Kunj Patel
Rutgers University-Newark
English Composition 102
Professor Rosetti
March 24, 2014
Defining Deviant Characters: “The Tell- Tale Heart”, “The Pedestrian”, and “A Rose for Emily”
Deviant characters and people exist in both stories and the real world. Being deviant is just being different and going against the norms of society. Most stories are created by the use of a deviant character. The main character is usual different and stands out in society. These deviant characters consist of characteristics that fall into two groups. They have concepts and details. Concepts are the motivation behind the character and the details are their actions preformed to identify these motivations. In “The Tell- Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury, and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner the authors all used at least one deviant character to compose their story. In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Poe creates a character that is out to do whatever he wants even if it causes harm to others. In “The Pedestrian”, Bradbury creates a character that goes against the rules set by authority and thinks that he can do whatever he wants. In “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner creates a character that does not follow any rules just to get what she wants. All of these characters personalities go against norms. Based on the readings deviance can be defined as a person that goes against the norms of society.
By examining the behaviors of certain characters, it is clear that deviant characters often rebel against authority. In “The Pedestrian”, the main character Mr. Leonard Mead loved going outside at night when he would be the only one there. In the story the government did not let people leave their homes. They only let them stay indo...
... middle of paper ...
...ll, deviant characters go against the norms of society and do whatever they want. Through the characters created by Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, and William Faulkner the reader can deduce that deviant characters have actions and behaviors that are opposite compared to the majority of society. Rebelling against authority, putting ones self interest above the rest, and being controlling are all concepts of deviant behaviors. The details provided in the stories and lives of the characters helps show the reader that deviant characters are people that go against the norms of society. When these characters killed, lied, did not follow the rules and other actions than most people would not do, the reader could infer that a deviant character is a person that is different and has actions that are considered weird and wrong because the majority of society does not do them.
Deviance is described as “the recognized violation of cultural norms”(Macionis 238). While deviance can include crime, it is not always such. Deviance can mean trying to sneak into a hospital room, desperately searching for someone like the character of Benny in the movie Benny and Joon. Or it could be preforming on the streets for people to watch. Deviance isn’t always a criminal act. The movie Benny and Joon gave several examples of deviant behavior portrayed by the three main characters, Benny, Joon, and Sam.
What is deviance? What does it mean? What determines a behavior as deviant? Deviance is anything that violates a social norm. For example, when a child burps at the supper table but doesn’t excuse himself. Who we socialize and spend time with will determine what we deem as deviant behavior. There are many types of deviant behaviors, some of these behaviors may not be considered deviant to one culture but to another they are.
In life, many people strive to find a person that is reliable and to separate the people that are unreliable. Unreliable can be defined as an adjective meaning not dependable. Having read through the short stories “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and “Strawberry Spring” by Stephen King, it is reasonable to conclude that each of these stories has its own unreliable narrator. The most unreliable narrator, however, is the narrator/killer Springheel Jack from “Strawberry Spring” by Stephen King due to the narrator’s cognition problems and the violent nature of the murders.
Emile Durkheim (1901) argued that although definitions of what constitutes deviance vary by place, it is present in all societies. He defined deviance as acts that offend collective norms and expectations. Durkheim believed that what makes an act or appearance deviant is not so much its character or consequences, but that a group has defined it as dangerous or threatening to its well-being (Ferrante, 134).
Also we can see how each character illustrates the term deviant and through this we can understand some of their behaviors. Each character is deviant in their own ways. When referring to deviance, deviance refers to the violation of society’s norms (Ballantine 173). Each character is seen as deviant by either their actions that brought them into detention or some of the acts we see them do during the detention. For example, during one scene we see Allison as a thief because she steals Brian’s wallet during the detention and also because she comes to detention without even being in trouble, just to be deviant. Also we see Claire as deviant in the way she skips school to go shopping, and puts make up on during detention and how she cares about her appearance, also she enters in a relationship with John during the detention. Andy is deviant when he smokes marijuana because he is a varsity athlete and that is what athletes are supposed to do. John is constantly deviant in so many ways such as he is not involved in school activities, challenges Principal Vernon; he destroys school
Much of society mistakenly interchanges the two concepts of crime and deviance, assuming that they are one in the same. "A crime is what the law proclaims it to be, and is an act punishable by law" (Winterdyk 9). Deviance, on the other hand, is a contested concept; it can be defined as differing from a norm or accepted standard of society (dictionary.com). Deviance involves acts that fluctuate from social norms; although such actions can be, they are not necessarily against the law (Winterdyk 9).
