Comparative Analytical Text Essay
The Twins of Siam and The Elephant Man
Essay question:
People who are physically disabled all lead similar lives.
Do the Twins of Siam and the Elephant Man show this to be true?
The Elephant Man is the true story of Joseph Merrick’s life from Tim Vicary’s novel. Joseph Merrick was born in London in 1862 and later, he developed a disease that made him disabled. The Twins of Siam is a short text about Change and Eng, who were the conjoined twins, born in Thailand in 1811. These characters in both stories are all disabled and lived in the 18th century. Even though they all experience physical disabilities, Joseph Merrick’s life does not have a lot in common with Chang and Eng’s. While they are all physically disabled and stared at by others, Joseph’s life is more miserable since he suffers more abuse than the twins do. However, Joseph Merrick and the twins all have some happiness experiences in their lives, but he experiences more loneliness and misery than Chang and Eng. Although these three men feel frustrated because of their disabilities, they all find some activities that they enjoy and make the best of their lives.
While Merrick, Chang and Eng are all physically disabled and stared at by others, Joseph’s life is more pathetic since he suffers more abuse than the twins do. Unfortunately, Merrick has been humiliated and treated terribly by a man called Silcock in his early days, and he has no way of escaping his miserable life. When
“The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson is a story based off of its point of view, the story would not be told or understood in the same way if it was written in a different point of view. This story keeps the interest of it's readers because it has a point of view where only the people in the story know whats going to happen and know more information than the readers do. If this story was written in first person the readers would know what the lottery was from the beginning of the story and that would make the story not have the surprise ending that confuses the audience.
From what we are told, we can obviously tell that Joseph has a very difficult life as it is, “What can a crippled, speechless boy do, asked Joseph…” Nolan is telling us that Joseph thinks of himself in a negative manner. But while he may look in himself in a negative way, he is still optimistic, explaining
When Joseph was thirteen, he made a decision to fall in love in order to distract his mind from the abuse he was suffering at home. The text states “ “.(Shmidt). Everyday, Joseph would walk seven miles to see his loved one and when they eventually had a child, his dedication sky rocketed. This impacted his life greatly because when Madison died during labor, he became depressed, and he wasn't even able to see his daughter because he was underage. Joseph felt so low, that he even accepted drugs from another's student in his school, and this made him insane enough to strangle a teacher. He then was sent to prison, and eventually ended up in a foster home. This all wouldn’t have happened if Joseph was smart enough to stay out of a serious relationship at such a young age. This section of the book informs the reader that your decisions can greatly impact your life. Once again, Joseph’s decision to enter a serious relationship impacted his life, and in this case the impact was
Human beings have full control over their identities after they have received knowledge and have become shaped from external stimuli. These stimuli include the teaching process of humans which comes through tradition, schooling, and the actions of other humans and the influence of the organisms around them. Andrew Solomon, through “Son,” was able to use his experience of growing up and labeling himself as a gay dyslexic to show how his environment and knowledge had shaped his identity and how it was viewed by others with different identities. In “An Elephant Crackup,” Charles Siebert was able to explain how the other organisms or humans are able to form new identities for elephants over time by shaping them a new environment and having the elephants process it. In “Mind’s Eye,” Oliver Sacks had different case studies of blindness from different people and was able to show how each one experienced their blindness help shape and express their individual identities. The stimuli that becomes processed by a person in the situations, accounts, and studies of these works assist in the role of explaining the formulation of an identity.
