Selfishness And Pride In Twentieth Century Literature

The memoir,”Night”, shows the perspective of Elie Wiesel, a young boy that was sent to a concentration camp alongside hundreds of other Jews, that lost their valuables , faith and family.The terror within the concentration camp slowly deteriorate the Jews ,physically and mentally.The jews had a choice to be selfish or selfless,given the jews’ situation it is best to do what was in their best interest. Throughout Elie Wiesel’s memoir, “Night”; many individuals had a hard time navigating the brutality within the concentration camps.Through these times of brutality, many people in the camp had to choose to either be selfish or altruistic. Given the jew’s situation, it is better to act selfish than to be altruistic.

Loss of innocence and corruption of man are two of the main 20th century themes demonstrated in British modernism in the characters Kurtz in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the British Officer in Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”, and Trevor in Greene’s “The Destructors”. Corruption of man and loss of innocence is portrayed in Heart of Darkness; Kurtz has everything he wants. He has power, a mistress, and loyal followers, which are the savages of the Congo. Marlow, however, was a different person before exploring the Congo. Not only is corruption of man and loss of innocence in Heart of Darkness but also in “Shooting an Elephant”, the British officer is hated throughout his community and when he gets the chance at fame in the community, he takes

In the poems ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson and ‘Exposure’ by Wilfried Owen, both poets incorporate ideas of patriotism to convey a message about the futility of war. This is revealed in many similar and different ways:

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis suggests that choices made on earth have a consequential effect towards our acceptance into heaven or our plummet into hell. In this book pride manifests itself in a hundred subtle ways as souls whine about perceived injustices or irrational motives. Thankfully, a few tourists do humble themselves, become transformed into marvelously real beings, and remain in heaven. But most don't, about which the great Scottish author George MacDonald, Lewis' heavenly guide, says, “They may not be rejecting the truth of heaven now. They may be reenacting the rejection they made while on earth”.

Selfishness is defined as the act of being someone who lacks concern for others, only caring for personal gain. Often, people are selfish due to a lack of empathy, misinformation, or a lack of information. The ability of literature to have us experience different worlds through different perspectives is fairly useful for combating this. In fact, literature can shock us about the idea of selfishness and give us pause and new insights into it, if not necessarily cause us to realize our own lack of selflessness and shock us out of it.

Throughout history, there have been a multitude of events that have corroborated that self–interest. For instance, the Great London Smog, was an incident that occurred in December, 1952 that massacred approximately four thousand people. The event was inevitably caused by the industrial revolution, which caused Britain to be slathered with factories that polluted the environment it was located in. The demand for tangible and luxurious products led to an increase of factories, which manifested to a repugnant environment that was inadequate for human life. The selfness exhibited displayed not only ignorance, but aided to confirm that humans are innately selfish, as they satisfy their own desires, despite the dowry of their actions upon their society and their

Throughout the years of being human, one realizes that life isn’t just about surviving, but it’s about winning a competition that's made out of self absorbed goals. In order to conquer this mission we have set for ourselves, we feel the need to occasionally tear down others. William Shakespeare wrote Julius Ceasar to show that humans can be destructive, we can easily be manipulated when we are vulnerable, and when humans want something we are willing to go to any length to obtain our desires. Humans can be selfish and mean in the sense that they only help themselves survive to the finish line in this cruel world. When Brutus found out he could be king he caused his wife to stab herself in the leg because she started to over think things, he killed Ceasar with the help of the rest of the senate, and he also ended up killing himself and Cassius.

The poem “Soldier” is Brooke’s views on the possible occurrence of his own death in the field and what he feels that foreign country would gain from his death. When viewing his own death Brooke only looks at the thoughts and ways England has provided him with in the course of his life. Towards the end of the poem as if looking at the end of his life he mentions that he feels no anger or feelings of evil or hate toward the enemy or anything else but instead recollects all the wonderful things about his country.

