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Langston hughes and politics
Langston hughes cultural view on african americans
Langston hughes cultural view on african americans
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As humans, we go through life’s obstacles and find ourselves lost in these obstacles. Many times one is approached by friends, family and sometimes strangers. As they become aware of your circumstances and obstacles they attempt to give you advice by sharing their beliefs. Similarly, in literature, a devil character appears during a crisis or weak moment's in the protagonist's life to challenge, guide, bring out qualities and thoughts that already live within the protagonist. Although the devil character can be perceived as evil and devious, the devil character has the ability to test the protagonist in order to put the character in contact with something already existent within them. The devil character challenges their heir to explore …show more content…
This idea is portrayed in the short story, “Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes when the devil character Mrs.Jones questions Roger and eventually unfolding something more meaningful within him. Despite, Rogers attempt to rob Mrs.Jones, she recognizes beyond his negative actions and sees a significant quality within him. After Roger has attempted to rob her purse, Mrs.Jones asks, “”If I turn you lose, will you run?” “Yes’m,” said the boy.” “Then I won’t turn you loose.”” Mrs.Jones gets Roger to reply honestly and remain sincere with her even seconds after he has done something wrong to her. She recognizes his sincerity and sees that Roger is no thief, rather an individual who is misguided. It is for this reason Mrs.Jones sought to trust the boy and provide Roger an opportunity for redemption. Mrs.Jones prepares him a meal and intentionally leaves her purse unattended near …show more content…
Initially, Rogers aim was to steal the purse from Mrs.Jones to buy himself “blue-suede shoes” but as Mrs.Jones continues to show him empathy he learns that his actions were wrong. Roger does not mention the blue-suede shoes, as the story progresses he becomes intrigued by Mrs.Jones advice and he closely listens as she says, “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son... Everybody’s got something in common… The women did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse,...” Mrs.Jones enlightens Roger by teaching him that pursuing bad deeds in order to get something that you want is not the correct route to take. The devil character in this story does not guilt the protagonist for his mistakes. Rather the devil character gives him reassurance that he has potential to change and learn from his mistakes just as she has done in her life. Roger became enlightened through this advice that he never received as a misguided and lonesome child. He discovers he wants something more valuable than a pair of shoes. Thus, his new aim is to impress Mrs.Jones after she has given him a sense of reassurance even after his mistakes, “He did not trust the women not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now./ “Do you need somebody to go to the store?”” By the end, Roger discovers that he has
Tom Walker’s devil is a dark-skinned man with red eyes, red sash, and an axe. Tom was a malicious, greedy person who dealt with the devil in order to gain some wealth. He and his wife would fight constantly day after day. Tom was not a wealthy person
(p. 44); "Who came to you with the devil?" and ".perhaps another person in the village?" (p. 45). A few of his faults are that he judges too much by appearances, ".you look as such a good soul should" (p. 37); ".a claim so weighty cannot be argued by a farmer," (p. 99); and he uses people to question other people.
A Faustian legend is a story in which a character trades something of great personal value to the devil in order to receive personal gain. Since this type of literature originated in the Fourth Century it has spread throughout the world. Two relatively recent versions of this legend are “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Vincent Benét. These stories show many similarities as well as a few differences. While both Benét and Irving present similar themes in setting of the tales and motivation in the Faustian character, they do differ in the nature of that character and their visual presentation of the Devil.
This is an important example of the use of evil within "The Devil and Tome Walker". Walker is told from the devil that he could earn money through usury and extortion. Walker commits to usury and makes a generous sum of money. Walker has no repentance for such a sin and continues to his usury. The evil accumulates in the story as Walker accumulates more and more money, resulting from more and
How would one feel if one came face to face with the Devil himself? Would one run away screaming or would one let the Devil change their views of the world? Gary and Goodman Brown both had different experiences with the Devil resulting in some of the best works of fiction ever wrote. Gary met the Devil as a young boy who feared him unrelentingly, but Goodman Brown talked to the Devil and let the Devil change his life and the viewpoints of people he knows. I plan to discuss on how Gary, from the short story “The Man in the Black Suit”, and Goodman Brown, from “Young Goodman Brown”, dealt with the Devil and compare their encounters together.
Redemption can be explained as gaining possession of something in exchange for payment. In order to achieve something, one must do something in return. The end result of redemption may be unknown to the person and what their payment is may be a sacrifice. This motif is relayed in the short story, “Cathedral,” by Raymond Carver, by a man who gains new vision from an unlikely source.
