Tom Wolfe

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test written by Tom Wolfe shows the effects LSD or Acid had on the development, structure, and functioning of American society in the 1960’s. Wolfe does this in a very interesting way. He portrays the story through a journalistic research, yet fictional style of writing. He also goes between plot, poetry, flashbacks, and even changes in point of view throughout the book. This is seen as a major strength in the portrayal of the story. The three major sociological themes within the book are the following; counter-cultures, religion, and intersubjectivity. The book follows Ken Kesey, the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and his followers that called themselves the “Merry Pranksters.” Wolfe depicts their…

The Me Decade was the decade of the 1970s which was thought of as or characterized by narcissism, self-indulgence, and a lack of social concern in many, especially in young people. Because of this era an article called the Me Decade written by Tom Wolfe, a writer from the New York Magazine, arose on the 23 of August 1976. The intended audience of this article is, in my opinion, the ones who lived in this generation or those who are trying to learn about it. This paper was written to inform the…

Within the first couple sentences of “The Angels”, a short story by, Tom Wolfe, the element of anticipation is portrayed very early. A couple of sentences deeper, it seems that the wives of pilots are dismayed by “bad news”. Bad news can only mean one thing when it comes to pilots. A crash. The theme of the whole story can be figured quickly. The theme is death. Death is something almost every human being fears, simply because there is no way to prevent it. No matter how rich, poor, healthy,…

The idea of free will as an illusion has become a hot topic in neuroscience, still even nearly twenty years after this article was penned, due to the controversy it attracts regarding morals and self-determination. Tom Wolfe argues, in a rather snarky tone consistently seen throughout the article, that the concept of a self is dead—much like Nietzsche’s preceding declaration that God is dead. However, the concept of self is not yet dead in neuroscience like Wolfe predicted. Rather, more…

Tom Wolfe’s essay “Putting Daddy On” tells the story of a father and son dispute. The essay’s character development, dialogue, and style all contribute to conveying a unifying message; the theme of this work is that people ultimately cannot control or save the ones they love from making poor life choices. Wolfe begins the essay by introducing his friend Parker. The author provides an engaging and detailed explanation of Parker’s background and persona. “I think Parker is a casualty of the…

In Tom Wolfe’s essay, “Digibabble, Fairy Dust, and the Human Anthill,” Wolfe utilizes his knowledge of sociobiology to explain the concepts of “convergence” and the “noosphere”, which are thought to be precursors to the World Wide Web, i.e., the Digital Universe. He found a specific interest in convergence. Wolfe states, “Thanks to technology, ‘the hitherto scattered” species Homo sapiens was being united by a single ‘nervous system for humanity,’ a ‘living membrane…a unified consciousness that…

It has been almost one month since that incident with Michael and his wife. It took about three weeks for me to even fill comfortable sleeping in my own home. I became so jumpy and paranoid getting in and out my car until I just had to tell myself, enough is enough. I was no longer going to let some women make me afraid to live in my own home. It’s not like Michael had a key or anything. I stop by the health food store today and picked up some miso paste, portabella mushrooms, spring onions,…

Throughout American art, nature has played an important role in depicting a specific time and place in American history or serving as beautiful backdrops to showcase wealth and stature. Weather it is Jutus Engelhardt Kuhn’s portrait of Fig 3.4 Henry Darnall III or Benjamin West’s depicting Fig 4.23 The Death of General Wolfe, we are taken back to a specific time in our country’s history and as we move through time artist like John Vanderlyn’s portrayal of Fig 4.52 The Death of Jane McCrea he…

Benjamin West revealed his painting at the royal academy in London, ‘The Death of General Wolfe’, it created controversy, as much of the illustrated events were inaccurate to historical information. General James Wolfe was the commander of the British in 1759 during the Seven Year War between France and Britain for control over North America. In 1759, Britain gained dominance over France and General Wolfe became a figure of power and authority after his death on the battlefield in Quebec 1759.…

In Caroline, Or Change by Tony Kushner, Kushner tells the story of a black woman named Caroline, who is a domestic worker living in New Orleans. Caroline works for the Gallman's, and in the house, she befriends Noah, a young boy who recently lost his mother to cancer. The play focuses on two aspects of change: pocket change and the literal idea of change. In an attempt to get Noah to stop leaving pocket change in his clothes, Noah’s new stepmother, Rose, allows Caroline to keep any of the change…