English Unit three
Explain Mersault's response to the chaplain in their final meeting in the story. What does Mersault conclude about life as a result of this scene? How is this an expression of existentialist thought? Your answer should be at least 250 words.
After speaking with the chaplain one last time, Meursault no longer views his impending execution with hope or despair. Mersault accepts death as an inevitable fact of life and looks to the future with peace in his consciousness. His thoughts about life is that there is no difference between dying soon by execution and dying decades later of natural causes. Although he states that the only thing that is certainly in life is death. The Scene is an authentic expression of existentialist, because in a existentialist point of view you must accept the risk and responsibility of your choices and follow the commitment to wherever it leads. That's what Mersault is all about: Freedom of choice without the interference of a third party. The themes of existentialism come to a head at the end of the novel as the priest tries to convince Mersault of his need for God and God's forgiveness. Mersault gets very angry and embarks on a tirade. During his tirade, Mersault outlines many of the different themes and ideas expressed throughout the book, most of which are consistent with atheistic existentialism. Meurseult lacks faith, lacks in his relationships, and ultimately lacks in finding meaning to his reality. Existentialism is a theory that emphasizes the feeling, thinking, and living human individual, often characterized by nihilistic views and disorientation in the face of a meaningless world. Camus was an advocate for the philosophy of existentialism. Camus felt that the world was meaningless and pointless; his novel, The Stranger, centers around his nihilistic viewpoint of life. The Stranger, demonstrated how man was "the nauseated victim of the absurd orthodoxy of habit." In other words, people simply accepted reality without questioning its overall meaning without pondering the futility of life. Camus's lead character in The Stranger is Monsieur Meurseult who embodies this existentialist philosophy. Meurseult lacks faith, lacks in his relationships, and ultimately lacks in finding meaning to his reality.
What do the bourgeoisie represent in Europe in the 1920s? How and why was this group so important? Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
Bourgeoisie was the social order that is dominated by the so-called middle class. The burgeoning Industrial Revolution of the 19th century brought about some of the most significant changes in economic history—the development of mechanical power and the factory system and the subsequent growth of urban centers. By then the bourgeois class had expanded greatly. Distinct differences arose between the original bourgeoisie the capitalists and the growing numbers of shopkeepers and technical and clerical workers. The capitalists tended to be the owners and managers of industries and to associate themselves with the upper classes. At this time Karl Marx developed his theory of the class struggle. Marx considered the bourgeoisie capitalist class that is, the employers, a reactionary force that maintains a position of supremacy by holding back the advancement of the working class. He predicted that this class would one day rise up to replace the elite bourgeoisie as the dominant economic class by taking over the means of production. This was the foundation thought of Communism.
Does Meursault value anything? What are Meursault's values? Use details from the text to support your answer. Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
Camus felt, like other existentialists that the world is absurd, in the sense that no ultimate explanation can be given for why it is the way it is. Meursault hence can't find deep meaning in any of the institutions conventional society finds "meaningful". This detachment is relevant to the institutions which you mentioned above. Camus felt, like other existentialists that the world is absurd, in the sense that no ultimate explanation can be given for why it is the way it is. Meursault hence can't find deep meaning in any of the institutions conventional society finds "meaningful". This detachment is relevant to the institutions which you mentioned above.
Evaluate Camus's use of literary technique to develop the character of Mersault. Consider language, form and style, as well as the use of other characters to draw out the character of Mersault. Your answer should be at least 250 words.
