In Douglas Adams's novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect traverse an imperfect galaxy plagued by a lack of individuality. In The Seven Deadly Sins Today, Henry Fairlie ventures that this galactic epidemic correlates to the transmission of immorality throughout the world. Douglas Adams utilizes satire and characterization to demonstrate how the human condition is flawed. Furthermore, Henry Fairlie calls upon the archetypal seven deadly sins to criticize human banality. Collectively, Adams's wittiness and Fairlie's bitterness encourage the reader to exercise one's identity. First, Douglas Adams satirizes modern society to delineate the blemishes that chafe the face of humankind. Next, characterization indicates that every person battles against their fait accompli; however, some fight with more ferocity than others. Lastly, Henry Fairlie rancorously acknowledges the seven deadly sins to portray the world's sinful commonalities. Ultimately, the authors of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Seven Deadly Sins Today accentuate a person's obligation to rise from the stereotypical to the atypical.
Douglas Adams satirizes contemporary culture to expose humanity's greed and glumness. In the beginning of the novel, Adams omnisciently describes the major problem afflicting planet Earth:
This planet has--or rather had--a problem, which was this: most of the people
living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were
suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the
movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it
wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy. (1)
This statement reveals t...
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...apathy and inactivity in the practice of virtue" ( ). Henry Fairlie, in his lengthy diatribe on current culture The Seven Deadly Sins Today, offers a sincere warning to people seized by sloth: "Diligence overcomes difficulties, sloth makes them” (98). Despite his admonition, people today have resorted to sloth because one requires less energy in a state of ennui. Additionally, today's sloth has even gained the slang name "couch potato." And for all those degenerate drones, our industry has produced video games and TV dinners. Altogether, Fairlie believes that once people adhere themselves to the lifestyle of a sloth, they have lost their individuality to the deep lint-infested depths of the couch. In consummation, Adams ironically hints that human depression has reached such a critical point that it is even beginning to affect objects that normally don't feel emotions
It is this dysfunctional world that Equality 7-2521 is born into. The novel begins with Equality 7-2521 alone in a dark tunnel transcribing his story. He begins with a declaration that “It is a sin to write this… [because] men may not write unless the Council of Vocations bid them so” (Rand, 17). Equality 7-2521 writes that he was born with a curse: He is different than the other men in his society. He laments that “the learning was too easy. This is a great sin, to be born with a head too quick” (Rand, 21). From the youngest age children were taught that ability is a vice, not a virtue. They were to be embarrassed of their superiority because “it is not good to be different from our brothers” (Rand, 21). Equality 7-2521 writes that he tried to stifle this fault but was unable to do so.
In his novel, The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain applies his thoughts upon societal hypocrisy by using the characters to convey their religious entitlement as a societal norm rather than focusing on the true moral teachings that Christianity implies. Throughout the book, Twain adopts a sentimental yet humorous tone to portray the characters’ ironic behavior towards biblical teachings and their reason for going completely against them.
Although these literary works have a bleak perspective that societal values are insuperable, the characters in “The Garden Party” and “Shooting an Elephant” feel guilty for ignoring their personal moral obligations. In contrast, the main characters in “A Cup of Tea” and “July’s People” remain blissfully unaware of their blatant disregard of an ethical code; they cannot even recognize the immoral nature of their actions as it has become second nature.
...l human character. Writers of American literature have many different opinions on the society. In order for readers to understand an author’s view on the society, they must look at many different aspects including the writer’s life and the time period in which the work was written. Though writers have different theories about the society, they express their philosophies into their work. The town who seem horribly uncivilized, where a son stones his mother, yet they can easily be compared to today's society.
Gluttony, Avarice, Wrath, Lust, Pride, Envy, and Sloth are all commonly known as the “Seven Deadly Sins”. Each of these seven sins plays a major role in development of the different characters. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”, the Pardoner committed sins through gluttony and avarice; the Wife of Bath through Pride and Lust; and also the Monk through gluttony and wrath. However, omnipresent on all the characters are the different deadly sins that led to their development and morality.
The Seven Deadly Sins, is a classification of sins (sometimes referred to as vices), that were used to describe the sources of all sins. The Seven Deadly Sins is a Christian idea and was most widespread in the Catholic Church. These sins are thought to have possibly gotten their origins from two places in the Bible, Proverbs 6:16-19, and Galatians 5:19-21. The first idea for The Seven Deadly Sins was from the writings of the monk, Evagrius Ponticus, who lived in the fourth-century. The Seven Deadly Sins were edited and modeled into their modern form in A.D. 590 by Pope Gregory 1. These sins are as
There are seven deadly sins that, once committed, diminish the prospect of eternal life and happiness in heaven. They are referred to as deadly because each sin is closely linked to another, leading to other greater sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, avarice, and lechery. Geoffrey Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, provided an excellent story about the deadly sins. Focusing mainly on the sins of pride, gluttony and greed, the characters found in The Canterbury Tales, particularly The Pardoner's Tale, were so overwhelmed by their earthly desires and ambitions that they failed to see the effects of their sinful actions, therefore depriving themselves of salvation.
