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Essay for ozymandias by percy bysshe shelley in English
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Ozymandias by Percy Shelley
Daniel 4:37:
"Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down."
Shelley tells us about this statue of the great King Ozymandias, and engraved on his pedestal reads: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, Look on my Works, ye Mighty and despair!" We read that passage and immediately think of the arrogance and pride that this man must of had. "Look on my Works, ye Mighty and despair!" Works is capitalized as if it deserved reverence and awe. Shelley also tells us that this great statute has been shattered: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desart. . . . . Near them, on the sand Half sunk a shattered visage lies," So we imagine these pair of legs on a pedestal in the middle of a desert and look to the ground to find the rest of the sculpture shattered into pieces. We read the engraving on the pedestal and look around to see his works so that we can "despair" and we find that "Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away." I can't help but laugh at the whole situation. Nature has smitten man. Nature won out in the end. Man tried to build a huge empire and then mocked all of natures work and even asks that all "despair" because who could beat his work. Nature has in the end won out and we sit and laugh with nature as Ozymandias's face is in the ground, shattered with a frown half sunken in sand. Nature's arrogance is also evident too though. Nature destroyed man's Work and leaves us the pedestal to read. Nature kept the pedestal as a sign for all of us: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, Look on my Works, ye Mighty and despair." Now replace the name Ozymandias with Nature. "My name is Nature, King of Kings, Look on my Works, ye Mighty and despair." We can replace Ozymandias with Nature because Nature won out in the end. Nothing that Ozymandias accomplished survived. Nature survived and destroyed all that man had done.
In the Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck uses intercalary chapters to provide background for the various themes of the novel, as well to set the tone of the novel".
Throughout the novel, The Grapes of Wrath there are intercalary chapters. The purpose of these chapters are to give the readers insight and background on the setting, time, place and even history of the novel. They help blend the themes, symbols, motifs of the novel, such as the saving power of family and fellowship, man’s inhumanity to man, and even the multiplying effects of selfishness. These chapters show the social and economic crisis flooding the nation at the time, and the plight of the American farmer becoming difficult. The contrast between these chapters helps readers look at not just the storyline of the Joad family, but farmers during the time and also the condition of America during the Dust Bowl. Steinbeck uses these chapters to show that the story is not only limited to the Joad family,
Victor Frankenstein may be the leading character in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but a hero he is not. He is self-centered and loveless, and there is nothing heroic about him. There is a scene in Chapter twenty-four where Captain Walton is confronted by his crew to turn southwards and return home should the ice break apart and allow them the way. Frankenstein rouses himself and finds the strength to argue to the Captain that they should continue northwards, or suffer returning home "with the stigma of disgrace marked on your brows." He quite obviously has alterior motives and if he were not the eloquent, manipulative creature he so egotistically accuses his creature of being, he might not have moved the Captain and the men so much that they are blind to the true source of his passion. Unfortunately for Frankenstein, the crew, (however "moved") stand firm in their position. Yet the things he says in his motivational speech are prime examples of the extent to which Frankenstein is blind to his own faults and yet will jump at the chance to harangue others. He is so self-centered that his lack of interaction and love for others after his experiment has been completed, would barely qualify him as a person, if the difference between being human and being a person lies in the ability to have relationships with others.
"He held the apple box against his chest. And then he leaned over and set the box in the stream and steadied it with his hand. He said fiercely, "Go down an' tell 'em. Go down in the street an' rot an' tell 'em that way....Maybe they'll know then." He guided the box gently out into the current and let it go" (493).
... she has to do for the man. Ma tells her, "You got to" (619) and Rose of Sharon smiles mysteriously, showing her acceptance of her new duty as a social servant for the collective good of humanity.
In conclusion the Grapes of Wrath is a literary masterpiece that portrays the struggles of man as he overcomes the adversity of homelessness, death, and the wrath of prejudice. Steinbeck fully explores each faucet coherently within the boundaries of the Joad family’s trials and
When Tom is first introduced in the novel he is returning home from jail to find his family, and even though his family was not at his house he ventured to go locate them. Joade always looked out for his family during the journey out west, he would help take care of his elderly grandparents, the children, and his pregnant sister; even Connie that he had never met before his jail time he protected against any threat. When Connie ran off in the middle of the night, leaving Tom’s sister alone and pregnant, he wanted to chase him down because he had hurt his baby sister. Tom left the instant he knew it would put h...
