Both stories depict extreme utilitarian societies and explore universal themes of freedom and equality while posing questions about the use of suppression, ignorance, and apathy to maintain their societies. In “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” Le Guin represents a peaceful society to the extreme with no monarchy, police, slaves, or war. How do the people of Omelas live in peace and complete freedom with no government regulations? In order for this joy, harmony, and liberty to flourish, a nameless innocent child must sit alone suffering in a
Walden and Civil Disobedience 1. Thoreau was very descriptive in his essays and that allows for a bigger impact on his audience. In Walden, he uses a metaphor, saying he “wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.” What he’s saying is that in living as part of a society, you don’t get as much out of life than you would should you be living deliberately on your own. When Thoreau lived a normal life inside society, he found himself unsatisfied and uncontent. In this case, those are admirable characteristics of a man.
This is my explanation or analysis of Ascher’s thesis taken from “Understanding ‘The Box Man’” without any attribution or sourcing.] The Box Man‘s acceptance of his loneliness and reliance on the solace that comes from looking within and outward through the imagination shows a way of dealing with this estrangement. This “life of the mind” can be achieved by living a simple and creative life. She urges us to simplify our lives and leave “pasture enough for imagination” and also to be free from clutter. [This is one of the best summaries of what the essay is actually about any student ever wrote.]
“I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul” (Henley). In Ayn Rand’s novella, Anthem, Prometheus’ society deems “the best in him” as evildoing, but Prometheus soon comes to the realization that this “sin” is in fact a virtue and that no other person can control him or his fate. Sin in the Anthem society is a broad thing, and is rather easy to commit. In this society, one mustn’t put ink to paper and write something that no other brother can see (Rand 17). Prometheus, who is known as Equality 7-2521 for the majority of the novella, keeps a journal and writes his feelings and ideas, and this is completely illegal in the society.
Mraz’s background full of conservative and environmentally aware actions supports his view on the world and how we are destroying it. “I’m just a man/ is that all I am/ are my manners misinterpreted words or only human?”(ll.4-5) As society continues to live with the excuse of being “only human”, we go on with living lives with no real achievement. Mraz further illustrates that being “just a man” (l.4), can mean so much more. By using fictional scenes, Mraz, demonstrates our withering relationship with the world, due to our and how that will come to affect us. Although Mraz’s diction is rather bland, he uses it to contribute to the description of the concerned picture he paints in the listeners minds with his
The ending of the novel is significant in showing how the society is unable to comprehend the severity of evil and darkness, it is ended with a very mistaken view, where the officer compared the ordeal of the boys had to go through with a popular book Coral Island, which is a novel featuring an exciting adventure of the 3 stranded boys. Firstly, it shows us that adults are not as wonderful and knowledgeable as the boys deem them to be. Throughout the novel, adults were portrayed as people who knew the solution to every problem, and people who were wise and logical. "Grownups know things," said Piggy. "They ain't afraid of the dark.
Fromm starts off by suggesting that man's nature of being excessively obedient may bring an end to the world we're living in; From states “ human history began with an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience” (Fromm, paragraph 2). Fromm suggestion isn’t a coincidence, in fact in “Obedience” by Ian Parker, Parker reveals that “people tend to do things because of where they are, not who they are […]” (Parker, 385). This quote leads us to the Asch experiment described in “Opinions and Social Pressure” by Asch. The Asch Experiment results are interesting and show that peer pressure can have a measurable influence on the answers given by an individual. So individuals become obedient because of the pressure they’re facing from the environment they’re in.
Emerson and Thoreau agree that in the transition from childhood to adulthood, man restricts original thoughts and actions so that he may be accepted by others, which impedes his individual growth. In Emerson’s essay “Self Reliance,” he considers that “A boy is in the parlour what the pits is in his playhouse; independent, irresponsible ... He cumbers himself never about consequences, about interests: he gives an independent, genuine verdict.” Emerson emphasizes that a child does what he desires and freely speaks what’s on his mind without consideration of consequences. Emerson admires such genuine actions because they express uninhibited and uninfluenced original thought which is critical to a person’s development as a unique individual. In contrast, Emerson deems that “man is, as it were, clapped into jail by his consciousness; as soon as he has once acted with éclat, he is a committed person.” As man matures into adulthood, he begins to take into account others’ opinions, conforming to how he should think and act in society so that he may gain the approval of his peers, and through this, he loses his own inner voice and his uniqueness which defines him … metaphorically, he is "jailed.” Emerson believes that successful men are those,
We could also infer from this that Lord Illingworth is trying to shape or teach his son to become a version of himself, he behaves very vicariously. Throughout the play Wilde uses Lord Illingworth as a tool to provoke carious reactions from the audience. The first of these can be said to be admiration of his unsurpassable wit and popularity. However these tones of appreciation soon begin to sour and turn to notions of repulse. I feel Wilde did this to express how easily people can lose their highly regarded reputation; this is the social message throughout the play as Lord Illingworth becomes ‘a man of no importance’.
It is very clear he is an educated and lucid man from his writing, and at first, it is natural to feel sorry for him – he has no home, and nothing to call his own, except his dog, Lizbeth, who it is clear he loves very much. However, as his story progresses, it is quite clear he is not looking for pity. He is simply sharing the tips and tricks of his trade, as any other worker would do. He does not want the reader to feel sorry for him, he simply wants them to understand what it is he does, and why. He makes Dumpster diving seem somewhat exciting and mysterious, rather than sleazy and disgusting.