He uses existentialism to help develop Mersault's character. The other characters show their reactions towards Mersault's actions showing the difference between their behaviors. Existentialism is a theory that emphasizes the feeling, thinking, and living human individual, often characterized by nihilistic views and disorientation in the face of a meaningless world. Camus was an advocate for the philosophy of existentialism. Camus felt that the world was meaningless and pointless; his novel, The Stranger, centers around his nihilistic viewpoint of life. The Stranger, demonstrated how man was "the nauseated victim of the absurd orthodoxy of habit." In other words, people simply accepted reality without questioning its overall meaning without pondering the futility of life. Camus's lead character in The Stranger is Monsieur Meurseult who embodies this existentialist philosophy. Meurseult lacks faith, lacks in his relationships, and ultimately lacks in finding meaning to his reality. All of the events surrounding Maman's funeral, and even the description of her death, show Monsieur Meursault's lack of connection to other people. He does not know what day she died or seem to admit any personal feelings about her death. The entire narration about his mother's funeral focuses on trivial facts and details, with little substance. Through the voice of Monsieur Meursault, Camus relays his existentialist commentary; Meursault views life as futile and pointless. He is emotionally frigid and finds his mother's death a near welcoming release from the hollow and forlorn lives he feels everyone leads. Camus begins to weave the themes of loneliness, futility, and rejection
Think about what Virginia Woolf argues: what women need in order to become successful writers. Since Woolf gave this speech nearly 100 years ago, write an essay comparing and contrasting Woolf's "requirements" for entering the writing profession with the requirements a woman might face today. Construct your argument to answer two questions: Are the requirements for female writers and male writers still so different from each other? In other words, have we solved the problem of gender inequality in creative fields Generally speaking, should people who pursue artistic and creative fields seek financial security first? Your answer should be at least 250 words.
Her motivations can be interpreted in a few different ways. She may simply wish to explain where the prejudices against talented, creative women originated. She may wish to highlight the relatively privileged position of women writers in the early twentieth century compared to women of the sixteenth century. Or, she may actually be drawing the audience's attention to the fact that not much has changed at all. While the early twentieth-century woman likely need not fear accusations of witchcraft, are they really any more free to share their creative work with the world? While the women of Woolf's day may still be laboring under an oppressive patriarchy, one important thing has changed since the sixteenth century: women's ability to earn their own money. And money, Woolf argues, can literally purchase freedom. Intellectual freedom depends upon material things. Poetry depends on material freedom. And women have always been poor...Women, then, have not had a dog's chance of writing poetry. That is why I have laid so much stress on money and a room of one's own.... Woolf is using some powerful logic (logos) to make her claim: people who are poor cannot attain intellectual freedom. Women have always been poor. Therefore, women have never been able to attain intellectual freedom. If women desire this freedom, they need money. However, Woolf does make a distinction between money and a room of one's own. If money symbolizes the ability to focus one's attention on intellectual pursuits (as opposed to focusing on menial work), what, then, does a room of one's own symbolize? Review the text of her speech to find the answer.
Sartre said that we should not take people's circumstances into account when judging what they have accomplished in life. Do you agree or disagree? Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
I disagree because some people have more opportunities in life than others and, for this reason, they have the chance to accomplish more. For instance, a child born in a developing country would probably have less chances in his/her life for education and consequently less job opportunities than a child born in the Western world. Also, in the Western world, two people may have different education opportunities because one is raised by a rich family and the other is raised by a poor one. Sometimes circumstances are unfair and so we shouldn't compare the accomplishments of two people without considering their circumstances.
Do you agree or disagree with the Marxist critics? Is all literature politically charged? Take into consideration the literary canon in your response. Take a position in the debate and support it. Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
If there are lots of pieces of work that people are using as a literary canon that aren't accurate, then it would need to be expanded to get more material that would be accurate and useable. I don't think ALL literature is politically charged, there are lots of books that have nothing to do with economic oppression. In his retrospective declaration of literary intent, "Why I Write," George Orwell recalled that "What I have most wanted to do throughout the past ten years is to make political writing into an art."1 This candidly programmatic statement was written in 1946 and the decade referred to brings us back to the pivotal moment of 1936. In the same essay, Orwell himself points to the decisive political and personal impact of that year: "The Spanish war and other events in 1936-7 turned the scale and thereafter I knew where I stood."2 The "other events" indicated here would have included of course the struggle.