The nature of mankind is inherently selfish. Every action one takes is in their best interest, making decisions with the intent of benefitting themselves in the end. This selfishness is seen in all people, even if some do not realize. Selflessness is just an illusion. One may think the actions they choose are based off of pure intentions, but in the end they still gain personal benefaction in some way. Selfishness is a built in instinct. People need to survive and are constantly looking for ways to do so. One common strategy is compromise. People cooperate not to appease the other side, but to get the most out of the situation for themselves. Compromise, although seemingly for the good of the people, is overwhelmingly based on self-benefit. People are smart enough to know that without cooperation, they could end up with nothing. This strategy maximizes one’s own success.

Oscar Wilde once said. “Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live; it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” Throughout “Selfishness” (88Tonio88, 25-3-13) a comedy routine carried out by Louis C.K. he begins to describe how it is difficult to stray from a selfish path. As he speaks he shows acceptance that selfishness is something that cannot be rid of completely but one can learn how to deal with it. “It would be mayhem if everyone [acted that way]” Louis describes.

I wasn't asking you to change and definitely not expecting it, so not sure why the hostile statement at the end of your email.

Victors pride eventually leads to the death of family and his once desired creation. Satan wishes to be god and as does Victor, in both writing pieces this causes then to show great amounts of pride and envy. “A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.” Fankenstein Cpht 4. This quote shows Victor's ego and how he as a person has built upon it, he believes that is he can create a living being that he himself is like god. Satan desires to cross the gates into heaven but when Lucifer himself fell he was judged, then he became Satan. His pride is most evident in Book 1 after he is thrown from Heaven in his failed rebellion against God. “A mind not to be changed by time or

Rupert Brooke’s belief and expectation of war contrasted Wilfred Owen’s opinion on the war. Rupert Brooke’s poetry encouraged men to sign up for recruitment into the English army. Although Brooke passed away before he got to serve his country in the war, he firmly believed that dying for one's country would be romantic, noble and heroic. Brooke’s poetry contained unintentionally misleading beliefs of what dying while serving your country was like. An example of this was from his poem ‘III The Dead’ where he writes that “Dying has made us (soldiers) rarer gifts than gold”, death doesn’t make you more valuable or “rarer than gold”, dying is dying. The only difference between dying while in combat and dying peacefully is that in combat, you’re

Pankaj Mishra, an Indian essayist and novelist, once said, “As the 19th century progressed, Europe's innovations, norms and categories came to achieve a truly universal hegemony.” Ranging from the the topic that begins history books to the site of major tourists attractions, Europe, appears as number one on the list each time. Whether in 600 A.D. or the 21st century, Europe, to this day, leads the leaders of all. To elaborate, the entity of Europe, most prominently England, could and still can rule and surpass all others in the race of life. Through these strengths, they possess the ability to enlighten others with their workings and ways of life, in other words, their customs, traditions, and attitudes. Their cultivation of the masses worldwide can be viewed through the functioning of society present day and even in the past. In essence, the finest accomplishments of Europe get reflected in its artwork, namely literature. Through literature Europe, mostly England, expressed its ideals for the rest of the masses to accept. For instance, Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” and John Galsworthy's “A Man of Property” comprise of two major examples that characterized the ideals expressed in British society during the 19th century. While Galsworthy's work manifests controversial commentary on certain attitudes through depicting the specificities of one family, the Forsytes, Wilde, as clearly seen, prefers a more satirical

To begin, selfishness is one of the most common personality traits shared amongst society, Kenneth Grahame’s literature features the theme of how making rash decisions can lead to dramatic effects to those around you. As this is still seen today through historical marks such as, the Zimmerman case which led to social movements across nations. Sadly not every selfish decision made leads to something greater. Such decisions include WWII and dictators amongst history. Kenneth Grahame’s use of personification by having animals represent humans in many of his stories can be interoperated as an analogy for how making selfish and rash choices, can cause humankind to look barbaric and primitive, just as animals.