Recent trends, ideas, and technology has helped to bring about increased mechanization on society. We have Automated Teller Machines to replace bank tellers, robots do assembly line work at virtually every automotive company, and computers are integrated more and more into our daily lives. People are slowly, but surely, being replaced my machines and artificial "workers." Kurt Vonnegut's foresaw this movement of mechanization in the 1950's and responds to the dehumanization of society in his novel Player Piano. In Vonnegut's fictional world, machines and computers have eliminated the need for industrial laborers after the Second Industrial Revolution. Society is thus split into two unequal classes which consist of the managers and engineers of the machines, who happen to hold social status and exclusive privileges, and the rest of the population who live without happiness or dignity. The two populations live in segregation, with the north side of the river reserved for the upper-class and the south side of the river, known as Homestead, housing everyone else. Although all t...
Coming from an “unconventional” background, George Saunders is readily able to relate to the circumstances the everyday working laborer goes through (Wylie). However, Saunders has an advantage to spread out his ideas and concerns about life in the U.S. via his short stories and novellas. Because of neoliberalism and capitalism and its correlation to the huge wealth gap in the U.S. Saunders focuses his protagonists’ view from a proletariat standpoint, allowing the reader to see the life of consumerism has impacted our society. Saunders does not use conventional methods to portray this reality. Instead, Saunders emphasizes on the “absence” of certain moral human characteristics in order to take the reader away from viewing into a hero’s looking glass— to set a foundation of a world where our morals become lost to our materialistic and inherent need of money (Wylie).
Although Motown no longer dominates the charts like it once did, Gordy's impact on the music trade can't be overstated. Motown's sound influenced everybody from the rock band and the Rolling Stones to newer chart-toppers like Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul. A real pioneer, Gordy assembled nothing but the rock 'n' roll era's most outstanding list of artists, musicians, songwriters and producers, and in pursuing his dream, he brought 2 races together through music.
“Dehumanized” by Mark Slouka explores the issue of our nation’s education and how science and math are being used to primarily teach students about business and capitalism. Although I believe that students should have a good understanding of economics for the sake of their future. I, like Mark Slouka, believe that the humanities should be taught and accepted in our schools to help students further their education.
Dehumanization was a big part of these camps. The Nazis would kick innocent Jewish families and send them to concentration or death camps. The main way they dehumanized these Jewish people is when they take all their possessions. In Night they go around taking all there gold and silver, make them leave their small bags of clothing on the train, and finally give them crappy clothing. All this reduces their emotions; they go from owing all these possessions to not having a cent to their name. If I was in that situation I would just be in shock with such a huge change in such a short amount of time. The next way they dehumanized the Jewish people were they stopped using names and gave them all numbers. For example in Night Eliezer’s number was A-7713. Not only were all their possessions taken, but also their names. Your name can be something that separates you from another person. Now they are being kept by their number, almost as if that’s all they are, a number. If I was in their place I would question my importance, why am I here, am I just a number waiting to be replaced? The third way they were dehumanized was that on their “death march” they were forced to run nonstop all day with no food or water. If you stopped or slowed down, you were killed with no regards for your life. The prisoners were treated like cattle. They were being yelled at to run, run faster and such. They were not treated as equal humans. If the officers were tired, they got replaced. Dehumanization affected all the victims of the Holocaust in some sort of way from them losing all their possessions, their name, or being treated unfairly/ like animals.
The story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut is120 years in the future, which allows us to more easily accept some of the bizarre events that happen in the story such as when the character Harrison Bergeron is dancing with a ballerina and there is no law of gravity and motion, so they can almost touch the studio ceiling which is thirty feet high. The author emphasizes in his work themes such as freedom, mind manipulation, the American dream, and media influence, also the opposition between strength and weakness and knowledge and ignorance. The story illustrates that being equal to one another is not always the best way to live because everyone is different for a reason. Also, this is what makes everyone special in your particular way.
‘Society makes and remakes people, but society is also made and remade by the multiple connections and disconnections between people, and between people, places and things’ (Havard, 2014, p.67).
