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Stylistic Features Of Ray Bradbury
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rom the dawn of time, man has had many questions. Some he finds answers to, while others he might spend his entire life seeking answers to, one of these being the question of why are humans so vicious to each other? Wise men have spent hours devoted to elaborate explanations, when the root of the answer is quite plain: fear. Fear is perhaps the most powerful motivator; from the seemingly minor fear one might harbor towards mice towards the more complex fear of death, all have something above all that inspires intense fear and loathing, something they would drain seas and level mountains to avoid. When confronted by their fear, some become paralyzed, others fight or flee, but when completely immersed in their fear, unable to escape or ignore, …show more content…
Such is the case of Mr. Leonard Mead, from Ray Bradbury’s acclaimed short story “The Pedestrian”. Confronted by the universal fear of becoming irrelevant, man becomes bitter, Despite the biting cold, when the story opens Mead is walking along the crumbling sidewalk of a residential neighborhood. As he ambles along, he speaks to the houses on either side of him. “Hello...What’s up tonight on Channel 4, Channel 7, Channel 9? Where are the cowboys rushing, and do I see the United States Cavalry over the next hill to the rescue?” (1) He receives no response, nor does he expect one; the street is deserted, all the residents tucked safely inside their dark houses, their viewing screens casting flickering shadows across the walls for all to see. Behind the feigned humor, one can detect a note of distaste in his voice. Although Mead obviously holds himself to be better than the inhabitants, they are not who his disdain is directed at- rather, the myriad victims of his criticism are the viewing screens. At first blush, the very idea seems nonsensical, but in fact it parallels the reality not only of today, …show more content…
One could most certainly characterize the police vehicle as a character- after all, despite its not having a driver in the vehicle itself, there would most certainly be someone back at headquarters controlling the machine. Mead’s discovery by the vehicle is thought by Mead to be “a rare, incredible thing… the force had been cut down from three cars to one... there was no need now for the police”. This last is yet another source of bitterness; although the area in which Mead lives is never outright mentioned, it is mentioned that the city in which they live is home to over 3 million people. It is hard to imagine today a world in which there are 3 police cars in one small section of a city, much less in a city of 3 million. To parse that down even further would be considered unthinkable, yet it is mentioned as a matter of fact. Authors are not the only victims in this world- the police, too, might be bitter. One might expect that one outcast would show kindness towards another, but when human nature is involved strange things happen; namely, someone who is hurting and bitter,rather than helping a fellow refugee from society, might turn on them to feel better about themselves, as if to reassure themselves that yes, they might be considered a dying breed, but at least they aren’t as irrelevant as the other guy. In addition, by villainizing Mead, the operator is able to carve out a
Andrew Sullivan suggests the origins of hate to be evolutionary in his article, “What’s So Bad about Hate?” If hate really is “hard wired,” then that would mean all of the hubbub about obliterating hate is just about as useless as trying to obliterate opposable thumbs. Sullivan’s statement carries so much meaning because it illustrates such a nasty concept with an air of tolerance that is rarely ever considered. He proposes that instead of fighting hate, we accept hate for what it is: an integral part of the human experience. Instead of fighting, we should focus our energy on tolerating hate, and through toleration we can achieve much more than we ever did by trying to combat our very nature.
Freud proposes that the primal instinct of humans is to act aggressively towards each other. In civilized society, we have restrained our inclination to aggression through law and authority. Repeatedly, in The Lake of the Woods, John Wade either acted aggressively
In the novella Anthem, this can be seen building up in the main character, Equality. As the story progresses, you can see Equality 7-2521, harbour a growing hatred for his fellow brothers. When Equality goes to show his creation to the world council, they reject his idea and shun him, possibly generating that feeling of rage. After Equality gets his idea rejected, he seems to now show the malice that was pushed away all of his life spent in the Community. The novella Anthem shows us that even though hate is a bad emotion, keeping all of those negative feelings felt towards others locked away can expand them and make them even worse.
survival, as well as the survival of the wild. He explains that anger occurs when we defend
Throughout History our world has seen societies which have risen to power and publicity through pure hatred and suffering of others. Our past could yet, reveal the answer to the question, “Can a society based on hate and suffering survive?”. The most powerful and controversial of these societies will be mentioned and with hope, put an end to our uncertainty. The German Reich, modern day North Korea, Al-Qaeda, and the Ku Klux Klan. These listed had based their societies on hate, suffering, or both, which they have marked themselves forever in history.
