... Our species being refers to our human nature, which is to work, and it relates to labour. Our society is brought up to produce goods so that we can meet our material needs. However, this may not be a good thing since productive labour today is all about capitalism, the rich exploiting the poor. We are hired by the boss who pays us in return for our labour. The work of Marx also focuses on inequality of social classes. The structure of life chances can either be advantaged or disadvantaged, depending on a number of different factors, for example biology/genes, the distribution of wealth and the distribution of resources i.e. education. This essay will argue the differences between the two classes, the Bourgeoisie (the grasshoppers) and the Proletariat (the ants). According to Marx, society is centred on an economic substructure made up of a base and a superstructure. The base is the economic situation, where the substructure is made up on many institutions such as the government, family, religion, education and culture. The film, A Bugs Life, is an animated film which itself is a perfect example of how our society works. It portrays a relationship between the grasshoppers and the ants in a way that demonstrates capitalism. The grasshoppers, presented as capitalists, agree that they will provide the worker ants safety in return for food....
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...˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝˝ 2013 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses CONTENTS 2013 Yeartext A Letter From the Governing Body Highlights of the Past Year Preaching and Teaching Earth Wide Myanmar One Hundred Years Ago—1913 Grand Totals 2 4 9 ...
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...Sociological Experience The sociological movie I chose to watch was, “A Bug’s Life”. I found several sociological concepts while watching the film. The movie is focused on a colony of ants that are being oppressed by a gang of grasshoppers who come every season demanding food from the ants. The grasshoppers use their size to dominate over the ants. One day in the spring, when the offering’s preparation has just been finished, an ant named Flik causes the whole offering of seeds to fall over into a river. The grasshoppers come and harass the ants and decide to give them one more chance to gather seeds. They expect the ants to do all of the work so the grasshoppers can just sit and play. The ants represent the working poor no matter how much work they do they cannot get ahead, while the grasshoppers hardly work and stay on top. Flik tries to recruit warrior bugs to fight off the grass hopers. Flik’s so called warriors turn out to be a group of circus bugs. When the colony discovers this they desperately try to pull together enough food for a new offering to the grasshoppers. After failing to gather enough food they try to scare them away with a fake bird. It nearly works, but Hopper the leader of the grasshoppers realizes that it was an imposter. As he is about to kill Flik the ants realize that they outnumber the grasshoppers 100-to-1 so they fight them off. This part of the movie demonstrates the effects of size in a group. They no longer have to live in fear of...
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...Free Term Papers, Essays and Research Documents The Research Paper Factory JoinSearchBrowseSaved Papers Home Page » Social Issues A Bug’s Life Through the Lens of Karl Marx In: Social Issues A Bug’s Life Through the Lens of Karl Marx A Bug’s Life through the lens of Karl Marx Disney’s Pixar film, A Bug’s Life, is much more than meets the eye. The film is not only an animated comedy; it holds deep sociological theory within its plot. Many of the major themes and concepts of the movie can be viewed through the lens of the famous theorist Karl Marx. Marx’s theory is famous for focusing on how society functions. In particular he concerns himself with how capitalism, the working class, and the revolutions create problems in our society. My paper will analyze how Marxian theory and concepts fit into major climactic scenes of the film. The film revolves around the protagonist Filk, a worker ant. The colony is being oppressed by a group of grasshoppers and their leader Hopper. The grasshoppers claim they will provide protection as long as the ants provide the food supply. When the ants cannot supply the food for the grasshoppers, Hopper demands the ants to produce twice as much food as they did before. As a result, the ants will not have enough food to store up for themselves. Filk then travels to recruit warrior bugs to help the ants fight off the grasshoppers. According to Marx, this would free the colony from the constant oppression of the grasshoppers. The major...
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...A Day in the Life of a Bug A day in the life of a bug is good. They walk around eating leaves and branches. This of course is a good diet and is what keeps them alive in their small size. Another thing that keeps the species alive is their sheer numbers. Most species of bugs live in swarms. These swarms on average in size can grow up to 10 million bugs. A day in the life of a bug is good. They walk around eating leaves and branches. This of course is a good diet and is what keeps them alive in their small size. Another thing that keeps the species alive is their sheer numbers. Most species of bugs live in swarms. These swarms on average in size can grow up to 10 million bugs. A day in the life of a bug is good. They walk around eating leaves and branches. This of course is a good diet and is what keeps them alive in their small size. Another thing that keeps the species alive is their sheer numbers. Most species of bugs live in swarms. These swarms on average in size can grow up to 10 million bugs. A day in the life of a bug is good. They walk around eating leaves and branches. This of course is a good diet and is what keeps them alive in their small size. Another thing that keeps the species alive is their sheer numbers. Most species of bugs live in swarms. These swarms on average in size can grow up to 10 million...
