In every business there is an element of fear. To elaborate, Brian in “The Last Stop,” by Brian Cable, visits a mortuary where he searches for confrontation of his fear of the deceased and finds consolation after acquaintance with a dead body. John in “I’m Not Leaving Until I Eat This Thing,” by John T. Edge, experiences first hand the uncomfort that comes along with the bizarreness of the meat packing industry when he faces eating pickled pig lips, but soon after realizes the experience wasn’t nearly as bad as he anticipated. Finally, in “The Long Good-Bye: Mother’s Day in Federal Prison,” by Amanda Coyne, the hypocrisy of the prison system is questioned when Toby, whose mother is incarcerated, searches for solace among his unanswered questions …show more content…
Fear is natural and does not need to be reinforced. Simply, fear is inevitable. Similarly, death is natural and inevitable, while also greatly feared. In “The Last Stop,” Brian expresses his dismay by saying, “I feared rejection or worse, an invitation to come and stay” (Cable 70). Brian fears the unknown that awaits him beyond the doors of the mortuary. Fear of the unknown is also exemplified in “I’m Not Leaving Until I Eat This Thing,” by John T. Edge. John fears trying the pig lips that he has never had before. He says, “I stifle a gag that rolls from the back of my throat, swallow hard, and pray the urge to vomit passes” (Edge 77). This quote represents the disgust and uncertainty John feels as he eats the pig lip. Comparably, in “The Long Good-Bye: Mother’s Day in Federal Prison.” by Amanda Coyne, uncertainty is expressed by her nephew, Toby, asking, “Is my Mommy a bad guy?” (Coyne 93). This quote represents the unease felt by Toby who does not yet comprehend why his mother is in prison. By asking this question he searches for comfort from the fear of uncertainty. Brian, John, and Toby all search for comfort from their fear, despite how different they all may
The main character in Amy Hempel's "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried" realizes she is a fearful person. She has a fear of death. The fear she has for death prevents her from becoming open about the topic because she is not able to speak about the topic. The narrator often uses different forms of denial to show this fear she has for death. She uses humor like when she reads the newspaper about the man who robbed the bank with a chicken as a distraction. Her fear of death hits her most when her friend asks her to spend the night. She seems to show the most discomfort by saying, "Then it hit me like an open coffin. She wants every minute, I thought. She wants my life." Though towards the end she tries to face her fear by signing up for
In the year 1625, Francis Bacon, a famous essayist and poet wrote about the influences of fear on everyday life. He stated, “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other” (Essays Dedication of Death). Clearly, external surroundings affect perceptions of fear as well as human nature in general. Although C.S. Lewis published the novel, Out of the Silent Planet, over three centuries after Bacon wrote his theory on fear, Lewis similarly portrayed external surrounding to manipulate perceptions of fear. From the first chapter of the novel, Lewis revealed fear to be a weakness that leads to ignorance. It was this ignorance that apparently fueled the cycle of corruption and immorality on “The Silent Planet.” Using the character Ransom to reveal the effect of memory and morality on fear, C.S. Lewis demonstrates that fear is a quality of the “bent” race (humans), and only by eliminating fear in our lives can the human race become hnau.
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. It is inevitable to have ups and downs in everyday life; however, to fear or not to fear, the person is in control. In John Connolly’s novel, The Book of Lost Things, people who arrive in Elsewhere all bring their own fears, and those fears color the events for everyone who lives there. First of all, people can become a better version of themselves once they overcome their own fears. Yet fear can sometimes impact people negatively, as it is often a weed growing over the roots of kindness. However, the fear of fear is the most dangerous kind of all because it is the basis of anxiety and panic attacks. Every character in The Book of Lost Things must face their fears at some point, but how they go about it makes all the difference.
Throughout the novels we have read this semesters, one can makes observation that many of the characters from each novel have gone through fear whether it was due to racial strife or threat to life. We then see the characters go out and find their salvation or in some cases leave their homes before being faced with the consequences they have brought upon themselves.. Finally, most character are then faced with their fate in life where in most situation it is death or freedom. We see these variations first develop by author Richard Wright 's in his novel and movie Native Son. Each variations can been seen within different characters from both Cane and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. The variations are shape within
...e questions than before which cause the speaker’s confusion to increase. The speaker’s yearning for death shifts after the realization that it also creates problems because complications occur in life and death.
