Power and Powerlessness of Individuals in Brighton Rock and The Third Man by Graham Greene
The "Third Man" and "Brighton Rock" are texts that share similar characteristics in the sense that there are three central characters in both storylines. The characters can also be matched between the texts. Pinkie Brown is similar to Harry Lime, Holly Martins is similar to Ida Arnold and Rose is similar to Anna. The relationships between the characters are also similar. The characters of Pinkie/Harry are the villains' in their separate stories. The characters of Ida/Holly play the detective' roles and Rose/Anna complete the triangle as the love interests for the villains. Each individual is represented as both powerful and powerless during his or her story.
Brighton Rock, as a book, has literary techniques to portray power or powerlessness, rather than visual techniques such as those in The Third Man. Graham Greene emphasizes powerlessness by building up weaknesses for the characters throughout the book. We learn that Pinkie dislikes sex and alcohol at an early stage of the novel, and when situations arise surrounding either of these themes, we know that Pinkie is powerless because of his lack of experience with sex or alcohol. In this way, Pinkie's powerlessness is represented.
Despite Pinkie's powerlessness in sex or alcohol related situations, he is relatively intimidating in all other circumstances. His strength is fear; he scares people into doing what he wants. His violent disposition makes him a powerful figure. He becomes the leader of his gang when Kite is murdered, he orders around men that are three times his age and is generally feared and respected. Power is represented when Pinkie threatens people; his history of murderous nature ensures that he gets his way.
Ida is powerful in the sense that she doesn't give up on her mission to find out what happened to Hale. She uses her sex appeal to gain as much information as she can. She has some power over Pinkie because she knows that he is involved with Hale's murder, and therefore poses a threat to him. Power is therefore represented through knowledge and sex appeal rather than force.
Ida's powerlessness is all about her inability to convince Rose that Pinkie does not love her. She also has no influence on Pinkie's choices or decisions. Her powerlessness is represented by her lack of force; the Police do not help her, she is virtually alone in her quest for justice.
One can see by examining the gravel pit and its importance to the citizens of Deptford, that Robertson Davies’ novel Fifth Business, examines the need for one to accept their shadow in order to fully develop their personality and realize their role in the society. Dunstan describes the gravel pit as something “of unusual importance to our village [Deptford] because it completely blocked any normal extension of streets or houses on our western; thus it was a source of indignation to our village [Deptford's] council”. The gravel pit is more than just a setting to the citizens of Deptford, as it is the place where people who were rejected from the society went, and it was the only place where people could freely do whatever they felt like was right, without being judged. The pit was also a source of annoyance to the citizens because it ‘blocked any normal extension of streets or houses’, which represents the hiding of the citizens dark thoughts and actions, and that annoyed others who
The Struggle for Power in 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Invisible Man, Julius Caesar, and Lord Of The Flies
...es of individuals can be used to explore a broader social wrong, in this case the injustice of a totalitarian government. Both authors use their protagonists to depict how a dictatorial state can destroy all sense of individuality, Orwell by presenting Winston in his fight against “The Party” and Niccol by depicting Vincent in his battle against society. Both authors also use individuals, who must isolate themselves in order to survive to expose how an unjust authoritative government can manufacture isolation. Orwell and Niccol also present conflicting views on the possibility of individual rebellion in an oppressive society, reflected by the success of Vincent and failure of Winston. In their prophetic dystopian texts both George Orwell and Andrew Niccol use the experiences of their protagonists to explore the broad social wrong of a totalitarian government.
Inevitably on his metaphoric passage to heroism, Robert has many turning points in relation to Marxism that change his outlook on the world and war around him like the class division, the oppressors and the oppressed and, the mini revolutions that take place in a struggle for power. Findley presents the reader with a story that challenges the conceptions and truths that humans believe of human nature. Through the plot of Robert, Findley begins to convey the message that life goes on and as humans the only truth is that we are becoming. This is similarly seen in Marxism as it believes the cycle is ongoing but slowly and surely society is becoming. In one way Robert's journey itself is a reflection of society and the path that it continues to take.
The book 1984, by George Orwell is based on the theory of “Big Brother” and how he is always watching you. In the book, the Oceania government controls their citizens by saying and ordering them into not doing certain things. Which then forced their citizens to deceive their government by going in to hiding. When Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, Japanese-Americans were ordered to do certain things as well. Both of these two events prove that the government can force their citizens to do anything under their power. I think some parts of the government abuse the right of their power and manipulate their citizens into doing unlawful events.
Although they are the protagonists from two separate books, Franny Glass, a teenage girl in J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey, and Holden Caufield, a young man in Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye, serve as foils to each other. Both suffer unnecessarily due to their interaction with those whom they are close to, due to their relationships with themselves, as well as due to their views on the world. In the end, however Franny and Holden change their values and therefore are able to begin the healing process.
As Mark Twain once stated, “The more I know about people, the better I like my dog.” This sentiment is often echoed by general society; people seem to have lost faith in humanity. However, John Steinbeck illustrates his more optimistic opinion about “the perfectibility of man” by suggesting how man can improve. In his novel, Of Mice and Men, two tenants called George and Lennie go through many hardships all while chasing their dream of possessing their own farm. While they work at a farm, they meet an old swamper called Candy who offers to help them achieve their dream; he does so to ensure that he will have a future after he is fired for being too old. On page 60, Candy discusses the recent death of his dog and asks to join in on George and Lennie’s dream. Through this passage, Steinbeck proves that humans have an animalistic tendency of eliminating those who are weaker than them. This is depicted through the details connecting Candy to his dog as well as Candy’s diction when describing his potential future life. Steinbeck’s negative attitude towards man’s predatory nature implies that society needs to improve and prevent such oppressive behavior from occurring.