Describe, in your own words, Sartre's idea of the importance of reality and how that concept informs his view of cowardice. Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
In his 1946 work "Existentialism is Humanism", Sartre explores existentialism and its effect on humanity. He states that a coward is: "defined by the deed that he has done. What people feel obscurely, and with horror, is that the coward as we present him is guilty of being a coward." The action of the coward defines him, an aspect that can be changed only by him. If he is committed to change what defines him, he can erase the notion of being a coward. Nevertheless, Sartre mentions that "There is no reality except in action", and this reveals the importance of reality. Humans, regardless of the outcome of an unattainable future, are still in control of some aspects of their reality through their actions; thus, they can shape their individual futures in a way. This is "total freedom" defined solely by the individual, as Sartre says: "Those who hide from this total freedom, in a guise of solemnity or with deterministic excuses, I shall call cowards." What matters in someone's existence is what is decided. A decision is going to shape someone's reality and will define whether the person is a hero or a coward.
Experiment with the stream-of-consciousness narrative. Think about something that has happened to you recently. You might relay the events of a school day, a visit to a friend's house, a trip to the store, etc. Tell about the event in a stream-of-consciousness narrative. In doing so, you should— as Virginia Woolf does in her speech—explore a new concept, draw a conclusion, or find a solution to a problem. In other words, you are using a relatively simple story of commonplace events to discover a not-so-simple element of truth. Your narrative should be at least 250 words.
In literature, stream of consciousness is a method of narration that describes happenings in the flow of thoughts in the minds of the characters. The stream of consciousness style of writing is marked by the sudden rise of thoughts and lack of punctuation. The use of this narration style is generally associated with the modern novelist and short story writers of the 20th century. A trip to an store close to my house something I always do it's second nature to me and it's something I always do because I want to or because I have been told to go to get something either something small as it's not a big store it's small tiny usually boring and one doesn't think of the places one visits each time they become second nature second nature or third or fourth nature how many places one does visit and one doesn't remember how the entrance actually looks like or the ceiling or the cashier's hands one works with already created images when entering or recalling this places the usual photographs mental photographs of a regular old normal store what with their products and their lights and their price tags and the same for all the places even our houses our school places where we spent thousands of hours places where we don't even know how we enter them how are the knobs arranged or the chairs or how the light strikes a window Nothing yes sure nothing in specific not a concrete experience of that place whatsoever but not today today I'm going to look at the cashier remember his hands the lights the ceiling was it broken or was it perfectly painted how does it look how does each place look and how my mind would work if I actually had the strength to look at everything without preconceived images
How does Joyce use scrupulous meanness and epiphany to show paralysis in "Araby"? Use what you know about eight hundred years of English rule, the culture of Dublin, and examples from "Araby" in support. Your answer should be at least 250 words.
Joyce was born into a middle-class home in a suburb of Dublin. His family moved frequently to a variety of neighborhoods throughout the city of Dublin; their periodic relocation reflected a progressive financial decline that took them from comfort to virtual poverty. The economic hardships that necessitated the family's many moves served to bring Joyce into close contact with many aspects of city life that would later appear in his fiction. During his childhood, Joyce attended Jesuit schools as a scholarship entrant and was considered a talented student. His church-based education did not lead to the priesthood, as his parents had hoped, and he eventually rejected Catholicism, in part for its role in creating the parochial, narrow-minded society from which he later sought escape. Following his graduation from University College in Dublin in 1902, Joyce left Ireland to live in Paris, deliberately abandoning the life he knew and would later depict in harsh detail in Dubliners. He returned to Ireland the next year when his mother became seriously ill, and when she died in 1904, Joyce moved permanently to the European continent with Nora Barnacle, a chamber maid from Galway whom he did not marry until 1931. Living in Trieste, Italy, the couple had two children, and Joyce made a living as a language instructor while struggling to find publishers for his short fiction, the full collection of which was deemed too controversial to print. Dubliners appeared first as a handful of stories published in an Irish periodical and was eventually.
