Richard Bach’s existential novella, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a rhapsody of joy and triumph; the triumph of the seagull metaphor for all humans against the prejudice of his species and socially imposed traditions. Written in the parable form in a very simple and clear language, it tells story of a seagull named Jonathan Livingston who crosses all barriers of society to achieve his dream of flying against the Council Flock of Seagulls which is designed to marginalize him. Jonathan Livingston Seagull a story is almost a fictional account of a seagull, which travelled against all odds of the flock to freedom.
Though, the fiction is considered to be the life history a seagull at one level, it is at once a metaphor or an allegory stating its deeper meanings. If we substitute or equate “Jonathan” to any man and the “Flock” as the patriarchal or conventional society and if we consider or read the story now it tells the tale of a man who fights against all odds of the society to find his self identity – the identity of an extraordinary seagull who conquered great heights in his goal of become the master of flying techniques amidst all limitations.
“Jonathan Livingston Seagull” is essentially a search for selfhood and by extension a symbolic search by any human to find and dream the contours of flying (goal) which is his dream. For this the individual self has to go through a continual process of reaching beyond itself, of expanding itself through varied experience, through multiple identities and relationships. The forms of life and the world seem paradoxical, mysterious and horrifying. To respond the world through pleasure, desire, despair, protest, hate, acceptance and to absorb the contradictions both within the self and the worl...
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...ife consists in giving up our existence in order to exist.” (Bishop, 171)
Works Cited
1. Altick, R(1965). Lives and Letters: A history of Literary biography in England & America. New York:Knopf.
2. Bach, Richard (2005). Jonathan Livingston Seagull. India, Harper Collins Publishers.
3. Heidegger, M.(1927) Sein and Zeit(Being & Time) Tuebinger, West Germany. Niemeyer.
4. May, R.,Angel, E., & Ellenberger, H.F. (1958) Existence. New York: Simoir & Schuster.
5. Marlow, A.H.(1968). Towards a psychology of being. New York: Van Nestrand.
6. Levinson, D.J., Darrow, C.N., Klein, E.B., Levison., M.H., & Mc Keer, B. (1978). The seasons of a man’s life. New York: Ballantine.
7. Bishop, P(2009). Analytical Psychology &German Classical Aesthetics : Goethe, Schiller, and Yung.Volume2.TheConstellation of the Self. London : Routlege.
For more than a dozen years, Clarence Earl Gideon lay buried in a nondescript, unmarked grave in Hannibal, Missouri. Most Americans outside of the legal community (and many within it) would neither recognize Gideon's name, nor understand the seismic impact he had on our legal system. Fortunately, Anthony Lewis, the renowned journalist now retired from The New York Times, chronicled Gideon's saga from the filing of his hand-written petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court to the momentous decision of March 18, 1963. Lewis brings to life the story of the man behind the case, the legal machinations of the court appointed lawyer (and others working with him) toiling on Gideon's behalf and the inner-workings of the Supreme Court. By telling the story, Lewis has preserved an important piece of legal and social history and we are all the richer for his doing so.
In Craig Lesley’s novel The Sky Fisherman, he illustrates the full desire of direction and the constant flow of life. A boy experiences a chain of life changing series of events that cause him to mature faster than a boy should. Death is an obstacle that can break down any man, a crucial role in the circle of life. It’s something that builds up your past and no direction for your future. No matter how hard life got, Culver fought through the pain and came out as a different person. Physical pain gives experience, emotional pain makes men.
We turn back the clock as Welch draws on historical sources and Blackfeet cultural stories in order to explore the past of his ancestors. As a result, he provides a basis for a new understanding of the past and the forces that led to the deciding factor of the Plains Indian tribes. Although Fools Crow reflects the pressure to assimilate inflicted by the white colonizers on the Blackfeet tribes, it also portrays the influence of economic changes during this period. The prosperity created by the hide trade does not ultimately protect the tribe from massacre by the white soldiers. It does, however, effectively change the Blackfeet economy and women's place in their society. Thus, it sets the stage for the continued deterioration of their societal system. Although their economic value is decreased, women still represent an important cog in the economic structure. Indeed, women are central to the survival of the Blackfeet tribal community that Welch creates and in many ways this strength and centrality provide background for the strength of the women depicted in his more contemporary novels. Welch's examination of the past leads to a clearer understanding of the present Blackfeet world presented throughout his work.
