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The effect of romantic films on real life relationships
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Love is one of the most liberating connections two people can hold between each other when it is authentic and sincere. Many find completion and satisfaction when they find this ideal, true love in another. However, when love is turned into a façade in order to create the image of an perfect, fulfilling relationship, it can be alienating and destructive. In Walker Percey’s essay, The Man on the Train, he claims that love is ultimately a source of alienation instead of an escape into wonderful satisfaction. This theory is exemplified in Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night, a story of a woman, Ellie, on a journey to fill her void of true love and escape her feelings of alienation. only exacerbates her sense of alienation instead of functioning as a cure. Until Ellie can find real love within herself she will never be fully satisfied with her life. In the mean time she involves herself in many different scenarios with various men seeking some form of love, her distraction from alienation.
The opening scene of “It Happened One Night” illustrates that Ellie has all the luxuries one can wish for, yet she is still dissatisfied with her life. She argues that although she is given everything she is still not happy. During an argument with Peter Ellie explains the reason for her alienation, “People who are spoiled are accustomed to having their own way. I never have. On the contrary. I've always been told what to do, and how to do it, and when, and with whom.” As a result she finds herself on a quest for her husband to be, King Westley, whom her father strongly disapproves of. In the course of her search she falls in love, yet again with Peter Warne. By the end of the movie Ellie and Peter seemingly live happily ever after.
The love that Elle pursues is a forged feeling. She shifts so easily from her adoration for King Westley to her love for Peter Warne that it leads one to believe that it is disingenuous. Throughout “It Happened One Night” Ellie is being taken care of by someone else other than herself. In the beginning her father looks after her. Then on her search for her husband, Peter takes Ellie under her wing. The men in her life all play a role of a nurturer or a protector, in a sense replacing the role of her father. Ellie is essentially in search of a man that can support and nurture her. The men that fulfill Ellie’s needs in...
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... (Percy 99). Furthermore “[Ellie] is taking refuge in the standard rotation of the soap opera, the acceptable rhythm of the Wellisian-Huxleyan-Nathanian romance of love among the ruins” (99). Although Ellie believes she is truly in love with Peter and plays a part in a great adventure of romance, she is just following a well-known path another has already taken. Percy continues to say that Ellie’s passion for Peter is “far from being a free exploration, it is in reality a conforming to the most ritualistic of gestures: that which is thought to be proper and fitting for a sexual adventure” (99).
Finally, Ellie’s pursuit for love does not prove to be an effective method to terminate alienation. Her love for Peter will only last as long as it can attain her attention, or until the next gentleman with a flair for adventure comes along. Ellie will continuously seek love from various people. Until Ellie tires from “excursions into the interesting” and begins a journey “into [her] own past in the search for [herself]” (95) will she find authentic deliverance from alienation. As a result love only plays a part as a distraction from her boredom, and plunges herself deeper into alienation.
The novel starts out with seventeen-year-old Ian Bedloe, young and handsome, and without a care in the world. He’s still dating his high school sweetheart with plans to get married right after they’ve both finished college and his entire family seems to be the exact representation of the American dream. Unfortunately, all that dramatically changes when Ian’s older brother brings home a mysterious beauty, announcing that after only two weeks of having known Lucy, he plans to marry her right away. At first, Ian didn’t seem to mind her and he barely seemed to take notice of her two children from her previous marriage. However, Ian starts to notice Lucy behaving suspiciously, for example...
Many hearts are drawn to history's greatest love stories, such as Romeo and Juliet, Bonnie and Clyde, and Helen and Paris to name a few. One could argue that humanity’s way of finding happiness is to seek love. Pure, unadulterated love is one of the hardest feelings to acquire, but when one does, they’d do anything to keep it. Through Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and his characters, Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, readers discover that this innate desire to be accepted and loved is both our most fatal flaw and our greatest virtue.
In Toni Morrison’s Beloved, love proves to be a dangerous and destructive force. Upon learning that Sethe killed her daughter, Beloved, Paul D warns Sethe “Your love is too thick” (193). Morrison proved this statement to be true, as Sethe’s intense passion for her children lead to the loss of her grasp on reality. Each word Morrison chose is deliberate, and each sentence is structured with meaning, which is especially evident in Paul D’s warning to Sethe. Morrison’s use of the phrase “too thick”, along with her short yet powerful sentence structure make this sentence the most prevalent and important in her novel. This sentence supports Paul D’s side on the bitter debate between Sethe and he regarding the theme of love. While Sethe asserts that the only way to love is to do so passionately, Paul D cites the danger in slaves loving too much. Morrison uses a metaphor comparing Paul D’s capacity to love to a tobacco tin rusted shut. This metaphor demonstrates how Paul D views love in a descriptive manner, its imagery allowing the reader to visualize and thus understand Paul D’s point of view. In this debate, Paul D proves to be right in that Sethe’s strong love eventually hurts her, yet Paul D ends up unable to survive alone. Thus, Morrison argues that love is necessary to the human condition, yet it is destructive and consuming in nature. She does so through the powerful diction and short syntax in Paul D’s warning, her use of the theme love, and a metaphor for Paul D’s heart.
