Abstract This paper reviews the story of "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison and discusses the theory that Ralph Ellison's tale, though it is focused on an African-American man's search for political and personal freedom in America, ultimately conjures themes of universal invisibility and alienation. He sent his naive hero falling through almost every level of this divided society; the unnamed protagonist travels from a college in the Deep South to the streets of Harlem. It discusses how "Invisible Man" is an African-American novel because a white man could not successfully have written it because it is soaked in African-American life and experience. It depicts to the reader how detached even the best of the whites are from the black men that pass them on the streets, and it is created from a special compound of emotions that no white man could possibly fabricate. It shows how its "Invisible Man" continues to speak to readers after more than fifty years. At its most basic level, Ellison's message is clearly not only for one particular racial group. The problems of disloyalty, illusion, and difficulty forming one's own values are experienced by everyone.
From the Paper "In order to create the depth that speaks for all of humanity, Ellison employs various tactics and techniques. He uses the wholeness and endless complexity of the American language, including musical and religious elements from culture. With musical language, he writes in the Prologue of descending, like Dante, into the depths of music ? ?and beneath the swiftness of the hot tempo there was a slower tempo and a cave and I entered it and looked around and heard an old woman singing a spiritual as full of Weltschmerz as flamenco ? and below that I found a lower level and a more rapid tempo and I heard someone shout ?? (Ellison 8-9)."
Abstract Analysis of Sherman Alexie's novel. Centers on character of John Smith, a man caught between two worlds: the Indian and the White and not at home in either world. Issue of John's intolerance; his suffering, alientation and violence. Negative impact of intolerance of white society and co-workers. Author's message.
From the Paper "John Smith, the protagonist of Sherman Alexie's novel Indian Killer, is a man caught between the white world and the Indian world, and at home in neither. He is a full-blooded Native American Indian, but was raised by whites, and knows little about his Indian roots. As a result of these circumstances, and the fact that he is a man who appears to be an Indian in a nation of prejudice against Indians, he is a man without an identity. With respect to the issue of intolerance, one could say that John has become a man without the capacity for tolerance at all, including tolerance for himself and his confusing situation in life. In other words, he has been shaped by an unforgiving and intolerant culture which does its worst in creating human beings who are such victims of intolerance that they practically do not even exist. They have been made invisible by intolerance. In fact, John is certainly mentally ill to some degree, and it is clear from the book that his madness is a direct result of living in an intolerant society which tries to take away his history, identity, cultural roots and his very humanity at every turn. It should come as no shock that in his suffering and alienation and madness, he turns to ..."
Abstract Discusses causes of urban poverty and an economic underclass. Cites work of several social theorists on the topic, mainly Willian Julius Wilson who analyzed the problems associated with the disappearance of work and intergenerational poverty in inner cities in his book WHEN WORK DISAPPEARS. Wilson's arguments compared to other interpretations of social structure.
From the Paper "Work, Anomie, and Alienation in America
William Julius Wilson (1996), in When Work Disappears, argues that in order to fully understand many of the problems associated with seemingly intergenerational poverty in inner city American enclaves or ghettos, it is important to understand that many of these problems (e.g., crime, family dissolution, welfare, low levels of social organization, and so on) are fundamentally a consequence of the disappearance of work. Further, says Wilson (1996), the debate over the causes of the disappearance of work are ideologically driven in many instances. Ideology is seen as pitting liberal versus conservative perspectives against one another. Such a focus also results in giving insufficient attention to the interaction between such variables as social structural factors, race itself, and ..."
Abstract Examines causes of violence in U.S. society. Focus on theory of Dr. James Gilligan regarding the nature and origins o different forms of violence. Discusses two works dealing with social alientation in light of Gilligan's theory. THE FIRE NEXT TIME by James Baldwin and THE AGE OF MISSING INFORMATION by Bill McKibben.
From the Paper "Dr. James Gilligan, in an insightful study of violence among men, theorizes a cycle of poverty, shame, violence and punishment that is continually perpetuated in modern American society, aided in no small part by our penal system. His book Violence: Our Deadly Epidemic and its Causes delves into the nature and origins of violence, hinging the crux of his theory upon the notion that "The different forms of violence, whether toward individuals or entire populations, are motivated (caused) by feelings of shame" (111). Under the umbrella of shame are huddled some devastating psychological companions: humiliation, absence of self-love, and ultimately, numbness. It is precisely this numbness, this death of self, that can lay a foundation for "acting out"(the expression of thought by actions rather than words), from which violence may be unleashed."
Abstract The paper explains that Marx and Weber both had theories of alienation and authority. It shows that they both thought that men had been alienated from their natural selves. The paper explains that Marx thought it was because men had been subordinated by economics and technology and had given up their power to produce and that Weber believed that men became alienated from themselves when they formed organizations or bureaucracies. The writer discusses that Nora, the main character in "A Doll's House", is a sort of doll to her husband, Torvald. The writer explains that Nora loses her own sense of self as she subordinates herself to Torvald's authority in all things. The writer states that Nora is a theorist in the same way that Marx and Weber are because, when she realizes that she is alienated from herself and that she has an unresolved conflict because of this, she confronts her husband and leaves him, her children and her lifestyle. In conclusion, the writer posits that Nora would have made Karl Marx proud by her decision to leave everything she has ever known to start a new life without the conflict and alienation that she had become accustomed to.
Table of Contents:
Abstract
Karl Marx' Theory of Alienation
Max Weber's Theory of Authority
Marx and Weber
"A Doll's House"
Analysis of Nora as a Theorist
Conclusion
References
From the Paper "The key part that Weber and Marx seem to agree on, though, is that there are people in authority in society, and people who are not in authority. This causes conflict and a sense of alienation for some people. While they vary in the reasons why this causes alienation, and they vary on why some men come to be in authority, they firmly agree on the problem. It is merely the solution and the cause of the problem where they diverge. The conflict and problems that they discuss can be seen in Henrik Ibsen's play "A Doll's House"."
