Earth No More

"No, no," said the full stop. The writer lifted the flap, pulled the tab to slide the punctuation mark into place, and ended another sentence with a question mark. The Soulless Man The Soulless Man left the city and sat on the far side of the hill. His mind was as sad as night. No light could dispel the gloom. And he cried, "Lead me to salvation." The earth opened her mouth and swallowed him. The earth was void and darkness was upon the deep. How great the darkness! A long thin hand reached out of the ground, plucked a star from the sky, and shone it into the pit of the earth. The light shone in the darkness. But the darkness knew it not. The Soulless Man stood on the spiral staircase that coiled down beyond the star 's dying light. From the faded darkness came the cry of a tormented soul. It was his soul, his true self. He sold it for the spoils of the Underworld. And now he wanted it back. He bought a white rose, the Celestial, with his last coin. His voice echoed through the realm of mental night as he pleaded with the Keeper of Souls to give back the soul he had spurned, but now craved. "I beg of you, give back my…

“Tradition, long conditioned thinking, can bring about a fixation, a concept that one readily accepts, perhaps not with a great deal of thought.” –Jiddu Kirshnamurti. When there is a strong tradition followed in a community, it is a major component in shaping the citizens beliefs. It is often the base for the society’s cultural and societal norms. This is regarded in Alden Nowlan’s play The Dollar Woman during multiple circumstances. As well as in the short story “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod,…

I find myself recognizing more and more of our norms that are being broken that I came to just shrug off before. Two weeks ago a young man and a mother displayed an example of a norm violation while I was working. This young man was not out of his teenage years and appeared to have mental disabilities. His mother, a regular at the restaurant, makes sure to carefully attend to…

In like manner, many of the Japanese people also file their teeth for aesthetic reasons and it is considered attractive. By the same token, these practices will be considered strange to different outsider groups such as our own. Agreed upon by many researchers, is the fact that there are at least four kinds of speak of at least four types of cultural norms which are; folkways, mores, taboos, and laws. Violating these religious or cultural laws and taboos can result in isolation and rejections by…

Schizophrenia is a common and about 1 in 100 people will develop schizophrenia with some cultural differences. It usually develops during late adolescence and is more common in men than women. The onset of schizophrenia is normally in the form of an ‘acute episode’. When this happens, the individual may feel panic along with anger or depression during this episode. It can be a shocking experience because they are not expecting it or prepared for it. There are many explanations as to why people…

The author of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley incorporates a range of ideas which relate to todays youth. The story involves a outsider in the World State and the juxtaposition between these two conflicting views allows the author to represent different ideas, heavily related to societal conventions. The societal system used in the book is a society containing many troubling aspects in our society and making them the crux of the society allowing the problems to become more emulated. The idea of…

Individualism is a commonly sought after truth in this world. For it is when this sense of individuality is obtained that one becomes empowered. Greater concepts that could be drawn from this is that acting with such originality could give you the opportunity to have extensive views, learn new things and make a difference. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch is a lawyer who took on a very important case. In the case he defends Tom Robinson, who is a black man accused of…

talks about the difference between shame culture and guilt culture on campuses. Mr. Brooks also talks about how even the normal shame culture has change within the college aged students. Throughout the article the author brings us back to his theory that “campuses are awash in moral judgment.” The author brings in social media as a way to back up his thinking stating that “social media has created a new sort of shame culture.” Brooks also goes on to talk about how the shame culture works within…

Gabriel assumes his position appropriately. He recognizes Gretta as property that needs to be protected, and he attempts to stifle his desire to take Gretta as he please (in a true animalistic sense). To briefly digress, this is an instance where Gabriel thinks in a dualistic sense. He looks to protect Gretta, but also master her. A delicate balance between good and bad ways of thinking. While Gabriel struggles to hold on to gender norms and roles, Gretta is arguably letting go. It is possible…

In Society, we have expectations on how to act in public known as social norms. It is hard to notice social norms until they are broken. There are two types of social norms folkways and mores and are different depending on their reactions or consequences. Folkways range from a simple introduction or greeting to how to act in public. They also change depending on location such as being shirtless on the beach which is normal or unlike being shirtless at a public school. When someone breaks a…