Everyman

financial success and power, and becomes disillusioned with an America “increasingly giving itself over to a dangerous nostalgia” and hints at the “end” to which America is heading, especially through the backdrop interplay between the quiet unnamed/everyman American and a suspicious, hostile…

This creates a sense of seeing one’s self in this character’s shoes. This reminded me of one of my favorite films of all-time: Fight Club. Edward Norton’s character, the narrator of film, has no name and acts as an everyman, which makes the viewer project themselves onto the character. The tone of The Ocean at the End of the Lane is more serious than some of the other works we have read this semester and definitely more serious than the other Neil Gaiman works that…

Philosophers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were both precursors of The Age of Enlightenment, during which the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century caused a shift in the theories and politics of the thinkers of this time. Unlike the philosophers of the Renaissance, the preceding era, Hobbes and Locke were not influenced by religious interpretations and biblical tenets; instead, akin to the other secular philosophers of The Enlightenment, they were driven by reason and science to understand…

Miller uses the protagonist of “The Crucible”, John Proctor, to explore the conflicting concepts of morality. For the purpose of this essay, I shall be interpreting the terms “good” and “bad” to relate to the morally acceptable acts in the puritanical society that the play was set in. As a result of Miller portraying the Salem community as an allegory for McCarthyism in 1950s America, the character of Proctor may have been crafted to show aspects of Miller’s experience of McCarthyism. Based on…

in a stream of consciousness in order to obtain empathy from the readers. It is the story of Holden Caulfield, a cynical teenager, who quickly becomes a symbol for rebellion due to his ability to reveal the flaws in our society. Although he is an everyman character, the emphasis of the novel is on the society we live in and the importance of understanding, loving, and educating adolescents in order to prevent their rebellion. The novel begins with Holden in a psychiatric home. Holden is…

just two. Despite not being as wealthy as Tom and Daisy, his second cousin, they see him as enough of a peer to invite him to their home. Nick’s connection to Daisy in turn makes him attractive to Gatsby. If Nick were just a middle-class everyman, the story could not play out in the same way. At the beginning of the novel they move to fashionable East Egg, are able to very quickly pick up and leave at the end of the book after the murders, thanks to the protection of their money. Daisy…

years studying into a more understandable medium of a three hundred page book. By incorporating some of the lessons from his studies and infusing them with real life experiences, alongside worldly examples, he presents the art of persuasion to the everyman. Personally, I enjoyed the book took a large amount of information away from it. The text itself is very understandable; however, to clarify vocab and context of his talking points Mr. Heinrichs includes an ample amount of text boxes. While…

life and survival. When speaking with the Blokälteste, the hairy man tells Elie, “In this place, it is everyman for himself, and you cannot think of others. Not even your father,” (Wiesel 110). After hearing these bold words, Elie’s feelings change as he has a realization that he can only survive if he goes on alone. Elie understands that surviving requires selfish thinking, and it is “everyman for himself” when trying to stay alive in the adverse conditions of the camps. Elie must not “think…

A Movement of Its Own: A Case for Naturalism Naturalism’s place within American literature is a debated topic to this day. Some academics believe that realism and naturalism are so closely related that they must be inclusive of the same movement; indeed, these academics argue that naturalism is part of the realism movement. On the other hand, others argue that naturalism has enough distinction from realism that it is deserving of its own movement, and considering the purpose in categorizing a…

Pressure, as seen in The Cradle will Rock, was put on these artists to try and stifle in their creative ideals and political statements. However, this went for labor strikers as well. This was the first shows that really related and connected with the everyman. It developed a style of singing called misuk (Miller, n.d.). Blitzstein hired actors who sounded like genuine people, not opera singers, helping audiences connect with the characters. He also used storytelling and plot in his music.…