What does it take to be deathless? Humans are always seeking a new way to prolong their lives. Whether it be through bitter vegetables like kale or dyeing gray hairs, we try to do anything to avoid the obvious signs of death even though it is inevitable. With life comes death. This avoidance plays into our human condition, which Catherynne Valente makes use of both personification and characterization to relay hunger is a sign of life while the color silver symbolizes death. For this to be properly executed, the nature of fairytales is drastically different here. Fairy tales usually follow a formula of newfound love and marriage, both parts of the human condition, but Deathless puts a twist to it all. To start, the main character Marya Morevna encounters her newfound love Koschei, the deathless, who seduces the young tsaritsa to his kingdom of war. During Marya’s growth she realizes that her husband doesn’t grow older, his skin doesn’t loosen nor does his vision get weakened which begins to anger her. The human condition as mentioned by C.Welch is “about the fundamental issues of human existence.”. When a demon can simply just rid himself of these fundamental issues it brings about the lack of life's significance. As Deathless portrays in the piece, but what does it mean to have death? …show more content…
The characterization of Viy who represents death in the story is draped in silver, his guards wear silver on their chest which is easily identified within the midst of war. Valente writes, “A long black strip ran down Skorohodnya Road. In the darkness, silver pricked like stars.” (Valente, pp.199). The text uses silver to symbolize death by signaling that the street was conquered by Viy in the death kingdom. Silver adorned on the chest instructed to the reader that this person belongs to the
In the beginning of Death, Nagel presented the question of whether it is a bad thing to die. He furnished two positions on the subject. The first position is that life is all one possesses and to lose life is the greatest loss one can encounter. The second position is that death is a blank, not an unimaginable condition, that has no positive or negative value whatsoever. Stating his aim to be considering whether death is in itself an evil, Nagel clarified that the state of being dead, or nonexistent, is not in itself evil for several reasons. First, death is not an evil that one is able to accumulate more of. A person cannot receive a larger portion of death no matter how long they have been in that state. Secondly, one would not regard temporary life suspension as harmful. In the case of long-term suspended animation or freezing, one can view this as a continuation of their present life. Thirdly, few people regard the long period of time before their birth as a misfortune. From these points, Nagel concluded that humanity does not object to death because it involves indeterminable periods of nonexistence. He then proposed that if death is an evil at all, it can only be because of what it deprives us of, since it has no positive features. He did not, however, agree with the idea that death is bad because it brings an end to all the good things in life. Nagel formulated that if all good and bad life experiences were removed, what i...
As a natural phenomena that occurs frequently yet is still not completely understood, death has confounded and, to a certain degree, fascinated all of humanity. Since the dawn of our species, people have tried rationalize death by means of creating various religions and even attempted to conquer death, leading to great works of literature such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Cannibal Spell For King Unis.
“The golden plains/ the deep blue lakes” invoke images of normalcy, of nature, of beauty—gentle reminder to the reader that the world does not stop turning in times of war (2-3). “Red clouds in which an angry god resides” shows the harsher truth of war. Red traditionally symbolizes blood, passion or anger. Red clouds have their own symbolism, representing impending death, troubles or despair. The most poignant color imagery used in “Grodek” is found in line 10, “all roads lead to the blackest carrion.” Black is a color used to symbolize death and the endings of things. The word carrion itself means the decaying flesh of animals, thus creating the most harrowing color image in the
Have you ever wondered what it is exactly that makes us human? Is it the mistakes we make, or maybe our opposable thumbs? I believe there are many things that make us human, one of which includes our biological programming to die at some point in time. Death is something every human is aware of and every human embraces eventually. Philip K. Dick’s dystopian texts “The Electric Ant” and “A Little Something for Us Tempunauts” both use death as a means to illuminate that we are human; death reminds humans that we are not eternal. In these short stories, Dick speaks through the eyes of his protagonists who have been stripped of their humanity and describes the significance behind their individual choices to seek death.
“Death, the end of life: the time when someone or something dies” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). The definition of death is quite simple, the end of life is inescapable. I chose to write about death and impermanence because it is something we all must inevitably face. People often deal with death in a number of different ways. Although it is something that we must eventually face, it can be hard to come to terms with because the idea can be hard to grasp. Some of us fear it, others are able to accept it, either way we all must eventually face it. In this essay I will look at two different literary works about death and impermanence and compare and contrast the different elements of the point of view, theme, setting, and symbolism. The comparison of these particular works will offer a deeper look into words written by the authors and the feelings that they experiencing at that particular time.
