Fall Of Humanity: Then And Now

PART ONE: THE FALL – THEN

What is revealed about human nature?

According to Genesis chapters one and two, human nature is revealed as free from evil. The chapters reveal that God is holy and everything he does is holy. This implies that God only associates with holy creation. In Genesis one, God created Heaven and Earth by His word and later created a man from dust and breathe in life. Human nature was in the likeness of God himself (Genesis 2:7). God placed him in the Garden of Eden. God wanted Adam to work the land and serve him (Genesis 2:15). Adam and Eve were to help God fill the earth by multiplying and taking care of the earth and the creations. In His sovereignty, God created man, as he wanted. God created man distinct from other creations. He wanted man to remain good as from the beginning (Genesis 1:10-21). The man was created free from evil, was innocent of any sin, and was loved, God. Therefore, man is born free from sin and guilty of sin just as Adam and Eve were at the creation (Shuster, 2013).

What are the consequences of the Fall for human nature?

According to the Bible, God wanted Adam and Eve to be holy and free from evil while they stayed on earth. He even warned them of eating from the fruit of the forbidden tree of the middle of the Garden of Eden. God told Adam and Eve eating the fruit would cause them to die. When Satan convinced Eve to disobey God and she ate the fruit of the tree of wisdom, God punished them all. Satan lied to Eve that they would be like God and will gain moral sense to know good and evil. This marked the Fall of Man. The very first consequence was Death. Adam and Eve died spiritually and were promised death physically. This was to apply to Adam, Eve, and all their generations. Humans also became morally corrupt. The would always try to invent something new. This has matured human beings from a state of being animal-like to becoming like gods. A woman was denied authority over a man and equal share before God. God increased her childbearing pain and made enmity between her offspring and the snake. Adam was to work hard and till the land to make food.

What does it mean for humans to achieve spiritual, emotional, and mental well-being?

The reading from Genesis reveals that God created a man to be like him. he wanted man to relate with Him continuously and obey His commands. Adam was to preserve the facilities and qualities bestowed in him. when Eve began to listen to Satan, it can imply that man wanted to test the world outside what God had designed for them. Man doubted God in the end and believed Satan. The man began to experiment with God’s creations and went away from His guidance. Curiosity made them test the forbidden fruit. Satan presented a temptation that man was able to conquer if they remained faithful to the guidelines of God. Temptations presented by Satan planted evil desires in Eve and thus gave birth to disobedience, which resulted to sin. This text reveals that curiosity led to evil desires that bore sin. To attain spiritual, emotional, and mental wellbeing, human beings must desist all evil desires, sin, and surrender to God’s will and guidance. In this case, they will be aligned to God’s values, will attain great relief, and shall flourish (Azadegan, 2013).

The question of human nature, purpose, and flourishing might be considered different by pantheistic or atheistic. According to me, spirits control the pantheistic worldview, the world. The subjects were to adhere to the directions and values of the gods. As a man disobeyed God he gained moral values and grew opportunistic, thus developing greed and evil desires, which are his moral values. However, pantheism would not support Adam and Eves’s actions produced by curiosity. Therefore, humanity flourish demands that they follow their values to attain postmodernism.

PART TWO: THE FALL – NOW

Human Trafficking

The exposure to consequences of the fall of humanity has caused the current man to grow so wild and greed to the extent that he can sell a fellow being and use others in any form to satisfy his evil desires. Human trafficking is one of the world-dehumanizing acts that is evident all around the world. Many countries have laws that ban human trafficking but individuals and companies continue to operate underground in an organized group to abduct children and youths for sale to individuals and companies for cheap or free labor and sexual enticement. Human beings enslave other human beings and treat them like animals without considering the morality of their actions. The cause of these acts is reduced moral consciousness brought about by sin. According to Reid et al. (2017), human trafficking is triggered by increasing production costs and hard economic situations and thus many people choose to look for alternative sources for cheap labor. Others enter into the business to look for high earning source of income. They, therefore, obtain teens and youths through various means free of charge and sell them to rich individuals or companies abroad for a huge amount of money. Statistics reveal that in 2012, over 24,500 cases of human trafficking were reported in America, with 3,856 cases trafficked for labor (Dolan, 2017).

Preventing or stopping human trafficking is very difficult. It can however be achieved with community sensitization, empowerment, and formulation of policies and laws that will promote powerful surveillance and punishment of perpetrators. Empowering the community on the causes, vulnerable population, strategies used to promote the business, and the consequences that victims suffer from can help identify perpetrators. Strict surveillance and legal structure to punish any involvement hat leads to human trafficking will help scare away activities involving human trade. Again, it is good to value God’s values of considering it a sin against humanity. We are all equal and no one should serve another person in slavery. This will help cultivate a moral understanding of the nature of the sin of human trafficking is and its consequences. This viewpoint also helps the communities be responsive to another and ensure that every individual in society is protected from any form of human trade. Pictures of human beings tied up and on transit, human beings on forced labor, and mistreatments they receive will reveal the actual situation of human trade in the world (Dolan, 2017).

References

  1. Azadegan, E. (2013). Divine hiddenness and human sin: The noetic effect of sin. Journal of Reformed Theology, 7(1), 69-90.
  2. Dolan, S. (2017). Combating a Never Ending Battle: Online Human Trafficking and the Communications Decency Act.
  3. Reid, J. A., Baglivio, M. T., Piquero, A. R., Greenwald, M. A., & Epps, N. (2017). Human trafficking of minors and childhood adversity in Florida. American journal of public health, 107(2), 306-311.
  4. Shuster, M. (2013). The mystery of original sin: We don’t know why God permitted the fall, but we know all too well the evil and sin that still plague us. Christianity Today, 57(3), 38-41. Retrieved from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0001935909&site=ehost-live&scope=site
  5. Version, King James. Holy Bible. Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2017. © 2017. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved. 6

War And Humanity In Apocalypse Now And Mametz Wood

War and humanity produce enduring narratives and themes, an example of a such theme is brutality, which captures both. Brutality refers to barbaric evil and is explored to extent in texts including Apocalypse Now and Mametz Wood.

Despite differing textual forms, both ‘Apocalypse Now’ and ‘Mametz Wood’ portray brutality as an inappropriate, ageless addiction and the medium for war. This idea is central in my visual representation. The representation depicts a gun – a metaphor for brutality- growing onto its handler. This represents brutality’s addictive nature. A bullet is shown leaving the gun, representing brutality as the medium for war similar to the relationship between guns and bullets.

Apocalypse Now – released in 1979 – was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It takes place in 1969, during the Vietnam War. The film follows the brutal journey of a military captain (played by Martin Sheen) through Vietnam and Cambodia to find a missing Colonel.

Mametz Wood is a poem composed Owen Sheers, released in 2005. It references the 1916 battle of Somme which was part of World War 1. It was a brutal battle, seeing over 24 000 English and Welsh soldiers die fighting the Germans. It portrays the long-term effects of brutality.

A mentionable point in Apocalypse Now is; where the film lacks factual evidence and accuracy relative to the war, it makes up for through the portrayal of psychological effects on soldiers.

The film opens with an aerial shot of a jungle. There is no visible activity beside streams of smoke and distant helicopters. This portrays underlying threat and creates anticipation amongst audiences. Suddenly, the frame is set ablaze. The excessiveness overwhelming viewers, the transition highlights the lack of provocation. Furthermore, this attack is never given context, conveying the overall irrelevance of violence, detaching it from meaning.

This scene demonstrates the preoccupation with destruction outweighing military obligation, portraying the napalming as nothing more than excessive military brutality. Excessive that it breaks traditional systems of order, rationality and restraint, trading them for unbridled chaos. The scene conveys the addiction to violence present in war.

The central idea being conveyed is war is similar to addiction, that soldiers cannot escape. In a later scene, martin sheen’s character – Willard is superimposed to the opening shot, as a dynamic aspect of the scene. The burning landscape and helicopters move through his head. This scene caught me off-guard, it implied that even subconsciously, soldiers fantasise about violence due to their brutal experiences. We are then shown a contrasting fantasy, where Willard fantasises about civilian life. The camera then shifts to focus on items of addiction. Including cigarettes, alcohol and almost inappropriately – a pistol. This furthers the idea of war as an addiction which actually doesn’t relate to patriotism or objective.

