...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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...a number of Heaney’s Major concerns Heaney’s eye for detail his interest in ancient Irish history, Heaney’s theme of violence and terrorism and Heaney’s theme of innocence . Heaney gives effect to these concerns through his use of language when conveying the ‘concerns’ in his Poem ‘Out of Shot’. Heaney’s eye for detail is a Major concern of his throughout the District and circle anthology of Poetry. His eye for detail is suggested firstly in the title ‘Out of shot’ as this literally means looking at the detail or things, which are ‘Out of Shot’ from other people’s vision and only ‘in shot’ of Heaney’s vision. More detail is expressed when describing Heaney’s stance when looking over the field ‘elbows lodged – strut firm’ Heaney’s is not just ‘leaning’ he has his elbows ‘strut firm’. Heaney’s use of, this type of language shows his eye for detail as it goes down to the very position or stance he maintains while leaning against presumably a fence looking over a field which in itself it a very simple idea but Heaney’s eye for detail can seen even by his stance. So it is almost contradictory in sense Heaney’s eye for detail in such as simple activity as looking over a fence into a field. Another aspect of detail Heaney focus’s on is the donkey on the TV news. The donkey is presumably the last thing anyone would focus on when watching the TV news about a Mortar explosion but Heaney focus’s on this one animal showing his close eye for detail. The donkey has a ‘staggered walk’...
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...levels. Through a series of several symbols, Walker creates a vivid illustration of Myop's transition from innocence of childhood to the realities of life and all of its cruelties. Walker uses this whole situation of the corpse, flowers and summer to clearly illustrate the precise moment in which a child looses that treasured innocence. The danger is first introduced by Myop entering the woods. It is in these woods that Myop encounters the single event that will lead to her loss of innocence: finding the corpse of a lynched man. Myop steps, by accident, into the face of this corpse and although frightened continues to remain joyful. Myop clears the remains from the man's face to find all of his white teeth cracked and broken. The description of the body is given in great detailed, “Myop saw that he had large white teeth, all of them cracked or broken, long fingers, and very big bones. All his clothes had rotted away except some threads of blue denim from his overalls” (Walker 405). The detailed description of the body indicates his probable ethnicity which is African-American, like Myop. In addition, the corpse suggest that something that was once white and pure has been broken by the cruel and harsh reality of the world. Another symbol of innocence is the flowers that Myop happily picks. Flowers are a symbol of innocence because of its beauty and as it is easily broken and delicate as it is a symbol of death. Myop is trying to hang on to her childhood innocence and that...
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...would never tolerate it....' Humanity? Humanity is not concerned with us, today anything is allowed. Anything is possible, even these crematories....' His voice was choking.” (Night 30) Elie saw after what cruel acts humans are capable of is completely and thoroughly shocked, his father standing beside him supports him through Elie's awakening by giving him bitter words of guidance. With this Elie's faith starts destructing, as he sees how such vile deeds took place with absolutely no repercussions, and in the same way, his father also loses begins to lose faith and is shown through his tone of intense bitter, incensed words. “ 'Where is God? Where is He?' someone behind me asked... For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes..... Behind me I heard the same man...'Where is God now…'..... And I heard a voice within me answer ... Here he is-He is hanging here...
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...is aimed at investigating the peculiarities of children’s psychology in the context of Graham Greene’s short stories and against the background of other texts. The first story to analyze is “I Spy”. The main principles are stylistic dichotomy and epiphany. In the first part of the story, we see Charlie Stowe, a 12year old immature boy. From the psychological point of view Charlie is a mother-oriented child, who possesses the Oedipus complex.[Petocz: 151] This is conveyed through the line “her noisy charity filled the world for him”. [Greene: 167] The second part begins with an epiphanic episode, expressed in the title; a homophone to the children’s game “Eye spy”, playing which you must unexpectedly open your eyes. The boy suddenly realised that while his mum was ‘boisterous and kindly, his father was very like himself, doing things in the dark’.[Greene: 169] At this very moment of epiphany he loses his innocence and eradicates his flaw. This is the only story where the loss of innocence is seen as a natural process. In two other stories “The innocent” and “Under the garden” there is a strong feeling of regret that childhood is gone. Both stories are written in a form of a journey where grown-up characters return to the place of their childhood. The main incongruity of “The innocent” is between the narrator’s...