As Madeleine L’Engle aptly said, “because to take away a man's freedom of choice, even his freedom to make the wrong choice, is to manipulate him as though he were a puppet and not a person,” taking away freedom of choice is equivalent to stripping off humanity. Mankind has evolved to have the ability to use the mind for reason and understanding, which separates humans from beasts and machines. It is this ability that allows man to analyze and formulate different choices, and have the freedom over them. Despite the knowledge that freedom of choice is fundamental in making humans human, social control has always been one of the leading reasons to justify the removal of that freedom. Through showing the need for the loss of freedom for social stability and the resulting problems, both The Unincorporated Man and A Clockwork Orange highlight the conflict between control and freedom.
Power helped some people in this novel by helping them do what was right. Like George, he was the new guy, the guys still accepted him because he seemed like a kind and trustworthy person. So he never really had problems with people except Curley but Curley was just that kind of person because he thought he was better than everyone else and bigger. He also had power though since his dad owned the farm he practically could do whatever he wanted so no one really wanted to mess with them because if he wanted to he could get people canned. His dad had power over everything since he owned the farm he controlled who worked there and who did not and what kind of jobs people would do. Slim had power too because he was kind of like a leader and he was a nice guy. He was also very respectful and knew where his place was and did not run into trouble since no one had a reason to mess with him. Carlson had some power to in this book when he took control and killed Candy’s dog, “I’ll put the old devil out of his misery right now and get it over with.” (47)
Scout believes at the beginning of the book that courage is all to do with physical feats like fist fighting. Scout and Jem though Atticus was courageous when he shot the mad dog, but Atticus just shrugged it off telling his children that that is not ?real courage?. The children soon see that moral courage is more valuable after Miss Dubose said "Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for!" Chapter 11, Page 113 after they walked past her house. On the way back Atticus just walked by and told Mrs. Dubose, ?you look as pretty as a picture? Mrs. Dubose was so stunned that she could not say a word back to him. Later Jem and scout leaned how courageous Mrs. Dubose really was after Jem cut up her camellia bushes, the kids found out that she was a morphine attic brave enough to get off the drug that killed her.
Power relationships in Craig Silvey’s Jasper Jones have been represented in various ways in the text’s and my own context. Through the representation of the Lus and Jasper Jones, racial power has been reflected in the context of the text being the 1960s. In the contemporary context, sexual power has been further reinforced through the point of view of Charlie and the death of Laura Wishart in the plot. Political power has been challenged in my current context as well as in the text’s context through the characterisation of Pete Wishart and the Sarge. Together with the changing society, power relationships are also changing and thus, over time there certainly will be changes to who hold the power in these relationships.
Jem's definition of bravery changes as he grows up; he gains insight and experience of the world around him. At the beginning of the story, Jem only thought of bravery as touching the side of the Radley house, only because "in all his life, [he] had never declined a dare. (pg 13)" However, as the story continues, Jem learns about courage from several events. Upon hearing about a trial where a black person's been prosecuted, Atticus decides, as a lawyer, to defend that person. Atticus chose to defend Tom Robinson, an African American, because it's the right thing to do, and no one else wanted to ,or had the bravery to. "Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win, (pg 76)" he said to Scout and Jem when Scout asked. Atticus was courageous for doing something just, even though it's not encouraged. Jem also learns a different kind of courage after learning about Mrs. Dubose's fight with a morphine addiction. Jem and Scout disliked Mrs. Dubose because she was quite a mean person. Later, they were glad they didn't have to read to her anymore. Atticus told Jem that Mrs. Dubose simply had her own views on things, and that her fits were from her addiction. Atticus made Jem read to her and explained, "I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway According to [Mrs. Dubose's] views, she died beholden to nothing and nobody. She was the bravest person I ever knew. (pg 112)" This is similar to Atticus's choice to defend Tom.
Authority and power and chaos and order are the main discourses that are present in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Arthur Millar’s The Crucible. Through the context of each novel both authors use different dialogue, plots and situations to get their viewpoint across to the audience. In comparing the two texts with the similarities and differences, it is clear that both authors have had a different effect on the audience of today. It would appear as though both texts are focused around the theme of power and disempowerment, with the authors using different techniques to get their point across to the audience. Both texts will be discussed further through comparing and contrasting and discussing the description of the discourses present in both texts.
Power has been defined as the psychological relations over another to get them to do what you want them to do. We are exposed to forms of power from the time of birth. Our parents exercise power over us to behave in a way they deem appropriate. In school, teachers use their power to help us learn. When we enter the work world the power of our boss motivates us to perform and desire to move up the corporate ladder so that we too can intimidate someone with power one day. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Kurtz had a power over the jungle and its people that was inexplicable.
Throughout the reading, I realized that when I become uncomfortable discussing power, privilege, and oppression that I need to reflect on where I stand in those three categories. I try to remind myself before the discussion begins to acknowledge where I am an agent of privilege and power and where I may be a target in order to be more conscious of my thoughts and words and of my peers’ in the room. One aspect of the reading that I appreciate was that it discussed that privilege quickly turns into a “blame game” between others. When this happens, certain people may feel the blame while others “get off the hook,” which averts attention from the real issue: that privilege is something that we all should recognize and it is also systematically