Although the comparisons are well hidden, both today’s society and the story ‘Harrison Bergeron’ share similar qualities. They both deal with equality, which leads to problems and consequences. A second similarity is the struggle of competition and trying to prevent it from occurring, which also leads to problems. Lastly, both struggle with normality, and the fact that it’s hard to accept that different is okay now.
The technological landscape plays a primary role in the characters lives of J.G Ballard’s Crash. Ballard depicts a very constructed world around the characters, and arguably all of society. The world of Crash is organized by technology through its structures, objects, and even people. In a general overview on the environment of information, the Online Computer Library Center states that “increased investments in technologies and standards … allow organizations to bring structure to unstructured data” (De Rosa 35). This is a fitting metaphor at play in Crash. The technological landscape is pressed into the foreground throughout Crash, and I view the characters of the novel as unstructured data trying to escape the technology that is attempting to structure them. The characters attempt to escape technology by adopting neo-posthuman and philobatic personalities, but only deepen their dependence on the technological landscape that literally consumes them.
Egalitarianism can be absurd and detrimental to American society. In the story, heavy weights are put on strong people, and grotesque masks are put on attractive women. Also, many other people who have an above average intelligence often listen to loud noises which render them from completing a thought (5-7). Harrison’s father, George, compares the noises to, “somebody hitting a milk bottle with a ball peen hammer.” Darryl Hattenhauer of Arizona State proposes that “The story satirizes the American definition of freedom as the greatest good to the smallest number.” Unfortunately, the sacrifice of the individual to the good of society doesn’t improve conditions for the above average, average, or below (Alvarez). Joseph Alvarez suggests that, “the result [of the] power vacuum [is] a ruthless central government created by legislative controls people’s lives, which have become as meaningless as if they were machines.” In addition, the American dream that is described as moving up social and economic class through hard work and education; turn into a nightmare (Hattenhauer). For example, Kurt Vonnegut infers that the ballerina who reads ann...
Brutus’s tragic flaw is that he is very easily manipulated and persuaded. He is very naïve and allows others to swindle him because he feels that no one would ever lie or deceive him since he didn’t do that to anyone. His first mistake is believing the forged letters from the conspirators. This was all ...
Throughout most of the play Brutus is constantly internally conflicted. Does he do what he believes is best for Rome or stay loyal to his friend and leader? Should he assist in the murder of one person to benefit many? Although killing Caesar was in the end a bad choice, Brutus always tries to do what is best for Rome and for the people. However even though all of Brutus’ motives are good he still has the tragic flaw of pride, which ultimately leads to his downfall. The reason that Brutus gets caught up in the conspiracy is because Cassias appeals to his pride and flatters him with forged letters from the Roman people saying he is a greater leader then Caesar.
Brutus was a devious man, even though what he thought he was doing was right. Brutus told his fellow conspirators to kill Caesar “boldly, but not angerly.”(3.1.256-257) Brutus was one of Caesars right hand men, and yet Brutus kills his own friend. When Antony asks to speak at Caesars funeral, Cassius says no, but Brutus tell him that Antony will speak, but only what Brutus tells him to say. Brutus also embraces the fact that he just killed his friend, and also tells the senators who had just witnessed it to not be afraid, but to stay because ambition has paid its debt.
In today’s society, technology seems to rule the world. Often times people don’t think about the consequences that it brings. One man, however, did think about the effects and used his writing to warn others about them. In the story The Veldt, Ray Bradbury uses characterization and foreshadowing to convey that adaptability to technology can cause separation between children and parents.
Brutus’ tragic flaw in all of this was he was too loyal to Rome and to his friend Caesar at the same time. After killing Caesar he wasn’t sure if he had done the right thing. And then when after Antony spoke at the funeral and turned all of the people from Rome against Brutus, things started to go downhill for our hero. Then during the battle when he thought he was defeated, and committed suicide, his flaw was complete.
From a scholarly point of view, the film accurately depicts the lifestyle of a factory worker in the timeframe. Workers would stand on an assembly line and repeat the same action day in and day out. The film also depicts the transition of the human dependency of machines very well. The workers would work at the pace of the machines. The film also had metaphors of humans being controlled by machines when the main actor was sucked into the pulley system of a machine. The film also has a scene where there is a machine that automatically feeds humans.