Innocence is usually associated with youth and ignorance. The loss of one’s innocence is associated with the evils of the world. However, the term “innocence” can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Similarly, the loss of one’s innocence can be interpreted in more than one way, and, depending on the interpretation, it may happen numerous times. The loss of innocence is culture specific and involves something that society holds sacrosanct. It is also bounded by different religious beliefs. Still, no matter which culture or religion is at hand, there is always more than one way to lose one’s innocence, and every member of that particular culture or religion experiences a loss of innocence at least once in their lives. In addition, the individual’s loss of innocence will impair him or her emotionally and/or physically. Committing a crime of some sort will certainly cause an individual to lose his or her innocence with emotional scars and perhaps with physical scars. In Native Son, by Richard Wright, Bigger Thomas accidentally suffocates his boss’ daughter to death. Suddenly, Bigger feels a strength that had been dormant in him, a sense of control and power over another person. Although the murder is accidental, Bigger Thomas experiences a loss of innocence that enables him to kill others also, including his own girlfriend. Yet, with the power he believes he had acquired from his loss of innocence, he also obtains an abundance of guilt and fear. Bigger knows that he had performed a terrible act, and because of this he feels guilty. Also, he begins to fear that he would be caught. Bigger becomes very paranoid after the murder and ultimately is caught and executed anyway. The case of Bigger Thomas is almost tragic. His loss of innocence, an accident, causes him to become a dishonest and dishonorable person. He is unable to forget the event and bears guilt and fear until he is executed. Knowing a victim of an unforgettable and unforgivable crime will cause a person to lose a type on innocence. However, witnessing the heinous violation of the victim is much stronger. After the witness sees and hears the exact event, it is nearly impossible to disregard his or her memory. This is true in the short story “In the Shadow of War.” The protagonist of the literary work, a young boy named Omovo, witnesses the killing of a woman.
Ida Fink’s work, “The Table”, is an example of how old or disturbing memories may not contain the factual details required for legal documentation. The purpose of her writing is to show us that people remember traumatic events not through images, sounds, and details, but through feelings and emotions. To break that down into two parts, Fink uses vague characters to speak aloud about their experiences to prove their inconsistencies, while using their actions and manners to show their emotions as they dig through their memories in search of answers in order to show that though their spoken stories may differ, they each feel the same pain and fear.
Churchwell, Sarah. "The Death of Innocence." New York Times 18 Aug 2008, n. pag. Web. 28 Feb. 2014.
Analyzing innocence has always been a difficult task, not only due to it’s rapid reevaluation in the face of changing societal values, but also due to the highly private and personal nature of the concept. The differences between how people prioritize different types of innocence - childhood desires, intellectual naivety, sexual purity, criminal guilt, etc. - continually obscures the definition of innocence. This can make it difficult for people to sympathize with others’ loss of purity, simply because their definition of that loss will always be dissimilar to the originally expressed idea. Innocence can never truly be adequately described, simply because another will never be able to precisely decipher the other’s words. It is this challenge, the challenge of verbally depicting the isolationism of the corruption of innocence, that Tim O’Brien attempts to endeavour in his fictionalized memoir, The
Innocence is referred to as one’s purity to the world. The loss of innocence occurs with the gain of knowledge. However, knowledge and understanding the ways of the world can only be obtained through exposure. In Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, the author reveals how exposure negatively impacts a person’s loss of innocence through newly found insight on the world. This is by the uses of word usage, contrast, and tone.
In Harry Mulisch’s novel The Assault, the author not only informs society of the variance in perception of good and evil, but also provides evidence on how important it is for an innocent person experiencing guilt to come to terms with their personal past. First, Mulisch uses the characters Takes, Coster, and Ploeg to express the differences in perspective on the night of the assault. Then he uses Anton to express how one cannot hide from the past because of their guilt. Both of these lessons are important to Mulisch and worth sharing with his readers.
Inevitably, there comes a point in everybody’s life at which they have an experience that completely alters their view of the world. This moment is when one loses his or her innocence, or comes of age, and he or she realizes that they do not live in a utopian Golden Age. Parents are charged with the monumental duty of protecting their children’s innocence, but everybody inescapably grows up. This experience can be anything from an embarrassing situation at school to coming within seconds of death. In the short story “Ambush” by Tim O’Brien, the author tells the true story of his daughter confronting him and asked him if he had ever killed anyone. In an effort to be a good parent and protect the nine-year-old’s innocence, the author does not share with her the story he goes on to tell to the reader. He explains how many years ago, he was serving in the army and was taking a shift guarding his troop’s campsite when all of a sudden, a young man from the opposing army came walking up the trail. Without a second thought, O’Brien killed the boy with a grenade, and he lost his innocence after realizing he had killed a defenseless man without hesitation. Tim O’Brien develops Ambush as a coming of age story through the use of literary devices.
