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Death be not proud critical analysis
Reflective essay on death be not proud
Death be not proud critical analysis
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Death Be Not Proud
The book "Death Be Not Proud," written by John Gunther, is the story of author John Gunther's son Johnny. Gunther writes this book in memory of his son. Gunther focuses on three main aspects that outline Johnny's life and the type of individual he was. The three main focuses Gunther depicts are: Johnny's mental and physical characteristics as those of an adolescent and an adult, his bravery and strength of will, and his distinctiveness of devotion to life.
The fictional novel time frame takes place from the year 1945 to 1947. The settings of the narrative are in three main places: Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut. In Massachusetts, Johnny attends his much-loved school, Deerfield Academy. Johnny commonly exceeds in his academics, especially in theoretical science; he wanted to be either a physicist or a chemist. At Johnny's school, he is found to have a brain tumor. While battling his deadly disease, Johnny still maintains to receive his diploma and graduate from Deerfield. In the story, New York is where Johnny was repeatedly transferred to undergo multiple surgeries, mustard gas treatments, x-rays and other treatments to help his condition. In the story, Connecticut is where Johnny's parents, Gunther and Frances reside, it is his home town. Here, Johnny visits the family doctor, whom tells the family Johnny just has a stiff neck. While in Connecticut, Johnny's tumor worsens and he begins to develop other conditions, which make him very ill. In addition, Johnny also undergoes treatments in Connecticut, and eventually dies at a nearby hospital there.
One of the main characters in the book is Johnny. In the story, Gunther portrays many good qualities of his son. Johnny is depicted as an extraordinarily intelligent young man. Johnny devotes himself to his the sciences with both his mind and heart. Not only did he devote himself to his studies at school, he also made his school work a main precedence, while he was fighting for his life. Johnny is illustrated as very mature beyond his years, in his mental and physical characteristics as those of an adolescent and an adult. Johnny shows immense courage and bravery, as he does overlook his fate, he accepts it with dignity. He lives his life by doing as much good in the world as long as possible.
The second main character in the book is Gunther. Gunther is the father of Johnny and loved him exceedingly.
He now lives in New York City with his wife and children. This novel is based in various High Schools in New York City. One of the main characters Paul, just moved to New York from Saskatoon, Alberta. This novel takes place in the mid 1980’s. At this high school, Don Carey High, none of the students or teachers care about anything that goes on within the school.
You can see that he's strong but he's also frightened. As you move your eyes towards what's behind him you notice that his hand is crippled and was probably burned. Your eyes meet his and they're a piercing blue. You are so struck by his looks you can't wait to go talk to him and find out about his personality traits. Johnny Tremain's personality was very fascinating, and it was most intriguing to read about how he changed from a bossy, impatient boy, into a thoughtful, patient gentleman.
“This story is neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war...”
The author starts the essay with an interviewee and adds in the first fragment about V-1 rockets. Then the interviewee's story mixed in with a biology fragment. The author uses this type of fragment to relate to subjects farther down the essay which makes each fragment relate to the content. Fragments that are used help to explain human nature, insides and outsides, everything affected by past, secrets, cause and effect, and development. All of these factors can go with the stories of Heinrich Himmler, Gebhard (Dad of Himmler), Laura (story in beginning), Heinz, Wernher von Braun (rocket scientist), Helene (author met at Metro station), and Leo. The author also uses examples of homosexuality, torture, child-rearing practices, parents/family, and also relates it with the stories and the fragments. Knowing that this essay has a lot of subjects that the author writes on, can make this piece seem confusing. Knowing that all of the issues will be tied together in some way, makes the essay more understandable. To use an example to tie together the fragments one can see that V-1 rockets are potentially destructive, complex, conveys images of strength, outcome unpredictable, inside guides outside, and that it has a target or destination which shows that in some way each fragment can relate to torture, human nature, cause and effect, parents and family, and many others. For example, Himmler is complex, conveys images of strength, his outcome is unpredictable, and he is potentially dangerous to the jews. In some way, all of the topics are put together with the fragments. To use another example to connect the fragments one can see that cells and DNA are used to show development through the book.
The story begins with Billy Pilgrim becoming "unstuck in time." Throughout the novel, Billy time travels to different times in his life. He's never sure where he'll go next, but he always returns to WWII, which is the main plot line. After Billy's life summary, which actually summarizes many of the events of the novel, the story jumps to when Billy first became "unstuck in time": 1944. Billy is a chaplain's assistant in the army during WWII, and is called oversees after the death of a chaplain's assistant in Europe. He is sent to his regiment during their involvement in the Battle of the Bulge; they do not win. Not being much of a military man, Billy Pilgrim wanders behind German lines until he meets three other American soldiers. After many near deaths, Billy is captured by the Germans and taken to a prisoner camp. While on his way to the camp Billy travels to 1967, the year he is abducted by a flying saucer from Tralfam...
I really enjoyed this book because it was not a story about the middle of the Second World War. Instead it was right before, when things were not as bad, but they were bad enough. It helped me understand how people lived before the hatred grew and how families were torn apart right from the beginning. Likewise, it gave me hope to see that not everything was destroyed and that some people were able to escape. I would recommend this book more for boys but for girls as well, between the ages of 13-15. Even though Karl’s age throughout the book is 14-17, the novel was written more for my age group. Once again this was an amazing book that I could not put down, and I am sure many others were not able to either.
