it is an actual physical journey or a metaphorical one. The hardships and obstacles encountered on said journey lead to spiritual growth and build character. Rarely does a person find himself unchanged once the journey is over.
In “Battle Royal” the story focuses on a young African American man who is brought to a men’s club in hopes of giving his academic speech, but instead he has to literally fight for the chance to say what he wants to say (Ellison 1494).In modern society people still have to fight for the right to speak, but not exactly to the same extent. During the time period of “Battle Royal,” the characters were fighting racial segregation, but today it is more of a fight of social segregation. This social segregation is brought on by the idea that no one should have opinions other than what the majority of society believes, and these people are generally targeted after they say what they believe. In “Battle Royal” the young man has to physically fight to be able to speak what he wants, but when he has a slip of the tongue and says what the majority does not believe the crowd is quick to jump up and silence him (Ellison 1504). The white men in this story feel like they have to be dominant over the young African American man, to keep the purity of their race as mentioned in “Social Equality” (Myrdal 1515).
Kurosawa creates a masterpiece with the Seven Samurai. This film was created in 1954, it is a Japanese film and it has English subtitles. The Seven Samurai is a story about a small farming village in 16th century Japan that is under constant threat from traveling groups of outlaw bandits. The elders that live in the village decide to hire a defense force to protect them from these outlaws. They enlist a variety of samurai for hire and samurai are willing to work for their food. The mission of the seven samurai is to protect the village against almost impossible odds.
In studying different types of heroes this semester, we have come across several examples of heroes and heroines. From the Trojan War to the Italian renaissance, tragic heroes have been consistently present in the stories we have read this semester. In this essay I will expose the similarities and differences between tragic heroes that we have encountered in The Iliad (as recorded by Homer), The Aeneid (by Virgil), Oedipus the King (written by Sophocles), and in The Prince (written by Niccolo Machiavelli).
As society has progressed, composers have adapted and appropriated the archetypal quest so as to reflect the values of the time’s culture appropriately. This has been a necessary course of action, to ensure their writing conveys the quest and its respective elements in a manner that will be understood by the responder in the relevant time period. The texts ‘The Odyssey (Homer 8th Century BC), In the Shadow of No Towers (Art Spiegelman 2004) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde 1890) have appropriated the archetypal quest in their respective time periods to reflect the values of their context.
Modern Day Olympics are a huge tradition that sweeps the screens of televisions across the world. Competitors take the arena with uniforms that dawn their countries colors and designs that are meant to resemble their designated flag. For months the news is centered around the games; the preparation, the athletes, and of course the competition. Countries aren 't obsessed, they are inspired and full of pride seeing athletes from their country compete and show their incredible skill. This tradition dates back to ancient Greece where the games began. Tony Perrottet writes about the traditions of the ancient game in his book The Naked Olympics.
Melton, J. G., & Baumann, M. (2010). Religions of the world: A comprehensive encyclopedia of beliefs and practices (2nd ed., Vol. 1). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Personality disorders are inflexible maladaptive personality traits that cause significant impairment of social and occupational functioning. Personality disorders can affec...
Defining what a nurse is varies from person to person. Some have described a nurse as a person who shows care to their patients while others say that nurses assist to regain the ill’s health back. There is no wrong answer in defining what a nurse is. Moreover, I believe that a nurse is one who treats their patients with the dignity and respect that they deserve, and assists them in promoting and preventing their health illness and lastly, enhancing their health to optimal status. Nursing is viewed as a human science because nurse must display a connection with each patient. One must view the patients as a person, who has feelings, who behaves a certain way and who deserve to be well cared for. In addition, nursing is not a profession that treats
...res that make these books continue to live on for centuries. Due to the constraints of the essay not all aspects of the narrative perspective could be discussed and the role they play with the novellas.
“The Odyssey” is an epic poem that tells the story of Odysseus and the story of his many travels and adventures. The Odyssey tells the main character’s tale of his journey home to the island of Ithaca after spending ten years fighting in the Trojan War, and his adventures when he returns home and he is reunited with his family and close friends. This literary analysis will examine the story and its characters, relationships, major events, symbols and motifs, and literary devices.
Introduction Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are also displays of nationalism, commerce and politics. Well-known throughout the world the games have been used to promote understanding and friendship among nations, but have also been a hotbed of political disputes and boycotts. The Olympic games started thousands of years ago and lasted over a millennium.. The symbolic power of the Games lived on after their demise, and came to life again as the modern Olympic Games being revived in the last century. Both the modern and Ancient Olympics have close similarities in there purpose and in there problems.