Essay on Guilty Betrayal in Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon

Night, by Elie Wiesel, expands on the idea that people in power can carry out countless demeaning and cruel acts, while everyone else stays silent about the oppression and mistreatment witnessed. When Wiesel arrives at Buna, he experiences unfair punishments without a cause. His Kapo, Idek demonstrates the abuse of power during a fit of rage, and “he [leaps] on [Wiesel], like a wild animal, hitting [him] in the chest, on the head, throwing [him] down and pulling [him] up again, his blows growing more and more violent, until [Wiesel] was covered

Authors often use their works as a way to express their own opinions and ideologies. However, it is the skill of the author that determines whether these ideas are combined with the plot seamlessly, making a creative transition of ideas from the author’s mind, to the reader’s. There is no doubt that George Orwell is a masterful writer, and one of his most popular works, 1984, clearly expresses his negative views of the Totalitarian government. A common theme in the dystopian society in 1984 is betrayal: The Party is very intolerant towards any form of disloyalty, and anyone who plots against them or Big Brother will eventually either betray their own mind and accept Big Brother as their leader, or be betrayed and revealed to The Party by

The Matrix, written and directed by Lary and Andy Wachowski, is a 1999 science-fiction action film that has been regarded as one of the most igneous and highly imaginative films of all time. It depicts the complex story of a dystopian future in which the reality perceived by most human beings is actually a simulated one created by AI machines who use the suppressed humans as energy sources. Though the main characters of the story have freed themselves from the matrix, one character named Cypher (a.k.a. Mr. Reagan) regrets learning the truth and wants to return back to the dream world. Cypher is an example of antagonist Agent Smith's belief that "as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering" as he believes

Darkness at Noon, written by British novelist Arthur Koestler in 1940, is a criticism of Stalinism and the methods used by the Communist Party in the USSR. The novel was set in 1938 during the Stalinist Great Purge and Moscow show trials. Even though the story depicts actual occurrences, it does not specifically name either Russia or the USSR, but the characters do have Russian names while other generic terms are used to depict individuals and associations. For instance, the Soviet government is alluded to as "the Party" and Nazi Germany is alluded to as "the Dictatorship." Joseph Stalin, a terrorizing dictator, is represented by "Number One." The novel is a strong and moving picture of a Communist revolutionary caught up in the terror

Not only does the novel use the Party’s intolerance of betrayal to its ideologies as a method to facilitate the feeling of alienation and loneliness, but also that of the individual characters’ betrayal of one another. There are several examples of this throughout the novel. Some of these examples are when Charrington betrays Winston and Julia, when Parsons is betrayed by his children, when Winston and Julia betray one another, and when Winston finally betrays himself. George Orwell used these examples to demonstrate how the party was able to sever any type of loyalties between people and even one’s self. This betrayal only perpetuates the fear of relationships causing people to welcome isolation.

Part of what makes “Night” so challenging to read is knowing what will inevitably happen to many of the characters during this time era. Like the sinking of the Titanic, the fate of most will be tragic. Knowing that these innocent men and women in the novel were forced to endure such torturous events and had the ability to avoid them is painstaking to read. The verbal, situational, and dramatic irony seen throughout Elie Wiesel’s memoir makes his experience during the holocaust even more unreal.

During World War II and the Holocaust, there was not only mistrust for the government but there was also plenty of mistrust for prior friends and neighbors. In the graphic novel, “Maus (Volume I and II) Vladek Spiegelman makes it very clear to his son, Artie, that one cannot count on their friends. He makes the point that in time of hardship, friends will abandon you quite quickly. Vladek says, “Friends? Your friends…if you lock them together in a room with no food for a week…then you could see what it is, friends! (Maus, VI. 5-6). Throughout the novel, we see examples of this gloomy point proven repeatedly.

