In William Kennedy’s novel, Legs, and the Coen brothers’ film, Miller’s Crossing, guns are repeatedly used and portrayed. Many characters in both the novel and the film use guns in various ways, such as to kill people or to show intimidation. Most importantly, the use of guns is used to portray a strong sense of power. Through this sense of power, guns are a phallic symbol. A gun itself is not power; rather, it supplies a sentiment of power to its user. This is displayed through Jack Diamond’s reputation as a perilous character, Marcus Gorman shooting a machine gun for the first time, and Leo O’Bannon’s shooting frenzy. In Legs, Jack Diamond is commonly known for being a violent, dangerous man. This is primarily due to him constantly retaining guns and violently utilizing them. Jack’s violent use of guns can be seen in the incident at Hotsy Totsy, a nightclub on Broadway. Jack gets into a skirmish with Tim Reagan. After some fighting, “Jack shot Tim in the stomach… Standing then, Jack fired into Tim’s forehead… He fires his last two shots into Tim’s groin, pulling the trigger three times on empty chambers” (Allen 28). This scene exemplifies Jack’s reputation as an extremely violent man, and it’s all because of his use of his gun. He even shoots Tim two more times after he has already killing him, illustrating an …show more content…
When the two assassins enter into his house and set it ablaze, Leo nonchalantly gets out of bed and calmly goes into frenzy mode. He proceeds to kill both of the assassins and a truck full of Italian mobsters. Before this scene, Leo is known to be powerful, but he is not seen as a violent character. After this scene, however, a viewer fully understands that Leo is a truly violent character, and his reputation of power is strengthened greatly. This is attributed to his rampant use of guns in this
Jack Reacher notices a woman struggling to carry her recently dry cleaned clothes. As she dropped her clothes on the dirty Chicago street, Jack decides to escort her to her destination while carrying her cumbersome load, which was easy for a strong 6 foot 4 man. As they begin to walk to her car they are cut off by two men holding pistols right at their stomachs. Being ex-military Jack Reacher starts to evaluate the grave situation, thinking of a way out without harm to him or her. He looks at the man facing him, he is a fit man, but appears very nervous and jittery as if he hadn’t done this before. Jack then looks at the man across from her. He observes his calmness and his stature. He can see that it is not his first time holding someone at gun point. The men are both in top physical shape, but not too much for Jack to handle. The man across from her commands both of them to get into the back seat of the white car on the side of the street. Jack in a matter of seconds examines the intense situation. He knows how to disarm the first man but can’t tell if the woman knows what to do in this event.
In his article “Our Blind Spot about Guns,” Nicholas Kristof argues for making guns safer for the people who use them by bringing up the comparison of guns to cars; “Cars don’t kill people. People kill people,” (261). Kristof’s purpose is to address the fact that guns are not as safe as they should be and are the cause of thousands of deaths each year. Although his ideas for increasing gun safety are interesting, there is a shortcoming in the comparisons he used. In order to make a stronger argument, one must use literary devices. In this case, Kristof used ethos, pathos, logos, and additional rhetorical devices.
In her younger ages, she used a gun for entertainment, she loved to hunt with her father. The author was educated and taught about guns, by her father because of the unsaddling event of her grandmother and mother on highway 66 when the three men that were trying to run them off the road for the large cash amount that was used for cashing payroll checks for the miners. As she got older her gun was there for protection and security. She was more assured with it that she would be able to protect herself.
Carter, Gregg. Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2012. Print.
In “Confessions of a Liberal Gun Owner”, Justin Cronin identifies himself and his political beliefs as “devoutly liberal” (203). However, Cronin’s ideals transcend political affiliation when it comes to the issue of gun ownership. Among the reasons Cronin gives for his pro-gun stance – generally reserved for conservatives - is “the seductive psychological power” (204) of a gun as well as the safety and welfare of his family. It is those desires – rooted deep in Cronin’s psyche – that drive an otherwise steadfast liberal to support the basis of a conservative agenda.
"Being Prepared in Suburbia" is an essay by Roger Verhulst published in 1992. The purpose of this essay is to show how guns can change a person's mind and emotions. Throughout the essay, Verhulst shares personal examples of his beliefs of gun ownership and personal examples of how his life changed once he bought a Crossman Power Master 760 BB Repeater pump gun. After purchasing the gun, he believed that the reason people like guns so much is because of a passion that gun owners feel. He stated, "This is the feeling that explains their passion, their religious fervor, their refusal to yield. It's rooted in the gut, not in the head" (Verhulst 342). He also realized that personal thoughts and morals about gun ownership change for a gun owner, and, in a sense, how the gun has authority over an individual's life. For example, "But a roving opossum that took up residence in our garage for a few cold nights in January undermined my good intentions" (Verhulst 341). Honestly, those are only excuses and not legitimate reasons. A strong person would not go against his or her beliefs and would know that using a gun should only be for a specific and valid purpose. Throughout the essay, he believes the weak gun legislation and the problems with gun usage are because of a passion that you feel in your gut; in reality, it is a lack of self-control.
