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James joyce and religion
The character of James Joyce
The character of James Joyce
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The Honorable Life and Death of James Joyce
The coat of arms which James Joyce inherited from his family bears the motto,
"Mors aut honorabilis vita," meaning, "An honorable life or death." But was
Joyce loyal to the creed of his more noble ancestors? Many would argue that he
was not. After a Catholic education all the way through his undergraduate degree
he denounced Catholicism. In the middle of a time of growing nationalism in
which the role of bard was elevated to national importance Joyce abandoned his
native Ireland in search of less constrictive lands. But the one thing to which
Joyce remained true throughout his entire life was art. In repeated
confrontations and against great pressure he remained true to what he felt was
the only real morality in an artist's life, his truth in art.
"James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on February 2, 1882, in Rathgar, a
fairly prosperous souther suburb of Dublin." (Kershner) The Joyces are thought
to have a noble background, which is borne out by the existence of a coat of
arms. But living as a Catholic in Ireland at the time of his birth severely
limited his family in their ascension of the social ladder. He was the eldest
survivor of twelve children (only eight lived to adulthood), and the son of a
"disastrous father" (Kershner), but at the age of six he escaped his perhaps
less than desirable home life. He was sent to Clongowes Wood college, a Jesuit
school which was said to be the best preparatory school in Ireland. While the
rigorous Catholicism of the Jesuits did not follow him for the rest of his life,
their rigorous education did.
...
... middle of paper ...
...lf in some
mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my
defense the only arms I allow myself to use, silence, exile, and cunning.
These are not the words of a coward. These are not the words of a traitor to his
country and religion. These are the words of a man who was forced to fight
through criticism, censorship, and personal tragedy to bring his art to light.
These are the words of a man who had an honorable life and death.
Works Cited:
"The Brazen Head." Online. Internet. Available
http://www.microserve.com/~thequail/libyrinth/joyce.html
Curran, C.P. James Joyce Remembered. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.
Kershner, Brandon. "Brandon Kershner's Portrait Page." Online. Internet.
Available http://www.ucet.ufl.edu/~kershner/port.html
Why does the world need to kill two million men just because two countries can’t agree with each other? War is devastating to countries and most indefinitely to individuals and soldiers. A war can ruin families, friendships, education, economy, and the minds of innocent people. Most young men, who were just approaching manhood, were pulled of their innocence of childhood, and thrown into a world of rage and destruction. Soldiers that luckily survive a horrific war often find their lives turned completely upside down since they enlisted, and sometimes it is just impossible to forget the vicious past and start over again as a civilian. Many older men believe that wars being fought are wars of dignity and glory, but truthfully, wars are battles of death and gore. The novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque expresses dramatically the negative effects of war.
The works of James Baldwin are directly related to the issues of racism, religion and personal conflicts, and sexuality and masculinity during Baldwin's years.James Baldwin's works, both fiction and nonfiction were in some instance a direct reflection his life. Through close interpretation you can combine his work to give a "detailed" look into his actual life. However since most writings made by him are all considered true works of literature we can't consider them to be of autobiographical nature.
Individuality and Transcendence in Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Joyce The development of the scientific method started a revolution in thought that changed how people viewed the world. Scientists tested theories by creating experiments and carefully observing the results. The importance of scientific discoveries raised questions about the role of the observer.
The media can impact people’s lives in many ways, whether it’s fashion, movies, literature, or hobbies. One of the impacts is how women view their bodies. Movie stars and models feel pressured to catch attention and to look good in order to have a good career in their respective field. People tend to judge how someone looks based on their body composition. The result of this “judgment” is that Hollywood is getting skinny. Since models and actresses serve as role models for people, people tend to want to look like them. The result of this seemingly harmless model of behavior is in an increase in eating disorders.
Over the years the rise in body image dissatisfaction has grown as both male and female progress to adulthood. This factor can be contributed to societal standards that the media presents to the public daily. These standards continue to rise making the body image more difficult to attain. With these standards comes the push to seek the “perfect body”. This myth of true beauty commonly found in today’s society, is the price that adolescents buy into often sacrificing their health. The perfect body can often present a distorted view of one-self leading to unhealthy methods of weight reduction. The most common methods for weight reduction are the diseases Anorexia and Bulimia. The similarities and differences between Anorexia and Bulimia will be used to prove that the society’s pressure to fit a certain mold contribute to the onset of the disease.
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” – G.K Chesterton
Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and compulsive over-eating are extremely serious illnesses that must be recognized before they can be treated. The media is blamed for so many distorted images of the body. People are beginning to refuse the idea, however, that thinner is better. Body shapes are known to go in and out of style. In the 1800s, plumpness was a sign of wealth and class. Thinness became a sign of beauty in the 1970s with the British super-model Twiggy. There are many treatments for eating disorders today. One of the hopes of many psychologists is that humans will begin to feel happy about the way they are, even if it is a little bigger than the media portrays as ideal.