Love caused his logic and sensibility to fail him, and provoked him to commit monstrous acts that destroyed many lives. Through analysis of “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood, it can be concluded that one of her many intended lessons was to show the value and the powerful effects of love. Atwood successfully proved this lesson by using powerful examples of both successful and disastrous relationships to illustrate the positive and negative effects of love. Atwood truly demonstrated what it is like to follow your heart.
Gaitskill’s “Tiny, Smiling Daddy” focuses on the father and his downward spiral of feeling further disconnected with his family, especially his lesbian daughter, whose article on father-daughter relationships stands as the catalyst for the father’s realization that he’d wronged his daughter and destroyed their relationship. Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” focuses on Mel and his attempt to define, compare, and contrast romantic love, while leaving him drunk and confused as he was before. While both of my stories explore how afflicted love traumatizes the psyche and seem to agree that love poses the greatest dilemma in life, and at the same time that it’s the most valued prospect of life, the two stories differ in that frustrated familial love causes Gaitskill's protagonist to become understandable and consequently evokes sympathy from the reader, but on the other hand frustrated romantic love does nothing for Carver's Protagonist, except keep him disconnected from his wife and leaving him unchanged, remaining static as a character and overall unlikable. In comparing “Tiny, Smiling Daddy” and “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”, together they suggest that familial love is more important than romantic love, which we relentlessly strive to achieve often forgetting that we’ll forever feel alone without familial love, arguably the origin of love itself.
Of Mice and Men is a colorful piece of American literature that depicts the lives of multiple individuals in the Great Depression over the course of a few days. The author, John Steinbeck, approaches several themes and topics throughout the novel and really makes the reader think and ponder over the issues being discussed. One key theme that is always present in Of Mice and Men is the idea of loneliness. In the novel loneliness can be found in the relationships characters have with others, sexism, and racism. Even the town that the novel takes place in is Soledad, which is Spanish for loneliness. Of Mice and Men accurately shows the hardships that loneliness can inflict on people in the Great Depression and even today and is a topic that a myriad of readers can connect with and sympathies for.
How many girls have you see around school who are pregnant? Do you ever come to think that they may not have had the “sex talk” with their parents or any sort of sex education at school? “The United Stated still has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any industrialized country. About 40 percent of American women become pregnant before the age of 20. The result is about 1 million pregnancies each year among women ages 15 to 19.” (The Annie E. Casey Foundation) At the age 15-20 most teen males and females don’t have a stable job and are still going to school. There is much at risk when a male and female decide to have sexual intercourse. Having a sex education class would help decrease the teen pregnancy rate. Learning what one can do to prevent a teen pregnancy and the consequences that can lead up to it, will help reduce the amount of sexual activity among teens. Having a sex education class that is required will benefit the upcoming teens of the next generation. Some parents don’t want their teens to have premarital sex and some parents don’t want the schools to be the ones responsible to teach their kids about sex education because they feel like it’s their job. There has been much controversy on sex education being taught at school.
It is my opinion that the reason that the death penalty is not a deterrent is because the murderer is not executed in a timely manner due to the appeals process. The imperfection of the criminal justice system lies with the fact that humans operate it: human sinfulness and the need for spiritual redemption is the reason for errors with the legal system (1 John 1:8-10). In order to maintain balance, God knew that tough laws (despite a human’s age) needed to be enacted due to the sinful nature of humankind. The Bible subscribes to a list of offenses with the mandated punishments set forth by God. The Word of God is inerrant and His directive for heinous crimes (e.g., murder, rape) was the death penalty (Genesis 9:5, 6; Exodus 21:15; Numbers 35:31; Deuteronomy 17:6, 22:25). Society has a legal and moral responsibility to respond to criminal victimization in order to preserve order and protect the community. God is ultimately forgiving, however His laws are clear. (Genesis 9:5, 6; Exodus 21:15; Numbers 35:31; Deuteronomy 17:6, 22:25). The Constitution guarantees offenders a fair trial, not a license to avoid justice. God, who is the greatest Criminal Justice Master in the Universe, the Supreme Law Maker and Giver, states in no uncertain terms that justice is to be equated with and sanctioned in accordance with the crime committed and that punishment to be delivered swiftly (Genesis 9: 5-6; Exodus 21; 1-31; Leviticus 24:7-22; Deuteronomy 13: 6-11, 19: 13-20, 25: 2; Romans 13: 1-4). The bottom line is, the imperfection of the criminal justice system lies with the fact that humans operate it: human sinfulness and the need for spiritual redemption is the reason for errors with the legal system (1 John
The heroine, Anne Elliot, is a 27-year-old "old maid," who devotes her life to caring for the needs of her family and friends. In the bloom of youth, her sense of duty to her mentor Lady Russell and her family compel her to decline marriage to Frederick Wentworth, the man she loves. Although an officer in the British Navy, Wentworth lacks the wealth and rank in society that is highly esteemed by Anne's associates. Austen's novelistic treatment of her characters means that as readers, we get to know them. The length of the novel allows for pacing. Austin can fully develop her characters and show them in many circumstances, in different contexts over time, a method that helps to flesh out the characters. For example, we observe Anne Elliot, dwarfed by the selfish concerns of her father and sister Elizabeth while at Kellynch Hall and Anne's lack of crit...