Somewhere out in the Old West wind kicks up dust off a lone road through a lawless town, a road once dominated by men with gun belts attached at the hip, boots upon their feet and spurs that clanged as they traversed the dusty road. The gunslinger hero, a man with a violent past and present, a man who eventually would succumb to the progress of the frontier, he is the embodiment of the values of freedom and the land the he defends with his gun. Inseparable is the iconography of the West in the imagination of Americans, the figure of the gunslinger is part of this iconography, his law was through the gun and his boots with spurs signaled his arrival, commanding order by way of violent intentions. The Western also had other iconic figures that populated the Old West, the lawman, in contrast to the gunslinger, had a different weapon to yield, the law. In the frontier, his belief in law and order as well as knowledge and education, brought civility to the untamed frontier. The Western was and still is the “essential American film genre, the cornerstone of American identity.” (Holtz p. 111) There is a strong link between America’s past and the Western film genre, documenting and reflecting the nations changes through conflict in the construction of an expanding nation. Taking the genres classical conventions, such as the gunslinger, and interpret them into the ideology of America. Thus The Western’s classical gunslinger, the personification of America’s violent past to protect the freedoms of a nation, the Modernist takes the familiar convention and buries him to signify that societies attitude has change towards the use of diplomacy, by way of outmoding the gunslinger in favor of the lawman, taming the frontier with civility.
Americans today tend to believe that guns are dangerous and they should not be in the place of anyone’s hands. There is much debate over who should have one and who should not. What is not commonly conversed is how to properly use one. David Shipley, the author of the article The Rare ‘Good Guy with a Gun’, acknowledges this understated issue. Being a “good guy with a gun” is not enough to stop a bad guy with a gun. You do not only need a gun but also experience, knowledge, and adequacy.
Emily Dickerson’s poem, “My Life Stood – A Loaded Gun” is about a gun which is a personification of it's owner. The pleasure the gun takes in violence represents its owner's pleasure in violence.
Ring, Ray. “Guns R Us.” High Country News (Paonia, Co) Vol. 39, No. 14 Aug. 6 2007:10-17. Sirs Issues Researcher. Web. 6 Oct. 2015.
...elling example of how citizens took the privilege of owning weapons for their own security in the home and nation, and used it for venomous reasons. A concept that was effective in the eleventh century lost its value as citizens began to ignore their responsibilities as gun owning United States citizens. The Federalist foresaw that citizens were going to expunge their right, yet it was still ratified in the Constitution. The discernment of a plan to execute seven individuals conveys how citizens have ignored both the meaning of their rights and their responsibilities. A few individual’s decision to configure the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, consequentially led to a stringent of regulations placed on gun owners. “Violence is an evil thing, but when the guns are all in the hands of me without respect for human rights, then men are really in trouble”- Louis L’Amour.
Since the birth of United States of America, guns have been sewn into the fabric of American culture. Guns were used for many meaningful things in those primitive times. Guns were used to protect one’s property from wild animals such as bears. Guns were used to hunt down protein-rich animals to feed families. Guns were used to defend American’s newly constituted freedoms from savage criminals, Native Americans, and European forces. Guns fit well into the fabric of American culture has stood the test of time. Today, however, the fabric that once brought the United States prosperity is now fraying and flawed due to the excessive use of guns. This addiction has shown to be a problem in several areas of American society, and statistics prove America
In Michael Moore’s film “Bowling For Columbine” he tries to discover the correlation between guns and violence in America. Through his research and findings he reveals that although our Canadian neighbors have a higher gun ownership rate than ours, their gun-violence ratio is far less then America’s. “Bowling for Columbine” looks deeper into the matter to sniff out the real cause for America’s violent behavior. Moore examines how fearful American culture is and points at the media and government’s scare tactics to be a mere market...
From Columbine to Blacksburg and Aurora, gun control has become quite the controversial issue in the United States. As such, sides have been made on the proper means not only to regulate weapons, but also in how it has reshaped America as a whole. Within two articles and an procedure image set around the campus of Virginia Tech, they persuade and reinforce potential readers with the issues surrounding gun control. From the on-campus’ procedures in what to do if caught in such a dire situation and the split message it can give off, the NRA’s outlandish and aggressive stance against President Obama, and President Obama’s vivid, somber statement about the need for change at Umpqua Community College, these are multiple portrayals bearing the same
Guns are very common in American society. Sometimes, dichotomization is associated with guns. For example, when white society dichotomizes African-American males as thugs or gang bangers this negatively affects the African-American male population. When a person is dichotomized they will eventually fall into a certain category at some point. In this case, it may lead to more gun related crimes especially amongst African-American males. Therefore, gun related crimes may be associated with dichotomization of certain groups. Also, gun related fatalities and suicide can result within from the LGBT community or even teenagers that often feel isolated due to dichotomization. Likewise, it is seen very patriotic for an American male to carry a gun with them. This is often shown on media and television where it is shown that the male must carry a gun either for protection or hunting. True men that don’t carry a gun wi...