Social Rejection in the Film The Elephant Man

832 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Stronger movie analysis on disability

The Elephant Man is a moving film, based on the true story of Joseph Merrick, a man born with a prevalent deformity and dying from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In this film, John Merrick is initially portrayed as an imbecile and is consequently placed in a circus freak show, where he is ridiculed as a result of his deformity and is abused by his manager. However, his life takes a turn for the better when he becomes acquainted with Dr. Treves and is introduced to a new lifestyle, dissimilar to what he had endured throughout his life. He commences the construction of a model church and develops a close friendship with Dr. Treves, who introduces him to kindness, love, and companionship. After being tortured and taken from the hospital by his former manager, Merrick is reminded of the terrible life which he had lived, prior to meeting Treves. He overcomes many obstacles in returning to the hospital, where he dies from trying to conform to being a normal person. One of the key themes in this film is societal rejection, which John Merrick is subjected to, and with the help of Treves, is able to surpass. The bag that Merrick wears over his head in public, the church model which he builds, and the nature of his death are all interrelated symbols of the overall theme of societal rejection. When out in public, Merrick is subjected to wearing a bag over his head, in order to prevent him from frightening people. This bag symbolizes societal rejection because the confinement of Merrick inside the small vicinity of the bag shows that he is isolated and excluded from society. The fact that he cannot show his face in public demonstrates that he is unaccepted in society and is segregated from being a part of everyone else, thus fosteri... ... middle of paper ... ... own feelings towards himself. Some of the symbols in the movie that are interrelated to the theme of societal rejection are the church model that Merrick builds in the hospital, the bag that he is required to wear over his head in public, and the event of his death, in which he died trying to fit into society. The phase of completion that the church model is in correlates the degree of happiness that Merrick has in his life at certain points throughout the movie. The bag that he is forced to wear over his head symbolizes confinement and societal rejection that Merrick faces when among society. His death is a symbol of longing to feel included; as he recognizes that he is different and tries to assimilate in order to overcome societal rejection. These three major symbols depict the central theme of societal rejection that Merrick is subjected to throughout the film.

Show More
Related

  • What Is The Theme Of Determination In Eye Of Minds By James Dashner

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    One example of symbolism is the main antagonist Kaine. Kaine possibly could symbolize suffering, sacrifices, loss, and most important, determination. While trying to find Kaine, Michael suffers along the way while overcoming the obstacles set in his path. In the end of the book, Michael actually is left on his own after both of his companions die. He then uses determination and drive to find Kaine and fight him. This proves that Kaine could symbolize sacrifice, suffering, loss, and determination because of the loss of Michael’s friends, the suffering at the hands of Kaine, and the determination Michael uses to find him. Another way James Dashner uses Kaine as a symbol is by his name. In fact, Kaine actually means ‘Tribute’. James Dashner could have taken advantage of this name to hint at the sacrifices the main character Michael would have to make and the determination he would have to show in order to defeat Kaine. To elaborate on the idea of symbolism, another symbol could be the Path. The Path is what Michael, Bryson, and Sarah were told to find to help them find Kaine. Michael and his friends faced a series of many arduous obstacles and challenges they had to pass in order to get through the Path. Even when Michael looses his two loyal best friends, he kept on going in order to reach Kaine. This means that the Path could symbolize assiduousness and

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Shooting An Elephant And Virginia Woolf

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many great authors that study human nature stood out the most during the period of time between the Imperialism and World War II. Among these authors were George Orwell and Virginia Woolf. Their study of the human nature is especially visible in certain short stories that each author respectively did. Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” and Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth.” In either of these stories the respective author uses animals to depict their complex ideas about the nature of life, men, and the whole world.

    Read More

  • Comparing Where Are you going, Where Have You Been and Hills Like White Elephants

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Elephants'." Studies in Short Fiction. 17.1 (Winter 1980): 75-77. Rpt. in Literature Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 75-77. Literature Resource Center. Gale.

