Cycles of Violence in The Battler
Ernest Hemingway's "The Battler" provides a continued account of Nick Adams' dangerous and violent life. Previous stories compiled in "The Short Stories" edition of Hemingway's work documents some of the tribulations of Nick Adams, one of Hemingway's protagonists. Apparently, Nick has been plagued by moments of sheer humility, terror, and immutable violence. In the Hemingway short story "Indian Camp," Nick is a young boy who witnesses a dreadfully difficult birth by a Native American woman, enduring all the while the hubris of his surgeon father, who is contestibly insensitive to Nick's innocence. Once the birth has ended, the husband of the woman is found with a freshly slit throat, again viewed by the young Nick. In "The End of Something," another short story from the same compilation, an older Nick Adams breaks of a listless relationship with Marjorie, his girlfriend. Nick reveals his disgust with being committed to Marjorie during a fishing trip, and the proximity of the two in the boat coupled with the inability for either to escape the immediate situation results in moments of tense humiliation for both. Indeed, the scene percolates with subdued violence.
In the case of "The Battler," the violence is not so heavily subdued. Nick is traveling on a train, probably as a vagabond, and is knocked off of his mode of transportation with a clout to the head by a "lousy crut of a brakeman." (p. 129) This is not a narrated situation, but the reader is made aware of Nick's predicament after the fact as Nick finds himself watching the "caboose going out of sight around the curve" and "touch(ing) the bump over his eye." (p. 129) He finds his hands scraped and the skin on his knees b...
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...not escape his destiny: he is a living punching bag, and Nick, in his timely fashion, has not only witnessed another violent episode in this man's life, but has taken part in its occurrence. The two become linked in this dangerous moment. In a moment of foreshadowing, Nick's future teeters on the possibility of a life like Ad's. Before dinner, Ad and Bugs had speculated: "He says he's never been crazy, Bugs." "He's got a lot coming to him," Bugs had softly spoken. (p. 133) Nick's scars and hits are, at this time in his life, only more easily hidden than Ad's. Too late, however: Ad and Bugs have seen his potential to become "crazy," a "battler" as well, though he knows that, as in Ad's case, yours is rarely the winning side.
Bibliography
Hemingway, Ernest: The Short Stories. Simon and Schuster, New York, First Scribner Paperback Fiction Edition, 1995
Recommendations: It is recommended that our law office regretfully deny service to Ms. Carry based upon the precedent in Kentucky. Based upon the analysis the issue, it is apparent that Ms. Carry would not receive a promising conclusion to her situation. Due to the facts involved and the cases discussed (which are somewhat on point) Ms. Carry does not make a claim in which relief can be granted.
She lies to the bank so she doesn’t get charged with “$60 in overdraft fees”, out-and-out lie. She does not tell the truth to her husband about her day so he does not “[keel] over,” white lie. She lies to her clients so that she does not get fired for telling the truth about the reason she is late. She lies to her friends so that her friend’s feelings do not get hurt, (Ericsson 181).All of these are justifiable because of the intent. There are consequences to telling the truth in these cases and thus Ericsson needs to lie to avoid the
At the core of the stop and frisk policy as utilized by the New York Police Department is racial profiling. Racial profiling has a significant and often controversial place in the history of policing in the United States. Racial profiling can be loosely defined as the use of race as a key determinant in law enforcement decisions to stop, interrogate, and/or detain citizens (Weitzer & Tuch, 2002). Laws in the United States have helped to procure and ensure race based decisions in law enforcement. Historically, the Supreme Court has handed down decisions which increase the scope of discretion of a law enforcement officer. For example, traffic stops can be used to look for evidence even though the officer has not observed any criminal violation (Harris, 2003). Proponent's for racial profiling reason that racial profiling is a crime fighting tool that does treat racial/ethnic groups as potential criminal suspects based on the assumption that by doing so increases the chances of catching criminals (Harris, 2003). Also, it is important to note, law enforcement officers only need reasonable suspicion to stop and frisk, probable cause is not required as in other circumstances (Harris, 2003). It is because of this assumption that the New York Police Department’s stop and frisk policy is still a relevant issue.
Hemingway, Ernest. "Soldier's Home." The Bedford Introduction to Literature, 6th Edition. Ed. Michael Meyer. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. 2002. 152-57.