Most people view death as an evil force set out against all of humanity. In fact, in our present culture, the personification of death, the grim reaper, is one ...
In Thomas Nagel’s “Death,” he questions whether death is a bad thing, if it is assumed that death is the permanent end of our existence. Besides addressing whether death is a bad thing, Nagel focuses on whether or not it is something that people should be fearful of. He also explores whether death is evil. Death is defined as permanent death, without any form of consciousness, while evil is defined as the deprivation of some quality or characteristic. In his conclusion, he reaffirms that conscious existence ends at death and that there is no subject to experience death and death ultimately deprives a person of life. Therefore, he states that Death actually deprives a person of conscious existence and the ability to experience. The ability to experience is open ended and future oriented. If a person cannot permanently experience in the future, it is a bad or an evil. A person is harmed by deprivation. Finally, he claims that death is an evil and a person is harmed even though the person does not experience the harm.
In Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” she uses the structure of her poem and rhetoric as concrete representation of her abstract beliefs about death to comfort and encourage readers into accepting Death when He comes. The underlying theme that can be extracted from this poem is that death is just a new beginning. Dickinson deftly reassures her readers of this with innovative organization and management, life-like rhyme and rhythm, subtle but meaningful use of symbolism, and ironic metaphors.
Virginia Woolf’s essay “Death of the Moth” describes her encounter with a moth as it fights furiously to escape her windowpane before it is claimed by death. The speaker’s first instinct as they intently watch the moth’s struggle is to help it, but as she goes to do so, they realize that the moth is engaged in the same inescapable struggle faced by all living creatures as they try to prevent death from robbing them of life. By witnessing the moth’s death, the speaker is compelled to ponder the philosophical implications that incur within the circular pattern of life and death. She is conscious of death’s omnipotent inevitability, but concludes that the ever-present possibility of death serves as a primary motivational force necessary for life to have value and meaning. Since death cannot be overpowered, the way an individual struggles to survive and preserve life even in its final moments is more valuable than the mundane, meaningless activities pursued with apathy.
Death is a controversial and sensitive subject. When discussing death, several questions come to mind about what happens in our afterlife, such as: where do you go and what do you see? Emily Dickinson is a poet who explores her curiosity of death and the afterlife through her creative writing ability. She displays different views on death by writing two contrasting poems: one of a softer side and another of a more ridged and scary side. When looking at dissimilar observations of death it can be seen how private and special it is; it is also understood that death is inevitable so coping with it can be taken in different ways. Emily Dickinson’s poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” and “I Heard A Fly Buzz When I Died” show both parallel and opposing views on death.
...es confused when he realizes that he has feelings for Princess Marya, and rather than being conflicted on who to choose, he merely wonders how he will explain to Sonya the situation without overly hurting her. This is an example of a more powerful love, one that his ‘soul mate’ Marya inspires in him. Nikolai is almost easily able to cast off his lifelong ‘love’ for his cousin in favor of this strange and “frightening” woman, with whom his future is unimaginable simply because he does not know her character or quirks, but her soul. When the two meet for the first time in proper circumstances, each knows exactly what to say, and Nikolai felt that he didn’t need to say that which he had prepared, but what “instantly and always appropriately came to his mind.” It is with this comfort with Marya that Nikolai is able to successfully run his estate later on in the novel.
Moving towards the second tale “The Wife of Bath” love and death play a very large toll on the outcome of the story. We begin with a knight who rapes a woman and is given the death penalty. His “love” for her granted him a golden ticket to a death, but miraculously is spared to find the answer to question his life depended on. When introduced to the old woman, he is forced to pledge himself to her in order for help. She helps him and he lives but is now burdened with a woman he does not love. He has no love for her yet is forced to marry and remain miserable.
In the play “everyman” death is depicted as something that is terribly feared as no one seemed ready for it, death is perceived as something that takes one away from the pleasures of this world.
Throughout time, death has been viewed in a negative light. In general, it is an event to be mourned and is seen by some as the end to existence. People do not usually seek death as an answer to their problems. In various pieces of literature, however, suicide is contemplated by the characters as the only solution to the pain and grief that they experience.
Death is something that causes fear in many peoples lives. People will typically try to avoid the conversation of death at all cost. The word itself tends to freak people out. The thought of death is far beyond any living person’s grasp. When people that are living think about the concept of death, their minds go to many different places. Death is a thing that causes pain in peoples lives, but can also be a blessing.