Oh Ken Kesey, You’re Cuckoo. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, with its meaningful message of individualism, was an extremely influential novel during the 1960's. In addition, its author, Ken Kesey, played a significant role in the development of the counterculture of the 60's; this included all individuals who did not conform to society's standards, experimented in drugs, and just lived their lives in an unconventional manner. An issue of Time Magazine during this decade recalled Ken Kesey’s novel to be, “A roar of protest against middle brow society’s rules and the invisible rulers who enforce them.” (Lehmann-Haup) This protest would be the main mind set of the upcoming 1970s generation in America. Once an LSD consumer, Ken Kesey, defines the importance of freedom throughout his world renowned Post-Modern novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
The Rattlesnake as a Symbol of America 1751 Benjamin Franklin is famous for his sense of humor. In 1751, he wrote a satirical commentary in his Pennsylvania Gazette suggesting that as a way to thank the British for their policy of sending convicted felons (Georgia colonists) to America; American colonists should send rattlesnakes to England. 1754 Three years later, in 1754, Franklin used a snake to illustrate another point. This time he used it in a not so humorous context. Franklin sketched, carved, and published the first known political cartoon in an American newspaper.
In January of 1930, the “Times” ran a story about Americans suffering from “mass suggestion” (698). The media tried to encourage Americans that the Parrot Fever was a hoax. It was stated that it was just a bad “heebie-jeebies” (698). The 1930’s was a very harsh time for the United States. To escape the harsh realities the press turned this “man killing disease” into a joke.
One of Vonnegut's best techniques in his stories is using the future as a setting to demonstrate where our world is heading. Welcome to the Monkey House, Vonnegut's popular collection of short stories, contains two such stories. They warn of the dangers of a government with too much power and show how these powers can corrupt good men. The title story of Welcome to the Monkey House is set in a futuristic America with vast overpopulation. In an effort to solve the population problem, the government required that every citizen take pills that made them numb from the waist down, taking all pleasure out of sex.
It was this point that caused much of the contention and caused his wife to continue her crusade to have her husband freed from life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. One of the main issues of contention is that the press was freed from censorship, which caused the press to exaggerate the initial story. It should also be noted that many of the news publication had anti Semitic feelings and were using the fact that Dreyfus was Jewish to bolster the anti Semitic agenda. Edouard Drumont used his publication La Libre Parole to pressure the army and hasten the trial of Dreyfus . It is clear that the press was using the Dreyfus trial to their advantage by circulating false information to get support and profit from the rapid selling of newspapers.
One of the most famous, Abel Gance’s J’accuse (whose title echoes the notorious Dreyfus affair of 1894) appeared in 1919. It was made near the end of the war with the assistance of the French army. Gance was influenced by his own front-line experiences as an official cinematographer and the deaths of his many friends in combat. The film includes a
John Knox Anastacio, McCord 11-19-10 Humanities 1-2 The Everlasting Drug War Throughout history the poppy flower has been considered to be a gift from God. Once the 19th century arrived, scientists discovered Morphine and Heroin. Morphine and Heroin were scientific miracles at the time, but later became a curse on America. Soldiers during the Civil War did not have the medication needed in order to survive. Morphine allowed doctors to perform surgery on injured soldiers and not just amputate their body parts.
His first experiment was on the diseases syphilis. Syphilis could be spread through sexual contact. In 1905 Prussian scientist Fritz Schaudinn identified syphilis is caused by protozoa. The hard work of Paul Enrlich and Gerhard Domagk discovered a red dye called Prontosil which has a compound called sulphanilamide was effective against syphilis protozoa and later discovered related compounds called sulpha drugs. Alexander Fleming was sick of the way World War wounds were treated.
Poppies were also associated with sleep (opium being a poppy derivate) and McCrae, being a doctor, would have been conscious of this: the idea of sleeping under the poppies is revived in the last lines. * “We are the dead.”: the poem turns, surprisingly, to the dead, who are given voice by the poet. This is a powerful and emotive turn, a direct address of the living by the fallen. * “In the sky, the larks”: these birds, traditional poetic symbols of natural beauty and freedom, contrast strongly with the world below. As often, nature provides an idealized backdrop to the war that provides a contrast with man’s immoral
1919-The year of Savage Peace The year 1818 was the year of ‘savage peace’ even though the world thought that the United States was a peaceful and prosperous nation. There were many reasons it was considered ‘savage’. People were fearful of communism. Terrorists’ bombs were exploding on the doorstep of the U S Attorney Generals Office, J. Edgar Hoover had just established the ‘FBI’ which was initially used to spy on suspicious people, and the League of Nations failed among other things that went wrong. One problem that caught my eye was the Spanish Flu pandemic that killed so many during that time.