Coppola then disorientated me again by superimposing Sheen beside a fan. The fan evoked images of helicopters in my mind but lacked context. This continues for some time, implying that the blades are symbols of a repetitive, self-perpetuating cycle of brutality. The military machine is addicted to war, like soldiers themselves. This sequence can also be interpreted to reference a soldiers’ downward mental cycle.

The idea of a dysfunctional war machine is furthered through a scene depicting a helicopter attack. The movie is integrated with its soundtrack through the helicopter’s speakers which play ‘Ride of the Valkyries”. In this scene, the helicopter’s captain is responsible for orchestrating the display of power. The soundtrack links the scene with Norse mythology, as Valkyries are Nordic gods controlling death in battle. Facial close-ups are shown, highlighting the satisfaction of soldiers during this pure brutality.

In Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, both the opening and helicopter attack scenes portray addictive brutality as causing military power to go mad.

Mametz Wood begins as if in the middle of a story, this immediately stimulates interest. The first stanza depicts farmers finding soldiers for years after battle. Through this, Sheers highlights the futility of war and its long-term effects on nature. The second stanza mentions a china plate and bird’s egg. This is done to convey life’s fragility when against brutal machines.

The third stanza includes the line “the nesting machine guns” this links contrasting ideas, of delicate birds from previous with guns that take life. This also represents how artillery replaced nature during war. This further exemplifies the effects of war brutality on nature.

The following stanza reads “the earth reaching back into itself for reminders of what happened, like a wound working a foreign body to the surface of the skin”. The references to wounds and foreign bodies are appropriate, as soldiers died to brutal wounds and various pathogens. The word foreign is significant as it describes the soldiers fighting in foreign lands and wounds resulting from foreign objects.

The fifth and sixth stanzas reference death. Many dead belonging to this battle were not found for years after the war. “A broken mosaic of bone linked arm in arm” conveys the artistic distribution of shattered bones of the brutally killed. The line “mid dance macabre” demonstrates an idea of the premature closing of lives, how soldiers were stopped during celebration. The rest of the stanza has graphic visual imagery. The lines “their socketed heads tilted back at an angle and their jaws, those who have them, dropped open” convey gory images. Sheers also discusses the effects of war brutality being visible even after the bearers of scars have gone.

Sheers highlighted that land and soldiers, were brutalized by war, and the fact that their remains have lain there for years, undisturbed shows war’s timelessness. The timelessness of war has been portrayed in my representation. The background depicts different eras of war. The portrayal of war and brutality is common through them all, symbolising their consistency regardless of period.

Although the texts have varying contexts, they maintain similar stances on brutality in the atmosphere of war. However, the manner of portrayal differs. Coppola opts to portray brutality purely as an addiction, causing war. Whereas Sheers discusses it through its long-term effects. Brutality – as portrayed by these texts is an addiction. One that lasts longer than those inflicting it. One which reappears throughout history and scars humanity beyond warrant. One which is the medium for war itself.

How Can Space Exploration Benefit Humanity?

The planet in which we live in, is a beautiful miracle of nature. Ever since we started studying the universe, we still haven’t encountered another planet like Earth, able to support life. Unfortunately however, our beautiful world is not without problems. The more we learn about it, the more we understand that humans will have to overcome obstacles in order to ensure their continuity and further development. We have been able to solve some of the problems we have encountered so far with the tools that are offered to us by our planet, but some modern and critical problems require a much more radical approach. The universe is a vast entity, full of resources we can exploit, but because of its sheer size, we will probably never entirely explore it. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t use what’s available in close proximity to us. Considering we managed to set foot on the Moon almost 60 years ago, right now we definitely possess the necessary technology and knowledge to start using what the moon can offer us for our benefit ([1] ) .The reason why we still have not done that yet, is because the powerful nations would rather spend billions of dollars on weapons of mass destruction than investing into something that benefits the entire population ([1]Woody, C ). Up until now, the investment that has gone to Space Exploration, albeit modest, has not only benefited the scientific community, but the world as well .

  1. Water purification,
  2. Global-Scale Communication,
  3. High-Precision robotic arms able to operate critical tumors,
  4. Detection of natural disasters before their occurrence,
  5. Global Water Management,
  6. Improved indoor air quality,

All of the above have come as a product of research associated with space exploration. These were almost entirely achieved by the United States Space Program alone. NASA has been able to aid humanity with so many solutions to our everyday life problems with only 3% of the U.S military budget ([9]). Through higher funding, Space Exploration can offer us way more([2]).This research will analyze how a bigger budget on Space Exploration will impact our lives, with a focus on the benefits coming from colonizing the moon.

Why should we start on the moon?

At first glance, the moon doesn’t seem like a good choice. Its landscape is comparable to a desert, and there is no atmosphere. Because of the lack of atmosphere, there is nothing to shield the surface from the powerful heat waves coming from the sun. That is why the temperatures can vary from over 120 degrees Celsius during the lunar day, to less than -170 degrees Celsius during the lunar night. These conditions make the moon a very dangerous environment for humans, totally incapable of supporting life. If we were only looking for appropriate conditions to colonize a planet, then Mars would probably be the ideal choice. Unlike the moon, Mars has got an atmosphere, and much softer temperature extremes. The reason why starting our first colony on an extraterrestrial planet on Mars is a bad idea, is because of its proximity to earth.

We can reach the moon within days using a space ship. This makes the transportation of resources easier, and it also makes the rate of the development of the first colony faster. The relatively close distance also makes it ideal for emergency situations, in which quick and decisive actions are required. Mars on the other hand, is months away from earth. This means that round trips are too expensive, inefficient and very consuming time-wise.

But there is also another great reason why the moon is the ideal choice when it comes to our first extraterrestrial colony, and that is communication. The fastest way in which humans can communicate with each-other, is through electro-magnetic waves, which travel at the speed of light. Light only takes 1.3 seconds to reach the Moon from the Earth, while it needs between 10 and 40 minutes to reach Mars. This is a time-span which is way too long to provide an acceptable level of communication.

Alternatively, the small time span offered by the moon, is sufficient to build a satisfactory communication bridge between our Planet and our Colony. The near real-time communication also makes possible the use of remotely controlled machines. This means that during the early stages of the colony, humans wouldn’t have to be on the moon at all times, because robots will be able to compensate for their absence.

How to get started on a Moon Base

The first question that arises for this problem is “How do we get to the Moon in the first place”. Well, humans have already stepped on the surface of the moon almost 60 years ago, so it is definitely not impossible today. Truthfully, a much bigger concern when it comes to space travel in the current modern era, is the choice of the primary energy source.

We are used to seeing solar power, fossil fuels or even hydrogen being used to power our every-day vehicles. But a space ship it’s much more complicated and the energy sources used in cars need to be heavily adapted for use in space. When scientists decide on a good energy source for a space ship they mostly look into fuel efficiency per cost ratio. Basically, we would want to use an energy source that can provide enough power for propulsion with the lowest cost possible.

A lot of research has gone into finding a viable and efficient source of energy in the last couple of years, not only for space exploration, but for real-life application too. Fossil fuels, which are currently the most widespread source of energy on the planet, will eventually run out. The sooner we switch to a renewable source the better. Various energy sources like ‘Antimatter-Catalyzed Propulsion’, ‘Cold Fusion’, ‘Nuclear Fissions’ and ‘Electric Propulsion Systems’ ([7]), have been considered to be viable for use in space exploration. But there is a relatively new theory for a possible energy source that can be used both in space ships and on machines we use on a daily basis.

This energy source is called ‘Zero-Point Energy’ ([6] ) and in theory, it is one of the most efficient energy sources we have discovered. The physics behind it is quite complicated, but if we figure it out someday, it will definitely revolutionize both space travel and our life here at earth.