Jacob’s preferential treatment towards Joseph was destructive, and created dissension among Joseph’s brothers (fueled sibling rivalry –
Joseph began his life as the favorite son of Jacob who tended to the flocks as a shepherd.3 These humble beginnings foreshadow how one day Joseph will tend to the Seed of the Woman during times of famine in the land by giving food to this eleven brothers. Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, had eleven other sons who were jealous of the special attention that Joseph received. In fact, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.4 Joseph had a dream that predicted that Joseph would one day reign over his older brothers. This upset his brothers and they tricked Joseph by selling him into slavery. Joseph was then taken to Egypt where he was sold to Potiphar and became a servant in
On the other hand, at first Joseph, who was new to basement living often, spent his days quietly pacing. Anna noticed that at times he appeared to have silent remorseful secrets in his eyes and a tortured soul. But as time passed, he too accepted his fate and began amusing himself by talking. He would talk about anything and everything, including the occasional whiff of Miss Margot's perfume which Joseph said, "reminds me of a day when I had walked into my house and found that it was warm and cozy and smelt like sweet vanilla and pine
As a child, Joseph hears many rumours and stories about Tom’s potential “deformity and madness” however “whatever the truth might have been, it was soon lost like a delicate flower in a tangle of noxious weeds”. This shows how no one really knew the truth about Tom Leyton, as it had long been lost in a sea of rumours, meaning that whatever Joseph first heard about Tom was probably either flawed in reason or wildly exaggerated. As Joseph became closer with Tom Leyton, Joseph discovered that Tom was a “tender carer of silkworms”, “reader of poems” and “shy gift-giver”. This demonstrates that Joseph has been able to move past his initial perception of Tom and find out more about the real man. When Tom opened up to Joseph about his time in Vietnam and in hospital “the painful revelations” of his past were like “a wound that needed time to heal before life could move forward again.” This shows that even though it is very hard and even painful for Tom to talk about these things, it was very important as it allowed Joseph to fully understand Tom’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and experiences in Vietnam. Joseph’s final portrait of Tom depicts a “gentle smiling face” “with eyes that shone with the wonder of someone who had just witnessed a miracle.” This clearly outlines how Joseph’s initial perception of Tom was changed when he learnt about the true Tom Leyton and his final portrait of Tom demonstrates this clearly. Despite the vicious rumours that clouded the truth about Tom Leyton, Joseph was able to uncover what the real Tom Leyton was like which clearly demonstrates that what we hear about someone, in no way reflects all there is to know about
In the short story, The Elephant in the Village of the Blind, there are a group of blind villagers that come across a conflict amongst themselves. The villagers are being introduced to an elephant for the first time in their lives. In curiosity, they all feel different parts of the elephant, observing the different textures and body parts. As they discuss their different views and experiences from touching the elephant their personal ideas created conflicts. As they disagree, it creates an interesting representation of human interaction. In this story, the conflicts that arise between the villagers represent the small bubble of human observation and subjectivity, and how much of human interaction is about competing to be correct in our beliefs because ego and self worth drive how we interact with each other.
Over the period of a few days, Joseph Simmons goes from being a pretty flat character who is seen as the big, silent type, to stepping up and helping lead some attacks on the British. He goes from looking to others for approval to stepping up and finding his own voice. He also gains a son in Adam, when his father, Moses Cooper, is lost in the battle. A good man overall, Joseph Simmons is somewhat simple, extremely moral, and very kind.
Joseph was often sent out to spy on his brother for their father. He often tattled to his father about their wrongdoings. Joseph had dreams that he shared with his brothers that made them not like him even more. In his dreams, he had power over his entire family. This caused Joseph’s older brothers to hate him so much that they plotted to kill him. Instead of killing him; they beat him and sold him
No one understood what he was going through and he had no one to lean on. Because he has to deal with everything himself, he has many internal and external conflicts. He has to deal with the fact that his only friend and the love of his life is gone forever. Unfortunately, he does not fully share his thoughts or problems to the reader or people around him. With a positive tone, the author states that "it was inside him and outside him, and it was already starting to scream, and it was getting louder and his brain was getting louder and he threw water in his face but he couldn’t stop it” (Schmidt 82). This quote displays the fact that he is a very troubled boy who has a lot on his plate. Joseph has to overcome all of his problems by himself, and he feels like he is going to explode. Joseph is also becoming a dynamic character because he starts to get closer to his family. Once he does this, he beings to tell them his story, and what had happened to him. This is an incredibly important part in the story because it really shows the reader what Joseph is like on the inside. Similarly, it explains that he is capable of sharing his
of his capabilities. Similarly, Joseph is able to establish himself as a superior to his
As innocent and young the Disney movie “The Lion King” may seem, it is, indeed, loosely based off of the renowned Shakespeare play “Hamlet”. It would seem strange to the typical audiences of each, but when looked at closer, it is seen that they are actually related underneath the youthful, animated surface of The Lion King.
One of the inherent conflicts in the story of Joseph is the tension between Joseph and his brothers. The tension between them is caused by both Jacob and Joseph. First, Jacob shows favoritism toward Joseph, because he is the son of his favorite wife Rachel. Second, Joseph brings back bad reports when he is out pasturing with his brothers. However, what truly increased the hatred and jealousy was the Joseph’s dreams. The author notes that when Joseph recounts the dreams, “they hated him even more (Gen. 37:8).” Their jealousy for Joseph is strong enough that they are willing to murder him. However, they decide to instead sell him into slavery, and convince Jacob that he was killed.