The American Dream and Dick and Perrys downfall - Literature Essay Samples

Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’, highly contested for its scathing depiction of 1960’s American society is renowned for its portrayal and characterization of the permeating theme; The American Dream. It seeps into all facets of society and impedes the development of those on the barriers of society, embodied in the criminals Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. The manner in which the American Dream facilitates and even spawns the growth of mental illness and priorities the acquisition of wealth over all, and its connotations with happiness, is what leads the two aforementioned characters to fall victim to its trap and ultimately their own downfall, death. The American Dream is only able to succeed because it capitalizes on the impetus of our own capitalist, money-hungry society, it is used as a tool by the wealthy upper-classes to manipulate and control. The American Dream, an aggressive used-car salesman, grabs society by its shoulders and showers spittle over its adoring face, screaming â€Å"You want this life! You need this life! You want to be happy, and you can be, with a little bit of money! That’s all you need, and you’re so close!† And it works, people like Dick and Perry, people on the margins of society, eat up every word and lick the plate clean. It drives their pursuit of wealth through immoral means as they seek their own individualized American Dream, Perry to be surrounded by golden treasures and Dick to be surrounded by the faces of young, subservient girls, and they’re told they can achieve this. They â€Å"hang paper† but unsatisfied with the profit, turn to murder. A dramatic iron y, in that the money they make isn’t even enough to afford a competent lawyer who’s not doing it â€Å"because someone has too†, a hidden criticism by Capote on the injustice system, how â€Å"the rich never hang. Only the poor and friendless†. The innate desire of any human to achieve happiness is exploited, instead a warped, zombified husk of The American Dream advertises this artificial counterpart through wealth, pushing already broken people to dangerous ends, it puts the flayed corpse of the American Dream on a marble pedestal and tells Dick and Perry that it’s what they need, to be like Herb Clutter, a â€Å"proud man† who supposedly earned the dream. But life is fast, says the American Dream, to beat it, to win â€Å"the race without a finish line† you need to take shortcuts. You need to kill the Clutter family. The American Dream, a paradoxical cycle, traps Dick and Perry inside the confines of its own tornado-esque hubris; t o be happy you must have the dream, to have the dream you must have wealth, to have wealth you must have the dream. This alone, however, is not the effect of the American Dream, for the shattering of such has gargantuan effects on Dick and Perry. Mental illness, not in the context of the depressed and bed-ridden Bonnie Clutter but seeping into the psychopathic, dissociative realm, can be argued to be the devilish offspring of the American Dream, and inevitably, the reasons for its shattering. The unavoidable realization that such a warped and fantastical idea is ultimately unattainable is, in a subtext perpetuated by deeply religious community of Holcomb, is comparable to a young child finding out God doesn’t exist. It is this realization, in conjunction with Perry’s difficult upbringing and Dick’s sociopathy that amalgamates in the form of mental illness. It consumes and controls their every impulse, their every vein, it pulls up their arms like a puppeteer to his plaything and pulls the trigger. Perry, who dreams of â€Å"hot sand, deep-sea diving in fiery-blue water for hidden treasure† is unable to face the impossibility of the idea. Dick wants to â€Å"go on to college† but it is their own mental state that prevents them, in this way the American Dream is a grotesque paradox. It lures in the vulnerable with promise of a better life, than it swallows them whole and spews them back out again with a debilitating health condition, leaving them groveling at the feet of the drooling abomination for another turn on the merry-go-round. It feeds into the swirl of resentment the characters feel towards the society that actively created the American Dream, and is expressed through the only remaining outlet, crime. Crime which culminates in the incarceration of the pair, leaving them with nothing but the rope from which their lifeless flesh dangles. Capote suggests both Dick and Perry were mere victims of an ineffective rehabilitation system, one that in conjunction with their mental illness, trapped them to die in a cell. The American Dream is ultimately responsible for pushing both Dick and Perry to commit the cardinal sin and inadvertently cause irreparable damage to their own selves. It tells them to make money through any means necessary and allows mental illness to fester, all culminating in their final downfall, the death of the Clutter family and the death of themselves.