In The Grapes of Wrath, Stienbeck illustrates such powerful images using his own values. When the Joad family starts deciding to move to California for a better life, the story begins. Tom comes home from prison and the family is reunited. The hopes of all are refreshed and the move seems to be a good idea. And here we have one of Steinbecks greatest value, the family or the group, and the ties that lie within it. This value is seen through many different examples in this novel.
The tale of The Grapes of Wrath has many levels of profound themes and meanings to allow us as the reader to discover the true nature of human existence. The author's main theme and doctrine of this story is that of survival through unity. While seeming hopeful at times, this book is more severe, blunt, and cold in its portrayl of the human spirit. Steinbeck's unique style of writing forms timeless and classic themes that can be experienced on different fronts by unique peoples and cultures of all generations.
John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath is one of the most influential books in American History, and is considered to be his best work by many. It tells the story of one family’s hardship during the Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s. The Joads were a hard-working family with a strong sense of togetherness and morals; they farmed their land and went about their business without bothering anyone. When the big drought came it forced them to sell the land they had lived on since before anyone can remember. Their oldest son, Tom, has been in jail the past four years and returns to find his childhood home abandoned. He learns his family has moved in with his uncle John and decides to travel a short distance to see them. He arrives only to learn they are packing up their belongings and moving to California, someplace where there is a promise of work and food. This sets the Joad family off on a long and arduous journey with one goal: to survive.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is filled with death and sorrow. They occur in almost every aspect of the book. The four "squares" of the book, Walter, Victor, the monster, and the cottagers, all suffer from them at one time or another. Some perceive Frankenstein as a horror story; however, in actuality it is a book of tragedy and despair. Every page reveals more misery than the page before. Thus, death and sorrow are inevitable in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Mary Shelley was not an ordinary nineteen-year-old. She was the daughter of major novelist William Godwin and woman activist Mary Wollstonecraft, and the wife of one of the primary second-generation poet. In life, Mary had to face many situations without her mother, because she was only eleven days old when she passed away. Throughout Mary’s life, she lost three of her four children prematurely. Her only surviving child was named Percy Florence, and she was born in 1819. Frankenstein was released when Mary was twenty-one years old. The central idea came to Shelley in a dream where she saw a student placing parts together of a male’s body and working through an engine to animate it. In Mary’s Shelley’s novel, the Creature goes from being innocent, to a harmful individual, and results in being a kind hearted helping hand.
In literature as in life, people often find that they must make difficult choices in order to survive. The reasons behind their decisions and the results of their subsequent actions affect our opinion of them. In the Grapes of Wrath, written by John Steinbeck, the author portrayed situations where two main characters became involved. The nature of their choices, the reasons behind their decisions, and the results that followed affected them greatly. However, the choices that they made were surmounted successfully. Ma Joad and Tom Joad are two strong characters who overcame laborious predicaments. Their powerful characteristics helped to encourage those that were struggling.
Mary Shelley discusses many important themes in her famous novel Frankenstein. She presents these themes through the characters and their actions, and many of them represent occurrences from her own life. Many of the themes present debateable issues, and Shelley's thoughts on them. Three of the most important themes in the novel are birth and creation; alienation; and the family and the domestic affections.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in 1791 in London. She is the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Goodwin. Wollstonecraft was a radical feminist writer, and Goodwin was a writer as well as a philosopher. It was said that this couple's combined intellect was dangerous to society; however, days after Mary's birth, Wollstonecraft died due to complications from the pregnancy. Mary spent a lot of time visiting her mother's grave when she was growing up. Her father taught her how to spell her mother's name by having her trace the letters on the headstone with her fingers, an interesting yet morbid way to teach a seven year old how to spell. Goodwin raised Mary by himself for the early part of her life. When Mary was four, he married Mary Jane Clairmont, who also had children from a previous marriage. Mary never fully accepted the stepfamily; she always felt like an outsider. Many of her feelings of loneliness and longing to know her mother are issues that are prevalent in the novel Frankenstein. These issues are analogous to the search that the monster had for his creator.