In the book The Painted Bird Jerzy Kosinski covers many topics of the human character. Some of the "human conditions" that Kosinski shows us in the book are lying, deceit, love, anger, prejudice, superstition. In the Painted Bird Kosinski mainly focuses on the three "human conditions" hate, prejudice (judgment), and love. He is clear in showing that humans sin a great deal, and feel hate, prejudice, and love.
The beginning of the book gives us an idea of how the boy will be treated throughout the story because of his race and how he is judged by others. One of the first adults we see the boy with when he is separated from his parents is Marta. Marta is a very old woman who seems to not care for the boy but fed him and took care of him while using him as her personal slave. The boy learns from Marta mainly what the Germans think of a child like him. On page 8, Marta tells the boy how he is a blasphemous Gypsy bastard, kin to the devil. Marta explains to the boy that gypsy eyes/witches' eyes could bring crippling illness, plague, or death. She told the boy she believed that he had...
In the human nature, naive ignorance of the world's imperfections eventually yields to the recognition that the world does contain hatred and violence. John Knowles places his novel A Separate Peace in situations which necessitate this emotional transformation. The characters become increasingly aware of the nature of the world. In addition, symbols help show the interrelation of ideas and events as they appear in Gene's subconscious mind. In this novel, setting, character, and symbols develop the theme of loss of innocence.
Ethel Waters overcame a very tough childhood to become one of the most well known African American entertainers of her time. Her story, The Eye on the Sparrow, goes into great detail about her life and how she evolved from taking care of addicts to becoming the star of her own show. Ethel was born by her mother being raped at a young age. Her father, John Waters, was a pianist who played no role in Ethel’s life. She was raised in poverty and it was rare for her to live in the same place for over a year. Ethel never fit in with the rest of the crowd; she was a big girl, about five nine when she was a teenager, and was exposed to mature things early in her life. This is what helped shape Ethel to be the strong, independent woman she is.
The novel Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is a book that was written in order to provide “Some instructions on writing and life.” Lamott published the book in 1994 in hopes to share the secrets of what it is truly like to be a writer, as both a warning and as encouragement. Bird by Bird shares with the reader the ironic truth of being a struggling writer through personal experience and humorous stories. Lamott uses memories from her past to help illustrate her points and to help the reader get to know who she is, not only as a writer, but as a person. The author focuses on the true struggles and benefits of being a writer while using metaphors and analogies to express her points, she also wraps her life stories around almost every writing tip.
The documentary, Lost Sparrow, is a very compelling production of one man’s quest to not only help his family deal with some of the trauma’s they had long been suffering from, it was also created to tell the story and hopefully shed some light on the conflicting story of the disappearance and death of his Native American adoptive brothers, Bobby and Tyler. Initially my overall takeaway from this documentary was a mixture of curiosity which quickly turned into confusion. “How did the boys (Bobby and Tyler) end up on the tracks?” and “Why were they running away in the first place?” were two questions that confused, lead me to be curious, and slightly suspicious very early in the viewing. Upon initial completion of the documentary my sole thought
Throughout history, the story of womankind has evolved from struggles to achievements, while some aspects of the lives of women have never changed. Poet Dorianne Laux writes about the female condition, and women’s desire to be married and to have a home and children. She also seems to identify through her poetry with the idea that women tend to idealize the concept of marriage and settling down and she uses her poetry to reach out to the reader who may have similar idyllic views of marriage or the married lifestyle. Though Dorianne Laux’s poem “Bird” reads very simply, it is actually a metaphor for an aspect of this female condition.
Temple of the Feathered Serpent Teotihuacan is an ancient Mayan city that can be found about 25 miles away from modern Mexico City. This large ancient city has several pyramids and the third largest pyramid is The Temple of the Feathered Serpent. The pyramid is hardly the most famous one associated with this archaeological site but it did gain popularity during the 1980s because of a series of discoveries of curious tombs located below the structure. There are over two hundred sacrificial burials that archaeologists believe were buried as a part of a dedication of the temple. The way that the bodies were laid out doesn’t have a specific meaning yet because the bodies seem to be grouped together in certain locations.
Do you think different adversities are solved similarly? Are there any correlations between different adversities? Is there a way to overcome one’s adversities? Well in the book I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, the main character has the capability to solve her most important ones. The main character, Maya Angelou, experiences the wrath of racism while living in the south during the 20th century. Racism is the stem of many adversities such as low-self esteem and poverty which Angelou must face.