Another concern when it comes to space travel is the danger of cosmic radiation. Outside our planet’s atmosphere we are vulnerable to cosmic rays. Depending on the level of exposure to such radiation, there can be several health risks to humans varying from nausea, bleeding and changes in blood to cancer and even death ([4] Carol Norberg). Research that has gone into space suits to make them able to protect astronauts during space voyages has been pretty important not only for space travel but for uses in Earth too. Our atmosphere doesn’t make us totally invulnerable to high-energy radiation coming from the sun, that’s why it is important for us to be able to shield ourselves from such radiation which can cause the same problems mentioned before to our health.

Exploiting the Moon’s Resource

Once we get to the Moon, we can almost immediately harness its resources, right after we choose the proper location for our first “settlement”. This would be likely placed under caves or high mountains which would act as a natural shield against meteorites and radiation. The currently proposed models for shelters on the surface of the moon include the use of the rapidly growing technology of 3D printing. We can use the moon’s “sand” as material for the printer to create our structures. By sending 3D printers and other machines to the Moon, we can then let them build for us without needing to send extra supplies [11].

Once we establish a safe environment for humans, we can start to gather the Moon’s resources. According to Nasa, the moon contains a lot of resources out of which three are the most important:

Water, Helium-3 and Rare Earth Metals(REMs) ([6] Nasa). Water is essential for life and agriculture to be possible outside planet Earth, and it can also be used to create rocket fuel. Helium-3 is a rare element which is sought by scientists for the future developments in energy sector like nuclear fusion. And Rare Earth Metals are important because most of the electronic devices we use such as smartphones, computers and medical equipment cannot be made without REMs. Considering that most of the REMs available in Earth come from China’s resources, and China claims that it will run out of such resources within 15 to 20 years, it’s obvious why we would want to find another deposit for REMs ([6] Nasa).

Creating a colony on the moon

Up until this point, almost everything can be achieved by machines. But there is only so much that machines can do. That is why we must take our Moon base to the next level by populating it with humans. Through solar panels, electricity wouldn’t be a problem and because there is water on the Moon, we can potentially grow food in it. Basically the colony can be self-sustaining, requiring little resources from Earth.

The first people we would send in the colony are scientists. The reason why is so they can study the surface and the undersurface of the moon giving us a better understanding of our natural satellite and what resources are available in it. But the resources are not the only thing beneficial for us on Earth. By studying the Moon we generate scientific knowledge which can then be directly applied for practical use on our planet ([3] ISECG).

Later on, commercial space travels can be offered by big companies on Earth, so that ordinary people other than scientists can visit the colony. This can directly impact the economy here on Earth, as well as improve the prosperity in a part of the population.

Reference List

  1. Woody, C. (2018, June 18). These are the 25 most powerful militaries in the world – and there’s a clear winner. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/most-powerful-militaries-in-the-world-ranked-2018-2#22-australia-4
  2. Marinho, F. (2017, July 07). Here’s what NASA could accomplish if it had the US military’s $600 billion budget. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/what-nasa-do-with-us-military-budget-2017-7
  3. Benefits Stemming from Space Exploration (PDF). ISECG. 2013.Benefits Stemming from Space Exploration
  4. Carol Norberg, ‘Human Spaceflight and Exploration’
  5. Nasa articles, https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11756
  6. Nasa https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=11272
  7. Claus W.Turtur (July 29, 2013), Journal of Space Exploration, ‘New energy sources for space exploration’
  8. Mitchel Swartz (October 14, 2015), Journal of Space Exploration, ‘Energy sources for propulsion to, and for distributed use on, Mars’
  9. Bertrand de Montluc (March 30, 2013) , Journal of Space Exploration, ‘Will the US be overtaken by China in space?’
  10. Amadeo, K. (2018, September 07). How $1 Spent on NASA Adds $10 to the Economy. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/nasa-budget-current-funding-and-history-3306321
  11. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-what-the-first-lunar-base-could-really-look-lik-5980534

The Formula of Humanity: Critical Analysis

The necessity of using reason as the determinant for establishing law as implies that reason carries an inherent value in itself and those who possess it. Human beings inherently possess value as they are rational beings and should always be treated with dignity and respect. The humanity present only in human beings gives us all a great deal of inherent value that is not present in any other being. This leads us to the next point where we review the use of rational beings as means, means to an end, and as an end in themselves. When discussing these points, it’s important to remember that Kant acknowledges that self-interested motives are present in actions and permits this; insofar as we act morally and insofar as our actions reflect the moral worth of the duty as the priority. This is comparable to the limitations of using human beings as means and means to an end. The most important factor to keep in mind when determining whether it is morally permissible to use other human beings as means/ means to an end, is whether their dignity is still respected and preserved. For example, we may use another person’s services in an agreed upon exchange such as a taxi driver being paid for the service of transportation. This is consistent with Kant’s message to “Act that you use humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always the same time as an end, never merely as a means”(4:429) In the case of the taxi driver, there is an element of an end being pursued in the exchange of money for transportation to a destination. Another example where someone is used both as a means and an end in themselves is tutors and students; where, the tutors provide a service of teaching to their students in exchange for a fee. Nevertheless, in each of these instances it is still possible for one or both of the individuals involved to take unfair advantage over the other if they fail to honour their end of the agreement.

While it is only natural for all human beings to feel motivated by their inclinations and desires, it is important to realize how this subjectivity ignores the conditions of the supreme principle of morality. These motives towards action should only be conducted if they have the support of duty in the preservation of the respect for an individual’s humanity. While it is in no way immoral or unacceptable to have respect for someone’s achievements, it is not the type of respect Kant is referring to. We are meant to respect human beings because they are sentient beings with humanity; and, this humanity cannot be taken away regardless of any misdeeds or vicious acts they may commit. Here we begin to approach controversial territory when we consider how many people would feel regarding Kant’s point of view. We see that human being who commit atrocious deeds are punished by the legal systems and must serve a sentence in prison or pay a fine in order to make reparations for the damages they have caused. Consequently, according to Kant’s proposal that humanity cannot be taken away, these reparations can be seen as limitations on the free good will of individuals. Not only do the perceptions of the individuals being punished change, but also the views of their peers and complete strangers. Now, it is difficult to argue that those who commit misdeeds and crimes should not be punished; however, does the current socially accepted form of punishment limit or hinder the humanity of these people? If it does, then the current system of punishment should be deemed immoral and restructured so that it no longer does.

The last hypothetical situation of where the Formula of Humanity may fall short of being declared the supreme principle of morality is cases where human beings are incapable of using reason. In such cases, the lack of reason may imply the lack of an ability to grasp key elements of the Formula of Humanity, such as the freedom of the good will and arguably the required respect of humanity. If a human being is incapable of reason how can they be held to the same standard as people who are capable? As previously stated, a requirement of the Formula of Humanity is the respect of human being for the capacity for reason and thus an inherent respect for their humanity, should this rational element be absent is it possible to conclusively say that they are deserving of the same respect rational beings are? This would mean that the Formula of Humanity is no longer universal and disqualify it as a suitable candidate for the supreme principle of morality.

Human Condition Essay

The human condition has always been defined as the characteristics and situations which compose the essentials of human existence. Whilst some of these connotations have been reshaped in the modern age, guilt remains present and is a crucial characteristic of the human condition. A Simple Plan by Raimi and Macbeth by Shakespeare enhance the understanding of the human condition by challenging moral frameworks through context, showing the essential pertinency of how guilt causes a tragic downfall. Guilt is objectified in Macbeth and A Simple Plan through, Macbeth and Hank, who both have tragic downfalls due to their fatal flaw. Therefore, my understanding of the human condition has been heightened, as both shows how guilt stems from evil actions.

