...Two Solitudes is far from being a great work of fiction--it can be hokey, preachy, heavy-handed, trite, and dated--but it is both an entertaining human story and a knowing political novel, only slightly marred by MacLennan's over-idealistic nationalism. The Canada that MacLennan presents, a country in which a citizen is either French-Canadian or English-Canadian (or a rare hybrid) never really existed, but the political climate prompted by this illusion is still with us. MacLennan's novel is one of the most sympathetic (and readable) literary chronicles of the tensions and misunderstandings that gave birth to modern Quebec. --Jack Illingworth “Two solitudes”, which was written by Hugh McLennan at 1945, was his most famous novel. The Author, Hugh MacLennan was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, 1907. There are about seven novels, travel books and uncountable essays that mediate between the European cultural heritage and American vigor and idealism. “Among his many honors, he won five Governor Generals Awards.” And finally, Hugh MacLennan died in Montreal in 1990. It was a literary allegory for English and French Canadian from 1917 to 1939. The author divided this novel into 4 parts. “It is set during World War I, and a cast of “archetype” characters relay the story, being representations of French Canadians or Catholics or Businessman during this time period.” The novel’s plot was focus on the life of the fictional character named Paul Tallard, who is struggling between the...
Words: 312 - Pages: 2
...Ella Wheeler Wilcox In the poems Solitude and It might have been by Ella Wheeler Wilcox there are strong comparisons that can be made between the two by using both the style used in each poem and the substance. The poems are almost complete opposites, yet are very similar, Solitude is about being alone in the world or feeling isolated, while It might have been is meant to be empowering because the author encourages the readers to not regret anything or to not let chances slip by. Ella Wheeler Wilcox was born November 5, 1850 in Johnstown, Wisconsin. She began writing poetry at a very young age and was a recognized poet before she had even graduated high school. She was constantly compared to Walt Whitman because of their way of writing; her poetry was sentimental and romantic. Something that set them apart though was their form; Ella Wheeler Wilcox maintained a very traditional form unlike Walt Whitman. Her most famous work was the Poems of Passion. She married Robert Wilcox in 1884. Soon after her husband’s passing in 1916, Ella passed away due to cancer on October 30, 1919. Her autobiography, The Worlds and I, was published in 1918, a year before her death. The poem Solitude talks about being isolated from the world when you are feeling down and enjoying everything around you when you are feeling happy. Laugh and the world laughs with you; / Weep and you weep alone (Solitude. Lines 1 and 2) these two lines in the poem, I believe, show best what...
Words: 1645 - Pages: 7
...Two Unique Mindsets of Being Alone Loneliness is a complicated and normally an unpleasant emotional response to isolation or lack of companionship. In the stories The Old Man and the Sea and “A Clean, Well- lighted Place”, Ernest Hemingway conveys the idea of loneliness and its corresponding effects. Characters from each text are alone in unique ways; Santiago is a elderly man who, although fishing alone, does not despair in his loneliness. In spite of the fact that he is in solitude, he does not mind being alone. Whereas the deaf man and the waiter attempt to find a way to avoid their loneliness by looking for a place to be so that they are not alone. While many elderly may be alone it does not necessarily mean they are lonely. In the novel The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago is an old man who fishes alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream. He is a widow who has no family and does not have much. Santiago has only one human companion, but in his opinion the sea creatures are his friends. Santiago finds it easy to relate to the fish when he reflects on the fish’s choice of staying far away from everything, “His choice had been to stay in the deep dark water far out beyond all snares and traps and treacheries. My choice was to go there to find him beyond all people. Beyond all people in the world. Now we are joined together and have been since noon. And no one to help either one of us” (Hemingway 50). Santiago’s solitude extends to the fish; they are in isolation from the rest of the...
Words: 803 - Pages: 4
...“Cell phones must be turned off or they will be confiscated during class.” What a joke, do teachers and employers really think that a person, let alone an immature teenager, will follow their rules? I think not. With apps for facebook, twitter and the internet now all on phones it is impossible to go a day without being connected to the world through technology. You see it everywhere in classrooms, the dinner table, movie theaters, work people try to limit the hours teens spend on their phones. But you take away a phone from a teen and it’s the end of their life. They don’t know what to do, they feel isolated from everyone. Now imagine a person being completely disconnected from all of civilization and escaping through the wild? It’s not going to happen; life now is all about social networking. In Edward Abbey’s book, Desert Solitaire, the chapter “The Moon Eyed Horse”, is not merely about Abbey’s encounter with a horse but Abbeys desire to escape society for good. As the chapter begins Abbey is helping his friend Roy roundup cattle in the desert. When they stop to get their horses some water Abbey notices foot prints of an unshod horse, “a wild horse” (Abbey 171). Abbey comes to find out that the horse was Roy’s “Old Moon-Eye is what you might call an independent horse. He don’t belong to anybody. But he ain’t wild. He’s a gelding and he’s got Roy Scobie’s brand on his hide” (Abbey 172). The horse left the ranch ten years ago and never returned back after he received a beating...
