Thematic Essay On Bigger's Speech

Bigger hotly replies, blatantly shutting his mother down when she tries to bring his ignorance to his attention. Bigger himself even acknowledges the filth he lives in, but maintains his denial through his seeming lack of care, “he knew the moment he allowed what his life meant to enter fully into his consciousness, he would either kill himself or someone else” (14). Bigger seems to block anything unwanted from bothering him, which is a terrible form of denial as it just leads to the problems manifesting themselves in Biggers mind. Bigger’s suppression of the truth leads him to close off his mind and not even address the issue, which is a large reason why Bigger struggles with the issues he does later in the book. Richard Wright places hints as to who Bigger is behind the anger throughout the novel, and it shows that Bigger is in severe denial.

In reaction to being blackmailed, Judge Irwin opposes the blackmail through the technique of ethos, an argument based on morals (Heinrichs 40). Specifically, after Jack arrives at Irwin’s house with incriminating evidence, Irwin explains, “. . .politics is always a matter of choices” (Warren 479), and later states, “To blackmail me” (Warren 483). The ironic paradox that there are choices in politics, yet at the same time Irwin does not have a choice when blackmailed, shows the unfairness of extortion, and demonstrates the fallacy, argumentum ad baculum: a threat that does not offer the audience options (Heinrichs 178). Furthermore, Jack attempts to downplay the unethicality of extortion by redefining blackmail as pressure because it “is a prettier word” (Warren 483).

When someone has committed a crime, they are put on trial and they go through the motions of the judicial system. In 12 Angry Men, Reginald Rose creates a play that displays the judicial system in its truest form. It tells the story of the jury, as they have to come to a unanimous verdict of whether the defendant is guilty, innocent, guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, of murder. The main conflict that the jurors face in the play is whether to charge him as guilty or not. Through the conflict in the book, the flaws in the justice system are illustrated and reasonable doubt appears.

In this novel, a great example of physical police brutality that can be seen on pages 268-270 when Bigger is finally caught by police. Once he is caught he is forcefully drug down concrete steps with no care at all. Verbally, he is called many derogatory names. Many phrases are thrown at him such as “Kill ‘im! Lynch ‘im!

Bloody, vicious, and gut wrenching deaths occur frequently across the world. Human often contribute to the demise of various living things in order to ensure their own survival. People capture and execute animals for nourishment and protection. In the short story “The Rattler,” a man must decide whether or not to spare the life of a rattlesnake that he encounters during a walk in the desert. He chooses to slaughter the snake, resulting in the snake’s gory death.

The story is told from the omniscient first person point of view. The man has come across this snake while he is out on a walk through the desert. Both the man and the snake had no intentions of harming the other at first, “My first instinct was to let him go his way and I would go mine…”. Then the man puts into perspective that he needs to be the protector of the other people that live with him, “But I reflected that there were children, dogs, horses at the ranch, as well as men and women lightly shod; my duty, plainly, was to kill the snake”.

Sykes takes his evilness and spreads it throughout the house. Delia is a Christian woman who tries to keep all evil away from her. The snake that Zora Hurston talks about in “sweat” is like the snake in “The garden of Eden Satan”. The snake represents a fierce and scary creature.

The man first intentions were to leave the snake to its own accords. Shortly later realizing taking the snake life will be the best move. “The Rattler” is a prime example of doing what 's best for the empowerment of your people, if killing is has to be done. The imagery heightens the effect of danger for the snake when the man had his garden hoe.

In the passage, The Rattler, the writer uses explicit details and descriptions and scenery, in a way, to leave the reader both empathetic for the man and sympathetic for the snake. The writer uses explicit details to leave the reader empathetic for the man. Shortly after the man encounters the snake, it is revealed that he has never killed an animal and finds “no satisfaction in taking life”. This is very important to note as most humans haven’t done so or find satisfaction in taking life.

Although Truman Capote attempts to illustrate the humanity in the murderers, Mr. Capote’s primary goal is to separate the two murderers’ characters; therefore, he claims, not all murders are equally as guilty. Mr. Capote humanizes the murderers, creating a sympathetic tone towards the killers. When the crime of murdering the Clutter family was committed, it did not just end the lives of the family, rather, Capote says that, “...four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives” (Capote 5). Through the use of a paradox, Capote demonstrates how the murderers are not shown as monsters, but rather humans.

Racism during Cullen’s lifetime was incredibly prevalent, and one can without much doubt infer that the kind of racism depicted in “Incident” would be worth far more than the mere sixty-nine words Cullen grants the poem. One may believe this

And you know why, because he's been hit on the head by somebody once a day, every day. He's had a pretty miserable eighteen years. I just think we owe him a few words, that's all” – This clearly gives a reference to the fallacy of “Appeal to pity”. Time and again, he uses this fallacy so that other jurors could empathize and connect with the boy. 2) “

The suggestion that the Judge’s life contains “splendid rubbish [...] to cover up and paralyze a more active and subtle conscience” displays the duality of the characterization which the narrator creates. The juxtaposition of “splendid” and “rubbish” serve to expose the Judge’s deteriorating morals, while crafting the surface of respectability. This subtle use of contrasting opinions aids to establish the narrator’s sarcastic tone, simultaneously displaying the judge’s desired character and then undermining that character with suggestions of his true nature. The choice of the word “rubbish” especially highlights the sarcastic tone, equating the sequence of Judge Pyncheon’s life to that of trash, worthy of nothing. This carefully placed, critical diction reveals the true feelings of the narrator, bolstering his sarcasm.

However, his true morals are revealed when the narrator shows signs of guilt like “My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears.” The narrator’s transition from superiority to guilt represents the reality that the acknowledgement of wrongdoings can either be done consciously or unconsciously, and that the latter has considerable negative

The discrimination against the white race begins with a gradual distinct treatment of the African Americans who appear to have a trace of the white race. Helene proves to have a more formal dialect as she asks for “the bathroom” (23) and the black woman cannot understand until Helene finally refers to it as “the toilet” (23). The difference in word choice distinct Helene from the African Americans in the Bottom. The fact that Helene also has fairer skin than the African Americans gives the black woman a reason to believe Helene has a trace of white. Therefore, when Helene approaches the black woman on the train, “[the woman fastens her eyes]…on the thick velvet, the fair skin, [and] the high tone voice” (23), as if surprised and shocked to see an African American women appear in such a manner.