Applications of “Diary of a Madman" in Our Society
Like any piece of good literature, “Diary of a Madman” does not just apply to the time it was written. It can also be seen as a critique on the world today. However, the relation between the story and the modern world is not easily visible on the surface. One must dig deeper in order to see the parallels. Once one examines the symbolism that is used, it is clear that the story is relevant to today’s world just as much as it was to the world in which Lu Xun wrote it. There are many parallels between the story and our society, so many that this story could just as easily be a critique of our society as a critique of China in 1918.
On the surface, “Diary of a Madman” is about a crazy man and his belief that everyone around him is a cannibal. Not only this, but he believes that they intend to eat him. This causes him to become paranoid and he does not trust anyone, even the animals. By the end of the story, he is resigned to the fact that he will be a victim of cannibalism, and he knows that there is nothing that he can do to protect himself. His only hope is that somewhere there are children who have not yet become cannibals and that these children can somehow be saved from what appears to be their fate.
Although this is the literal reading of the text, when one looks deeper one is able to see that this is not all that Lu Xun intended to say with his story. Cannibalism is used simply because it is the most blatant way of taking advantage of other people, which is what it symbolizes. Unfortunately, the madman is the only one who notices that other people are constantly being taken advantage of. He is the only one who can see what is really going on in his societ...
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...There are many similarities between the society that Lu Xun wrote his “Diary of a Madman” for and the society that we live in today. Both societies practice cannibalism through their blatant disregard of others. Both societies are guilty of relatively the same crimes, and the cure for both societies is the same. Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that a change will ever be made in either society, because the only people who could bring this change about, the children, will be indoctrinated into the culture before they are old enough to make a difference.
Works Cited:
Voltaire, Candide, Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, ed. Maynard Mack, Expanded Edition (New York: W. W. Norton, 1995), pp. 548-554.
Xun, Lu, “Diary of a Madman,” Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, ed. Maynard Mack, Expanded Edition (New York: W. W. Norton, 1995), pp. 1684-1693.
...kness” hallucinations of madness. While the setting emphasizes searching for freedom despite the forms of confinement throughout the bittersweet stories, lets us view each characters life as it portrays the author’s time in which they lived, showing us there setting of life. Despite each characters will power giving them a hope of being liberated, somewhere along the lines of the story, we can conclude that freedom is just another metaphor of false hope.
Their military power was diminished and became weak due to lack of people enlisting. Their political structure never worked and there was always corruption present. And the economic downfall was a crushing blow to the empire. And although christianity and the loss of the Roman values were a defining factor in the fall of Rome it can’t be blamed as much as the military, political and economic
“Saboteur” written by Ha Jin is the beautiful depiction of the cruel but true image of our society. The story focuses on Mr. Chiu who was on his honeymoon with his wife. Everything was fine until they encounter the police. During his honeymoon he was concerned about his acute hepatitis and afraid of the relapse. But after he was arrested by the police for showing his attitude, although he had not done anything wrong, everything started worsen. His health starts deteriorating as he was not supplied with his medication and the unhealthy food of prison. The cruel circumstances make the innocent man as cruel and evil as it is. His decision of taking revenge on those policemen even worsens the situation that is represented on the last sentences
An enlightenment philosopher François-Marie Arouet, commonly known as Voltaire, wrote Candide. Voltaire “was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state (Wikipedia).” He was born November 21st 1694 into an upper-middle class family. Voltaire started showing an interest in writing at a young age. Candide was published in 1579. It was a French Satire. A satire is “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues (Oxford Dictionary).” Candide mocks the ideas of the philosopher Leibnitz though the character of Pangloss because Leibnitz believed in an optimistic world and Voltaire feels that thinking this way makes one a hypocrite. Candide defines optimism as “a mania for insisting that all is well when things are going badly (Voltaire, p. 48).” Throughout the book, many themes and symbols are present.