    Read More

  • Water for Elephants

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Water for Elephants, the story is told through Jacob Jankowski at two different parts in his life: twenty-three year old Jacob who is out there exploring the world and, ninety-three year old Jacob who feels like he is wasting away his life in a nursing home. Water for Elephants is Gruen’s third book, it became one of the New York Times best sellers, it’s also available in forty-four different languages and it’s now a motion picture (Sara Gruen). Throughout the novel the reader is brought through both Jacob’s happy memories and ones that he wishes he could forget which shows its impact on the reader, a sense of catharsis and its social significance.

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies: Symbolism Analysis

    1384 Words  | 3 Pages

    William Golding uses symbols as a way to tell his readers about human nature through their interactions, conversations, and actions. Each character was set up to show a different side of mankinds faces. Each imbalance of human nature can be toxic but it is up to the individual to decide for change or against it. Although this is just a story, it outlines a lot of what is in society today. Leaders are corrupt or too distanced to know what our lives are like to lead properly. A leader who is in the same situation as Ralph has great potential in becoming a great leader. From age to age, symbols in literary work tell us more about who we are, and answer some of the what if’s in life.

    Read More

  • False Identity in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

    1810 Words  | 4 Pages

    The narrator’s briefcase itself is perhaps the most important of Ellison’s inanimate objects. While the influence of the briefcase is not in its being an overtly crude representation of an oppressive society such as, for instance, Mary’s bank, the briefcase nonetheless plays an important role in constructing the pillars of the narrator’s superimposed identity. After the Battle Royale scene, the narrator is finally allowed to make the speech he has prepared. During his speech, he makes the ‘mistake’ of using the phrase ‘social equality’ in place of the much more ambiguous term, ‘social responsibility.’ The narrator corrects himself amidst the jeers of the almost entirely white audience. He then continues with his speech, lauding the importance of friendship, extoling the necessity of docile mutual existence to the “thunderous applause” (31) of the audience. Pleased with the narrator’s attitude of implied submissiveness, the superintendent “come[s] forth with a package wrapped in white tissue paper” (32). He presents this mysterious ...

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Gaston By William Saroyan

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oftentimes, in the public, people have to be “normal” to be successful and accepted. Author William Saroyan believes that society steers people to be conform and fit in, but he disagrees. In the short story “Gaston,” Saroyan shows that carving a unique path can turn out to be erroneous. Through symbolism and contrast, Saroyan conveys the theme that society does not always accept people’s differences.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Materialism In The Sculptor's Funeral

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    Steavens provided insight into this, saying that Merrick “‘was surefooted enough there [regarding his artwork]. He was determined, indeed, to believe the best, but he seemed afraid to investigate.’” Merrick’s fierce independence helped him power through his past with great discipline when it came to his art. Steavens shared his admirations for Merrick’s wonderful dedication to his work. Laird was so proud of Merrick for escaping the labyrinth that was their town. He yelled at the people at the funeral saying, “‘There was only one boy ever raised in this borderland between ruffianism and civilization who didn’t come to grief, and you hated Harvey Merrick more for winning out than you hated all the other boys who got under the wheels. Lord, Lord, how you did hate him!” It took a lot of bravery for Merrick to leave his town, his friends and family to pursue what he loved. This determination worked in his favor, as he became a famous sculptor mentioned in newspapers and magazines worldwide. Even with all his fame and confidence, he was quite humble and showed it up until his last breath, when he told Steavens about his town. Merrick told Steavens, “‘It’s not a pleasant place to be lying while the world is moving and doing and bettering,” he had said with a feeble smile, “but it rather seems as though we ought to go back to the place we came from in the end. The towns-people will come in for a look at me; and after they have had their say, I shan’t have much to fear from the judgment of God. The wings of the Victory, in there”—with a weak gesture toward his studio—“will not shelter

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Charles Siebert's 'An Elephant Crack Up?'

