Mercy in The Wind by Stephens and Eight O'Clock by Housman
Does humankind have the same characteristics as nature, or does it merely possess a small portion of nature’s greatness? Nature and humankind can be cruel in their own ways; however, humankind feels guilt for its actions, while nature does not. Both may appear beautiful at times, but nature and humankind can become fierce destroyers when put in certain situations. Humans often feel guilty for their actions and become merciful, while nature, on the other hand, has no mercy.
The distribution of death upon the human race has and always will be a big issue. The merciless effects of nature have only been temporarily blocked or prevented by humankind, but never overpowered. Nature is a strong force that constantly treads the earth, and even the strongest and most intelligent species of mortals cannot conquer its forces. Nature has no mercy in its doings because it is a force without feeling. Humankind, on the other hand, becomes compassionate and merciful when put in certain situations. Some may call this mercy a weakness, but in reality the mercy that humans possess can also become a strength. To bear mercy, the human race can make important decisions and plan for the consequences to follow. The poems that are chosen for this essay are "The Wind" by James Stephens and Eight O'Clock by A. E. Housman. Both demonstrate the manner in which nature and humans deal with the cruel penalties of death and how they are distributed.
"The Wind" by James Stephens is a remarkable poem that demonstrates the power and authority of the wind. The wind is personified as a man, and is given human attributes for better understanding. The life flows into the individual as he stands up...
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...isplay no mercy, but in most cases the guilt is retained or dispersed in some inanimate object that will quietly take the blame. Humankind and nature differ in many aspects, and mercy is one of them. Nature shows no mercy.
"The Wind" by James Stephens
The wind stood up and gave a shout.
He whistled on his fingers and
Kicked the withered leaves about
And thumped the branches with his hand
And said that he'd kill and kill,
And so he will and so he will.
"Eight O'Clock" by A. E. Housman
He stood, and heard the steeple
Sprinkle the quarters on the morning town.
One, two, three, four, to market-place and people
It tossed them down.
Strapped, noosed, nighing his hour,
He stood and counted them and cursed his luck;
And then the clock collected in the tower
Its strength, and struck.
An example of how the evil within Cheshunt and Mr. Karle are influencing residents to commit heinous acts can be found on page 214 when Buddha murders Nathanial's dog in an attempt to render him susceptible to Mr. Karle's attempts to manipulate him. The Tod was ruthlessly killed by being doused in kerosene and then set alight. Page 214 reads as follows, “The match landed in his tail and flames swept forward up over him. Devoured him. He arched and coiled, yelping in pain and fright, and then he screamed, a long inhuman howl of agony and terror. For one terrible second, his eyes looked at me from out of the flames, bulging and pleading.” This horrific and terrifying event was interpreted by Nat as punishment due to Lallie's intervention of the night before whe...
The wind becomes almost human like from its physically described features-- such as its hands-- that seemingly reach out to others as they pass by. Violently blowing through the street, the winds actions are given strong diction, such as “pried,”
Many people have different views on the moral subject of good and evil or human nature. It is the contention of this paper that humans are born neutral, and if we are raised to be good, we will mature into good human beings. Once the element of evil is introduced into our minds, through socialization and the media, we then have the potential to do bad things. As a person grows up, they are ideally taught to be good and to do good things, but it is possible that the concept of evil can be presented to us. When this happens, we subconsciously choose whether or not to accept this evil. This where the theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke become interesting as both men differed in the way they believed human nature to be. Hobbes and Locke both picture a different scene when they express human nature.
The policy of affirmative action was created to promote equal opportunity in the workfield, however the policy has its own issues as it has produced lots of controversies since its inception. In particular, opponents of Affirmative action argues against the real effects of affirmative action and skeptical whether societal disparities in employment opportunities and incomes were simply the outcome of socioeconomic labelling, hence the effectiveness of affirmative action to address the disparities was also brought into questioning. Moreover the policy is also controversial in that it does, to a certain extent, exert discriminatory racial tension because it discriminates against non-minority groups. Therefore this essay will discuss some of the issues related to the controversial policy as well as explore some of the underlying causes of the policy and assessment of some of its measured benefits.
What is human nature? Human nature is qualities that are associated to humankind. The quality, I believe, is the most propionate in human nature is selfishness. I’m not going to say that selfishness is necessarily a bad thing; in times where it was survival of the fittest you couldn’t afford to be selfless. You had to save yourself so you could carry on your genes to keep the human race alive. Fun is another quality of human nature, we lov...
