A World Lit Only By Fire

In A World Lit Only By Fire, William Manchester explains why he started to write this book, when he began writing due to an illness, and how he was too weak to move but not to write. Manchester had decided to branch out from his usual american history book, and begun to write about Magellan, a european explorer, inspired by other explorers like columbus and navigational, Vasco da gama. and the ¨portrait of age surrounding him”. Though Manchester only uses secondary sources to complete this book, it reviews the religion, education, exploration, and the philosophy of the 16th century. Manchester also describes the poverty, corruption, and violence of the dark ages. And finally, Manchester tells of how the reform acts as a hero of the time, bringing hope and prosperity to the middle ages.

Mankind has been utilizing fire for millennia; it has been used to make food safe, to provide warmth, to illuminate the dark and unknown, and to protect from savage beasts. It is also practical for torturing, killing, intimidating, and destroying. It only takes one glance for someone to see how fire -- as it dances, spearing the sky for but a moment before it is gone, only to be replaced by another flame -- is far too chaotic to be controlled. In the world of Fahrenheit 451, it seems, superficially, that man has conquered fire at last; the home, man’s refuge from everything undesirable in the world, is fireproof. Why, then, are things still burning in this gilded utopia? In this futuristic society where there is no such thing as an uncontrolled fire, fire has been reduced to a mere tool to be wielded by mankind. As such, fire, in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, is a reflection of the true nature of each character in the novel. In the hands of the society and especially the fireman, fire is a tool wielded for fractious and destructive intent. For Clarisse, who is compared to a candle, fire is friendly and inspiring of thought. And for Montag and the other literates hiding outside of the city, fire is a warm gathering place that fosters kinship and the proper ideals to feed a revolution.

19. Magellan's discovery of the Philippines was significant because it proved the world was round.

Religion in Europe was affected by the religious movements and because of it caused many problems for the churches in Europe and the people. The church controlled the people and did not allow anyone but people of the church to recite the bible, in doing so the people had to trust what the church was saying. The church would use the bible as a way of controlling the people, they would lie about what the bible said in order for them to receive money or to make people do what they wanted (Doc.2). The church would lie to the people and tell them that the only way to help free a loved one from Purgatory would be to pay for them to

In the book A World Lit Only by Fire, the author, William Manchester, describes the period of time between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the start of the Renaissance known as the medieval period, or Middle Ages. The church had the most power in Europe and people struggled with surviving events such as epidemics. Consequently people had very short lives that may have not served them well. Every person in Europe during this time would eventually hear, “Bring out your dead!” as the gravediggers’ carts rolled down the street each night after an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague. Life during the medieval period was brutal and harsh with everything from church domination and the constant warring over political power to diseases and

The disease took a major toll on the population of Europe but as it wiped out communities it also caused changes in the social structure of European society. Europe was run by a feudal

The societal mindset that was prevalent in medieval Europe, feudalism, phased out due to the bubonic plague and the religious beliefs of the people.

After the Black Plague crippled Europe, a new period of time erupted known as the Renaissance slowly developed. The Renaissance is known as the “rebirth” for Humans. The reason for this meaning during the 14th century was because of the radical changes in the culture of Europe. The Middle Ages was surrounded by religion in many aspects. The Black Plague helps stimulate the idea that religion is through the individual. Religion in Europe was starting to becoming not so literal, but more of a personal connection with God, instead of a strict public connection. The starts of the renaissance, commoners or nobility were not focused on taking over the family business, but focusing on other career options of interest. The ideas and the development of Humanism were established during the renaissance through the idea of religion being more personal.

During medieval time Europe had a hard time. It was around the time of Pope Boniface VIII represents a horrible time in history with dramatic struggles that happen between the secular ideas of a growing number of people's groups and leaders against the a tough influence of the Catholic Church.

Manchester begins the book with an examination of the conditions in Europe during the Medieval Ages, which he titles “The Medieval Mind.” This era is plagued with famine, illiteracy, plague, and violence. He gives examples of the Black Death, murder, and common daily violence surrounding the courts of Europe, for instance a tournament at Dusseldorf in 1240 ending in the death of sixty knights. His concept of the medieval mind created in violence and death of the age was also influenced by the power of the church, specifically Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who declared the “the pursuit of knowledge, unless sanctified by a holy mission, a pagan act and therefore vile” (Manchester 9). The medieval man was left with nothing to ponder besides the power of God, which led to “medieval man’s total lack of ego” (Manchester 21).

Erasmus’s Praise of Folly is a humor-filled satire of pretty much everything. It is filled with wit and sarcasm which make light of serious problems and blow insignificant issues out of proportion all the while bringing a smile to the reader’s face. It is not stinging humor at the expense of others (unless, of course, the shoe fits), rather it is directed towards everyone. Erasmus even includes himself in the joke, practically parodying himself in the first section (xvi). In Praise of Folly, Erasmus uses this humor to criticize without the harsh judgment of seriousness. His humor parallels the import of his subject. When Folly discusses the

What could have possibly gone wrong? It was the early fourteenth century, the Church had unified most of Europe under Christianity, and all seemed to be going well, (as well as one could be in the Middle Ages). So what went wrong? Climate change, or the “little ice age” as historical geographers call it. This change bought on bad harvests and a great famine, and like the butterfly effect, in was only downhill from there. Doubt in the Church’s performance, violence throughout social classes and the bubonic plague eventually added up to bring on the decline of medieval

Satire is a literary genre that uses humor, sarcasm, and irony to express and mock contradictions between what is real and the value in ones ethics. One of the works in which Desiderius Erasmus used satire would be, in his writing of “Julius Exclusus” (Pope Julius Excluded from Heaven). Desiderius anonymously depicted the recently deceased Pope Julius II in a hypothetical, comic conversation with St Peter at the gates of Heaven. Pope Julius II, also known as the “warrior pope,” defined his place as bishop through wars and splendors of temporary ceremonial honors, ignoring his pastoral duties to the people. Upon arriving to heaven, St. Peter comments to Julius on how he sees a flood of soldiers with him smelling of brothels, drunkenness, and

Lets take it back 80,000 years, to when fire was first discovered. The film Quest For Fire was set in Paleolithic Europe, and provides an accurate idea of the behaviour and life of the early human species. By watching the film, it is clear to see that some tribes/groups are very different from others, such as the homo erectus and the homo sapiens. The homo sapien specimen was the precursor of modern humans, and was therefore capable of doing a lot more than the homo erectus could. For example, the homo sapiens were clearly more socially advanced than the homo erectus.

Desiderious Erasmus wrote an essay titled “In Praise of More” for his friend, Thomas More, in which he uses a female named Folly to make fun of the many problems within the Catholic Church and society in general. More was good friends with Erasmus and they often enjoyed joking around with each other. The original title in Latin, “Morias Enconium”, translates to “In Praise of More”, but the play on words here comes from the meaning of the Greek word “moria” which translates to “folly”, or foolishness. Therefore, the name “Folly” is used in pure entertainment as the female character praises herself with her good and moral quality. The problem in doing this was that initially the work was meant to be kept between Erasmus and More, but it became