The Statue off its Pedestal Stephen Cranes Notions of Heroism - Literature Essay Samples

The world of Stephen Cranes fiction is a cruel, lonely place. Mans environment shows no sympathy or concern for man; in the midst of a battle in The Red Badge of Courage Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process in the midst of so much devilment (89). Crane frequently anthropomorphizes the natural world and turns it into an agent actively working against the survival of man. From the beginning of The Open Boat the waves are seen as wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall (225) as if the waves themselves had murderous intent. During battle in The Red Badge of Courage the trees of the forest stretched out before Henry and forbade him to pass. After its previous hostility this new resistance of the forest filled him with a fine bitterness (104). More omnipresent than the mortal sense of opposition to nature, however, is the mortal sense of opposition to other men. Crane portrays the Darwinian struggle of men as forcing one man against another, not only for the preserv ation of ones life, but also the preservation of ones sense of self-worth. Henry finds hope for escape from this condition in the traditional notion that man becomes another thing in a battle‹more selfless and connected to his comrades (73). But the few moments in Cranes stories where individuals rise above self-preservation are not the typically heroicized moments of battle. Crane revises the sense of the heroic by allowing selfishness to persist through battle. Only when his characters are faced with the absolute helplessness of another human do they rise above themselves. In these grim situations the characters are reminded of their more fundamental opposition to nature.Even before Henry enters the army his relationship with other humans is defined by antagonism. His mother asks him not to join the army and as a result he goes out and enlists. He announces his enlistment to his mother diffidently, (47) suggesting a conscious desire to hurt her feelings by exaggerating the e ase of his decision. The moments before he leaves are not marked by any tender communion, but instead by an estranged irritation. Quiet antagonism escalates as Henry reaches his camp. The relationship between the veterans and the new recruits is not explained in the language of pedagogy, instead as in so many naturalistic relationships, the veterans are predators and Henry is the prey (51). As the men enter battle, the reader expects this antagonism to subside, expects with Henry, that man [will] become another thing in battle. At first the youths fantasies seem to play out as he feels himself begin to weld into a common personality which was dominated by a single desire (84). But in the first moment that the troops are confronted with a viable enemy Henry lost the direction of safety (93). The threat to his self-preservation causes him to run from the battle, and as his own worse fear is borne out, his sense of antagonism returns with gusto. As he runs he calls his comrades Methodical idiots! Machine-like fools (95). It is evident that the understanding of his own weakness drives him to denigrate everyone around him, for psychological self-preservation. This particular sense of self-preservation creates an antagonism that runs throughout the rest of the battles; he felt a great anger against his comrades (99) because he senses they are always trying to crush his own sense of self-worth. The shared nature of this antagonism is evident from the nearly constant fights in the Union camps, even after successful campaigns. On the battlefield, when the enemy is supposed to be the men in gray, the anger is instead pointed against his officer (179), or in another situation, riveted upon the man, who, not knowing him, had called him a mule driver (183); the officers, rather than shouting encouragement, let fly blasphemous curses against the men. Even the most outwardly heroic moment‹that where Henry clutches the flag from the falling color-guard‹is d efined by an antagonism, as both Henry and his friend jerked at it, stout and furious . . . the youth and his friend had a small scuffle over the flag (181), in an effort to secure the glory of carrying the flag for himself. Crane chose war as his venue for exploring human nature, suggesting his fundamental belief in antagonism as the basic state of humanity. Yet there are moments where the humans do rise above this antagonism breeding self-preservation. These are not moments of battle where the sense of a communal hope and venture binds the men together. Instead, these moments come in the face of absolute hope- and help-lessness. The most vivid such moment comes in the moments before the death of Jim Conklin. As Henry sees the hopelessness of Jims situation, he strove to express his loyalty, but could only make fantastic gestures (112). In stark contrast