The Allure Of Luxury By Chuck Palahniuk

In The Prince, Machiavelli doesn’t hesitate to recommend that a ruler employ conventionally immoral methods against his own subjects to maintain authority over them, but he does imply that whatever a ruler does should ultimately benefit the community. A Prince’s actions may be cruel, manipulative, or otherwise immoral, but they put him in the position to govern. On occasion, Machiavelli even suggests that gaining power through immoral acts is the best way to improve a community because immorality is pragmatic in a way morality is not. A strong ruler established by immoral means can then do good for his state; Machiavelli indicates that simply having power is not enough. A ruler should also use it well. Admittedly, a ruler may only want to do good for his state in an effort to secure his own position at its head, but the effect he has is no less good for the lack of selfless reasoning behind it. Machiavelli implies that a strong ruler who necessarily acquires and keeps power through immoral actions has a generally good effect on his state, which is a naturally moral byproduct of otherwise immoral deeds.

In the poem “Fear and Fame by Philip Levine, readers gain insight into the struggles of a blue collar worker. The intimate description of the worker highlights the dangerous and monotonous work he performed but also accentuates the pride of the blue collar worker. Levine’s use of meter and rhythm, irony, figurative language, and tone provide an understanding of the difficulties faced by blue collar workers.

“If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.” (Richard M. Nixon). In his investigative biography, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer, expresses that even though young people can be ignorant and take treacherous risks, these can be used as knowledge enhancers and can be life changers.

Often heralded as the world’s greatest nation, the United States is also considered home to the world’s greatest authors. Reputable authors such as Fitzgerald, Twain, and Steinbeck remain relevant even through the washing waves of time. One such timeless author, Ray Bradbury, ventured the hazardous path of taboo to write of change. Through his novels of innocent youths evolving into children enlightened beyond their years, Bradbury utilizes the motif of time, innocence, and the philosophical movements of existentialism, transcendentalism, and romanticism to describe catastrophic events the American culture could face if existing destitute judgments continue to prevail. Ray Bradbury dared to reveal his voice.

What is it that we find crazy about those who have the courage to do what we won’t? In the compelling novel “Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer the character and intelligence of the youth in men is questioned. Through the pieced together 200 page novel we are introduced to Christopher Johnson McCandless also known as “Alex Supertramp”. A ripe 24 years of age he chose to question our reality and his meaning of life that is given to us by hitchhiking across America to the Alaskan wilderness, where after four months in the last frontier he is found dead. Krakauer throughout the novel shows that although some admire what McCandless did, others found his final journey “reckless” and “crazy”. Krakauer goes to explain this claim through interviews of those who have encountered McCandless on his adventure and through those who got to know his story.

“Happiness is only real, when shared.” - Jon Krakauer Into the wild. Jon Krakauer, the author of Into the Wild told the story of Chris McCandless. Chris escaped reality and went to go live off the land in Alaska, hoping to live a simpler life. In the novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless shared a similar philosophy with Jack London, as they both have a strong passion for Alaska, they both appreciated they beauty of nature, and both wanted to be reborn.

In the short story "The Guest" by Albert Camus, Daru's predicament goes hand in hand with France's difficulties and Camus' self-appreciation. In the short story “The Guest” we are introduced to see Daru’s concern to attend the political situation in the French North

Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, narrates the life of adventurer and free spirit Christopher McCandless, who died August 1992 in the Alaskan wilderness; however, his journey still remains relevant in today’s pop culture due to the unresolved controversy of whether he is a saintly role model or hubristic fool. Krakauer openly states that he “won’t claim to be an impartial biographer” (Author’s Note) due to the parallels he struck with McCandless, and provides a more idealistic approach to the biography. By having this biased point of view, Krakauer readily attracts many critics such as Craig Medred, who wrote the article The Beatification of Chris McCandless: From Thieving Poacher into Saint, which discredits Krakauer’s legitimacy and emphasizes McCandless’s narcissistic personality and naïve nature. He has also sparked many questions including why McCandless’s story is so significant, which writer Laura Moss tries to answer in Why Are We Still Talking about Chris McCandless?. While it is clear that McCandless’s story has affected every reader due to its many interpretations, two distinct sides form: the avid romantics and their counterpart, the pessimistic realists, which provokes the question of which argument is more valid.

