Madly desirous for glory Essay Example for Free

Madly desirous for glory Essay In the second letter Walton writes about his progress to Archangel. In the letter he describes his crew. Waltons description of his ships master suggests that he is the embodiment of goodness. He frequently applauds the courage of his lieutenant. The lieutenant is madly desirous for glory. In this letter the theme of alienation arises. Like Victor, Waltons ambitions isolate him from his family and friends: But it is a still greater evil to me that I am self educated. Shelleys choice of words are designed to anticipate Victors need of a friend. It does this by implying that Walton is annoyed that he had no one to teach him, and that he had no companions. The third letter that Walton sends simply expresses confidence in his quest: I write a few lines in haste to say that I am safe and well advanced on my voyage. Shelley may have decided to add a short letter to show that Walton maybe playing down the dangers of his voyage. He finishes the letter by saying: Heaven bless my beloved sister. This clearly shows that Walton is a caring person.  The fourth letter is when Walton catches a glimpse of the creature. The crew take Victor on board. Walton believes that he has found a friend in Victor, and confides his ambition. This letter emphasises the admiration and affection that Victor inspires in Walton, who sees great nobility in this divine wanderer. In some ways Walton can be seen as a double to Victor Frankenstein. Walton rebels against his fathers decision for him to not go to sea. This is very similar to Frankensteins father, who dismissed Victors interests in science. Walton decides against the life of ease, he explains that My life might have been passed in ease and luxury, he explains, but I preferred glory to every enticement that wealth placed in my way. Shelley has added this to show a relationship between Victor and Walton. This shows that they have similar characteristics, and desire the same things from life. The fact that Walton is introduced before Frankenstein may show that Shelley was preparing the reader for Victors desire for knowledge. Although the two characters can be related to each other, they also have significant differences. Walton is not quite so alienated as Victor. Rather then rejecting companionship, Walton longs for an intimate friend to share his hopes and dreams. To add to this point, Walton is also is not so isolated in his search for knowledge, whereas Victor, whose midnight labours and secret toil keep him completely secluded. The fact that Walton had a crew around him prevented him from falling into the trap of Victors individualism. The first chapter begins in an embedded narrative, with Victor telling his story to Walton. Victor begins his story by describing his early life in Geneva, his tranquil domestic life and the young orphan Elizabeth, who becomes part of the household. Victors interest in science eventually takes him to university at Inglostadt. His experiments lead him to the discovery of a secret life force. He constructs a human form out of dead tissue and brings it to life. Horrified by his actions, Victor abandons the creature. One of the main themes portrayed by Shelley in this novel is that of birth and creation. When Victor gave life to the creature, he usurps the role of God. Victor imagines how, A new species would bless me as its creator and source No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. This shows that Victors main crime is not what he had done, but what he failed to do. He failed to father his creation. Victor is an isolated individual. However, unlike Walton, Frankensteins isolation is self imposed. It is also ironic in the sense that Victor rejects his family and friends, whilst this is simply what the creature longs for. Victor claims that the rejection of his family is necessary in order to continue the quest for the secret life. Alienation is a key factor in this novel. Victor chooses to isolate himself from others, whereas the creatures isolation is imposed upon him, due to Victor abandoning him, and people being generally scared of his appearance. However the creature does desire companionship, and he says that he becomes violent when he realises that he will never have this, I am malicious because I am miserable. This shows that the creature is humane in the sense that all he wants is a companion, much like any human. So the fact that the creature only becomes malicious because I am miserable represents that people become monstrous when the are isolated, and rejected from so ciety. When Victor creates the creature, he is flooded with a huge feeling of anti-climax. Victor repulses the creature on first sight. He refers to the creature as the wretch and is horrifies by the thing that he has given life to. This shows that Victor is only concerned with physical appearance. This shows intolerance of imperfection and a flaw in Victors character. Victor rejects the creation; this is like a father rejecting his child. When the creature came to life Victor may have realised the enormity of the monstrous deeds that he had committed. The passage in the novel shows Victor to be a monster, as he does not even try to understand the monsters cries for help. He has forsaken any duties he is expected to perform as a father. When the creature awoke from his sleep he convulsed. When Victor awakes from his sleep, his muscles also convulse. This could be one of the first signs that the creature is a double of Victor. Victor even describes the monster as my own spirit let loose from the grave forced to destroy all that was dear to me Victor has given a clear expression of the notion that he and the creature may be doubles, with the creature acting out Victors own aggressions. Shelleys description of the creature is full of pathos. The first things that the creature desires are love and affection, as all newborn things want. However, Victor denies him this. When Victor awakes from his dream, he finds the creature reaching out a hand towards him. Victor rejects this appeal for help from the creature.  This passage from the novel may parody The creation of man by Michelangelo, which shows God stretching out his hand to give life to Adam. The analogy of this is that Victor is playing God and that the creature is Adam. Another parody is the story of Prometheus, who stole fire from the Gods and gave it to the people on earth. The analogy of this is that Victor has stolen the power of life from the Gods and given it to the people. This is the reason for the book has the subtitle The modern Prometheus. Victor may be seen as monstrous in this passage, as he is usurping the role of woman, which goes against the laws of nature.