to his antagonistic relationship with every other soldier up to this point, Henry is now eager to do anything for Jim. He nry never believes he can save Jim, he mourningly says Ill take care of yeh! I swear t Gawd I will! (112), but he never dares utter that common refrain of battlefield literature, youre going to be all right. He is silently cogniscant of Jims inevitable death, and while never explained as such, it is just this understanding that sets this moment apart from all the other moments in which Henry retains his antagonistic sense of self-preservation. This interpretation is supported by the dearth of selflessness in Henry until the next time he confronts helplessness. Henry again transcends his solipsism when he comes upon a column of men that had burst from their coats and their equipments as from entanglements. As they bear down upon Henry, he forgot that he was engaged in combating the universe‹forgot about the gripes with his comrades that he had returned to in the immediate aftermath of Jims death, and stared in agony at the men. Henrys ability to move outside of his selfish co ncerns again does not come from some sense of a shared hope between the men, but instead from his recognition of the army as helpless (130). The men in The Open Boat seem to have found a lasting sense of camaraderie in their own venture. The men consistently and cheerfully sacrifice sleep and comfort to give other men a break from rowing. But this sense of selflessness does not arise from a sense of collective venture, instead it arises from the omnipresent sense of hopelessness. Antagonism sneaks on to the boat only when they do come in contact with some source of hope. When they approach a tiny lighthouse‹the first man-made structure they have seen‹the four scowling men sat in the dinghy, and surpassed records in the invention of epithets (235). This moment of hope is said to sharpen their minds, and to their sharpened minds it was easy to conjure pictures of all kinds of incompetency and blindness and, indeed, cowardice: (236). When they again see humans on the sho re the men on the boat argue about the identity and thoughts of the people, no; he thinks were fishing, no, thats no boat (240). It is the only moment of disagreement they have during their journey. Visions of hope conjure up feelings of self-preservation, and with them a sense of self-righteousness and anger. As they float out to sea again, away from possible help, the men find complete agreement again, and answer all requests of themselves with a docile sure. Henry enters battle with the notion that an identifiable enemy or opposition will help bring coherence to the men, and deliver him into a selfless heroism. While this does not happen in the war between men, a different opposition seems to help bring about the moments of transcendence in Cranes works. An understanding of helplessness provides an opportunity for humans to bond together in the opposition to nature. Both Henry and the men on the open boat give a similar angry response to nature in the aftermath of their par allel experiences of bonding. While floating helplessly at sea, the men in the boat shed nary a negative word about the men on shore, but instead shout silent invectives at nature. At one hopeless moment Crane says that a man wishes to throw bricks at the temple [of nature], and he hates deeply the fact that there are no bricks and no temples. Any visible expression of nature would surely be pelleted with his jeers (246). Crane purposely leaves the identity of the thinker of this thought anonymous, suggesting that any and all of the men could have had this thought. Henry feels a similar rage coupled with impotence in the aftermath of Jims death: he shook his fist. He seemed about to deliver a philippic. ÂÅ'Hell-ÂÅ' The red sun was pasted in the sky like a wafer (116). Henry cuts his philippic short as he sees just how uncaring, and unapproachable the red sun is. Hopelessness opens man up to his more shared fate and powerlessness within nature, and creates a more distinct an d hateful enemy than any men in gray. In this larger battle, man is changed, but only for those moments in which he is forced to confront his own powerlessness. Crane does not necessarily view Henrys ability to transcend himself in the face of helplessness as heroic. But Crane definitely leaves behind any positive notion of war as eliciting self-less heroism; there was a singular absence of heroic poses (87). Even while recognizing that it would not be handsome for him to freely condemn other men, as Henry does in battle, the words upon his tongue were too bitter (156). Battle only brings out a willful self-assertion as the self-worth of each man is tested. Those few moments where a subtle brotherhood of men (231) is spied, are conspicuously away from the battle field, in settings where man is able to dwell on the larger opposition present in the world.

