For example, Atticus doesn’t tell Scout and Jem what to say or what to do, instead he tells them to see things from another's point of view. Another valuable example is that Scout and Jem thought that Boo Radley was a monster because everyone was terrified of him, but he turns out to be the one saving Scout and Jem in the end. It clearly teaches us to be aware that unreasonable biases can have a significant effects on a person and not to judge people easily. The whole story is very thought-provoking. Since it brings up issues of race and fairness which still exist in our society today, it is still broadly relevant.
The Dangers of Following Traditions Blindly Why do people follow authorities and traditions blindly without reflecting upon what they are doing? The two short stories, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and Examination Day by Henry Slesar, are perfect examples of societies that don’t question what they are doing because killing a person is rather an uncivilized and barbaric act. People will often be cruel when following traditions, beliefs, religion, or authorities. Thus, in the two short stories The Lottery and Examination Day, the authors are indirectly warning the reader about the dangers of not questioning authorities or traditions, and how we tend to be sheep that simply follow and don’t question. In The Lottery, the characters of the story follow traditional ideas, however they do not inquire about these ideas that are not moral at all.
Obviously, the deterioration of the self-awareness of the man in “The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury” would be a result of involuntary separation, but we can still observe and try to understand the consequences it has. I am speaking from experience when I say that Alzheimer’s is a nasty, spirit-crushing disease that no one should have the misfortune to experience. My grandfather recently passed away suffering from this condition, and I must say that Neil Gaiman’s description of it is insightful and accurate, the tragedy my family when through witnessing my grandfather’s decline of self-awareness is perfectly illustrated by Gaiman’s first-person approach to expressing the individual’s difficulty remembering words and people. “I mean of course, the man I am thinking of. I can see him in my head when I close my eyes’ … ‘I am sorry.
Miles is not the typical popular high school guy and he is anti-social, his hobby is to read biographies but he just reads them to find out what the person said before he died, Miles explains with these words the reason why he likes people’s last words: “But a lot of times, people die how they live. And so last words tell me a lot about who people were, and why they became the sort of people biographies get written about.” Along the story Miles faces many interesting challenges that will help to have a better understanding of his personality and the different stages in his life over time. 2.
The book, Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury brought to light some scary yet plausible ideas on the future of the world. In the novel, firemen are ordered to burn books and the public is brainwashed into worrying more about materialistic happiness than taking the time to think. The epigraph at the beginning of the book reads, “If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.” This quote is Ray’s way of drawing attention to the simple fact that although society will do its best to conform people to their liking, people must always challenge to question and rebel against the norm. One way this epigraph ties well with the book would be the ongoing challenging of the society that the main character, Montag, does all throughout the book. A prime example of this being the time when Montag had a lengthy and thought-provoking conversation with his wife, Mildred, on pages 146-151.
She did this by giving out just a few details of the character’s life throughout the story. For example, one of the things that I really wanted to find out was how the narrator’s uncle died. From the first paragraph, the reader already knows that he is dead, but there is so little information about how he died that one starts to think he was killed by the narrator’s father. However, the author is very careful and withholds this information until the end of the story. Reading through the first paragraph, one might think that he died a violent death or that he fell into the river.
Several instances in Tom Walker’s life suggest that became a corrupt and immoral human because of his overbearing trait of greed. Irving uses these instances and Tom’s life on the whole to caution readers of the results of greed. By making Walker’s personality rotten and full of greedy intentions, Walker’s life can be viewed as shameful and unappealing. This perspective makes an impression on readers and enhances Irving’s message explained in the last paragraph of the story. Using Tom Walker’s life as an example of what life choices not to make, Irving warns reader to steer away from their personal greed in order to remain good people.
Driven by jealousy and self-consciousness, Bento tries to persuade the reader that he is being victimised. His closed-mindedness, constant need to reassure and use of allusions are all powerful yet ineffective ways in which he tries to be judged as innocent. Bento’s lack of ability to understand leads him to creating theories in his head in order to support what makes sense to him. Machado shows Bento trying to rationalise Capitu’s tears at Escobar’s funeral and failing. Bento tries to build sympathy for himself through adapting unclear feelings about Capitu through his language and subtle hints.
Although there was the time needed for the parents to mourn the death of their child, they were not promised any. Within the same day of their sons death, they had events and tasks that needed their attention. Life waits for no one and has a pace of its own. The humming sound adds to their disturbing theme of the call, when life calls you just have to answer. The baker calls and repeat the name of the recently deceased child “Scotty”.
They believed that if the literature standards are ignored, it will result in cultural degeneration. He wrote An Essay of Criticism and The Dunciad to elucidate on his viewpoint of literary standards. The Dunciad, the long and elaborated mock-heroic poem of Alexander Pope was first published in 1728. The poem is filled with dark brilliance which at first served as a weapon for the personal war Pope had against stupidity and dullness. According to Pope, “Dulness” presides over the literary creations of the hack writers and is promoted by patrons who cannot appreciate art and publishers who prioritize profitability.