Jane Eyre :: essays research papers

Ten-year-old orphan Jane Eyre lives unhappily with her wealthy, cruel cousins and aunt at Gateshead. Her only salvation from her daily humiliations, such as being locked up in a "red-room" (where she thinks she sees her beloved uncle's ghost), is the kindly servant, Bessie. Jane is spared further mistreatment from the Reed family when she is sent off to school at Lowood, but there, under the hypocritical Evangelicalism of the headmaster, Mr. Brocklehurst, she suffers further privations in the austere environment. She befriends Helen Burns, who upholds a doctrine of Christian forgiveness and tolerance, and is taken under the wing of the superintendent, Miss Temple. An outbreak of typhus alerts benefactors to the school's terrible conditions, Mr. Brocklehurst is replaced, and Jane excels as a student for six years and as a teacher for two. Jane finds employment as a governess at the estate of Thornfield for a little girl, Adà ¨le. After much waiting, Jane finally meets her employer, Edward Rochester, a brooding, detached man who seems to have a dark past. Other oddities around Thornfield include the occasional demonic laugh Jane hears emanating from the third-story attic. Rochester always attributes it to Grace Poole, the seamstress who works up there, but Jane is never fully convinced, and the fire she has to put out one night in Rochester's bedroom plants further doubts. Meanwhile, Jane develops an attraction for Rochester, not based on looks (both are considered plain) but on their intellectual communion. However, the higher social standing of the beautiful Miss Ingram seemingly vaults her above Jane. Though Rochester flirts with the idea of marrying Miss Ingram, he is aware of her financial ambitions for marriage. An old acquaintance of Rochester's, Richard Mason, visits Thornfield and is severely injured from an attack†¹apparently from Grace†¹in the middle of the night in the attic. Jane, baffled by the circumstances, tends to him, and Rochester confesses to her that he made an error in the past that he hopes to overturn by marrying Miss Ingram. He says that he has another governess position for Jane lined up elsewhere. Jane returns to Gateshead for a while to see the dying Mrs. Reed. When she returns to Thornfield, Rochester says he knows Miss Ingram is after him only for his money, and he asks Jane to marry him. Jane accepts, but a month later, Mason and a solicitor, Mr. Briggs, interrupt the ceremony by revealing that Rochester already has a wife: Bertha Mason, Mason's sister, a lunatic who is kept in the attic in Thornfield.

