...“Loss of Innocence” Innocence is like a tiny flower that fills the eye with their beauty and uniqueness, but in turn, can be destroyed with a simple gust of wind. Strong social problems like racism and rape are among the causes of the destruction of the absence of evil, innocence. Myop is a girl who plays the protagonist role in the story The Flowers. This story was written by Alice Walker. This story is a vivid example of the consequences of racism and how it can affect the life of an innocent girl. In addition to racism, rape is another compelling reason that destroys innocence and leaves marked the history of any person subject to this abuse (White). The story "The Answer Is No" by Naguib Mahfouz tells how a rape victim can be marked forever. Children are the first victims when we speak of racism and rape because they lack the means to defend themselves. They are easy prey for people without a soul with any clear sense of decency and humanity (Crosson-Tower). Racism has become the flagship of empires and nations, to justify their anger against those who are different. The changes we have recently experienced worldwide, this new era of globalization has meant that entire towns revive feelings of nationalism, unfortunately the wrong way. Because of its ambitious leaders with power, these feelings of nationalism have been driven by anger, hatred, intolerance and violence (Dain). The Flowers story is about a girl who is a victim of racism indirectly. Myop is a happy girl, who...
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...Loss of Innocence (A true story, to help others) By: L. Shields Many times, I wondered why I was the way I was with men and I decided to write this story to help others who may think they are alone. I was very young when my life began to change with men. At the age of four, my male baby sitter did something that would change my life forever. He raped me and touched me in a way that an “adult” should never touch a child. He took something away from me, that night. And, when my parents did nothing that was even worse than what he had done. I didn’t know at that age why my parents, who were supposed to protect me, did nothing. I learned as an adult, that the boy’s father had passed away and that is why my parents didn’t do anything. Even though, that was not a good reason and they should have protected me, I have forgiven my babysitter. About a year or so later, my father started to do things to me that no father should ever do. He molested me and once again took more away from me. This time, I thought it was something that I’d done to deserve this sort of treatment from him. He said, “You’re my special little girl.” Of course to a young girl, that sends all type of mixed signals and causes her to feel different about her daddy. This sort of thing went on until I was 10 years old; every night that my father would come into my room, he would do the same thing. All this time, no one knew about it. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was also doing the same to...
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...Memory is the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information. An example used to describe memory in this video is about a girl who is exhausted and rushing to get home from work. During her drive home, the driver of a fruit truck was pushed down by a shadow figure who ran off with a crate of bananas. Bernice, the girl who saw while stopped at a stop sign, called the police and described this man; a few days later, she was asked to come back to the police station to identify him. At his trial, a memory expert was called to the stand and helped him prove his innocence. Humans have different types of memory such as implicit memory, which is how to walk or ride a bike, and explicit memories, which is based off of personal experiences...
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...Throughout the novel The Outsiders, Ponyboy Curtis probably changes more throughout the course of the Outsiders than any other character. Ponyboy’s innocence plays a major part of the novel. In the course of the novel Ponyboy matures and feels many different types of feelings in certain events. One example of this is when Johnny and him saved the kids from the burning church and were part heroes part criminals. In this example Ponyboy’s actions describe how he is maturing and how he is witnessing important events unfold in the book. Towards the start of the Outsiders Ponyboy is an intelligent young teen, who is part of the track team. Although, he lacks the perspective to understand everyone around him. This means he can only see his part of the story and fails to see why others act the way they do. One example of this is how Darry, Ponyboy’s older brother, is always treating him bad. Ponyboy is constantly always thinking about how Darry bully’s him and is mean to him for no reason. Also,...
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...He is also convinced that, during the trial, there will be enough evidence to prove Justine's innocence. So Frankenstein takes the decision to keep the secret and relies on the others. Then, when Justine is designated as the murderer, Frankenstein feels bad about the situation, but still doesn't say anything. In chapter 8, Victor sais : ''A thousand time rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine ; but I was absent when it was committed, and such a decleration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman, and would not have excultpated her who suffered through me''. Through this statement, Victor affirms he would have confessed himself guilty but he is defending himself by saying that he was absent during the events and that people would take him for crazy if he told the truth. But Victor had several...
