... Prof. E. Caleon BS Accountancy 1-3 FOREVER: An Illusion or Reality One word, three syllables, and seven letters: Forever. A word that could make people start a heated and long argument, giving out their points and opinions, when asked if there is such a thing as forever? According to dictionaries, forever means an extremely long time, for everlasting time, continually, endlessly, always and so on and so forth. A simple and short word yet gives a sweet and big meaning but does ‘forever’ really meant forever? Was it merely an illusion, to satisfy a person and give some sort of hopeful fantasy, or a reality that we can hold unto? If you start a conversation about ‘forever’, it will always be linked to the word ‘love’ and sometimes ‘life’. However, life is limitless and not endless. At anytime of the day, our life may come to an end hence there are a lot of quotes about “life is too short..”. Human life on this world will very likely continue to exist after you have ceased to do so however at some point in time, either catastrophe or evolution, human beings will cease to exist. In addition to this, in the very far future, all life on Earth will cease to exist; and in the very far future after that, the world may comes to an end. And I think I could conclude that according to science, life on Earth and even the world itself is not forever. “I love you forever”. A phrase that a person is reeling to hear from the person they love...
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...Compare the ways Keats and Brontë present love in their collected poetry and 'Wuthering Heights' respectively. Both Keats and Brontë explore love in a poetic and romantic style, but combine this with darker tones and aggression in very different ways. Keats presents a styled, romantic love and contrasts it to harsher reality, a reality shown in ‘Wuthering Heights’. Brontë highlights love’s rugged, passing nature through several relationships in her book. Keats’ poetry looks at the illusion of love and its reality, for example, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’. The urn is a ‘Sylvan historian’, an object that holds many mysteries, an idea emphasised by the large number of rhetorical questions in stanza 1; ‘What maidens loth?’, ‘What mad pursuit?’. The urn depicts a story of love, a romance immortalised through the urn. The love ‘cannot fade’, an idealistic, eternal love. However, locked into the urn, the lovers cannot express their love; ‘never canst thou kiss. Keats presents the romantic idea of perfect love, but also that it can never be experienced, only imagined. The idea is that this couple’s love will never be disrupted, it will live on forever, yet it will never be physical or real. Brontë also presents love in a pure and realistic way through the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff. Their love transcends the isolation of wuthering heights and the social divide. Catherine declares that ‘I am Heathcliff’, presenting the couple as idyllic soul mates. Despite their...
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...directly correlate. They present the issue of why illusions overtake humanity as well as what happens when they do. The stories here each present an illusion and the characters grasp to it firmly, but the reality of the situation is that the characters have been misled. Both stories exemplify and display how change affects individuals and those around them. They also explore the reasons why illusions are so overwhelming and convincing to the person in question. This is important because illusions can be harmful and misleading, putting people in danger’s way. Illusions also destroy the ability to think outside the box, they enclose our minds...
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...A human’s future is never decided by one event, human, or dream. For “[one] often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it” (Jean de La Fontaine). The circumstances and moments that life puts one through can never be controlled, but more than often decides who one becomes. Every moment encountered builds illusions and disillusions that guide the direction of our future. Just as a physically abused 5 year-old tends to act out in hate a different child raised with loving parents will act with compassion and love. Everyone develops tinted sunglasses that dictate how one sees the world and responds to their surroundings. The “tinted sunglasses” that all humans wear drastically effect the course of their destiny and the men and women one becomes. The role of illusions, disillusions, and “tinted sunglasses” intensely impacted Macbeth’s decisions and he king he came to be. In the case of Macbeth, illusions did not solely focus on the physical, but his falsified view of the world mentally. The belief that power could be eternally secured eventually lead him to his death. In accordance, the disillusion of his “tinted sunglasses” developed an irreversible reputation as a tyrant and a dictator. For “fair is foul and foul is fair” and things are never as they seem (i.i.12). Power has an unique ability unlike anything else in our human world. It has the capability to start wars, pit brothers against brothers, and drive men to their graves in pursuit of more of it. To start, Macbeth...
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...dogs and wolves. This explains to the reader his aggression towards when he meets her and his lack of respect. We learn this because Saul refers to her as a ‘regular Jezebel’ and treats her like a trophy or prize. M.K Joseph also includes snippets of Saul’s childhood and we learn that Saul was made into the cruel man he is. Throughout Saul’s childhood we find out that his mother left him at a young age and he was left to be raised by his grandmother and grandfather. Saul describes his grandmother as being ‘placid’ and raising him ‘strictly’. We also learn that she was extremely religious and we can see as readers that Saul is very religious too. An example of this is the biblical illusions that he makes ‘wife of Ahab’ and ‘Adam and Eve it’. Despite Saul being a simplistic character his biblical illusions inform the reader, that his grandmother was an extremely important figure/role model in his life. This helps the reader understand that Saul is not in fact completely heartless and this challenges the reader to feel empathy for him. We are also informed that Saul’s grandfather was “firm” with him but in a “detached” sort of way. The relationship between him and his grandfather...