Words: 1727 - Pages: 7
...January 30, 2009 The End of Solitude By William Deresiewicz What does the contemporary(當代的) self-want? The camera has created a culture of celebrity; the computer is creating a culture of connectivity. As the two technologies converge — broadband(寬頻) tipping (使傾斜/輕拍) the Web from text to image, social-networking sites spreading the mesh(網絲)of interconnection(互相連)絡ever wider (前所未有的寬度發展)— the two cultures betray(露出…跡象)a common impulse(衝動). Celebrity and connectivity are both ways of becoming known. This is what the contemporary self wants. It wants to be recognized, wants to be connected: It wants to be visible. If not to the millions(數百萬), on Survivor(倖存者) or Oprah, then to the hundreds, on Twitter or Facebook. This is the quality that validates(使有效) us, this is how we become real to ourselves — by being seen by others. The great contemporary terror is anonymity匿名者. If Lionel Trilling美國文學評論家was right, if the property(财产/所有权) that grounded (打基础) the self, in Romanticism(浪漫主义 , was sincerity(真实), and in modernism it was authenticity(真实性), then in postmodernism it is visibility. * So we live exclusively(排外地) in relation to(about) others, and what disappears from(从…处消失) our lives is solitude. Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves; we are discarding(丢弃) these riches as fast as we can. I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager...
Words: 3607 - Pages: 15
...thing is that their betrayal strengthened her initial position and convinced her of the truth of her views on the world and human relations. The idea of the story is that sometimes being lonely is better than communicating with some representatives of humanity. The protagonist of the story didn’t feel happy; she knew that something was wrong in her life, though she couldn’t find the reason for her misery. Unfortunately the answer to her questions took shape of two Italian boys who had come to rob her. This tragic case made her heart coarsen, but it doesn’t mean it was right. As for me, I can’t imagine my life absolutely without people to talk with. And I don’t believe the author of the story can. We often mix two arts of being alone: loneliness and solitude. When we say be like being alone at home when nobody disturbs us from our thoughts about the life around, it just means that we don’t know what the real loneliness is. When we are proud of our solitude we are insane. Once Lisa Simpson told a brilliant thing: “Solitude never hurts anyone. Emily Dickinson lived alone, and she wrote some of the most beautiful poetry the world has ever...
Words: 367 - Pages: 2
...January 30, 2009 The End of Solitude By William Deresiewicz What does the contemporary self want? The camera has created a culture of celebrity; the computer is creating a culture of connectivity. As the two technologies converge — broadband tipping the Web from text to image, social-networking sites spreading the mesh of interconnection ever wider — the two cultures betray a common impulse. Celebrity and connectivity are both ways of becoming known. This is what the contemporary self wants. It wants to be recognized, wants to be connected: It wants to be visible. If not to the millions, on Survivor or Oprah, then to the hundreds, on Twitter or Facebook. This is the quality that validates us, this is how we become real to ourselves — by being seen by others. The great contemporary terror is anonymity. If Lionel Trilling was right, if the property that grounded the self, in Romanticism, was sincerity, and in modernism it was authenticity, then in postmodernism it is visibility. So we live exclusively in relation to others, and what disappears from our lives is solitude. Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves; we are discarding these riches as fast as we can. I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager I know had sent 3,000 text messages one recent month. That's 100 a day, or about one every 10 waking minutes, morning...
