Nelson Mandela once said “For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”1 This quote describes the story “The Strangers That Came to Town” very well. Mr. Duvitch cast off his “chains” by immigrating to America seeking freedom and better opportunities. Dr. Switzer also showed freedom by living in a way that accepted the Duvitch family. Andy’s father accepted the Duvitch family, which in turn let them feel free. In his short story, “The Strangers That Came to Town” Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted. Until Mr. Duvitch felt that his family was accepted, he did not feel free. He felt oppressed and outcast, and his family was restricted from doing things that they loved because others made them feel judged. Every …show more content…
Andy’s father saw that people weren’t accepting the Duvitch family and didn’t like it. At first he just didn’t really do anything about it and the Duvitch family continued to be outcasts. Once Andy’s father took a stand and tried to include them in the community and make them feel accepted, other people started to accept them too. He decided one day, “It is high time for this senseless feeling against the Duvitches to stop and I’m willing to do still more to stop it.”4 He treated them like equals and didn’t make them feel inferior like the rest of the community did. He accepted them and it turned out to benefit the community because they were able to freely contribute to it. In conclusion, in his short story, “The Strangers That Came to Town” Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted. This is shown through the experiences and actions of Mr. Duvitch, Dr. Switzer, and Andy’s father. You are legally obligated to freedom, but if you aren’t accepted, you might not actually feel
The theme of the “meaning of freedom” is a common theme between the two stories “A&P” by Updike, and Harrison Bergeron by Vonnegut. In both stories, the characters are take different routes to rebel from the standards of society. In A&P, gender roles are heavy, and Sammy is expected to conform, but he does otherwise by leaving his job. Harrison Bergeron takes place during a time where the human population is expected to be equal, but Harrison steps beyond these limits. These characters show that conforming to society truly does not make you free, in fact it holds you back from your full potential.
Foner not only focuses on the dimensions of freedom, he also focuses on the second and third theme as well. The second theme covers the social conditions which makes freedom possibl...
Freedom is a notion that varies for an individual; it is vast and attainable in many ways, even though not everyone gets to achieve it. It can be created and found in many places within the person or from others. It is indeed related to a variety of abstract ideas or derived from them. In Linda Brent's slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street," freedom is defined by personal space, shown through the complex relationship with compassion from others. Brent received lending hands in her journey to become free, but it was not achieved through others' help. The people were there for her to lean on, especially her grandmother. She had friendship and assistance when needed, but ultimately she was on her own because others could not grant her freedom. On the other hand, the kind of compassion the lawyer showed Bartleby was the benefit of the doubt. With the slack that the lawyer gave to Bartleby, it allowed Bartleby to do as he wished in the office. Even though he did not fully reach freedom outside in the real world, it was the freedom inside the office that mattered most for Bartleby. Compassion in these two stories did not directly guide the characters to freedom, but supported them.
To understand the desperation of wanting to obtain freedom at any cost, it is necessary to take a look into what the conditions and lives were like of slaves. It is no secret that African-American slaves received cruel and inhumane treatment. Although she wrote of the horrific afflictions experienced by slaves, Linda Brent said, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." The life of a slave was never a satisfactory one, but it all depended on the plantation that one lived on and the mast...
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.
Freedom is very important in Stephen King’s Novel, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption.” Andy, is a clear example of how the author feels about freedom as well as what freedom means to him. “I asked him once what the posters meant to him, and he gave me a peculiar, surprised sort of look. 'Why, they mean the same thing to me as they do to most cons, I guess,' he said. 'Freedom. You look at those pretty women, and you feel like you could almost ... not quite but almost step right through and be beside them.”(King 1982:32). Posters inspire freedom in Andy, allowing him to feel free in ways of imagination, but also, feel as if he were being portrayed in the posters. Andy also feels the same way in relation to freedom, whilst portraying an attitude as if he were a free man. “Andy Dufresne wasn't much like me or anyone else I ever knew since I came inside. He brought in five hundred dollars jammed up his back porch, but somehow that graymeat son of a bitch managed to bring in something else, as well. A sense...
In paragraph three of James Baldwin's 'Stranger in the Village' (1955), he alludes to emotions that are significant, dealing with conflicts that arise in the Swiss village. Of these emotions are two, astonishment and outrage, which represent the relevant feelings of Baldwin, an American black man. These two emotions, for Baldwin's ancestors, create arguments about the 'Negro' and their rights to be considered 'human beings' (Baldwin 131). Baldwin, an American Negro, feels undeniable rage toward the village because of the misconception of his complexion, a misconception that denies Baldwin human credibility and allows him to be perceived as a 'living wonder' (129).