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...as of passerby between them. That was their reality. But as he became freed and expose to the world, he learned very quickly that the life they lived did not represent reality. It was nothing more than a mere illusion. We are all born into some way of life; either it be religion, a belief system or a social class but essentially we are born into an identity or one is forced upon us. Like in Douglas’s Narrative of the life where “slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of the slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their...
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...Between Dreams and Reality: The Citizen Kane Effect “If I hadn’t been very rich, I might have been a really great man.” Charles Kane has said to audiences since 1941. Citizen Kane has been a staple in the classrooms of film studies as well as on lists of classic movies. Although meant to have been premiered on February 14, 1941 at Radio City Music Hall, the intense threats of William Randolph Hearst, who it is believed Orson Welles modeled the fictional character of Kane from, caused most theatres unwilling to risk backlash and thus striking the film from their show lineups. Financial success at the box office was assured to be nonexistent and eventually caused Welles departure from RKO Studios and restricted direction freedom on his future projects. The controversy surrounding the film didn’t stop there. True authorship will forever be debated with credit being distributed between co-writers Mankiewicz and Welles. Although either side you take gain perspective on the core audience they developed their groundbreaking story for and undoubtably had the greatest impact on: the middle class liberal males of the 1940’s and 1950’s. “The people are going to see Citizen Kane, and not one of them will be quite the same person after seeing it as he was before. It is profoundly moving an experience as only this extraordinary and hitherto unexplored medium of sound-cinema can afford in two hours. You leave it with regret, wishing you could see it all through again, feeling...
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...appearance versus reality is clarified by the differences between Blanche and Stanley. * Blanche represents illusion/false appearance – she tries to hide her past, her age. * Stanley represents reality – he is very honest and upfront about the type of person he is, he has no secrets. * They conflict throughout and finally Stanley crushes Blanche’s illusions (by revealing her secrets, confronting her about her lies and raping her) * Reveals the message of the theme – reality will win over illusion, you cannot live a lie. | Choose from a play a scene in which tension builds to a climax.Explain how the dramatist creates and develops this tension, and discuss the extent to which the scene has thematic as well as dramatic significance. | * Scene 10 (the rape scene) builds to a climax with tension being created through the conflict between Blanche and Stanley and the stage directions. * Blanche acts increasingly hysterical and irrational. * Stanley snaps after she calls him a swine and cruelly crushes her illusions, telling her she’s a liar. He becomes threatening and violent and eventually rapes her. * The menacing stage directions (sound, lighting, the streets of New Orleans) add to the tension. * Link to either theme: reality wins over illusion, or desires lead to death for false people (Blanche destroyed by desire.) | Choose a play which features one of the following themes: appearances versus reality; good versus evil; dreams versus reality; youth versus...
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...afford a mansion on Long Island, New York. Gatsby “sprang from his Platonic conception of himself” (104) He fabricated a life that ignores his past poverty and parents because “his imagination had never really accepted them as his parents at all” (104). But Gatsby’s motivation for achieving the wealth he attains is the pursuit of another dream. Jay Gatsby, as he chooses to title himself, is a man running on the fumes of his past love affair with Daisy. Despite actually accomplishing his goals of recapturing Daisy’s love or at least her attention, he still cannot stop holding on to the nostalgia. But should one abandon their own sentimentalities for the sake of reality?...
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...In Death of a Salesman and in The Glass Menagerie both protagonists play a deep role with facing a tragic fate. Both plays show the struggle of the American dream and how it’s not what they make it to seem. It shows that the average man strives to achieve his rightful place in society but, remains unrecognized which eventually leads to his downfall. First of all, Willy’s tragic fault is his inability to be content by the reality of his life. He insists living in this fantasy world which he cannot move forward from, which eventually leads to his downfall. For example, “After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive” (Act II). Also, “I walked into the jungle at seventeen, and when I walked out I was twenty-one, and by god I was rich” (Act I). This quote represents the fantasy that Willy strives to achieve for himself and his sons. He believes everyone is entitled to success, instead of working hard for it....
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...Despaired Dreams: The Death of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby. The colors and wonders of a perfect dream are indefinite. Some say that everything good comes to an end , even when it seems that your dreams are going to last forever. Holding onto your hope and perseverance are the first signs of accomplishing the American Dream, but the signs of the death of the American Dream are almost unrecognizable. Walking through life dreaming not knowing when your dream is going to end . The characters in the great gatsby are the dreamers , who have accomplished the american dream. They all fight to the top in order to to get what they want, but soon they will come crashing down. The way that Gatsby builds his world around illusions , having Gatsby being symbol of the american dream, and the desire to rise in society all display the death of the american dream in the The Great Gatsby. If our perception of life isn’t reality , then most likely we won’t be able to see life clearly. If you don’t see life clearly you won’t live up to the full potential of life. Gatsby's perception of life isn’t real. He builds his encounters with others based on...
