Category: Literature

The subtleties of language are not lost on Renato Poggioli. In his mind, language is our greatest historical revealer [p. 17].

The Concept of a Movement is the chapter that Poggioli devotes to defining avant garde art. Herein, the author details a crucial distinction between the avant garde and other historical periods of artistic practice, not only in terms of old versus new, but also how the artists named their practice.

Artists that align themselves to a school, in Poggiolis mind, comprise an altogether different breed than those that identify with a movement. Most significantly, how the artists thought about their practice, for Poggioli, reveals their category.

Art that derives from a school owes its origin to some form of official endorsement or affirmation, which it requires as a necessary element of its creation. School art must be sanctioned, and depends more or less on historical as well as mainstream acceptance. For Poggioli, the school notion presupposes a master and a method, the criterion of tradition, and the principle of authority [p. 20].

Conversely, the followers of a movement always work in terms of an end immanent in the movement itself [p. 20]. Said end need not be sanctioned, accepted, affirmed, valued, or even understood, by those outside the movement.

Where the school presupposes disciples consecrated to a transcendent end, Poggioli believes, the movement holds multiple paths for multiple participants who may or may not arrive in the same location [p. 20].

Art based in the school form also has a qualitatively different energy than that which originates as part of a movement. The school [art] is preeminently static and classical, while the movement is essentially dynamic and romantic [p.20].

Innovation remains muted in the school, since it carries the weight of historical precedence, and its proponents produce work in a somewhat limited field, hamstrung by the need for permission. Movements, on the other hand, remain free of precedent, thus, its participants remain free to germinate and generate based on the present moment and their own experience.

Poggioli also points to the conceptual difference between the two camps, with an emphasis on diverging views in the artists understanding of culture.

The school is inconceivable outside the humanistic ideal, the idea of culture as a thesaurus. The movement, instead, conceives of culture not as increment but as creation  or, at least, as a center of activity and energy [p. 20].

This distinction in thought bears scrutiny. Particularly, Poggiolis use of the term thesaurus to describe culture produces a lightning rod [p. 20]. Essentially, artists belonging to a school will always be creating synonyms of the work of their forbearers, in Poggiolis mind; thus, the work looks backward, and endlessly repeats, reinvents, and rehashes. Artists in the school therefore do not experience time in the present moment, but continually live and create in the past.

Artists who adhere to a movement, on the other hand, not only live in the present moment, but understand culture as a social agreement, one that is constantly in flux. Culture endlessly transforms according to individual epoch and contemporary events.

Thus, these artists create work that reflects their own selves in their own times, times that always change. Therefore the artists of a movement, and their artistic products, more closely resemble the actual experience of life and art: dynamic, fluid, and live.

Poggioli moves on to discuss the difference in purpose between reviews of work that comes from the school and those that emanate from the movement.

The school does not aim to discuss; it intends only to teach [p. 24]. [T]he school prefers to create new variants of traditional poetics and rhetoric, normative or didactic simply by nature [p. 25].

Reviews of avant garde work, conversely, engage in the vital task of

affirm[ing] in words the uniqueness, particularity, or exceptionality of its own theoretical and practical achievements. [Avant garde reviews and reviewers] more faithfully bear witness to divergence and exception: they operate in closer proximity to the sources of the work, closer to the creative process and the experimental phases [p. 25].

Ostensibly, Poggioli challenges avant garde reviews and reviewers to disseminate the conceptual framework of the movement, and become artists themselves in the process.

For Poggioli, the avant garde movement breaks down into four discrete aspects or moments: activism, antagonism, nihilism, and agonism [p. 25-26].

Activism refers to the movements propensity to take shape and agitate for no other end than its own self, out of the sheer joy of dynamism, a taste for action, a sportive enthusiasm, and the emotional fascination of adventure [p. 26].

Antagonism names the movements tendency to rail against something, be it the school, tradition, or authority [p. 26]. Nihilism labels the urge of the movement to indulge in wholesale destruction, and advocate a cultural fire sale of sorts.

Agonism, finally, describes the element of the movement that produces artistic martyrs, participants who accept self-ruin as an obscure or unknown sacrifice to the success of future movements [p. 26]. Poggioli delineates further within the four aspects to attach activism and antagonism to rational pursuits, and nihilism and agonism to the irrational.

The avant garde, as defined by Poggioli, exists as a social force, as well as an artistic one. It differs from the art formed by a school in that it seeks to live in the present moment, and express itself to the public from a shared psychological, physical, and emotional space, indicative of a particular time, culture, and zeitgeist.

The avant garde movement hunts large scale engagement and involvement, both from its members as well as the public, and creates its own end. The school, on the other hand, seeks to teach, and wishes only to reveal its teachings to a select group of converts who will in turn learn, and eventually continue the tradition and teach. Art from a school therefore can remain isolated from the public, and may or may not choose to engage with it.

Reference List

Poggioli, Renato. 1968. The Concept of a Movement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Goodbye Columbus is a story highlighting the differences between people from the high class of society, the middle class and the low class. The story is one in a collection of short stories. This is in the novella Goodbye Columbus authored by Philip Roth. It also depicts the challenges that are present in a society that made up of a mixture of Jews and Americans.