Words: 3546 - Pages: 15
...a logical sequence of events to paint a psychological feeling inside the reader’s mind. Two of Robert Frost’s poems, “Desert Places” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, take readers through a New England winter setting, reflecting the beautiful scenery through his descriptive imagery. However, even though these two poems are set in a wintry backdrop, they convey very different tones. One has a feeling of loneliness, and the other a welcoming feeling of solitude. In this paper, I intend to illustrate how two very similar natural settings are written to express two very different themes of loneliness. The poems “Desert Places” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” have quite a few similarities. For instance, they both share the same rhythmic scheme; A,A,B,A. They both are set in a snowy, evening where darkness is taking over quickly. In both poems there is a man traveling alone, where no other souls are around. There is a sense that both travelers are stepping away from life for a brief moment in time. The contrast of darkness and whiteness against the horizon is apparent in both poems, however in “Stopping by Woods”, the depth of the darkness is inviting. In “Desert Places”, the whiteness of the snow is blank and meaningless. This is where Robert Frost’s themes in these two poems begin to emerge to the reader. In the Poem “Desert Places” whiteness and blankness are two key symbols used to express feelings of emptiness. The...
Words: 1058 - Pages: 5
...-------8 Summary Reaching Out was published by Doubleday Dell Publishing Group in 1986. It was written by Henri Nouwen and offers counsel in the three movements of the spiritual life. The book simplifies the relational of humanity with the living God. Nouwen (1986) explores these three movements as spiritual growth and development. This he indicated will bring people closer to God. The first movement is from loneliness to solitude. Loneliness is an inner struggle for all humans. It is a feeling that no matter how many people are around you, you still feel alone or lonely. Loneliness is to be embraced, to look at it as a phase on the journey of life. The lonely person must have the courage and the faith to follow the path from loneliness to solitude. The illustration about the New York subway was very intriguing. There are so many people traveling on the same path, yet they are alone in their isolated bubble. Solitude by contrast is being centered in life, contented in the experiences of life as it occurs. The transition from loneliness to solitude involves the path to freedom. Freedom to live life to the fullest, freedom to engage with others, to release the fear and feeling of loneliness. The...
Words: 1303 - Pages: 6
...Villegas Fohrweisser ID number: 1295075 Source: William Deresiewicz, “The end of solitude”, The Chronical, January 30, 2009, pg. 1 to 4. Key concepts: Social networking, Solitude, Connectivity, Contemporary self, Technology, Society, Loosing abilities, people. Main Issues: What is happening with solitude in these days? Why are T.V. and Internet a problem in these days? And how can they affect the ability to being alone? In wich way does social networking affect the human behaviour? What happen, when you lose the ability to being alone? Main Thesis: We are replacing the solitude to being in constant communication with people. T.V was designed to eliminate boredom, so, when you are bored then you turn on the T.V and Internet doesn’t allow solitude, because you are in constantly communication with people. The more you do social networking, the more known you are, and this happens because people are afraid to being alone. Solitude is important because, it is the moment when people can read, actually it is when people can think about everything. Supporting Elements: • I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager I know had sent 3,000 text messages one recent month. So on average, she's never alone for more than 10 minutes at once. Which means, she is never alone. (The end of solitude, pg. 1) • The great age of boredom, I believe, came in with television, precisely because television was designed...
Words: 596 - Pages: 3
...A Rose for Emily Can you imagine being so lonely that you would do something unbelievable to prevent you from being alone? That is just what Miss Emily did. Miss Emily came from a wealthy family with a father who made decisions for her. He did not think the men that tried to date her were good enough for her, so he ran them off. John McDermott states, “In “A Rose for Emily,” Emily Grierson’s overbearing father forces her to live without love.” After her father died, Miss Emily became a loner. In "A Rose for Emily," William Faulkner uses Miss Emily’s funeral at the very beginning to show the separation between Miss Emily and the townspeople when he states, "When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a sort of respectful affection for a fallen monument, the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant a combined gardener and cook--had seen in at least ten years.” From there, the house, her servant, and the bad smell are used to symbolize her secluded life. Miss Emily’s inherited her house, but nothing else according to the narrator, “When her father died, it got about that the house was all that was left to her; and in a way, people were glad.” She lived alone for many years, except for her servant. People moved out of the neighborhood over the years and finally Miss Emily’s run down house is the only one left on the street. This is noted early in the story, “But garages and...
