... has continued to this day with the creation of new weapons as a means of creating terror. To terrorize people into submission. The novel explodes the myths of "ordinary" and "heroic." It describes the place of ordinary men in an epic situation, a situation which magnifies action until it seems either heroic or insane - or both. By examining humanity at war, it can be ... seen that no one is ordinary; ordinary does not innately exist in humanity; we create it through our accepted, written, historical context. Humanity, divested from the pretty wrapping of social manners, turns out to be ...

• Word Count: 365
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... sought for those truths in an area that has hardly been explored even today -- the human heart and mind. Hawthorne believed that the natural world around us, as well as ordinary humans, contained dark places that the cold light of reason alone could not break through. Relating directly to allegories is Hawthorne's use of symbolism in his stories. This is very ... the fatherhood of the devil. Terence Martin sums up the meaning of Hawthorne's best known book, The Scarlet Letter in three sentences: "Taking its form in Hawthorne's imagination, the total context of The Scarlet Letter inheres...

• Word Count: 855
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... culture in his 1965 book, The Long Revolution, as "a particular way of life which expresses certain meanings and values not only in art and learning, but also in institutions and ordinary behavior. The analysis of culture, from such a definition, is the clarification of the meanings and values implicit and explicit in a particular way of life, a particular culture." According to this conception ... to the symbols they create (e.g., red is a lucky color during a wedding in Chinese tradition; red represents danger in traffic lights). That is to say, the meaning of symbols is also context-...

• Word Count: 1950
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... . He has no purpose in life; he just searches. The thing that he is looking for is light. This ambiguous concept of light Ondaatje presents throughout the novel is not ordinary light, but one that illuminates the void of darkness. Just like the moths that Patrick is intrigued by that only tend toward light at night, Patrick only seeks light when ... a way of legitimising one's life in order to compensate for historical omissions. This provides an opportunity for the once marginalised persons to stand up and be heard. The Post-Colonial context gives one a strengthened understanding of Ond...

• Word Count: 3985
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: High School

... living creatures. All life seems relative to Jim, as the map in his head is "immensely expanded". Jim is an ordinary human being, who through his journey conveys what it is to be fully human. Facing up to challenges, even in the context of the "madness" of war, brings Jim to a far deeper understanding of life and the inevitability of change than ... ...

• Word Count: 951
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... spirit or whatever name one gives to that power of comprehension we have. Would we all lose our mind tonight, by some kind of virus, then tomorrow we would be ordinary apes again, naked apes. Clumsy apes too, who would have little chance to survive. If it were cold, we would not have the idea to put on clothes, and next ... , Greece, in about the same time Aristotle lived there. Actually with them the history of Western philosophy starts. Plato wrote about many subjects, state-affairs for example. But in this context his thoughts about ideas especially are interesting. Plato's theory abo...

• Word Count: 5369
• Approx Pages: 21
• Grade Level: High School