The exploration of what it means to be human is heavily focused on in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. The story follows a nine-year-old boy whose father died in the 9/11 attacks as he struggles to find some reason behind it, wondering along the way about existence and, more importantly, human emotion. All humans experience a range of emotions, from happiness to anger and everything in between. One of the most prominent human experiences is loss and the grief that follows it. The grieving process presents itself in many ways, and it is different for everyone. Through examining the text via formalism, which focuses solely on the text itself and not on the author on any other element, it becomes clear that the varying ways of mourning and receiving closure are well represented. The setting, plot, and structure used in the text all tie together the examination of grief as part of what it means to be human—everyone deals with grief, but each person must find a way to do so.…
World War I….. The war that was said to end all wars. Wrong, that not only wasn’t the last war on this earth but it was followed by an even more devastating war, World War II. As the history books have shown World War II not only brought countless countries into the fight but it also brought countless young men from every side into a war for the ages.…
In the book Nothing But The Truth by Avi, the protagonist, Philip Malloy, tells half-truths and lies to manipulate others. Philip, a ninth grader at Harrison High School, had only intended to get out of his least favorite teacher’s classes. When Philip gets into trouble you will find that instead of admitting to his mistakes or apologizing he insists that he is right and takes the easy way out of the situation. Philip has many motives for telling these lies to different people. Philip Malloy’s lies and half-truths will undoubtedly get him into a great deal of trouble.…
The novel Swallowing Stones by Joyce Macdonald teaches readers everywhere that lying ruins lives and relationships. This was demonstrated in the book by a character named Michael Mackenzie, who lived in a bundle of lies. These lies unintentionally hurt and caused harm to Amy, his new friend. They have also dragged his best friend, Joe into it and it put their friendship into jeopardy. Most importantly, it made finding closure difficult for Jenna, the victim. By choosing to lie, Michael negatively impacted everyone around him.…
In “The Liar” by Tobias Wolff, the main character uses lies as a way of getting revenge on his mother, to make him feel better about his father’s death. James is trying to get revenge on his mother, because of her mistreatment and lack of presence throughout his childhood. The first time James realizes that his lies have had an effect on her is when he says, “She felt lonely in her confusion but didn't call anyone because she also felt like a failure. My lying had that effect on her. She took it personally… She thought that she had made a mess of her family" (45). The fact that she “felt like a failure” and that “she took [his lies] personally,” tells us that James has accomplished his goal for his lies to hurt his mother. James also mentions…
After Madame Morrible then tries to recruit Elphaba, Glinda, and Nessarose to work for the Wizard as spies, Elphaba heads to the Emerald city to work in an underground secretive business against the Wizard. Elphaba has a great motive to rescue the Animals from the Wizards evil plans thus she aims to kill the Wizard and his accomplices. This may seem wicked to some, however logically, Elphaba is not aiming to hurt innocent people. Therefore, the definition of wicked: commiting unrighteous and offensive acts, can still not be placed on Elphaba. After she fails in killing Madame Morrible in the Emerald City, she practices being a maunt, then travels back to Kiamo Ko. On the way, the cook suddenly disappears and there's a great chance that Elphaba and her peculiar animal friends killed him "Something told those bees to kill the cook," said the Princess Nastoya, with a glitter in her eye. Elphaba felt herself go pale. "I didn't!" she said. "No, it couldn't have been me! And how did you know?"You did, on some level. You are a strong woman." In this case, Elphaba does a wicked act where she kills a person ethical reason. In addition, Elphaba's motive in killing Dorothy can be classified as wicked too since Dorothy wasn't probably going to kill her. However, in general, throughout the story, Elphaba aims to protect animals, kill the Witch, and apologize to Sarima. Elphaba is a very deep thinker who tries to analyze every detail in life, which drives her to commiting few "wicked"…
The movie Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand depicts a clear description of the experiences and struggles that those who fought in it had to endured. Timely, it also shows the effect of WWII on the relationships between different ethnicities and races as people found something in common with those they once considered as outcast of their social network. However it also created the opposite effect in which it divided people and placed them to fight against each other for a cause they themselves did not hold; it teared down relationships and friendships . Unbroken shows the changes of WII on the attitudes we had towards those who surround us, whether it was to our countrymen, immigrants or international individuals. From the start of the movie, Louie…