Words: 940 - Pages: 4
...My Secret Place Guides1Questions1orSubmit my paper for analysis What is your attitude towards loneliness? Do you think it is a curse, when you are isolated from the rest of the world, left face-to-face with yourself? Or do you, on the contrary, seek it, appreciating each moment of silence you can snatch from the surrounding world? These small breaks can help you replenish your energy and reorganize your thoughts, so that you can start each day as a new one—not as an extension of a previous one. As for me, I am more of the second kind of person; solitude for me is a gift, which is valued less by people than it should be accorded. In my child and teen years, I had a perfect place to go to when I felt like being on my own. In a small town in the center of America, where I lived back then, we had a steep hill on the outskirts. On its top, an old warehouse stood. No one, even older people, seemed to know who had built that warehouse in such an inconvenient place, and what for. Some said that smugglers used it during World War II for their purposes; others told stories about local slaveholders, who lived in our town a long time ago—those people were thought to have kept slaves in the old warehouse. For us children, that old wooden shack was a haunted place with a grim, bloody story of love and treason. None of the townsmen had ever visited the old warehouse. Children were scared and adults just did not feel like climbing up the steep slope for no reason. For most of a year...
Words: 743 - Pages: 3
...Empty Spaces.... I used to remain extremely depressed when I was some 18 years old. Yes, you can say that I was a loner, I felt lonely in a crowded room filled with unknown people than I felt on my own. I would go to my apartment and just sit there. It used to be quiet, lonely and still. The sound of the moving fans in my room used to break the shackles of silence. I had a television in my room and I would deliberately leave it on all the time just to feel that somebody was there with me all the time. The years have rolled by and today, I am 21 years old but my situation happens to be quite similar to what it was three years ago. The biggest irony in the world is to be known by a million people and yet be so terribly lonely. I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. Well, it has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled my entire life, reputation and reason. It has been one of my desperate attempts to escape from torturing memories. The trouble with me is not that I am single and likely to stay single, but that I am lonely and likely to stay lonely. It seems as though there is a hole in this world and I find myself walking around that hole constantly during daytime, and suddenly, I find myself falling into it during the night. But, to be very honest, there is some sort of a pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where no one intrudes, by the deep sea, and the melodious...
Words: 625 - Pages: 3
...Kyle Bain March 10, 2015 What’s Cohesion? ENG-550: Graduate Studies in English Language Professor Makhanlall What’s Cohesion? Paul Auster has a rather unique form of writing. Compared to other writers, Auster uses different techniques to draw his readers in. Auster’s use of cohesion, rhythm, and voice play unique roles in Auster’s City of Glass and Ghosts. Auster tends to do things in a very subtle and precise way, he never leads his reader astray and always leaves them wanting more. What interests me the most about Paul Auster’s writing is his use of cohesion (or lack there of). According to Martha Kolln and Loretta Gray in “Rhetorical Grammar:” “The first sentence in a paragraph, like the first paragraph of a chapter or an essay, sets up expectations in the reader about what is coming. Certainly one of those expectations is that the following sentences will stick to the topic. Another is that the sentence will have new information, not just a repeat of what the reader already knows.” (Kolln/Gray, pg. 87). This differs from what Auster does in City of Glass. Paul Auster draws his readers in by saying a little as possible until it is absolutely necessary; he is very literal with his language and does not give away information until it is essential. Firstly, Auster does not name his chapters, he simply numbers them. The beginning of chapter eight is a prime example of how Auster typically starts his chapters: “The next morning, and for many mornings to follow...
Words: 970 - Pages: 4
...Gabriel Garcia Marquez In my essay I want to talk about Gabriel Garcia Marquez two famous works “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Love in the Time of Cholera”. Gabriel García Márquez was born in 1928, in the small town of Aracataca, Colombia. He started his career as a journalist. When One Hundred Years of Solitude was published in his native Spanish in 1967, as Cien años de soledad, García Márquez achieved true international fame; he went on to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982. One Hundred Years of Solitude is perhaps the most important, and the most widely read, text to emerge from that period. It is also a central and pioneering work in the movement that has become known as magical realism, which was characterized by the dreamlike and fantastic elements woven into the fabric of its fiction. Even as it draws from García Márquez’s provincial experiences, One Hundred Years of Solitude also reflects political ideas that apply to Latin America as a whole. Latin America once had a thriving population of native Aztecs and Incas (of the many complex civilizations to arise in the ancient Americas, the Aztecs, the last ancient Mexican civilization, known for their huge city-on-a-lake of Tenochtitlan and for the practice of mass human sacrifice; and the Incas of Peru, whose rigid state structure and many golden treasures so amazed the Spanish invaders.) but, slowly, as European explorers arrived, the native population had to adjust to the technology and capitalism...
Words: 2924 - Pages: 12