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...Robert South, an English churchman once said “Innocence is like polished armor; it adorns and defends.” This relates to the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel because when the Jews first arrived in the camps, they did not know what was about to happen to them. Once the Jews learned of what would happen, they lost that innocence. The memoir Night by Elie Wiesel is about Elie’s experiences changing from an observant Jew into a walking corpse due to the horrific experiences that occurred whilst he was in the Nazi camps. A primary theme in the memoir is Eliezer’s loss of innocence as a result of the experiences he endures during the Holocaust. Firstly, when Eliezer was torn from his hometown and brought to Birkenau, he witnessed many horrific events...
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...The six works of American art that I have chosen all represent women. These paintings show how women were depicted by American artists. Some of the works of art show only women or children, while one of the portraits shows a couple. John Singleton Copley painted Portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Mifflin (Sarah Morris). This is the only portrait that I have selected that shows both man and woman. I feel that these six works of art show the growth of how women were presented from 1671-1893. The works of art that I have selected are Mrs. Elizabeth Freake and Baby Mary(1671-74), Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Mifflin(1773), The White Girl(1862), Miss Amelia Van Buren(1891), A Virgin(1892-93),and Lady Agnew of Lachnaw(1892-93. I believe that these paintings are similar in many ways, yet different as well. Anonymous, Mrs. Elizabeth Freake and Baby Mary, This painter, although unknown, can be attributed to half-dozen portraits that were painted in Boston. This colonial painter shows their knowledge of traditional British portraiture that is derived from representations of Elizabeth I. As you can see by looking at this painting, this artist gave more attention to the clothing that Mrs. Elizabeth Freake is wearing then to Mrs. Freake’s characteristics. This portrait was done in oil on a 42 ½ X 36 ¾ “ canvas. One way that I feel that this painting is different than the other paintings is that it is a pendant portrait. This was painted to hang next to the portrait of Mr. Freake. These paintings...
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...Losing Innocence As children age and mature, they start to lose their innocence and purity. In her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee demonstrates how children fail to keep their pureness as they grow older. Through the eyes of Scout, the reader sees Maycomb as an angelic town where the residents can do no harm. However, throughout the course of the novel, as Jem and Scout Finch grow and lose innocence, the town of Maycomb does too. Although the loss of purity, especially in children, can break one’s heart, it is human nature and sooner or later, everyone will surrender their sinlessness. To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story about how the main characters move from a state of innocence to a mature one after suffering from, but surviving many misadventures. Lee compares many of the characters to a mockingbird, a symbol of pure chastity. Scout and Jem, the main characters of...
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...magazine articles, imagery helps readers visualize what they are reading. It brings the text to life, giving it meaning and serving a greater purpose. Through imagery, secrets within the text can be revealed, furthering the analysis of the text itself. In Vladimir Nabokov's book Lolita, the use of imagery helps readers understand the disturbing views of the main character, and why in his perspective his illegal actions are justifiable. Throughout the novel, the main character Humbert Humbert expresses the love and affection he has for young girls, or “nymphets” as he often addresses them. The very word nymphet is defined as an attractive and sexually mature young girl. His use of the word is indicative of his disturbed mental state, and magnifies his struggle between lust and what society deems as acceptable. As the book goes on, it is evident that there is no stopping Humbert. He is already infected with an incurable desire, overtaken by the nymphet’s beauty, innocence and fragility. While all of these aspects are applied to the girls he is infatuated with, they can also be used to describe graceful and dazzling butterflies. Butterflies are known for their hypnotic colors, fluttering wings, and incredible beauty, all...
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...all day and wouldn’t be caught dead in a dress. Scout is a important character because she tells the story through a pure selfless child’s eye and shows realism through her actions and words. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Scout represents innocence as she experiences prejudice while searching for equality. Scout portrays innocence in the novel because she narrates the world through a child’s eyes while opening the novel with a naive viewpoint about her surroundings. In the beginning of the book Scout illustrates a raiding on the jail, through an adolescent’s viewpoint....
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...Holocaust From January 30, 1933 to May 8, 1945 Jews in Europe were living in fear of their lives. The Holocaust was the cause of 6 million Jews deaths. This was the largest case of genocide in the world. Millions of Jews lost their lives because of their beliefs. The following image shows 10 young people, who were kept in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. When going to the Concentration Camp, they were allowed to take one bag with them. They were forced to wear several layers when they went so they would have the clothing necessary to survive the harsh winter. This image shows the sadness, fear and starvation that they had to go through. This is shown through its use of color, or lack thereof, the people themselves, and the scenery of the Camp...
