Everyday Jerry had stared at them, taking it all in, until one day at the bus stop he is confronted by one of the “hippies.” They question Jerry about why he stares and then the “hippie” becomes very annoyed which makes him refer to Jerry’s life as being more boring than his own. “You know whose subhuman, man? You. You are…square boy. Middle-aged at fourteen, fifteen.
One theme of "Bartleby, the Scrivener" is Dehumanization associated with work. In this essay, I will explain how various Story Elements serve to express this theme in the story; and how this theme relates to my own experiences. The story is narrated by a lawyer who is described to be an eminently safe man. The narrator's office is described to be incredibly bleak and the way he portrays the Wall Street is completely unnatural. He claims a brick-wall outside office chambers to be black for ages which signifies that the place has not come to light for ages (p. 102).
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place –Ernest Hemingway What do people do when their lives seem to be empty and meaningless? In this short story by Ernest Hemingway, an old man gets drunk late every night in a clean well lit café to avoid the emptiness he feels. Two waiters of different ages discuss the condition of this old man. Meanwhile a soldier and a girl passed by the street in a rush. The young waiter is in a hurry to go home to his wife and is repulsed by the old and meaningless life of the old man.
I admit that my hair was wild and knotted, because I used my finger to brush it, and there was a lot of holes and stains on my clothes. Every day out there, I had to struggle just to find something as simple as food, and if I didn’t find, I eat from the trash cans. That time there was a lot of fights in the location of the trash, you know, with other homeless people, They are just like me, they walk around all day long, thinking how to survive just one day. Sitting in the streets begging for money, while the people passing by looking at you like you is some sort of an animal. But I didn’t hope that a passerby would offer me a hand, that would be a waste of my valuable time.
Both the poems ‘The hunchback in the park’ and ‘The clown punk’, represent an isolated and indigent central figure. In ‘The hunchback in the park’ the central figure seems to have a life lacking in guidance, drifting around in the local park ‘from the opening... until the sunday sombre bell at dark’ he is represented as very poor ‘eating bread from a newspaper’ he doesnt seem to have the money to eat properly. Perchance Thomas is trying to display the Hunchback as a man who has tried and failed to be part of a movement. In ‘clown punk’ the central figure is a old punk, who also seems to wander around town, ‘three times out of ten you’ll see the town clown’. Its as though he has no purpose in life anymore and so spends his time wandering.
It is a melancholy object to those who walk through the magazine aisle of their local grocery store to be constantly shown images of the ideal women and men, and then to be thrust into the real world where these toned and slender beings do not often walk. These grocery store men and women are sent into a world of oversized non models that are an eye sore to everyone that must gaze upon them. I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of ugly people is in the present deplorable state of the nation a very great additional grievance; and therefore, whoever could find a fit, cheap, and easy method of making these monstrosities, the now seemingly average sized men or women, useful and more appealing members of the commonwealth even when compared to the
He constantly looks down at his attire to respectful admire it. It states he has “new black clothes” (300) and a “little silver watch” (301). This gives us the idea this is not what Jack normally wears. To help prove the point, the story also states that his “face was reddened from many days in the sun and wind” suggesting he wore work clothes daily and not suits or good new clothes. The next section starts the scene out in the ‘Weary Gentlemen saloon’ with the drummer.
Morgan helps to create a deeper understanding of the theme of isolation though use of poetic techniques such as imagery and sentence structure. The narrator encounters the old man at the start of the poem by chance and it is clear right away that he is isolated. “A cup capsizes along the formica, Slithering with a dull clatter. A few heads turn in the crowded evening snack bar.” The only reason the narrator’ attention has been drawn to this old man is because of this sudden noise which is shown by the onomatopoeia “clatter” and reflected in the alliteration of the “c” sound in “cup capsizes”. Nothing of particular importance has occurred; most people in the bar would not have even looked round, only a “few heads.” This shows however that the man is isolated as even a loud noise does not cause people to take notice.
No one suspects this man to be a coldblooded hammer murderer but there are some places where we get a small hint of something breaking the peaceful atmosphere. When the man visits the flower vendor to purchase some flowers for Norma there is a disturbing noise coming from the radio broadcasting all these horrible and sad news. This element of the radio is not noticed by anyone else, but the man buying the flowers. As he passes by the flower stall the radio quietly fades away in the distance and the setting changes. The man is going throughout the streets with his mind on meeting Norma but the atmosphere darkens as he progresses.
Characters rail against their poverty. Lenehan in "Two Gallants" sees no future for himself, and sits down to a miserable supper consisting only of peas and ginger beer. Farrington of "Counterparts" stays in a hateful job because he has no other options. His misery is such that he ends up spending far more than he can afford on booze. We catch glimpses of slums, as in "An Encounter," when the two young schoolboys see poor children without fully comprehending what their ragged clothes imply about the small children's home conditions and prospects in life.