What Does the Term Modern Classic Mean in Literature

The phrase is a bit of a contradiction, isn’t it? â€Å"Modern classics†Ã¢â‚¬â€it’s a bit like â€Å"ancient baby,† isn’t it? Haven’t you ever seen babies sporting wise yet cantankerous looks that made them seem like smooth-skinned octogenarians? Modern classics in literature are like that—smooth-skinned and young, yet with a sense of longevity. But before we define that term, lets start by defining what a work of classic literature is. A classic usually expresses some artistic quality—an expression of life, truth, and beauty. A classic stands the test of time. The work is usually considered to be a representation of the period in which it was written, and the work merits lasting recognition. In other words, if the book was published in the recent past, the work is not a classic. A classic has a certain universal appeal. Great works of literature touch us to our very core beings—partly because they integrate themes that are understood by readers from a wide range of backgrounds and levels of experience. Themes of love, hate, death, life, and faith touch upon some of our most basic emotional responses. A classic makes connections. You can study a classic and discover influences from other writers and other great works of literature. That’s as good a definition of a classic as you’ll find. But what is a â€Å"modern classic?† And can it meet all of the above criteria? Something Thats Modern Can Be Familiar â€Å"Modern† is an interesting word. It gets tossed around by cultural commentators, architectural critics, and suspicious traditionalists. Sometimes, it just means â€Å"nowadays.† For our purposes here, let’s define modern as â€Å"based in a world the reader recognizes as familiar.† So although â€Å"Moby Dick† is certainly a classic, it has a hard time being a modern classic because many of the settings, lifestyle allusions, and even moral codes seem dated to the reader. A modern classic, then, would have to be a book written after World War I, and probably after World War II. Why? Because those cataclysmic events shifted the way the world sees itself in irreversible ways. Certainly, classic themes endure. Romeo and Juliet will still be foolish enough to kill themselves without checking for a pulse thousands of years from now. But readers who live in a post-WWII era are concerned with much that is new. Ideas about race, gender, and class are shifting, and literature is both a cause and an effect. Readers have a broader understanding of an interconnected world where people, pictures, and words travel in all directions at warp speed. The idea of â€Å"young people speaking their minds† is no longer new. A world that has witnessed totalitarianism, imperialism, and corporate conglomeration cannot turn back that clock. And perhaps most importantly, readers today bring a hardened realism that stems from contemplating the enormity of genocide and perennially living on the edge of self-destruction. Modern Themes and Styles Shift With the Times These hallmarks of our modernism can be seen in a wide variety of works. A glance at previous winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature brings us Orhan Pamuk, who explores conflicts in modern Turkish society; J.M. Coetzee, best known as a white writer in a post-apartheid South Africa; and Gà ¼nter Grass, whose novel  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Tin Drum†Ã‚  is perhaps the seminal exploration of post-WWII soul-searching. Beyond content, modern classics also demonstrate a shift in style from earlier eras. This shift began in the early part of the century, with luminaries such as James Joyce expanding the reach of the novel as a form. In the post-war era, the hardened realism of the Hemingway school became less of a novelty and more a requirement. Cultural shifts have meant that obscenities once viewed as outrageous are commonplace. Sexual â€Å"liberation† may be more of a fantasy than a reality in the real world, but in literature, the characters certainly sleep around a lot more casually than they used to. In tandem with television and movies, literature has also shown its willingness to spill blood on the pages, as violent horrors that once would not even have been alluded to now become the basis of best-selling novels. Philip Roth is one of America’s preeminent authors of modern classics. In his early career, he was best known for  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Portnoy’s Complaint,† in which young sexuality was explored in unprecedented ways. Modern? Certainly. But is it a classic? It can be argued it is not. It suffers the burden of those who go first—they seem less impressive than those who come after. Young readers looking for a good shocker that reveals all no longer remember  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Portnoy’s Complaint.† Great Examples of Modern Classics One modern classic is Jack Kerouac’s  Ã¢â‚¬Å"On the Road.† This book is modern—it’s written in a breezy, breathless style, and it’s about cars and ennui and easy morality and vigorous youth. And it’s a classic—it stands the test of time. For many readers, it has a universal appeal. Another novel that often appears atop the contemporary classics lists is Joseph Heller’s  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Catch-22.† This certainly meets every definition of an enduring classic, yet it is thoroughly modern. If WWII and its ramifications mark the boundary, this novel of the absurdities of war stands definitively on the modern side. In the science fiction aisle—a modern genre in itself—â€Å"A Canticle for Leibowitz†Ã‚  by Walter M. Miller Jr. is perhaps the modern classic, post-nuclear holocaust novel. It has been copied endlessly, but it holds up as well—or better than any other work in painting a stark warning of the dire consequences of our path to destruction.