The novel Night sincerely bring to attention the power society has over humanity and what is seen as wrong and right. The powerful events of the holocaust have a deeply emotional impact, along with the important message of the world and its hidden horrors within. Society makes a habit of keeping its inhabitants in the dark; therefore, todays world may be just as corrupt as Hitlers, it just hasn't realized it

The Russian Revolution and the purges of Leninist and Stalinist Russia have spawned a literary output that is as diverse as it is voluminous. Darkness at Noon, a novel detailing the infamous Moscow Show Trials, conducted during the reign of Joseph Stalin is Arthur Koestler’s commentary upon the event that was yet another attempt by Stalin to silence his critics. In the novel, Koestler expounds upon Marxism, and the reason why a movement that had as its aim the “regeneration of mankind, should issue in its enslavement” and how, in spite of its drawbacks, it still held an appeal for intellectuals. It is for this reason that Koestler may have attempted “not to solve but to expose” the shortcomings of this political system and by doing so

The novel “Night” was written by Elie Wiesel and is a memoir of his life during World War II. The book starts with his life living in Hungary with his family. It then tells of how they were taken away to concentration camps throughout the war. During Elie’s stays at the various camps you see the sacrifices he makes and how the experience changes him.

Many of Man's struggles are usually the result of societal standards, control, and punishment. These struggles are present in both One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Through setting and internal monologue, both authors depict the effects of the brutalities of communism on Man's spirituality.

The accusations against him, brought by Briony Tallis, held him responsible for the violation of her cousin Lola. Robbie reflects on this, as Briony plans to refute her statement to the police, “The intricacies were lost to him, the urgency had died. Briony would change her evidence, she would rewrite the past so that the guilty became the innocent. But what was guilt these days? It was cheap. Everyone was guilty, and no one was. No one would be redeemed by a change of evidence, for there weren’t enough people… to…gather in the facts.” (188) Robbie’s loss of security and his future took away the childlike carefreeness he displayed before the accusation. Briony’s conscience weighs heavily on her as she moves from a naïve implication to the realization of the consequences.

Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale," a relatively straightforward satirical and anti-capitalist view of the church, contrasts motifs of sin with the salvational properties of religion to draw out the complex self-loathing of the emasculated Pardoner. In particular, Chaucer concentrates on the Pardoner's references to the evils of alcohol, gambling, blasphemy, and money, which aim not only to condemn his listeners and unbuckle their purses, but to elicit their wrath and expose his eunuchism.

J.M Coetzee is a distinguished author who has written over sixteen novels and has even won a nobel prize for his inspiring work. Coetzee is best known for his controversial novel Disgrace. A story that captivates its readers and keeps them on their toes. The setting takes place in South Africa during the post apartheid era. A time where people were divided into races and whites held power over the minority. The protagonist David Lurie is a college professor who lives a promiscuous double life. Sleeps with different women, but never feels nothing more than a physical connection towards them. David finally gets the sparks he’s been waiting for after he begins a sexual relationship with one of his students. The relationship between David and the student quickly expires after her boyfriend finds out, as a result; the student has no choice but to report her teacher for sexual harassment. After David is reported, he tries to plea for forgiveness at an school council meeting. The board decides to fire David for inappropriate conduct and forces him to flea the country. He finds refuge with his daughter Lucy who has been living on a farm by herself. David see’s this downfall as an opportunity to mend a broken relationship, but things only get worse when rapists break in their home and impregnate Lucy. David sustains serious injuries as an result of the attack, and the relationship between the father and daughter is salvaged. The plot thickens when Lucy decides to keep the child and

When one tries to relate the protagonists David Lurie from Disgrace, Changez from The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Offred from The Handmaiden’s Tale, they appear to be polar opposites from each other with no similar characteristics, motives or personality types. However, there are similarities on how the authors developed their principal characters of the books through the relationships that the protagonist have with other characters, primarily their love interests. Offred, David Lurie and Changez relationships with their love interests have key similarities that provide the framework for the characters’ development through this interaction.