In April 1992, a twenty-four-year-old man walked into the Alaskan wilderness alone, only for his decomposed body to be found in August of that same year. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. Some people thought he was crazy but others who looked deeper into his past, such as Jon Krakauer and I, found that there were elements of emotional trauma and adolescent defiance that led to his sense of narcissism and avoidance behavior. Through a better understanding of Chris’s family dynamic, we can start to understand Chris’s behavior, and perhaps our own. In the novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, we see the authoritarian parent personified in Walt McCandless and the long term effects that such a parenting style has on his son, Christopher Johnson McCandless.

“All happy families are happy in the same way, but all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way” (Tolstoy). Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer tells a story about a young man called Christopher McCandless who comes from a well-off family who then out of the blue deserts everything to journey on an “Alaskan Odyssey”. There isn’t a sane man who donates all his money, leaves everything and everyone he loves, and changes his identity to “Alexander Supertramp” to venture on a journey that makes him face starvation, poverty, and death. Krakauer describes Chris’s family as the dysfunctional family in which spares Chris’s parents and focuses more on what he did rather than why he did what he sought out to do by leaving. However, the answer lies in his relationship with his family. His negative relationship with his family members, mostly his parents, is what drove him to produce unexplainable behaviors that lead him to run away from society and in the end cost him his life.

Jon Krakauer’s compelling novel, “Into the Wild” is a true story about Christopher McCandless’ search for identity. McCandless was enamored in the idea of escaping a life that revolves around material possessions. The non-fiction treatment of this young life illustrates through the rebuilding of events in McCandless’ life the idea that McCandless seemed obsessed with how people appeared blind to the fact that they were living unhappy lives yet were terrified of giving up that life because it was safe, provided security and stability. However, for McCandless, nothing was more dangerous to the free spirit within him than that safe secure future. Krakauer with an eye to journalistic detail describes McCandless’ journey using

This film presents a worldview of business that drips with materialism. The late 80’s was a fairly prosperous time for America. For the characters represented in the film, success was measured by how nice your apartment was, what types of suits you wore, and where you had dinner reservations for the evening. According to literary critic Jeffrey W. Hunter (2000), American Psycho is largely a critique of the "shallow and vicious aspects of capitalism. The characters are predominantly concerned with material gain and superficial appearances, traits indicative of a postmodern world in which the 'surface ' reigns supreme.”

Materialistic items play a key role in the world today. People use these items, such as technological appliances, to fulfill their daily wants and needs. However, most people do not realize the negative effects of such a heavy reliance on material goods. In “The Allegory of the Cave,” Plato shares his idea that an overdependence on items can negatively affect ethical decisions. This idea is discussed in “The Veldt,” by Ray Bradbury, The Truman Show, by Peter Weir, and Daniel Key’s novel, Flowers for Algernon. Throughout all three stories, characters greatly rely on items and other people, leading them to make unethical decisions. In some cases, people are objectified as a result of being needed, desired, and treated unfairly. In “The Veldt,” The Truman Show, and Flowers for Algernon, an overreliance on items leads to a loss of focus on morals and what is ethically important.

American consumerism is a trade of nonsense, it’s a fake piece of paper that controls the world and you trade it for something that you truly don’t need. When we first meet the Narrator, he is a robot just buying things to fill his hole that is his emotions. “We’ve all been raised on television that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars,but we don’t and we’re slowly figuring that out and we are very, very mad about it.” This is Tyler Durden, a confidant that helps the Narrator out of his shell, and gives him “freedom”. Tyler

Everyone 's a critic. We critique everything we see. We critique people’s outfits, their sense of style, and even how they write. Imagine putting stories or novels out there for everyone to see. Well millions of writers get critiqued everyday on their writing especially Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman’s stories “How To Talk to Girls at parties”, “Cinnamon”, and “Stardust” all share one thing in common that a feminist critique would point out: the poor portrayal of woman. A feminist critique would point out the unfair bias or lack of equality. In all three of these pieces the woman are shown in different light as men.