Analysis Of Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury And Oryx And...

Throughout the novels, Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury and Oryx and Crake written by Margaret Atwood, family plays a large role in the flow of the plot. It is throughout both novels where one can see how great an effect familial ties and expression have on the way a single family works and how these workings are a smaller reflection of what society sees as its average. Without family structure and a way for one to express themselves society would not be able to function. What is the true significance and benefits of a family structure? A family structure is essentially a support system where the other party can give or take without having any need to repay the other, a system where on does not seek compensation. A family system is†¦show more content†¦To further dwell into this idea we can look at the effects these emotional disconnects had on the temperament of the protagonists and those around them. One can infer that in both instances that neither protagonists coul d fit under the title of normal, even in the universe they lived in they could not be considered normal. Jimmy was detached from society and his true feelings and preferred to go with the flow of society instead of trying to truly fit in while in contrast was tired of going with the flow and wanted to understand why he was not truly happy, in both cases one can see that they do not fit in. This can be seen at a greater degree when DiMarco gives us a reason for Jimmy’s disconnect, â€Å"A division of communities and labor is at the crux of Atwood’s construction of the boys’ early development. That they grow up naturalized to the idea of separation is symbolized by the very real walls that enclose their communities.† (2). DiMarco describes Jimmy as being isolated from the rest of the world because of the enclosed community he lives in, and this explains things to a large degree. Jimmy is surrounded by a scientific community that is well off compared to thos e outside, he’s sheltered and mentally groomed, and witnessing what’s around him he knows that it’s not normal, but because he was raised in such a community it’s gets harder and harder for him to distinguish between what is normal and unusual in the way his family works. The same thing can be said for

The Yellow Wallpaper By Herman Melville - 1589 Words

Although cultural stereotypes are not often the main theme in literature, the undertones of these stereotypes shape stories and help us better understand underlying meaning. Identifying stereotypes is not always clear unless one is familiar with the culture that the stereotype implies, however when they are identified it gives the reader an advanced understanding of the text. Two literary works, Benito Cereno and The Yellow Wallpaper use American stereotypes to deepen the plot, but are used in each story in a particularly different way. Literature is a good mechanism to help explore cultural stereotypes and exploit the positive and negative consequences associated with it. In Benito Cereno, the author Herman Melville encaptures a typical American sailor who is blindly trusting of others which leads him to be ignorant to situations around him. Similarly, The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses an ignorant husband to show the harm it caused his wife, however unint entional. Melville enforces the stereotype throughout the passage to keep readers in the dark with what is actually happening in the story, in comparison to Gilman’s style of displaying the stereotype at the beginning of the story; which could be easily missed. Benito Cereno is a story about an American sailor Captain Delano, running into a troubled Spanish cargo ship with incessant uncertainties. In the very beginning of the story, Delano is described as â€Å"a person of a singularly undistrustfulShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Benito Cereno And The Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1675 Words   |  7 Pagesadvanced understanding of the text. Two literary works, Benito Cereno by Herman Melville and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman use stereotypes as a literary technique to deepen the plot, but are used in each story in a particularly different way. Literature is a good mechanism to help explore cultural stereotypes and exploit the positive and neg ative consequences associated with them. In Benito Cereno, Melville encaptures a typical American sailor who is blindly trusting of others whichRead More Defiance of Gender-Based Work Ethics in Bartleby and The Yellow Wallpaper2367 Words   |  10 PagesDefiance of Gender-Based Work Ethics in Bartleby and The Yellow Wallpaper  Ã‚     Ã‚   The issue of gender was an influential factor for writers in the 19th century, as Herman Melville and Charlotte Perkins Gilman explore in their pieces. In Bartleby, for instance, Herman Melville presents Bartleby as an employed scrivener-his service to the narrator is in the form of copying documents. This form of labor is appropriate for Bartleby according to 19th century society, which supported and approvedRead MoreGothic Literature : Gothic Writing1974 Words   |  8 PagesPoe with stories and poetry that still resonates with high schoolers to this day. Works that are still read or at the very least spoken of in high school are stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Noteworthy works by Hawthorne are The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables. While Melville wrote a perilous tale of a seaward bound journey that ended with only one whaler’s crew making it and the ship falls victim to the deep unforgiving depths of the ocean floor. As the Industri alRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pagesavoid the danger of becoming so preoccupied with the larger significance of meaning that we forget the literal importance of the concrete thing being symbolized. Moby Dick, for all he may be said to represent to Ahab, Ishmael, Starbuck, Flask, Stubb, Herman Melvill, and finally to the reader, is still a whale, a living, breathing mammal of the deep that is capable of inflicting crushing damage on those who pursue him too closely. Types of Symbols Symbols are often classified as being traditional, original

