The purpose of C.S. Lewis' books Surprised by Joy was to chronicle all the material and spiritual events that developed his beliefs and assumptions of life, as well his experiences and discovery of the meaning of Joy, which ultimately lead him to the recognition of God.
In the beginning, it often seems like there are two stories that only occasionally touch, eventually merging slowly to produce his finally conversion to the belief in a God. One side centers on is education, outlining Lewis' transformation for a neglected pupil under Oldie, an uneventful term at Campbell except for his sickness and glorious freedom at at home following, a floundering student save for some vibrant literature at Wyvern preparatory, and eventually to a priggish "nothing" at Wyvern College with a deep love of reading somewhat supported by Smewgy. Wyvern College actually pushed Lewis over the edge into pessimism, cynicism, atheism, and priggishness as well as drew him for a time to the occult and what he calls supernatural lust. It deeply contrasts with the side of his life that is punctuated with flashes of brilliant and pure joy followed by diligent search in-between, often though literature and music. The most notable literature being Wager,
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Joy was not something to be desired or contemplated it was the desire itself that vanished upon contemplation and introspection. Joy was not an object but a pointer - one that pointed to something greater, outside of humanity. For the purpose of teaching Lewis changed from the "absolute" to God (still having nothing to do with popular religion), which at the time he called "Spirit". Reading The Everlasting Man put Christianity, and God in a way, in an acceptable light. And finally spending more and more time in the presence of the "Spirit" it could not be helped that Lewis finally realized that "The God whom I had at last acknowledged was one, and was righteous"
The book opens up with the author talking about his journey home from a summer stay in a cabin in the north. The relevance of this is due to his subsequent stop made at his Aunts house along the way. The author notes that she had a “handsome” set of an edition of Lewis' journals. After acquiring the journals from his Aunt the author states that he read them and frequently discussed them with his Aunt, so much so that they even followed the path taken by Lewis and his group of explorers. All of this leads to explaining his love for the exploration that had taken place so many years ago, with his ending statement saying he felt “privileged” to have spent time with Lewis.
Lewis showed signs of strange behavior that lead to his suicide. He showed these because he was depressed, he had depressive tendencies. When you are depressed you aren’t happy. He was also going through personal problems. Lewis suffered from Paresis. Paresis is a condition of muscular weakness caused by nerve damage or disease; partial paralysis. Paresis made him have impaired mental function. He couldn’t think straight. It may have caused Lewis to have a mental break down . That caused Lewis to be depressed. Depression has an emotion toll on your life. Depression brings many strange and questionable behaviors. When you have problems and sickness your dealing with on your mind you want to escape it all. You don’t want to deal with it. Lewis couldn’t handle all that was
John L. Lewis was born on the 2nd of February in 1880 in Lucas, Iowa and he’s was born in to a family of immigrant welch parents which worked in coal mining and trade unionism. By the age of 15 John began working in coal mining and 2 years later he married his wife Myrta Bell, she influenced him to read many things which would later come in to his aid in his public speeches as flowery phrases, Shakespearean quotations, and mixed metaphors. He soon move to souther...
He was not alone, many of his peers felt the same drive. John Lewis quotes, “Jim Lawson conveyed the urgency of developing our philosophy, our discipline, our understanding. His words liberated me. I thought, this is it… This is the way out.” John Lewis’s calling becomes clear, his new sense of purpose is what drives his motivations now. This drive is, in part, because he recognizes his own power to change his world. He also realizes that he does not have to accept the way life he was born into. This rejection is what liberates him, he sees the potential of what his world can be and this potential is recognized within his
He is, ". a physical-conditioning perfectionist with misplaced survival-of-the-fittest instincts and cave-man yearnings"(Warren). Lewis is the man that most men want to be like because he needs no one to survive but himself. He constantly demonstrates a primitive lifestyle that no longer exists. The primitive lifestyle he demonstrates is one of survival.
Lewis is one of the most complex characters in Dickey's novel. It is difficult to tell exactly what his motives are or why he feels such a need to be a survivalist. Because of the way that Lewis talks his friends into participating in his adventures he could potentially end up in Bolgia 9 of Circle 8 in Hell. This is the place where sowers of discord are kept. The families of his friends and even his friends themselves are drug into his plans because he is so convincing that they need to canoe down the river. Even when his friends protest, he strongly rebuts. "'Listen,' Lewis said, knocking on the air with his foreknuckle, `you'll be in more danger on the four-lane going home tonight than you'd ever be on the river. Somebody might jump the divider. Who knows?'" (Dickey 7) Because he talks his friends into joining him on this adventure with such fervor, he is therefore a sower of discord in their lives. These sinners are wounded and mutilated in a variety of ways, but there is one that most closely resembles Lewis' ability to persuade his friends. "Then he grasped on...
