Eve’s Food Preparation: Art and Experience in Eden
The arts of the first couple before the Fall have been
extensively written on. It seems that most critics view prelapsarian art
as congruous and natural to Eden, as evidence of prelapsarian splendor.
Ann Torday Gulden states that art in Eden is socially neutral: “Surely
art is innocuous [in Eden], an integral part of paradisal bliss” (18).
Indeed, Eve’s artistic activity makes Eden seem all the more delightful
to the reader. However, with a careful examination of how Eve’s art
is perceived by the poem’s male characters, it becomes evident that
Eve’s aesthetics do not quite fit. It is tempting for the reader, who
lives in a “fallen” world, so unequivocally in favor of artistic culture,
to praise Eden for examples of cultural activity within it. However,
just about every example of Eve’s artistic activity is characterized by an
aloofness from divine discourse. The male authoritative characters of
Paradise Lost primarily ignore Eve’s examples of talented artistry, giving
neither praise nor disapproval. But while the lack of recognition speaks
volumes about her low status, it allows her an expansive autonomy from
the divinely recognized modes of Edenic worship and devotion which
serve to revere God. If the authoritative male characters regard her
creativity as inconsequential, then there is almost no limit to the degree
of autonomous creativity she can have within that localized sphere of
artistry; no one is watching her or correcting her. The way in which
Eve prepares food for the dinner guest, the angel Raphael, is a prime
illustration of both Eve’s removal from the divine discourse and her
expansion of a cultural, creative realm in which she can act, rather than
follow.
The first thing to recognize about the scene of Raphael’s arrival
to instruct Adam and Eve is that Eve is excluded from proximity to the
divine by Adam. To some degree, Adam actually forces her removal.
The first one to see Raphael coming is Adam, of course. He says:
Haste hither, Eve, and, worth thy sight, behold
Eastward among the trees what glorious shape
Comes this way moving; seems another morn
Risen on mid-noon. Some great behest from Heaven
To us perhaps he brings, and will vouchsafe
This day to be our guest. But go with speed,
And what thy stores contain bring forth, and pour
Abundance fit to honour and receive
Our heavenly stranger...
(5.308)
Adam’s language is unquestioning. It is clear that he knows a guest
from Heaven is on his way. The speed with which he recognizes that
the thing on the horizon is from Heaven shows that he has an intuitive
Von Clausewitz, Carl. Translated and edited by Sir Michael Howard and Peter Paret. On War. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976.
For the great lesson which history imprints on the mind…is the tragic certainty that all wars gain their ultimate ends, whether great or petty, by the violation of personality, by the destruction of homes, by the paralysis of art and industry and letters…even wars entered on from high motives must rouse greed, cupidity, and blind hatred; that even in defensive warfare a people can defend its rights only by inflicting new wrongs; and that chivalrous no less than self-seeking war entails relentless destruction.
Solitary confinement will cause destruction to anyone's mental state, but what if said mental state was already rocky to begin with? In, "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a woman, with a slight mental problem, is put into a room, where her state of mind slowly, declines as she falls into madness. The narrator's mental status is calm at first and levelheaded, only having a slight mental issue, then later on is slightly scattered by focusing on the wallpaper in her room, and finally by her beginning to see a woman crawling around outside and even on the wallpaper. The narrator's mental state is severely altered as she is kept isolated; her thoughts begin normal, but differ greatly as she falls into madness.
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a constant battle between death and love.
All throughout time and history people have been at war with each other at one point or another. War can, truthfully, at times be inescapable and considered by some historians as a natural instinct, an instinct that every human being possess. Throughout history mighty empires and governments have collapsed due to the damages inflicted on by a war, yet in spite of this, some have managed to face the odds and make it through, staggering along as if nothing happened. War is a true test of an empire or government’s determination to move forward, adapting using the knowledge and intellect they have acquired to their own advantage. Nevertheless, not all wars lead to fighting by physical means but instead it can lead to fighting mentally by opposing sides. One such example would be the non-traditional Cold War fought between the United States and Soviet Union. The Cold War was a time that caused an immense fear in the lives of many, and inspired novels such as 1984 by George Orwell, Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, and essays such as “You and the Atomic Bomb” by George Orwell, which are just some of the voices from this terrible time.