This provides a platform for highlighting the issues that affects the Jewish and American religions. The other issue is that of African Americans and how they coexist with others in the society.

Peter Roth uses dialogue to enhance the theme in the novel Goodbye Columbus. The book highlights the themes of Jews and racism. Narcist sentiments are also portrayed in the library. The small boy in the book is black and he is being forced to take the book home. This is in order for him to reduce his visits to the library.

The conversation identifies the perception that exists against the middle class in the society (Royal 5). The boy frequents the library and it is obvious that he is really interested in understanding his religion. Though the librarians efforts to discourage the boy from frequenting the library are intense, he is focused.

This dialogue has played a role in showing the religious differences that are present in the society at this time. The dialogue is a reflection of the Jewish  American relationship. It is a reflection of the relationship between the African Americans and others in the society and how the former are looked down upon.

The dialogue has portrayed the strain in the relationship between Americans and Jews. The themes portrayed are religion and racism among others. These are portrayed by the help of the dialogue. The dialogue also contributes to the flow of the plot. Its main purpose is to portray the themes and enhance the plot of the story (Royal 5).

The second paragraph is a reflection of Neils previous conversation with Brenda. Brenda comes from a well to do family and has been into the library. Neil comes from a poor background and the fact that he is poor means that has never been to the library and has no thoughts of stepping into it. This is why he looks into the mirror and wishes he were different on the outside. This explores the theme of racism and disparities in social status.

The author shows his prowess in using psycho analyses in his writing. This is also defined as symbolism. The excerpt has many features that show the life of Neil and how broken his life is because of his background and colour (Rudnytsky 2).

This statement brings to light the predicament that Neil finds himself in. There is symbolism in the statement &broken walls of books, and imperfectly shelved&&. (Rudnytsky 2). It is symbolic as it shows how Neils life is disorganized and the wall which can be defined as a defence is also broken and imperfectly shelved, meaning his life is not at its best (Rudnytsky 3).

We also see the idea of pain in his life. He is not happy with the way his life has turned out and he wants it to be better. The author has used the excerpt in order to portray the theme of disparity in social status and the discrimination against the African Americans. This is seen when Brenda tells Neil about the Patimkin sinks in the library rest rooms, a sign that he had never stepped into the library. It is simple; his status does not allow him to use the library (Rudnytsky 3).

The two excerpts have been used to portray different themes and also enhance the plot of the story in Goodbye Columbus. They are effectively used as stylistic devices, for example the reflection or symbolism in Neils life.

Works Cited

Royal, Desderias. From Fancy-Schmancy Seminars to the Composition Classroom: Reflections on Teaching Goodbye, Columbus. The Philip Roth Society Newsletter 3.8 (2002): 1-8. Print.

Rudnytsky, Paul. Goodbye, Columbus: Roths Portrait of the Narcissist as a Young Man. Findarticles Library. CBS Network, 2005. Web.

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino is a great book depicting the fantastic cities which appear in the readers imagination making the readers feel as if they were travelers in a strange world.

The first two chapters open up the story and introduce the main characters and setting. Kublai Khan is an emperor of an empire fading away. This strong lord wants to know what is going on in his own empire for he even is not aware of each place in his empire. He listens to his servants descriptions and stories but he is not interested.

Here comes Marco Polo, Venetian traveler, who starts describing different beautiful places, and he does this so well that emperor is satisfied and is eager to listen to Marco Polo. Thus, they sit in the beautiful garden of the emperor and discuss beautiful places. I would like to point out that both of the main characters and the readers understand that not everything in these stories is real, but it so beautiful that it is impossible to stop listening and reading.

To my mind this book is one of those which absorb ones attention completely, and it makes a person who started reading read it up to the end. There are a lot of reasons for that; Id numerate some of them. First of all the language of the book is very readable, and I am sure that each reader had thoughts like the following: OK.

One little passage and I stop& Oh, Ok. I have to know whats next. Ill read another tiny passage& Secondly, reading this book makes you eager to find out whether all this is real after all. Maybe this place exists nearby, or maybe it is only Calvinos imagination. And the third reason to be pointed out concerns the ending of the second chapter directly, it is simply a must to see the following dialogue between the emperor and the traveler: with fewer words and more gestures, mime.

As far as the whole story is concerned I would like to point out that it is quite philosophic, it is not about depiction of some architecture, and it is more about the habits and traditions. The most interesting about this all is that the book, being a philosophic, to my mind, should put questions and this story instead provides answers; and makes the readers (at least me) think about habits of their own cities.

The style of this book is so unusual and at the same time easy to read. The most striking point about the style, in my opinion, is its shifting. There are several narrators: there is an unknown narrator who describes the garden, the emperor and Marco Polo; Marco Polo is narrator himself; then Marco starts speaking, using third person.

The reader becomes sometimes confused and uncertain about the source of narration. All this creates the mysterious atmosphere of shifting the time and space. One more thing to be discussed is the evocative character; Id call the language of the book a picturesque one. Somehow the words and sentences become bright colors and definite images.

