Leo Burnett

Thomas Hobbes and Niccolo Machiavelli, both grappling with regional instability and constant war, arrive at different frameworks for handling man’s inherent propensity for conflict from very similar models of human behavior. Hobbes, watching his fellow countrymen fight each other during the English Civil War, decided that humans perpetually desire more power to secure their well-being and therefore incline toward warfare as a means to achieve this. Machiavelli, similarly accustomed to the…

annoyance with the mundane of daily life, and in the case of literature, the eventual need to significantly improve said situation. Ennui, in many variations, is found in works such as Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by Leo Tolstoy, and the poem “To the Reader” by Charles Baudelaire from The Flowers of Evil. I will be discussing the prevalence of ennui within these stories and the importance of the subject in literature. In Madame Bovary, the tale goes as such: boy…

Leo Tolstoy’s books The Death of Ivan Ilych and A Confession, the Gospel Brief and What I Believe show very similar experiences and thought processes between Ivan Ilych and Tolstoy himself. It is arguable that when writing The Death of Ivan Ilych, Tolstoy reflected himself into Ilych’s character and life. This is evident in both men’s early experiences, thoughts and beliefs, morals, and overall questioning and understanding of life’s existence. Very soon did Tolstoy write that he wanted to be…

Through their powerful renderings of war and politics, Niccolò Machiavelli's iconoclastic 1532 political treatise The Prince and Shakespeare's 1599 historical tragedy Julius Caesar mutually seek to explore the nature of human weakness. A manifestation of Machiavelli's radically realpolitik interpretation of Renaissance humanism, The Prince subverts the traditional Christian moral zeitgeist, redefining weakness in instrumental terms - that a leader's results are superior in importance to his…

As mentioned earlier Dr King believed that non-violence and civil disobedience are the only ways to fight for freedom. During my research on Dr. Martin Luther King and his attributes towards non-violence, I found his book “Stride toward freedom”. In this book Dr. King outlined his way of nonviolence. He tells the story of the Montgomery movement and his own personal journey, and then offers six basis points for nonviolence. Dr. King lived and taught these essential ingredients of active…

Today’s society as a whole is preoccupied by staying up with the latest trends on social media and considers binging their way through a season of their favorite TV show as an accomplishment. An unsurprising, yet disappointingly large portion of today’s population fails to live what many would consider a “good life” (needs to be in quotes?), one that has meaning and purpose. And while few would admit they lead and unaccomplished life, with a bit of further examination it is not hard to see why…

It is campaign time, and Enrique Perez, the new candidate started his campaign promising thousands of jobs, no more hunger and quality education for every single child, teenager and adult in Mexico. The more people he got, the more promises he did, he said that he will repair most of the roads, he said that he is going to build strong bonds with other countries to promote the country, he said so many things that he seems omnipotent compared with the other candidates. The time flew and he became…

The History of the Jonestown Massacre Many different cults have existed for many years. Some cults are peaceful while other cults can be violent and intense. One cult that ended in severity was the Peoples Temple based in Jonestown, Guyana. This particular cult was led by a man named Jim Jones. Jones had strong views on equality and wanted to create a place where people of all ages, races, and sexual orientations could live together in peace, therefore he started the Peoples Temple. The…

Non-violence is a powerful ideology and approach for social change that refutes the use of physical violence. But why choose non-violence over violence? The usage of nonviolence involves peaceful active behavior within the midst of conflict. At its core, nonviolence embodies respect, and even love, for one’s opponents. The practice acknowledges and utilizes the importance of dialogue without the utilization of physical threat or coercion in negotiating and problem solving. Also histories records…

inevitable. In most societies, behavioral norms for members living within that culture form over time and a person’s allegiance to fulfilling these norms and expectations can sometimes lead to an isolated and lonely existence. In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy teaches his readers through the tormented characters that leading a life that is self centered, driven by the constructs of society, and lacking in compassion to one’s fellow man can ultimately lead to unhappiness at one’s death…