It is interesting and even surprising that the two major strategies regarding war were developed by European contemporaries of the late eighteenth and nineteenth century. Antoine Henri de Jomini (1779-1869) approached his philosophy of war in a structured, scientific manner. Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831) took a more fluid, open-ended approach to his philosophy of war. The fact that they lived during the same time period in Europe is also fascinating in that they likely knew of each others’ writings as well as potentially influenced and were influenced by the philosophy of the other. Jomini’s scientific approach is more applicable to the tactical and operational levels of war while Clausewitz approaches war as more of an art or interaction between people that is more appropriate to the strategic and political levels of war. Although their two war strategies are presented as opposing strategies, by comparing concepts from each of the theorists to the other theorist’s work shows that they are actually more complementary than competing in that they are addressing different levels of war. The concepts to be evaluated are Clausewitz’s “Trinity of War”, “war as a continuation of politics”, and the “unpredictability of war” as well as Jomini’s definition of strategy and his “Fundamental Principle of War”.
The 21st Century has marked an era for the Just war principle. The theory of Justice and warfare has enabled for p...
During the great depression for most families barely had enough to eat. “With half enough to eat” (Shafter 1). Even though the people did not make enough to fill their their stomachs they would still “rather not be on the rolls of relief” (Shafter 1). If a jobs opened for hardly any pay the people would run to the farmers looking for the job. “Like a swarm of bees we come” (Shafter 1). The families did not want anything special, just the necessities to survive. People wanted to work for their money even though they were about to starve. They would rather die with a job and an empty stomach then be living, and have stuff handed to them.
In Book IX of Milton’s Paradise Lost, Eve makes a very important and revealing speech to the tree of knowledge. In it, she demonstrates the effect that the forbidden fruit has had on her. Eve’s language becomes as shameful as the nakedness that Adam and Eve would later try to cover up with fig leaves. After eating the forbidden apple, Eve’s speech is riddled with blasphemy, self-exaltation, and egocentrism.
...t, Stephen, gen. ed. “Paradise Lost.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2012. Print. 36-39.
The definiton of war will never change. Its ideal prupose throughly is to cause pain of those who go through it or who are somehow involved. Through my prespective, I believe we need less hostility and use other inititatives and methods of reasoning and resolving problems rather than create brutality and increase death in this world. This book, its descriptions, but most importantly, Erich Maria Remarque, has significantly suceeded in emphasizing an in-dept overlook and understandment of what the outcome of war turns out to be which can also be associated with its supporting literature. We cannot prove anything through war; the only thing we have proven is how low us humans in general have sunk in resolving conflicts. Anybody has the potential power to kill someone through a simple pull of a trigger.
(Paradise Lost 6: 734). Adam responds to Raphael’s story like a child would to a
After the Great Depression hit the United States, President Herbert Hoover did not allow the government to step in and take care of what happened. This was due to the fact that many individuals heeded him not to do so during that time. His major point at this time was to leave the economy alone, believing that after some time the economy would restore itself and become the great power it once was. He believed that direct government aid would take away from the accountability of the American people, and would create a distance from what he felt America should be; a country governed by the people. Hoover ...
“Dream not of other worlds,” the angel Raphael warns Adam in Miltons’s Paradise Lost (VIII.175). Eve, however, dreams of another world in which she will gain knowledge and power, a wish that is superficially fulfilled when she succumbs to Satan’s temptation and eats from the Tree of Knowledge. Awakening in the Garden of Eden as though from a dream, Eve searches for her identity and her place in Paradise. Satan provides Eve with a chance to gain knowledge and to become god-like. As Eve is not an equal companion for Adam, she seeks independence from her husband. Shifting her loyalty away from God and Adam and towards Satan and the Tree of Knowledge, Eve strives to find her identity in the Garden of Eden, gain knowledge and godliness, and obtain independence from her unequal partnership with Adam.
Criticism. The. New York: Norton, 1975. Fox, Robert C. "The Allegory of Sin and Death in Paradise Lost." Modern Language Quarterly 24 (1963): 354-64. ---.