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Influence of the environment on human behavior
Influence of the environment on human behavior
Common themes in literature
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Humans embrace great potential and power. Plenty use this capability in order to achieve greatness, not knowing the strength they have can easily cause destruction. This power is depicted in day to day life through actions and words. However, real strength is found in what is not said or done. Every action has a consequence, including the act of inertia. In Laura Van Den Berg’s short story, Antarctica, she uses geography, quest, and symbolism to demonstrate the idea that the refusal of knowledge results in turmoil regret. Isolation, loneliness, desertion-these synonymous attributes describe the scene of Antarctica. White blankets of ice and snow laid as far as the eye can see, with nothing else in sight. “Antarctica was a desert...Much of it was was still unexplored. There were no cities.” (pg 301). Although the term desert completely contradicts Antarctica, Laura Van Den …show more content…
Berg uses this in order to illustrate Lee’s thoughts and feelings. Lee lost two of the closest people she knew, which impacted her life greatly, mainly in ways she did not know of yet. She was left without an explanation for the destitution and because of this, she thought retroactively in order to uncover conspiracies behind it. In this sense, her mind was blank and unexplored, like a desert. With the intent of traveling for the sole reason of unmasking the truth of her brothers death, Lee discovered a newly-found cognition. Without the journey, she would’ve never pondered upon the outcome. “The real reason for quest is always self-knowledge” (Foster 3). Throughout the story, Lee was constantly trying to convince herself of the false sibling-like relationship her brother and her shared. Lee’s eyes slowly began to open throughout the odyssey as she neared acceptance of the truth-they were not close at all. “We had not spoken in over a year,” (Laura Van Den Berg 302). This led her to wonder the possible result if their relationship had been different. Finally, Laura Van Den Berg incorporated color symbolism of green and white in order to display the evolution of the characters within the story.
“...We were on the front porch. It was late spring. The trees were blooming green and white,” (Laura Van Den Berg 321). Spring in literature always represents rebirth or refreshment, and in this case, so do the colors green and white. At this point in the story, Lee’s brother had finally accepted Eve’s abandonment. “I went to see him at MIT. His department was housed in the Green Building...From the outside you could see a white radome on the roof,” (Laura Van Den Berg 315). These colors are mentioned again before Lee’s brother departed to Antarctica. “...with his departure I could feel a shift looming: subtle as a change in the energy, the way air gets damp and cool before a storm, “ (Laura Van Den Berg 315). He had finally moved on from Eve, and Lee felt it was time to tell him the truth. However, the feeling of guilt took over her as she felt the distance between their relationship thicken, so much to the point where she could not tell him the
truth. The connection between Lee and her brother is resembled through the sky. When the northern lights appeared, as an astrologist, Lee felt a connection. “I’d never seen so many stars, and it was comforting to feel close to something I had once loved,” (Laura Van Den Berg 312). While Lee is figuring out more of the details of the day of the explosion, she feels an odd relation to stars. They begin to remind her of her brother. “The green light returned, brighter this time. It was halo-shaped and hovering above the observation room…’We hadn’t spoke in a long time’. The halo dissolved…” (Laura Van Den Berg 313). She feels the most attached to the sky while discovering information from Luiz. However, when she admits to the truth of their relationship, the connection dissolves away, similar to the relationship she shared with her brother. She was left with the idea that things may have ended differently if she had told him about Eve, rather than keeping her secret, ultimately wrecking their relation.
Many people were puzzled on why the young man decided to go on such an expedition without being properly prepared. His death has led to a controversy between whether he should be idolized for having the courage to follow his dream or repulsed for his grand stupidity. Although Krakauer never met McCandless, he provides his readers with personal examples that explain why the young man went on this journey. Expecting his readers to comprehend McCandless, Krakauer’s primary purpose is to help his readers understand the importance of embracing one's personal dreams. In order to achieve his purpose, he uses a variation of literary and rhetorical techniques. Some of these techniques include epigrams and ethos. These devices are essential to Krakauer’s purpose because they illustrate and explain the reasons why McCandless went into the inhospitable landscape of Alaska.
With every articulated drop of knowledge and accentuated measure of experience, comes a vast crescendo of soundness and wisdom. Acquiring these necessities of life may take a person, or a nation, decades of determination and desire for change to develop. If not given enough time, however, the individual or nation might descend and linger in a stage of naivety—where knowledge is too scarce to truly understand and evaluate all the experiences they have gone through in the world. Our nation is, and has always been, a nation succumbing to the weakness of our naivety due to the critical lack of the incandescent wisdom and maturity it needed in order for peace to prevail. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the young character named Holden Caulfield displayed an image of naivety that shadowed the immature lifestyles of 1950’s America and served as a critique towards this nation for the lack of wisdom reflected in the course of our actions.
When individuals face obstacles in life, there is often two ways to respond to those hardships: some people choose to escape from the reality and live in an illusive world. Others choose to fight against the adversities and find a solution to solve the problems. These two ways may lead the individuals to a whole new perception. Those people who decide to escape may find themselves trapped into a worse or even disastrous situation and eventually lose all of their perceptions and hops to the world, and those who choose to fight against the obstacles may find themselves a good solution to the tragic world and turn their hopelessness into hopes. Margaret Laurence in her short story Horses of the Night discusses the idea of how individual’s responses
Courage is not simply about how well you deal with fear, how many noble deeds you accomplish, or how you overcome life threatening situations. Courage is the practice of determination and perseverance. Something like, an unwillingness to abandon a dream even when the pressures of society weigh down on your shoulders; society will make you feel tired, humiliated, broken, and confused. Actually, it can be effortlessly said that daily courage is more significant than bouts of great deeds. Since everybody undergoes demanding circumstances on a daily basis, and most of us will not be called to perform a great deed, courage comes from those daily struggles and successes. However, Kate Bornstein is one person who has been able to transform her everyday life into a brilliant deed of courage. She threw herself into an unknown abyss to discover truth that many others would never dare tread. Ingeniously combining criticism of socially defined boundaries, an intense sense of language, and a candid autobiography, Bornstein is able to change cultural attitudes about gender, insisting that it is a social construct rather than a regular occurrence, through here courageous writing.
