Abstract This paper discusses the book "Notes of a DesolateMan" by ZhuTianwen and relates that the author's way of fitting in so many non-Chinese influences, past and present, his homosexuality, and the death of an old friend in Japan due to AIDS, fit together to produce a deliberately disjointed psychic environment in which the narrator can only feel thankful for small reminders of a world that seemed normal. The writer points out that throughout "Notes on a DesolateMan", the past continues to be mixed up with the present. The writer believes that this book leaves the reader with no doubt as to the narrator's emotions, sense of being displaced and that his life has been rather pointless, though one wishes the narrator could also see through this state of ennui to find the answers of purpose that were suitable for modernists.
From the Paper "Like many a post-modern character, the narrator, Xiao Chao, can observe his own isolation, well aware of what is happening, amid Western consumerism and media influences. His friend, Ah Yao, is a former lover, a person with whom he has been able to discuss Chinese poetry but also the culture arriving from the West including 1960s avant garde films and thought. Set in the 1990s, Xiao Shao reflects on his 20s as a well to do young Taiwanese in Europe and in America just as countless other persons at mid-life tend to reflect on how they spent this earlier interval in their lives. Like Ah Yao, he had known the gay scene in New York, Paris and Rome, and also the complications of being a gay Chinese male in a conservative Taiwanese society where both men's families were known in Taipei."
Tags: homosexuality, Japan, Chinese, post-modern, change, society
Abstract Our world is dominated by fears of death - all fears ultimately end in the fear of death. Icarus could fly, Caine became invisible. "Hollow Man" is just that - a man in pursuit of that which will ultimately rob him of his soul, Caine is indeed hollow. The adventure story is by far the easiest medium to express the black and white nature of this confrontation of social fears. We are not allowed to challenge God / Nature / Society. "Hollow Man" delivers all of this in one simple film.
Abstract This paper examines the qualities deemed necessary for one to be considered a renaissance man or woman. These characteristics are taken from literary sources of the Renaissance. The features of the Renaissance man and woman suggest at once a superficial concern with appearances and at the same time an appreciation for the innate talents and abilities of every human being. The author takes issue with the lack of morality placed on the Renaissance man or women.
From the Paper "Physical prowess and mastery of weaponry are essential skills for Castiglione's Renaissance man. Both men and woman are victims of their physical endowments. According to Castiglione, being too tall or too short can hinder the development of a man's athletic skills (p. 34). The Renaissance man is also literally well-rounded: he should be agile and strong, with "shapely" limbs (Castiglione, p. 30, line 26). Renaissance women must also fulfill specific requirements. Though they should develop their bodies as well as their minds, Renaissance women should not undertake strenuous activities, as even dancing too energetically can impede her "womanly sweetness," (Castiglione, p. 35, line 192). Neither men nor women should take sport--or anything else--too seriously because being well-rounded is more important than being a specialist. At the same time, both Castiglione and Alberti infer an appreciation for the diligent development of specific talents and skills, whether tennis, dancing, or archery. Therefore, the ideal person is not a dilettante. When the Renaissance man or woman becomes proficient at something, he or she can show that skill off in polite company, though without conceit. Being what modern people would call "cool" is a key component of the Renaissance ideal. Castiglione calls that feature "nonchalance," and the Renaissance man and woman should be talented and modest at the same time."
Abstract A presentation and examination of a Charlie Chaplin Film 'Modern Time' and Robert Lynd's book called "Middletown" which describe the struggle against the dehumanization of the proletarian man by machine and the Industrial age. The author finds that the industrial age, while profitable from a financial standpoint for those who were in charge, dehumanized the proletarian man as well. The machine knocked him out of the running and sent him home to explain to his family that he was no longer able to provide.
From the Paper "The Industrial Age was one that moved mankind ahead in leaps and bounds. Within the few years of its explosion and growth the ability to use technology to speed up tasks and to get them done with precision allowed the world to concentrate on other expansions and needs. The Industrial Age was a boon to those who rode the top of the age to success, however, for many millions around the nation and the world the age actually set them back. The Industrial Age, while profitable form a financial standpoint for those who were in charge, it dehumanized the proletarian man as well. The machine knocked him out of the running and sent him home to explain to his family that he was no longer able to provide. There are two classic examples of what the Industrial Age did regarding the proletarian man. The movie by the late Charlie Chaplin called Modern Time (1956) and the book called Middletown by Robert Lynd both illustrate the ways the machine replaced the man. "
This paper discusses Tim Robbin's film, "Dead Man Walking", a true story of Sister Helen Prejean's struggle to come to terms with the issues surrounding the death penalty.
