Nihilism

Nihilism is the ideology that there is no purpose in life and that rules are pointless and social and belief systems are unnecessary distractions. When he was younger, he became trapped in an oak tree and is attacked by a bull for no reason at all; through…

As previously stated, nihilism suggests that life is meaningless, and rejects any kind of religious and moral principles. Our society’s moral codes and ethics are fundamentally based on Judeo-Christianity, and since our society is slowly drifting away from religion, with nothing to replace it, we can only reach the conclusion that there is absolutely no objective truth, right or wrong, value and meaning in life. In Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, nihilism is a prominent feature, mostly…

firm believer of nihilism, Arkady is a moderate however both the sons are vastly different in their beliefs from their traditional fathers. The novel explores nihilism in Russian society and how the radical nihilistic beliefs affect relations of Bazarov and Arkady. In this paper, I will try to examine Nihilism in context of Turgenev’s ‘Fathers and Sons’ and show how despite Nihilistic denial of intangible forces of passion and fate, Bazarov ultimately succumbs to both. Nihilism
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John Gardner's Grendel captures and explores the meaning of an individual's purpose in life. Grendel discovers the contrasting philosophies of nihilism and existentialism. Throughout the novel, Grendel is conflicted between believing in these philosophies, and choosing to apply it to his own life. Grendel struggles to find his essence and core purpose. Grendel’s isolation makes him susceptible to believe the Shaper’s thoughts, as he develops a comprehensive view that is affected by both the…

Nobody explores multiple different philosophies, which resonate with the audience long after the film has ended. A major idea present is nihilism, the philosophy of extreme skepticism, maintaining that nothing in the world has a real existence. This often includes the belief that life has no meaning. The viewer is torn between the nihilistic suggestion that what we choose doesn’t matter and…

Existentialism and Nihilism Present in Grendel Existentialism is not essentially nihilism, however nihilism does share a close similarity with existentialism because it describes human life as ultimately meaningless. Grendel throughout the book is seeking an explanation for his personality and the purpose of life. He must go through obstacles with the help and confusion from the Dragon and Shaper to find his answer. While John Gardner explores numerous philosophies and thoughts in Grendel, the…

immorally and to accept his death without feeling any remorse. Right before Meursault dies, he says, I opened myself for the first time to the tender indifference of the world (The Stranger, 129) A poetic line that reinforces the idea that Meursault’s nihilism causes his amorality and disregard for his own life by reminding himself that life does not care about people either. Jean-Baptiste Clamence, the main character of The Fall, is a philosophical absurdist who believes he has found…

Dadaism is an art movement that is met with many different points of view. Some art historians look at it with contempt, others generalize it as a movement solely about nihilism and a post-war reaction. It is possible that art historians by and large have missed the whole point of the Dada movement, and do not take it as a valid art movement. Leonard Aldea and Phillip Prager both believe that Dada artists are largely misunderstood and that art historians have done an injustice in their…

Nihilism in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John Le Carré, takes place in a historically gloomy period when rationing was a recent memory, the Berlin Wall stood tall and the sixties hadn’t yet started to swing. We are introduced to Alec Leamas, a burned-out spy drafted into a final mission; masquerading as a defector to the Communist German Democratic Republic. Le Carré’s 1963 novel presented us with a bleak version of the world: a world in which both the…

violence. “The violence of gender cannot be overestimated. Each trans woman murdered, each intersex infant coercively operated on, each queer kid thrown onto the streets is a victim of gender. The deviance from the norm is always punished.” (“Gender Nihilism: An Anti-Manifesto,” 2015) The increase in new gender identities and sexual orientations attempts to create ways in which we can be liberated from gender, but falls short. Since tweaking gender has not produced radical results, the only way…