To my mind, this book is not only a great piece of literature, but it can be called a piece of art, a kind of 3-D story. I would call this book a painting of many layers, and here the reader is the creator as well. Calvino only shows the possible variants, but readers create their own cities and gardens, even the whole new worlds.

Thus, Invisible Cities is a piece of art which is to be read by everyone, who wants to travel in their own world.

Introduction

Theoretical issues can be of primary importance for making certain decisions because theoretical ideas are implemented in practice. Observation of nature and society can clarify the issue of living in a certain period of time and experiences the processes that take place in natural environment, in society, and interact with other individuals.

As some conclusions can be based on observations, it is necessary to consider the work by Engels and Marx that analyses the relationships between individuals in society in terms of their connections to each other and types of interactions; Freud focuses on the role of an individual in a society in terms of its relations to the civilization, and Darwin emphasizes the relations of individuals in terms of natural environment and other living species that inhabit the same territory.

Examination of Sources

The Communist Manifesto by Engels and Marx

A specter is haunting Europe  the specter of communism (Marx and Engels, Preamble). The first statement of the manifesto identifies the relation of people towards the period of time they live in and characterizes the relations between people. As communism is described as specter, people are either unaware or afraid of it.

However, the next passage clarifies the issue and analyzes that people were aware of communism but did not know exactly the peculiarities of regime and its consequences for the world. So, one of the prominent features of this work can be considered an idea of observation enlarged on while writing.

For instance, the author described the ways of production and their adjustment to the needs of contemporary people hence thinking about changes that should be made in every situation when time comes, some time is necessary to see the necessity of changes and take appropriate steps: The feudal system of industry, in which industrial production was monopolised by closed guilds, now no longer sufficed for the growing wants of the new markets (Marx and Engels, Chapter 1, para. 7).

Thus, the author analyzes the actions of people and relations between different classes in society by observing the history and inferring from events that happen all the time. Repetition of events is the main concept that can be emphasized from Marxs observation of society in a long period of time.

Civilization and Its Discontents by Freud

People need those regulations which adjust the mutual relationships of human beings in the family, the state and society (Freud 59). This is one of the examples that demonstrate how the author used observation of nature and society to infer from things he saw. The work is aimed at analysis and interpretation of the major reasons and preconditions for creation or appearance of civilizations.

Freud noticed that all individuals have something in common and that every period of time can be marked with certain peculiar features that can be tips for creation of civilizations though every change requires a lot of time. Moreover, he analyzed the events that took place in the era such as the World War I where all technological innovations were used and the nature of order: The benefits of order are incontestable. It enables men to use space and time to the best advantage& (Freud 70).

Freud tried to explain that time is the only concept that is important because people adjust to certain life situations after experiencing difficulties.

On Natural Selection by Darwin

Chares Darwin contributed greatly to the development of evolutionary theory and clarified some aspects of natural selection: We behold the face of nature bright with gladness, we often see superabundance of food; we do not see, or we forget, that the birds which are idly singing round us mostly live on insects of seeds& (Darwin 1).

In this respect, the whole concept of theories was built using the method of observation that enabled the author to see differences and similarities in certain areas of nature and society and analyze the importance of species, selection (that was mostly compared to breeding), and evolution.

The author claims that nature can make more obvious changes in the look of species than do men by breeding because of time needed for greater differences: &adding up in any given direction mere individual differences, so could Nature, but far more easily, from having incompatibly longer time at her disposal (Darwin 22).

In other words, Darwin could demonstrate every point and every concept of his theories, suggestions, and hypotheses using society and natural environment as examples because the structure of the natural societies such as prides, shoal, packs, and other groups is very similar to the structure existing in human society. A long period of time was necessary to infer from observing nature and society.

Conclusion

Different researchers used the method of observation to examine the world, its structure, and minor groups and concepts existing in it. Thus, Darwin was not the only to focus on the origin of species but one of the first to implement the analysis of species to human beings.

Freud analyzed the interactions between people as he saw the war and wanted to explore the reasons and peculiarities o individuals and civilizations. So, every observation needs a long period of time to make logical and adequate conclusions concerning the nature and society and relations between these concepts.

Works Cited

Darwin, Charles. On Natural Selection. New York: Penguin, 2005. Print.

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2010. Print.

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party. Marx/Engels Internet Archive 1987, 2000. Web.

Langston Hughes lived between 1902 and 1967. He was born in a Negro family and brought up by his maternal grandmother after his parents separated. His grandmother must have brought him up to be proud of being an African American. He lived during a time when there was racial discrimination in America and the White Americans looked down on the Black Americans.

Hughes started writing literary articles at an early age. He wrote poems for his class in his grammar school where his classmates appointed him as the class poet (Life of Langston Hughes, para.2).

During his high school life, Hughes wrote a number of poems, plays, newspaper articles and even edited the school magazine and yearbook. This prepared him to become a great writer of poems, plays, novels and other literary articles during his adulthood. Hughes was one of the main artists who contributed positively and much to the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s.

The black elites included the educated African Americans of the Harlem Renaissance and the middle class African Americans. The Harlem Renaissance writers like W.E.B Du Bois, Fauset and Alain used their literary skills to pass a message to the white Americans that the black Americans needed to be treated as ordinary human beings. The middle class Black Americans on the other hand struggled to emulate the whites and did everything to try to be like them.

