A society often reveals its own perversity in the way it treats those who stray too far away from its mainstream. In Jean McCord's story, "The Cave", the leader of a small-town gang beats up the narrator after he befriends a homeless man. In "The Hammer Man", two disgruntled policemen harass the narrator after she admires the basketball skills of a disturbed boy on her street. In both cases, the violence of the characters who represent mainstream society -- the gang and the police -- forces us to question our underlying assumptions about what is normal and what is not. While both authors invite us to label particular characters as deviant at the start of their stories, they force us to see by the end that there is no way to measure deviance in a society that is itself morally skewed. In an insane world, these stories remind us, the only sane people are crazy.
In the beginning of both stories, the authors invite us to judge one of the characters as deviant. In "The Cave", we see George only through Charley's eyes and thus reach the same conclusion Charley does after his first encounter with George, namely "that he [is], a bum" (McCord 3). While Charley concedes that George's kind eyes make him look "harmless"(2) and that his comments about history make him seem educated, he insists that the old man's disheveled appearance and strange attachment to the cave prove that he must have a few "bats flying around in his belfry" (3).
In "The Hammer Man", the narrator seems to be part of a community of such people. "Crazy" Manny is waiting on her porch "all day and night" in order to gain revenge for the insults she directed at his mother (Bambara 52). When the narrator's father discovers Manny's intentions, she smashes ...
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... Man" represent those forces in our society that try to pull the individual back into line when she or he strays too far away from what is considered normal. Charley and the narrator resist this pressure for a time, and in doing so, reveal random the path of normalcy really is. While both Charley and the narrator retreat into conformist behavior at the end, their momentary alliance with someone outside the mainstream shows us how impossible it is to draw a clear line between those who are deviant and those who are not. In our imperfect world -- in which racism, poverty, injustice and even war still exist -- those who do not fit in may have something important to teach us. Abraham Lincoln, St. George the Dragonslayer, and Jesus Chris, all carvings on the walls of George's cave, were all reviled as crazy before they were regarded as prophets of the truth.
In the short story “The Hunter” the author Richard Stark introduces Parker, the main character of this book. The main character is a rough man, he’s a criminal, a murderer, and even an escaped convict. He’s described as crude and rugged and though women are frightened by him, they want him. Parker is not the classic criminal, but rather he’s intelligent, hard, and cunning. In this story the author carefully appeals to his audience by making a loathsome criminal into a hero, or rather, an anti-hero. The author, Richard Stark uses ethical appeal to make his audience like Parker through the use of phronesis, arête, altruism and lastly the ethos of his audience.
Michael Patrick MacDonald lived a frightening life. To turn the book over and read the back cover, one might picture a decidedly idyllic existence. At times frightening, at times splendid, but always full of love. But to open this book is to open the door to Southie's ugly truth, to MacDonald's ugly truth, to take it in for all it's worth, to draw our own conclusions. One boy's hell is another boy's playground. Ma MacDonald is a palm tree in a hurricane, bending and swaying in the violent winds of Southie's interior, even as things are flying at her head, she crouches down to protect her children, to keep them out of harms way. We grew up watching Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow and Peanuts. Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up watching violence, sadness and death.
People within communities have a large responsibility to one another. Sometimes, however, that responsibility and respect seem to fade, as in “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson, and “The Masque of the Red Death”, Edgar Allan Poe. Both of these stories describe settings in which communities fell apart either briefly or all together.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” utilize character responsibilities to create a sinister plot. For Hawthorne, protagonist Young Goodman Brown must leave his wife at home while he partakes in a night journey. For Poe, ancillary Fortunato covets a pretentious manner towards his wine tasting skills, and after being ‘challenged’ decides to prove his expertise by sampling Amontillado. Hawthorne and Poe showcase a theme of darkness but differ in their approach to the setting, characters, and fate of entrapment.
Stereotypes within our society have shaped the way we perceive each other. Throughout the book Punished by Victor Rios, a lot of stereotypes were not only reinforced but also used against a lot of the boys. A lot of the boys presented throughout the book had never actually committed a crime but they were treated as if they had. These boys were constantly labeled and categorized, like folders into a filling cabinet or a bin. Sure Oakland, California had a lot of gang-infested areas but that does not mean everyone in that area is part of a gang or is committing a crime. Thus, this book really demonstrates how one can be perceived or labeled as a criminal due to his or her surroundings and how these stereotypes can destroy one’s chance of freedom.
Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” does a marvelous job of highlighting the violent nature of mankind. The underlying cause of this violent nature can be analyzed from three perspectives, the first being where the occurrence of violence takes place, the second man’s need to be led and the way their leader leads them, and lastly whether violence is truly an innate and inherent characteristic in man.
Throughout Marilynne Robinson’s works, readers are often reminded of themes that defy the status quo of popular ideas at the time. She explores transience and loneliness, amongst other ideas as a way of expressing that being individual, and going against what is deemed normal in society is acceptable. Robinson utilizes traditional literary devices in order to highlight these concepts.
