Into the Nethergrave: A Literary Analysis
The Internet. A very intricate, complex place brimming with wonder and horror alike, with many falsities weaved into the “web”, it is hard to trust people. In “Nethergrave” by Skurzynski, this happens with a small 8th grader named Jeremy. He finds the only friends he has, only to lie to them and be lied to, and it puts his whole world in perspective when he is sucked into his computer and meets a mysterious person by the name NetherMagus. Skurzynski uses characterization and conflict to present the theme of mental health and mistrust and misguidance. It is quite obvious in this particular story that the main character isn’t completely stable. From his bullies, to absent parents, to literally lying to his only “friends’” faces about who he is, it starts to reveal a pattern that points well into classic major depression with a little of pathological lying and a smidge of neglect, which yes, he has a brand new computer every year, but he never sees his father nor has a mother that is actually around for him when he might need her or that cares about his mental wellbeing.
~Characterization~ The author uses direct characterization in the first page of this story to describe Jeremy, “Jeremy might be a scared, skinny eighth-grade wimp, but he was a healthy one.” (Skurzynski 1), which leads the reader to believe that he is most likely a tall boy that is quite skinny and weak-looking. Another
If a child or adolescent feels bullied in any way talk to a parent or reliable friend. Express what is going through can make an enormous difference to the way you feel. Therefore, Anja Schultze-Krumbholz and others discuss the hurtful pain that cyberbullying has caused throughout the years in the book "Feeling Cybervictims' Pain-The Effect of Empathy Training on Cyberbullying “. The authors illustrate “Cyberbullying has been linked to media-specific risk factors and correlates such as risky self-disclosure, sharing of passwords, and deviant online behavior such as visiting chatrooms with violent, pornographic, or extremist content” (Schultze-Krumbholz (142). Unfortunately, people can use your private information to bully or even use your information. For example, if you don’t have your Facebook private someone can copy and paste your pictures and make a fake Facebook saying crude things. If your child is harassed with anxiety issues, there are some coping approaches that can be effective if your child’s uncertainties. For instance, some individuals find that sketching or writing down their fears helps. Not only does this preparation help them release the stress and anxiety, but it also redirects their mind from unpleasant issues.
Internet addiction is now considered to be a “grave national health crisis”(Dokoupil 2012, 27). Several cases have emerged where people went completely insane due to the abuse of technology. This was to the extreme where two parents were so addicted to taking care of their virtual baby, they forgot about their real child. The infant was neglected to death. Another case is of a son who turns on his own mother when she suggests “he log[s] off”(27). As a response, the young man beats his mother until she eventually dies. These aren’t the only examples of insanity and for this reason, for the first time in history, “Internet Addiction Disorder will be included...in an
In the stories “Nethergrave” and “The Sound of Thunder”, there are lessons and examples of real-world problems. However, I think that the problems that are in “Nethergrave” can be most associated with kids of today. While “The Sound of Thunder” addresses a similar topic children and teens can relate more to “Nethergrave”. Children, but mostly teens, can relate to Jeremy because he does not fit in much, doesn't like hanging out with people, and likes to be alone and play one the computer. These kids should realize that the online-world is not always going to be nice and happy, something may go wrong they will end up getting hurt.
The Internet, a word that is vaguely observed by the many people of this world, is an idea that plays with people’s minds and manipulates individuals by slowly taking over the way they conduct themselves. A person’s mind and the way they control their daily lives changes as the Net dominates the world of technology. In the novel The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, the Net is expressed through the psychological and mental health of people’s habits. Over time, society has become accustomed to the ways of self-connection and a loss of interpersonal communication, using the Internet as their shield from the communal society. No matter the type of person an individual identifies as or what electronic device
This self-description of the narrator says it all. He gives a brutal, yet inflated description of himself and his friends that gives the reader a very round main character.
“Is there, then an evil that is innate, that is the little piece of monster in all of us.” (Cusatis). Every person has two sides, no one is completely good or completely evil. In the East of Eden, John Steinbeck uses a biblical metaphor to illustrate the innate good and evil that humans encounter. The novel includes several characters that are purely evil or do evil deeds. The Trask family is directly correlated to the Garden of Eden and other biblical narratives. “Steinbeck puts more into his stories than Genesis 4” (Fontenrose). Steinbeck illustrates the concepts of good and evil, family, and love to describe the frailties of the human experience.
The second and final work I am critiquing is from a book entitled, ‘The Life of William Wordsworth: A Critical Biography’ written by John Worthen. I have selected a chapter which pairs nicely with article mentioned above. The chapter features both Wordsworth and Coleridge as well. However, it is not as critical as the article, it is more biographical and informational which is to be expected in a biography. The chapter focuses on the years 1806 to 1807. It begins with the mention of the death of Wordsworth’s brother, John. According to Worthen, this deeply effected Wordsworth and he had little success with the poetry he was writing during this time. Worthen then, points to ‘Elegiac Stanzas’ which confronts his late brother’s death, displays a new sense of reality, and again redeems him as a poet. Worthen states, “The poem makes the narrator 's youthful state of ecstatic, thoughtless love for the natural world — ‘of lasting ease, / Elysian quiet, without toil or strife’ — utterly unreal, in contrast with the realities of life as he now knows them. A ‘fond delusion of my heart’ he calls that old love, ‘to be pitied’ not believed in” (328). The author implies that the death of his brother drastically changed his worldview. The bleak reality of a world without his brother led to Wordsworth becoming more mature and wise after experiencing loss. The author then shifts to discussing ‘Tintern Abbey’ and his reflections during a time of youth. I believe that the author mentions the
Throughout history, no single piece of technology has been so heavily relied upon such as the internet. Things such as the first car, the first telephone, and even the first airplanes were not as easily, or readily accessible as the Net is today. In all reality, the internet is the greatest and most useful tool that humanity has ever dreamt up. From instant transferring of data to endless sources of information, the Net not only connects all corners of the world, but makes each and every person more knowledgeable and self-aware. But as with all new and virtuous things, there is a darker and more dangerous side. The internet is a tool that consumes the intellectual, changing the way the brain functions and ultimately creating a reliance. This reliance is so severe that all of life’s functions depend on the internet without the same dependency being reciprocated. The relationship is one sided, where the Net has much to gain while the user has little. Furthermore, in its relatively new state, the internet is very obscure and has very questionable ethics. Although beneficial in specific cases, the internet affects one’s emotional state and latently mars cognitive function while creating a devastatingly powerful and coercive reliance.