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...Descartes Frederick Kinley PHIL201-C10LUO March 17, 2014 The Matrix was a film created by the Wachowski Brothers that dealt heavily with the thought of epistemology. Epistemology is a philosophy of origin, nature and limits of human knowledge. In the Matrix the limits of human knowledge was pushed with the question of reality. Is reality real? Is what we see and do true? The question was portrayed in the film by Neo a computer hacker that had a life time nagging question inside that he just could not shake. Neo met Morpheus, a leader of an organization that could help Neo answer his question. Morpheus proposed Neo a plan to follow him take the “red pill” and find the truth or take a “blue pill” and forever stay the same. Neo agrees to take the “red pill” then is launched into a world like he had never seen before. The “Matrix” was a world where humans were only living virtual reality lives. Giant computers were placing thoughts, feelings and everyday life circumstances into their minds. Through their virtual lives they could work, play and even die. Is our reality real today? Are we just victims of a larger, grander scheme? The Allegory of the Cave is a synopsis of The Republic where people live their whole lives in the opening of a cave. The prisoner’s feet and necks are chained so they cannot leave or even turn their heads. Their whole lives the only truth they know is shadow figures that puppet masters cast on a wall before...
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...Philosophy. “He was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world.(Piyong)” “He divides reality into two: on the one hand we have ontos, idea or ideal. This is ultimate reality, permanent, eternal, spiritual. On the other hand, there’s phenomena, which is a manifestation of the ideal. Phenomena are appearances, things as they seem to us, and are associated with matter, time, and space.” (Carlson) Phenomena are illusions which decay and die. Ideals are unchanging and perfect. Ideas are available to us through thought, while phenomena are available through our senses. Plato taught us this so we can realize that some things in life are reality and some are always changing and never forever. He relates back to this theory when he talks about art. Plato believes that art is imitation. Although Plato is not the first person to believe and understand that art is imitation, he does explain why very greatly. Plato says that “art must be imitating the world as it appears, not the world as it is (Palmer, 419).” He says that art is a copy of a copy of a copy. All art draws attention away from reality and toward illusion. Every piece of art known to man is a copy of something: nature, reality, or other art forms. Plato also states that “art is powerful, and therefore dangerous. He insisted that music, along with poetry and drama and the other arts, should be part...
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...Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is a vision of lonely human beings who fail to make contact, are isolated from each other and society, and ultimately feel abandoned by the universe. Tom, a writer who has left his mother and sister in order to pursue freedom and adventure, narrates a memory of his abandoned family. The memory is of St. Louis in 1937. Tom, his mother Amanda and his sister Laura are trying to make ends meet in a small tenement apartment. Tom’s father, a telephone repairman who fell in love with long distance, has long since abandoned them leaving nothing behind but his picture. Tom supports the family by working in a shoe warehouse. Since his responsibilities curtail his desire to be a writer, Tom escapes the mundane reality of life at the warehouse through literature, movies and dreams of joining the Merchant Marine. His sister Laura lives in a world of her own and spends all her time polishing her little glass animals and listening to old records. Amanda can’t understand Tom’s resentment or Laura’s lack of interest in her own future. After Amanda discovers that Laura has dropped out of Business College without telling her, she decides that she must find a husband for her daughter. When asked if she ever liked a boy Laura tells her mother she only ever liked one boy in high school, the popular boy who sang the lead in the school operetta and called her by the nickname Blue Roses. Amanda badgers Tom to bring home a nice man from the warehouse for Laura, bribing...
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...the worst thing which destroy a person’s life, just like our main character—Willy, in the play “Death of a salesman”. The temporary hope that Biff gives to Willy and also Willy puts all his expectations into—big business, successful businessman for Biff, these all finally destroy Willy’s life and make his whole life become a tragedy. The profession of the main character—Willy, a salesman is by no means a coincidence for Arthur Miller. Salesman is the most representative job for trading in hope, they always transfer hope from today to tomorrow, they struggle in a possibility, in that uncertain hope that tomorrow will be better, tomorrow I will sell more, then I can make a fortune, I can make a big deal. But there is always a gap between reality and dream. Actually in the play, Willy knows that he can never be a successful salesman, can never make a big deal, can never start a business at his age anymore, but he just refused to acknowledge that, so he puts all his hope and expectations on his son—Biff, one of his two sons which he is proud of, hoping that he can make his dream come true, start a business as he expected and be a successful salesman. Biff is just like the seeds that Willy bought and planted in the garden, he hopes that one day he will harvest just like he hopes that one day Biff can continue his...
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