It explores the idea of the choice between the lesser of two evils. An idealistic Marlow is forced to align himself with either the hypocritical and malicious colonial bureaucracy or the openly malevolent and rule defying Kurtz. This brings up the question of is there such a thing as insanity in a world that has already gone insane? The phrase ‘heart of darkness’ is not only the title to the novella, but has a deeper meaning that can be analyzed in three different ways. It is however difficult to discern what the ‘darkness’ could actually mean, as everything in the book is covered in darkness.
Through most of the history of farming societies, slavery has been an accepted institution. The Atlantic slave trade, which began in the 1600s, elevated (or lowered) slavery to unprecedented levels of cruelty, and thus over time turned world opinion against this ancient practice. One of the first efforts in the centuries-long campaign against slavery was The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, the autobiography of a British subject who had spent many of his formative years as a slave. Born in the Ibo province of central Africa, Equiano was enslaved by fellow Africans in his childhood, around 1755, and shuffled through various owners before coming into European hands and being shipped to the West Indies. There, he worked briefly on a plantation before being sold to a British officer and commencing an active naval career during the Seven Years’ War and after.
What similarities are in the stories B. How they compare to each other V. How the stories are different A. What makes them different from each other B. How they contrast VI. In comparison of The Lottery and The Most Dangerous Game both Connell and Jackson convey to the readers that man is inherently evil and that choices made based on societal standards, traditions, and learned behavior may not be the morally correct choice.
In contrast Gardner portrayed Grendel and Beowulf completely different than how Orwell did. We could see a more in-depth complex view of Grendel, the monster himself. The text explains Grendel’s horrible life and includes the explanations to why he does the evil deeds. Gardner shows readers that
Orwell’s perspective as a reluctant and disgusted colonizer shapes his essay’s development, detail and main thesis. The essay’s first-person narrative, causal analysis and the detail it employs obviously produce a powerful condemnation of British colonialism. However, while Orwell briefly lists the obvious abuses of colonialism---the torture of prisoners, the appalling conditions in imperial jails, the destruction of the colonized’s spirit---he focuses his essay’s detail and development on colonialism’s effects on himself as colonizer, how this system causes his degradation and corruption as a human being. He presents his younger self as tormented by his role in this system, but also as someone who has absorbed its racist attitudes. He emphasizes his “intolerable sense of guilt” (313), but also his contradictory hatred of the Burmese, those “evil-spirited little beasts” (314), as well as his callous disregard for the native man killed by the elephant (319).
World War II contained some of the worst violations of human rights ever seen. The German military created a system where if an individual opposed orders, they had to be oppressed. Despite popular belief, it wasn’t only the German military that had a nonsensical system, but the American military had a number of flaws as well. In Catch-22, this kind of mentality is shown in insane situations to create a unique perspective on World War II. Not only does the book create this perspective, but it creates the idea of a never-ending circle of repetitive contradictory actions that make it almost impossible not to conform.
He is using the language of that period in time and using it to focus in on the corruption of that period. He ultimately criticizing the white society for the cruelty they show towards blacks. No one can doubt that there is a lot of racism in the novel, but when the reader digs deeper into it, Twain is using the theme of racism to point out how ugly and corrupt white society was in that time. Huck Finn is a classic, but ultimately is there to remind us what is at stake when we passively accept social injustice, opening the door for all of the ugliest aspects of humanity. Children need to learn how society used to be and how it has changed.
Central to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is the theme of injustice. In both texts, the theme of injustice is present, due to societies failure to question superstitious beliefs and tradition resulting in inhumane treatments. The societies in both texts, adhere on tradition and superstitious beliefs regardless of the harmful effects it may cause. Fundamentally, it portrays human kind’s vagueness concerning the purpose of their actions, being more alarmed about tradition and rituals. Failure to this, leads to harsh penalties and measures towards the main characters, John Proctor and Tessie Hutchinson.
In the “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson and “The Most Dangerous Game”, by Richard Connell we find a study of violence and death; caused by the savagery of humanity when reason and compassion give way to selfishness and unquestionable feudalism. Both authors use prose, tone and setting to articulate the darkest regions of humanity. Even though the settings differ greatly; one is post war era rural America and the other a deserted island. Both authors use setting and tone to effectively mislead the reader from a sense of safety to the surprise conclusion of each story. What could be more familiar than the beauty of a summer afternoon?
Golding's novel "The Lord of the Flies" reflects upon human society and shows how, if put the ideal situation, the evil held inside man can emerge from the depths in which it is contained and come to light in the most alarming and upsetting ways. The two major sets of systems in the novel are the ones in place during Ralph democratic rule, and the ones in place during Jacks dictatorial rule. In both cases the systems within either end in failure, or are distorted into a blatant form of evil. "Golding inveighs against those who think it is the political or other systems that create evil. Evil springs from the depth of man himself - it is the wickedness in human beings that creates evil systems or that changes what from the beginning is, or