Guilt is a feeling of remorse for decisions. Macbeth’s context is during the Elizabethan Era when life was defined by the Great Chain of Being. A Simple Plan was set in the ’80s, a time when many farmers committed suicide. As such, through the strong contextual values, money, and power can be compared as both are crucial, further shaping the text in relation to the methods and feelings provoked such as guilt through which these are achieved. In A Simple Plan, this guilt is revealed by Hank through the juxtaposition between his worries and Shara’s indifference towards the burning of the money. This suggests that money promotes a feeling of remorse in Hank. An eye-level camera angle is used to show Shara’s and Hank’s indifference through the fireplace where the money is present in the foreground, demonstrating that money was the ‘fuel to the fire’ in causing Hank’s guilt. It is seen how context shapes the purpose through Shara’s indifference, highlighting the importance of money during the ‘80s which enhance my understanding of the human condition through the context. Macbeth’s guilt ultimately drives him to paranoia. Macbeth’s guilt is first shown in Act 2 Scene 2. Guilt is significant in this scene, with expressions of remorse from Macbeth in light of his murder of King Duncan. This is shown when Macbeth questions Neptune… “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood from my hands” The mythical allusion, stimulates an association of Duncan’s blood symbolizing Macbeth’s guilt. Through the contextual value of power, Macbeth’s guilt has heightened my understanding of the human condition. Through power or money, guilt has been re-imagined in A Simple Plan, through contextual values, which is one way my understanding of the human condition has been enhanced.

The guilt the protagonists face is demonstrated by the author’s use of form and plot in their texts which enhances my understanding of the human condition. The purpose of both is seen through guilt. Both show how a desired contextual value such as power or money can lead to more than desired when obtained unnaturally. This is exemplified in Act 5 Scene 5 where Macbeth is certain that he does not have a future left. “And all our yesterdays have lighted fools, The way to dusty death.” The alliterative declamation shows how Macbeth’s guilt leads him to his downfall. In A Simple Plan, Hank loses everything because of his guilt. Both texts use context to show when obtained un-naturally how important desires lead to more than originally planned. Macbeth is a traditional tragedy, whereas A Simple Plan is a pastiche that is founded on the themes of Macbeth such as guilt, however, readapted in a modern context. Both share characteristics of a tragedy, where characters’ fatal flaws are highlighted by their actions leading to downfalls. This is seen through the oxymoronic title of “A Simple Plan” which alludes to the inevitable downfall of the protagonist. The magnitude of Hanks’s plan cannot be as minute as it implies. This plays a key role in deepening meaning through Hank’s guilt. The paradox reveals how Raimi has reshaped guilt through the contradictory-yet-interrelated human characteristics that exist simultaneously. The authors’ use of the form and plot, is an effective measure in improving my understanding of the human condition.

In conclusion, Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Raimi’s films differ in approach between context, purpose, and form through guilt. Shakespeare and Raimi enhance the understanding of the human condition by challenging moral frameworks, which shows the essential pertinency of how guilt stems from evil actions.

The Loss of Humanity: Exploring the Historical Issue of Dehumanization

Winston Churchill once commented on the Holocaust, “There is no doubt in my mind that we are in the presence of one of the greatest and most horrible crimes ever committed.” During the historical period of the 1930s to 40s, Germany’s National Socialist (Nazi) regime exterminate the Jews of Europe through brutal ways in order to cater to German racism, anti-Semitism, and economic factors. The estimated death of Jews during the Holocaust was tremendous: “while an exact number of those murdered is impossible to determine, the best estimates settle at a figure around 6 million Jews” (Bartrop 1). It is undeniable that the Holocaust was an appalling act of ethnic cleansing and one of the most notorious atrocities in human history. The genocide issue embodied in The Book Thief is almost indistinguishable from the real situation in the period of the 1930s to 1940s in Europe. The majority of German who lived in Nazi Germany supported the Holocaust with their radical ideas, whereas certain groups of people refused to uphold it. By studying the historical issue of the Holocaust and the historical context of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany, readers can obtain profound understandings of the idea that the Holocaust is a combination of human violence and racial discrimination, which is the thought that Markus Zusak tried to convey through his novel, The Book Thief. Zusak utilizes the themes of human kindness against dehumanization and indelible courage towards adversity to show how a society can turn against people in inhuman ways.

Through literary works, the authors express their intentions on the issue and highlight the historical features of the problem by using literary aspects. The Book Thief, a novel written by Markus Zusak, with the setting in a fictional town in Nazi Germany, narrates the plot of Liesel’s experiences with her foster parents and friends in a society that was full of inhuman massacre and racial prejudice. To show the extremes of human nature, Zusak sets the Death as the third-person narrator to illustrate the malign side of humanity through the contrast of behaviors that “how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant” (Zusak 550). The opposition between “ugly” and “glorious” suggests two features of humanity that the ugliness of those people who harm others against the brilliance of those who are kind to save a life. Furthermore, the difference between “damning” and “brilliant” words pointed out the vicious character of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, which destroyed the lives of Jews, against Liesel’s virtuous writings that inspired people with hope. By displaying the human nature observed by the Death, Zusak highlights the theme of humanity to praises the excellent character of moral good and kindness, but also reveals the vicious aspects of mankind in a civilization of dehumanization and emphasizes the malevolence of the Holocaust.

Holocaust was an outrageous issue in human history during which innocent Jews were embroiled. The racial discrimination, invasion, and genocide had inexorably become the ultimate outcomes due to the classification of Jews as inferior and contemptible races under the Nazi racism, which influenced the ideological atmosphere of German society with hatred and hostility toward Jews. As a result, including the elderly, women, and children, Jews fell victim to Nazi racist doctrines and attacked by the Nazis and German public. The extreme malice and fanatical racial ideology in human nature have been realized by means of violence, taking the lives of countless Jewish people, and “2.6 million murdered in concentration and extermination camps, 700,000 murdered in individually in ghettos or forced-labor camps” (Pohl 7).

The Initial Stage of the Holocaust formed in the 1930s, along with the rise and prevalence of anti-Semitism. The Nuremberg Laws enacted by Nazi regime in 1935 withdrew the Jews’ privilege of German citizenship and officially confirmed racial restrictions in which provide specific indications of Nazi Germany’s position, opinion, and political tendency on racism and anti-Semitism, as stated that “A Jew cannot be a citizen of the Reich” (Nuremberg Laws 2). Blatant discrimination and prejudice towards Jews had become legal and enacted by factories and other places, a large number of Jews were dismissed without a proper reason. Because the Nazi classification was not by faith, but by blood. According to the Laws, people with “two full-Jewish grandparents” and “who married to a Jew” (Nuremberg Laws 2) are defined as a Jew. The Nuremberg Laws institutionalized Nazism, and allowed The Nazi to enact the theory of racial inferiority, aggravated the formation of racism by conveying the definition of racial hierarchy to descent Jews, and provided the legal framework for the persecution of Jews, marking the initiation of anti-Jewish in Germany and laying the foundation of the Holocaust. The same situation is described in the novel that “Both held jobs until Max was sacked with the rest of the Jews at the Jedermann Engineering Factory in ’35” (Zusak 191). Zusak elaborate on Max’s transformation from a German worker to a Jewish refugee when the rights of German citizenship was deprived, points out that Max’s Jewish heritage caused him to lose the rights of being a German, and indicates the loss of viability and human rights for Jewish people was the result of the enactment of the law.

The Early stage of the Holocaust had grown with the spread of anti-Semitism, conflicts were unavoidable as the pent-up mood of the German people was stirred up by the Nazi party, and the force rushed to the Jews. Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass” in 1938, was an forcible event orchestrated by the Nazi in which large numbers of Jewish shops and synagogues were vandalized, “when the violence ended, 90 Jews lay dead and over 30,000 Jewish men were taken into ‘protective custody’ at labor camps or prisons” (Newman 1). The situation of Jews was not optimistic as they were facing difficulties and dangers from the nation and society.

