For all intents and purposes, the man named Nikolas Wells didn’t exist. In his place were individuals named Jonathan, Brendon, Christopher or whichever name he preferred to be addressed as in any particular moment. For the most part, no one that he came in contact with had been the wiser to his ruse. He kept to himself, conversing with others only when it worked to benefit him. If Nikolas was able to live in a world according to his design, this would be exactly the way that he would keep things. Yet, the world that he was living in could only be considered a utopia to those who were ignorant to the truth. For those like him, erasing yourself from the world was as good of a life as one could ever wish for. Yet, this pragmatic view was held by very little. Those with abilities would look upon the lives of others in envy, emulating them in the hopes that perhaps, their lives could be there own. But, this of course, was never the case. A life whose foundation was lies could never survive, and no matter how the circumstances would play out, they all ended the exact same way. But, Nikolas was one of the few who refused to accept this definition of life. …show more content…
The moment that would couldn't adapt would be the last. Without fail, Nikolas had acted in accordance to what was required of him, but for the first time, the change that he needed to make was a difficult one. As he began to press forward in his goals, gradually, the fact that he wasn't who he claimed to be began to be known. Suspicion began to surround him, and this was something that he could simply not afford to happen. If he wished to continue to survive, he needed to become someone. To do this, he believed that there was nothing more fitting than to begin to assimilate into society, assuming a life that was considered orthodox and all the things that this entailed. But, whether that someone was himself, however, was a completely different
The theme of the story is to stand up for who you are and to be unique. Being unique is an excellent trait that everyone has. Instead of making that ability a curse you should embrace it. When someone picks on us we should be unshaken by it and try to complement ourselves more and more. Vladimir didn’t do that while he was being bullied by his middle school claassmates and threatened by D’Ablo. After Vladimir stood up for himself he did not let anyone mess with him and he lost his shyness. This proves that one positive thing leads to another and soon we will all see a change in our attitudes and behavior. Reading this story shows that and that is what I think the theme of the story is.
McCandless’s family and peers expect him to live life a certain way, to follow the family tradition, however, it is McCandless’s high social standards for himself, and his sharp view of right and wrong, that would define the blueprint of his tragic flaw that caused him to go into the wild. In High School, McCandless would start to show some of his radical ideas about how he could help fix society. McCandless’s high school buddies explained that “’ Chris didn’t like going through channels, working within the system.”’ (113) Instead, McCandless would often talk about leaving school to go South Africa to help end the apartheid. When his friends or adults responded by saying that you are only kids, or you can’t make a difference, McCandless would simply respond “so I guess you just don’t care about right and wrong ‘” (113). McCandless would grow to learn that hi...
In the “Cellist of Sarajevo” each character is dynamic in the sense that they all experience this shift in identity. An impressive example of this metamorphosis of character is when Arrow chooses not to kill the civilian against the wishes of Hasan. The moment that she says “No,… I won’t” (P.226) is what defines who she really is at the end of the novel. The act of resilience proves that Arrow will not become a mindless weapon and give into her hate. She will work towards going back to her old self before the war and try to embrace life once again. The next example of character development is when Kenan gets over his fears and realizes that he must rebuild his city. He gets his inspiration from when the Cellist plays and he sees that “The building behind the cellist repairs itself…Kenan watches as his city heals itself around him.” (P.209). This gives him hope and he later has the realization that he must be the one to rebuild Sarajevo for his family and those around him. The goals he has set are what truly paint Kenan as a caring person rather than caring for only his own personal gains as he did at the beginning of the story. The last case of monumental personality growth is when Dragan drags the body of the dead man from the view of a documenter. This involves him to build up a colossal sense of courage and then run into a street where a sniper
Vladek’s controlling ways leads him to invent a life that he never had. Vladek wields his reality by reinventing his past life. When Vladek tells Art about his marriage to Anja, he portrays his marriage like a fairy tale. Vladek says, “We were both very happy, and lived happy, happy ever after” (Spiegelman 2:136). He reinvents his past life after the end of the Holocaust as free of woe. Correspondingly, he loses himself...
In the passage of the Narrative of Fredrick Douglass, the author masterfully conveys two complimentary tones of liberation and fear. The tones transition by the use of diction and detail. The passage is written entirely in first person, since we are witnessing the struggles of Fredrick Douglass through his eyes. Through his diction, we are able to feel the triumph that comes with freedom along with the hardships. Similarly, detail brings a picturesque view of his adversities. Since the point of view is first person, the reader is able to be a part of the Douglass’ struggles with his new freedom. With diction, detail, and point of view, the reader is able to get a rare glimpse into the past of Fredrick Douglass.Fredrick Douglass’ diction is powerful as he describes his life as a slave and with his new freedom. Fredrick Douglass calls being enslaved an act of “wretchedness,” yet he was able to remain “firm” and eventually left the “chains” of slavery. Fredrick Douglass expresses that being enslaved is a wretched act and that no man should ever deserve such treatment. Despite being a slave, he kept strong and eventually broke the chain of society. However, Fredrick Douglass experienced great “insecurity” and “loneliness” with his new freedom, and was upon a new “hunting-ground.” His new freedom brought other devastating factors, being a new state without any friends, which caused his loneliness. In this new state, he grew insecure for he was in a new danger zone where at any time his freedom could be rejected. With new freedom come new obstacles, which are described in the diction of Fredrick Douglass.
