Icarus

passed his problem to Icarus, his offspring, the social class structure of France was passed to Jean Valjean through tradition. Valjean found no happiness when he was poor or extremely rich. The only way Valjean was able to escape the social class labyrinth and find true joy is when he was a middle class citizen at the end of the book. This is similar to the Labyrinth Theory because Daedalus warned Icarus to fly in the middle ground, not too high or too low (“Daedalus”). Icarus did not listen to…

Many authors have their own way of getting to the message of the text for the readers. To get their message across, they put literature devices to use or use their own techniques and styles. Although, there are many authors that have their own unique techniques to get to a deeper truth or message for the reader, Robert Frost, Tim O’brien and William Carlos Williams also have their own ways and techniques of making sense of the imperfections of human nature and life in order to get their…

2.4 Writing Portfolio Birdman Ending Analysis Statement of intent: I am going to write an essay showing my understanding of the open ending in the film Birdman. Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a 2014 Oscar-winning film directed by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Birdman tells us a story of a has-been actor Riggan Thomson, best known for playing the superhero ‘Birdman’. After years of irrelevance, Riggan hopes to reawaken his career by producing, directing, and…

Magic is the belief in supernaturalism, the belief that there is something beyond the ordinary. Magic is often portrayed as power and knowledge, and thus awarded to those who are worthy. In “The Cliff” by Charles Baxter, magic is portrayed as tradition. In the short story, a young boy and an old man, not distinguishable by name, drive to an unidentified spot along the coastline of California where the old man would teach the boy magic. More specifically, how to fly. Flying would give the boy a…

“Wolf of Wall Street”. A life of excess, A-list, and overdose. Dana Giacchetto was invincible, not that he couldn’t get caught, just that he was too wealthy to care. Giacchetto compared the height of his faculty to Icarus flying too close to the sun because just like Icarus…

functioning wings made with feathers and wax. He gave his son, Icarus, a pair and warned him not to fly too close to the sun. After a while in the sky Icarus became too excited and forgot his father’s warning flying closer and closer to the sun. His wings began to melt from the extreme heat and he started to fall from the sky to his death in the now named “Icarian Sea.” The reason I bring up this story is to show the how happy and free Icarus was for a moment but ignoring reality and what “could…

Literature’s Influence on Present Day American Culture Present day American culture is not the way it used to be. If you were to compare the America in the 1950s to the America today, a long list of differences can be spotted. In today’s America, culture is something that is used to express one’s individual character. There is no true American culture because it is composed of numerous and diverse cultures from around the world. Literature is apart of these cultures. Over the years, the “rules”…

describes what is going on in the painting, Fall of Icarus by Brueghel, to a point. Symbolism is also used in the poem, the title itself is a symbol, so are the “Old Masters (Auden)” they are a symbol for wisdom. Auden’s use of allusion is used multiple times throughout the poem, such as when he talks about “Miraculous Birth (Auden)” he is referring to the birth of Christ and essentially, the whol entire story is an allusion to the painting, Fall of Icarus. And lastly, enjambment, the…

Cesare Pavese, the 20th century poet, once stated, “All sins have their origin in a sense of inferiority otherwise called ambition.” Ambition can be a driving force throughout life. However, if one confuses ambition and personal satisfaction with unceasing desire and materialistic pleasures it can often lead to an individual’s downfall. This is true for both Dr. Faustus from Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus and Willy Loman from Miller’s Death of a Salesman. Faustus follows the…

Often times when one reads a book, one would want to feel a connection to the piece of literature, to the story, and to the characters themselves. He or she does this by searching for things in the story that has a familiarity to the reader in order for them to relate and understand the message of the novel. This, then, is what authors and writers use as a guideline in writing their stories. They reference other pieces of literature that are either well-known or where readers can be familiar…