A human being is a complicated entity of a contradictory nature where creative and destructive, virtuous and vicious are interwoven. Each of us has gone through various kinds of struggle at least once in a lifetime ranging from everyday discrepancies to worldwide catastrophes. There are always different causes and reasons that trigger these struggles, however, there is common ground for them as well: people are different, even though it is a truism no one seems to able to realize this statement from beyond the bounds of one’s self and reach out to approach the Other.
“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us”(Fitzgerald 171). Whenever Gatsby looks at Daisy’s green light, he thinks of a bright future with his love of his life. The color green symbolizes Gatsby’s desire for a future with Daisy. Green also symbolizes Gatsby’s desire for great wealth. Nick describes Gatsby’s car as a “green leather conservatory” because the interior is green (Fitzgerald 64).
“The old man isn’t there anymore,” she replied back, letting her know the old man died. The author states she realized the color white is associated with Chinese death, after arriving
The main color in the novel is green. The color green can symbolize youth, calmness, and sexuality. Aura’s eyes are a vibrant green, something that Felipe mentions on several occasions. Throughout the novel green shows up in different places. Every time Felipe looks into Aura’s green eyes he becomes calm and thinks of nothing else. When they first meet he says “you can see that those eyes are sea green and that they surge, break to foam, grow calm again, then surge again like a wave” (Fuentes 27). He describes them as the sea and waves, which bring a state of tranquility and peace. When Felipe sees Aura, she is almost always in a green dress. When they meet on the night that they have sex, she is again in green. Most of her outfits throughout the novel are green. The most significant part about the color choice is that it ironically symbolizes youth, but in the novel Aura becomes older as the story goes. The color symbolizes the youth that Senora Consuelo is losing through Aura. Green shows the reader what Felipe is not acknowledging, such as her youth being drained. At the end of the novel, Aura is in a green dress, but is then revealed to be Senora
Throughout the novel, 'The Scarlet Letter,'; Nathaniel Hawthorne illustrates the themes with various dramatic colors. Of the array are the colors green and gold, where green symbolizes different aspects of nature such as tranquility, security, and gloominess, whereas gold represents all that pertains to luxuriance, serenity and goodness. In certain chapters, it seems as if one color is codependent with the other.
...iance, readers are capable of seeing how citizens in the world today try to be independent of others and sustain their personal beliefs and philosophy. Individuals have to put an end to conformity and trying to be a duplication of everyone else because they will never achieve success if they never decide for themselves. A person must not rely on the judgment and minds of others and learn to think for him or herself since depending on others only exhibits a person’s inferiority to larger institutions. People must stop using travel as an excuse to evade personal problems because if they do not have a direct confrontation with the dilemma, trying to escape will only lengthen it. People in today’s society must appreciate this work so they will approve of their individuality and be stronger in fighting against everyone else that disagrees with their personal philosophy.
The Great Gatsby is full of symbolism, colors, for example. Throughout the book the author uses them to represent different themes of the novel. Some of these colors are white, yellow, grey, green, pink, red and blue. However, I picked white and green for my commentary because I think these colors have a special meaning different from the others. White is mainly used to describe the character’s innocence, fakeness, and corruption. While green represents Gatsby’s hopes, ambitions, and dreams. In addition, sometimes green symbolizes the jealousy of certain characters.
Robert Walton, an Artic explorer, demonstrates the idea of knowledge as “dangerous” through his letters to his sister. He shows determination while on his quest, but it is glory that he seeks the most. Walton states, “I shall satiate my ardent curiosity with the sight of a part of the world never before visited, and may tread a land never before imprinted by the foot of man”(8). The statement implies that Walton seeks “dangerous” knowledge; the type of knowledge that only God possesses. Although he wants glory, he refuses to do whatever it takes to get it. Walton expresses that by saying, “I am going to unexplored regions, to “the land of mist and snow”; but I shall kill no albatross, therefore do not be alarmed for my safety” (15). Although Walton seeks glory or forbidden knowledge, he is aware that it comes with consequences that he is not willing to face. He has no interest in betraying people or upsetting nature to get to the level of greatness that he wants. Upon...
The green light signifies Gatsby’s hopes and dreams. Nick thinks back to when Gatsby observes the green light across the bay from West Egg and says, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” (180). The “orgastic future” represents the American dream in which everyone has the equal opportunity to live in prosperity and happiness through hard work and success. Gatsby’s dream is full of potential, but the memories in his past end up against him and his potential diminishes as his life
Her withdrawal from the world is also presented in this passage. She chooses to move into the white room, now no longer decorated by the previous inhabitant. White can be a very cold, sterile color, and it serves to illustrate her lack of attachment to the room or to her own home.
Beyond the shield of civilization and into the depths of a primitive, untamed frontier lies the true face of the human soul. It is in the midst of this savagery and unrelenting danger that mankind confronts the brooding nature of his inner self.