In the year 1625, Francis Bacon, a famous essayist and poet wrote about the influences of fear on everyday life. He stated, “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other” (Essays Dedication of Death). Clearly, external surroundings affect perceptions of fear as well as human nature in general. Although C.S. Lewis published the novel, Out of the Silent Planet, over three centuries after Bacon wrote his theory on fear, Lewis similarly portrayed external surrounding to manipulate perceptions of fear. From the first chapter of the novel, Lewis revealed fear to be a weakness that leads to ignorance. It was this ignorance that apparently fueled the cycle of corruption and immorality on “The Silent Planet.” Using the character Ransom to reveal the effect of memory and morality on fear, C.S. Lewis demonstrates that fear is a quality of the “bent” race (humans), and only by eliminating fear in our lives can the human race become hnau.
“The only way to end things completely was to hurt him enough that his fear was stronger than his hate (Page 211).” – Andrew “Ender” Wiggin. Fear and the power of fear are very delicate things. If someone has too much fear, it turns to anger. Not enough fear, and they have no respect. The book Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is about fear, especially of the unknown, and the controlling power it has.
Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” does a marvelous job of highlighting the violent nature of mankind. The underlying cause of this violent nature can be analyzed from three perspectives, the first being where the occurrence of violence takes place, the second man’s need to be led and the way their leader leads them, and lastly whether violence is truly an innate and inherent characteristic in man.
Sorrells, Helen. "From a Correct Address in a Suburb of a Major City." Literature: TheHuman Experience. Ed. Richard Abcarian and Marvin Klotz. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996. 301-302.
In every society, throughout all of time fear is present. It is a an evolutionary instinct thought to have kept us alive, throughout the darkest moments in human history. However as time has progressed fear has had an unintended consequences on society, including the suffusion of incomprehension. During the Salem Witch Trials and Cold War a large sense of fear overcame these societies causing tragedy and misinformation to become commonplace. It is in these societies that it is clear that fear is needed to continue a trend of ignorance. Although bias is thought to be essential to injustice, fear is crucial to the perpetuation of ignorance because it blinds reason, suppresses the truth and creates injustice.
he doesn't he even own one. This where you can see how he is different
Ralph Ellison speaks of a man who is “invisible” to the world around him because people fail to acknowledge his presence. The author of the piece draws from his own experience as an ignored man and creates a character that depicts the extreme characteristics of a man whom few stop to acknowledge. Ellison persuades his audience to sympathize with this violent man through the use of rhetorical appeal. Ethos and pathos are dominant in Ellison’s writing style. His audience is barely aware of the gentle encouragement calling them to focus on the “invisible” individuals around us. Ralph Ellison’s rhetoric in, “Prologue from The Invisible Man,” is effective when it argues that an individual with little or no identity will eventually resort to a life of aimless destruction and isolation.
Every individual has a distinct past that shapes his or her identity. The situations people face may cause them to have distorted perceptions of themselves. These distorted perceptions allow people to lose sight of the important things in life. In order to discover their true selves they will need to create a path for self transformation. Scott Momaday, Victor Joseph and Macklemore have different pasts but all share a common thread of reconnecting with the important things in life. Many variables affect each person’s destiny, but it is their physical and psychological factors that predisposition their vulnerability. Vulnerability can often be seen as a sign of weakness, but these protagonists are examples of those who embrace their vulnerabilities. Within Scott Momaday’s The Way to Rainy Mountain, Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals and Macklemore’s life, the protagonists claim their true identities by becoming vulnerable.
John Frow, in his criticism of White Noise, rightfully focuses on television as the defining medium of the Simulacra in DeLillo's America. Television, of course, by definition is a copy; it is a broadcast of something that has been filmed; it is viewed in millions of homes worldwide, each television flickering the same image into the sub-conscious eye. Frow presents a close reading of a speech Murray gives to his students:
Bolinger (the creator of the film) did a decent job of transitioning the short story to a film, but their was a lot of changes that made the movie a tad bit different than the regular short story. Many times when a creator of a movie tries to recreate a short story into a film, they put it into what they see when they vision the short story and stuff they wanted to add into the film. Which is usually different than what the normal reader visions when he thinks about The Pedestrian. “The major difference between books and film is that visual images stimulate our perceptions directly” (PBS). So knowing this it's obvious that Bolinger had a different point of view of The Pedestrian then Rad Bradbury (the writer of the short story The Pedestrian)