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Technological Advances vs. Human Values
Technological advances occur all around, whizzing by, while human values change little and at a much slower pace.
Commercially bottled water stands as just one of a sundry of items that human technology has conjured up over the years. It seems as though the average person can not go through a day without seeing a symbol of this phenomenon, whether it is a vending machine, an empty container lying in the gutter, or a person clutching a plastic bottle in their hand. Also an ever-present technological advance is the cellular phone, "can you here me now?" It is almost a guarantee that during the course of a class period, a ringtone or the buzzing of the vibrating mode will shake the air. Human nature exists right along side its technology. Kurt Vonnegut and Samuel Beckett use their writings to illustrate what needs to be a part of human existence besides human values and technology. For all of the newfangled contributions to the modernization of human civilization, the values that humans live by have not progressed quite as swiftly. Technological advances occur all around, whizzing by, while human values change little and at a much slower pace.
Billy Pilgrim, Kurt Vonnegut's main Slaughterhouse-Five character, rode through life on one of those moving sidewalk, conveyer belt contraptions. He did not make any special efforts to enhance his situation. If one were to cut and paste the novel so that the story of Billy Pilgrim's life went in chronological order, it would become apparent that he merely lived his life. The world still moved around him, war, fire-bombing, the progression of the television set, but Billy took a passive role in his own existence. Billy Pilgrim stays the same humdrum being his entire life. Vonnegut used the repetition of Billy's life and phrases such as "Somewhere a big dig barked" to exhibit how some things just do not change (168). He points out that the people in the novel "are so sick and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces" (164). Billy knows that he is going to die anyway, regardless of what he does or does not do, and he plainly wants to remain unscathed during his journey. Vonnegut used this publication as a vehicle to show that it is not enough to live a life to its end, the approach that Billy employed.
The human mind is a part of the body which current science knows little about. Trigger mechanisms, and other factors within the brain are relatively unknown to current humanity. Therefore, in order to produce a diagnostic on why Billy Pilgrim became “unstuck” in time, the reader of Slaughterhouse Five must come to terms with situations concerning the experiences described in the novel. Billy Pilgrim starts out, chronologically, as a fairly basic infantryman in the United States Army during the last Nazi offensive of the war, also known as the Battle of the Bulge (Vonnegut, 32). That battle resulted in fierce fighting, and also in massacres (such as the one that occurred near Malmedy, France), and the reader may be sure that there were men who became mentally unsound due to the effects of what they experienced there. Pilgrim is taken in by a group of soldiers who have found themselves behind the Nazi lines and are required to travel, by foot, back to friendly lines (Vonnegut, 32).
"In Slaughterhouse Five, -- Or the Children's Crusade, Vonnegut delivers a complete treatise on the World War II bombing of Dresden. The main character, Billy Pilgrim, is a very young infantry scout* who is captured in the Battle of the Bulge and quartered in a Dresden slaughterhouse where he and other prisoners are employed in the production of a vitamin supplement for pregnant women. During the February 13, 1945, firebombing by Allied aircraft, the prisoners take shelter in an underground meat locker. When they emerge, the city has been levelled and they are forced to dig corpses out of the rubble. The story of Billy Pilgrim is the story of Kurt Vonnegut who was captured and survived the firestorm in which 135,000 German civilians perished, more than the number of deaths in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Robert Scholes sums up the theme of Slaughterhouse Five in the New York Times Book Review, writing: 'Be kind. Don't hurt. Death is coming for all of us anyway, and it is better to be Lot's wife looking back through salty eyes than the Deity that destroyed those cities of the plain in order to save them.' The reviewer concludes that 'Slaughterhouse Five is an extraordinary success. It is a book we need to read, and to reread.' "The popularity of Slaughterhouse Five is due, in part, to its timeliness; it deals with many issues that were vital to the late sixties: war, ecology, overpopulation, and consumerism. Klinkowitz, writing in Literary Subversions.New American Fiction and the Practice of Criticism, sees larger reasons for the book's success: 'Kurt Vonnegut's fiction of the 1960s is the popular artifact which may be the fairest example of American cultural change. . . . Shunned as distastefully low-brow . . . and insufficiently commercial to suit the exploitative tastes of high-power publishers, Vonnegut's fiction limped along for years on the genuinely democratic basis of family magazine and pulp paperback circulation. Then in the late 1960s, as the culture as a whole exploded, Vonnegut was able to write and publish a novel, Slaughterhouse Five, which so perfectly caught America's transformative mood that its story and structure became best-selling metaphors for the new age. '"Writing in Critique, Wayne D. McGinnis comments that in Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut 'avoids framing his story in linear narration, choosing a circular structure.