The Chief Of Staff Of The Army - 1392 Words

In 2013, the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Raymond Odierno stated the importance of leader development to the Army War College graduating class: â€Å"As history has shown, we have a poor track record in predicting the future, but history also teaches us we will be called upon again, and strategic uncertainty is no excuse for inaction. As we begin our transition following this time of twelve years of war, we must rededicate ourselves to the development of our leaders as our best hedge against complexity and uncertainty.† (GEN Odierno, 2013) General Odierno’s remarks highlight the renewed emphasis on Army leader development. The Army defines leader development as â€Å"a continuous and progressive process, spanning a leader’s entire career.†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦Why would they limit their exposure to only one ranking leader’s experience? One of the answers to those aforementioned questions is - the Army does not have a conduit in place that supports junior leaders seeking mentorship from an overabundance of experienced ranking leaders. The innovative solution for eradicating this issue is Mentoring Army Leaders – Digitally (MAL-D). The Army’s junior leaders desire the exposure to multiple experienced mentors. The Army currently has an existing information system to incorporate MAL-D into present Army communication operations. The combing of MAL-D into existing the information system will facilitate future enhancements of MAL-D. How MAL-D Works MAL-D is the innovation to provide the digital conduit for junior leaders to reap the benefits of mentorship from composite of diverse ranking leader experiences. MAL-D will consist of a web-based chat forum that enables digital discussion between junior leaders and ranking leaders within the Army. The chat discussion forums serve as a digital mentorship correspondence tool for junior leaders. MAL-D will be an anonymous mechanism for mentorship in order to promote candid discussion. MAL-D will show a user’s profile based on their professional experiences – i.e., â€Å"Current Position – Battalion Commander, Previous Positions - Company Commander for an Airborne Unit – Fort Bragg (2 years), Platoon Leader