The severity of the fierce destructions is depicted in the diction “surgically” in the novel, as described that “Many Jewish establishments were being surgically smashed and looted” (Zusak 192), underscoring the destructive and subversive nature of this catastrophe. The outburst triggers the escape of Max that “When he was pushed out by the rest of his family, the relief struggled inside him like an obscenity… he felt it with such gusto it made him want to throw up” (Zusak 193). This depicts the hazards of the situation in which the characters live, and shows the crisis against the Jews in the time when they were facing threats and pressure from the society with their helpless and miserable responses. When Marx was saved, his inner excitement was replaced by guilt, which shows that his goodness that cannot bear to make the choice to leave his family in a time of crisis, but he can only helplessly face the dehumanized reality. The sentiment of guilt was the difference between Max and those fanatical adherents, stressing the kind humanity but also reflecting the racist behavior of others in that time.

The enduring stage of the Holocaust arrived as the launch of Global Conflict. The Nazis arrested Jews who lived in occupied Poland or other regions wantonly as the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Arrested Jews were sent to concentration camps among Europe, the place where they persecuted and terrorized by the Nazis, starved and deprived of all medical care. The essence of the Holocaust was an insult to Jewish culture and discrimination against Jews by means of violence, that “army units recruited Jews at random for forced labor… not only were the Jews mistreated, but their work was specifically chosen to degrade them. Jews were subject to beatings and harassment like the cutting of their beards” (Rodriguez 1). The basic human rights of Jews were denied by the populace once the label of inferior has been attached, and caused them to became the public enemy that everyone could attack. Meanwhile, the situation is no better in elsewhere. Those Jewish people who escaped from the Nazi had to live in dark corners, and Max’s situation was a perfect illustration that “He was a Jew, and if there was one place he was destined to exist, it was a basement or any other such hidden venue of survival” (Zusak 207). This reveals Max’s awareness, which the existence of a Jew will bring the outcome of Liesel and Hubermanns’ death, is the reason why he moved to the basement. His concern for the safety of others and the courage to survive in a hostile environment is displayed through his decision.

Numerous Jews were arrested, killed, and tortured in concentration camps as time passes. The Nazis used the industrial production line method to carry out the inhuman butchery of Jews that “forcing the victims themselves to dig their own mass graves, and then shooting them to death” (Bartrop 2). But this approach would not only provoke Jewish resistance, but it was extremely ineffective. With the demand for efficiency, the method of “mobile gas vans using carbon monoxide poisoning” were largely employed by the Nazis. The results were prominent that “It is estimated that between 1941 and 1943 the Einsatzgruppen were responsible for the death of more than 1 million Jews” (Bartrop 2). These statistics provide detailed information of estimated death in actual numbers and the methods of killing that were employed, offer insights into the Holocaust, and allow the issue to be observed visually from an interdisciplinary lens, instead of a brief description. This source would provide more accessible understandings and reflects the profound impacts of the Holocaust if actual cases can be added.

Literature can reflects the seriousness of historical problems in an emotive approach, sometimes it is more powerful than objective statistics. In The Book Thief, Hans Hubermann’s action of helping a Jew with a piece of bread displays his kindness and courage, who dares to help a Jewish man that was suffering from hunger, to fight against unjust laws and actions, and to show his resistance publicly, as mentioned that “but he watched with everyone else as Hans Hubermann held his hand out and presented a piece of bread…” (Zusak 394).The scene followed was a juxtaposition of two extremes of human behavior, which “…a soldier was soon at the scene of the crime…The Jew was whipped six times…Hans Hubermann was whipped on the street” (Zusak 394). Nazi soldier represents the dehumanized society and the public, which were mercilessly hurting their compatriots in violent methods, whereas Hans represents people with consciences who dare to stand up and help those who are suffering. This scene is an epitome of the fanatical society, presenting a historical picture of cruelty and injustice. The weak were persecuted by the strong ascribe to the race, and the sympathetic deeds of others can only be callously suppressed. The reality is interwoven with the theme of the novel, which deeply depicts the historical background and conveys the message: the maniac politics and the fanatical racial ideology have shaped a society that betrayed humanity, where deceptions became truth, brutality was justice, and good people were incapable of resisting. Even so, the glory of humanity still cannot be covered by the shadow of The Times.

In conclusion, with the defeat of Nazi Germany in the WWII, the allied forces took control over Germany’s occupied territories and liberated concentration camps, marking the end of the Holocaust. Through the comprehension of the situations when Jews were facing inhuman torments by the Nazis, readers can review the historical context and understand that the theme of The Book Thief contains the author’s appreciation to the moral adherence of human nature and the courage of resisting external pressure bravely in a hostile circumstance. Although the Holocaust differs for the two cases, the ultimate message they both conveyed is that the Holocaust is a mixture of ruthlessly violent acts and outright racial discriminations. Eventually, the victims from the Holocaust would rely on their kindness, knowledge, and courage to seek a path of salvation.

Essence of Humanity in Person’s Life

Concepts of human nature is a topic that has continued to raise philosophical debate for centuries. It is an array of characteristics that are said to happen naturally. Whether it is a feeling, a way of thinking, or one’s instinctual actions that essentially constructs what it is to be human. I believe that the true essence of humanity lays primarily in a person’s ability to reason.

Humans are perceived as intellectual beings with an immense capability for reasoning. I believe that human nature is based around the process of their ability to reason because it directly guides a person’s action. The reason is a metaphysical, yet distinctive quality that all humans possess. It is the ability of consciously interpreting all things by organizing and validating facts, and then implementing logic. Most thoughtful decisions you make, you must use first use reason. For example, reasoning is the basis of which logical people comprehend sensory information from the environment around them. They can conceptualize ideas concerning beliefs of what is right and wrong with reason. Although what may be “good” or right in one culture could be considered wrong in another, we all have the ability to reason and determine that idea within cultural relativism. Humans have both functions and senses as well as a mental structure that makes us unique. When implementing your senses and intellect you are using reason. Whether it be theoretical or practical reason, it can construct your virtues in life and help you direct you on what you should do for your time here.

In just the short time we have had in class, I feel like it has definitely influenced my way of thinking. Not one opinion or reasoning has to correlate with your own. And you may never find one specific belief, ideology or religion that coincides directly with your own philosophies. That is the best thing about philosophy, because there is no one perfect or right way of thinking. Personally, I resonate with a few specific concepts over an array of different topics that we have already covered. One approach to human nature that stood out the most to me and has influenced my own way of thinking is the ideologies of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. He believed that the human soul was built on three parts; “reason”, “spirit,” and “appetite”. Plato considered reason to be the most significant part because it was able to control the primal tendencies and impulses. Reason to him guided a person to their actions. He claimed that “it is our reason that ought to control both spirit and appetite. But each has its proper role to play, and there should ideally be harmonious agreement between the three aspects of our nature, with reason in overall command.” (91) Plato believed that in society people with the most advanced ability to use this moral wisdom, or reason were the best-fit to rule. Some people may argue with Plato that the reason does not always determine human actions. Sometimes basic impulses and emotions can influence a person’s thoughts and action. This may bring upon harm to themselves or over even others. There are certain instances of “crimes of passion,” when taken over by emotion. Such as in a moment of rage or jealousy a person can kill someone letting go of all reason. In Plato’s dialogs he talks of the chance that the “spirit” and “appetite” could control a person’s action. This resembles the three parts of the soul not coinciding in harmony. The soul must allow reason to rule alongside with spirit and keep one’s appetite in control. When going over Plato’s thoughts on reason it is clear that human nature will thrive when they can maintain control over physical temptations, which guides them into making rational decisions. I believe that a person’s ability to reason is what truly makes them unique and provides them with the choice to behave what is best depending on the certain situations they may be in and overall dictates what is right and wrong conduct in society.

Overall it can be quite challenging to define the concept of human nature. There is so much that can make up who we are and why we act in the way we do. People may want to use thoughts of human nature as an excuse for actions they may implement. The true makeup of humanity lays primarily in a person’s ability to reason. Depending on how they choose to use this intellectual reasoning will be a construct on what can affect all of humanity. The American philosopher Henry Miller said, “Man has demonstrated he is master of everything — except his own nature.” We may be imperfect beings, but what separates us from animals is by using reason to strive to be good and make thoughtful choices and actions.