All in all, Fitzgerald conveys that the spirituality of America is misplaced because of society’s obsession with material wealth, which creates a national delusion. Thematically, Fitzgerald offers a powerful critique of a materialistic society and the effects it can have on one’s hopes and dreams. He also reveals that the American dream cannot always be obtained, no matter how determined you are. The American dream, Gatsby, is killed both physically and mentally to demonstrate that only temporary happiness can be obtained through sacrificing what you hold to be moral, not true lifelong happiness.
In The Great Gatsby Fitzgerald elucidates the hollowness of the American Dream, as the unrestrained longing for wealth and freedom exceeding more honorable desires. He illuminates the idea that having or attaining this American Dream will result in unethical behavior or unethical acts.
The American Dream, which remains till today, bases itself upon assiduousness and high morals. Many people from foreign and faraway countries view this "dream" as a reality and believe that America upholds these high standards. Yet, Fitzgerald clearly writes this novel to show that the linchpin that kept the dream alive has eroded away.
Slaughterhouse Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut is an anti war novel told by the narrator who is a minor character in the story. Slaughterhouse-Five is the story of Billy Pilgrim, a man who has come "unstuck in time. "The bombing of Dresden is what destroyed Billy. Dresden’s destruction shows the destruction of people who fought in the war: the all the people who died. Some people, like the main character, Billy Pilgrim, are not able to function normally like before because of what they saw, because of their experience. Throughout the book, Billy starts hallucinating about his experiences with the Tralfamadorians: he wants to escape the world which was destroyed by war, a war that he does not and cannot understand. Vonnegut uses the technique of repetition.. The main repetition is “so it goes” which is told after anything related to death, he also uses other repetitions throughout the book. The major theme of the story is the Destructiveness of War. Vonnegut uses repetition to reinforce the theme of the story.
Though the appearance of success and happiness usually indicate what many would be tempted to call the American dream, Fitzgerald undermines such idealism by revealing the deceptive nature of Daisy and Tom Buchanan’s marriage. Not only do Tom and Daisy’s marital problems make for a compelling plot but their relationship also represents an important facet of Fitzgerald’s argument: The American dream is not what it appears to be. Nonchalantly, Jordan Baker reveals more about Daisy and Tom’s marital problems to Nick: “I thought everybody knew.” “Tom’s got some woman in New York” (15). Again, deceit appears within the Buchanan marriag...
The book, Slaughter House-Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut, is based on the main character named Billy Pilgrim who is a little "lost" in the head. Billy is always traveling to different parts of his life and rarely in the present state. Throughout the book Billy mainly travels back and forth to three big times in his life. In each different time period of Billy's life he is in a different place; his present state is in a town called Illium and his "travels" are to Dresden and Tralfamadore. When Billy is in Illium he is suppose to have a "normal" life; he is married, has two children, and works as an optometrist. Then Billy travels back to Dresden where he was stationed in the last years of WWII and witnessed the horrible bombing. When Billy travels to Tralfamadore he is in an "imaginary" state, everything that happens to him is more like a dream. Through Billy's travels in time he shows that he is striving to find meaning in the events that happened in his life that he is afraid to acknowledge. As Billy says himself, "All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist," (1) this just proves even further that fact that Billy cannot ever forget any event in his life.
...the actual killing; that is why they show only a building being destroyed. Franklin’s uses of these images are to add more credibility to his essay because a picture is worth a thousand wards.
