The Commander is quite a complex character, as he can be seen as a man unable to decide between two worlds. On one hand, he was one of the founders of Gilead and is a pivotal figure in the regime, and yet he still enjoys and yearns for the pleasures of the old society he managed to break. This results in varied presentations of the Commander throughout the novel. You could say that the Commander has made his bed and he must lie in it, as he has helped create this society. He shows various signs of rebellion during the novel, predominatly the frequent rendezvous and general rule-breaking with Offred.
Unfortunately this was not really possible in the 1930s, as people were prejudiced against the mentally handicapped, such as Lennie, and the Wall Street Crash, followed by the Great Depression, meant that the characters could suddenly end up unemployed and starving. George had two dreams, one was the stereotypical American Dream: to have his own farm with Lennie (and Candy) and ‘live off the fatta the lan’,’ without a boss to answer to. His other fantasy is of life without Lennie, who often caused him trouble and constantly needed looking after, ’I never get no peace.’ Without Lennie, George could be like any other worker, only looking out for himself and not caring as much about the way he leads his life. However, George needed Lennie for companionship to help make their joint dream vivid and keep them going. This also links to the theme of loneliness and companionship, and shows how two men travelling together was a rare situation.
I picked this theme because in the beginning of the story Edmond Dates, a prisoner, is a sad lonely man that wants to die because he has no other prisoner to talk to and he has no hope for getting out of jail. For example in paragraph 9 it says, “Edmond listened, and the sound became more and more distinct.” And then in paragraph
GREAT EXPECTATIONS FINAL ESSAY Love is one of the main themes in ‘Great Expectations’. How does Pip’s search for love play a role in his becoming of a gentleman? It doesn’t matter what kind of love it is, there is always some around. Pip links the ideals of the role of a lover and of a gentleman and presents both of these functions by including a lot of different characters that confuse him and also change him. We find him in many contrasting situations where he is mystified between the two ideas that he has grown up with and ends up going off into a different direction to the one he was supposed to follow, and somehow he always ends up being alone.
Throughout the book we are introduced to many characters that display loneliness and isolation, some more than others. Loneliness and isolation haunts most of the characters throughout the entire book. Furthermore, during the Great Depression, food prices and items increased making it more difficult to get hold of a job at the time. In some cases people would not get work at all, which is why some characters in Of Mice and Men found themselves in a very lonely and isolated environment. In Of Mice and Men, racism is displayed upon the negro on the farm.
Loneliness is a basic part of human life. Everyone becomes lonely once in a while but in Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, he illustrates the loneliness of ranch life in the early 1930's and shows how people are driven to try and find friendship in order to escape from loneliness. Steinbeck creates a lonely and blue atmosphere at many times in the book. He uses names and words such as the town near the ranch called "Soledad", which means loneliness and the card game "Solitaire" Which means by oneself. He makes it clear that all the men on the ranch are lonely, with particular people lonelier than others.
He often enjoys seeing Cohn defeated by Mike, who is also jealous of Cohn. He mentions his feelings toward Cohn that, “I have never seen a man in civil life as nervous as Robert Cohn—nor as eager. I was enjoying it. It was lousy to enjoy it, but I felt lousy” (Hemingway 104). However, he later feels guilty, reflecting on what he felt toward Cohn, and says, “That was morality; things that made you disgusted afterward.
Although his actions are very insane, they can be seen as rational to reader considering hedonism. Devotion to pleasure, hedonism, makes Dorian be deceitful about his true self by deflecting the attention of the public from the mad man to the beautiful and intelligent gentlemen. Dorian is, young, sensitive, and emotional, meaning that he is susceptible to manipulation. Lord Henry takes advantage of that opportunity and gives Dorian the yellow book; this book opens up the world of hedonism and aestheticism which eventually turns his young life into an eternal oblivion of misery. Dorian develops a fear of aging so he tries to live his life as if it was his last day on earth.
Later in their friendship, we start to see that Lord Henry is merely stirring thoughts that Dorian already had inside of himself and was just afraid to let them be known. Lord Henry is also the person that leads Dorian into his New Hedonistic ways. It’s relevant that Dorian becomes aware of the new Hedonism in chapter 2 when Lord Henry says, “No, you don’t feel it now…there is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!” Dorian starts to realize that he is a good-looking man and he should start to take advantage of it. Dorian Gray’s eyes become further open to the New Hedonism when Lord Henry begins to say that the only good thing to do is seek out the pleasures in life and to not live by morality. One should do what ever one thinks feels is good.
On page 62, Beatty says, “Don’t let the torrent of melancholy and drear philosophy drown our world.” Using words such as “drear” and “torrent” makes Bradbury’s diction distinguishable from other authors, while also being captivating. Also, his regular use of contradictions to show conflicting emotions is fascinating. For example, in Something Wicked This Way Comes, the father of a protagonist was debating whether or not he should follow his son, thinking to himself. “I’ll go there, thought Charles Halloway, I won’t go there. I like it, he thought, I don’t like it…Charles Halloway saw but chose not to see,” it says on page 41.