Examples Of Temperaments In Hamlet - 1631 Words

Hamlet Rough Draft Hamlet is a play written by William Shakespeare around the turn of the 17th century that is believed to be based off of Seneca, one of the first â€Å"revenge tragedies† (). Hamlet is considered to be a tragedy because at the end of the story only one major character, Horatio, is left alive. The revenge plot occurs mainly between Hamlet and Claudius after Claudius kills Hamlet’s father. As more people become involved on either side of their conflict, additional sources for revenge are presented as more people die. Psychologist David Keirsey is a writer who has spent a lot of time analyzing, collecting, and researching data based on personal temperaments. David Keirsey identifies four major temperaments that people can fit†¦show more content†¦Laertes fears that Ophelia is throwing herself into a very temporary romance because her fellings for Hamlet exceed his feeling for her. He warns â€Å"For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favor, / Hold it a fashion and a toy in blood, / A violet in the youth of primy nature, / Forward, not permanent, sweet, not lasting, / The perfume and suppliance of a minute, / No more.† (6-11). Polonius requests Ophelia’s assistance to determine what is truly running through his mind. As a Guardian, he is also pushing that he knows better than Ophelia what is appropriate behavior for her. While in the beginning Ophelia thinks she is just helping her father check on Hamlet, what really happens is she turns her back on Hamlet by siding with her father. Throughout the play, Ophelia finds herself having to chose one side or another. As a female of Shakespear’s era, Ophelia would have been controlled by the men in her life. This ties into Ophelia’s conflict with herself where she has to decide which contradictory opionion she wants to listen to; the one from her family or the one from her love. 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John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Office Essay - 887 Words

â€Å"My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.† This is a quote that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy used during his terms of presidency before he was assassinated in 1964. For many, his assassination remains one of the most traumatic events in their memory and even history. Although, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was much more than a president that got assassinated while in office. While still attending college at Harvard University, Kennedy volunteered for hazardous combat duty in the Pacific during World War II. His time spent volunteering made him a war hero. Coming from a long family line of political history, Kennedy began working in the House of Representatives for six years from†¦show more content†¦Many believed this to be the end of it until years later when the truth came out that Kennedy made a hidden arrangement with the Soviet leader giving him exactly what he needed. Kennedy claims he did what was necessary and made a deal he knew he couldn’t sell to his fellow Americans. Another success of John F. Kennedy’s presidency was that he planned to put man on the moon before the end of the 1960’s. In 1969, the plan came to life when Neil Armstrong’s boot hit the lunar dirt on July 20th. This was a huge achievement for humanity and a prideful boost in our technologies especially after the many space race defeats to the Soviet Union. Lastly, Kennedy emphasized public service, established the Peace Corps, and gave his civil rights address saying that black Americans deserved equal treatment under the law. Over 210,000 Peace Corps volunteers have served in 139 countries since Kennedy gave his speech about his vision for the program. Like all presidents before and after, Kennedy also had failures. One of his biggest was the Bay of Pigs. 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Uterus and Fire by Old Time Relijun free essay sample

Olympia, Washington-based group Old Time Relijuns 1999 debut album, Uterus and Fire, is an album that would be a contender for being number one on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Worst Albums of All Time, if the magazine ever did a list like that. It is an album that is horrible in every way imaginable, even for late 1990s indie standards. Its inexcusable for the album being this awful because its experminetal, because cleary their experminetal sound, which seems to mostly consist of the members playing random things and not know what the heck theyre playing, is unbearable to listen to (especially the repitive cartoon boing sound of Khomuz that, while I can only take about 30 seconds of it, lasts for more than two minutes). The excuse is like saying the nick show Breadwinners has poor flash animation because it is a style the creators chose. Producer Oneohtrix Point Never is also an expermintal act, and guess what, its actually very listenable and sounds like actual effort! Uterus and Fire fails being offensive, and if it isnt meant to be taken seriously, it fails at being a joke album, because I dont get what the joke is. We will write a custom essay sample on Uterus and Fire by Old Time Relijun or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I though listening to the painful auto-tuned garbage of will.i.am was I worst thing I could suffer to, until I heard to this record. I could record myself messing around with an acoustic guitar using only an input microphone of a macbook, and it would sound way better than this.