Toni Morrison's novel, Beloved, reveals the effects of human emotion and its power to cast an individual into a struggle against him or herself. In the beginning of the novel, the reader sees the main character, Sethe, as a woman who is resigned to her desolate life and isolates herself from all those around her. Yet, she was once a woman full of feeling: she had loved her husband Halle, loved her four young children, and loved the days of the Clearing. And thus, Sethe was jaded when she began her life at 124 Bluestone Road-- she had loved too much. After failing to 'save' her children from the schoolteacher, Sethe suffered forever with guilt and regret. Guilt for having killed her "crawling already?" baby daughter, and then regret for not having succeeded in her task. It later becomes apparent that Sethe's tragic past, her chokecherry tree, was the reason why she lived a life of isolation. Beloved, who shares with Seths that one fatal moment, reacts to it in a completely different way; because of her obsessive and vengeful love, she haunts Sethe's house and fights the forces of death, only to come back in an attempt to take her mother's life. Through her usage of symbolism, Morrison exposes the internal conflicts that encumber her characters. By contrasting those individuals, she shows tragedy in the human condition. Both Sethe and Beloved suffer the devastating emotional effects of that one fateful event: while the guilty mother who lived refuses to passionately love again, the daughter who was betrayed fights heaven and hell- in the name of love- just to live again.
When you look at yourself in the mirror, probably, you are wondering what is human nature, how does it affect us? We all say that men’s nature at birth is good. But the truth is we realize more and more darkness of humanity along with we grow up, and that changes us inattentively. Today, I would like to present human nature base on the transition of Charlie who is the main character in Craig Silvey’s ‘Jasper Jones’.
Art and literature work independently of each other, however, they can be linked together to help a reader or observer understand in new ways and create new possibilities. Within this context, the perspective of Jacob Lawrence and the authors address that it takes work to build the ideal society and family. However, the authors give the stark reality of both society and family demonstrating that our reality is nothing like the ideal.
In Francine Prose’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read her purpose is to inform the audience that books presented to high school and college students are not to study the language, words, and value of a text, but to study and bring up discussion on other topics such as racial discrimination and human nature. She does this through the use of long sentences, which are separated by commas and dashes, and appositives. Prose effectively achieves rhetoric because she appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos.
In the novel A Bird In The House, Margaret Laurence illustrates the theme of physical entrapment. All of the characters in the novel feel the need to escape their personal situation. In fact, the title is a symbol of entrapment because of the bird that is. trapped in the house and is also trying to get out. From my background knowledge.
Human condition can be defined as how people react when given the choice to do good or evil, and what causes them to choose either good or evil. The human condition for example is like having the imaginary angel on one shoulder and having the devil on the other. People can either choose to do good and pick the angel, or can choose evil and go with the devil. The human condition would be what drives someone to choose the angel or devil; almost like what their reasoning would be. Sometimes, what causes someone to choose to do something evil is that in order to have a good ending, an act of evil needs to be committed in order to do good in the end.
In viewing 12 Angry Men, we see face to face exactly what man really is capable of being. We see different views, different opinions of men such as altruism, egoism, good and evil. It is no doubt that human beings possess either one or any of these characteristics, which make them unique. It is safe to say that our actions, beliefs, and choices separate us from animals and non-livings. The 20th century English philosopher, Martin Hollis, once said, “Free will – the ability to make decisions about how to act – is what distinguishes people from non-human animals and machines 1”. He went to describe human beings as “self conscious, rational, creative. We can fall in love, write sonnets or plan for tomorrow. We are capable of faith, hope and charity, and for that matter, of envy, hated and malice. We know truth from error, right from wrong 2.” Human nature by definition is “Characteristics or qualities that make human beings different from anything else”. With this said, the topic of human nature has been around for a very long time, it is a complex subject with no right or wrong answer. An American rabbi, Samuel Umen, gave examples of contradictions of human nature in his book, Images of Man. “He is compassionate, generous, loving and forgiving, but also cruel, vengeful, selfish and vindictive 3”. Existentialism by definition is, “The belief that existence comes before essence, that is, that who you are is only determined by you yourself, and not merely an accident of birth”. A French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, is the most famous and influential 20th - century existentialist. He summed up human nature as “existence precedes essence”. In his book, Existentialism and Human Emotions, he explained what he meant by this. “It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will be something, and he himself will have made what he will be 4”. After watching 12 Angry Men, the prominent view on human nature that is best portrayed in the movie is that people are free to be whatever they want because as Sartre said, “people create themselves every moment of everyday according to the choices they make 5”.
"A picture can paint a thousand words." I found the one picture in my mind that does paint a thousand words and more. It was a couple of weeks ago when I saw this picture in the writing center; the writing center is part of State College. The beautiful colors caught my eye. I was so enchanted by the painting, I lost the group I was with. When I heard about the observation essay, where we have to write about a person or thing in the city that catches your eye. I knew right away that I wanted to write about the painting. I don’t know why, but I felt that the painting was describing the way I felt at that moment.