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...Anna Quindlen had children so she could watch lightning bugs with them, or so she wants you to think. By uses lightning bugs as a symbol of childhood innocence; she wants “to stand at a window with a child and show him the lightning bugs and have him say, ‘ Mommy, it’s magic.’” This symbol is her example of how we reduce the complexities that exist everyday into oversimplified symbols or stereotypes. In order to further her point, she also uses an anecdote of “a survey in a women’s magazine” which questions why the reader has kids, but there are only five options. The complex decision of bearing children simplified to only five choices. Using a rhetorical question, she introduces her deeper purpose officially. This reduces any hostility...
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...The other day a bug, a spider to be precise, was murdered in my presence. Crawling majestically upon eight tiny, marvelous legs, the arachnid made its way to the corner of the room and...splat. Gone, in an instant. The comment was made: “I wish someone thirty times your size would come at you with a fly swatter” by my pro-bug friend. I myself have never liked insects, and many a spider lost its life to my accuracy with a newspaper. Yet I can’t help but begin to feel remorse: who are these bugs? Where were they going? And why does the animal with no natural predator fear them? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it is hard to admit that there is beauty in the vermillion tones of a beetle’s skull. A chirping cricket is a tiny song bird in Japan, kept in a pretty gilt cage to soothe away tension as it rubs its legs together. The word “bug” alone has a negative connotation to it. You don’t pick on someone, you bug them. When your computer crashes, it usually has a bug. Malaria? Well, that’s spread by a bug. It is easy to understand how bugs have become so hated–they are the scapegoat of the animal kingdom. Nobody enjoys being bitten by one, and they are a marvelous medium to spread an epidemic through. Many bugs harm crops, leaving a corrosive trail through the foliage and eating the greens. They harass your house, your dog, and you. The slimy trail that so many bugs leave as their calling card is a little hard to defend as well. Surely though, to bug is not to be all bad...
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...Freedom For Gregor Samsa? In “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, Gregor Samsa is transformed into a monstrous bug. Despite the circumstance, his reaction is calm. He simply thinks, “What happened to me?” His only worry was would he be able to work. Gregor lived a simple, structured life. Every day he would wake up at four in the morning to catch the train to work so he could support his unappreciative family, and that is all he did. The unsuspecting calm setting of this story in the beginning quickly evolves into positivity as Gregor realizes his freedom as a bug. Gregor sacrificed his personal life to work and pay off his parents’ debts rather than pursue his own interests. Gregor was never recognized by his family for his efforts, instead he was taken for granted and expected to support them without consideration for his needs. When Gregor became a bug, his family started to realize how important Gregor was financially. At the same time, Gregor began to realize that as a bug he had no financial obligations towards his family and this was a huge relief for him. Gregor talks about not giving up and that when he pays off his parents’ debt he will have his big break. “Anyway, I haven’t completely given up that hope yet. Once I’ve got together the money to pay off the parents’ debt to him— that should take another five or six years—I’ll do it for sure. Then I’ll make the big break” (Kafka). He is clearly optimistic and wants to live for himself but suffers from guilt because he...
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...beginning of The Metamorphosis that the transformation of the main character into a large bug is used to symbolize that he is controlled by his job, and quite literally dehumanizes him. The author talks about his transformation early on in the book when he had just woken up in the morning. “He found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin”. It is unclear what this transformation symbolizes at first, but soon we begin to realize that he has worked like a "bug" for much of his life and his work dehumanizes him. It is arguable that that the author may be indicating that a bugs life is more desirable than a humans life. An animal’s life would stereotypically be to sleep, eat and reproduce, different from the stresses of a human’s life if work and stress. The author may view dehumanization in a positive light, as the book progresses and the main character become more content with the changes to him. “One could breathe more freely”. Dehumanization as a physical sense allows for more freedom and less restriction upon the character. The author may be implying that the main character turning into a giant bug has been stripped off his human qualities which are the result on over working. The dehumanization on the main character is evident in the first thoughts of his, “oh God, what an exhausting job I’ve picked on!” The author may have intended to attack society on what priorities are set in life. Rather than spending more time and effort with making a living , enjoy living a appreciate...
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...Have you ever thought of what role lovebugs play in Florida’s environment? Love bugs are known to have an all-black body with an orange thorax. They fill up Florida’s sky with their little black bodies. Floridians and even annual travelers ask themselves “Why are they so annoying? Why are there so many? They are so destructive! How can they possibly help our environment?” As larvae, the waste products they produce help make viable soil for plants, which helps us in obtaining the oxygen. As adults, they help with the reproduction and diversity of plants. Though love bugs are pest toward the human population, they play a crucial role in our environment. Love bugs, also known as Plecia neartica or bibionid flies (Denmark, Mead, Fasulo,...