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...Loss of Innocence Ones loss of innocence can be over time or lost by an abrupt choice. In the two books Fahrenheit 451 and Catcher in the Rye both characters lose their innocence over time by the choices they make. Guy Montag the main character in F451 loses his innocence over time by collecting books without even knowing which is against the system he lives in. Holden Caulfield also loses his innocence over time by growing up into an adult and tries to save children’s innocence throughout the book. Even though ones loss of innocence can be made by an abrupt choice, ones loss of innocence in these two books is a gradual experience. The concept of innocence is one that is applied to childhood. Children, for example, are innocent because they have not been tainted by the idea that the world is not as it seems to be. But, as children grow up and mature fully into adults, the loss of this pure quality of innocence begins to be noticed in a person’s life. As this awareness comes forth, it shows that life is not always easy, it is complicated and there will be tough moral decisions that have to be made. Holden Caulfield the main character of Catcher in the Rye wants to preserve innocence so he dedicates his life to protecting childhood innocence. In Chapter two Mr. Spencer tells Holden, “Life is game that one plays according to the rules”. Holden does not believe that life is a game he believes that life is dictated by adults. These adults are phony and cruel and he does not...
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...It includes the crudely drawn mockingbird motif seen on promotional posters, that is torn and ripped apart, foreshadowing the racial divisions within the town and the tearing apart of Scout’s innocence. This loss of innocence is also explored through the subplot surrounding Boo Radley. One of the primary themes in the film is loss of innocence. As the events of the film unfold, Scout loses her childhood ignorance and become aware of the divide between good and evil and empathy for others. Through the events of Tom Robinson’s trial and her empathy for Boo Radley, Scout comes to understand the advice Atticus gave her about not fully understanding a person ‘until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.’ A Variety movie review describes the Finch children’s coming of age as the move from ‘the realm of wild childhood fantasy to the horizon of maturity, responsibility, compassion and social...
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...In the book, Phineas and Leper go through many different experiences. These experiences cause both Phineas and Leper to lose a lot of their innocence. An example of this was when Phineas learned that the war was actually real, and when he learns to accept the things he cannot change and see the world as it is, not as the perfect world he wants it to be. On the other hand, when Leper joins the army he goes psycho because the world outside of Devon is too much for him. But he overcomes this and becomes more stable as the story goes on. Phineas and Leper's experiences are because of their loss of innocence and their childhood, but also because they are becoming more mature. Phineas goes through several mind-changing events throughout the novel, but the event that was greater than the rest from childhood is the acceptance that Gene shook Phineas out...
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...Elie Wiesel’s Loss of Innocence There comes a time in one’s life where a tragic event results in the loss of innocence and an increase in knowledge. Unfortunately this is one of life’s few promises. Some experience this ablution a lot sooner than they should. In children who survived the holocaust in concentration camps, their innocence was taken as soon as their ordinary everyday life was imposed upon by the Nazis. In Elie Wiesel’s book Night, he describes himself as an innocent teenager, a child whose innocence was taken from him as the result of the nefariousness performed by the Nazis in World War Two. Elie and his family were transported to Birkenau where his family was torn apart, leaving him with his father, his sisters and his mother. Once they were separated, he began to slowly lose his innocence. Towards the end of 1941, in the small village of Sighet, Hungary, twelve-year-old Elie Wiesel spent most of his time studying the Talmud. Elie was one of four children born to his mother and father. Hilda was the eldest, then Bea, he was the third, and Tzipora was the youngest. The two eldest sisters helped the parents run the family store while Elie stayed home to study. Elie was very passionate about the theology of his religion, Judaism. He studied Talmud by day and by night he would go to the synagogue to pray. One of his main interests was Kabbalah which is an aspect of Jewish mysticism. Elie asked his father to find him a master to guide him in his...
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...island, the more innocence they get taken from them. For instance, the first time that Jack tried to hunt, he stares at the pig holding a knife over him. Jack couldn't find it in himself to kill the pig which led to it get away. Later in the novel, Jack finds pleasure in the killing’s and even chants “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”(Golding 218). Jack chanting this is a symbol of his loss of innocence....
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...We Can Change “Dreams of innocence are just that; they usually depend on the denial of reality that can be its own form of hubris” - Michael Pollan. In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, innocence plays a very big part during the novel. Its story is told in the eyes of a six year old girl, Jean Louise, who calls herself Scout in the town of Maycomb during the 1930’s. Along Scout’s journey is her brother, Jem, and her summer lover, Dill, who try to face a supposed psychotic neighbor, a crazy dog, an old rude lady, and a life changing trial in the span of three years. To Kill A Mockingbird is Scout growing up and experiencing the loss of innocence while seeing it happen among Jem and her father, Atticus. Although Atticus is an adult, he experiences the loss of innocence just like any growing...