Blended Families in Today’s Society Essay

Blended families, according to William P. Fuller the author of Preparing for Blended Families, are those comprising of at least one spouse who has a child or children from a prior relationship. These types of families â€Å"are becoming increasingly common and present a unique challenge when creating an estate plan† (Fuller 1). Similarly, according to Pauline Erera, â€Å"although traditionalists have held blood ties of consanguinity to be a defining characteristic of the family, others argue that we should define families according to the attachments and intimacy that individuals have toward significant people in their lives†, meaning even though they are a blended family, they should be considered a family none the less (Erera 352). A nuclear family, or the more commonly known traditional family, consists of a marriage by holy union and the promise to keep that marriage holy by staying with that one person â€Å"until death do us part. This includes the raising of any children within the family and the promise to provide them with food, shelter, clothing, water, and nourishment as well. Yet, there is still a need for a law which protects the marriage itself. This law states that it recognizes husbands of inseminated women as the real fathers and denies parental rights to donors or step-parents. Although, we still leave room in this law for things known as adoption, foster parenting, or informal care by other relatives. This is where blended families begin to show. Blended families seem to be considered the result of a previous divorce. Therefore, causing the need for the terms step-brother, step-sister, step-father, etc. Blended families then seem to become less of a family simply because of the creation of these terms, and their specific meanings. For example, it seems to be less meaningful to be step-brothers rather than actual biological, blood related, brothers. In the article, Toward Revels or a Requiem for Family Diversity? , Judith Stacey states that â€Å"the social scientists seem to have presumed that well into the twenty-first century dad and mom would remain singular and unproblematic concepts† (Stacey 390). Unfortunately, they were wrong. Although they predicted that the traditional family would remain unchanged, they seemed to have overlooked the fact that in time, marriage would not be as final as it used to be. There was no such thing as a proper divorce, once you were married, that was it. But in today’s world, â€Å"until death do us part† is not seen as often as divorce. Another overlooked remark of the social scientists is the fact that the family tree did not remain so â€Å"firmly rooted. On the contrary, the family tree has been split, blended, mixed, crossed, and spread throughout several generations of families. The word Family, in today’s American society, has so many different meanings that it is hard to distinguish one from another. Being able to categorize every single definition of the word is a task that no one has yet completed. Although, each and every meaning has one little difference, it all comes down to the same thing. A family is a family.

Our Greatest Influence Come from Our Family Systems Essay

Getting through life from conception to, the western idea of adulthood, takes many directions for every person. The impact of family, friends, everyday people and the stimuli of the various environments you were exposed to all have aided in your maturation. How do you think you turned out after being in your various environments? How did those environmental influences affect how you now behave? These influences are said to start at a young age, the age were, â€Å"preschoolers’ awareness of their ethnic or racial identity develops slowly and is subtly influenced by the attitudes of the people, schools, and other cultural institutions with which they come into contact in their community† (Feldman, 2014). Perhaps the greatest influences come†¦show more content†¦Until that balance is return the family is in a state of disruption or conflict (Hinson, viewed by this writer, 2014). The reaction to bring back balance is a sort of survival response to the adverse s timuli that has entered the family environment. Maintaining this system of balance within a home can be viewed as good or bad depending upon personal or societal perspectives. What system one family uses as discipline to maintain order within their home could be viewed by those outside of that home either as unhealthy or healthy based upon upbringing. For instance, parents that spank their children to bring balance within their home may be viewed as being abusive by those who use methods that are not physical to maintain balance within their homes. Keep in mind that, â€Å"the style of parenting that is most successful may depend quite heavily on†¦ what parents in a particular culture are taught regarding appropriate childrearing practices† (Feldman, 2014). Of course, there are systems that are detrimental to the health one’s development. Generally, family systems that are viewed as healthy â€Å"are loving and emotionally supportive and encourage independence (Feldman, 2014). Conversely, homes that unlove, unsupportive, abusive, punitive and controlling or overly permissive are viewed as unhealthy. The term generally used for this type of home is called dysfunctional. â€Å"A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict,Show MoreRelatedOur Belief Systems And Values966 Words   |  4 Pagesof mysteries. From childhood, people became curious of things that surround them. Humans experience pain and pleasure through the senses. However the environment plays a major cause of everyone’s behaviors. When people grow older, they become curious. They start asking questions such as; where did we come from and why we are here? To help us understand these questions better, we should first find who we are. 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