Michael Henchard's Life in The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy Whilst studying 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' it is noticeable from a fairly early stage that the title statement is ambivalent. We can clearly see that he suffered a great number of disasters, but he also achieved success to a higher level than most. When looking at his position before arriving in Casterbridge and for a while prior to his status boost, it is clear just how much his status has grown. When Michael arrived in Casterbridge he was a 'journeyman hay-trusser.' From this position he managed to work on his status Worth explaining how until he was a churchwarden, magistrate and the town Mayor. The biggest disaster …show more content…
After three it was said that he was argumentative but still had more and eventually sold his wife to a sailor. What motivated the sale? What frame of mind was he in? Use supporting quotation. You need to explain events, Laura, not just mention that they happened. Analysis is the key to success. The day after, realising what he had done, he made a vow not to drink for as many years as he had lived to that day - twenty-one. Many years later when Susan arrived in Casterbridge she saw him at… 'the great public dinner for gentle people'… where next to each person was a beer glass, apart from Michael whose tumbler contained water. This was how Susan discovered a hint about his vow. Michael never really had any true friends in Casterbridge and this may explain why he vigorously befriended Donald Farfrae when he arrived. Some may think that one of the disasters that Michael made was how he confided in Farfrae, even though he was a stranger. However, I do not think that we can fault him for sharing his innermost secrets, as he had had to cope with so many problems alone, for so long. Does …show more content…
There were other times when things did not go Michael's way. An example of this was when he put on a grand fair and it rained and so the entire thing was ruined. Comment on his judgement - an outdoor event with no shelter in England! This meant that the entire town ended up going to Donald Farfrae's fair, as his was sheltered from the storm. Another unfortunate deal for Henchard was when he brought a lot of corn, then had to sell it at a hard loss, as the bad harvest he had predicted did not come as soon as he had expected. This situation needs to be analysed. It tells us much of his character and allows us to judge him. Out of almost every loss Henchard has had Farfrae and had success so it could be said that Donald Farfrae himself was a disaster in Michael Henchard's life. Not in his life, but certainly in Henchard's eyes. You need to look a lot harder at his judgements of Farfrae's role in his fate. Michael is told of how people say that he… 'can't hold a candle to Farfrae'. I believe that this is not fair. The town's people seem to have forgotten Henchard's success before Farfrae's
there. Gradually, the problems facing Rudkus's life drove him to drink. On top ofthat, the
Throughout the Star Wars saga, Anakin Skywalker undergoes a major personality change. He transforms from an aspiring youth into the Padawan of Obi-Wan Kenobi, finally becoming a Sith Lord. He accomplished all of this in three movies. Obi-Wan inspired the young Anakin to become a Jedi Knight and Darth Sidious convinced him to transfer loyalties to the Dark Side of the Force. Skywalker also shows how a single idea can change all of a character’s life. One of Ray Bradbury’s classics, from three-fifths of a century ago, contains a character who changes in reverse of that of Anakin. Guy Montag, from Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury, undergoes an alteration from bad to good in his book. Montag experiences a character change from
he was able to come to the realization that he is not as honest or brave as he
...o say, "I'm sorry." The leaders accepted his change in heart but they could never fully forgive him.
Thornton Wilder was born on April 17, 1897, and died on December 7, 1975. He was born in Madison, Wisconsin to Amos Wilder, an American diplomat, and Isabella Wilder. Thornton Wilder started writing plays in The Thacher School in Ojai, California, and graduated from Berkeley High School in 1915. He served in the Coast Guard in World War II. After the war he attended Oberlin College, then Yale University where he earned his B.A. in 1920. His writing was honed at Yale where he was a part of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity which is a literary society. In 1926, he earned his M.A. in French from Princeton University. Wilder won Pulitzer Prizes for The Bridge of San Luis Rey in 1928, Our Town in 1938, and The Skin of Our Teeth in 1942. He also won the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1957, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, and the National Book Award in 1967 for his novel The Eighth Day.