With the progression of time we find Frederick Douglas begin to shift the tone to a focus within himself. The story begins to c...
Through this realization, Raskalnikov decides he must redeem himself not only in the eyes of the law, but in the eye of God as well. By foreswearing his old philosophy and accepting his guilt, Raskalnikov again mirrors Lazarus's acceptance of Jesus as his savior. While Lazarus accepts his new life through his rebirth, Raskalnikov acknowledges his guilt and therefore allows his mind to begin life anew.
...nts changes, that person’s self changes. The victim of the trauma must regain control over their life through the cooperation of others. In this way, the autonomy connects to the dependence of the victim on those around them. The dependence on others to be autonomous gets destroyed when the victim is traumatized; they lose their trust in those around them and they lose their ability to connect with humanity. Related to the idea of the narrative self, the autonomous person that existed before the trauma dies and the new self must become autonomous through narration to others. In this way, the self as an independent, the self as dependent on others, and the self as the physical being are integrated with one another and cannot be divided. Just as a self cannot exist without the context of its society, society cannot be without the selves that constitute its existence.
The author gives well-founded conclusions as they are based on a thorough analysis of the work of the writer. These findings have given me a chance to see the dynamics of Douglass’s identity under the influence of various factors, including the opposition between the two types of identity - the identity of a slave and the identity of a free man.
As the story begins, the reader is immediately told of Victor’s noble stature in society as he states “I am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic” (Shelly 14). His family was constantly travelling when he was younger and his parents devoted all their affection towards him. As he grew older, his desire for knowledge leads him to travel abroad so he could earn the best education. Victor was born into a happy, enjoyable, and wealthy life, but still strived to excel at everything in his life. The passion he expresses towards bettering himself in the means of knowledge connects the reader to him. Everyone has goals, and seeing someone push themselves to the limits to achieve them gives a sense of hope. Unfortunately, Victor’s lust for knowledge go...
In this new technological society, eugenics, which is the concept of bettering one’s genes, has created a social prejudice against humans who come from a natural birth. Vincent is part of this lower class while his brother is genetically produced and favored by his own family. It is shown in every aspect of society, including the choosing of candidates for jobs. If you were natural birth, you had the menial jobs such as janitor but if you were a test tube baby, you could have a desk job with higher pay. Vincent, who tries to exert his free will, decides to pass this system by taking on a new identity of Jerome who is deemed as the perfect man. His hard work and determination leads him out of his confinement of social and physical expectations. For example, coming from a natural birth, it is already determined that he is weak and have significant heart problems. His brother on the other hand, has great physical abilities. As young kids, they played a game of who can go further out into the sea. After a certain amount of time, Vincent suddenly has this freedom of biological causation and wins the game against his brother. This proves that not only was he able to surpass the nature of his birth, but also his expectations. He is able to decide to take on a different path that he was
People of in this society think they are perfect because of sameness, but they have good memories and never feel or think of violence or danger of the outside world.This is an example of a utopia, because the people think they're fine but not really.Jonas is the one to receive and know the pain of the world.There is not much freedom there as it seems to be.Each
“The wheel of time moves on and on, the old dies and the young steps into the world. We ring out the old and ring in the new. A child changes into a boy, a boy into a youth and then into a man. The bud changes into a flower. The dawn turns into morning, morning into noon, noon into afternoon and afternoon into night. Today is not yesterday, we ourselves change. No change is permanent, it is subject to change. This is observed in all spares of activity. Change indeed is painful, yet needful. Flowing water is wholesome, and stagnant water is poisonous. Only when it flows through and alters with changes, it is able to refresh and recreate. Change is an ever-present phenomenon; it is the law of nature. Society is not at all a static phenomenon, but it is a dynamic entity. It is an on going
Ever since I was created, I have been mining here at Sector C-88 for coal. Sector C-88 is a monumental quarry with up to ten-thousand workers in a 10-kilometer by 15-kilometer area. Surrounding the massive quarry is an extensive network of processing and extracting factories and centers. Beyond that is, well, I don’t know. It’s just called the Beyond here, and it’s said to have something called “society”, but there’s probably nothing interesting like coal or anything. I looked up at the polluted beige sky and observed the curious shapes from the factory smokes. What could be above the smog? Infinite emptiness? I wondered. Suddenly, a familiar voice broke my course of thoughts.
His father always pressured him to join priesthood. Nikola had done experiments at a young age. One of these experiments was with June bugs, Nikola thought these bugs could pull a motor of some kind. This failed when a hungry child ate the bugs.