A Dogs Impact on Humanity

Dogs were one of the first animals to be domesticated by man. For well over 10,000 years, their bond has been unbroken. Dogs provided man with companionship, protection, and loyalty for centuries, staying by their side as they moved from being hunters to sedentary farmers, and as they explored the world around them. A Dog’s History of America by Mark Derr is a fascinating book that sweeps through the history of the North American continent from the first humans to arrive through the early 2000s, keeping a steady eye on dog’s role and place throughout. He occasionally jumps to Europe, during the World Wars to discuss American army dogs’ role, and the polar regions (both Arctic and Antarctic exploration relied heavily on dogs), but mainly confines himself to telling the history of dogs in what would eventually become the United States.

However, because they are such a big part of man’s history, their historical significance is often overlooked. Historians may mention the presence of dogs, but few have made the effort to explore the contribution that dogs have made to the historical record. Mark Derr has taken a huge step toward correcting this in his book, A Dog’s History of America: How Our Best Friend Explored, Conquered, and Settled a Continent. He explores man’s partnership with his canine companions by looking at the role dogs played in American history and in popular culture. In this essay, I will be covering chapters one and twelve.

In chapter one and two, Derr talks about when the Spanish brought dogs ‘specifically bred and trained to hunt down and disembowel Indians.’ In Puritan New England, dogs were used as guards and herd animals, and also to hound Indians. Before the Civil War, some dogs were trained to hunt runaway slaves, trained specifically to tree or corner a slave, and to maul him if he resisted. Dogs first came here around 20,000 years ago, following the humans crossing from Siberia to Alaska. Not much is known about the Indian dogs because of a lack of history. They were companions, but they were firstly guards and pack animals. Christopher Columbus did not have a single dog on his first trip to the Americas, but this was probably the last time boats of exploring or colonizing nations did not bring dogs from Europe. Columbus himself did not go without them for his second voyage, for the bishop who was in charge of outfitting the fleet added twenty greyhounds and mastiffs for the purpose of making war. Thus began a long and distressing history of dogs used as weapons, which will make difficult reading for modern Americans who romanticize their doggies. In a nutshell, the Spanish trained dogs to kill the enemy in battle, slave owners used them to hunt runaway slaves, and in pre-industrial times, dogs were beasts of burden who pulled heavy carts and worked treadmills.

Luckily, the Enlightenment changed attitudes. Dogs began to be valued for their character, loyalty, and company. Yet, abuses continued, improved somewhat by the activism of newly established humane societies. In the wake of Darwinism and a growing social obsession with pure blood, pedigree dogs (born from two dogs of the same breed) were declared superior, despite mongrels’ proven record of accomplishment.

Derr not only chronicles the dogs’ role in Native American life, and in the exploration and settlement of the country by Europeans, but he also illustrates the role dogs have continued to play in American history, especially during World War I and II, the Depression, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement. In chapter twelve, Derr discusses how dogs were basically drafted into the military. One story told about the most celebrated canine hero of World War II named Chips, whose teeth slashing attacks brought him fame and glory in Morocco, Sicily, Naples, Rome, France, and Germany. One of his owners told The New York Times, “He doesn’t seem to wag his tail as much as before going to war, but I suppose he is suffering from battle fatigue.” The stories about dogs being shipped off to war are certainly depressing, however the majority of people today do not even realize the fact they were a major part of our wars, human wars. In the Soviet Union, they pulled half starved animals off city streets, strapped explosives to their backs, and sent them to wander along the German lines looking for food. ‘In all, perhaps a quarter of a million dogs saw active service in World War II, in nearly every corner of the globe where there was fighting. The Germans reportedly had 200,000 dogs in service as casualty dogs, sentries, scouts, guards, and intimidators of civilians. The Japanese deployed some 25,000 dogs… The Soviet Union put 50,000 into service, including antitank suicide dogs.’

The dog embodies unconditional love and cold destruction, domesticity and wildness which are opposite forces in continual, dynamic equilibrium. Humanity is doing better by dogs in many ways, allowing them to be household friends rather than workers, improving their odds against disease, neutering more of them, and gradually reducing the number that have to be euthanized. Humans no longer round them up in the summers and shoot them to prevent rabies. However, people are not doing dogs a good service by continuing to employ puppy mills, or inbreeding dogs to get pure breeds. Insistence on breeding extremes have produced dogs that look right by the regulations, but which have serious genetic flaws underneath, including aggressive, nervous, or hyperactive temperaments. Taking in broad aspects of American social history, Derr has not succeeded in putting the dog in its place. But he has lovingly shown just how many places the dog has had, and through it all has not flinched from showing distinctly darker aspects of the humans who have owned them.

This book does not purport to be a comprehensive history of America, nor of its dogs. Rather it presents representative information from American history that illustrate the important role that dogs have played throughout history. In doing this, Derr has chosen to concentrate primarily on the explorers that traversed the land, and took dogs along on the trek, such as Lewis & Clark, Daniel Boone, Christopher Columbus and Alexander Mackenzie. He explores the contributions that dogs made as they accompanied the wagon trains that crossed the prairies, and in the goldfields of California and Alaska. He chronicles the role they have played in helping men explore inhospitable terrains such as during Richard Byrd’s exploration of Antarctica, as well as their use as test subjects in early space missions. Derr also tackles such issues as the animal rights movement, vivisection, the health and mental instability that can be associated with purebred dogs, and dogs that have killed humans, as well as those heroes that have saved countless human lives.

Derr’s book is more than simply cobbled together historical dog related anecdotes. He also provides a valuable overview of America’s own history, commenting most explicitly on the poor treatment minority groups have consistently received from the first arrival of the Europeans and how those Europeans used dogs in contrast to the ways native peoples did. The book jumps between light stories of dog shenanigans to serious moments of heart breaking cruelty and discrimination, making Derr’s book more than just a dog book. From beginning to end, A Dog’s History of America offers a fascinating glimpse into the role that dogs have played, and continue to play, in the lives of Americans, from the farm to the White House. While most modern dogs are pampered pets, there are still thousands of dogs who work for a living. From sheepdogs that still tends flocks and guide dogs who assist the visually impaired to search and rescue dogs and bomb sniffing dogs, our canine companions still serve a vital role in our society. ‘Significantly in an age of terrorism, dogs have proven to be the most effective detector of explosives yet found, better than any machine.’

Is Humanity Alone in the Entire Universe?

It has been quite a while that many individuals have been inquiring as to whether in the entire universe mankind is alone. The discussions about whether life is a special wonder in our universe being hold by a single mankind on planet Earth, took part in many thoughts of scientists. From various convictions about humankind having been made by God or a superpower being, popular conclusion has generally moved to an increasingly adaptable, differing viewpoint. Because of progressions in innovation that we realized that there can exist life out there, specialists have generally bantered about the likelihood of a clever, self – cognizant species existing some place in space perhaps in very distant constellations.

It is fundamentally preferred to believe that there exist mankind creatures as scientist mostly reveal it through many debates, such creatures may have a dynamic culture, quicker spaceflight than light, advanced innovations and weapons. The idea that humanity being second rate compared to outsider species with human form incites dread, which has been showed in mainstream fiction stories since previous decades. Others believe that regardless of whether there is life in space, it doesn’t really overwhelm the humanity race as far as we imagine. It is conceivable that such a race would be stuck in its own simple of our medieval age, with many old-fashioned innovations relative to us. Possibly, it could be a race of crude chasing creatures with bows and lances, living in clans and moving around blazes.

Basing on one ongoing examination, the idea that we are not the only one in the entire universe are fundamentally low. To demonstrate how this is incredibly little plausibility, let us disregard the quantity of stars in a single system that we live in, or in the entire world bunches that exist known to man. Actually, considering the tiny size of the world we live in relative to the whole universe, ten billion trillion to one is the possibility of presence of another human civilization like us. This was determined dependent on the renowned Drake condition, and infers that advances extraterrestrial civic establishments may not exist, however could have created and vanished previously. Adam Frank, the lead creator of the examination, says: ‘One out of ten billion trillion is unfathomably little.’ (IFL Science).

