A Streetcar Named Desire-A Tragic Hero Essay Example for Free

A Streetcar Named Desire-A Tragic Hero Essay There are nine types of heroes in this world, each of them with their own unique stories, plots, cliches etc. Among those is the classic tragic hero, one who is destined to fail no matter what. In a Streetcar Named Desire, the tragic hero is Blanche Dubois, an aging Southern Belle living in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty. In this essay it will be discussed what makes Blanche a tragic hero and how she compares to a typical tragic hero. A typical tragic hero is first and foremost, born of noble stature. This gives the hero something to fall from, so they can fall from grace (Avril Lavigne, Nobodys Home). Blanche Dubois born in Laurel, Mississippi, to a wealthy family. She is a former schoolteacher who had been evicted from Belle Reve (a family home) after being declared a woman of loose morals. This was because years earlier, Blanches husband committed suicide after she expressed her distaste on his sexuality. She later had many affairs trying to numb her grief on the death of her husband. The second condition for a tragic hero is what is called Hamartia, a tragic flaw that auses the downfall of the hero. Blanches tragic flaw is that she is dependant on men, so much so that she makes choices and does things that are morally questionable. She manipulates and lies to potential suitors to make herself seem more attractive and younger-which in her mind is the only way a man will love her. She does this with Harold Mitch Mitchell and it seems to be working until Mitch is informed of all the lies hes been fed, at which point Mitch breaks up with Blanche and leaves her vulnerable for Stanley to rape. The reversal of fortune, peripeteia, is when the fortunate hero is down on his luck. In Blanches case, she loses Belle Reve, her husband is a homosexual and dead, she is evicted from her own town and is losing her beauty. She used to be a wealthy and beautiful Southern belle with a loving family and kind husband but her luck changed directions and she lost everything she held dear. One of the most obvious conditions of a tragic hero is nemesis, the fate that cannot be reversed. In other words, no matter what the hero tries or does their fate is ealed. Blanches fate is inevitable, all people can do is watch as she falls deeper and deeper into her delusions and misconceptions of reality. In the end of the tragedy, the audience should be left feeling pity or fear after witnessing the downfall of the tragic hero, catharsis. This is because the punishment dealt to the hero is not wholly deserved, the punishment far exceeds the crime. Blanche was a sad and confused woman who was looking for comfort and someone to take care of her. She lied and manipulated people to try and get the happy life she anted but that did not mean she deserved to be raped, abandoned by her own sister and publicly humiliated. Blanche herself said It [deliberate cruelty] is the one untorgivable thing in my opinion and it is the one thing I nave never, never been guilty of. (Williams, Scene 10 Pg 126) Anagnoririsis is the recognition or discovery made by the tragic hero, the point in time when the hero realizes what went wrong and why. Most other tragedies like Hamlet and Mcbeth feature this but this does not happen to Blanche. In the end Blanche was sent to a mental institution, she never gained any knowledge of what truly happened and why. In this way, it could be said that Blanche is not your typical tragic hero because she does not meet this point but that is not a bad thing. Blanche is a unique tragic hero who will never know what went wrong as she has submerged herself in her own little world. A typical, yet unique, tragic hero, Blanche did her best to be happy, her only goal. Unfortunately for her, she did not go about the right way of doing it. The wrong eople were angered and others tried to force Blanche to face reality. Blanche was unable to let go of the walls that protected her from the harsh truth, and so she fell from grace. The final scene in which Blanche utters her most famous line l have always depended on the kindness of strangers. , is the sad culmination of Blanches vanity and total dependence on men for happiness. sealed. Blanches tate is inevi table, all people can do is watch as sne talls deeper and unforgivable thing in my opinion and it is the one thing I have never, never been

