There is nothing romantic about war in Slaughterhouse-Five. In fact, the villains of the novel are the ones who continue to romanticize violence and killing, men like Bertram Copeland Rumfoord and even foolish Roland Weary. Vonnegut shows that war is inevitable. Stopping a war, or writing an anti-war novel, is like stopping a glacier: it is an exercise in futility. As a result, humans lose their free will and become victims in the machinery of war, casualties of political ends.
Explore and evaluate how texts represent conflicting perspectives through the eye of the composer. In your answer refer to your core text and at least one other related text. Composers represent conflicting perspectives through their own unique experiences and values as their political and social contexts. Geoffrey Robertson's self styled memoir 'The Justice Game' written in the late 1900's heavily reflects these conflicting perspectives in the 'Trials of Oz' and 'The Romans in Britain' through the employment of emotive and persuasive language and ridicule in the form of satire to which convey Robertson's view through his eyes. Such conflicts also portrayed in Charles Waterstreet's article' It's a long fickle road to justice' which similar to Robertson's use of persuasive techniques utilizes satire to challenge and question the myopic procedures of the legal system.
This, of course, is not the true nature of "goodness", and a key element in Twain's satire. In fact, Huck, who is one of the only good characters in the novel, believes good is based on the elements of dangers which face him every day, and due to this dichotomy, does not believe he is "good". This becomes painfully evident when Huck meets the Gregfords. The Gregfords are an obvious simile for pure evil. Though they have a temporal glow to them, after all, they are rich and aristocratic.
Overall, the novel demonstrates how through its tumultuous time Afghanistan had succumbed to the evil status where cultural values overrode the importance of an individual’s beliefs. The protagonist characters of Amir and Hassan, brothers with whom “a kinship exists that not even time could break”, allow the overall whelming power of cultural values over individual values to be seen. The defining event of ‘The Kite Runner’, Hassan’s merciless rape by Assef, gives rise to sequential scenarios in which the true power of cultural Afghan values surpasses that of an individual. The subservient attitude of those to their elders, “maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba”, clearly illustrates the damaging power of cultural values surpassing that of an individual’s. Amir’s relentless search for gratification from Baba leads him to sacrifice his childhood friend and in doing so destroy a part of his childhood.
From chapter one, we enter into the world of Amir’s guilt and secrets. Despite their difference Amir and Hassan were inseparable but the shameful events of what took place at the end of the kite tournament would change that for ever. There was nothing Hassan wouldn’t do for Amir even risk his own life. This was obvious when one day; they got into a confrontation with a boy named Assef and his two friends. Assef idolized Hitler and hated Hazaras.
“Our understanding of belonging is enhanced by times of isolation.” It is true that the deprivation of belonging further enhances our need of it and ultimately our understanding of the concept. Once a sense of belonging is reached the moral refinement of ones perception of self leads to a point of conclusive identity. Steven Herrick’s free verse novel The Simple Gift highlights the journey of Billy, Old Bill and Caitlin as they go through the process of alienation to achieve a strong sense of inner and social belonging. The film The Freedom Writers directed by Richard LaGravenese examines a similar idea of identity which revolves around a situation where overwhelming social pressure forces different races apart and constructs a barrier preventing tribes to belong to and function as a greater society. The Shawshank Redemption directed by Frank Darabont explores the human capacity of adapting and changing oneself depending on the needs and influences of one’s environment through protagonist Andy Dufresne who struggles to rediscover himself after being wrongly sentenced to prison.
Two good examples of a dystopian society are the novella “Anthem” by Ayn Rand and the film “The Village” written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Both depict a dystopian society where people live with fear from little knowledge about the outside world. Both societies are undeveloped and controlled by a code that all believes to be true. But there are always people that still question the system and try to break free to find the true answers. Anthem is a dystopian fiction novella written by Ayn Rand, first published in 1938.
However, whereas Victor’s hatred for the monster and relentless will to kill it drives him to his death, Walton ultimately pulls back from his treacherous mission having learned from Victor’s example, how destructive the thirst for knowledge can be. Also, in the novel, Walton highlights the fact that whilst success is great, “while glowing with enthusiasm of success” (7) if you have no friends it doesn’t matter because there is nobody to enjoy your accomplishments with. As a result Walton
He ends up facing exile or even execution. Oedipus is metaphorically blind throughout the entire play, but when he can see reality he literally blinds himself. In Sophocles Oedipus Rex, the motif of sight and blindness is used to show how blind people can be to things they don't want to see, yet are right in front of them. Throughout the course of the play Oedipus Rex, the main character Oedipus struggles to recognize the obvious truths that are right in front of him. Oedipus has known his fate since he was a young boy.
The Island uses both visual and literary technique to develop the themes in a disturbing, yet compelling short story. The Island is a metaphorical account on the way in which prejudice and fear are used to defy acceptance of others in order to ‘protect’ themselves. The man who arrives is alienated in accordance with this. The pictures demonstrate the differences in the two cultures’ homogeneity; the