As America heads into a new year, we find our government tightening its purse strings and cracking down on excessive spending, with an emphasis on the US military. According to author Brad Plumer, a reporter at the Washington Post, “U.S. defense spending is expected to have risen in 2012, to about $729 billion, and then is set to fall in 2013 to $716 billion, as spending caps start kicking in.” Pared with a more drastic 350 billion dollar cute going into effect over the next ten years, the military finds itself cutting what cost the most to maintain and support troops (Fact Sheet par. 2). In recent years the military has bolstered an overwhelming 1,468,364 troops (Active Duty). These numbers are to be cut substantially; the biggest cut is to be seen in the Army. The Army must deal with a reduction of 80,000 troops, cutting its force of 570,000 troops to nearly 140,000.Subsequently, the budget cuts, which have led to a reduction of troops in the military, has driven the military to turn to advanced weapons technology that requires less people to m...
Even though the Cold War era is a distant memory, encased in glass forever like some museum piece, our government is still spending as if the Soviet Union was in its prime. If the arms race is a forgotten memory, then why is the military still spending 86% of what it was spending during the Cold War. It’s not that us Americans do not want a solid military, we just believe that our military is wasting billions of dollars at the expense of our children’s education and well being.
The United States is facing a large military budget spending issue with the Department of Defence reporting a cost of around $525.4 billion this past year. Washington Posts announced that, "The United States spent more on its military than the next 13 nations combined in 2011." While military spending is a large part of the government budget, and there is enough room to reduce spending as long as there are a set of precautions of which necessities the government cannot cut.
In America guns have been a part of the country’s society since it’s birth. Throughout history the citizens of the US have used firearms to protect the nation, protect their families, hunt for food and engage in sporting activities. The issue of Guns and gun control is complex. Weighing the rights and liberties of the individual against the welfare and safety of the public has always been a precarious balancing act. In the United States, gun control is one of these tumultuous issues that has both sides firmly entrenched in their positions. Those parties in favor of gun ownership and the freedom to use and keep arms, rely on the fact that the provision for such rights is enshrined in their constitution. In this climate of growing violence, rife with turmoil and crime, gun advocates feel more than ever that their position is justified. As citizens of the “Land of the Free” possessing a gun is a fundamental right, and may even be a necessity... Anti- gun lobbyists point to the same growing violence and gun related crimes in an effort to call on the government to take action. By enacting more laws and stricter control, these people not in favor of guns feel society would be better safer.
For many years the writings of Aristotle have been translated and dissected by intellectuals from around the globe. Our textbook that we use in class also includes his ethical views because of how well known he is even though he lived around the time of 300 BC. Aristotle is among most notable and recognizable philosophers that are still being talked about to this day. For this epistolary essay, I want to discuss the views Aristotle had on habit, the mean, and the noble as told from the point of view of Joe Sachs, the writer of this particular entry, who inserts his opinion from time to time.
The United States is an extremely affluent country, however, the U.S. government does not allocate its funds correctly. The government spends entirely too much of the budget on military spending. A segment of the military budget should go towards education. Education is completely undervalued in America and is often pushed to the side in political debates. Conversely, several of the top-ranked countries in education are also flourishing economically. Even though the U.S. is struggling to compete in education, the government has all but given up at this point. There are no signs of increased education spending or a decrease in military spending. How is this country supposed to continue to grow and move forward if the citizens
Another controversial issue in America is the issue of gun control. The Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. However, the extant of this right remains highly debated. In the past two decades, massive killing sprees and school shootings have given rise to debates about this issue. In the 1990s the prevalence of guns in our society has allowed these mass killings to occur, angering a majority of the Americans. Therefore, in the 1990s there was a massive public push for stricter gun control with the majority of 60 percent Americans thinking laws needed to be stricter (Figure 4). However, as state laws became stricter and shootings became more prevalent there was a push back on gun control in a few short
The Government has to spend a lot of money for the country. Whether it is for pensions, health care, education, and many more stuff that the people of the United States need to live in the country. The total spending for the 2016 year was 6.7 trillion dollars. The total was made up of pensions, health care, education, defense, and welfare. Pensions accounted for 1.3 trillion, healthcare accounted for 1.5 trillion, education accounted for 1.0 trillion, defense accounted for 0.8 trillion, and welfare accounted for 0.5 trillion. All these categories have gone drastically up and will continue to go up each year. The only category that has gone down from 2004 is the welfare category, which has gone down since its highest rate in 2010. There are three levels of
It is a story that provides the ultimate explanation of how two different people who are witnesses to a crime give completely different psychological recollections of the same event. The author reminds us that truth depends on the telling. Someone must step forward and tell that truth.