Taking thoughts of decades back, researchers just anticipated there could be star groupings in space other than earth that would have conditions appropriate for life for other humans to rise. In any case, in the no so distant past it worked out that there are exoplanets that have conditions practically like those that natural life exist on Earth. Five years back, NASA’s Space telescope distinguished a planet alleged in a livable zone of Kepler. Called Kepler 186f, this planet is accepted to be only one out of numerous other comparable planets dissipated crosswise over in space. Truth be told, a few space experts accept pretty much every star in smooth manner has a planet circling around it. Considering the vast size of the universe referenced above, it is convincible that a large number of these planets are occupied, and some could be even home to outside species having the same nature like us. In addition, numerous researchers are very hopeful about divulging reality, asserting that later on, we will know without a doubt that we are not the only one in space.

Sadly, mankind has no observational proof of keen outsider life existing precisely in some place known to man. Be that as it may, there is solid numerical evidence of such a likelihood, and there is the experience and information of stargazers who accept life outside earth exists as a result man like creatures live in such places. Our universe is fantastically huge. Earth is little particle in the immense sea and it would look pompous to imagine that Earth is the main spot where mankind could have existed since the very beginning.

References

  1. Will, Hart. Sept 28 2015. Alien Civilization: Scientific proof of their existence. Create Space Independent.

Need of Justice and Humanity in the Modern World: Edward Bond’s Theatre for Social Commitment

Edward Bond(1934- ), a British playwright unfolds a traumatic world of human emotions of violence, fear, menace, threat, loneliness, memories and desire to love and be loved and the meaning of life and its ultimate goal in his plays. His plays are in keeping with his concern for contemporary social issues and in keeping with the conditions of human beings in a technological society which leaves dehumanizing impact and ignores human values in pursuit of power. He depicts through his plays how the very power structures designed for the promotion of social good; corrode the society to its roots. Shedding light on issues of war and violence and its effects on mutual relations of human beings, playwright lays stress on the need to think, act rationally and develop consciousness towards the problems of life that requires serious attention. For Bond, individuals are products of historical, political and social problems.( Plays Two xiii)

All the plays are highly relevant in the contemporary times and offers a criticism of those stressful conditions of the postwar period, which have compelled people to live in a way for which they are not designed. They critically are portraits of the psychological effects of the situation, which prevailed, in the postwar era and the modern world. Bond claims that proper guidance for the future of humanity can be provided if we feel “the need to understand and to interpret rationally our past in order to use the experiences in our present and not to repeat the mistakes committed.”(Klein 408) By his Plays, the playwright make public that human nature doesn’t support evil and destructive actions in essence. For Bond, Science and Technology, the basis for the twin evils) Science and Technology are exploited for the interest of the ruling class. Technology is unable to guarantee the satisfaction of human needs to provide culture, instead deprives people of their humanity.

As a playwright with a vision to change the society, he imagines a world of future in The Crime of the Twenty-First Century which explores the grave and alarming consequences of a nihilistic culture stemming from a destructive imagination. David Davis, in his introduction to the book titled Edward Bond and the Dramatic Child, writes, “The quote at the start of his play The Crime of the Twenty-First Century is Thatcher’s, “There is no such thing as society “and the play explores the implications of the forces behind such a statement and the struggle against them” (xvi). The title of the play depicts the time period in which the play is perhaps set, and also of the nature of the culture that exists in it, that is, a criminal culture. The setting of the play seems almost surrealistic because the desert like description of the landscape and topography, in the opening scene, is too desolate. Hence the first impression is that of starkness, but as the plot gradually unfolds, grave complexities of the human situation are exposed by Bond. The events of the play revolve around Hoxton, a woman in her fifties, who lives alone in a cell among the ruins, and a small group of individuals i.e Grig, Sweden and Grace who come to her in search of food and shelter. All the characters are victims of violence and hence fear and the instinct of survival is most prominent in their dialogues and actions. The play reconstructs the horror of war crimes. The characters experience a pathetic living in the dilapidated wasteland as a result of atrocities of war. The characters are helpless and desire to live is so strong that they are ready to kill each other. The play ends with a Song named The Site which shows need of the establishment of justice.

Bond focuses on the necessity of making people closer to one another in an age in which individuals have been more and more isolated, leave aside the growing selfishness. He defines individuals as an inseparable part of the society and the other individuals. He accepts as true the thought that this will help them to reappraise their responsibilities.(Grecco 371)He is very much dissatisfied with the capitalist system, thinking the capitalist society ruled by money and power has grinded every one and destroyed their souls . He directs our attention to the consumer culture pointing out it is obvious that in the world not many citizens can actually afford to enjoy the benefits of technological development. What goes with material affluence is spiritual poverty and injustice.

In Restoration, Bond demonstrates how the human imagination creates ideologies, which form violent and unjust cultures. At the beginning he writes, “England, eighteenth century – or another place at another time” (177). He gives the play a context and then immediately broadens it as an indication that the happenings of the play are not limited to any specific time or place. Thus, the specificity of time is relevant yet violence and injustice are not time specific because they have existed since time immemorial. Daniel Jones opines“ The present Social order is in its own form of violence, and that the man can change his society.”( 517) Bond is against any kind of violence but he feels sympathy for people crippled by wrong political moves because they are indeed the victims of the system. According to him If a person is constantly dehumanized, he or she will lose some parts of their humaneness, eventually. The same thing inevitably happens to those who are dehumanizing them, under various traditionally legitimate and socially acceptable excuses.

Bond’s theatre has internalized violence which is all pervasive in the world. He has innovated different techniques to visualize violence in society which range from madness to deformity from mutation to suicide. He wants to convey the abiding and disturbing presence of violence in all levels of social life. He deliberately negates the alienation effect of epic theatre to forcefully convey the idea of violence. He comments on the loss of a closely-knit rural community that defines the relationship of the individual with the society. The precedence of money over human values has bred a sense of alienation and apathy in the modern man. In his play The Worlds, Bond (1980) observes that an industrial society is “characterized by a highly advanced technology, complex forms of social organizations, rapid social change and a strong commitment to economic growth” (109). He dramatically analyses the dehumanizing processes that result in problems like wars, crime, terrorism, poverty, interracial conflicts, psychological disorders which pose an increasing threat to the quality of life in modern industrial societies as well as to human dignity. In an essay titled “ History” Bond comments on the nature of truth in History: …Bond comments on the nature of truth in history truth-like the physical laws of nature comes from the foundations”( 111) His representation of historical myths are for social change. For him historicization of events necessarily requires a process of rediscovery.(266) It functions as a critique of mainstream history. In this context Jenny.S. Spenser remarks in Edward Bond Dramatic Strategies:

Emphasizes the element the of historical consciousness in his plays “ Bond’s plays immerse actors and audiences in questions in involving history and politics that more popular playwrights may prefer not to face.”( 2006 xiv)

Bond’s subjective review of the events of history through his dramatic imagination and innovative presentation leads to various ideological questions. His theatre records a vicious impact of an irrational culture emerging as a result of the destructive imagination. His plays poses problems and he proposes humanness as a solution. His play Great Peace is based on a paradox. A soldier returns home with orders to choose a baby from his street and kill it. Two babies live in his street: his mother’s and a neighbor’s but unexpectedly the soldier kills his own brother. From this beginning, Bond depicts a horrific world in which humanity has disappeared after the nuclear disaster to the point that characters are nameless: WOMAN, SOLDIER, SON or DAUGHTER. This dust land is presented as a kind of dead environment in which life should sprout. Bond points out: “The characters are not named because although they are not symbolling their lives are social forces –and the forces are clarified by the crises. But there is another reason. They have lost their names because they have lost themselves. Names are a sign of our humanity. In a nuclear age we still have to create our humanity” (361) The tragedy of Woman in the play becomes the traumatic acceptance of the killing of her son by his own brother. This dilemma with Herodian traces provides the opportunity to begin a journey to social conscience. For Bond, this violence against the socially marginalized portrays the unjust system of our world. The reversal of the expected killing blurs the boundary between inside (family) and outside (stranger) as a deconstruction technique.

