Andre Dubus' The Curse 'The Curse'; by Andre Dubus is about Mitchell Hayes, a forty-nine year old bartender who is witness to a rape. The rape occurs right before closing when five bikers rape a young woman while holding Mitchell at bay. After the rape, Mitchell is distraught over his decision of not making a stronger attempt to help the girl. Police, family and friends try to comfort Mitchell by telling him he made the right decision. However, he continues to feel guilt and self-doubt over whether or not he could have done more in order to prevent the rape from occurring. The central idea is that man is responsible for defining his own sense of honor. A clear choice between right and wrong does not always exist. The safest decision is not always the easiest to live with. What Dubus seems to be commenting on is the transformation of man as he grows older. At an older age, you learn to accept things you cannot change. The main character is Mitchell. He is round and dynamic. He is round because the story revolves around him. His thoughts and actions are crucial to the story and are described in great detail. He is dynamic because he changes from a relatively carefree, self-assured man into an impetuous man who feels old and becomes consumed with guilt. After witnessing the rape: 'He did not know what it was like to be very old ? but he assumed it was like this: fatigue beyond relieving by rest, by sleep.'; Dubus uses all three methods of indirect charac...
Nelson Johnson, author of “Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City”, is a native of Hammonton, New Jersey. Johnson graduated Villanova Law School in 1974, after receiving his Bachelor’s degree in 1970 from St John’s University in New York, majoring in political science. Johnson began his political career in 1975: being elected to Atlantic County’s Board of Chosen Freeholders, where he served until 1985. Johnson had a successful private practice culminating in appointment to be a Superior Court Judge in 2005. It is interesting to note that Gromley, who nominated Johnson to Superior Court, is featured in his book. Of further interest is that Johnson served on Atlantic City’s Planning Board at the conception of casinos.
Rape is a hidden epidemic that affects many lives world wide. It is a problem that is so terrifying and uncomfortable that people do not talk about it. John Krakauer, author of Missoula, focuses on this issue of rape in the college town of Missoula, Montana. His focus is specifically on the case of Allison Huguet and Beau Donaldson. As the progression of Allison 's case continues we learn of more and more rape cases that happened to women on this same campus. A majority of women do not report these cases, we later learn as Krakauer continues through Allison 's case, because reporting and pursuing the case would be giving their life away. [4] Of course Allison decides to go through the trails of Beau Donaldson, however it is obvious that it is extremely difficult to convict someone with little evidence. As hard of a read as Missoula
The main character is Andy, a fifteen-year old boy. The other main character is Andy's dad, Mr. Zadinski. Hes a professor at Madison College. Paul was Andy's best friend who tried to help him with his problem. Mr. Lucas is also a professor who makes prank calls to Andy about killing someone. Nina Klemmer was a college student who was being stalked.
Across our nation, it is quite common for people from different classes to have contrasting opinions on a myriad of different things. For example, someone who comes from a lower class will hold opposite beliefs than someone from a higher class on the same subject. At one point, Dubus recalls a conversation that he had with Emily where Emily absentmindedly made a comment regarding what would be the first thing she did if she was a specific woman who came into money. Dubus instantly becomes angered by her response and shrieks “You don’t think she’d like to have new teeth? Of course she would, Emily, but she doesn’t have that kind of money, and, if she did, it would mean no oil in the burner that month, no food in the fridge. It would mean being late with the rent. But you can’t even think those things because you’re from the Land of Yes when the rest of us are from the Land of No. We don’t even think we can have these things you take for granted, like new teeth”. This exhibits the invisible line between the classes which makes it challenging for people on either side to identify with one another. By this event occurring, it proves Dubus’ ideals because Emily could not comprehend at first that many people have more pressing issues to focus on aside from new
The main characters are David, his mother, and father. David, the abused child, cannot escape his mother’s punishments. David’s mother is a drunken, abusive mother that refers to her child as “It”. David’s father is caring and understanding, but cannot help David escape. The mother and father drastically change after the alcohol abuse. David also changes in his attitude towards his parents.
