Darkness at Noon (1940), discusses the most intriguing and widely debated principles of political systems; justice, morality, and philosophy. These three concepts are touched upon several times throughout the novel to describe the ways of the Communist Party and the ruthlessness of the Soviet Revolution.
Rubashov, who is the main character, spends most of his life advocating on behalf of the Soviet Union Revolution, and now he’s suddenly had fallen on the opposing side. Though there is no direct mention of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, he is constantly referred to under the name No. 1. This novel is divided into three separate hearings, which is similar to those from the Moscow trials. At the beginning of the novel he is arrested for seemingly no reason, immediately he knows that he is in an isolation cell and will remain there until he is shot . He spends much of this time thinking in his cell dealing with a toothache, until later he is able to communicate with the cell next to him. The second hearing starts with an entry from Rubashov’s diary where he mentions his struggle to find his place with the other Old Bolsheviks. By the third hearing Rubashov is being interrogated by Gletkin, who is a soldier and abuses him through methods of psychological torture. Toward the end he finally confesses to the false charges that are brought against him and becomes haunted by the memory of other agents that were in the same situation before him He realizes that he is being treated
Author Karl Jacoby, Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History, depicts the events of three ethnic communities that led to the demise of Apaches within the Arizona territory. Karl Jacoby's Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the violence of History, explores the events leading up to the death of 140 Apaches encamped at Aravaipa. This event which took place near a U.S. military base known as Grant Camp shed light to the justified actions of grouped communities versus the Apaches. The accused groups of Anglo-American, Mexican American, and Tohono O'odham took part in a brutal massacre that would later be acquitted of any wrongdoing. The efforts of the federal government were not enough to aid or bring justice towards the Apaches. Author Jacoby has pieced together the geographical networks which sparked a chronological list of minor and major conflicts between the other ethnic communities and the Apaches. The Author's purpose of Shadows at Dawn is to highlight the injustice through oral histories, primary sourced documents, and various perspectives that factored in Apache existence.
Many teenage kids have had the feeling before that they have tons of pressure on them. In Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club and H.G Bissinger’s novel Friday Night Lights teenagers have a difficult time dealing with all of the pressure that is being placed on them by their parents and the expectations that their parents have for them. In “Two Kinds” from Amy Tan’s novel the Joy Luck Club Jing Mei’s mother is trying to push her to become a prodigy and Jing Mei is beginning to crack under the pressure. Also in H.G Bissinger’s “Dreaming of Heroes” Mike Winchell is trying to live up to his late father’s legacy of being a great Permian football player.
People often take for granted their right to vote. During civil rights African American men had a hard time registering to vote and women all woman had no voting rights. In the historical fiction novel, Midnight Without a Moon by Linda Williams Jackson, the main character Rose Lee Carter is affected by black people being shot for registering to vote. One person that was shot was a person named Levi Jackson who worked on her grandparents farm. African American men had a hard time registering to vote unlike white men in the civil rights era. In the story author altered and used history to add drama and show people what used to happen when African American men registered to vote or helped others register to vote.
Were it a testimony to the rigors and cruelness of human nature, it would be crushing. As it is, it shatters our perception of man and ourselves as no other book, besides perhaps Anne Franke`s diary and the testimony of Elie Wiesl, could ever have done. The prisoners of the labor camp, as in Shukhov?s predicament, were required to behave as Soviets or face severe punishment. In an almost satirical tone Buinovsky exclaims to the squadron that ?You?re not behaving like Soviet People,? and went on saying, ?You?re not behaving like communist.? (28) This type of internal monologue clearly persuades a tone of aggravation and sarcasm directly associated to the oppression?s of communism.
Human nature can be analyzed through feelings, characteristics, and behavior. Humans are capable of expressing different emotions such as hate, frustration, remorse, happiness and other emotions depending on the situation they are encountering.Various aspects of human nature can be observed through many forms of media. Often times humans are portrayed in a negative way, however there are certain cases where they are portrayed positively, like in the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel. Evil acts, discrimination towards others, and perseverance for survival, are all apart of human nature.