Toby, Jackson. “Racial Profiling Doesn’t Prove Cops are Racist.” Wall Street Journal (March 1999). N. pag. Online. AT&T Worldnet. Internet. 30 Nov 2000. Available: www.frontpagemag.com/archives/racerelations/toby3-11-99.htm
...Nick is not yet ready for. In this way it could represent his return to civilization, which he is not yet ready for, and he therefore will continue his Edenic hiatus.
For the past few years there has been an ongoing debate surrounding the issue of racial profiling. The act of racial profiling may rest on the assumption that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to commit crimes than any individual of other races or ethnicities. Both David Cole in the article "The Color of Justice" and William in the article "Road Rage" take stance on this issue and argue against it in order to make humanity aware of how erroneous it is to judge people without evidence. Although Cole and William were very successful in matters of showing situations and qualitative information about racial profiling in their articles, both of them fail at some points.
The police are there to protect and serve the community. Racial profiling has prevented police from serving all the community, because in their minds it has been segregated. This has often been disregarded while in reality, racial profiling has corrupted society’s perception of groups of people, especially in law enforcement. On our nation's highways, police ostensibly looking for thugs and criminals routinely stop drivers based on the color of their skin. This practice is so common that the minority community has given it the derisive term, "driving while black" – a play on the real offense of "driving while intoxicated."
Despite the fact racism has been around for hundreds of years, upcoming generations are becoming more open minded and less likely to publicly berate minorities; racial profiling, however, is the one loophole of racism America overlooks. Police officials often use the practices of racial profiling to discretely single out minority races. A common approach to this is through traffic patrols. According to a statistic based in San Jose, CA, nearly 100,000 drivers were stopped; during the year ending in June 2000; and of these drivers less than 32% were white, the remaining 68% of drivers were a...
There have been many studies and case reports involving racial profiling, particularly racial profiling issues involving traffic stop and seizures. In a study done of reports on the stop-and-searches done on Interstate 95 in Maryland, it was found that 28.4 percent of black drivers and passengers and 28.8 percent of white drivers and passengers stopped were found with illegal contraband. (U.S. Department of Justice) The disparity between the two statistics is a mere .4 percent and shows that race is not an issue. Further reading into the seventy one page report written by the U.S. Department of Justice sho...
In addition, the Pittsburgh consent decree requires the city to develop a recording system that requires an officer, upon every traffic stop, to record the officer's name and badge number, the race and gender of the individual stopped, whether the stop led to a search, what was found in the search, and whether the individual was arrested. This requirement closes a loophole that previously protected officers when making pretextual stops: in cases where officers use minor traffic violations to stop vehicles that fit certain pretextual descriptions, they often issued warnings, which rarely involve any record keeping.’ (http://academic.udayton.edu/race/03justice/profiling02.htm)
Racial profiling has been a common controversy between law enforcement and communities, specifically those of a minority population. This activity has been ultimately allowed by federal and state governments as they benefit from the aid in pinpointing or otherwise targeting criminals or illegal aliens. Furthermore, racial profiling has become more of a commonly encountered practice especially after the September 11 attacks.
Hemingway's protagonist, Nick, in the short story "Indian Camp" rides curiously asking "where are we going, Dad? (28). Yet, being secure while Nick lay back with his father's arm around him (28). Upon arrival of the shanty lined beach, life's lesson begins to unfold. Nick's sympathy for the woman screaming in pain because of delivering a baby without anaesthetic unleashed a feeling of compassion. Nick's apathy for the final stage of the...
Everyday people are pulled over for speeding, and broken tail lights, but does it become an issue when law enforcement start pulling people over for no reason. Racial Profiling, while sometimes used inappropriately, can sometimes be a good thing because it can help cut down on illegal immigrants, drug trafficking, and help prevent terrorism. Many issues arise regarding legal immigrants and non-legal immigrants in quiet neighborhoods nationwide. Racial profiling has been increasing for many years, from the 1500’s up to present time.
Other female co-workers do not approve of her attire and the cleavage that she shows. Women in the office don't include Erin in going out to lunch and even helping her out when she asks for assistance. Once when she asked for assistance, the women refused to help her stating that if she doesn't know the job yet, that is her problem. The women treat her poorly, but I think that they are surprised at the person she really is and what a dedicated hard worker she is.