Both Lewis and Freud agreed that the question of god’s existence and our response must be asked. Though each man had drastically different worldviews and answers, they each sought to learn and understand the other’s worldview. Nicholi points out that Lewis may have had an advantage in the understanding of the unbeliever’s worldview due to the fact that until the age of 30, he claimed to be “even more certain of his atheism than was Freud” (2002, Pg. 81). In his adult life, Freud had no dramatic change of worldview from believer to unbeliever like Lewis had. This fact may give Lewis a slight upper hand in the understanding of the unbeliever’s worldview; however, Freud was still one of the greatest minds of his times and his work proves a strong (though negative) understanding of the believer’s worldview.
Sometimes, when all else is lost, hope can be the only thing left guiding a movement. This is exactly what happened to the people in John Lewis’s March trilogy. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the people pushing for equal rights for African Americans had many things taken away from them including their freedom, their physical possessions, their dignity, sometimes even the lives of their friends or family members. There was one thing, however, which could never be taken away from them: hope. The events illustrated in the March Trilogy prove that hope was the reason that the people in the Civil Rights Movement had the will to keep pushing for equal rights.
... child. Writing and reading brought Douglass joy and remained to bring him joy even when deceased. Douglass’s insane life may have left him a few scars and terrible memories, but it also molded him in to the magnificent person he had become which was a successful writer, passionate abolitionists and a knowledgeable gentleman.
In conclusion C.S. Lewis utilizes all the literary tools at his disposal very effectively to create an empathy between the reader and the narrator, by utilizing the pace of the words and the sentences to create a tense and suspenseful environment, also he delves very deep into the mind and thoughts of the narrator so really the reader doesn’t have any information besides the biased information the narrator gives us. As well as utilizing a lot of repetition and description of his thoughts that will emphasize in the overall ambiance of fear to darkness, being alone and being insane.
Laughter is an interesting topic. Mainly because of the lack of thought that goes with it as to why we laugh. In an article titled Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson, the theory behind why things are funny is explored. He mentions many different things in his article pertaining to the comic, however, there are a few that stand out more than others. He talks directly about the fact that things are only funny if they relate to humans. Then he touches on the idea that accidents are funnier than planned events. Finally, he speaks on laughter being directly related to social setting. The 1992 film Noises Off is a perfect demonstration of everything that Bergson writes about. Henri Bergson’s essay on laughter is perfectly supported by the film Noises Off.
In The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, many people were able to grasp ahold of the author Wes’s life and help him get steered into the right direction. I feel that his mother, Joy, had the biggest impact on his life and meant the most for him. “When we moved to New York, she worked multiple jobs, from a freelance writer for magazines and television to a furrier’s assistant- whatever she could do to help cover her growing expenses (47).” Joy was a very hardworking woman. She worked not one but two jobs to cover her expenses, her kids expenses, and to help her parents out. She did this because she wanted what was best for her children. This later comes back to make Wes respect his mother for all that she has provided and sacrificed for him to get all that he did.
I thought the most profound aspect of the book was the way in which Lewis cleverly teaches his readers to fight the devil’s schemes and stay spiritually strong with respect to having a relationship with God. Sun Tzu, the author of an ancient influential book on Chinese military strategy wrote, “To know your enemy, you must become your enemy.” This book puts the reader into the mindset of a demon attempting to lure a man’s soul to hell. In a sense, by examining the mind of the demon, we become the demon; by becoming the demon, we know the demon; and by knowing the demon, we know how to fight against his perpetual temptations that pull us away from the light of God and into the darkness of
...c child who is an innocent and has no place in the world of the wicked. His troubled self’s resolution comes at the end after Edmund has spoken to Aslan, the true ruler and god of Narnia. Both Edmunds own initiative and, less directly, religion lead Edmund back to before he was spoiled by the school he went to and the enchantment of the witch’s candy. Lewis therefore is following the Romantic tradition of innocence as a part of childhood since it was not Edmund’s fault he performed the incorrect behavior and was drawn to the side of evil.