They believed that a white man was superior to a black man. Langston Hughes, through his work admonished the African Americans to be proud of being black. His ideas seemed to the black elites as if he wanted them to tolerate racism and live a low life.

Among Hughes works in 1926 was his essay The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain. In this essay, Hughes presented the case of an African American artist who saw it good to be a white poet rather than a black one. He showed how the black Americans felt inferior to the white Americans and struggled to live like whites. Hughes advised the African Americans in this state, especially the middle class African Americans, to accept their culture and be proud of their skin color.

Hughes also praised his contemporaries in this essay, those who were true to their African culture and were proud to be black. Hughes used this essay to elevate the beauty of the African Americans and pass a message to the white American community that African Americans were important and could do as much as whites could in nation development.

Hughes first book publication entitled The Weary Blues was a collection of poems where The weary Blues was one of the poems. In his poems, Hughes made it clear that he was proud to be African American and was proud to be associated with them.

The poems he published in The Weary Blues included The Weary Blues, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, My People, among others. This work by Hughes was of great influence during the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes contemporaries like Hurston, Thurman, McKay, Cullen and others were of the same idea, but which the other black elites were not happy with.

They perceived that Hughes was advocating for to the low life in the African American community. This was a life where the African Americans lived in the lower social-economic strata, in which they were divided into different classes facing discrimination from the white peoples community.

Hughes aim through his work was to uphold the African American community and capture their struggles and achievements as part of the American history through his literature. Most of Hughes literary works focused on thoughtful perspectives of the working class of the African Americans.

He depicted their lives to be full of difficulties, happiness, as well as music (Life and Career, para.7). Hughes used his poems to condemn social evils like stereotypes, segregation of the African American community and promoted oneness in the African American community while at the same time lifting high the pride of the Negros.

Among the messages conspicuous in Hughes poems is racial consciousness. He used this as a tool of encouraging the African American writers and the community at large. Racial consciousness could give the African Americans courage to do their work as African Americans and make them avoid trying to copy the Whites culture and feeling inferior. W. E. B. Du Bois also dressed the issue of racial conciousness in his book The Souls of Black Folk.

This book showed the level of disintegration that had taken place between the middle class African Americans and the ordinary Americans. This higher-class African Americans felt that white was better than black and felt inferior to the white Americans.

The issue of double consciousness that had engulfed the middleclass African Americans is what many of the Harlem Renaissance writers, poets, actors and singers addressed. In order for the African Americans to escape from the treatment they received from the whites, it was important that they recognized and appreciated their nature and culture.

The earlier black elites who were considered as the midwives of the Harlem Renaissance like Du Bois, Fauset and Locke were against racism. They also did not want to identify with the low-life of the black Americans. These intellectuals avoided as much as possible the vernacular of African Americans, which was an integral part of their life and culture. These intellectuals also never accommodated the white people because of their prejudice.

They sometimes used strong language and bitter expressions to refer to the white people. These beliefs and actions of the earlier intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance are what brought the conflict of goals and aspirations between them and Langston Hughes. Hughes work in his first book used a softer language, an issue that made the likes of Du Bois to accuse him of accommodating to whites, assimilating Eurocentric values and culture for the sake of racial tolerance (Life and Career, Para.10).

Hughes also considered embracing vernacular as an important aspect of any African American who claimed to be true to his or her culture. As much as Du Bois and his contemporaries encouraged the African Americans to embrace their culture, they themselves aspired to distance themselves from the African Americans vernacular.

They considered the use of vernacular as embracing the low life of the black Americans, of which they had left behind them. However, for Hughes, vernacular was as important as the culture of the black American poet and community at large.

The African elites were those who had become independent and acquired some property. These people where at first partially accepted by the white Americans. They were allowed to live near the cities of the white people and they very much emulated the whites in the desire to live like them. The elites taught their children that white was right and superior and forced them to live like the white people and they struggled to keep their children away from the culture of the black people (Amada, para. 2).

According to Hughes essay The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain, any child born to the African elites who was found to act as a black person was risking thorough punishment from the parents (Hughes, para.2).

This was the basis of racial confusion in this class of the African Americans. Their major aim was to acquire the living standards of the whites and emulate them in every aspect of their lives, an issue that the literary artists of the Harlem renaissance like Hughes condemned. To these black elites, identifying with the black culture was like living a low standard life, a life of the past.

The Black elites championed the use of education as the means of racial uplift and progress. The elites wanted their children to gain classroom education and practical skills in arts, industry and other areas of education.

This view of the African Americans was a bit different from the view of other African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance who used art to push for social integration between the black peoples community and to condemn the treatment they received from the whites as well as push for reforms.

During these times, there existed tensions between Du Bois faith in an edifying home life, insistence on liberal arts education, desire of white recognition, and resistance to the protectionist ideology espoused by the black elite (Smith, xvi).

The desire of most of the black elites was to lead a better life like the whites. They therefore emulated the white people and even abandoned their culture in favor of the white peoples culture. They fought for recognition from the whites. Being the elites in the black peoples society, they craved for wealth accumulation, political and leadership positions as well as economic establishment. This was to enable them to compete favorably with the white people in various development issues of their nation.