As a child, I didn't always understand the depth of my dad's addiction, or what it exactly meant. I didn't even view it as an addiction, rather just how things were. Living in a small house, there was no option to completely ignore it. The more he drank the more bellicose he became, and the more verbally abusive he became. Freshman year I wrote a letter to my dad because I'd decided that my passivity of the issue was no better than an endorsement of his behavior. I was angry with how he acted, and with myself for not knowing what to do about it. With my letter came empty promises: a promise to limit drinking, and a promise to
bad decisions. In trying to please everyone, he pleased no one. “They stumble who run
Initially, the alcoholic may demonstrate a high tolerance to alcohol, consuming more and showing fewer adverse effects than others. Subsequently, however, the person begins to drink against his or her own best interests, as alcohol comes to assume more importance than personal relationships, work, reputation, or even physical health. The person commonly loses control over drinking and is increasingly unable to predict how much alcohol will be consumed on a given occasion or, if the person is currently abstaining, when the drinking will resume again. Physical addiction to the drug may occur, sometimes eventually leading to drinking around the clock to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
The tragic poem, “The Ballad of Birmingham,” begins with a young child asking an imploring question to her mother, “May I go downtown instead of out to play” (Randall, 669)?
By high school, he was a full-blown alcoholic, drinking before, after, and even during class.
The second thing that made me want to get sober was the realization that I couldn't control my drinking-it had become a mental and physical obsession. Since my first drink at the age of twelve I couldn't go a day without a drink, and I could never have just one. By the age of seventeen I was used to drinking a case and a half of beer a day, and for the next two years I lived in a drunken fog. I could not go to school, work, or anywhere else outside my front door without a drink or the promise of one. I finally realized something had to be done when I couldn't get a drink one day and swallowing my own spit made me violently sick. I was forced to drink NyQuil to keep from throwing up because it was the only alcohol in the house.
If the problems you suffer stem from severe alcoholism or addiction, you must accept that these problems are not primarily mental or free will issues. Addictions are not about will power. The problems facing addicts, alcoholics, and their families are miserable, disgusting, and infuriating. They are often hopelessly discouraging. But to imagine that an addict "could change if he wanted to" is a serious misunderstanding of the long term dynamic of addictive disorder. The fact is precisely that an addict cannot change in the long run even if he wants to! That is the definition of addiction: "the loss of control over the use of a substance." It is important to understand that this loss of control is manifested not in terms of days or weeks, but in longer term behaviors: terms of months and years.
Once the extent of the drinking problem has been established a set goal of reducing the number of alcoholic drinks is agreed upon rather than complete abstinence. A regular structured review of the patients progress can be, and often is reinforced by other positive motivators such as self help manuals and personal reflection on the contradictory nature of their desire to drink and their view of their problems.
Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge. Sex is so intertwined in our society that it pervades each facet, including television, books, advertising, and conversation. Movies like The Matrix toss in gratuitous sex because the audience nearly expects it. Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, therefore, is exceptional in its lack of sexual situations. The subject of sexual motivation and its inherent ambiguity with regard to Henchard's actions is a topic that caught my attention from the very first pages of The Mayor of Casterbridge.
Growing up in a family where mostly every guy has an habit of drinking I agree with Somerset Maugham when he states, “The unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are so much easier to give up than bad ones.” Having a habit where you drink everyday before going to sleep is a bad habit. It is really hard to break it when you don’t want to stop drinking. What makes you want to stop is when it is affecting your health or making you turn into a person that you don’t want to be that starts doing stuff through the affect of alcohol that themselves don’t realize. To make people go away from you and having your people around you go away just because the bad habit of drinking. Alcohol is a very bad habit that is hard to stop this is why I believe bad habits are harder to break than good habits because bad habits you don’t really want to quit and good habits you try to make which are easier to break.