O’ Brien, Tim. The Seagull Reader: Stories. Joseph Kelly. 2nd Edition. “The Things They Carried”. New York. W.W.Norton. 2008. 521 pg. Print.
A White Heron and Other Stories. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Jewett Texts. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. .
William Golding explores the vulnerability of society in a way that can be read on many different levels. A less detailed look at the book, Lord of the Flies, is a simple fable about boys stranded on an island. Another way to comprehend the book is as a statement about mans inner savage and reverting to a primitive state without societies boundaries. By examining the Lord of the Flies further, it is revealed that many themes portray Golding’s views, including a religious persecution theme.
The novel; “Lord of the Flies” is a highly renowned novel written by William Golding and published in 1954. The novel embodies many themes and events that are mysterious and unanticipated for the reader. During the course of the essay I will explain how the conch shell that is found at the foundation of the first chapter plays a significant role throughout the novel and how diverse themes are brought on from this influential shell. This essay will express an opinion on the conch shell, in the end has more power and order than the actual ‘beast’ that is signified on the island. I will also explore the social leadership of the conch throughout the novel which will also touch on a few themes that the conch shell plays a role in. The conch shell is one of the first real theme/symbol that readers are introduced too and stands its power for most of the novel which is why it should be explored in further detail in this essay.
In viewing the aspects of the island society, the author William Golding's Lord of the Flies as a symbolic microcosm of society. He chooses to set the children alone in an unsupervised world, leaving them to learn ' the ways of the world' in a natural setting first hand. Many different perspectives can also be considered. Golding's island of marooned youngsters becomes a microcosm. The island represents the individual human and the various characters represent the elements of the human psyche.
“Wild Geese” is very different from many poems written. Oliver’s personal life, the free form of the poem along with the first line, “You do not have to be good,” and the imagery of nature contributes to Oliver’s intent to convince the audience that to be part of the world, a person does not need to aspire to civilization’s standards.
In his poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, John Updike uses a flock of birds to show that man can be uplifted by observing nature. Updike’s conclusion is lead up to with the beauty of autumn and what a binding spell it has on the two men playing golf. In Updike’s conclusion and throughout the poem, he uses metaphors, similes, and diction to show how nature mesmerizes humans.
Susanna at the Beach, by Herbert Gold, presents a tale of the virtues characters admire strictly contrasting with the vices for which characters are consumed. The characterization of the main character, Susanna, is portrayed as embodying seven “heavenly virtues” including chastity, temperance, diligence, patience, kindness, humility, and charity. While the other characters in the story personify the seven “deadly sins” including lust, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy, pride, and greed. Herbert Gold depicts a theme of virtues versus vices utilizing the literary device of characterization in Susanna at the Beach as supported by the character depiction from the biblical reference of Daniel and Susanna.
This pessimistic view of life reflects the helpless human condition as well as the limitations of human life. In line with the feeble and vulnerable portrait of human beings, nature is described as dangerous and uncontrollable on the one hand; beautiful on the other. The tone of the waves is "thunderous and mighty" and the gulls are looked upon as "uncanny and sinister."
Since its first appearance in the 1886 collection A White Heron and Other Stories, the short story A White Heron has become the most favorite and often anthologized of Sarah Orne Jewett. Like most of this regionalist writer's works, A White Heron was inspired by the people and landscapes in rural New England, where, as a little girl, she often accompanied her doctor father on his visiting patients. The story is about a nine-year-old girl who falls in love with a bird hunter but does not tell him the white heron's place because her love of nature is much greater. In this story, the author presents a conflict between femininity and masculinity by juxtaposing Sylvia, who has a peaceful life in country, to a hunter from town, which implies her discontent with the modernization?s threat to the nature. Unlike female and male, which can describe animals, femininity and masculinity are personal and human.
Before entering the ocean, the setting that allows Enda’s spiritual awakening to occur, she sees an injured bird, “A bird with a broken wing.beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling, disabled, down, down to the water”( Chopin #). The bird indirectly represents Enda’s failure to seek liberation and defy the restrictions society sets upon her. The fall of the bird is reflective of Enda’s spiritual awakening as it represents society’s fatal misjudgment as she desires to rebel against society and participates in an infatuation with her lover Robert.
Much of history’s most renown literature have real-world connections hidden in them, although they may be taxing uncover. William Golding’s classic, Lord of the Flies, is no exception. In this work of art, Golding uses the three main characters, Piggy, Jack, and Ralph, to symbolize various aspects of human nature through their behaviors, actions, and responses.