In conclusion, the African American community was clearly split into groups based on their economic and social status in the society.

There were those poor black Americans who lived a low life, middle class black Americans who were struggling to achieve the whites recognition, and the black elites who were after power, education as well as political and economic achievement. Among the African American elites were the Negro artists who used their literary work to unite the African American community.

They also used their art to pass important messages to the white people and the world at large that racism and stereotypes against the black people were social evils and unjustified. The Harlem renaissance writers like W.E.B. Du Bois and his contemporaries used their writings and songs to demonstrate their ability to the American community.

They also hated racism and condemned it through their work. These people, however, were slowly turning their back on some aspect of the African American culture like their dialect, which united the Negros. Langston Hughes represented the young poets and writers who through their work tried to unite the African American people.

The other African American elites interpreted the message presented in Hughes first book of collection of poems The Weary Blues as supporting racism and advocating for a low, poor standard of living for the black Americans. The differences arose due to differences in priorities of the different classes of Negros.

Works Cited

Amada, Ligi. An Examination of the Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain: A Story by Langston Hughes. Associated content. Yahoo, Inc. 2010. Web.

Hughes, Langston. The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain. The Nation. BRC News, 1926. Web.

Life and Career. New World Encyclopedia. Paragon House Publishers, 2008. Web.

Life of Langston Hughes. Awesome, Inc., 2007. Web.

Smith, Capshaw K. Childrens Literature of the Harlem Renaissance. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. Print.

Abstract

One should always remember that poetry is something that stays the same through the centuries, reminding people of the bygone centuries and the traditions that the people of the then times adhered to. However, poems speak rather to peoples hearts than minds, and all the details of the ordinary slip through the readers fingers.

The poetry of the medieval times can tell more than the history books taken altogether. It shows not only the facts of the Medieval Epoch, but also the way people saw the world, the way they shaped their relationship to the others, to the world and to the events that took place.

Being a part of peoples soul, the poetry transfers the reader to the times when it was written and makes understand where the fragile connections between the epochs lead to. An integral part of life and its wonders, poetry exposures the world of the ancient times in full. The only thing that the spectators are supposed to do is to watch closely the magnificent view.

It is important to remember that the Medieval poetry has had a great impact on the further development of the poetry, making it float in the course of the materials high as they could be, telling people of love as a platonic feeling and about life as indulging into the spiritual pleasures.

With all its caution about the topics that were the most fruitful issue of the ancient times, the medieval poetry created a new understanding of lyrical poetry, making it closer to the Ancient Greek pastoral (Lowy 2001). Describing the most touching episodes of the relations between a man and a woman, it was most careful wit the problems of morality.

The very idea of the romantic love is what the poems are sewn through with. The images of a troubadour and a trobairitz (Lewis 1998) that created the romantic atmosphere full of music and enchanting dreams, lured people into the depth of the sentimental with the magic sounds of lyre and lute. Those marvelous airs were supposed to mean the purity of the relationships and the sincerity that the century encouraged.

In fact, the expressions of the romantic love that sound in the poetry leave the impression of something so pure and unstained that it makes one feel a little sad. With the pragmatism and the cynical attitude to the pure ideas of platonic love that one can find in the culture of our epoch, these poems are something that makes people feel rather sad about the century that was sincere as a child and unaware as a virgin of the dirt that there was in the surrounding world.

The poetry leaves a trace of the romantic feeling that ceases as one looks out of the window. The contrast with the surrounding reality is far too harsh to believe what the poems speak.

However, as one reads the book, it becomes clear that the ideas of the world untouched by the little finger of sin and misery did exist in the years of the Medieval epoch.

It is also surprising that the role of women has been emphasized in the poetry, in Contessa de Dio (Sayre 2009, 152) in particular. It has always been considered that the people of the Medieval epoch did not take womens opinions into account. The so-called dream-poetry (Spearing 2004, 1) that was all connected with the topics of the Platonism and pastoral pictures was obviously mild and soft. However, the poem proves that wrong, showing that the role of women in the court was of great importance in the early centuries.

As one reads the poems, the clash of cultures becomes inevitable. However hard the reader tries to assume the position of the Medieval character, the issues that seem so foreign and unnatural to the modern world pop out of the poems. Indeed, it is hard to believe nowadays that in such distant times people living in a completely different world had the same feelings and ideas that we have. This must be the chauvinism of the century that speaks this way.

With regard to the poetry of the Medieval epoch, it can be said that the literature created in those times is the guideline for the modern world. Understanding that the people living so long ago practically did not differ from the population of the modern world and had the same and sometimes even deeper perception of the beauty and the nature is something that each of us should learn.

After all, there is always the grain of gold in the experience of our ancestors that we might have missed, so reading Sayres works and taking his understanding of the value of the ancient literature might be another chance to see the truth that the modern mankind is trying to find.

References

Lowy, M., Sayre, R. (2001) Romanticism against the Tide of Modernity. New York, NY: Duke University Press.

