Despair and Alienation in The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Winter Dreams
While some readers enjoy the genre of mysteries, others enjoy romance or westerns. But for some people the tragic tales of someone’s despair and alienation from someone or something they love is just what they want to read about. Ernest Hemingway’s styles have evolved throughout his career and I feel The Snows of Kilimanjaro represents the ideas of a man who is greatly in despair and alienated. As well, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing of Winter Dreams portray a sense of despair and alienation.
The Snows of Kilimanjaro depicts a man, Harry, who after a lifetime of doing as he pleased, with whom he pleased has found himself in deep despair and even though he has people around him, he is quite alienated. While Harry would like to believe it is his wife’s fault for the condition he is in, deep down in his subconscious he knows better. He knows the fault lies squarely on his own shoulders.
Harry’s wife, doting as she is, is still not truly, unconditionally loved by Harry. As stated in the Norton Anthology, “Hemingway’s work has been much criticized for its depictions of women” (Baym 2206). Harry loved himself too much to allow him self to love someone else. This seems to be a bit of reflection of Hemingway’s own love life. Married four times and divorced three times, it seems he had a hard time finding true love him self.
Hemingway’s portrayal of Harry and his feelings of despair and alienation is seen in the context of his realization that his life, even though it had been fun, was rather lonely. He lived a life full of loneliness and dies very much the same way. The flesh eating gangrene was comparable to the self-centeredness...
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... what should be the most important in their lives – love. Love of friends and family! People live in despair and alienation and are hardly aware of their unhappiness. Until, like Harry facing death and Charlie who has lost his wife and daughter, people refuse to see the truth. Travels, money, power, “things” will not make you happy. As Charlie thought, “He would come back someday; they couldn’t make him pay forever. But he wanted his child, and nothing was much good now, beside that fact. He wasn’t young anymore, with a lot of nice thoughts and dreams to have by himself. He was absolutely sure Helen wouldn’t have wanted him to be so alone (Baym 2155).”
Works Cited
Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter Fifth Edition. New York: Norton & Co., 1989.
Benet’s Reder’s Encyclopedia of American Literature. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
In January of 2010, the United States Supreme Court, in the spirit of free speech absolutism, issued its landmark Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, marking a radical shift in campaign finance law. This ruling—or what some rightfully deem a display of judicial activism on the part of the Roberts Court and what President Obama warned would “open the floodgates for special interests—including foreign corporations—to spend without limit in…elections” —effectively and surreptitiously overturned Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce and portions of McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, struck down the corporate spending limits imposed by Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, and extended free speech rights to corporations. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief historical overview of campaign finance law in the United States, outline the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, and to examine the post-Citizens United political landscape.
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Campaign finance reform has a broad history in America. In particular, campaign finance has developed extensively in the past forty years, as the courts have attempted to create federal elections that best sustain the ideals of a representative democracy. In the most recent Supreme Court decision concerning campaign finance, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Court essentially decided to treat corporations like individuals by allowing corporations to spend money on federal elections through unlimited independent expenditures. In order to understand how the Supreme Court justified this decision, however, the history of campaign finance in regards to individuals must be examined. At the crux of these campaign finance laws is the balancing of two democratic ideals: the ability of individuals to exercise their right to free speech, and the avoidance of corrupt practices by contributors and candidates. An examination of these ideals, as well as the effectiveness of the current campaign finance system in upholding these ideas, will provide a basic framework for the decision of Citizens United v. FEC.
Winter Dreams There are many ways in which “Winter Dreams” is like and unlike a fairytale. “Winter Dreams” had the potential to have a fairy tale ending. Beginning the story, F. Scott Fitzgerald made the story seem predictable. The reader would have predicted a happy ending, like a fairytale. An ending where the ambitious young man gets the beautiful girl of his dreams.
... experiences of love with Agnes von Kurowsky. That being said, the two main characters of the text can be psychoanalytically depicted through the use of the id, the ego, and the superego, which helps uncover how complete happiness is unachievable. The protagonist, Fredric Henry could not obtain complete happiness due to the situations he encountered himself in. Catherine also could not acquire absolute happiness because of the loss of her fiancé. Lastly, the rain symbolizes tragedy and the dissolution of happiness, which can be seen through the soldiers on the battlefield. Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954 because of his ability to capture the art of narrative. Later on, Hemingway committed suicide on July 2, 1961 (“Ernest Hemingway- Biorgaphy”). “In order to write about life first you must live it” (Ernest Miller Hemingway, 1899 – 1961.”).