In the glory days of Rome, the empire was safe. People got along very well, large scale public works including bathhouses and aqueducts were built. A single emperor had control of one of the largest empires in history. Great games and festivities rang throughout the land. But, all glory eventually comes to an end. With the largest empire at the time, Rome had an equal fall from grace. Rome fell because of the political corruption, inflation and the decline in morals of its citizens.
Frautschi, R.L. Barron's Simplified Approach to Voltaire: Candide. New York: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1968.
Voltaire's Candide is a novel which contains conceptual ideas and at the same time is also exaggerated. Voltaire offers sad themes disguised by jokes and witticism, and the story itself presents a distinctive outlook on life. The crucial contrast in the story deals with irrational ideas as taught to Candide about being optimistic, versus reality as viewed by the rest of the world.
Rome was an ancient empire, and a powerful one, at that. It grew from a small village started by two brothers, Romulus and Remus, to a republic. Eventually, it became a huge empire controlled by emperors that lead Rome to being more impressive. But, questions still remain: Why did Rome fall? What event or series of events contributed to the decline of Rome?
In the play,Hippolytus hates women. He openly insult women and thinks low of them. However, Hippolytus conception explain why he hates women so much. Hippolytus parents were of king theseus and an amazon. Hippolytus was raised by his Thesis. However, His mother abandoned him. Hippolytus did not have mother. He did not have some to teach him to respect women and he did not have a women to respect, thus why he acts the way he does, and makes people feel sorry for him, thus validating the
Rome was a great city with much potential at hand. The Roman empire had strong leaders that actually cared for their people more than their own power. Their intentions weren't always for something that would benefit themselves but that would benefit Rome. Rome was growing rapidly and its future was very bright. Things were looking great for Rome until things got out of hand. Many reasons contributed to the fall of the Roman empire, but I think the biggest reason was for the corrupt public officials and emperors that began leading Rome. Leaders are very important because the leaders of Rome are the ones that decide what's best for everyone and they're who the people are looking up to. Unfortunately, Roman leaders became obsessed with their own power and wealth more than anything which would
Rome was once one of the world's greatest empire until around 200 BCE when Rome started to crumble. The Fall of Rome did not happen suddenly, it took about 1100 years to take place. The first two centuries as an empire were named the "Pax Romana", which meant the time of Roman peace. The Romans were living the life, without a worry in the world. So how and why did Rome start to collapse, if the empire was was doing so grand and magnificent? To answer that question, the primary reasons that Rome started to decline were that the Romans had difficulty with their government which caused social problems/decay, their military was falling behind on their duties and became indolent, and natural disasters.
Rome has fallen and cannot get up. Rome may have begun as a tiny settlement in 750 BCE; however, by 200 BCE, the war machine known as Rome, had taken out all of their major rivals. As Julius Caesar came to power, the well working Republic had shifted to an empire. Then, things took a turn for the worse. Critics may argue that foreign invasions was the main contributor to Rome’s decline, but the true contributors to the fall of Rome were the empire’s military mistakes and moral decline in society. Military mistakes was a big problem for the Romans. The Roman military was as good as a rock at fighting. Also, the people of Rome had a only-do-what’s-expected-of-me attitude. That is not going to cut it for a first-class and massive empire.
This is an odd little book, but a very important one nonetheless. The story it tells is something like an extended parablethe style is plain, the characters are nearly stick figures, the story itself is contrived. And yet ... and yet, the story is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking because the historical trend it describes is powerful, distressing, even heartbreaking.
I think that made Rome fall was because the Roman empire grew too large. The first reason why I think this is true because it went out of hand and Rome fell apart because it was too late to fix anything. This could happen to anyone because when things rush right away it could cause a problem and it could turn out in the end bad and it can't be fixed anymore just like what happened with the roman empire when it got out of hand. Another reason why I think the problem that caused Roman to fall was because some of the people couldn’t afford to pay taxes, so less money went into Rome. When this was happening the emperors raised the taxes. That didn’t even work either. This also happens today like when people don't have enough money to pay their
Bottiglia, William. "Candide's Garden." Voltaire: A Collection of Critical Essays. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.