The movie "Twelve Angry Men" by Reginald Rose is a drama that displays twelve jurors' in-depth reasoning to decide a unanimous decision on the defendant's sentence. There are many assets and liabilities of the group that play a role in their decision making. The jurors are all defined in terms of their personalities, backgrounds, prejudices and emotional tilts. This paper will argue that when pride, jealousy, frustration and prejudice all emerge we see irrational and rational decision making methods.…
In the story "A sound of Thunder" By Ray Bradbury, the central idea is how one little thing like touching your foot in the past time could affect the people of their current time. This short story shows lots of things people need to focus on in ever day life. In the story, Eckels falls off the path and this could change the whole world. This relates to the central theme of the story because stepping off the path is just a little problem, but Eckles unknowingly causing a great problem on earth is a big problem. Also, the government will change them, or ban them from coming into the past. Travis is worried and doesn 't know what could have happened on earth. If anything is disturbed, like something as unimportant as a butterfly, terrible things could happen to earth. Eckles said "Destroy this one man, and you destroy a race, a people, an entire history of life." (Bradybury, 1990) This quote is important because they cannot destroy anything, and the dinosaurs they kill are planned, they can kill them before they die. Something the guide service didn 't know was if something good could happen. At the end of this short story Eckles asks the man behind the desk who won the election, then he answered Deutscher. This was the good president who wasn 't supposed to win. Therefore, sometimes things that you think are a problem are not.…
Lying is something that people do in their daily lives, whether they choose to admit or not is their decision. It has become normal for children as well as adults to lie in their lives to avoid saying something they do not want to. Adults do it sometimes when they want to keep their children happy and avoid them from being sad if parents tell them the truth. Now children do lie quite more than adults for their own reasons. The real question is why do children lie? Children lie often because they think the truth hurts people’s feelings and they are afraid of telling the truth.…
The debate over the acceptability of lying is a complicated one. Some feel that it is morally wrong and only ever worsens a situation. Others feel that it is acceptable in cases where feelings could be hurt, or if a person’s self-esteem may be lowered. However, there are instances in which lying happens simply to avoid the consequences of a person’s actions, and most would agree that it is morally wrong. Instead of going back and forth between “lying is wrong” and “lying is okay sometimes,” a better use of our time would be learning to improve our honesty with ourselves and with the people around…
In the article Brad Blanton: Honestly Tell the Truth written by Barbara Ballinger it states, “yes, but we shouldn’t manipulate the truth except for rare times-if you’re hiding Anne Frank in your attic because her life is in danger.” lying can not only be “beneficial” in ways that when used, may offer an exit out of a difficult situation. In the article Teens Do their Share of Lying by Loretta Ragsdell its states, “becoming a good liar is a necessary life-survival skill.” said Tim. “Sometimes, it’s the only thing between you and a guaranteed beat down from your parents.” As Tim stated, lying can be a necessity, it is something that can even define the thin line between two…
Lying is also an acceptable form of communication as it allows life to progress smoothly.Rebecca Campbell,25-year-old mother from Quincey,III,told her 4-year-old son that there are no cartoons on T.V.Even though there are cartoons on all day Rebecca says it is easier to lie because it is time-consuming,as discipline often is.If she would have told her son the truth, then he would have been watching cartoons all day or complaining that he wants to watch cartoons.”Lying is easier than telling the truth.It is easier because telling the lie doesn’t complicate things,”explained Rebecca on page(2) in paragraph 4-5.Rebecca lied about something instead of telling the truth.Life is smooth when you tell a lie and it is a good form of communication…
In the short story “The Liar” by Tobias Wolff, an adolescent boy named James constantly…
Based on the true story of Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher, The Blind side opens with footage of the monumental moment when quarterback Joe Theismann got sacked by Lawrence Taylor, turning the offensive tackle into one of the highest paying positions in football but ending Theismann’s career. If you are not a football fan, The Blind Side is about Michael following in Taylor’s footsteps, but more so about how his adoption into the Tuohy family got him they’re to becoming a professional football player.…