Front Dialectical Journal

He could only remember the freedom he felt before becoming the owner of houses and having the responsibility of making sure that house was there to shelter his friends. Danny was not able to enjoy life the way he used to, with freedom, before the burden of the house fell upon him; he wouldn’t fight, sleep in the woods, or didn’t “adventurously” drunk (Steinbeck 142). Danny’s friends began to become concerned about him as they saw him sitting on the porch in sort of a daze. They believed he could be sick. Danny then left his house and started on a tirade of drunkenness and thievery.

A work of fiction with an arthur that speaks his truth through the protagonist, Paul Baumer. Paul’s mental decline after being sent to war by his teachers after learning of duty and honor only to learn of the violent war that held only pain and death which forced him to change from a sensitive nineteen year old boy to be worn, apathetic soldier to deal with the harsh world he now lived in reflects those of the Lost Generation. The members of the Lost Generation were left damaged after the war without understanding. They were lead astray by society and unable to come back as the young boys that they had left

Facing adversity, especially when it has caused pain in the past, is not an easy task. Many push through it and continue on with their lives, but others, like William Forrester, find themselves stuck and unwilling to face the world in fear of being hurt again. Forrester is a Pulitzer Prize winning author who has a dark past that has caused him immense pain. Forrester avoids his pain by locking himself within his apartment, and keeping all of his work within it. While this indeed shelters him from some of his anxiety, he also leaves himself closed off to all of the wonders that life can present.

Authority plays a large role in Siddhartha’s journey to finding enlightenment. Siddhartha becomes unhappy and questions the religion he has known his whole life. He begins to dream vividly and lie awake at night overthinking how to confront his feelings. Feeling that there is no more knowledge to be learned from his father, “Siddhartha had begun to feel that the love of his father and mother, and also the love of his friend Govinda, would not always make him happy, give him peace, satisfy and suffice him. He had begun to suspect that his worthy father and his other teachers, the wise Brahmins, had already passed on to him the bulk and best of their wisdom but his soul was not at peace."

“When you're in the battlefield, survival is all there is. Death is the only great emotion.” This quote by Samuel Fuller relates to the protagonist in the short story, “To Build a Fire,” by Jack London, and how he felt overpowered with the idea of death. When people are put in a life or death situation, they steps they take in order to survive share a certain correspondence mentioned in “Deep Survival,” by Laurence Gonzales. Yet when put in a life threatening situation the protagonist failed to follow a few of these steps which lead to his eventual death. The steps that the main character failed to complete during his expedition into the vast wilderness include staying calm, taking decisive action, and surrendering the fear of death.

With their son Milton, a delineation in these gender roles can be identified. Men of his generation were expected to go to war, while women stayed home as mothers and housewives. Milton, unable to stand the “dullness of military life, the endless repetition of duties, the standing in line to eat”, and the vigorous demand of the Navy during World War II, did not hesitate to take the first opportunity to escape the Navy (Eugenides 188). This shirking of his masculine duties, along with his increasing disconnect with the Greek Orthodox church and declining ability to write in Greek, represents a deviation from traditions of the previous generation, especially gender roles. However, Tessie, Milton’s wife, remains a housewife while Milton is “preoccupied with business worries… began to leave a little more of himself at the diner each day” as an admirable man would be traditionally expected to do (Eugenides 225).

The poem portrays the daily routine of a countryman who is struggling to discover any form of enjoyment or contentment in his life after the loss of his wife. Throughout, the poem the persona discovers how repetitive and tedious life can be without his loving wife to be there to support him every step of his life. Murray illustrates a strong feeling of grief and agony in “The Widower in the Country” through the use of first person narration. This is evidently portrayed in “I’ll get up soon, and leave my bed unmade”. Through the use of first person narration, the composer is able to express the persona’s monotonous and repetitive life each day.

We can see that the introduction quickly contrasts the ideas of perfection and flaws to show that the United States was not perfect. Another quote to show that the United States wasn’t perfect is on pg. 4 as it says, “The painted pondered the mournful puzzle of life demanding to be born and, once born, demanding to be fruitful...to multiply and to live as long as possible… He knew he would never paint again… he decided he had had about enough of life in the Happy Garden of life too, and he came slowly down from the ladder.” This piece of text shows that some people weren’t happy with this way of living. The painter had been 200 years old, which means he lived before the law of overpopulation was issued. After seeing Wehling kill three people to make space for triplets, he reflects on life, knowing that he also wanted to get away from this kind of society, and schedules an appointment with the Federal Bureau to volunteer to kill himself.

This man’s experiences of place and where he felt he belonged in society was nearly none existent. He felt he was a ‘burden on society’ (Sieger, et al., 2012). Loneliness and depression were side effects of his chronic illness which made his everyday life experiences very difficult. Even in the hospital where patient 0 was treated, he felt isolated; this was the space that he should have felt most safe and comfortable. Patient 0 was confined to his bed with little ability to move around, much like the other patients on his ward.

To begin, the males and females are immediately separated. Unfortunately, this includes Elie being separated from his mother and sisters; which immediately takes a toll on his identity. Then, shortly after, Elie recounts getting assigned numbers, or new names. On page 42, he says, “I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name.” (Wiesel, 42) The many people dwelling in the work camp become so fixated on survival and when they would receive their next meal, that they lose their former qualities and morals.

He didn’t care if the cowboys thought he was too young. He would work hard, and stay out of the way. He was done with that little town, its sad people, and all the sorrow that had plagued his life. He relished the idea of being free. He could do nothing about the aching pain of how his dad died…in a self imposed sleep from too much of the sleeping salts, and a fallen candle that set off the fire.