Violence In The Shelter And The Monsters On Maple Street

“The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is to a more violent world” (Arendt pg 80). Violence is contagious, like a disease, which will destroy nations and our morals as human beings. Each individual has his or her own definition of violence and when it is acceptable or ethical to use it. Martin Luther King Jr., Walter Benjamin, and Hannah Arendt are among the many that wrote about the different facets of violence, in what cases it is ethical, the role we as individuals play in this violent society and the political aspects behind our violence.

      Often, simple physical conflicts are used to develop characters and to increase the suspense and action between them. In J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield the 16-year-old narrator and protagonist claims to be a pacifist. Holden views the world as an evil and corrupt place where there is no peace. As a sincere person living amongst phonies, he views others as completely immoral and unscrupulous. In the novel violence is used to further develop Holden's character. This is shown through his physical conflict with Stradlater, his conflict with Maurice, and the suicide of James Castle.

What has our society come to these days? Everywhere we look, violence is present, at the streets, at work, at school, and even at home. Every day in the news we see reports about shootings, wars, thefts, drugs, rapes, and deaths. The worse part of seen this in the news is that all way do it’s complain about it and sit back. We do not even attempt an explanation or a resolution. Violence is among one of the most malignant act that has been increasing day by day. And why is it that we complain about other people being violent, but when we are asked if we are violent or if we have ever responded with violence, everyone says they are not violent. But if among ourselves we are not violent then who is it that makes our society a violent society?

What has America come to? Although the articles, “We’re No.1(1)!” written by Thomas Friedman, and the article “Violence is Who We Are,” by Steven Crichley, have different overall subjects, they have a similar arguments. The world isn’t as great as it used to be, we are lacking good leadership, and we happily invite wrong doings into our lives.

One thing that people do when they do not know a certain objective is that they might start to get enraged or frightened and they can start to turn very violent. The show called The Twilight Zone, is a series of short stories that follow different groups of people that face different problems. They all come back to the main theme that humans are really monsters. In the short story, Monsters are Due on Maple Street by Rod Serling a group of people soon find out that the power is cut and they are suspicious that an alien is behind this. It shows two weapons of humanity which are suspicion and scapegoating. There are some ways that suspicion led the humans to turn on each other and how it is shown to go against humans.

Violence is not the answer for resolving your problems. Violence can be saved in abounding ways, but they can also end in tragic manners. Violence can cause wounds, injuries, and as well deaths. Consequently, many suffer in pain as you carry the burden of having killed someone.

Throughout history violence has plagued our human race. We have passed laws to protect society, but the

There are very few situations in which violence is the proper response. However, even before this country was established Americans have been using violence to communicate their ideas when they feel that they are not being heard. A very good example of this is the race riot, which has been a very frequent occurrence in American history, especially in the past century. Whenever a riot occurs, those involved often come under heavy scrutiny, and are heavily criticized as savage or unintelligent. In Particular the Baltimore riots of 2015 were heavily scrutinized and those that were involved were often referred to a senseless thugs. However I believe that the Baltimore Riots were a necessary evil that helped the country to move closer to equality.

Rory Miller once said, “The only defense against evil, violent people is good people who are more skilled at violence”. What he means by this is that everyone has a sense of violence in them, but some people choose not to express it, but under circumstances it’s a man eat man world. The prisoners in the book, Night by Elie Wiesel, were nice regular people before they were put in camps and at the beginning, but as time passed by they were being deprived of food and every human need, they started to change. They became more aggressive and violent. In certain situation people change, they will start worrying about themselves and only themselves.

Violence They say violence is not the answer Yet it manages to seep through us like cancer Why is it that violence can be found everywhere? Why does it haunt us like a constant nightmare?

    Why do people act out in violence and suspicion when they are scared? That is what the people of Maple Street did in the The Twilight Zone episode “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” Created by Rod Serling. On an ordinary street, in the late summer, a meteor flies over Maple Street, USA. After it passes everybody part of the neighborhood is surprised that the all the power is off. Steve, a man that lives on Maple Street, wants to go into town to see if the police know what is going on. But, when he tries to turn his car on it doesn’t turn on. Pete Van Horn, thin man, cuts through the back yard to see if the powers on in the next street over. Tommy, a 14 year old, tells the others that they shouldn't go to town because the people in the meteor don’t want them to. They also had a family, that looked like humans, to look over the neighborhood until the monsters came. Everybody wonders where he got that gibberish. Tommy answers, that he got it from all the comic books he read. Can the people of Maple Street figure out the situation before they destroy themselves. Therefore, one of the themes in this episode is fear of the unknown leads to distrust and violence.

In “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” written by Rod Serling, the events, characters, and actions strongly enhanced the plot. For example, the passage states “ you might not be able to get to town. It was that way in the story. Nobody could leave. Nobody except.” The words said by Tommy drew a lot of concern and false accusations to the people of “Maple Street”. Prompting more problems and situations such as the words said by a woman in the crowd “You killed him, Charlie, you shot him dead” really sparked a riot within the people causing prejudice statements and hatred among the people. Which lead to an outbreak of chaos within the people causing unnecessary violence, for example “As a rock from the group was thrown smashing a window alongside

There are two sides to many things, one could argue that there are two sides to everything. Violence is not excluded from this argument. The two possible sides, or viewpoints, that are a result of violence can easily be seen as extremes of either side. One side could argue that violence is something that is necessary and the other argue that violence is only a tool for destruction. People who insist that violence is necessary in order to move forward view it as a way to sway the outcome to their benefit. For those who see violence as a cowardly tactic to control people, violence is a useless display of power and dominance. Yet violence has also been a way to defend oneself from people who pose a threat. This can lead people who have good

Another example of humanity’s struggle with violence theme happened when Kino killed a man in self-defense. Kino was caring and friendly; he would never intently mean to harm or kill anyone unless someone was bringing harm to him and the things that he loved. One night a “dark one” on the path attacked Kino as he was walking toward his brush hut. The “dark one” wanted Kino’s pearl and would do anything to get it. In return, Kino also wanted the pearl and would protect it at all cost. The following quote demonstrated the violent actions that resulted due to this attack, “He heard the rush, got his knife out and lunged at one dark figure and felt his knife go home” (59). Kino’s violent actions towards the dark figure revealed the theme of violence. This dark figure, who attacked, Kino wanted his most valuable possession and Kino was not going to give his pearl up for any reason. Kino protected what was his, his pearl. Kino felt he attacked the “dark one” in self-defense, but the way the town’s people thought it was different. Violence, once

Violence is an issue in human nature. Everyone has their own definition and their own interpretations of violence. The big question is if the world is still growing in its violent nature, or is it finally reaching its solemn, peaceful generation. The evolution of violence has grown in many different paths from survival of the fittest, genocide, slavery, etc. According to Steven Pinker’s article “Violence Vanquished,” he explains how the world is entering an era of peace because we do not deal with the same violence our ancestors did in the past. That is true. We abolished slavery, stopped brutal wars, and revolutionized with strategies such as commerce. Pinker analyzes his arguments very well, but negates common issues of violence that we still