In what ways is Meursault a representation of existentialist philosophy? Use details from the text to support your answer. Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
Meurseult lacks faith, lacks in his relationships, and ultimately lacks in finding meaning to his reality. Existentialism is a theory that emphasizes the feeling, thinking, and living human individual, often characterized by nihilistic views and disorientation in the face of a meaningless world. Camus was an advocate for the philosophy of existentialism. Camus felt that the world was meaningless and pointless; his novel, The Stranger, centers around his nihilistic viewpoint of life. The Stranger, demonstrated how man was "the nauseated victim of the absurd orthodoxy of habit." In other words, people simply accepted reality without questioning its overall meaning without pondering the futility of life. Camus's lead character in The Stranger is Monsieur Meurseult who embodies this existentialist philosophy. Meurseult lacks faith, lacks in his relationships, and ultimately lacks in finding meaning to his reality.
Compare Siegfried Sassoon's works to Valery's essay. How are their messages similar? How do the authors persuade their audiences? Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
Paul Valery said that while making poems he always watched himself at work on them. This statement is a good place to begin a consideration of Valery's poetry, for it reveals the super-consciousness of a writer whose major theme and inspiration are super-consciousness. Thought and the process of thought interested Valery above all other things; and in an effort to make poetry of these concerns he followed the lead of the French Symbolist movement in attempting to write a "pure" poetry in which thought itself would be purely felt without the impurities and lack of clarity that the use of language usually involves.
How would a Realist writer treat the subject of death? How would death be discussed? How would characters deal with it or experience it?
Prior to the turn of the 20th century, authors and artists began to focus on everyday events—from the mundane and pointless to the deplorable and atrocious. Realism was born. This movement in the arts was a response to the idealism of Romanticism. The Realists' writing was straightforward; it lacked "flowery" fanciful language and focused on reality rather than romantic ideas. A Realist writer would probably treat the subject with death not as "optimistic" as religious perspectives, much more straightforward and not "lighthearted". The characters would have a hard time with it, not really be comforted with the "heaven" effect of death.Death in the 19th century has always had been a favorite subject of the Romantics and of many other writers who came after them. It is viewed as the ultimate existential issue, one which arouses terrible worries as it offers a way toward true self-discovery. Realism may be described as a "try" to make a surface appearance of the normal life of people in their daily endeavor. Death is frequently treated as a subject in literature. Death is discussed as man's consciousness of mortality giving it a reflection and reasons of its existence. Characters may fall into a pit of sadness. Coping up from the loss is always illustrated as a very stressful experience the character has to go through. In this style of writing characters resemble ordinary people with real problems, contains realistic, ordinary events and circumstances, the ending is often unhappy, the language is realistic, the settings actually exist in reality, and the writer is interested in recent, contemporary life.
The title "Araby" is key to the story. Araby was a common term at the time for anything eastern and exotic. The boy is disappointed when he finally gets to Araby. Can you think of a similar time when you were disappointed by an eagerly anticipated event or destination? Describe your experience and relate it to "Araby." Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
Quite similarly, ever since I was a young kid I used to dream about going to London, it was my life goal you could say.It seemed quite impossible as I come from a working class family however I decided to work during college in order to save every penny and book a flight to the UK. I was finally able to do it, I was one flight away from seeing London for the first time ever, I could not have been more excited.Once I got there, for the first time in my life I knew how disappointment felt like. It was nothing like I imagined, it was exactly how no one ever described it to me: crowded, dirty and ordinary.I learned to love its streets and its people but frankly I'd only return if it was for free.
Explain the effects widespread individual alienation had on the development of Realism as a literary movement. What factors brought about this sense of alienation? How did Realist authors seek to portray this sense of alienation in their works? Your answer should be at least 250 words.
Realism was an artistic movement that began in the second half of the nineteenth century. Although it originated in France, its impact spread all over the Western World. Realism was a reaction to the Romanticism that dominated previous eras. While Romanticism focused on the beautiful and the ideal, and often discussed everything that was admirable in the world, Realism wanted to show how the world was in "reality," and believed it to be disingenuous to only focus on the beautiful parts of life. Individual alienation was a significant topic that they addressed. Individual alienation was a consequence of the Industrial Revolution. As the social fabric of society transformed, communities changed and the social became less important, and was replaced by the individual.In the 19th century, Realism in France is often mistaken as literary movement because they felt that it laid too much truth specially on external reality. Meanwhile, America needed a type of literature that would explain what was happening to their society. American writers then turned to what is termed as modernism. The influence of realism and naturalism in the 19th century and their truthful illustration of American life and people was shown in post World War I modernism.