In another play The Tin Can People, the economic system controls individuals’ way of life. The Tin Can people become corrupted in a consumer society. On the one hand, they experienced a disastrous nuclear war in the past. On the other hand, they live in luxury in the present. Hence, they are stuck between the past and the present. The tin cans, which are stockpiled in warehouses, insure that this new society will not suffer the scarcity of the old, but they are also the visible sign of the previous culture, with its emphasis on possession and greed” (Reinelt 61).The economic system detaches The Tin Can people from a productive way of life. Bond explains that “When the soul loses its mechanical basis it becomes reactionary. Limitless free consumption takes us out of the relationships which creates our humanity. We become like children without a reason to grow up” (Plays Six 346).

His plays At the Inland Sea takes its audience to the inside of Auschwitz gas chamber as Cyanide gas chokes its packed victims to Death, and Back to present again. He has kept the name of the character ‘Boy’ to make it a Universal experience, with no boundaries. This experience to the death chamber and his struggle with the unimaginable horror and his return to the bedroom, his world, his everyday life has changed him to an adult who learns about humanity. In an interview with Glenn Loney Bond argues that our present age is in bad need of rethinking knowledge of the past. The rethinking of the such knowledge helps us highlight both the present and future: “ Our age like every age needs to reinterpret the past as part of learning to understand itself, so that we can know what we are and what we should do.” (45) Bond himself declares that he rereads the past in the light of the present to explore the secrets of human reality. This critical practice helps him to depict the social and political problems of the present by showing “ Why things go wrong and how we could correct them.” In the poetic lines of TIN he highlights the impact of wars which are the outcome of the technology used with inhuman intents. Skeletons operators, stone politicians gave order and cities turned to dust refer to a world deprived of life and humanity. These dehumanized people in the modern world lead to disasters. He questions:

By this type of questioning he is exposing the violence in the society. He highlights the violent impact of the corrupt social order by focusing mainly on the reshaped image of Lear in his play Lear who is the chief source to comment upon the plight of societies victimized by the political whims of the ruling class. Lear represents most characteristics of the irrational authority. According to Bond ,the theater deeply explores what it means to be human. Humanity is not something natural, it is something build by humans. It raises an essential and urgent question: ‘ How to be human? ” Making human society , he said, to find ways to create our humanity, destroy the world makes us inhuman …

‘ We do not have to live like this

  • working for their masters
  • launch their bombs
  • eat their shit

Why should we throw ideas that allow us to live? ‘ War Plays III

For Bond violence that we witness in the contemporary world is in fact a “release of aggression created by the dehumanizing restrictions of an industrialized society” (Scharine 67). These plays hold particular interest because of their speculations on the nature of family life and its social construction. Bond should be sought in two areas: one is that life must be based on understanding, friendship, constructive communication and respect; the other is that all individuals in a society must be provided with their basic needs to let them have an accomplished life. He pleads for a change in human nature to develop empathy and love towards other. Looking at the nature is the best way to learn this.

Bond maintains that the irrational and cruel system that is generated by the capitalist world order and its social institutions results in the growing isolation of man, and makes the outside world alien and hostile to him (Plays: Two 8). Members of the ruling class experience self-alienation. This mainly stems from the fact that they turn into being socially moralized and corrupted in order to keep their power within the system. “The rulers are as repressed as they exploit. Indeed, aggressors need to be even more strictly conditioned to function socially than those they oppress” (Innes 131). Lear’s daughters-Bodice and Fontanelle feels alienated from their own existence in Lear’s system. Their self-alienation become more obvious when they take over the rule of the country. For instance, Bodice gains a great power after she and Fontanelle have defeated. Lear. However, she is unhappy. She is baffled by the situation she is in:

War. Power… I’m forced to sit at this desk, work with my sister walk beside my husband. They say decide this and that, but I don’t decide anything. My decisions are forced on me. I change people’s lives and things get done – it’s like a mountain moving forward, but not because I tell it to… I’m trapped. (Off, a clock strikes rapidly. Silence. She thinks about her life, but not reflectively. She is trying to understand what has happened to her.) I hated being a girl, but at least I was happy sometimes… Now I have the all power… and I’m a slave. (Lear, 62-63 )

Bodice suffers from self-alienation. She controls the whole country, but she cannot control her own life. She is a slave of the system which is an entity over all individuals. She has to act in accordance with the course of the system; she is not free to make her own decisions. It is due to this nature of power that whosoever ascends the escalator of power is obliged to submit oneself to its mechanism. This process never ends as it only imposes self-destruction on its victim figures. However, Bond never misses his moral vision in encapsulating the need for basic human faith by presenting a logical and rational analysis of the nature of existence and social problems. The play thus becomes highly significant in its relevance to the present. The image of Lear brings out the ugliness of the totalitarian control, which reduces man to the level of a tool. Lear in power becomes a superman and without power he is reduced to the level of a tramp. Both these images serve to highlight the nature of power more clearly. When Lear is a superman people are herds to him, when he is a tramp they become loving brethren to him. When in power, he thinks of the welfare of people, but only in terms of a herdsman who would assume control of their fate, depriving them of their individual choice or freedom.

According to Bond, the roots of violence lie in something he calls “social morality”, by which he means a form of violence that is both initially invisible and indirect, and is internalized by the individual in the course of his/her socialization process. His own reflections on “what it means to be human” are based in his reaction to the Holocaust, and his attempt to confront “the totality of evil.( Allen,et al. 307)Thus, only a fundamental change in society can truly abolish violence. But in Lear, Bond shows that the power structures of the ruling class are astonishingly firm and stable. One of the central motifs in the play is the wall which, as the play progresses, comes to symbolise the political power that no ruler can do without. In this play, power is based upon a complex web of violence and vicious circles of oppression. But he also uses the image of an imprisoned animal in a central scene in the play, indicating that the individual is captive to a network of oppressive social norms and thought patterns from which he must free himself to achieve true humanity. Hope seems inappropriate in the face of Bond’s view of society as unalterable and of violence begetting violence, but he can nonetheless not be regarded as a pessimist – and he does not regard himself as one – because he never lapses into resignation and inactivity but continues to believe in the perfectibility of mankind and society. This belief shows itself, especially clearly in the figure of Lear, who like his Shakespearean namesake, undergoes a process of self-recognition and learning which eventually gives him an insight into the truth about himself and others. The turning point in his development comes on the court scene when he looks into a mirror and thinks he sees an animal in a cage. What he actually sees is the individual who has become alienated from himself, trapped in a cage constructed of norms, rules and regulations that contradict his true nature. Lear was a tyrant, and so were his daughters, they were some kind of fascist rulers while Cordelia, though originally expected to be a bringer of democracy, turns out to be a communist tyrant.

After much suffering, Lear, both individually and politically, becomes a common man and is found to instigate a struggle for a new revolution against the old revolutionaries among the people. He becomes a voice, though feeble, against the newly emerged dictators who suppress all kinds of anti-government voices and dies as a protestor. His death occurred at the time when another revolution is on the horizon. Whether this revolution reaches its objective or is suppressed or eventually results into another case of ‘power corrupts’ is not shown, perhaps because Bond wanted to end with hope for a better future. They do not propagate any political ideology but are committed to continue to question and unmask the existing hegemony. According to Hay and Roberts For them art is, as Bond puts it, “. . . it’s about how men relate to the world and each other; it’s not a private or even individual experience, but one of the ways society creates its identity; it’s not primitive and dark but rational and constructive . . . . Art is the most public of activities” (69). He is not a playwright who preaches to the audience but, rather, creates the adequate conditions to bind reason and imagination as a means to understanding reality.(Nicolar 258)Bond as a playwright puts onto the stage, all that which enables his audience to recognize a common shared humanity, beyond the class structure of society. Art in general and drama in particular has an inherent capacity to articulate and to communicate all that is difficult and unacknowledged.