The optimism and hopefulness in contrast to the negativity and bitterness that the characters Markwardt and Parsons display justifies their individual actions that result in the creation of the polar outcomes in their lives. The story displays Parsons as a positive and optimistic individual that creates great success for himself; while the story displays Markwardt as a negative and bitter individual whose self-pity places him in a lifestyle of peddling. Despite his disability, Parsons deals with his obstacles with a positive attitude, as he becomes “successful, respected, [and] admired” (Kantor 328) in spite of being “a little more than a skilled laborer” (Kantor 328) in his earlier life. Additionally, Parsons was able to amount to his success “alone, unaided struggling beneath handicaps” (Kantor 328), demonstrating the optimism and determination that he possesses to conquer his hindrances. On the contrary, though sharing a mutual disability with Parsons, Markwardt acts with a negative attitude towards his misfortune, attempts nothing to improve his situation, and becomes a “shaggy, thick-necked fellow” (Kantor 328) who collects donations to …show more content…
In combination with his negative attitude, Markwardt reveals his bitter and spiteful views on his accident, victimizing himself, and exclaiming that “[He is] blind, and [Parsons had been] laughing at [him] every minute… [Parsons’] got away but [he is] blind” (Kantor
In the Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett, Homer and Mother Maria both display straightforward, hardworking, and stubborn character traits. Firstly, Homer and Mother Maria both display a straightforward personality by being brutally honest about their opinions. For example, when Mother Maria asks Homer to build a chapel, Homer speaks his mind by telling her he does not want to build it. Mother Maria shows her straightforward behavior during Homer’s stay at the convent. One morning, when Homer sleeps in late, Mother to becomes extremely upset and is not afraid to show how she feels about him. Secondly, both Homer and Mother Maria display a hardworking spirit. Homer is a hardworking man because after finally agreeing to build the chapel,
In the novel The Great Gatsby by American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jordan Baker portrays a professional golfer who is both Daisy Buchanan’s friend and a woman with whom Nick Carraway, the narrator, becomes romantically involved with. She is poised, blonde, very athletic, and physically appealing. Throughout the story, Baker represents a typical privileged upper class woman of the 1920’s Jazz Age with her cynical, glamorous, and self-centered nature. Despite the fact that she is not the main character, Jordan Baker plays an important role in portraying one of Fitzgerald's themes, the decay of morality, in the novel.
In today 's society, how do we describe someone as "a good person". The judgment falls to other people and how they compare or contrast themselves to the person, who falls under questioning morality. Another problem can lie within the imperfections of the normal human and the few that see through and fix their problem can only improve. Here we will analyze and reflect the comparison between the author Wes Moore’s life pictured within his story of The Other Wes Moore, where Wes categorized his differences between his doppelganger, the Wes Moore in prison for a life sentence, and my life. Each step in the book concludes the beginning of early childhood to early adulthood stopping at the present of the book’s conclusion. Still, we are left questioning the perfection of “good” things in the author’s life, through his schooling, sports, neighborhood and household influences, and opportunities.
Harrison Bergeron’s mother, Hazel Bergeron, is the definition of the Handicapper General’s “normal” and model for enforced equality. Everyone must be leveled and thereby oppressed to her standards. Hazel’s husband, George Bergeron, is no exception. “‘I’d think it would be real interesting, hearing all the different sounds,’ said Hazel, a little envious. ‘All the things they think up.’” (Vonnegut 910). George suffers from his own comically ludicrous mental handicap. The fact that this incites jealousy in Hazel reaffirms the artificial equality Vonnegut ridicules. The author satirizes oppression in American society through his depictions of misery and restraint exhibited in his characters’ ordeals. “The different times that George is interrupted from thinking, and his inner monologue is cut, we have a sort of stopping his having dialogue with himself. So he can’t have a unique personality, which itself involves his worldviews” (Joodaki 71). Not being able to know oneself epitomizes
Julius Caesar is mentioned throughout the book, A Long Way Gone, many times. In A Long Way Gone, Ishmael would be reading Julius Caesar or a soldier would be reciting some of the speeches in the play. In Chapter 12 of A Long Way Gone, Ishmael is called over to talk with Lieutenant Jabati. Then, Lieutenant Jabati showed Ishmael the book he was reading, which was Julius Caesar, and asked Ishmael if he had ever heard of the book. Ishmael had read the book in school, and began to recite a speech from the book. After this happened, Lieutenant Jabati and Corporal Gadafi used emotional arguments to motivate the people in the village to stay there and support the military. Also, Lieutenant showed all the people in the village dead bodies to help
“The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his” (Moore, 2011). This quote perfectly describes the book The Other Wes Moore. This book was a story about two people who have the same name and grew up in similar environments, but had very different lives. The author of the book, Mr. Moore, became successful and was given the opportunity to receive “one of the most prestigious academic awards for students in the world” (Moore, 2011). On the other side of the spectrum, the other Wes Moore “will spend every day until his death behind bars for an armed robbery that left a police officer and a father of five dead” (Moore, 2011). Mr. Moore decided to contact the
Dan and Betsy go through their emotions on hearing about Samuel condition of cerebral palsy. The roll coaster of emotion they felt. As a parent I could relate to their emotion of having a child with disabilities. I would love my child regards of condition but the emotion I would feel would be fear. Dan and Betsy both went through fear; asking themselves what about his education, and interaction with others. I would have those same question; as
Kurt Vonnegut wrote a short fictional story called Harris Bergeron. He was an American writer that was known for his science fiction stories and has since passed. Kurt Vonnegut had a terrible life that included the suicide of his mother, losing his sister to cancer and was a survivor of the Dresden bombing.