How does Siegfried Sassoon's works persuade his audience to his point of view? How does his vocabulary affect the reader? Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
Siegfried Sassoon was one of the first writers brave enough to use poetry to describe war as it really is brutalizing, destructive, horrific, and an indefensible waste of human lives. Earlier poets certainly recognized the sadness of war ('the flowers of the forest are withered away'). But they didn't question its association with heroism and glory. Even Siegfried Sassoon's first war poems, written before he had experienced war at first hand, showed he hadn't yet shaken off an old-fashioned romantic view of it. he anguish of the earth absolves our eyes. Till beauty shines in all that we can see.
Explain how "The Dungeon" is a reflection of the Romantic Era. Why is the subject of the poem a good topic for the Romantic Era? Which three lines best demonstrate qualities of the Romantic Era?
The Dungeon is a poem which reflects the Romantic Era because, as most of them, it is a political and passionate piece. This is a good topic for the Romantic Era because the author, with this piece, reflects the truth and shows concern about the well-being of the common man. For demonstrating the qualities of the Romantic Era I would chose these three lines because Romantic Era is all about emotions and because the author, in these lines, questions himself about "the innocence of the poor brother that offend us" in a very sensitive and emotional way, trying to break seted standards: Is this the only cure? Merciful God! Each poor and natural outlet shrivell'd up / By ignorance and parching poverty And stagnate and corrupt; till changed to poison, / They break out on him, like a loathsome plague-spot
How does "The Metamorphosis" represent existential themes of isolation, guilt, and meaninglessness? Use examples from the text to support your reasoning. Your answer should be at least 250 words.
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka shows various themes of isolation, guilt, and meaninglessness in the existence of Gregor in general. The family throughout the entire book, even before he transformed into a giant insect, seemed to treat him more like a burdening worker rather than a son whom they love. Then, when our main character suddenly turned into a gigantic bug, these actions and feelings were intensified. Instead of showing compassion and sympathy for their son, the family acted very hostile towards the young man. The only string of hope in Gregor's life was his sister, Grete, and even then by the end of the story she abandons her efforts in keeping him alive and comfortable, and soon starts referring to him as "it." This is a prime example that even if everything seems fine, in the end all efforts are futile and pointless, for nothing has a meaning to anything. The parents even push their son into being ashamed of himself even though he had no part in his transformation, which in turn makes Gregor start to hide from them when they enter his room for their comfort and his insecurity.The metamorphosis of Gregor impacts allo the character in the story. One of this impact is suffered by his father. There's a kind of inverse relationship between the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, and his father. The story's basic plot describes Gregor's overall decline while his father becomes more powerful and more controlling. In a way, it's a typical story of a dysfunctional family — were it not for the bizarre twist that the first line tells us Gregor has transformed into a giant, monstrous bug overnight. Given his current six-legged condition, however, it's unlikely that Gregor is going to report back to his sales job any time soon. Facing dire straits, his feeble old father suddenly steps up to become the man of the house again.
Take a position in the debate over the literary canon and support it. Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
The Western literary canon is the body of works of art (literature, music, philosophy, etc.) that are considered to be classics. These books are valued for being influential to culture, civilization and development throughout history. The canon is subject to ample debate. I believe that considering certain books as canon can have a negative influence in the artistic world. First, it causes people to only focus on particular works of art, even in cases where other books might be of equal quality or influence. Second, canons should change with time. For example, in the past, it was virtually impossible to be part of the canon if you were a woman or a minority. Although this is changing nowadays, glorifying the canon does not help. Finally, artistic canons can sometimes give too much importance to works of the past and neglect significant contributions of the present.
Explain how Sartre might defend existentialism against the claim that it leaves a moral vacuum.