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...Dracula is a book where the focus is on balance. The balance between innocence and evil; religion and science; knowledge and being oblivious, and logical and emotional balance. Many of the characters within Dracula portray the necessity to have this balance. Van Helsing represented the balance between religion and science and how together the ability to perceive situations is broader. In the same scene, once seeing vampire Lucy, Seward was able to look past his love for Lucy and understand what was actually happening. The many themes are represented by the characters themselves. A very subtle but important statement was made about the impact of evil on women. To portray this minor theme Stoker utilized Lucy. The graveyard scene summarizes Lucy’s...
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...THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS – Novel Response The book of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas starts out simply with things we can all relate to. Bruno’s almost-teenaged sister, Greta, is a ‘Hopeless Case’ moving from scary dolls to fussing over boys. He’s moving house and gets in scrapes; he misses his grandparents and best friends, which are problems we can all relate to. They’re mundane (everyday) problems, though to nine-year old Bruno, they’re rocking the centre of his world. We feel for him - as we all were nine once, less wise and less able to cope. We might have nine-year old brothers or sisters. He seems very innocent and vulnerable. He has no control over the elements in his life. In short, it seems like an everyday book. If you read the blurb though, there’s a disturbing mood even before you start reading. We’re told we’ll go on a ‘journey with a nine-year old’ but that this ‘isn’t a book for nine-year olds’ - as if it’s not suitable, or too scary. What’s horrible about this is that the boy in it is nine, which makes us afraid that his life is too scary for him. John Boyne builds up the mystery from the start. The blurb says ‘we think it’s important that you start to read without knowing what it’s about.’ Not knowing is unsettling. The first scenes of the film of the novel clearly show Nazi flags, and soldiers in a town. But in the book, there are no clues at first. Because we don’t know their true identity, we’re lulled us into a false sense of security. We think...
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...Hope for New Order Declaring a man’s innocence is a form of justice, one that ultimately leads the city of Athens to order. When one commits acts of violence, a fair trial is given to the individual in order to judge whether they are guilty or innocent. Throughout the play, the readers witness Orestes’s discharge after being tried for matricide; his innocence fosters new hope and order for the city of Athens. In Aeschylus’, Oresteia, the acquittal of Orestes provides a just resolution of tragic events through the elimination of violence for violence, the new role of the Furies within the Athenian society and ultimately, the restoration of order through a structured legal system. In the beginning of the play, one is able to recognize the wicked curse that plagues the House of Atreus. The House of Atreus is under a curse that began with a dispute between two brothers, Atreus and Thyestes. Atreus slaughtered Thyestes’s children and served them as a feast. Thyestes unknowingly devoured his own children and in result, condemns a curse within the House of Atreus. One act of violence will foreshadow a continuous cycle of violence and revenge upon the House of Atreus. A sense of fear is evoked through the beginning speech of the watchman as he depicts a clear vision of adversity to arise. In his speech, the watchman portrays his glory in Agamemnon’s return from Troy, however speaks of misfortune that he is not able to express. The watchman describes his fear of future events, “Whenever...
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...War usually tells us a story that is about death, violence, brutality and tragedy faced by the soldiers that are sent to the battlefield. However, war doesn’t only tell that story, but rather looks at the survival and sacrifices that soldiers must face in order to survive – and uncovers the true reality of war. This can be seen in selected stories from Tim O’Brien’s novel the things they carried and Wilfred Owen’s WWI poem Dulce Est decorum. Through the individual stories the man I killed and the things they carried, we are able to explore how the author struggles to deal with the effects of war, surviving through the guilt and heartache of expected murder and sacrificing individual dreams in order to keep his team safe. Similarly, Owen’s poem explores how individuals have to survive through the ghastly environments associated with war at the cost of individual lives. Both texts reveal how men at war are forced to sacrifice their hopes and dreams in order to survive the demands of war. In Tim O’Brien’s novel, the things they carried, the composer gives us an insight into the mindset and the emotional depth of soldiers in war, and the difficult sacrifices needed to make in order to survive. The theme of sacrifice is most evident in the chapter the things they carried, as the main character Jimmy Cross faces a moral dilemma; to either sacrifice his dreams, or to sacrifice the safety of his team, after the death of Ted Lavender in which he felt responsible for. The quote “He had...
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