Abstract This paper discusses the plot of the film, "Dead Man Walking":
Sister Prejean (Susan Sarandon) gets pulled into this dark world through her correspondence with Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn), a man on death row for the horrible and brutal murder of two young teenage lovers. The author believes that the movie presents several thorough and balanced opinions on the death penalty. The paper states the movie's conclusion in Poncelet's last words: "I don't think killing is right, whether I do it, or you, or the government."
From the Paper "One of the most common arguments for the death penalty is based on the "eye for an eye" philosophy. Certainly, the parents of the dead teenagers? grief and loss suggest that someone should pay for these crimes. Vernon Harvey, a man whose stepdaughter was murdered by one of the inmates that Sister Prejan visited, argues that the man who committed that horrible crime should have the same sort of crime committed upon him. Certainly, vignettes of the brutality of the murders committed by Poncelet also seem to bring forth a need for vengeance."
Abstract This paper explains that Linda Hogan draws on her Native American heritage as she tells a tale tinted by earthy memories of her youth in her short story "Aunt Moon's Young Man". The author points out that the plot itself is relatively simple: A dark, lean, full-blooded Indian, who comes to town on an autumn day just as the annual fair is about to begin excites the women with his exotic good looks as well as the fact that the man is "alive in his whole body." The paper relates that the cyclical character of nature brings reassurance that balance will prevail; this storyteller incorporates several cycles to represent this balance such as the story begins in the autumn and ends in the autumn - the annual fair anchors the narrative at both ends.
From the Paper "Though Aunt Moon is obviously the central study in this story, the character of the narrator contributes to the sense of hope and renewal as well. We are told that "good Indian women" should not "learn too much from books" or "laugh too loud" or "look into the faces of men." Yet the storyteller is hopeful that she can escape such oppressive expectations. Her mother shares these great aspirations for her daughter, and college plans are made. However, with the advent of war and all the changes that it brings, the girl's education is postponed, though not ceded. She will work for a year or so in the city before returning to school, and this, too, speaks of future and hope. The cycles of nature are again invoked when the narrator's mother assures her that she's "sure as the night's going to fall" that all will work out well for her and her daughter."
Abstract The paper discusses the development of Bailey in Flannery O'Connor's short story, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." The paper analyzes the character of Bailey as an apathetic man who cannot prevent the massacre of his family.
From the Paper "In "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" Flannery O'Connor introduces a number of characters among whom an elderly grandmother and an escaped convict known as the Misfit are generally predominate. While these two characters occupy center stage in much of the narrative and dialogue, other characters such as the grandmother's son Bailey are also vital actors inthe drama that unfolds and culminates with a mass murder."
Tags: Flannery O'Connor, A Good Man Is Hard to Find, character development
Abstract In this paper, the writer examines the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen," written by the National Assembly in 1789. The writer discusses that the Declaration laid out a series of basic assumptions about the natural rights of man. Further, the writer contends that Baron de Montesquieu, writing 30 years earlier, would have agreed and disagreed with some of the basic premises of the Declaration.
From the Paper "The 'Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen' written by the deputies of the National Assembly in 1789 lays out in seventeen articles a new vision of government, in which protection of the natural rights replaced the will of the king as the justification for authority. Thirty-one years prior Baron de Montesquieu published his work 'The Spirit of the Laws' in which he attempts to explain human laws and social institutions. In many respects Montesquieu's thought foreshadowed later political projects most notably the drafting of ... "
Tags: natural rights, french revolution, 1789, Declaration of the rights of man and citizen, montesquieu
Abstract This paper discusses that the Rights of Man, France's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was written in 1789. The author points out that it signaled an end to royal prerogative and a beginning, at the state level, of the consideration of individual rights in France. The paper relates that, as the French Revolution ended the reign of the Bourbons and the power and prerogatives of the monarchy; freedom, liberty and equality for each citizen became the revolutionary goal of the French people.
From the Paper "In 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen signaled an end to royal prerogative and a beginning, at the state level, of the consideration of individual rights in France. As the French Revolution ended the reign of the Bourbons and the power and prerogatives of the monarchy; freedom, liberty, and equality for each citizen became the revolutionary goal of the French people. In carefully considering the key aspects of the Declaration in the context of seventeenth and eighteenth-century political, social and/or literary thought, it is evident that one key aspect stands out above the rest--that men are born with inalienable and equal human rights."