The claim that existentialism leaves a moral vacuum is a common one against this philosophy, and one that Sartre was aware of. Existentialism places freedom at the centre of human experience, and this includes the freedom from traditional moral views, which at first glance, could be worrisome for some people. However, getting rid of moral traditions imposed by society is a choice: the choice to define your own morality. And by defining this morality, you replace old values with new ones. Therefore, there is no vacuum as there is no "empty space." When some social rules are removed from our ethical code, some other personal rules replace them. Sartre places great value on "authenticity." This is the creation of our own self in freedom. Through authenticity and freedom, we design ourselves, both as individuals and in society. Existentialism, therefore, does not imply the loss of ethics (and therefore, the lack of morals), but only the creation of a new ethics based on individual freedom and authenticity.
Choose a strategy for interpreting literature and apply it to a work you have read in this unit or in a previous unit. Include appropriate textual evidence to inform your reading. Your answer should be at least 250 words.
The formalist strategy is an approach in which literary scholars focus primarily on a text in isolation; analyzing how formal aspects contribute to meaning. In the The Three Little Pig the author skillfully builds tension with the repetition of failure by the first two brothers, (who will be frustrating the third) reflecting and magnifying his imagination and creativity. Some scholars, most notably the New Critics of the mid-twentieth century, employ a formalist strategy. The formalist strategy focuses only on the text. It analyzes the structure of the text. Elements of structure are: diction, repetition, metaphor, irony, symbolism, plot, and characterization. All of these elements contribute to our understanding of a text. This approach regards literature as "a unique form of human knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms." All the elements necessary for understanding the work are contained within the work itself. Of particular interest to the formalist critic are the elements of form—style, structure, tone, imagery, etc.—that are found within the text. A primary goal for formalist critics is to determine how such elements work together with the text's content to shape its effects upon readers. This approach regards literature as "a unique form of human knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms." All the elements necessary for understanding the work are contained within the work itself. Of particular interest to the formalist critic are the elements of form—style, structure, tone, imagery, etc.—that are found within the text. A primary goal for formalist critics is to determine how such elements work together with the text's content to shape its effects upon readers.
Evaluate the title of the novella. Why did Camus choose The Stranger? Is it an effective title for this work?. Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
The main character, Meursault, is a French man living in French Algiers. In some senses, yes, this makes him a foreigner to the land, but the text establishes that in fact his family has lived there for several generations—in a colonialist capacity, yes, but they've still been around. More likely, Meursault is a metaphorical foreigner. We know this guy is detachment personified, so it's easy to argue that he's a foreigner to society, to common, human customs—he's an "outsider" (yet another possible translation for the title, by the way). This is based on the word "foreigner," but the same thing applies to the title The Stranger. Meursault is a stranger among other people because he is so isolated from them—mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and, by the end of the text, physically (he's imprisoned). He's strange. He's the strangest. He's the stranger. Meursault is a stranger to other people because he's so isolated from them (mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically at the end of the story when he's in prison)
How does the metamorphosis of Gregor mirror the metamorphosis of one of the other characters? Compare Gregor's metamorphosis to the metamorphosis of one other character. Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
The metamorphosis of Gregor impacts allo the character in the story. One of this impact is suffered by his father. There's a kind of inverse relationship between the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, and his father. The story's basic plot describes Gregor's overall decline while his father becomes more powerful and more controlling. In a way, it's a typical story of a dysfunctional family — were it not for the bizarre twist that the first line tells us Gregor has transformed into a giant, monstrous bug overnight. Given his current six-legged condition, however, it's unlikely that Gregor is going to report back to his sales job any time soon. Facing dire straits, his feeble old father suddenly steps up to become the man of the house again.
How did Camus develop the character of Meursault? Identify and explain specific examples from the text that illustrate Meursault's character. Your answer should be at least 250 words.