Theology and different religions, all contain information about sin. Sin is recognized as an unholy thing to possess, therefore, sin is not taken lightly. In Roman Catholicism, if one’s sins are serious enough, one may not receive eternal life with God, in Heaven. Severe punishments may occur, if one sins. Sin is thought to have been caused by mankind. The perception of sin continues to evolve as the analysis of texts continues.
In today’s society, most individuals misunderstand the vice of sloth for mere physical laziness. Very few would say sitting on a couch eating a bowl of ice cream is a sin, let alone something that belongs on the list of deadly vices. Sloth does not only belong on the list of the seven deadly vices, but it is in fact the most destructive of all the vices.
When viewing the atrocities of today's world on television, the starving children, the wars, the injustices, one cannot help but think that evil is rampant in this day and age. However, people in society must be aware that evil is not an external force embodied in a society but resides within each person. Man has both good qualities and faults. He must come to control these faults in order to be a good person. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding deals with this same evil which exists in all of his characters. With his mastery of such literary tools as structure, syntax, diction and imagery, The author creates a cheerless, sardonic tone to convey his own views of the nature of man and man’s role within society.
Atwood tries to open our eyes by satirising our society with a brilliant contrasting novel. Dystopian in every way, the reader encounters a world in which modern values of our society seem/ are replaceable. Showing the worst of all possible outcomes, she demonstrates that our primarily heartless, just economical thinking could bring the downfall of our society. Altough satires are often used to be funny ;Atwood uses this instrument of literature for an attack on a society which she strongly disapproves of. With the intent to bring about improvement, she raises the question if our current lifestyle excuses the possible future problems.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1843 short story entitled “The Birth-Mark” is, at face value, a traditionally formatted Hawthorne story; it is a textbook example of his recurrent theme of the unpardonable sin as committed by the primary character, Aylmer, the repercussions of which result in the untimely death of his wife, Georgiana. However, there seems to be an underlying theme to the story that adds a layer to Hawthorne’s common theme of the unpardonable sin; when Aylmer attempts to reconcile his intellectual prowess with his love for his wife, his efforts turn into an obsession with perfecting his wife’s single physical flaw and her consequent death. This tragedy occurs within the confines of traditional gender
Portraying the characters rejection to conformity, American literature illustrates the distinctive following of one's own standards. From what has been analyzed previously, the authors are trying to display a message of change through the characters words and actions. Many times it is apparent that the characters are in there times of most comfort when they are acting in such that makes them their own being, stepping aside from the standards of the rest of society. Writers try to express the importance of stepping outside of that comfort zone in order to grow and develop as a human being. How will one ever know who they are if they conform to be what everyone is told to be? The biggest advocate of rejecting the norms of America is Chris McCandless.
We live in a society that is full of horrific things everywhere we turn. In order to not come in contact with these things we would have to live apart from the media and almost separate ourselves from society altogether. These horrible things are often called sins. Sins are actions that are felt to be highly reprehensible and are also viewed as going against God’s will. Many actions can be viewed as sins, but there are seven sins that are particularly important. These seven sins are lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. They are infamous for being called the Seven Deadly Sins. A wide variety of works include these sins in order to show society how wrong they truly are. One work in particular is “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne’s characters in “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” all show one or more of the seven sins in one way or another. Hawthorne believed that man was becoming condemnable; therefore, he used his characters to portray that. Hawthorne’s interpretation of humans is quite true because the Seven Deadly Sins appear everywhere in our society. If one was to watch television or use the Internet, he or she would almost certainly discover one of these particular seven sins in a very short amount of time. This is precisely what I found to be true while doing an assignment to find examples of the Seven Deadly Sins for three days.
Two characters that are blinded by their own version of living a religious life are Mr. Hines and Mr. McEachern. I will argue that the obsession with their religion and their belief of how it should be followed is an ideology that fails each of these characters in their purpose. Consequently, the more these characters are faced by failure the more they try to embody God and take actions as if they are the Almighty Himself. Ironically, while using religion as a shield these characters fail to see their own sins. These characters see their sins instead, as the most essential and virtuous deeds and the work of God.