“Hope and fear are inseparable. There is no hope without fear, nor any fear without hope” (François de la Rochefoucauld). One of the many defining qualities of human existence is the ability to experience emotions. Among them, hope and fear may be two of the most commanding. The balance of the two and the influence they have on a person, as well as each other, is imperative to one’s personality, behavior, resolutions. Authors use the contrast of hope and fear to create a character out of thin air. By applying these to emotions to a flat character, he or she is sculpted into a complexly depicted person. Both Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Sandra Cisneros use this technique to create their main characters. The narrator in The Yellow Wallpaper and
Fear brings forth a certain atmosphere which compels us to act upon it. The era in which the book was published allows us to see how common these fears were. Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is an excellent portrayal of how fear controls the human mind by using the characters as examples. In the book Eleanor, Theodora, Luke, and Dr. Montague have all been influenced by fear in the story, whether it be the fear of love, the unknown, family, rejection, expression, or loneliness. These different types of fear plagued their minds causing their actions to reflect upon them. Jackson explores the theme of fear in The Haunting of Hill House by creating a cast of characters that in turn are manipulated by the inner workings of their minds and the
Fear resides within all of our souls and our minds in different forms wether it be mind, body, or spirit. Fear can be brought upon by actions, words or ever our mere imagination. Of course as one being younger your imagination can bring along fear that is non existent but, to one it may seem so vivid and tangible. In this Novel by William Golding we come to grasps with many different forms of fear being from the beast, the loss of humanity, and the fear of realization.
The primary scary feature of the story is the concept that doing something as innocent as stopping a car can cause death. Death is something that most people fear, or wish not to encounter until they feel that they have lived their lives to the fullest.
Through an intimate maternal bond, Michaels mother experiences the consequences of Michaels decisions, weakening her to a debilitating state of grief. “Once he belonged to me”; “He was ours,” the repetition of these inclusive statements indicates her fulfilment from protecting her son and inability to find value in life without him. Through the cyclical narrative structure, it is evident that the loss and grief felt by the mother is continual and indeterminable. Dawson reveals death can bring out weakness and anger in self and with others. The use of words with negative connotations towards the end of the story, “Lonely,” “cold,” “dead,” enforce the mother’s grief and regressing nature. Thus, people who find contentment through others, cannot find fulfilment without the presence of that individual.
Throughout one’s life, he or she will experience many situations where a lesson is learned, or a fear is amassed. One person may be able to deal with such terrors easily, while another will suffer because of the dread and panic that now haunts them. The poem ‘My Fear’ by Lawrence Raab discusses the haunting situation of fear following someone, and the personification, imagery, and tone of the speaker all provide depth to this seemingly innocent poem and allow one to truly appreciate how fear and troubles affect him or her.
“I don't want to survive. I want to live.” This fairly popular quote can also serve as a summary of Gabriel Conroy’s character in James Joyce’s short story “The Dead." As we read, we see the toll that monotony has taken on Gabriel and, by the end, he sees it as well. This realization is coupled with another, much darker, realization: the inevitability of death. We see signs of these ideas sprinkled throughout the story, from the predictability of the guests to Gabriel’s constant anxiety when talking to the other guests and his long for an escape. These occurrences come to a head when, upon reaching their hotel, Gabriel’s wife Gretta tells him of the boy who didn’t want to live without her, and who died to see her. This story leaves Gabriel with a sudden understanding of love, life, and death, that changes his way of thinking about everyone, including himself.
A distressing emotion aroused by impending evil and pain, whether the threat is real or imagined is described as fear. Fear is what William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies encompasses. By taking three major examples from the novel, fear will be considered on different levels: Simon’s having no instance of fear, Ralph’s fear of isolation on the island, and Jack’s fear of being powerless. Fear can make people behave in ways that are foreign to them, whether their fear is real or imagined. In response to fear, people may act defensively by attacking, fear can either stop one from doing something, or it can make one behave in an irrational erratic manner.
The unknown is something human can’t wrap their heads around so like mystery humans try to figure it out, to discover it so that mankind may not be fearful of death. In doctor Macknees’ paper “Is there Life after Birth?” he examines the fears of death and how it’s related to humans fear of living. The three topics being fear of what happens after death, fears related to the process of dying, and fears of the loss of life. Each topic has 3 subtopics that go deeper into the thoughts that many may have as death approaches them or fears for the future. The three that connected the most to me would be under the topic of fears related to loss of life, subtopics fear of mastery, fear of incompleteness or failure, and fear of separation. In my last paragraph about death I will go deeper into my thoughts behind these and their relation to my fears of life as described by Charles Macknee. Death as described by the class of Psychology and spirituality is the end of all that is familiar and entering into something beyond our control but also beyond what our minds can comprehend. Death is something I think many of us don’t want to confront, whetherits our own or it’s a loved ones. I know that it is something I never like talking about or thinking
Fear is an amazing emotion, in that it has both psychological as well as physiological effects on the human body. In instances of extreme fear, the mind is able to function in a way that is detached and connected to the event simultaneously. In “Feared Drowned,” Sharon Olds presents, in six brief stanzas, this type of instance. Her sparse use of language, rich with metaphors, similes and dark imagery, belies the horror experienced by the speaker. She closes the poem with a philosophical statement about life and the after-effects that these moments of horror can have on our lives and relationships.