Total Hip Replacement (THR) is a surgical procedure that relieves pain from most kinds of hip arthritis, thus helping to improve the quality of life for the majority of the patients that undergo the operation. Arthritis simply means "inflammation of a joint." Arthritis can occur in any joint in the body. The main symptom of arthritis is pain which usually worsens with activity and weight bearing. This pain may be relieved most of the time through rest. There are over 100 types of arthritis but less than a handful account for over than 95 percent of the hip replacements that are performed. Some of these include Osteoarthritis (causes deterioration of the cartilage and the growth of bone spurs), Rheumatoid arthritis and Osteonecrosis of the femoral head. Doctors suggest that before considering hip replacement surgery for arthritis that the patient tries a number of non-operative interventions. Your doctor may have you consider little things such as weight loss (most arthritis is caused due to the weight bearing on a joint), activity modification or even the use of a cane. Patients should consider THR when daily living activities become harder to accomplish due to the pain. These activities would include walking, climbing stairs or other moderate pastimes. Anti-inflammatory medications which will help reduce the inflammation from the arthritis and reduce your pain may also be prescribed by the patient's doctor.
The American Dream, a long standing ideal embodies the hope that one can achieve financial success, political power, and everlasting love through dedication and hard work. During the Roaring 20s, people in America put up facades to mask who they truly were. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald conveys that the American Dream is simply an illusion, that is idealist and unreal. In the novel, Gatsby, a wealthy socialite pursues his dream, Daisy. In the process of pursuing Daisy, Gatsby betrays his morals and destroys himself. Through the eyes of the narrator, Nick, one sees the extent of the corruption Gatsby is willing to undertake in order to achieve his dream. Although Fitzgerald applauds the American Dream he warns against the dangers of living in a world full of illusions and deceit; a trait common during the Roaring 20s. The language and plot devices Fitzgerald uses convey that lies and facades, which were common during the Guided Age, destroys one’s own character and morals. Through Fitzgerald use of symbolism, expectations, and relationships, he explores the American dream, and how it is an illusion that corrupts and destroys lives.
“How nice- to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive” (Vonnegut 181).
The American Dream is not something easily achieved, and according to Fitzgerald it is literally unattainable. There is always some obstacle or barrier in the way of success. Tom Buchanan in The Great Gatsby is not a very satisfied man; he seems to have a sense of ennui when it comes to his marriage and his life. So he lives the life he really wants part time with his mistress, Myrtle Wilson. However, this semi-fulfillment of his dreams is stopped, and what stops it is the fact that Myrtle is married, and her husband, George, has “discovered that Myrtle [has] some sort of life apart from him in another world” (The Great Gatsby 130). Tom is reaching for his own idea of success with Myrtle, but he cannot reach it due to her being married. What keeps one from attaining their dreams is not necessarily something as physical as a marriage; it can be someone’s attitude, like that of Judy Jones in Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams”. The young protagonist in this story, Dexter Green, is in love with the flighty flirt Judy Jones. His dream is to be with her; unfortunately, “She [is] entertained only by the gratification of her own ...
One of the most prominent symbols in the story is Emily’s house. The house represents the destruction of the primitive Southern families and aristocracy that surrounded the neighborhood. The author describes the house as “a big, squarish frame…decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies” (Faulkner 668). Contrary to the time period the house was built, the setting of the story takes place much later than the 1870s when everything in the neighborhood has changed. The neighborhood which was once considered “[the] most select street” had “garages and cotton gins [encroach] and [obliterate] the neighborhood” (Faulkner 668). Nonetheless, the reader is able to conclude based on the house’s exterior appearance that it also represents mental illness and death. The house has been left untouched and as one of the very few visitors noted” [the house] smelled of dust and disuse—a close, dank smell” (Faulkner 669). By leaving the interior of the house unchanged for years, Emily had created a shrine of the past. Consequently, the author has instilled another chilling symbol in the story: a single strand of grey hair. The hair, which is found on a pillow next to the decaying body, represents the loss of love and the perverse actions committed by people in order to remain happy. The strand of hair also gives perspective to Emil...
Each parent is different; they all have different ways in parenting and disciplining their children. One’s own parenting style is usually derived from the way one was raised or the society one lives in. Parenting styles include authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive, and it is very important to know which style one falls in because it can have an effect on how one’s child grows up to be and develops. Authoritative parenting would be the better parenting style because it is in the middle of the parenting styles; it is not at the extreme ends of the spectrum. It can be very beneficial to parents to understand that how one raises their children can give them a foundation for good development for years to come.