Cynicism

The style and motives of Ambrose Bierce are those of a great intellect and cynic. Ambrose Bierce used graphic images to get his message across in a lot of his stories such as "Chicamauga" and "The Affair at Coulter's Notch". A good portion of his short stories were stories of innocent people and soldiers and their experiences. He also wrote a book called "The Devil's Dictionary," which reinterprets a few terms in the English language. Ambrose Bierce's cynical perspective, which can be seen within

in 2006, uses geography to reveal the deeper meaning of the work, and develop the moral traits of the man, a main character. McCarthy utilizes the weather, atmosphere, beach, and the human population in the novel in order to reveal the themes of cynicism, fatherly love and mortality through the man. The weather and atmosphere McCarthy portrays in The Road exhibits the

In his short story, “For Esmé, with Love and Squalor,” J.D. Salinger utilizes the function of secondary characters to expose the correlation between the contrasting ideas of idealism and cynicism. The three minor characters of Esmé, her brother Charles, and Corporal Z all play different but necessary roles in the mental and emotional development of the main character, Sergeant X. While the characters of Esmé and Charles represent the best traits of humanity, their lifestyles contrast that of Corporal

war caused made many soldiers bitter and cynical toward those at home. In addition, resentment was stirred up in soldiers due to the “wartime employment of women in traditionally male jobs” (Berenson 432). Also wartime propaganda was false creating cynicism (Berenson 434). In addition to remarking on the hardships of war, in many of Sassoon’s poems, he speaks to civilian disillusionment. Which can be seen in the poem “Suicide in the Trenches,” previously discussed, and “Does it Matter?” There is an

The word hope is often used in moments of despair, more precisely to lift people out of those moments. For so many, hope is the light at the end of the tunnel, in the moments when it is hard to get back up it is often this ambiguous term that helps them get up. Of course, all words take on several meanings, and there are always different ways someone can interpret a word. However, according to the Oxford Online Dictionary hope is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen”(Oxford

independence of all earthly and material luxuries and by living in accord with nature.The first philosopher to outline these themes was Antisthenes, who had been a pupil of Socrates in the late 5th century BC (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Cynicism is one of the most striking of all the Hellenistic philosophies. It offered people the possibility of happiness and freedom from suffering in an age of uncertainty. There was never an official cynic doctrine, but at the time of Hellenism, the beliefs

William Golding's View of Humanity Taking a post at the Maidstone Grammar School for boys and joining the Royal Navy, gave Golding his understanding of boys and cynical view of the war. William Golding says, "the theme (of the book) is an attempt to trace back the defects of society to the defects of human nature..." Golding's view of humanity is clearly displayed throughout Lord of the Flies. Through the constant symbolism we are made aware of Golding's pessimism towards

Much has been has been discussed of Hamlet’s madness and insanity. There have been endless arguments of whether his madness is feigned or unfeigned. Although, minimal arguments have been made about Hamlet’s pessimism. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare 's most pessimistic plays, and as such it delivers the message that in a fallen world, reality often fails to match the ideal. The human experiences held up for pessimistic contemplation in Hamlet includes death, grief, loneliness, insanity, loss of meaning

Essentially, postmodernism is a very unique literary style. This is because, there are not many boundaries when it comes to these types of works. The themes involved within postmodernist works are often unusual and off-the-wall. By using aspects such as unreliable narrators, maximalism, and pastiche, authors within the field of postmodernism are able to create works that bend reality and provide very unique stories that intertwine countless themes. Within other genres of literature, pessimism and

lived in the utmost organic way by avoiding empty pleasures, psychological pain and not depend on opinion of others. For Epicureans, the natural life is moderation in pursuing desires and removing all unnecessary troubles and fears from the mind. Cynicism focuses on rejecting conventional desires such as power, status, sex and wealth, and live in agreement with nature by finding the bare natural needs for our existence. Both philosophies draw attention to prioritizing mental health and well-being