Permissible Violence in the case of Self-Defense :: essays research papers

In Martin Luther King’s essay â€Å"The Ways of Meeting Oppression† and in the text â€Å"Nonviolence†, the term nonviolence is explained as a technique for social struggle. On the other hand, in the reading â€Å"The Black Panther Party for Self- Defense† it is stated that this social struggle doesn’t always carry the same meaning with the term nonviolence. As I agree with Black Panther’s idea, in my essay, I am going to discuss the extent that the black panthers’ resort to violence is justifiable. According to Martin Luther King, there are three ways that oppressed people cope with oppression; Acquiescence, basically where the oppressed get used to being oppressed. Resort to physical violence and corroding hatred, which would bring momentary solutions and establish additional and more complex problems. Nonviolent resistance, that seeks to create a balance between the acquiescence and violence by preventing the extremes and immoralities of both. In the text â€Å"Nonviolence† the term is explained as â€Å"a set of assumptions about morality, power and conflict that lead its proponents to reject the use of violence in efforts to attain social and political goals.† (p.1) As King implies, those assumptions does not imply a battle between people but a opposition between justice and injustice and by the help of nonviolent resistance the Negro can fight for equality. The hint is to create effective tactics and considering political and cultural conditions, and develop a better plan or strategy. As the rule of capitalism, the rulers’ power depends on the populace’s power. However, the concept of nonviolence challenges the power of rulers through the intentional removal of this co-operation. As Martin Luther King implies; â€Å"Through nonviolent resistance the Negro will be able to noble height of opposing the unjust system while loving the perpetrators of the system.† (p. 139.) From the beginning, the behaviors of the doers are aimed to be changed. However, because of the rising strength of the violence against the Negro had built the foundation for a self- defense movement to achieve liberation for all Black people, which is called â€Å"The Black Panther Party.† For all the Black people, the party wanted freedom, full employment, an end to the robbery of white people, decent housing, education, being held in prison and jails and being tried in a court by a jury of their peer group. When the topic came to the exemption of Black men from military service and an immediate end to police brutality and murder of Black people it also came to the extent the black panthers’ resort to violence is justifiable.