Yancey, Diane. Eating Disorders. Brookfield, Connecticut: Twenty-First Century Books A Division of The Millbrook Press, Inc., 1999.
Ninety percent of the eating disorder cases occur in women ages twelve to twenty-five and many researchers believe the media is to blame. Though there is no single cause of an eating disorder, multiple studies cause an eating disorders to the media. With being vulnerable to the “thin ideal” in mass media, there is an increased risk of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. (“Media, Body Image, and Eating Disorders”)
A collection of short stories published in 1907, Dubliners, by James Joyce, revolves around the everyday lives of ordinary citizens in Dublin, Ireland (Freidrich 166). According to Joyce himself, his intention was to "write a chapter of the moral history of [his] country and [he] chose Dublin for the scene because the city seemed to [b]e the centre of paralysis" (Friedrich 166). True to his goal, each of the fifteen stories are tales of disappointment, darkness, captivity, frustration, and flaw. The book is divided into four sections: childhood, adolescence, maturity, and public life (Levin 159). The structure of the book shows that gradually, citizens become trapped in Dublin society (Stone 140). The stories portray Joyce's feeling that Dublin is the epitome of paralysis and all of the citizens are victims (Levin 159). Although each story from Dubliners is a unique and separate depiction, they all have similarities with each other. In addition, because the first three stories -- The Sisters, An Encounter, and Araby parallel each other in many ways, they can be seen as a set in and of themselves. The purpose of this essay is to explore one particular similarity in order to prove that the childhood stories can be seen as specific section of Dubliners. By examining the characters of Father Flynn in The Sisters, Father Butler in An Encounter, and Mangan's sister in Araby, I will demonstrate that the idea of being held captive by religion is felt by the protagonist of each story. In this paper, I argue that because religion played such a significant role in the lives of the middle class, it was something that many citizens felt was suffocating and from which it was impossible to get away. Each of the three childhood stories uses religion to keep the protagonist captive. In The Sisters, Father Flynn plays an important role in making the narrator feel like a prisoner. Mr. Cotter's comment that "… a young lad [should] run about and play with young lads of his own age…" suggests that the narrator has spent a great deal of time with the priest. Even in death, the boy can not free himself from the presence of Father Flynn (Stone 169) as is illustrated in the following passage: "But the grey face still followed me. It murmured; and I understood that it desired to confess something.
The American Academy of Family Physicians. (June 2003). Anorexia nervosa. Retrieved April 18, 2005, from http://www.familydoctor.org/063.xml
In 1945 George Orwell published his allegorical novel, Animal Farm. Although this satire primarily addressed the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, Orwell’s larger critique was at the root of totalitarianism. Through the destruction of the Soviet myth, Orwell hoped to revive socialist movements and expose the dangers of propaganda in a enlighten society. Many present ideas are expressed about culture and place that depict the time period of the represented in Animal Farm. Cultural ideas such as tyranny replacing tyranny, totalitarianism, class warfare and language as power are portrayed throughout the novel. George Orwell’s Animal Farm endorses ideas held by society about the Russian Revolution. He wrote this novella to bout against the idea of totalitarianism or total government control of the low, working classes that were controlled in the Russian Revolution.
Although, I find the ending somewhat predictable, I would use Gordimer’s short story, “A Beneficiary,” to highlight how the author uses figurative language and rhetorical devices to develop characterization. Not only did I enjoy examining the protagonist’s journey to enlightenment, I also appreciated studying how Gordimer utilizes certain figures and strategic devices to bring the deceased mother to life. For instance, Charlotte notes that her mother, Laila “had baptized herself professionally” as an actress since she lied about her age, her name, and her marriage (568), suggesting that she worshipped the superficial and the artificial just like her career. This concept is reinforced as Charlotte and her friends clean out Laila’s apartment and one her carries on about “the
In the book “Animal Farm” the animals that live on the farm take over control of the farm. The leaders of the new farm want to be nothing like the humans, but end up doing many of the things that they said they hated. The animals want equality through democracy, but obtained it through being getting together and socializing. This eventually leads to communism and the destruction of the farm and it’s animals. The old boar, Old Major, has the idea that there needs on the farm and he takes the role as leader of the animals. He speaks to all the animals to start this change. Old majors speeches inspire Snowball and Napoleon, so when he died the two pigs believed that they were the best advocates for the job so they took over as the leaders.
People define themselves in many different ways: I am (my name), I am (my job position), I am (my life’s experiences), etc. With so many different means of classification, it is hard to come to a conclusive answer on just what makes you, you. Montaigne’s approach consists of his life’s experiences and while this encompasses practically everything that is you, it still lacks much to be desired in narrowing down one’s identity. So, is it really possible to take something as complex and multifaceted as the soul and shrink it down to an idea we can grasp and understand? . The answer is no, to have a true understanding of who we are could take a lifetime of reflection and then some, which is odd because who knows you better than you? Right? Most people agree with Montaigne that they are the result of their life experiences, but humans have an imagination and free will that allows us to go far beyond what our experiences characterize.