Lewis C. S. (1998) Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sayre, Henry M. (2009) Discovering the Humanities. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Spearing, A. C. (2004) Medieval Dream-Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Introduction

The discussion in this paper is going to be based on two books; The great divorce written by C. S Lewis and Mans search for meaning written by Victor Frankl. These books closely look at the life of a human being. In The Great Divorce, the narrator in this novel gets himself in a harsh and joyless town.

This town is seen as either purgatory or hell and this depends on the duration a person stays there. Finally, the narrator gets a bus that carries those people who long to explore another place. He boards the bus and starts talking with the other travelers.

On arrival to the destination, the travelers, the narrator being among them, are gradually portrayed as ghosts. On the other hand, in the Mans search for meaning the author gives an account of his experiences as a prisoner in the concentrated camp and gives a description of psychotherapeutic way of getting a meaning in life.

The book is in two parts; the first part provides the authors analysis of his personal experiences in prisons and the second part presents his notions of meaning as well as the logotherapy theory he has. Basing on these books, it is going to be indicated that life is a journey which is travelled by people and in the course of this journey; there are ups and downs that are experienced.

Life is a Journey

The meaning of living is always there in a persons life even during moments of suffering. Basing on Frankls book, Mans search for meaning, this author indicates that, for every person who might be in great need, there is always someone who would feel for this person and is ready to help. The individual to offer help can be a friend, a relative, or any other person or it can be even God.

Basing on the life of a prisoner, the author draws a conclusion that the psychological reactions a prisoner experiences are not only the outcomes of the conditions of this persons life but it is as well the result of the freedom of making choices this person has even in those conditions of extreme affliction.

The internal spiritual strength that the prisoner has is dependent on the amount of faith this person has in his future and the moment that faith is lost; the person is destined to be doomed.

A prisoner who has been set free undergoes three stages of psychological reactions in his lifes journey; depersonalization, danger of deformation stage and the bitterness stage. This is according to Frankls book,Mans search for meaning The depersonalization stage is a stage of readjustment.

At this point, the prisoner progressively comes back to the world. At first, when the prisoner is set free, he or she is so confused that he or she does not even understand the meaning of freedom and is not able to respond to the freedom emotionally. A number of liberated prisoners see this freedom as a dream that will be snatched from them.

The body is the first to help in breaking away from this stage. It responds by greedy feeding and sleeping. After the body is replenished to a particular level, in turn, the mind is now able to respond and this is the starting point for the danger of deformation stage (second stage). When the mind is stressed up, this can put mental health at risk.

Frankl points out that when the prisoners went back to the societies to which they belonged, they had to fight with the experience of disillusionment and also with the experience of bitterness. The third stage is the bitterness stage. The prisoners are bitter at the absence of receptiveness of the outside world.

The prisoners as well experienced disillusionment on realizing that there is no end to suffering even after they have come out of prison. They are disillusioned on realizing that the long awaited happiness that they thought would come with their freedom is not there. The hope which kept the prisoners alive in the course of their entire stay in prison was no more.

Frankl points out that this experience is the hardest to get over. But as time goes by, the experience the prisoners had in the concentration camps eventually turned out to be just a nightmare that was held in their memories. At this point, the prisoner comes to realize that he no longer has fear for anything but God.

The journey of life continues even after death. Basing on Lewiss novel, The Great Divorce, this author came to a realization that his work could alter the way a person viewed death and life that comes after it and directs his readers through the life after death of one person and that person is himself.

Through the Lewiss unhurried but stable transformation journey after death, he leads his readers in his personal transformation. With each chapter of this book, one has to turn out to be another person but still remain him or herself.

At the core of Lewiss writings, he describes the beliefs he has and these beliefs can be put in to three classes. These classes are evil versus good, morality and values. In considering good versus evil, Lewis emphasizes that he considers evil and good as two topics that are not similar and yet closely connected. He believes that good in most cases overcomes evil.

To demonstrate these points, Lewis puts emphasis on them all through the whole novel and even in other books he has written. The reader will realize that in this book, The Great Divorce, Lewis makes use of the ghosts as illustrations of the way good can at all times win over evil. The ghosts get the power from God to conquer evil.

Conclusion

Life is a journey which is travelled by people and in the course of this journey there are ups and downs that are experienced. The two novels; Mans search for meaning and The Great Divorce illustrate this.

At every point, life has meaning, even at a time when one is going through great affliction. Such people as prisoners undergo suffering. They go through some tough stages even after being set free before they can adapt to the normal life in the society.

The journey of life still continues after one dies. Lewis illustrates this in his novel in which he travels in a bus after death to a land where hell and heaven is portrayed. It is indicated that evil can, at all times, be won over by good. Lewis uses the ghosts to demonstrate how evil can be overpowered by good. He indicates that evil is overcome by good through Gods power.

Over the years, the role assigned to women in marriage has always been limited to child bearing and upbringing, and performing ordinary domestic chores such as cooking, washing, general cleaning, etc.

Looking at it skeptically, this perception and attitude within the community, requiring women to be submissive to their husbands has denied most women the opportunity to advance their careers, education and/or lead happy lives. As difficult as it may sound, something has to be done by both men and women in order to invert such psychological sets.

This essay shall briefly discuss the varying roles of women, and what is expected of them by the community, especially husbands interested in attaining their selfish interests. In addition, complaints raised by women about the subject matter shall also be highlighted within the text of the essay.

