The Theme of Forgiveness in The Red Kayak “Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.” - Susan Somers. It is very important to forgive because it is something done as a gift for oneself, not for the person being forgiven. Forgiveness is a very important theme in the novel, The Red Kayak by Priscilla Cummings. First, the theme of forgiveness is shown through the conflict between the D’Angelos, JT, and Digger. The D’Angelos need to forgive the boys for drilling holes in the kayak, essentially killing Ben, because JT and Digger received a punishment.
His along with Bevel’s naivety lead them to misinterpret Christian faith, leading to their deaths. Being Norton’s influence, Rufus displays a strong faith, from his appearance to his speech and actions. Rufus’s club foot symbolises his ticket into heaven and his identity. His club foot makes him ‘lame,’ so no matter what evil deeds he performs, he will be ‘saved’ because ‘ “the lame shall enter first” ’ (480). Also on page 469, ‘Johnson was as touchy about the foot as if it were a sacred object.’ showing Rufus’s understanding that he needs the foot to get into heaven and be ‘saved.’ He identifies himself through his foot for the same reasons.
A Reality Check With the use of symbolism, Aldous Huxley creates a beautiful novel that in essence warns his audience of the future. Huxley’s clever use of symbols in the Brave New World, is often apparent, but just as often, they are deeper and less apparent. With his satirical references to sex, drugs, technology and the naming of his characters, Huxley relates his novel back to his readers and their future. Without recognizing these symbols, the readers could find this novel confusing and ridiculous; but with each symbolic object and person comes a clearer picture of what Huxley us really trying to convey. When reading the Brave New World, the sexual references are often the first things that stand out to the audience.
Voltaire was a leader in the Enlightenment Era. He thought the established religion, Christianity, to be a total hypocrisy after witnessing the many wars and deaths in the name of religious tradition. A rational religion based on inate morality from the natural laws of God and reason was Voltaire's premise. Einstein furthered the cause from a reason to a science and presented facts and theories as his defense. This same reliance on the scientific community opened the door for the invention of the atomic bomb which led him to a higher moral dilemma.
By being a different race, worshipping another religion, or by looking a different way, people are raised to be culturally accepting of others. Being born into a place such as Waknuk, people are raised into believing there is only “one true image” of God. David Strorm lives his life in fear, too worried to tell his religious parents about his telepathic powers. “The ways of the world were very puzzling,” (Wyndham, 14). Many would argue that the people of Waknuk are very judgemental in the way they view others but who are we to criticize when we are no different.
The play Tartuffe features a lot of interesting dynamics that directly challenge the French government and church. The satire that is used during the play certainly mocks the control the French Church had over its citizens. This play reminds me of what I learned in philosophy on the divine command theory. It basically states that the actions people do is because of their religion and what a high ranking religious official says. People are unable to think for themselves without being guided by a religion based decision.
He had many more points that just charity and consistency, and they were all very important, but I thought these two were the most interesting and most controversial within today’s society. Emerson’s view on anti-religion is also a strong subject that is viewed down upon by most people. Emerson felt the Christian religion dampened the spirit rather than bringing it up. Although Emerson was against religion in some ways, he still mentions God and a “higher power” throughout his essay, so it shows that he does believe in some form of higher power. Hitchens is very anti-religious and is a well-known atheist.
Final Draft 9 December 2013 A Truth Behind the Story In the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Pi tells two stories, which depicts his real experiences versus a fictitious story that he thinks people might believe. Pi is placed in a life or death situation, which tests his faith and morality. Pi, who believes in three religions, develops a sense of morality and kindness towards all living things. However when he is faced with death, he abandons his morality in order to survive. When asked by insurance investigators what events happened while he was on his journey, Pi describes an awe inspiring, extraordinary story in which he finds himself stranded on a lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a tiger named Richard Parker.
Faith in God is easily converted into superstition amongst the ignorance of the uneducated. Juxtaposed to this, Mompellion adhered to religious belief and had to research and inquired thoroughly yet he still found God a “poor listener” . In the novel there is an obvious ambivalence in his ability to encourage the people to have faith in their time of crises but then not be able to deal with his own hardship. It is seen that the educated and observant are the best equipped to emancipate themselves from the confines of the societal
This means that do we do good things because God says is good or do we do good things so than God says that it is good. Another argument I am going to examine, is for the statement, and it is an argument based on a group of people called Anti-Theists. They don’t believe in God, so they agree with the statement. However, Anti-Theists like Richard Dawkins say that anyone who believes in religion or in a god is an extremist and it clouds and distorts your view on morality. The next argument that I am going to examine is what some people in the world think, but it is based around Cultural Relativists, who say that if morality was decided for by God then he could say one day to murder somebody and it would be fine.