Rubashov, though a committed Marxist, during his time in the prison seems vexed by the notion that the end justifies the means because he has himself seen that the final result is often not what is seen in the present moment but the truth that becomes apparent only in the light of retrospective thought. Rubashov realizes that it is only history that can pass judgment and thus, the shooting of B. and thirty others by No. 1 will be decided later “He who is in the wrong must pay; he who is in the right will be absolved. That is the law of historical credit;
First, let me introduce you to the main character himself otherwise known as the murderer in this story. Raskolnikov is the main protagonist of the novel, making the story in his point of view. He is very alienated from society due to his
Another prominent feature of the novel is the effects of the Great Purge on society. Fear and brutality reigned while logic and decency disappeared. Beginning with fear, this emotion can be seen throughout the novel. Starting at the beginning of the novel, fear is shown when the police come to arrest Rubashov. “‘Be quiet,’ shouted Vassilij, ‘Here is Authority.’ The woman became quiet at once (7)…The house was silent after the one shrill woman’s cry, but they had the feeling that all inhabitants were awake in their beds, holding their breath (8).” When the people in the house realized the police were there, they became very quiet and listened. As people were taken away during the purges, people stayed quiet to avoid becoming involved. This fear is also seen when Richard and Rubashov see a bodyguard of the regime while meeting. Richard is clearly afraid and stammers heavily (39). Another important instance of fear was when Michael Bogrov is being led away for execution—he shouted for help, screams, whimpers, and hangs like a doll (144). Another example of fear is Hare-lip. While in the third hearing with Rubashov and Gletkin, Hare-lip had a hunted gaze, trembling upper lip, a white face, and a sunken head—he “quivered as though struck by a whip” and “in his eyes appeared the flickering of naked animal terror” (200-211). He clearly was terrified and was only offering this testimony due to a desire to stay alive. The book mentioned that Hare-lip looked utterly destroyed—the
As a prolonged attempt to preserve his fragile ego, Raskolnikov’s experience with guilt reveals his weak self-esteem. Thus, although Raskolnikov fails his own test of strength, his double murder opens his eyes to the emotional vulnerability he did not expect to see in himself, instilling an ever-present sense of guilt that characterizes the remainder of the novel.
Depression is the leading mental illness worldwide, affecting millions of people every day. As one of the most common mental illnesses, it can occur to anyone, at any age, and to people of any race or ethnic group. With his book Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, William Styron became of the first people to publicly acknowledge his struggling battle with depression. Darkness Visible is an intense and haunting account of Styron’s own suicidal depression in which he reminds us of the toll that this dreadful illness can have on an individual. As Styron describes his own descent into depression, he tells about the place that he was in, “the despair beyond despair” as he describes it to be. Since its publication, his memoir has been appreciated throughout the world and become a helping hand for people around the world who are suffering from depression. Styron’s description of his experiences resonates with people in a deep and profound way, turning his work into an advocate for the movement for the awareness for depression
The protagonist, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a former student, decides to murder and rob an old pawn broker, Alyona Ivanovna, not due to his desperate need of money, but due to a theory he wants to test. Raskolnikov leaves no evidence which would lead the investigation to him; however, the police lieutenant in charge of the case, Porfiry Petrovich, a meticulous thinker, understands Raskolnikov’s theory and has a big role in influencing the student to confess. Between the murder and the confession, Raskolnikov undergoes a long and painful process of thought. His friend, Razumikhin Prokofych, along with a prostitute and his future significant other, Sonia Semyonovna Marmeladova, are part of the protagonist’s path. In the end, Sonia turns out to be Raskolnikov’s salvation as she helps him find redemption and start living
The author is using personification by saying that dusk is pushing the estates into darkness. Dusk can not physically push something into darkness. The housing development that Sawyer lives in is very quite, and there are no people living in the houses. She always feels like someone is watching her and she doesn't feel safe. She has received scary anonymous notes. They have altered her life greatly which is why she has many reasons to be scared of the dark.
The novel has four parts, in the first one Goncearov describes how the sheltered noble of 31 years spends a normal day in his house in St. Petersburg: a nightmarish slumber. How can a perfectly peaceful day develop comparable to an awful dream? In a foggy perception of time, Oblomov wakes up and falls back asleep, plans than looses train of thought, wants, however accomplishes not, is affected yet senseless. And through all this his mind judges, he is a judging and fantasizing machine.
Even when Raskolnikov was asleep he received painful messages of others who were suffering, just as he was. In one particular instance, before the double-murder, Raskolnikov is brought back to the poverty he suffered throughout his childhood. He once again feels a great empathy toward the suffered, but this time
The story is spread over a period of 26 years, where the main character Aksionov changes over time. He becomes a person whom everyone in the prison, including the guards, trust. He was liked for his meekness and his fellow prison mates respected him. He was called’ grandfather’ and ‘The saint’. He became the spokesman for petitions and was the person to whom people came to when they had quarrels or any kind of problem. He is interpreted as a person who stuck to his values and his identity even after all the years in prison. He had no news of his family and was hurt by this fact alot. He had aged over the years and looked older than his age. His hair was gray, he stooped, walked slowly spoke very