The struggle to be accepted in a prosperous community. In this short story, "The Strangers That Came to Town" by Ambrose Flack, is about a new family in town experiencing first hand the meaning of unacceptance, discrimination, and prejudice. The Duvitch family are immigrants from Europe, and the first different nationality to come to town and live on Syringa Street. Mr. and Mrs. Duvitch, their children, and a dog. They are a struggling poor family trying to learn their new way of life in America, while mostly keeping to themselves. "Syringa Street seemed to be a friendly street, but from the start the Duvitches were marked people" (382). The Duvitch family are judged by their physical appearance, as well as where they come from. The people in town already have an opinion and their minds made up to isolate and treat the family as outsiders that don't fit in. Judging a person does not define who they are, it defines who you are.
We meet strangers everywhere we go. They come from all walks of life. We can choose to ignore them or to talk to them. I have judged people based on the way they walk, talk, dress or the way they approached me. These judgments tend to stick with me even if I find out who they really are. I don 't think it is right to get judgmental when I first approach a person. I feel so bad when I find out who they really are isn 't who I thought they were. It just seems to happen so naturally. I guess it is just human nature. I can relate this to my senior high school days. Most of the judgments I made about people never helped me because it got me into bad company. In a short story ‘Strangers’, a stranger hurt and lied to Toni Morrison about who she was. She was really hurt by the stranger because she had misjudged her about who she was. She did not expect a woman, who looked so humble, would do such a thing. I can relate to her story because I also misjudged someone and ended up getting hurt.
“Here’s the grocery store and here’s Mr. Morgan’s Drugstore. Most everybody in town manages to look into those two stores once a day (5.Stage Manager.) A small town without a lot of people, that’s exactly what the line above just told us. In the Play Our Town the stage manager tells us about a small town called Grover’s Corner. According to Professor Willard “within the town’s limits: 2, 640. (23 Willard)” That’s the population of this little town. Living in a small community can have its up’s and down. Grover’s Corner doesn’t want to modernize, nor is there any privacy, but there are some good qualities like knowing who ever you fall in love with in the town has basically grown up like you, or that you know everyone in the community.
How do you label someone as an outsider? Some might say that an outsider is when a person encounters an external conflict, such as not meeting worldly standards or some who face internal conflicts by feeling like they don’t fit in or belong. The argument on whether the experience of being an outsider in universal is a very controversial topic. Some may state that outsiders are not a universal experience, and others may strongly disagree. In the stories we learned; “Sonnet, With Bird”, a poem by Sherman Alexie, “The Revenge of the Geeks”, an argumentative essay by Alexandra Robbins, and “The Doll House”, a short story by Katherine Mansfield are all stories that portrayed examples of being an outsider. In other words, the experience of being
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. Which shows how even though the Emancipation Proclamation freed the African Americans from slavery, they still are not free because of segregation. He then transitions to the injustice and suffering that the African Americans face. He makes this argument when he proclaims, “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream”.
An Essay on. The Stranger; The Absurd One Ring to rule them all. One Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all.
...n people have nothing. If people had more compassion for others the United States would not have all the problems that it does today. Mrs. Erin Gruwell had compassion for the students; when they saw how much she cared they changed their perspectives on life. Against all odds toward against Mrs. Erin Gruwell, she had the power of human will to teach the student. The writer introduced several scenarios on how young innocent children were influenced by family and friends of the same racial background to create hatred and gang’s violence against other races. Five messages in Freedom Writer are: Non judgmental, Racism, having compassion, the power of the human will, and education. Being non judgmental, having compassion and having human will helped Mrs. Erin Gruwell educate the children at Woodrow Wilson Classical High School. Segregated by race, united with education.
Existentialism is defined as "a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining his or her own development through acts of the will”. In other words, existentialism it emphasizes individual freedom. Throughout The Stranger, the amount of existentialism views is abundant. The use of Mersault’s experiences covey the idea that human life has no meaning except for simple existence. The idea of existentialism in Albert Camus' The Stranger reflects through Mersault's life experiences with his relationship with Marie, the death of his mother Maman, the murdering of the Arab, and Mersault's trial and execution, all these events show that Mersault’s life of no meaning.