Though The Stranger is a work of fiction, it contains a strong resonance of Camus's philosophical notion of absurdity. In his essays, Camus asserts that individual lives and human existence in general have no rational meaning or order. However, because people have difficulty accepting this notion, they constantly attempt to identify or create rational structure and meaning in their lives. The term "absurdity" describes humanity's futile attempt to find rational order where none exists. Though Camus does not explicitly refer to the notion of absurdity in The Stranger, the tenets of absurdity operate within the novel. Neither the external world in which Meursault lives nor the internal world of his thoughts and attitudes possesses any rational order. Meursault has no discernable reason for his actions, such as his decision to marry Marie and his decision to kill the Arab. Society nonetheless attempts to fabricate or impose rational explanations for Meursault's irrational actions. The idea that things sometimes happen for no reason, and that events sometimes have no meaning is disruptive and threatening to society. The trial sequence in Part Two of the novel represents society's attempt to manufacture rational order. The prosecutor and Meursault's lawyer both offer explanations for Meursault's crime that are based on logic, reason, and the concept of cause and effect. Yet these explanations have no basis in fact and serve only as attempts to defuse the frightening idea that the universe is irrational. The entire trial is therefore an example of absurdity—an instance of humankind's futile.
What does Virginia Woolf means when she writes that economic freedom is a precondition for intellectual freedom? Why is this the case? Do women still face the same problems? Your answer should be at least one hundred words.
Virginia Woolf states that intellectual freedom requires economic freedom because economic freedom means freedom from material wants which allows women to be at ease while pursuing their creativity. The British Columbia, Canada famous landscape artist was faced with poverty so took up pottery to make an income and it helped her in a time of economic need, even though I think she resented it as taking away from her painting. Artists in Canada and the US are often poor and this affects their work but if they are dedicated they usually find a way to continue with their creativity.
How did James Joyce explore the conflict between illusion and reality in his works? Be sure to include evidence from both "Araby" and "Eveline" in your response. Your answer should be at least 250 words.
When it comes to illusion and reality in Joyce's Dubliners, we have to consider dreams and wishes of the protagonists and their actual lives. First of all, we have Araby. The protagonist is a young boy who is in love with a girl and wants to go to the bazaar called Araby to buy her a present. His illusion is that she will fall for him once he gives her the gift and that they will be happy together. The reality is that he is disappointed when he realizes that everything is futile - that the bazaar is practically a lie, and not this wonderful magical place he envisioned it to be, and that the girl will never actually love him. Similarly, if you take a look at Eveline, you will see that her illusion is to run away from home and her responsibilities to her father and finally be happy with her loved one. However, the reality is that she cannot escape - her responsibility towards her family is too great so she decides to stay home in Dublin instead of running away to Argentina with her boyfriend. James Joyce writes of the tragic Irish of Dublin in his anthology of stories, "The Dubliners." For one thing, there is often a delusion that occurs with these characters as they attempt to alter circumstances in their lives. For instance, in "Araby" the boy perceives Megan's sister as a perfection, much like the maiden for whom the knight strives. The boy watches across the street and worships from afar this girl who, in his mind, is a paragon. He envisions himself at the market as he carries her parcels
Compare post-World War I Europe to the demise of ancient great empires. Recall characteristics of the Roman Empire. Consider the mindset of Europeans up until World War I and afterward. Your answer should be at least 250 words.
World War I meant a dramatic social and political changes - borders were redrawn, countries disappeared and new ones emerged, international organizations were established, and a new way of seeing the world emerged among the people. Funding of the war had a severe consequence in the economies of the countries involved. Those economies that depended on imported goods suffered from the war. Workforce also changed, as young workers were enlisted, giving a greater chance for women and minorities to play a key role in helping sustain their countries economies. People had suffered from great loss, and a whole sensation of "life is too short" was established. The Roman Empire saw a similar fate as that of Post-War Europe. The vast territory of the Roman Empire was divided into different polities. The great number of people, the rise of a new religion, internal struggles for power, and pressure from barbarians outside the empire, all contributed to the fall. The Western Empire was lost, after two destructive civil wars, which left their army weak and unable to defeat foreign invasion. The Eastern Empire managed to survive and remain in power for centuries. Corruption, cruelty and extortion became a commonplace among people. Those with enough income, immune from most taxes, managed to increase their income, which meant they had more power to control information and people. The gap between rich and poor became greater. Official toleration of Christianity was declared, but there was still struggle between Christians and Pagans. Temples were burned and people attacked.