Determination of Ka for a weak Acdi free essay sample

In the experiment preformed the objective is to titrate a weak acid with a strong base. In a titration of a weak acid with a strong base the titrant is the strong base and the analyte is a weak acid. The reaction that will occur is the direct transfer of protons from the weak acid to the hydroxide ion. The data gathered will be represented on the titration curve, a graph of the volume of titrant being the strong base plotted against the pH . The pH is an indicator of an acids strength. The titration curve can be used to determine the pKa. By reading the graph the equivalence point can be found; which is the point where equal parts acid and base have reacted by knowing this the half-equivalence can be found pH=pKa. Procedure In the experiment pH paper will be used instead of a pH meter. The pH will be determined at the beginning and the end of the titration and the data table will be used to calculate the intermediate values. We will write a custom essay sample on Determination of Ka for a weak Acdi or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A burette is a more accurate piece of glassware used to deliver the titrate; in the lab being performed disposable pipet will be used making it very important to consistently dispense the same size drops. Before the titration the volume of a drop must be determined. A pipet is completely fill with distilled water. The average number of drops in a mL and the average quantity of a mL represented by on drop is calculated and recorded. Water is added drop by drop to a graduated cylinder from a pipet at the first, second and third mL lines the water drops are recorded. The average number of drops are calculated per mL. The average of the quantity of a mL represented by a drop is also recorded. A data table is set up to represent the trail averages. First 2. 0 mL of unknown acid is measured into graduated cylinder and then poured into a beaker the volume is the recorded. By using a toothpick a drop of acid is placed onto low portion of pH paper, the pH level is recorded. One drop of the phenolphthalein indictor is added to the acid and the color is recorded. The beaker is set on a white sheet of paper before moving on. Next, a well in the 24-well plate is filled with NaOH solution and then sucked up into an empty pipet. The pipet is the held vertically slowly adding drop by drop the NaOH into the beaker of the unknown solution. Drops are added until a color change occurs, changing to a faint pink for at least 30 seconds. A plastic spoon is used to stir after the addition of each drop. The number of drops of NaOH is recorded and the equivalence point is now determined. A drop of the acid is now transferred by toothpick to the high range pH indicator strip. The pH level of the acid is recorded before titration. The contents of the beaker are poured down the drain and all equipment is thoroughly cleaned. The above procedure is repeated twice more, all data is recorded to 4 decimal places for each trail on the data table. The average of the 3 trails is calculated and data is recorded. At the top of the pH column the unknown’s acid’s starting pH level before titration is entered. Next, the pH level of the acid after the titration, at its equivalence point is entered at the bottom of the pH column. The appropriate pH levels for each 2 drop interval is then calculated, by subtracting the initial pH from the final pH and dividing the resulting difference by the number of rows minus 1. This number is then added to the previous pH value. A graph is then made, pH is plotted on the y axis and volume of NaOH added on the x axis. This represents the titration curve. The pH that corresponds with the equivalence point and half equivalence points are located and the pKa is determined for the unknown acid, pH=pKa. The relationship between Ka and pKa is that Ka is the equilibrium constant for the dissociation of a weak acid and pKa is the half-equivalence point where pH=pKa. In addition to the pH, Ka is an indication of an acids strength; pKa = log Ka. B. The potential sources for errors in this experiment are the inconsistent and miscounting of drops of NaOH in the titration. The pipet must be held upright dispensing the exact size drops to have an accurate measurement. C. If your experimental Ka is 5. 3 and the actual Ka of your unknown acid is 4. 7, what is your % error?

Go Tell Fire to the Mountain by WU LYF free essay sample

World Unite Lucifer Youth Foundation. The UK’s biggest mystery. This band has grown to be popular, mainly by not trying to be popular†¦.at least it would seem. WU LYF has gotten lots of recognition for playing few shows, turning down interviews, and remaining kind of anonymous. So maybe it’s all a big scheme. Some sort of reverse psychological marketing plot: the less we know, the more we want to know. In remaining unknown to most, this band has made their own label, and produced their records themselves. They’re pretty much the Odd Future of†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.whatever genre they are. Now let’s talk about sound. Emo. Post-rock. Shoegaze. All these terms could be mixed together somehow, but that would only half describe WU LYF’s sound. One thing to keep in mind is that the band recorded the album themselves in a cathedral in Manchester. So obviously this has a very large, vast reverb to it. We will write a custom essay sample on Go Tell Fire to the Mountain by WU LYF or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Lot’s of guitar melodies as opposed to riffs or chord progression. Very busy and vivid drums and bass that are distinctly synched together like math-rock outfit Maps Atlases for example. You could kind of say that they’re like a more traditionally structured Explosions in the Sky with vocals. Though the band is self-described as â€Å"heavy pop†, I definitely think it’s much more complex than that. In fact, the music is so busy that it could very well be an instrumental project and I would still be interested. But the vocals. Loud, obnoxious, big, reverb-y, and often times gang vocals and shouting are made into this very unique, passionate sound that seemingly would contradict such cathartic music; but it doesn’t. It’s perfect. Icing on the cake. Brilliant.