Defining the American character is quite difficult because American identity is vaguely founded on shared values and ideologies, more so than a particular creed, race, or culture. In order to describe the American character, we will consider the dominate and distinctive qualities of Americans as interpreted by J. Hector St. Jon De Crèvecoeur and Thomas Paine. First, we will examine how Crèvecoeur illustrates Americans as industrious, prideful, and political in “Letters from an American Farmer.” Then, we will analyze from Thomas Paine's “Common Sense” how he depicts the prevalent qualities of Americans to be driven by justice, liberty, emotions, and individualism. Also, because both authors consider the American character and culture different
The cast of animals that Wilbur meets in the farm serves as a collective word of advice of sorts. Although the advice that they offer isn’t always correct, such as when the goose suggests that Wilbur run wild and wreak havoc (page 17), they appear to be well-meaning and benign all things considered. They are also very fond of gossip, which is demonstrated by the rapid spread of the news of Wilbur’s escape (page 19). However, while most of them are kind-hearted, there is a singular nasty exception. This exception is a rat named Templeton, who is as self-serving and inconsiderate as they come. He blatantly expresses this by straightforwardly and rudely telling Wilbur that he will eat the latter’s food because he “hasn’t got sense enough” to eat
George has to live like this everyday and can’t do anything about it. If he tries to simply take off his handicap bag for a minute, Diana Moon Glampers would be willing to kill him over it. The themes in “Harrison Bergeron” give the readers a phenomenal message that could help them in the future. Never let jealousy get the best of you and never try and change people are the most ideal themes for this story. Is what happens in Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “Harrison Bergeron” going to be what our future looks
Tomi and Keet were very different and similar in many different ways that we wouldn’t even imagine. Their differences can go from race to the characters in the story and how they were used. I’m going to address the differences for both sides first and we can then look at the similarities.
In the story My Favorite Chaperone, by Jean Davies Okimoto, I believe the theme is how working together makes life's struggles easier. The characters show this theme throughout the story. As children immigrants, the main characters struggle with combining a new culture with their family culture to find a new identity without bringing shame to their family. In the story, Maya, the main character, faces issues in how to fit in with a new world in America. In this new world there are different rules and expectations while she still has to respect and follow her family's traditions and rules. This conflict is shown when Maya wants to go to a school dance, but knows her parents would never let her go especially after she gets in trouble for
A small glimmer of hope in an imperialistic world is only taken away in order to ensure equivalence in an imperfect society. Harrison Bergeron is a classic sociological tale written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that is based on the sociological aspect of everyone being equal - not one individual could be above another. This short story focuses on the idea of symbolism by using masks and handicaps to force the social norm of being the same while foreshadowing the courage of being unique in a seemingly perfect world, all while displaying irony through the way in which our society runs today. This story relates to today’s society in that both are alike in that individuals want to break free from societies constraints of social norms.
In this story the darker side of society is witnessed and their utterly cynical behaviour is practiced on John, for one reason only – he does not look like any other normal human being. It is seen how the general public reacts in the very beginning of the movie, when Mr. Bytes presents him in the carnival just like an animal would be presented in front of an audience in a circus. In addition to this injustice Mr. Bytes brutally beats him which further disfigures him and then calls him as a ‘freak’. When Dr. Treves takes John to the hospital, a dispute brakes out whether he should be allowed to stay in the hospital, for no other reason, but only because he was so ugly. In one part of the movie it is shown how one nurse is upset with another nurse because the latter had her involved in the care of John Merrick which she did not like, because he was so ugly that it scared her. Amongst all the negative people in John Merrick’s life, the night porter who in one part of the movie refers to himself as ‘Sunny Jim’ is the most cynical character in the entire story. His vile and selfish behavior tempted him to earn an extra income at John Merrick’s expense. He would take money from people and expose them to John, where the women would look at him with awe and fear while the men literally played around with him as if he were nothing but some broken toy. It is noticed how John was marginalized even by the lowest of classes even thought they themselves were amon...