Abstract This paper examines how few topics capture the attention of academics and non-academics in quite the same way as the psyche of the modern man. That is to say, people in the contemporary age tend to see the world around them in ways that would have been utterly inconceivable to their forebears. With that in mind, the paper explores four literary works; Shakespeare's "Hamlet," Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself," Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" and Tayeb Salih's "Season of Migration to the North." The paper notes how each of them emphasizes a modern conception of man which places humankind at the center of the cosmos, thereby displacing God.
Abstract This paper focuses on the new evolved state of human beings where we are actually questioning our origins and how we came to be. The paper focuses on the different stages in the evolution of man, providing examples of fossil discoveries to show how humans have changed over time.
From the Paper "With our knowledge of geological processes we are now able to determine the biological and cultural development of the species "Homo sapiens", or human beings. A large number of human fossil bones and teeth have been found at various places throughout the world along with tools of stone, bone, and wood. As a result of these discoveries, a picture of human evolution during the past 4 to 5 million years has emerged."
Abstract This paper examines the existential trends in the New York literally scene of the late seventies as exemplified in Richard Price?s, ?The Ladies Man?. It also describes the character of Patrice Mersault in the "Stranger" by Albert Camus as an existentialist character.
From the Paper "Richard Price emerged into the literary scene with his first novel in 1947, which was known as The Wanderers, an episodic account of the world of a teenage gang and social club during the early sixties. One of his many novels is the famous one "The Ladies Man", which appeared in the year 1978. The Ladies Man is a tale of sexual loneliness and anxiety with the main character being essentially an existentialist living in the city of New York. "
This is no ordinary book review. It is a very detailed and very comprehensive review of two Books, "A Man of the People" and "Things Fall Apart", by Chinua Achebe with application to the Caribbean's social and political characteristics, as well as Nigeria
Abstract This paper reviews two of the the works of Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe: "A Man of the People" and "Things Fall Apart". The review speaks in detail about the symbolic language used and what it all means for politics in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Political culture and behavior as well as the emotions brought out in the political aspects of life are analyzed in an applicable and comprehensive way allows one to understand exactly what the two books are essentially about. There are also predictions about how the books can be used to analyze contemporary Nigerian and Anglo-Caribbean societies and their socio-political culture and attitudes to politics. Other authors are also explored as to how they compare with Achebe's two books.
From the Paper "The Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe has no doubt written two illustrious books, being Things Fall Apart and A Man of The People, that not only give memorable, accurate and useful accounts of socio-political relations in Nigeria, but also accounts which are widely applicable to other societies. In the Caribbean for example, both books may be analysed in terms of gaining a greater and more sophisticated appreciation of power and authority relations, leadership qualities and personality traits, as well as the consequent impacts of such phenomena on systems governance. For purposes of the ensuing review of both novels, those sections of the book that reflect the political realities within these latter contexts, that are more often than not accompanied by or intertwined with socio-cultural and socio-historical conditions or circumstances will be particularly emphasized when examining the Anglophone Caribbean. In this respect therefore, the nature of certain aspects of political culture will be analysed in so far as the novels help to supply some fundamental insights and possible explanations of similar experiences distilled about Nigeria, by Achebe, as compared with the realities that are faced, especially within parts of the Anglophone Caribbean where special politico-cultural practices seem deeply ingrained. Things Fall Apart will first be examined and A Man of the People, second."
Abstract This study compares and contrast the nature and dramatic significance of the confrontations with death of the main characters in Stephen Crane's story "The Open Boat" and Luigi Pirandello's play "The Man with the Flower in His Mouth." The study focuses on death as a frightening, enraging and appalling force for the two men in Pirandello's play and a violent and powerful force of nature in Crane's story.
From the Paper "Crane's "The Open Boat" shows death to be a powerful force which is everywhere and cannot be denied or forgotten. Death in the form of the powerful sea confronts the four men in the story from beginning to end. Death waits for them in every thought as they consider trying to reach the shore. The men in the boat are simple men who must face death with no pretense, for their lives literally hang in the balance. They must either struggle to live, or prepare to die as best they can. The four individuals must not only deal with the very real possibility of their own deaths, but they must deal with the moral decision which may cost them their lives while saving the others' lives. The author seems to suggest that the Captain gave his life to make sure that the others survived (Crane 15)."
Argues in favor of the appropriateness of the title "Man Descending" for Guy Vanderhaeghes' collection of short stories about the powerlessness of the human condition.
900 words (approx. 3.6 pages), 1 source, 2002, $ 35.95
Abstract This essay discusses Guy Vanderhaeghe's "Man Descending", which is a collection of short stories. The paper argues that the title is appropriate for this collection. Most of the twelve stories are preoccupied with the phenomenon of how human beings must face their own powerlessness in the human condition.
