In response, Priestley uses satire when the Inspector responds by saying: "After all, it's better to ask for the Earth than to take it." This tells the audience that Priestley is using Birling to represent a greedy capitalist who just wants to take everything for himself and not share his resources. As a socialist, Priestly would criticise this. As the play was written in 1945, three years before the development of he health service and after the Second World War, there was more equality and fairness within society, so Birling would be seen as quite old-fashioned and narrow minded. In addition, Sheila appears to be heavily influence by the way her parents behave.
Holden explores the concept of relationships through the similar attitudes displayed towards popular society and his repulsion of their values. Holden is seen throughout the novel to have difficulty accepting people due to their pretentious nature and expresses this through the constant use of the word “phony.” “…very phony, Ivy League voices, one of those very tried, snobby voices” this quote by Holden displays his criticism of middle to upper class America. Holden’s relationship with his own parents is one that he deems
Voltaire shows how Candide slowly realizes this logic when he encounters constant conflict and disaster after leaving the Baron’s castle and his old “perfect world”. Candide sees how almost everyone in this world acts selfishly only to reap benefits for themselves and take away from their fellow humanity. Some people probably think that Voltaire may come off as a pessimistic, but he really is just trying to show how foolish optimistic people and corrupt religion can be when you live in a world that constantly challenges you and makes you suffer so much. Essentially Voltaire is trying to tell us that the happiness of humanity is impossible, because the only “real” life is the life where you endure good things and bad things and not the life where you live in the best of all worlds and have no problems and everything is handed to
Mrs. Birling to display the greed and ignorance of aristocracy before the war. He shows them as selfish and ignorant and unwilling to admit their mistakes. Mr Birling is stereotyped by Priestly as a pride filled, over confidant,”rather portentous man in his middle fifties but rather provincial in his speech." Some examples of ths are “I say you can ignore all this silly pessimistic talk” and “we're in for a time of steadily increasing prosperity.” Similarly Mrs. Birling is displayed as stuck up and someone who enjoys looking down on other people also Priestley gives us the impression that she thinks wealth and status only are important. Priestly portrays her as a woman obsessed with how she and her family are perceived with in 'high society'.
Tom cries “like a baby” because he feels remorse for lying and cheating on his wife. This quote shows how people’s views on material items have blinded them from true happiness. The characters in the Great Gatsby represent the sentiment of America during the Roaring 20’s with the goal of attempting to gain the lavish life style dominated by materialism called the “American Dream” and materialism is evil because it engrosses the heart of Americans blinding them from authentic bliss.
Being knocked down a peg in society brings us back to wishing we could just accept or afford the little house with the picket fence. As soon as we are able to fulfill that dream again, if ever, we become greedy again. People crave for more and I believe it is only human to feel this way; this helps us to fit into society and feel as though we are living the American dream. For some people they struggle to live the American dream and tend look to the government for help. Feeling helpless due to the economy they become addicted to claiming help from other sources other than themselves because it just seems easier.
He “ranged freely over music, literature, art, and other subjects,” but could not agree with what was taking place at Coney Island. Critics like him who had visited the island could not deny the fun environment, but felt that when people arrived a Coney Island, they lost their mind and moral values. Not only were they concerned about human character; they were also concerned about the economy as a whole. Coney Island was changing America “from a ‘pain economy,’ where scarcity of resources demanded a struggle for subsistence, to a ‘pleasure economy,’ in which abundance was potentially available to all” (Kasson 90). People would avoid sin to be sure not to be punished by unemployment and bad economic standings, but without this fear, it was unknown what citizens of the United States would start acting like.
In pursuit of Daisy, Gatsby adopts the misplaced values of the 20’s that she herself practices. These include materialism, dishonesty, and carelessness. Gatsby fully involves himself in the upper-class lifestyle in the attempt to win over Daisy. We see just how much Gatsby reinvents himself when Nick describes the transformation of James Gatz into Jay Gatsby. “So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a seventeen-year- old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end” (Fitzgerald 91).
So Obsessions of all types can destroy and create lives. The obsessions of love can protect or smother a loved one. The obsessions of fame can create greatness or madness in people. And the obsessions of hatred can drive or consume a person. Obsessions should be desires to strive for and lessons to learn from, and never an all consuming focus that in the end will not only destroy you, but also the people who mean the most to
As Jack quickly finds out, lying about your true name to win the girl of your dreams can be successful, but also have consequences. Our emotions and needs can lead us down a shameful path and although we may get everything we wanted, our journey to get there may be bombarded with sinister deeds. These acts can leave us with negative emotions such as depression. Victor struggled to battle his inner demons and he suffered from a strong case of depression. This depression would leave him as useless and dull.