The depiction of women by Judy Brady in the study book I Want a Wife illustrates several schools of thought on why most men find it necessary to have wives. Based on the arguments derived from the books contextual clues, it is quite clear that most men do not regard women as equal partners in marriage.

Most men enter into marriage unions for egotistical reasons and convenience, usually taking advantage of women and branding them as objects of abuse. This is clearly seen in the text when the author recalls a situation where one of her male friend, a divorcee and single father desperately looks for another wife to take care of his child (Brady 775).

To further illustrate mens selfishness in such matrimonies, the author states that most men need wives for sexual gratification and do not always involve them in making important family decisions. This is seen when she says, I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs &&&.. a wife who makes sure that am satisfied, &&who assumes the complete responsibility for birth control, because I do not want more children (Brady 776).

In relationships, men also tend to justify their infidelity and completely disregard any acts of unfaithfulness on the part of the woman. This argument is supported by the quote I want a wife who will remain sexually faithful to me&&&& a wife who understands that my sexual needs may entail more than strict adherence to monogamy (Brady 776).

Men are said to benefit a lot from submissive marriages in that they have opportunity to expand their horizons career-wise, academically, economically, etc.

The only possible explanation for the gains enjoyed by men in marriage is based on the fact that wives spend most of their quality time with their families, leaving men/husbands with all the time to pursue other interests other than domestic chores and child upbringing.

It can therefore be argued that the nature of work done by housewives ranging from cleaning, cooking, child bearing, etc is not proportional to the feminine gender since it is traditionally regarded as the weaker gender.

Conclusion

For any marriage to be considered successful, i.e. satisfying the needs of husbands, wives and their children, a compromise has to be established in defining the role to be played by the husband and the wife in raising the family. This may only be done through honest consultations that put into consideration various factors such as family income, individual careers, academic advancement, etc.

Services of domestic servants and nannies may also be hired to compliment the individual role(s) played by parents in the family.

In most cases, it is quite difficult for husbands and men as a whole to invert their mindsets on the way they perceive women and their wives. To effectively address the plight of women, services of church leaders, gender activists, marriage counselors, etc are necessary in forging an acceptable solution to the challenges faced by women in marriage.

Work Cited

Brady, Judy. I Need a Wife Literature for Composition, 3^rd edition. HarperCollins Customs Books, 1993. Web.

The Lions Pride of the Hero: Song of Roland vs. The Iliad

Although the authors of the greatest poems ever written throughout the history of the mankind can be split by time and distance, their ideas intertwine in a paradox and inexplicable way. In spite of the fact that Homer and the unknown author of Song of Roland could never meet, the two poems have so much in common that one might think that the Providence Itself guided the stylus of Homer and the hand of the unknown writer. As Matthew Russell said, The comparison of The Song of Roland with The Iliad is inevitable (Song of Roland, 200).

Since the writings of the Ancient Greece were the earliest documents which survived harsh time-testing, Homer was considered the first man to introduce the rest of the mankind such things as moral principles and certain moral rules. Indeed, the poems of his are a mosaic of all kinds of admonitions. It is important that Homer was the first to teach the ancient world a lesson of morals. He spoke of such things as pride, duty and honor, explaining people what is considered good and what is taken as bad and indecent.

Thus, the first lesson of pride is taught in his poem The Iliad. Homer showed that the pride of a hero, who was actually half-God in the ancient Greek understanding, is something as strong as a stone. Among the qualities of a hero, the pride and the honor were of the utmost importance, according to Homer.

Next to Achilles pride, there is Roland and his own heroism. Proving reckless and at the same time devoted to his friends, Roland is closer to the modern understanding of a hero who sacrifices himself not for the sake of an exploit, but for whom and what he values most.

Learning to be Dutiful: Roland and Achilles

Because of different time context and the different environment, the writers approached the role of duty in quite different ways. While Homers Achilles takes his duty from completely practical point of view, which is to protect the homeland and its citizen from the Trojans, Roland takes both the duty to fight and the responsibility for his friends in battle as the equal ones.

To put it in simpler words, Achilles duty is to fight for his home, while Rolands duty is fighting for his principles. It is worth paying attention to the fact that Achilles decides to stop the battle for Agamemnon, while Roland never leaves his friends in need, even when his own life comes at a stake. Thus, The Iliad of the Franks (Song of Roland, 200) developed the ideas of its ancestor.

However, it must be mentioned that both poems equally value the civil duty of a warrior. Homer and the unknown French poet were preoccupied with the idea of patriotism to the same extent, it seems. Despite all the difficulties, their heroes fight for their ideas and for the future, though the characters never know if they will see this future.

On the Problem of Religion, or the Complicity of God-and-Man Relationships

Since the question of religion is one of the trickiest subjects, the arguments concerning the religious issues in both poems never cease. Because of the modern religious ideas, the ones in the poems can seem rather savage-like for an average man, yet these ideas prove quite well-developed ones for their epoch, both provoking and providing food for thoughts.