The TV show, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, often addresses criminal deviance such as rape and murder. In the episode, “Scorched Earth,” an African immigrant maid becomes a rape victim of a rich, Italian prime minister named Distascio (Wolf). This episode highlights how status can affect perception of certain deviant behaviors. Additionally, it addresses contemporary America’s values toward types of deviant acts, and sanctions that go along with them.
Society often constructs views, and perceives certain individuals or groups as deviants and as threats to established moral standards and values. Perfectly exemplifying such views can be seen in the wrongful conviction of seventeen-year-old hippie, David Milgaard, in 1969, for the rape and murder of Gail Miller. Then, as now, teenagers and especially hippies are seen as limina...
The concept of what is "individuality" and what is not has plagued and delighted man since the dawn of time. “All the Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy adds 302 more pages to the pile of all the works that have been on the quest to define individualism. In this novel, McCarthy takes us through four faces of the key character’s life, John Grady, to portray the idea of illusory individualism. He contends that John Grady is simply a product of a society in contrast to his (Grady) notion of free will. Simply put: Grady has no alternatives but an obligation to conform to society. McCarthy uses him to create the platform in which to comment on oppression of individuality, expectation of conformity to the values of the society and the fact that the concept of individualism is a myth.
...ens should have more faith in the established institution’s ability to deliver justice over that of a vigilante serial killer, but for many, that is not the case. Second, Darkly Dreaming Dexter demonstrates that there is not as clear of a barrier between what is morally right and wrong as North American society sometimes believes, seeing as murder, which is usually regarded as undeniably wrong, can sometimes be justified and placed in the spectrum of acceptable behaviour. Blindly dividing actions up into right and wrong, then, is not only irresponsible, but also dangerous, as it can lead individuals to inappropriately oversimplify complex situations. Ultimately, then, a society that unwaveringly opposes all forms violence can be just as problematic as one that condones them.
The movie “Falling Down”, released in 1993, depicts an unemployed defense worker who becomes frustrated with society and unleashes that frustration on the Los Angeles community. The movie follows William through is destruction as well as the impact his actions has on other characters in the movie. It becomes apparent that the events and characters in the movie are ideal illustrations of the criminological theories anomie and social control.
Menace II Society, a film about a young Black man who has lived the “hustler” lifestyle and is struggling to leave it, is a perfect example of deviance as the main character, Caine Lawson, and the characters around him violate many of society’s norms. Throughout the film, the characters swear incessantly, carry around guns and drugs as most people would carry around cell phones, commit street crimes, especially burglary and mugging, on a regular basis, and beat and kill people unscrupulously. The following quote captures just how deviant Caine and the other characters in this film were, “[Caine] went into the store just to get a beer. Came out an accessory to murder and armed robbery. It's funny like that in the hood sometimes. You never knew what was gonna happen, or when” (Albert Hughes). Why would Caine consider these crimes “funny”, or rather, so insignificant? What caused Caine to become so deviant? The answers to such questions were woven into the plot of the film and will be discussed in the following paragraphs.
Furthermore, understanding the fact of how the villagers in that village practiced and participated in such a barbaric ritual and archaic event were not accepted by people. In addition, people who read the story commented that the modest people of the Midwest are superstitious and backward. Here, Jackson conveyed successfully with her subtle writing style that something is about to happen. She also used a third person point of view when writing this short story. The third person point of view permitted the author to keep the outcome of the story an exposure. This therefore led to the reader to consider everything is well but actually there is something wrong somewhere. Furthermore, what could be seen from the story is people were different compared to present, there is a huge difference in cultural practices. Therefore the actions of the story go in the opposite direction of people’s opinion in the present in terms of value of life, violence and the development of respect in a family.
A Toronto man with a mind of a six year old, is currently behind bars with no where to call home. Leroy Humphrey was removed from his group home and sent to Maplehurst Correctional Centre, where he has been teased and bullied by inmates. (Trish Cawford) This man is excluded from the basic rights and luxuries offered to the common citizen because he is different and society does not yet know how to accept and incorporate such people within the mass. Similarily, Mystic River by Dennis Lehane and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley are two books that highlight the prevailing element within society that forces humans with more ability to oppress the lower classes of society. Dave Boyle from Mystic River and “Frankenstein” the monster from Mary Shelley’s work are both characters that suffer the prejudice of society for reasons they have no control over. The former is a victim of a child molester and the latter is a hideous monster created yet abandoned by a scientsidt. Both characters are constantly pushed away from society which flames an inner desire to take revenge, to simply just fit in. Dave Boyle and the monster are both similar in how they are mistreated by society for abnormalities overwhich they have no control; both are also willing to use violence as a tool for vengeance against those who are the cause of their problems. However, the two stories differ in that Mystic River has a less just ending, and its protagonist does not have the capability to justify and explain his actions, whereas “ the monster” is sane enough to do so, but has no one to listen to him.