Deviance is the term that s used for the type of behavior that does not comply or rather, goes against the norms of the society. Crime is an evident example of deviance and this has been used in a great way in this film. The film revolves around Derek who chooses to leave the path of deviance
Like many of Poe's other works, the Tell-Tale Heart is a dark story. This particular one focuses on the events leading the death of an old man, and the events afterwards. That's the basics of it, but there are many deep meanings hidden in the three page short story. Poe uses techniques such as first person narrative, irony and style to pull off a believable sense of paranoia.
This means that negative deviance either choose to ignore, or do not realize that they are rejecting social norms. An example of negative deviance could be seen in the workplace. Leaving early, being rude, taking excessive long breaks, stealing from the company or coworkers, and lying about hours you have worked are all examples of negative deviance. While society values persons who are honest, and hardworking, some institutions rely on employees that are misleading and dishonest in order to get what they want, to work their way to success. If an employee is around people, or a company who is maybe known for their poor work conduct, poor decision-making, and very high levels of employee anxiety and employee stress, all these could very well make the person act
Several individuals within society typically follow social guidelines that they are unaware of performing. Social guidelines such as stopping at a red light or saying thank you when someone has done something for you. These social guidelines or norms give society a script to follow regarding their behavior and actions. Although norms are the acceptable actions and behaviors that society is taught to perform, there are occurrences where individuals stay away from those in which they are now enacting deviance. To act deviant is considered to break away or do something different of a social norm. There are several forms of deviance that occur frequently within society that violate social norms and hinder society’s overall function.
The major part of the story was mostly about the guilt of the narrator. The story is about a mad man that after killing his companion for no reason hears a never-ending heartbeat and lets out his sense of guilty by shouting out his confession.
What is deviance? The fact or state of departing from usual or acceptable standards, especially in social or sexual behavior. Based off the readings in regards to deviant behavior, the stories tend to show how the social environment can cause a forceful reminder of the situational grounding of morality. In the story “Eating Your Friends Is the Hardest,” the people that survived the plane crash in the Andes had to make a decision on whether they were going to survive based on environmental necessities that were available or whether they were going to die due to lack of nourishment. The individuals had to put aside their moral ways of thinking eating human remains of friends/family members is deviant behavior and to consider that as temporary
Societies are founded on various social norms. Norms can best be defined as a set of acceptable attitudes and practices by a given society. These norms however are found to vary from one society or cultural setting o the other. Deviance on the other hand is simply when one does something that goes against the set societal norms. Deviance is gauged on a scale of attitudes and behavior contradicting to acceptable social standards (Samuels, 2012).
Through the first person narrator, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" illustrates how man's imagination is capable of being so vivid that it profoundly affects people's lives. The manifestation of the narrator's imagination unconsciously plants seeds in his mind, and those seeds grow into an unmanageable situation for which there is no room for reason and which culminates in murder. The narrator takes care of an old man with whom the relationship is unclear, although the narrator's comment of "For his gold I had no desire" (Poe 34) lends itself to the fact that the old man may be a family member whose death would monetarily benefit the narrator. Moreover, the narrator also intimates a caring relationship when he says, "I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult" (34). The narrator's obsession with the old man's eye culminates in his own undoing as he is engulfed with internal conflict and his own transformation from confidence to guilt.
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe is a short story that dives into the mind of an insane man. The story only features five characters. There is an old man with a blue eye, the crazed killer, and three police. The story is narrated by the nameless murderer. It is his attempt to justify his behavior and to prove to the reader that he is not crazy. As the story goes on you come to the realization that he is actually insane. The characters in this story are complex, interesting, and elaborate.