Brian Turner's "The Hurt Locker" captures his personal and painful experiences during his time spent in war and furthermore, express the tragic events he witnessed. Brian Turner's poem is miraculously able to gather multiple first hand accounts of tragic, gory, and devastating moments inside a war zone and project them on to a piece of paper for all to read. He allows the audience of his work to partially understand what hell he himself and all combat veterans have endured. Although heartbreaking, it is a privilege to be taken inside "The Hurt Locker" of a man who saw too many things that should not ever be witnessed by anybody. Turner's words bring to life what many have buried deep inside them which subsequently is one of the major underlying problems facing combat veterans today. Reading this poem, I could not help but wonder what the long term effects of war are on a human being, if it is worth the pain, and how does a combat veteran function properly in a society that is unfamiliar with their experiences?
Gordy La Chance, who is the narrator of this story, can best be described as an introvert. He is living in the shadow of his recently deceased brother, and is having a difficult time expressing his feelings about his brother?s passing. His presenting self is secure, quiet, and agreeable. He tends to see the best in people. Inwardly, or his perceived self, he thinks he is ?weird?, or different, much caused by his parent?s, and the obsession of the townspeople with his deceased brother. One example of this is when he goes into the local store, and the shopkeeper kept talking about his brother, and how successful his brother was. He has been put in the shadow of his brother, and feels that he will never amount to anything. His relationship with his parents has suffered due to his brother?s passing, and he feels as if he is invisible. The only person that Gordy opens up to is Chris, and he does ...
Walter Younger is a good example of a dynamic character because he changes from being blindly in love with money and dreams to turning into an adult who can make life decisions. Walter still loves money, dreams big, and has a hateful attitude, but he figures out how to regulate it. The Younger family faced racial and housing discrimination and segregation, and they were able to overcome it and set up a better life for themselves. This quote by Margaret Atwood, a Canadian poet, is a good way of summing up the thoughts and beliefs of Walter and the play: “I hope that people will finally come to realize that there is only one ‘race’ - the human race - and that we are all members of it” (Atwood).
story, first impressions, what he thinks of himself, what others think of him, and what
... noble morality (16). Furthermore, in contrast to the self-contentment of the noble morality, the slave’s lack of outward power led him to direct his power inwards, resulting in man’s first exploration of his inner life.
On the one hand, in order to endure the “pressure of existence,” qualities such as pity, patience, humility and compassion become commendable. In this sense, “slave morality is essentially a morality of utility,” as it promotes qualities that would comfort and placate those who are living in pain. In another sense however, these aforementioned qualities are revered because the people are afraid of one another. The nobles valued and maintained some of “the highest and strongest drives, [which can] drive the individual far above the average and the flats of the herd conscience, wreck the self-confidence of the community, its faith in itself, and it is as if its spine snapped.” Wishing to prevent any possible danger to the stability of the community, the virtues of the nobles, which elevate the individual over the community, are condemned as evil. Since everyone is in fear of each other, slave morality is used to ensure that no one tries to subjugate the
... middle of paper ... ... Throughout the story he changes physically, mentally, and emotionally from a young child to an old man, which makes him a dynamic character. He became a very dynamic character because he found a need for materialistic things such as statues and homes such as Xanadu, his large home on a vast plot of secluded land.
Taking this path that closes behind him represents Young Goodman’s decent into the unconscious and his loss of innocence. On this journey he soon meets a man who is a condensation of several different factors. The man represents the devil, as well as Brown unconscious
The main characters of the novel are travelling into Canada. The non-established landscape was full of wild animals, Aboriginal people, and whiskey posts. This story of conflict is entwined tightly to the story of love. Three brothers known for different qualities, an intellect, ex-military officer, and an idealist all form different relationships with their father, Henry Gaunt, an English gentleman. Therefore the theme of the story has men with money and power come to Canada with a purpose which also stays true to the historical facts because men have a commanding influence in this times social arrangement and the treatment of women gets explained in this book as a less powerful position.
...pics we can get at least a partial picture of how the ancient civilizations regarded the concept of honour and come to a few conclusions about what it is and how it functions. At times it seems like a commodity that is traded around, and it is certainly attached to material goods. One’s birth and fate, and more importantly how they act and what they do with their fate, adds to one’s honour, but it is most important to be courageous and show excellence through great deeds, especially military victory.