Throughout my work experience I have been a witness to various degrees of work alienation. As I continue to gather additional experience in the work environment and engage in discussions with fellow employees, it is clearly evident that there is workplace discontentment and feelings of being taken advantage of. Based on my work experiences to date, I agree with James Rinehart’s claim that forms of alienation are evident in the workplace. They force human beings into modes of behaviour that are unnatural and possibly harmful. I will illustrate that as we live in a capitalist environment, employees have little say or control over decisions made by their employers; workers do not have power over the processes or methods of work; workers lack fulfillment and are not treated fairly in their workplace and class structures are created to show dominance behavior.
Sarah Wilson is no exception to a failed life having many vices. Yet she is different from Emily in many ways. Sarah was loved more by her father and this creates a need to latch onto a male figure. Sarah marries Anthony Wilson at a young age to fulfill her desire to latch onto a male. She also does not want to end up like her mother who is alone, miserable and drinks alcohol in utter excess.
They receive mixed signals about what is and what is not acceptable. Some public schools offer sexual education courses, but the many do not, leaving today’s youth with unanswered questions. Many of these teens find talking to their parents about these questions difficult, and still others do not have parents to talk to. These teens must know how to protect themselves, but someone has to teach them. Requiring all U.S public schools to teach comprehensive sexuality education will fulfill this need. No longer will their questions go unanswered because they will be taught the information and the skills they need to protect themselves and live healthy adult lives. They will learn how to prevent pregnancies and proper contraceptive use. They will learn about how to recognize different STD’s where to get help if they contact one. And most importantly, they will learn the skills they need to build healthy relationships and achieve overall sexual health. Comprehensive sexuality education should be taught in all U.S public schools because they will empower America’s youth with knowledge and ensure that they have the skills to live healthy lives now and in the
Theme of Alienation in Literature A common theme among the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne is alienation. Alienation is defined as emotional isolation or dissociation from others. In Hawthorne's novels and short stories, characters are consistently alienated and experience isolation from society. These characters are separated from their loved ones both physically and psychologically. The harsh judgmental conditions of Puritan society are the cause of isolation for these characters and eventually lead to their damnation.
Transformational leaders are needed to transform low performing organizations to acceptable to high performance. At other times, the leader is expected to move an organization from a crisis. In order to accomplish these tasks, the leader must overhaul the organization culture or subculture. This task is accomplished by nine ways of transforming others: 1. Raise others awareness. The leader makes others aware of the rewards and how to achieve them, i.e. pride in the job or financial incentives. 2. Help others look beyond self-interest. The transformational leader helps others to look at the “big picture” by describing an entire scenario, i.e. if we hire more employees to do x, we will have to make cuts in other areas. 3. Help people find self-fulfillment. The leader helps others not to focus on minor satisfactions, i.e. getting a job done before the deadline ...
...e has their own personal opinions in which they are entitled to, but that doesn’t mean that we should turn our backs on our youth because we are afraid or prefer to avoid talking about sex. As a society we need to stop viewing sex as a something negative or wrong and start educating ourselves on safe sex practices. It is our responsibility as a society to help guide our children, not to stand by and watch them destroy their futures. Even if certain religious beliefs teach not having sex prior to marriage it is still wise be educated on the facts. Knowledge is power and being taught sex education could prevent adolescents from being blindsided with an unwanted pregnancy or a disease they didn’t even know existed. It all comes down to choice in the end and we must stand up and unite on the issue of teaching safe sex to our youth, in order to ensure a better future.