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...In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee expresses the way in which children lose their innocence due to many adult conflicts that introduce them to the terrible, real world, forcing them to grow up. The author demonstrates growth and understanding of the impure society in comparison to that of a child's naive, unadulterated and perfect world. The harsh reality of Maycomb becomes more evident to minors as they encounter surprising occurrences in their neighborhood. After a child from school makes a big deal about Atticus' case, Scout comes home to Atticus and he explains that , “ . . . we are fighting our friends . . . they’re still our friends” (102). Because of this, she realizes and accepts Tom's case will affect her family in a negative way....
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...Beginning with, the creature Grendel show a large amount of vulnerability, which helps the reader see how decent of a being he is. This is believed to be so for one simple reason: why should an evil entity have curiosity and be vulnerable or susceptible to any kind of harm? For example, most stories of demons or other injurious personas are believed to be immortal. Hence, most are left unscathed and uninfluenced after any attempt at contact from a human force or natural force. However, Grendel is highly susceptible to the forces of nature, humans, and animals around him. As an illustration of this, on pages eighteen through twenty-eight. In these pages, Grendel is made not only frightened, but injured by the world around him. This begins with his foot, toe, and toenail getting trapped between two conjoining trees. Following this, Grendel is met by a bull who repeatedly attempts to hit the tree, an effort made to throw him out of it. This was because Grendel was roaming towards the bull’s territory. Unfortunately for Grendel, this severed a small part of his leg. Eventually, the wound heals. However, in the meantime it does cause Grendel pain. More so, Grendel is met by humans promptly following the bull incident. Frightened, he tried not to move or speak. Grendel also conformed to their temporary ideas of his spiritual godliness. However, the humans soon feared him, as he screamed the word “pig,” on page twenty-seven. At this, they threw an ax towards Grendel, lightly cutting...
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...Finally, the absence of the beast's adolescence builds sensitivity since it has brought about him wretchedness. The creature has needed to figure out how to survive in solitude on the grounds that nobody assumed liability of him. Victor never gave the creature an adolescence however relinquished him from birth so in this manner demonstrates no family duty, for instance the absence of a name. Victor likewise needs in good obligation since he needed to murder a living being that he had made. This is ethically wrong, however Victor holds on in telling the creature that he is undesirable and shouldn't be alive. We are enabled to identify with the beast due to Victor's activities. During childbirth the monster's “jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, but I escaped.” (Shelley 63-64). This quote touchingly portrays in detail how the beast carried on, similar to an infant so it appears to be all the more unkind that Victor surrendered the creature. At the point when the audience read the novel, they can envision an infant crying and prattling soon after its introduction to the world. This is precisely what the beast did when he was conceived however Victor overlooked him. Likewise, coddles connect with their guardians and their loved ones. In Frankenstein, the beast connects with Victor as though Victor is his father. The creature is demonstrating that he trusts and...
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... Peter Pan is eager to stay a young rebel and refuses to accept the future of adulthood and fears to let go of his carefree and imaginative childhood. When children grow up they do not only do it physically through puberty, but emotionally as well. Adulthood comes with maturity both physically and mentally. Children must let go of their childhood eventually because it is an essential part of the process of growing up. Peter’s absence of a motherly figure is why he struggles with his maturity and acceptance of adulthood. Peter felt replaced seeing his mother with another child, saying, “mother had forgotten all about me, and there was another little boy sleeping in my bed.” (Barrie 132). Peter flies around in search of a mother, someone who can give him a sense of comfort and love that he was not given to him when he returned. Peter does not know the joy and excitement that comes with growing up and becoming an adult because he did not have much guidance from an adult on the matter. Peter's mother's absence is not solely her fault, as the narrator states, “children are ever ready … to desert their dearest ones.” (Barrie 135). Peter’s absence in his mother life meant that she had to move on. His curiosity of Neverland contributed to the void in his heart that should have been filled with love and comfort from his family. Peter chose to stay in Neverland, “for moons and moons and moons” (Barrie 132). His curiosity and imagination separated him from his home for a long time. His mother...
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