Breaking through the Blindness: A Fight for Freedom The three short stories we read‚ The Elephant in the Village of Blind‚ 20/20‚ and The Cathedral‚ all have many common themes with the movie The Elephant man. What intrigues me the most is the hidden underlining meaning each and every story carries. There are three prominent themes I would like to discuss‚ the figurative and the literal blindness of the characters in the works‚ enlightenment‚ and the freedom the characters experience throughout
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John Merrick‚ a man so pathetic and helpless because of the curse of his extremely disfigured body he carries around with him. Lots of people are born with some deformity or another‚ but none such as the case of John Merrick‚ in other words‚ The Elephant Man’ who was given this name because he was so deformed he resembled an extremely ugly elephant. The movie shows how John Merrick is marginalized not only by the general public‚ but also the poorest of people to such an extent that his life was
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Throughout the beginning of Frederick Treves’s The Elephant Man‚ the character of John Merrick was simply a man that never got the chance to live a normal life. From the day he was born‚ his unfortunate physical deformities led him through a never ending cycle of ridicule‚ repudiation‚ and distress. This “monster” was considered to be a “burden that must be rid of” (185) for the greater portion of his being‚ compelling him to prefer a life of isolation rather than choosing to experience the everyday
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Con Spec Pops 2-10-2013 Joseph Merrick- The Elephant Man The movie The Elephant Man highlighted many different aspects of the human nature; people who interacted with the Elephant man each had different responses to him. Joseph Merrick also known as the elephant man was a heavily disfigured man‚ who throughout his life comes into contact with many different individuals. Joseph spent most of his life being mistreated by the people who he came into contact with. The only person that treated Joseph
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called abominations of the body. The play “The Elephant Man” by Bernard Pomerance is a bright example of the impact of the society on the personality. We see the main character Joseph Merrick who suffers a lot from the harsh attitude of the society. The main reason of such attitude was his ugly appearance and proteus syndrome that caused overgrowth of the bone and all the deformities and anomalies of his body. From the early beginning Merrick was never treated as a real human. He was considered
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1. John Merrick is a kind‚ but shy spirit. He really just wants a friend that stays around and a place to call home. His self-esteem is really low‚ and we can be sure of this because whenever John goes out in public he wears a giant cloak‚ a sleeve to cover his right arm‚ and a hood to cover his head and face. We also know he has low self-esteem because he doesn’t look or like to look at himself in the mirror. John seems fairly religious not only because he has read the Bible‚ but he also made
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Great Man‚ Tragic Hero A tragic hero is a archetype who fails to overcome or surpass his/her conflict. The book “Things Fall Apart” included a tragic hero. The book was written by the name of Chinua Achebe. The tragic hero in the book was Okonkwo‚ a warrior from a village called Umuofia. Chinua Achebe wrote the book with the purpose of showing how someone with high esteem can fall from greatness so dramatically because of that person’s actions. Okonkwo exhibited hubris‚ had a tragic flaw‚
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The Old Man and the Sea In the novel “The Old Man and the Sea” the main character‚ Santiago is a tragic hero with a tragic flaw. His hubris ultimately leads him to triumph for a few reasons. Santiago’s hubris helps him to develop into a passionate‚ optimistic and determined individual‚ this is what ultimately helps lead him to his triumph. Santiago was not only proud but he was also very passionate in fishing. This is evident in his statement‚ “I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does
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The Elephant Man 1. Describe the human qualities of John Merrick that make him human not an elephant. Though John Merrick is a man with deformities‚ he should still be considered human since like all else‚ he is equipped with most of the human qualities that others have. He is such an intelligent man‚ and was gradually discovered to be sophisticated and articulate. He spent most of his time in his room reading‚ drawing and making a model of a church visible through his window and doing other intellectual
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ideal tragic hero‚ according to Aristotle‚ should be‚ in the first place‚ a man of eminence. The actions of an eminent man would be ‘serious‚ complete and of a certain magnitude’‚ as required by Aristotle. Further‚ the hero should not only be eminent but also basically a good man‚ though not absolutely virtuous. The sufferings‚ fall and death of an absolutely virtuous man would generate feelings of disgust rather than those of ‘terror and compassion’ which a tragic play must produce. The hero should
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