Reformation on the funding of political campaigns has been an ongoing battle between trying to create an equal and democratic balance of representation for the people and the rich and powerful who have succeeded in using the media to control those people. With The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1972 and the establishment of the Federal Election Commission in 1975, steps were taken to hold the wealthy and public officials accountable for corruption and to try and prevent it. Though the act could be viewed as a positive sign of peaceful evolution in the direction o...
Throughout the 20th century there were many influential pieces of literature that would not only tell a story or teach a lesson, but also let the reader into the author’s world. Allowing the reader to view both the positives and negatives in an author. Ernest Hemingway was one of these influential authors. Suffering through most of his life due to a disturbingly scarring childhood, he expresses his intense mental and emotional insecurities through subtle metaphors that bluntly show problems with commitment to women and proving his masculinity to others.
Kenneth Vogel’s Big Money explores the invasion of money into our political system. In the novel, Vogel explains one of the most important important events that is currently happening in today’s elections: donors. This, according to Vogel, has been brought on by a ruling in the case Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission. The result of this case destroyed finance restrictions, giving Corporations and Unions the same laws of freedom of speech as individual Americans. The novel opens in February of 2012 where Vogel sneaks into a donor banquet. As our current president, Barack Obama, gives his speech, Vogel makes a note of the President’s words. In particular, Vogel focuses on one line “You now have the potential
Pytel, Babara. "How students dress affects attitude." Suit101.com. 12 Sept. 2006. Barbara Pytel. 11 May 2010.
"Facts about Children's Literacy." National Education Association. National Education Association, n.d. Web. 23 May 2014.
... from one friend to another. The quality, the control Hemingway had in weaving his theme through his story is the work of a true master. Philosophy is never an easy subject to tackle, with it’s complex theoretical basis, it’s seeming unending list of unanswered questions, and the frustration and sadness it can bring forward. Applauding Hemingway for his attempt at divulging into his own philosophy would be an understatement and, for the most part, would mean little to the author. He comes across as this mythical figure, who’s intellect was far superior to most, but who’s own faults brought him back down to humanity, revealing that he is far more similar to most humans, a thought that, almost certainly, would have terrified him to no end.
The issue of campaign financing has been discussed for a long time. Running for office especially a higher office is not a cheap event. Candidates must spend much for hiring staff, renting office space, buying ads etc. Where does the money come from? It cannot officially come from corporations or national banks because that has been forbidden since 1907 by Congress. So if the candidate is not extremely rich himself the funding must come from donations from individuals, party committees, and PACs. PACs are political action committees, which raise funds from different sources and can be set up by corporations, labor unions or other organizations. In 1974, the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) requires full disclosure of any federal campaign contributions and expenditures and limits contributions to all federal candidates and political committees influencing federal elections. In 1976 the case Buckley v. Valeo upheld the contribution limits as a measure against bribery. But the Court did not rule against limits on independent expenditures, support which is not coordinated with the candidate. In the newest development, the McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission ruling from April 2014 the supreme court struck down the aggregate limits on the amount an individual may contribute during a two-year period to all federal candidates, parties and political action committees combined. Striking down the restrictions on campaign funding creates a shift in influence and power in politics and therefore endangers democracy. Unlimited campaign funding increases the influence of few rich people on election and politics. On the other side it diminishes the influence of the majority, ordinary (poor) people, the people.
...ugh, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them.’ Hemingway was not big on self-analysis; he said upon receiving his Nobel Prize that "a writer should write what he has to say and not speak it." But the facts of his life are important, for Hemingway he believed that a good writer ought to draw always upon personal experience for his material. He wrecked his body in pursuit of a macho ideal. He wrecked his relationships in pursuit of… well, who knows what exactly he was after. After a lifetime of celebrating striving and stoicism, Hemingway ended his life wracked in mental and physical pain. Whatever his personal challenges, Hemingway's professional legacy is clear. American prose is different because of him, and his unique style has influenced art, film and countless other writers. We can only imagine that Papa would be proud
Baym, Nina et al. Ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter 8th ed. New York:
Belasco, Susan, and Linck Johnson, eds. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 1, 2nd Ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 1190-1203. Print.