The field of psychology is steadily expanding due to the progression in technology, which is being driven by the advancement of civilization. More and more time is spent on the internet, which has gradually altered the method in which primary communication takes place. Previously face-to-face interaction was touted as the primary method of interfacing with one another, now communication via the internet is almost mandatory to establish and maintain healthy relationships (Greenfield and Yan, 2006). This is especially true amongst children, adolescents and teenagers. The need for psychologists have never been greater in order to assess how individuals are able to acclimate to this societal change. Traditionally, there are two methods in which children, adolescents and teenagers communicate via the internet, through social media and video games. Each primary method presents their own unique social challenge. In response to the issues in of teenagers over use of the internet, psychologists are providing assistance for internet addictions at a greater rate. The first method utilized by mental health professionals is traditionally counseling and if those efforts fail, then the potential exists for adolescents to be placed on medications.
Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is mainly known for his trilogy that investigates, using fiction, the history of Nigeria. The trilogy begins with Things Fall Apart, followed by No Longer at Ease and ended with Arrow of God. Furthermore, in this critically analytical essay, through a feminist perspective, a chapter of his second novel, No Longer at Ease, published in 1960, will be discussed. The setting of the novel is Lagos, Nigeria and Umuofia, Nigeria during the 1950s, before Nigeria attained independence from Great Britain. The novel, No Longer at Ease begins with Obi Okonkwo on trial, charged for accepting a bribe. However, using flashback, the author takes us back to the point before Obi’s departure
Macklin’s point is that people have become so dependent Internet that is has strongly effected everyday life. This is risky because feelings of loneliness or insecurity could often lead to depression and depression is a much larger dilemma than Internet addiction. “Even 15-year old boys are sharing some part of their feelings with someone out there”(Goldwasser 237). By stating this Goldwasser demonstrates how dependent teens have become on the Internet. Goldwasser also shows how a popular trend of teens today is that instead of expressing feelings in a person they will express them online. People are beginning to avoid any personal interaction and they
The ‘Internet’ is one of the most used search tool on the earth, used by majority of the world’s population for research, communication, conveniences, entertainment and much more. Over the years, cases in relation to negative transformation of human behaviors, where people are becoming emotionally depress, horrified, vulnerable, addicted through the internet has become a serious problem for many people around the world, including us.
Adolescents are known to be resilient when facing struggles. Resilience is being able to adapt to different challenges in life (Goldstein & Brooks, 2012). While in the past adolescents have had to deal with daily struggles of being a teenager, now they have to learn how to have online resiliency as well. There is a definition of online resiliency that describes it as “being able to deal with a negative experience online: i.e. not remaining passive but displaying problem-solving coping strategies in order to protect oneself from future harm” (Vandoninck, d’Haenens, and Roe, 2013). While teenagers have the ability to become resilient online, they need to be aware of what resources they have available to them as well. Being able to talk to an adult, and having peers who care are two ways to help youths reach online resiliency. Those who feel alone and have low self-esteem are typically those who choose self harm over finding help (Papatraianou, Levine & West, 2014). Papatraianou and colleagues suggest using an ecological model to help students and prevent cyber bullying. He suggests building up their support using their family, schools and peers. Since some adolescents might feel alone in one of these areas, they need to be able to know where else to look for help. By using this model, there is a greater possibility to help youths rely on their strengths to make it through cyber bullying.
The Internet is a technology that has negative impacts on our daily lives. It has changed aspects of our life for the last 50 years, and it has demonstrated the considerable influence on people’s lives. Almost 3.2 billion people in the world use the internet. The Internet has gained acceptance across the globe, and it has also become a reason behind the critical changes in the modern society. Some of the changes are social isolation, health disorder, lack of privacy and internet addiction.
For such a long time, physical bullying has been the largest problem schools and parents had to face with their children, but now another form of bullying has arisen; cyber bullying. In society today, teens are drawn cell phones, laptops, and other technological advancements. Social media is a way for many teens and adolescents to interact with one another and share countless happenings of their personal lives. Cyber bullying occurs when individuals use the internet to send or comment cruel and unnecessary messages to another. In its various forms cyber bullying includes, indirect and direct harassment, posting inappropriate pictures, impersonating another being, or just being plain cruel. Although anyone can become a victim of cyber bullying, improper use of the internet can further induce harassment, due to the adolescents desire to use modern day technologies. The harassers could be classmates, online “friends’’, or anonymous users. One barrier that is difficult to overcome is determining who is responsible for the attacks online, because many bullies hide behind fake usernames or profiles to protect their real identity, which is commonly known as “hiding behind a screen”. (Bonanno 2013). The motives for a cyber-bully are never clear, some might say