The audience experiences Roger Chillingworth in a dramatic yet critical way to justify change and retribution in one character as the consequence of cloaking deep sin and secrets. When first introduced in the story, the narrator refers to Chillingworth as “known as a man of skill” (97) through the point of view of the people in the Puritan town of Salem. He is brought into the story when the town was in a time of need of a physician to help the sickly Reverend Dimmesdale; his arrival is described as an “opportune arrival” because God sent a “providential hand” to save the Reverend. Society views Chillingworth as though as “heaven had wrought an absolute miracle” (97). The narrator feels when Chillingworth arrives in Salem he is good and has no intention of harm of others. Perhaps if the crime of the story had not been committed he would have less sin and fewer devils like features. Although this view of Chillingworth changes quickly, it presents the thought of how Chillingworth is before sin destroys him. Quickly after Chillingworth discovers Dimmesdale’s secret, his features and his character begin to change. The narrator’s attitude changes drastically towards the character from altering his ideas of the kind and intelligent persona to an evil being by using phrases such as “haunted by Satan himself” (101). The narrator portrays the people of the town believing Chillingworth is taking over the ministers soul in the statement “the gloom and terror in the depths of the poor minister’s eyes” (102). Throughout the book, Chillingworth ages exceedingly and rapidly. At the very end of the story, the narrator reveals another change in Chillingworth’s character; he searches for redemption by leaving Pearl a fortune a “very considerable amount of property” (203). By doing this, it shows
This document gives a history into the image of Satan and a light anthology of him. This text will instrumental in the metaphysical discernment of this essay.
An old man is sitting on an leather armchair, dressed in black and very expensive suit, smoking a cigarette and sipping his old whiskey from his goblet glass.He is short, squat, massive-skulled man. He was indeed a man to frighten the devil in hell himself. His presence sent out alarm bells of danger. His face was stamped into a mask of fury, the eyes were brown but with none of the warmth of that color. His mouth was not so much cruel as lifeless; thin and with the color of veal. He did not fear the police, he did not fear society, he did not fear the God or hell, he did not fear or love his fellow man. This old man was sitting all day on his armchair and offering his friendship to everyone who needed it because he is the only one who can help, he is the boss, he is the Godfather.1
Zimbardo, Philip G. The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. New York: Random House, 2007. Print.
Wicked, dishonorable, corrupt, villainous, malicious, and vicious all have one thing in common: they define evil. A person or a group of people that display these qualities are often defined as evil beings or creatures. Two people that have many of these characteristics developed within them are Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello and Lucifer from the Bible. Both Iago and Lucifer are developed with many “evil” qualities woven intricately into their character development. The representation of each “evil” characteristic gives them something they have in common, allowing the description and portrayal of both Iago and Lucifer in literature show the audience they share common “evil” characteristics and that they lead to chaos and downfall.
Stories have an opportunity to leave the reader with many different impressions. When you look a different characters within the stories the ones that leave the greatest impressions are the ones that tend to scare us. The figures in Bob Dylar’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have you been?”, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”, and Stephen King’s “The Man in the Black Suite” all instill a bit of fear in the reader. They are symbols that represent the devil or devil like attributes in people and the uncertainties of human nature.
In the story “Where are you Going, Where Have you been?” Joyce Carol Oates tells us about a fifteen year old girl named Connie. Connie is confronted by a young man who is trying to persuade her to take a ride with him. He introduces himself as Arnold Friend and kindly asks her to come with him but she refused. He then threatens Connie and her family. She is then forced outside and leaves with Arnold Friend. Arnold Friend clearly symbolizes the devil through his physical traits, his knowledge of Connie, and his power over her kind of like he was hypnotizing her to go with him.
As soon as this fear arises, a mysterious traveler appears. This traveler is associated with being the devil. The devil is prevalently known as a symbol for evil. Especially when considering this evil spirit from a religious standpoint as Young Goodman Brown does. A black staff accompanies this devilish traveler. The black color signifies evil and the staff was described as a great, black snake. The snake continues as a biblical symbol for the evil one, as a serpent in the Garden of Eden that tempted Eve to commit the original sin. The traveler that carries the black, snake-like staff, happens to be Brown’s guide through the woods. Young Goodman Brown is not in safe hands. The goodness that survives in Brown can sense that he is in possible danger. Trying to refuse to go further into the woods, the evil traveler convinces the protagonist to do otherwise.
Mankind lives in a physical, tangible, material world, which is influenced by the invisible, spiritual world around us. The present day spiritual world is just as existent as it was nearly two thousand years ago when Lord Jesus walked the earth. The Old and New Testaments reveal to us from time to time, glimpses of this spiritual world. These Testaments provide us with the most factual information regarding Satan. Unfortunately, many have been misinformed and do not thoroughly comprehend Satan’s origin and what his purpose concerning the spiritual and physical world. There is a great need to set the record straight regarding Satan especially in our hour with its present angel craze, channeling and a belief in spirit guides. I chose Satan as the subject of my paper because I am one who does not thoroughly comprehend who he is and what his purpose in both the spiritual and physical world is.