In Walter Benjamin’s Berlin Childhood Around 1900, he applies a variety of concepts with respect to time: past, present, and future. The concepts are highlighted in his vignettes: “Victory Column”, “The Telephone”, and “Butterfly Hunt”. Benjamin attempts to imbue his writing with a different structure of time from what was conventional. He perceives history as a section of moments, and each moment is an integral whole in its own right, making it equal to the present (Knights). Benjamin also notes that the ignoring of the past and the focus on the progression of the future causes harmful effects to nature (Knights). The concept of technological progress appears to give grounds for the domination and abuse of nature (Patke). Subsequently, Benjamin is arguing that modernization has produced an inauthentic experience of time. He further contends that the redeeming of history is not correlated with a new future. Benjamin's key ideals are regarded to be restorative. This ideology emphases that hope is set in the past and its memory. There is a very traditional aspect to this viewpoint. It considers that the wishes of the former generations must be preferred. Another of Benjamin's concerns is to remove the impression of continuity in history that is attainable if the past and the present are separated. Benjamin searches for the past with the ability to reform in a manner to halt the exchange of present satisfaction for past misery, capable of suspending the reproduction of past tribulation and injustice. Benjamin’s rhetoric in Berlin Childhood around 1900’s vignettes, “Victory Column”, “The Telephone”, and “Butterfly Hunt”, assert that the past contains an immense power of unrealized potentialities, that is unable to associate with the ...
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...mes the norm, it will be replacing something from the past that when lost will be irretrievable. Furthermore, being that the future is unknown, Benjamin suggests that this is when there should be a focus on the past to potentially uncover any poor choices to help the future refrain from repeating them. Thus, Benjamin contends that the limitlessness of the past is una ble to conform to the present or uncertainty of a progressive future.
Works Cited
Benjamin, Walter. Berlin Childhood Around 1900. Cambridge: President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2006. Print.
Freud, Sigmund. On Murder, Mourning, and Melancholia. London: Penguin Books, 2005. Print.
Knights, Wayne. Class Lecture. Humanity 360: Great Themes in Humanistic Tradition. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC. 22 Feb 2012.
Patke, Rajeev. “Benjamin’s Theses ‘On the Concept of History”
...ow this transformation extends further over time, from the quiet town of Amiens to the liberty of 1970s London. Their resistance to the horrors of the War, to patriarchal systems and to social formalities led to significant turning points in the novel, giving us the sense of a theme of revolution on a personal and social level throughout making it the core element of the novel. The differences between the pre-war and post-war period are contrasted episodically by Faulks, and via the female protagonists, he is able to represent very openly how society has transformed. Faulks is able to very cleverly wrong foot the modern reader with the initial realist portrayal of a oppressive husband, illicit relationships and the gore of war. However, it serves only to provide him a platform from where he can present a more buoyant picture of societal and personal transformation.
Several conflicting frames of mind have played defining roles in shaping humanity throughout the twentieth century. Philosophical optimism of a bright future held by humanity in general was taken advantage of by the promise of a better life through sacrifice of individuality to the state. In the books Brave New World, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 clear opposition to these subtle entrapments was voiced in similarly convincing ways. They first all established, to varying degrees of balance, the atmosphere and seductiveness of the “utopia” and the fear of the consequences of acting in the non-prescribed way through character development. A single character is alienated because of their inability to conform – often in protest to the forced conditions of happiness and well being. Their struggle is to hide this fact from the state’s relentless supervision of (supposedly) everything. This leads them to eventually come into conflict with some hand of the state which serves as the authors voice presenting the reader with the ‘absurdity’ of the principles on which the society is based. The similar fear of the state’s abuse of power and technology at the expense of human individuality present within these novels speaks to the relevance of these novels within their historical context and their usefulness for awakening people to the horrendous consequences of their ignorance.
