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 reason Miller chose the subject of false accusation is most likely because the people of his generation accused him of involvement with the Communist party which was analogous to what witchcraft would have been in the late seventeenth century. Based entirely on the Salem witch trials, The Crucible does a superb job of turning that devastating time period into an entertaining yet tragic play. Arthur Miller, born on October 17, 1915, in New York City, was a famous American playwright who composed many literary masterpieces. Born into a wealthy family, Miller was accustomed to having whatever he desired, that is, until the Great Depression caused his family to go bankrupt. During this time of uncertainty, Miller worked several jobs to earn enough money to pay for his college.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, is a failed attempt to write a purely “Gonzo” style novel. The “Gonzo” style of journalism is supposed to be live- action journalism, one in which the author gets involved with the story. The author is there, living and breathing, not just commenting on the situation. Hunter S. Thompson, may have failed to write a Gonzo style novel, but this failure was overcome by his having penned a work that helped to define a lost generation. Hunter S. Thompson’s disestablishmentarian views on the government, the negative nature of human interaction, and his effect on society shaped him into an icon for disenfranchised youths, and a legend for many people around the world.
In the 1960’s a group of psychiatrists’ formed the anti-psychiatry movement and stated that psychiatry had no validity. Psychiatrists like Thomas Szasz put forward the idea that mental illness did not exist and that people were struggling to make sense of a mad world and another psychiatrist called Ronal Lain put forward an idea which suggested that a person’s mother makes them mentally ill. In 1973 David Rosenhan conducted an experiment into the validity of psychiatric diagnosis. This study was conducted in two parts. First Rosenhan sent a number of healthy pseudo patients to 12 different mental institutes undercover.
The novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and the 2002 movie Equilibrium directed by Kurt Wimmer, are in fact, perfect examples of this. Both the book and the movie, use censorship to illustrate a utopian society gone wrong, or in other words, dystopia, in which thinking and feeling are executional crimes. The novel Fahrenheit 451 and movie Equilibrium have comparable characters, themes and settings, and both conclude that forced utopian societies always fail, and that unfortunately there is no “perfect world”. First of all, a comparison can be made between the protagonists, antagonists and secondary characters of the novel and movie. These characters
The debate of whether or not Nabokov's novel is in fact anti-American can be, to an extent, attributed to our perceptions of Humbert. Some observers would argue that Humbert, as a Swiss citizen but of French-Austrian descent, is representative of the Old Europe, a traveler who corrupts the American Dream through his entrapment, possession, rape and coercion of Dolores. In this instance Dolores represents the American Dream through her youth, innocence (although this itself has been vociferously debated) and slavish love to all modern conveniences. Critics might also suggest that Humbert's savage criticism of Americana through his derision of Dolores is a further sleight on the land of the free. However, Humbert's lyrical rapture over the great American landscape (as well its the banal motels) suggest there is more than just a passing affection for America.
December 2, 2010 Killing the Savage By Reluctant Materialist What we need now is another Aldous Huxley. Most people know Huxley for his psychedelic drug influenced writings. But recent events have me thinking of his 1932 novel “Brave New World,” in which he observed the hazardous effects of materialism and promiscuity, and offered a solution: exercise chastity and don’t be materialistic. “Feeling lurks,” he threatened ironically, “in that interval of time between desire and its consumption.” O.K., in reality promiscuity and materialism haven’t hit us as hard as in “Brave New World”, but they’re here — and the rate of divorce is only 50%, it’s not an obscenity…yet. But only a satirist — and one with a very savage pen — could do justice to what’s happening to the modern world now.
Abstract This essay seeks to overturn Kyle Baker’s claim that he represented the “true” character and “true” story of Nat Turner in his graphic novel Nat Baker. This essay first briefly examines the famous novel The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron, that is based on the same source as Baker’s graphic novel. This essay explores the techniques that made this novel controversial, and questions why this novel was more highly criticized than Baker’s graphic novel. Through a general explanation of the difficulties of interpreting history, one learns that it is truly impossible to depict history in a full, unbiased, honest form. Daniel S. Fabricant explains in “Thomas R. Gray and William Styron: Finally, A Critical look at the 1831 Confessions of Nat Turner” the various reasons as to why many, such as Baker, have trusted Gray’s document as well as why Gray’s document needs to be questioned.
"What is inaccurate, misleading, and merely tiresome is for modern writers to declare flatly that Richard is guilty or to retail as fact the outworn tale of Thomas More." (Kendall 2002, p 495) It cannot be escaped that Richard the Third remains the prime suspect in the mystery concerning the fate of Edward IV's young sons, Prince Edward and Prince Richard. His guilt came first from the insinuation of rumour and then became sensationalised by the pen of Sir Thomas More in his writing of Richard the Third's Biography. There are two significant reasons for Kendall holding More's work in such contempt, the first being that More wrote his account under pressure from the officious, almost paranoid rule of Henry VII, the first Tudor King who, in
Reading Psychology 26.4-5 (2005): 441-58. Print. Sternadori, Miglena M., and Thorson, Esther. “Anonymous Sources Harm Credibility of All Stories.” Newspaper Research Journal. 30.4 (2009): 54-66.