Olaudah Equiano: a Man of Many Customs

James Pajich Prof. Carla Lovett Hist. 105 18 October 2012 Olaudah Equiano: A Man of Many Customs The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano describes the life of a native African who was kidnapped from his homeland in the Eboe Province (which is now the Nigerian town of Isseke) at age eleven and thrown into the horrors of the African slave trade. Unlike most victims of the slave trade, Equiano regained his freedom and experienced multiple facets of life that no one could have expected.Equiano became a man of diverse customs and values. However, due to the absence of written records’ it is often a matter of debate as to what his true origin really was. Throughout his autobiography, Olaudah Equiano defined himself as a native African. He used vivid illustrations of his homeland and experiences on the Middle Passage, and was even willing to defend the public’s view of him as a man of Africa. I personally define Equiano as a European citizen according to his c ustoms, personal desires, and behavior.Equiano’s narrative played a key role in a variety of cultural, historical, and literary issues, therefore, the identification and ultimately the validity of its author take on special importance. While reading The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano I found it very apparent that Equiano viewed himself as an African born individual. He illustrated his culture and customs as an Igbo African in vivid details of culture, religion, law, and agriculture. (43-56) He also described the atrocities of the Atlantic slave trade as if he had recently experienced them: stating the smell, appearance, and reaction of his fellow slaves. 64-68) â€Å"Although culturally Equiano became â€Å"almost and Englishman,† embracing Christianity and British customs, the experiences Equiano shared with slaves and free people of color, and living in a world that did not differentiate between members of separate African communities, led him to consider himself also a son of Africa. † (21) Equiano embraced his African heritage throughout his life and even fought to uphold his reputation as such. There was an instance where two anonymous notes appeared in London papers charging that he was not from Africa at all, but was actually born on he Danish island of St. Croix in the Caribbean. Equiano realized that this claim falsified the validity of his Narrative and immediately confronted and threatened those responsible for the papers with legal action, providing actual witnesses of the fact that upon his arrival in England he was only able to speak an African language (24-25). This reaction shows that Equiano held much pride in his African identity and was willing defend it against those who claimed otherwise. However, there is evidence of significant authority that claims Equiano may have fabricated the origins of his identity.There are two certain documents, discovered by literary historian Vincent Carretta, that pin point the birthplace of Equiano in South Carolina that keep modern day scholars and historians from absolute certainty of his actual birthplace. One of these documents was written on February 9, 1759 in the baptismal registry of St. Margaret’s Church in Westminster, England. It read, â€Å"Gustavus Vassa (Olaudah Equiano) a Black born in Carolina 12 years old. † (26) The second document was from Equiano’s Arctic expedition in 1773. It claims that he was currently 28 years old and born in South Carolina.Neither of these findings is conclusive as to whether Equiano was African or American-born, but they certainly leave plenty of room for uncertainty. (26-27) I personally define Equiano as European, particularly an Englishman. Notions of English nationality are found in great abundance throughout the text. Equiano’s narrative repeatedly expresses his desire for a male English identity. He doesn’t view Englishness as a racially exclusive nationality, b ut one that evokes an ethnic identity that Equiano defines through Christianity, and citizenship.Two to three years after arriving in England Equiano claimed â€Å"I no longer looked at them as spirits, but as men superior to us; and therefore I had a stronger desire to resemble them; to imbibe their spirit, and imitate their manners I therefore embraced every occasion of improvement; and every new thing that I observed I treasured up in my memory. † (83) Here we see Equiano’s envy for his new â€Å"superiors† and his wish to possess their culture and belongings. This desire strongly encouraged my opinion of Equiano’s identity as European.My opinion was also influenced by Equiano’s acculturation into English society and customs during his early teen years. â€Å"I could now speak English tolerably well, and I perfectly understood everything that was said. I now not only felt myself quite easy with these new countrymen, but relished their society a nd manners. † (83) It is clear that Equiano identified his shipmates as his â€Å"countrymen† and personally enjoyed the interactions he had with each one of them. It was now between three and four years since I first came to England, a great part of which I had spent at sea; so that I became inured to that service, and began to consider myself as happily situated; for my master treated me always extremely well; and my attachment and gratitude to him were very great. From the various scenes I had beheld on ship-board, I soon grew a stranger to terror of every kind, and was, in that respect at least, almost an Englishman. † (83) This passage shows that Equiano developed an affectionate relationship with his master and also that their bond strengthened Equiano’s identity as an adult man.Even more important, the identity Equiano is trying to proclaim for himself as an adult man, â€Å"a stranger to terror of every kind†, is as a European. There are also certain actions and beliefs that Equiano maintained that provoked the establishment of his European desires. For instance, he believed the only manner towards proper adulthood is as an Englishman. Equiano doesn’t come right out and say this but there is a point in the text where he noted that he considers himself very fortunate that he didn’t receive his family members’ tribal marking on his face, as is would have represented his entrance into mature Ibo manhood. As I was now amongst a people who had not their faces scarred, like some of the African nations where I had been, I was very glad that I did not let them ornament me in that manner† (69). Also, during Equiano’s voyage to Jamaica and the Mosquito Shore he went to see a Guineaman doctor to purchase slaves to cultivate a plantation. He even chose them according to their native land in hopes that it is near his own. (189) The identification of Olaudah Equiano is of the utmost importance becaus e of the critical role he played in the antislavery movement. Even the timing f a personable voice speaking out against slavery was important because it was a time when opposition to slavery was scattered throughout Britain and America and Equiano’s narrative, along with other factors, helped assemble the movement into one of the greatest in British history. It was Equiano’s personal accounts and experiences that validated his narrative. He possessed the intelligence and capability to spread his ideas to men and women on all levels of British society. He also had the members of significant political authority to support his narrative to yet further its validity.Unfortunately, Equiano never had the opportunity to bare witness to what he worked so hardly toward because the slave trade ended in both England and the United State ten years after his death (1807). Conclusively, it is very apparent that Olaudah Equiano distinguished himself as an African-born man, even though I personally identify him as a man of European customs based on his desires, influences, and his acculturation into European society. Most importantly, Equiano’s narrative played a key role as an abolitionist tool in the fight against slavery and the identity of its author deems it valid as a historical document.

The Requirement for Employers to Allow Maternity Leave under United Kingdom Law Is a Disadvantage to Women in the Workplace Free Essay Example, 1500 words

It is evidently clear from the discussion that the working woman has already lost out on pension and experience. When she returns to a job she has to handle all the worries of caring for her vulnerable child. Promotion and pay may not match with those of her colleagues who have not taken the leave. Chances are that she might have to change from full-time work to part-time work. According to research, the hourly pay of working fathers is more than that of hourly pay of working mothers with dependent children compared with what they had before their children. After each birth women who return to their work have low growth of their wage and the pay difference does not start to reduce for 15 years. In reality, the family-friendly law is actually female and family unfriendly. The current arrangement at maternity leads to the downward spiral of career and earnings. The life becomes a near dependency life for top-ups of one sort or another and it eventually leads to an impoverished old ag e. Research has shown that one in seven of the women had lost their job while on maternity leave, 50% have reported a cut in hours or demotion while 40% have reported that their jobs have changed by the time they have returned. We will write a custom essay sample on The Requirement for Employers to Allow Maternity Leave under United Kingdom Law Is a Disadvantage to Women in the Workplace or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page