As I enter my last week as a twenty-year-old, I find myself nostalgically looking back on the past two decades while wondering what life has in store for me over the next two. Where will I be in twenty years? What will I have accomplished? Where will I be living? Will I be married? Have chil… wait a minute, no, that one will have to wait a few more years. These questions have all passed through my mind at one point or another over the last few weeks, but I realize that they are really quite a luxury. Paul, the narrator of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, never had the opportunity to lean back from his desk and daydream about what the next twenty years of his life had in store for him. He was busy dodging bullets and artillery shells, trying to stay alive on Germany’s Western Front during World War I.
Bodek, Richard. “The Not-So-Golden Twenties: everyday Life and Communist Agitprop in Weimar-Era Berlin.” Journal of Social History. Vol. 30, No. 1. Autumn 1996.
A reading “The Dilemma of Determinism” by William James’s, he explains that everything that happens in the future is already predicted by the way things are now. In contrast, indeterminism allows some of the loose plays that we make among us, play among parts of the u...
The writer introduces his topic very clearly using different tools. He makes his work simple and easy to understand because he is directing his work to the public. Franklin’s use of organization is intended to make it easy for the reader to progress through time. In addition, he uses an informative tone to inform, not only to persuade, the reader; he wants his audience to draw their own conclusions. Moreover, he uses images to show his audience the affect of photos before and after the Industrial Revolution, and he shows two different images to compare. Franklin shows the wars without makeup as he says, “why not project the war from the point of view of the weapons?” (412).
Why should you be one, too? (Bishop, 1979). This is a significant message. Understanding humankind is important for personal and professional growth. Ms. Bishop makes it clear through Elizabeth that we are all a part of humankind but where is our place? As a professional understanding the nuances of what makes people driven to succeed is imperative. Each human is different. It is recognizing those differences that help today’s professional to know where they will “fit” in their career goals. It also allows one to be aware of what it takes to succeed in their respected field. Through an understanding of both humankind and human nature, one is more apt to be
In “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells, the author portrays, for the most part, that the choices humans make now cannot drastically change the outcomes in the far future. The obvious representation of social and political classes, even as the time traveler goes 800,000 years into the future, describes this more. The fact that, even 800,000 years later, there are still apparent classes that can determine an individual’s worth guides the reader towards the conclusion that even if an individual were to change the present, it would be impossible to avoid the very same mistake from being repeated in the future.
The powerful introduction of September first 1939 by W.H Auden describes the disappointing spiral that caused humanity to lose its character in the decade of 1930’s. His main focus is to allow the reader to view that society as a whole had been blinded by their personal lives. Allowing issues in our lives to dictate what we do is dangerous and furthermore prevents us from interacting productively in society. Auden’s purpose is to get the reader to realize that mankind is strong and that when it works together it can accomplish anything including building massive structures. A house divided cannot stand, similarly when the human race is at war, or indulging in belligerent activity’s we bring our own downfall. H.W Auden’s, historical approach
Fulbrook, Mary. A Concise History of Germany. 2nd ed. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print.
stories holds a large impact on how they later develop as individuals. While Baldwin’s piece demonstrates the ignorance from society which is projected onto him from Swiss villagers, it shares both similarities and differences to the attitudes demonstrated in Hurston’s piece influenced by her surroundings. Being that it is difficult to escape the past and the events that have brought strength through triumph, it is important to focus one’s attention on the present and into the future. Although the past determines who an individual is, the future determines who an individual will become.
Throughout the book William Golding makes many excellent uses of symbols and a very large intertwining web of symbols. He created an alternate course to history with a very complex plot describing society and its flaws. He also identified many tenants that define the society that we live in today. My arguement is crucial in better understanding the underlying message and and understanding what the author is trying to convey throughout his book.
Fiero, Gloria K. The Humanistic Tradition. 6th ed. Vol. 2. New York: McGraw Hill, 2011. Print.
However, (Lamond, 2005) touched on how we could deal with the present and transform it to the future in trying to learn from the past. He draws attention to past theories that have been mistreated but yet have influence on modern day theory.
"The Spoils of Berlin." New African Feb. 2010: 18-33. New African. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. .