The Wise Men

Scales(The Unexpected Guest) all illustrate the common themes of valuing people over possessions and selflessness throughout their literary works. Furthermore, they use literary devices such as allusion and irony to communicate these life lessons. The theme of selflessness is shown through the use of allusion in the short story The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. On page 5 it states, “The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger... Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest... They are the magi.” O. Henry compares Della and Jim to the magi, or wise men. Which is true, the wise men brought baby Jesus wise gifts. This is what Jim and Della did they bought each other wise gifts. Jim bought Della hair combs and Della bought Jim a watch chain. To obtain these gifts they had to make the ultimate sacrifice of their treasures. Someone who is selfish wouldn’t do this, they would want to keep their things to themselves, but Della and Jim were truly selfless. In summation, O. Henry clearly showed the theme of the selflessness through allusion. You can see this in my…

classes of the state are the rulers, the soldiers, and the craftsmen. The three parts of the mind are the rational or reason part, the irrational appetitive part, and the spirited part. The rational corresponds to the rulers, the appetitive corresponds to the craftsmen, and the spirited corresponds to the soldiers. Socrates then explains how the four virtues, wisdom, courage, moderation/self-control, and justice play the same roles in a person as in a state. The rational part of the…

Mae Holland arrives for her first day at “the most influential company in the world”: The Circle. Mae owes her newfound position at The Circle to her old-time friend, Annie, whose belonging to the “Gang of 40” makes her one of the most influential members of the company. Established by the “Three Wise Men” , The Circle becomes the #1 company on the forefront of technological advancement. The Circle’s goal is to work towards a new era of communication and safety, what it claims is a more…

“Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.” This quote, said by Patrick Rothfuss, explains why the words and language in Wise Blood are so important. In this novel by Flannery O’Connor, a man finds himself caught in a war of faith, destiny, and false prophets. It is set in the imaginary southern town of Taulkinham, Tennessee in the 1950s. The book accurately represents the way southerners lived at the time and how their environments affected their…

In 1836, Bridgeport was born with the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. This alone “guaranteed Bridgeport's position as an industrial center,” as it encouraged the creation of lumberyards, manufacturing plants, and packing houses (Bridgeport, Encyclopedia of Chicago, 1). Due to the steady access to employment during this time, many immigrants began to settle and search for work in the neighborhood. This translated into a growing foreign ‘white’ population, as it “stood as a…

modern world. American director Robert Wise retells Romeo and Juliet with his film production, West Side Story. Wise creates an adaptation to the film that better fits the modern world by showcasing the sociological issues of racism and feminism. American film directors had to adapt the details of older works because the demographics of our country continue to adapt as decades pass by. Robert Zeffirelli set the film Romeo and Juliet (1968) in the 1500s and under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.…

“Home is where the heart is” is the old famous quote that many people have said. But in some cases this is farthest from the truth. Tate’s statement suggests that “home” is a place, or even a state of mind. In the novel Wise Blood, the character Hazel Motes is far from home. A returning war veteran, Motes comes home to find his house in Tennessee abandoned and his family gone. Confused, Motes boards a train to Taulkinham and from there his journey begins, becoming farther and farther away from…

He was never raised to see the differences the people around him, but as he grew older he began to see many of the injustices against his friends because they were different. Wise made a film titled “White Like Me” and says that “The answer is to be color conscious, not color blind.” This statement does not exclusively apply to racial issues. It can be interpreted for any situation, because we will never come in contact with someone exactly like ourselves. We need to be aware of the differences…

Corrigan we find arguments for sub-facets of authorial figures in cinema, but ultimately note that the auteur theory can only be applied to cinema directors. Matthew Bernstein states that rarely is there such a case when a producer can exist as an auteur, but nonetheless it is possible. Bernstein’s work actually hypocritical in this sense, that he can state the rare existence of producer auteur, yet in the same piece openly admit, “collaborators make contributions, but only a director can make…

In this paper, I am going to cover 3 cultural symbols that I have no knowledge of. The three symbols that I decided to use are, coexist, hear no evil/see no evil/speak no evil, and the inverted pentagram. Coexist basically revolves around, a symbol meaning you do not have to accept Jesus as your one and only savior. Hear no evil/see no evil/speak no evil on the other hand means exactly what it says; In other words, stay far away from evil. In closing, I will talk about the inverted pentagram.…