Compares two works, the film, "The Matrix", and Herman Melville's short story, "Bartelby, the Scrivener" and shows how each of them tackles the question of how an individual can rise up against an oppressive system.
Written in 2002; 1,022 words; 2 sources; MLA; $ 36.95
Paper Summary:
This paper tackles the philosophical question of the individual's capacity to overcome the system by which he or she is bound. It takes two literary works, one quite old and one very recent, to explore different answers to this perplexing question. The first work is the extremely popular and highly sophisticated film, "The Matrix", in which Neo (Keanu Reeves) must seize an inner power to battle the alien forces that have overtaken Earth. The second work, Herman Melville's "Bartelby, the Scrivener", depicts passive resistance against the mundane life of ordinary people. Both works tackle a common theme, but in radically different ways. This paper analyzes those approaches from a philosophical, as well as a literary, standpoint.
From the Paper:
"Every individual is properly termed an individual by virtue of his or her relationship to some greater organic whole, to some type of superstructure, containing many individuals sharing some common element. The world community is one such superstructure, and its membership includes the entire world population. An office is another; its members are the workers who labor there. However, the whole is not merely the sum of its parts. In any group situation, there is some authority that imposes rules, regulations, and restrictions on the individuals in the group. In a religion, this authority may be God. In an office, the boss is the authority. A country's leaders and laws also serve this purpose. Sometimes, the conduct of the individuals themselves develops into an implicit, self-imposed authority. For instance, people feel forced into wearing certain clothes or refraining from using certain words because of social pressures. In many cases, the authority, or the ?system,? functions for the benefit of the individual. In others, the system is suppressive, demoralizing, and even violent. Melville's Bartleby and The Matrix are both attempts to describe the rebellion of a particular individual or group of individuals against this latter type of system. They both reveal the power of the individual will to supplant the system in the face of intolerable conditions."
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