It is obvious that Song of Roland makes God the supernatural creature which is both just and powerful. In the fight between Pinabel and Thierry, He helps the latter, and Thierry, though times weaker than Pinabel, wins. God stays an invisible talisman of justice. In contrast to the French epos, The Iliad depicts God as a cruel and savage force. In Homers understanding, Greek gods can possess the same drawbacks as people do.

Thus, The Iliad, the grandiose epic poem, and Song of Roland, a bridge between the Greek mythology and classical theology, prove to have a lot of things in common. Despite the time and space gap, the two writers could think in unison. This is another proof to the idea that literature can be a link between civilizations.

Works Cited

Song of Roland. Trans. Matthew Russell. Berkeley: UC Press, 1883. Print.

The Song of Roland and Its Critics. The Periodical. Vol. 5. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914. Print.

The word literature is most commonly used to refer to works of creative imagination such as poetry, drama, fiction as well as non-fiction.

It represents the entire culture of a people, including their language and history. Through literature people are able to conserve their way of life and history, making it easily accessible to later generations. This also helps to preserve their culture and propagate it to younger generations.

Apart from this function, literature also serves to entertain people. Through activities such as reading, listening to poems and oral songs and watching plays, people get to be entertained and at the same time line important life values (Gelfant & Graver 12).

It is also used to introduce people to entirely new ideas that they have never heard of and may even find difficult to understand. Written literature is not a new phenomenon however, with the first proof of writing being traced as far back in time as the Sumerian civilization.

This paper strives to compare and contrast the works of different authors hailing from the Caribbean region whose works centered on some sensitive issues.

Slavery was rampant in the Caribbean region, especially during the 19^th century. The Europeans who colonized the area opted for slavery to run their plantations as it was cheaper for them. The slaves were not treated well at all, as is seen in the stories Drought and Pioneers, Oh, Pioneers.

In both tales, the slaves appear to lack even the barest of necessities such as clothing and shoes, while their masters live as kings. The main characters family in Drought has to make do with only one meal a day, and yet the work they are doing is backbreaking (Magill 112).

They also seem to be treated as animals, evident in Pioneers, Oh, Pioneers where the masters wife, even after being greeted by the two girls goes on her own way as if she never heard them.

The girls seem to be used to this rude treatment and do not mind it one bit. The living conditions that the slaves had to put up with were also appalling, as seen in Drought, where an entire family is forced to live in a tiny cabin.

When it comes to social movements and stigmas, the authors chose different ways to depict these issues. In both Pioneers, Oh Pioneers and Some People are Meant to Live Alone we find characters who are somewhat antisocial. Uncle Arthur, a character from the latter, is a man who is reputed to be unable to live with anyone.

Two wives leave him and he ends up killing his old schoolmate just to get his peace and quiet. The fact that he lives alone seems to be something of a taboo in that particular society, because he is treated like a pariah, normally being used to scare children who are out of line by telling them they will be sent to spend the night in his house (Mendes 62).

The farmers wife in Pioneers seems stuck up, preferring to ignore people she considers lower than her, such as the slaves. Drought however, has more positive social examples. Even though the family of slaves in question lives in abject poverty, they still share the little they have. They always eat together everyday, a practice that helps to form strong bonds between them.

The main economic activity in the Caribbean region at this time appears to be farming, specifically plantation farming. In Frank Collymores Some People are Meant to Live Alone, the author paints a picture of Uncle Arthurs house which can only be seen when the cane plantations are harvested. The story of Pablos Fandango, told by Alfred Mendes is set on a cocoa plantation.

Eric Walronds Drought however seems to lead to a different activity. The lead character works in a quarry as some kind of miner. In each story, the people who actually do the backbreaking work either get little or nothing at all for their trouble. Most of them are slaves and squatters, and work for their masters either for nothing at all or for very little pay (Hart 121).

It is evident that all the characters across all stories live in abject poverty. The characters in Drought are unmistakably the worst affected, with their youngest child dying from ingesting marl, probably because she was hungry yet there was no food to give to her.

Another issue that was addressed differently by the authors is the ability of the people to respond to changes in their environment as well as their way of life. Uncle Arthur from Some People are Meant to Live Alone does not handle change well. After his wife left he got used to living by himself until his schoolmate came along. His new roommates changing habits so annoyed him that he ended up murdering him and dumping his body in a river in the end.

Coggins Rum from Drought however, seems to take everything in stride. This quality is best seen when he is arguing with his wife about what to eat when an animal attacks one of their chickens. In light of the situation, he quickly turns the wounded chicken to food, thus showing how quick he is to adapt to situations in life (Watson 121).

In conclusion, we can see that literature can be used for a lot of purposes. From these four stories, it has been used to entertain people, teach people life lessons and also it acts as a keeper of historical records. People reading the literature in the future will be able to ascertain exactly what used to transpire during those times.

Works Cited

Gelfant, Blanche & Lawrence Graver. The Columbia Companion to the Twentieth- Century American Short Story. Columbia: Columbia University Press, 2000. Print.

Hart, James. Oxford Companion to American Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.

Magill, Frank. Short Story Writers. Pasadena: California Salem Press, 1997. Print.

Mendes, Alfred. Pablos Fandango and Other Stories. New York, NY: Longman, 1998. Print.

Watson, Noelle. Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Print.