Setting (time): This story starts with Vonnegut writing in first person and is set in 1968. The rest of the storyline is jumbled up as Billy is “caught in time”. It goes from meticulous descriptions of war experiences in 1944-1945, to skipping around his whole life from childhood in the 1920’s to death in 1976.
The major theme of the book is shown through the bonds of friendship and how in the most of unlikely circumstances friendship can survive and exist between people possessing an extensive and most restrictive division. A second theme is the evil and the intolerance which existed around these times of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust, as seen by the Germans having the Jews in the concentration camp. And the third theme is the curiosity and innocence of Bruno, Shmuel and Gretel, who all seem to fail to properly notice and understand what is really happening in the world around them, all contrasting with the well acknowledgement of others, such as Lt. Kottler.
Johnny once was a teen who wasn't cowardly, and stood up for his gang. He was a good man in a rumble and kept his mouth shut around the police, but things changed when he was jumped by the Socs. The assault left him more anxious than ever, and ended up carrying a six-inch switchblade in his back pocket, despite that he was the most law-abiding of the gang. In addition, Johnny didn't do well in school, he had failed a year in school and never made good grades (Hinton 65). But even so, Johnny is more than a quiet, anxious kid who does poorly in school. Notably, when Ponyboy and Johnny were hiding in the church, the pair occasionally read a book called Gone with the Wind in order to pass the time. While they were reading, Ponyboy remarked, "It amazed me how Johnny could get more meaning out of some of the stuff in there than I could--- I was supposed to be the deep one... and I guess his teachers thought he was just plain dumb. But he wasn't. He was just a little slow to get things, and he liked to explore things once he did get them" (Hinton 65). This shows that he is able to comprehend the message and/or significance of a story or concept, albeit it takes him a long period of time. Although he was high-strung, quiet, and seemingly believed to be dumb by his teachers, Johnny is, in truth, quite reflective and
Thinking that the war was just an ideal character. Convincing the reader to believe the boys didn't know the risk they were taking by being in this war. They way the boys viewed it, shows that, true their are some hard times in wars, but their minds are young and they thought it was just another thing to talk about. When they should have been taking things more serious, but thinking about the good parts helped them to keep a hold on their sanity. "They ought to have been mediators and guides to the world of maturity, the world of work, of duty, of culture, of progress to the future", was the beliefs of the boys after their friend Behn dies. Their generation thought that the authorities were going to look after, and take care of them, the authorities were thought of real highly by them. Until their friend passed away, then everything changed. "We had to realize that our generation was more to be trusted than theirs", this is where they came to reality that, everybody was taking care of their selves, and didn't want anything to do with other peoples problems.
He states, “Truant, for nearly two full pages, rambles without stopping, about Zampano’s cats, the Pekinese that he can’t discuss, the man with the beard and “hands harder than horn” [...] He, unlike animals, is constantly thinking about his past”. This coincides with the idea that Johnny is green with envy for the lack of boundaries that the dog and the cat have. Consequently, the hallway seems to have brought out an animalistic feature to those who encounter it, such as Johnny’s madness or Navidson’s burning curiosity. He continuously references Zampano and his closeness to cats and finds a sort of solace and tranquility when mentioning them. Although he is slowly deteriorating and becoming madder, he finds that the unburdened mind of an animal is relaxing. Referring back to the epigraph, the “symbolic identity and self-consciousness” is what is demanded of in the hallway, as those who do not possess any of these cannot go through it. The simplistic nature of the dog chasing the cat re-establishes the reason why Johnny’s envy is so scintillating, as he continues to mumble and mutter about the burdening and depressing matters that the Navidson Record has brought upon him. The imminent doom that seems to be physically chasing Johnny in his own life is a symbolic statement on how he is being
life is gone. That to give up life is the coward's way. To his father,
Before Johnny died from his severe burns and broken back he gave Ponyboy a book, Gone With The Wind, he found a note from Ponyboy saying “stay gold”. Ponyboy’s friendship with Johnny is so strong that he is persuaded to write an English assignment about his experiences. Johnny mentions that saving the children was worth sacrificing his own life. Johnny thinks sacrificing his life for the children is worth his life, because they still have their whole life to live and Johnny was going to get arrested if he would have lived. Johnny wants Ponyboy to do better for himself, and he believes he can achieve anything because he is strong.
...is story, Hemingway brings the readers back the war and see what it caused to human as well as shows that how the war can change a man's life forever. We think that just people who have been exposed to the war can deeply understand the unfortunates, tolls, and devastates of the war. He also shared and deeply sympathized sorrows of who took part in the war; the soldiers because they were not only put aside the combat, the war also keeps them away from community; people hated them as known they are officers and often shouted " down with officers" as they passing. We have found any blue and mournful tone in this story but we feel something bitter, a bitter sarcasm. As the war passing, the soldiers would not themselves any more, they became another ones; hunting hawks, emotionless. They lost everything that a normal man can have in the life. the war rob all they have.
Also, there are 2 main characters in the book are Ratchet (Rachel) and her dad Lamar Vance.