Holzer, H., & Neumark, D. (2000). What Does Affirmative Action Do?. Cornell University. Retrieved February 25, 2014, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2696075?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=affirmative&searchText=action&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Daffirmative%2Baction%26amp%3Bprq%3Daffirmative%2Baction%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bso%3Drel%26amp%3Bracc%3Doff
Payne, Angela R., and Bharat S. Thakkar. "The Hypocrisy Of Affirmative Action: Race And The Labor Market." International Journal Of Innovations In Business 1.4 (2012): 274-292. Business Source Premier. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
I will discuss the similarities by which these poems explore themes of death and violence through the language, structure and imagery used. In some of the poems I will explore the characters’ motivation for targeting their anger and need to kill towards individuals they know personally whereas others take out their frustration on innocent strangers. On the other hand, the remaining poems I will consider view death in a completely different way by exploring the raw emotions that come with losing a loved one.
Minorities have been victims of the worst crime, the removal of God-given rights, but this country fought a bloody civil war to ensure those rights for all citizens. The Fourteenth Amendment gives all citizens the same privileges, but affirmative action gives preferential treatment to minorities. Minorities are citizens and should be treated as such; they should not be treated as dependent outcasts.
Human nature is the most debated topic to date. Many people think that mankind is programmed to be evil; on the other hand people argue that it is naturally good. Nathaniel Hawthorne gave his argument with the novel, The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter showed that mankind is innately good by Chillingworth’s measures, Hester’s capitulates and Dimmesdale’s noble qualities.
Tomasson, Richard F., Faye J. Crosby, and Sharon D. Herzberger. Affirmative Action: The Pros and Cons of Policy and Practice. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2001. Print.
In the Garden of Love Blake talks about how the green, the place of childhood play has been corrupted by a repressive religious morality. Blake describes the Garden as being ‘filled with graves and tombstones’, this confirms his criticism of restrictive conventional morality. Contrary to the view that pleasure leads to corruption, Blake believed that it was the suppression of desire, not the enactment of it that produced negative effects. Blake hated organised religion, and the Garden of Love explores some of the restrictions he saw and det...
The play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, shows human nature to be greedy, self-involved and vengeful. Claudius is driven by his greed to commit murder. Polonius is always looking out for himself, currying favor at the expense of anyone in his way. Hamlet thinks only of vengeance from the moment he finds out about Claudius murdering his father. Human nature has been all of these things, but it has also evolved through the ages. We can be base and cruel, but we can also show great compassion and kindness.
The two poems, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, by Dylan Thomas and, “Because I Could Not Wait for Death”, by Emily Dickinson, we find two distinct treatments on the same theme, death. Although they both represent death, they also represent it as something other than death. Death brings about a variety of different feelings, because no two people feel the same way or believe the same thing. The fact that our faith is unknown makes the notion of death a common topic, as writers can make sense of their own feelings and emotions and in the process hope to make readers make sense of theirs too. Both Dickinson and Thomas are two well known and revered poets for their eloquent capture of these emotions. The poems both explore death and the
In viewing 12 Angry Men, we see face to face exactly what man really is capable of being. We see different views, different opinions of men such as altruism, egoism, good and evil. It is no doubt that human beings possess either one or any of these characteristics, which make them unique. It is safe to say that our actions, beliefs, and choices separate us from animals and non-livings. The 20th century English philosopher, Martin Hollis, once said, “Free will – the ability to make decisions about how to act – is what distinguishes people from non-human animals and machines 1”. He went to describe human beings as “self conscious, rational, creative. We can fall in love, write sonnets or plan for tomorrow. We are capable of faith, hope and charity, and for that matter, of envy, hated and malice. We know truth from error, right from wrong 2.” Human nature by definition is “Characteristics or qualities that make human beings different from anything else”. With this said, the topic of human nature has been around for a very long time, it is a complex subject with no right or wrong answer. An American rabbi, Samuel Umen, gave examples of contradictions of human nature in his book, Images of Man. “He is compassionate, generous, loving and forgiving, but also cruel, vengeful, selfish and vindictive 3”. Existentialism by definition is, “The belief that existence comes before essence, that is, that who you are is only determined by you yourself, and not merely an accident of birth”. A French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, is the most famous and influential 20th - century existentialist. He summed up human nature as “existence precedes essence”. In his book, Existentialism and Human Emotions, he explained what he meant by this. “It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will be something, and he himself will have made what he will be 4”. After watching 12 Angry Men, the prominent view on human nature that is best portrayed in the movie is that people are free to be whatever they want because as Sartre said, “people create themselves every moment of everyday according to the choices they make 5”.