    1811 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are some wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than wounds that bleed. Just as all humans, elephants similarly feel emotions whether it is joy or sorrow. In his article “An Elephant Crack Up?” the author, Charles Siebert focuses on the recent strange and bellicose behaviors of elephants and clears up the causes of the behaviors with plenty of informative observations. In “Immune to Reality,” Daniel Gilbert theorizes that the psychological immune system is triggered by large-scale negative events. We also see these negative effects in the passage, “The Mega-Marketing of Depression in Japan,” while Ethan Watters exposes the attempts of Glaxo Smith Kline to convince the Japanese doctors that the Japanese people

    Read More

  • The Columbine Influence: How a School Shooting Affected a Nation

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gus Van Sant et al., Elephant (New York: HBO Video, 2003); Roger Ebert, “Elephant,” Chicago-Sun Times, 2003.

    Read More

  • Isolation in The Metamorphosis by Kafka and Heart of Darkness by Conrad

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is said that no man is an island, and no man stands alone. Hence, true human existence can not prevail positively or productively without the dynamics of society. Yet, this concept is very much a double-edged sword . Just as much as man needs to exist in society and needs the support and sense of belonging, too much social pressures can also become a stifling cocoon of fantasies and stereotypes that surround him. He becomes confined to the prototype of who or what he is expected to be. Thus, because society is often blinded by the realms of the world, its impositions in turn cripples humanity. If he does not conform, he becomes a social out cast, excluded and excommunicated from the fabric of life. The theme alienation in a small society is depicted primarily through setting by both authors Conrad and Kafka in Metamorphosis and Heart of Darkness. This depiction demonstrates how this isolation has a negative impact on the individual and ultimately leads to his destruction and decadence.

    Read More

  • Symbolism, And Imagery In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    Symbolism is found in many place within the story. Shirley Jackson uses symbolism to communicate through picture with the readers. In the story there is a black wooden box that is well known to the villagers. In the black box there were two slips of paper one was white and the other was black. The box is a connection to their tradition in the village. “ Mr. Graves opened the slip of paper and there was a general

    Read More

  • Stephen Crane's The Open Boat

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...clude this as a symbol that gives evidence to Crane using this story as a microcosm since people are able to relate to this in their life, or even as a society.

    Read More

  • A Flea Market

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    In a flea market, a shoe box filled with photographs. This is all we have. Whose lives might be recovered, if only the box had been labelled? I found it laying in a corner of the street, near an old manor where we live, my brother and me. There were men and women neatly tucked in pressed suits and fine linen dresses. They are our family, I imagine. Nameless faces attentively listening to our stories, witnessing the cold lifeless concrete of a flea market; it’s parched landscape that otherwise looks beautiful in the orange twilight. We have more money than it can last us a lifetime, but it cannot buy us our family back. I stare enraptured as strangers scurry down their separate ways, unknown to the solace they and the nameless faces in the photographs provide me, but my brother, he hates them. A single conversation with him, and one would say he hates the face of humanity itself. “Never trust anyone,” he constantly warns. “They leave you when you need them the most.” Our parents leaving us had scarred him deeply. He does not like coming here, but I know that there is a small part of him, albeit hidden away, that craves for company. On this particular day, the sun bathes me in sunlight from behind my brother’s head making me squint up at his silhouette. My thoughts are interrupted by a loud crash of porcelain china doll falling of our stand, its pieces damaged beyond repair. Dozens of dolls lay on our stand that my brother bought from a rather expensive antique store, in a futile attempt to blend in with the rest of the commoners.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis of Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell

    848 Words  | 2 Pages

    Morally, I think this story clearly states that people would do anything to avoid being embarrassed. From my understanding, I think that this story teaches us that we should be open to hear people?s opinions but we should follow our instincts. We should not allow others to make the decisions for us. The police officers just shoot the elephant because people wanted him to do so. This essay is trying to help us to see that we should look at the pros and cons of an issue rather than making a quick decision that can affect someone. I cannot condemn the author for shooting the elephant, though he knew it was wrong. Nor can I condemn him for giving in to the natives and not sticking to his guns. He does not want to appear foolish to others like all of us do.

    Read More

More about Social Rejection in the Film The Elephant Man

Open Document