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...Kafka reveals how modernity removes ownership of self by setting up Gregor’s life before he turned into a bug: “He sits with us at the table and reads the paper quietly or studies times tables” (Kafka 16). Just to support his family, Gregor had to prepare for work, thus losing out on any time he could have spent on himself. However, when Gregor turns into a bug, his family imprisons him: “stamping his feet, began to drive Gregor back into his room by brandishing the walking stick and the paper” (Kafka 23). Gregor is forced back into the room immediately after escaping its confines. Previously, Gregor’s family was cheering him on to escape his locked room (Kafka 20). However, when Gregor does escape his room, his family does not see him as human (Kafka 22). Rather, Gregor is forcefully removed from the family, and no member would acknowledge him (Kafka 23). It is interesting; however, that Gregor is dehumanized by his family after he turns into a bug (Elimelekh...
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...values from generation to generation through storytelling and oral tradition. Important aspects of every culture were documented in myths. Creation myths explained how a people came to be, giving them a spiritual/religious connection to a much larger universe filled with the unexplained. In addition, creation myths explained a culture’s origin, history, deities and heroes. Myths gave a culture a clear connection throughout the ages. These myths were passed on through generations to become an integral part of many cultures. Myths helped make order out of chaos, explained things in nature that could not be readily understood. Myths, frequently, expressed ideas and concepts that were common to all human beings. Questions about good and evil, life and death, fear and anxiety, heroes and heroic feats, punishment for breaking cultural values are present in every culture. The “why” of existence crosses cultural, racial and geographic challenges. These topics were the basis for many myths. The myths created to address these topics were frequently variations of the same or similar stories/oral traditions. Collectively, these universal themes or questions are referred to as universal myths. Myths existed before there was art and before the written word. The great mythic themes were known before literature. Myths existed before philosophy and science. A culture's mythology is a powerful form of psychology, casting light on the culture's shared unconscious. Myths are a clear reflection of...
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...Franz Kafka is the author of the book Metamorphosis. He was born in Prague on July 3, 1883. Born a German-speaking Jewish boy. Lived with his parents for most his life. He is best known for describing absurd situations with simple, cold words. Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis could fall under a couple of genres in literature, they would include: classic, fiction, and fantasy. The way that Gregor changes illustrates that the theme would be the absurdity of life. In the beginning Gregor wakes up as a bug and is kind of scared along with his family. Towards the middle he is used to his body and isn’t scared anymore. His family is starting to get used to the idea that the bug is Gregor and that’s what he looks like now. At the end though all of that changes, his sister wants to get rid of the idea that that’s Gregor and they want him out of the house so they can be free from fear again. Change can happen at anytime and it can be very destructive and life changing....
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...“Shades of people in our lives” The sea is an indication of freedom to us people. We can do what we want; we can go wherever we want to. You’ll see different shades of blue in the ocean and the sea. The deeper it gets, the darker the shade, the shallow it gets, the lighter the shade is. Everything in life has its own persona and these personas are represented by different shades of colours. In life there are different types of person with different personas too. People who you meet for the first time or you have met already but didn’t much stayed in your life have the shade of a lighter blue, which signifies they are on the near part of the shore. Either you or the people didn’t get to know each other very well. They’ve been only part of your life for a week or much shorter and you rarely see each other. People, who you meet and sooner you called friends, got the shade of a light-dark blue. They are people who know you, but you don’t really show the real you. It’s like you’re in the middle of the deep and shallow part of the ocean somewhere in that zone. Friends are the greatest gifts that God gave us. They always support us when we’re down, but those people who you show your real self are called best friends. People who belong to the darker shade are the people who you show your real self and who you trust the most. These persons know you well. That they even know what kind of person you are, they know what you like, they know what you do, and they almost know everything about...
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...showcases the significant identity crisis that Gregor faces throughout. The alienation that Gregor faces throughout “Metamorphasis” sadly starts far before his transformation. As the sole provider for his parents and younger sister Grete, Gregor wakes up early every morning for work and is often out of town on business; a truly overworked proletariat. After Gregor knows he has transformed into a bug, he lies in bed and thinks, “What a strenuous career it is that I’ve chosen! Travelling day in and day out…there’s the curse of travelling, worries about making train connections, bad and irregular food, contact with different people all the time so that you never get to know anyone or become friendly with them. It can all go to Hell!”(68). Gregor’s prior life as a traveling salesman kept him isolated from the outside world, and from being his own person. He was virtually trapped in a bubble of work, and so consumed by every last detail about it that he expresses not the slightest fear or shock when he is aware of his transformation. Gregor, of course, does not enjoy living his life that way, but does so selflessly for his family, who physically isolate him from themselves when they become aware of his new appearance. As Gregor’s father condemns him to his room, “[he] seized the chief clerk’s...
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