On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Analysis

On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Analysis Referring closely to literary and linguistic features, explore the presentation of hopes and dreams within On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hopes and dreams are presented as a means of escape and an opportunity for external and internal discovery for the characters of Jack Kerouacs On the Road and Hunter S. Thompsons Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty seek rather juxtaposed dreams; Dean is punished for his lavish and overindulgent wants whereas Sal uses his time on the road to fulfil more rewarding and spiritual objectives. Similarly, Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas takes a journey of discovery to find the true American Dream in Las Vegas, Nevada. To some extent, the pursuit of hopes and dreams is a method of escaping the realities of everyday life for characters from both texts. In Kerouacs novel, the dreams of where the road might take them provide an escape for both Sal and Dean from a mundane East Coast lifestyle, and a way to forget the mistakes of the past. Similarly in Thompsons piece, a voyage of revelation fueled by an underlying desire to understand the American Dream offers a chance to escape for Raoul and his attorney using somebody elses money. Jack Kerouac employs a proper noun in the utterance fifty dollars from old veteran benefits, I was ready to go to the West Coast. Here, the West is presented as a symbol of great opportunity and freedom like it had been for the pioneers who settled there from Americas east and across the world over a century earlier. For Sal, this escape is from a miserable divorce whilst also having recovered from a serious illness. The writer uses hyperbole and plosive alliteration through Deans wants of innumerable girls and sex parties and pornographic pictures suggesting at Deans apparently unlimited thirst for sexual encounters with as many women as possible, and highlight that a reason why he goes on the road is to fulfil his sexual needs and desires as part of his American Dream. These wants contrast with his more simple needs of concrete noun bread and abstract noun love later in the novel which indicate at the aimlessness of Moriartys quest to find it. In contrast, Duke and Dr Gonzo are shown to be more driven in attempts to find truth and happiness. Thompson uses a metaphor and abstract noun in the exclamative I tell you, my man, this is the American Dream in action! to give a suggestion of Dukes belief that the American Dream is about living a hedonistic life of indulgence. Unlike Sal, who is forced at times to ration his food, the pair spend excessively throughout the novel, especially on alcohol and gambling, but despite such wild attempts Raoul is still unable to attain the happiness he strives for. Duke repeatedly indicates at the journeys purpose being a discovery of the 1970s American Dream and is preoccupied with it throughout the book. The writer uses a present and past-tense dynamic verbs were looking for the American Dream, and we were told it was somewhere in this area. This perhaps suggests at Raouls misunderstanding of and confusion with the concept of the American Dream for he appears to believe that it is something tangible, serving to highlight his dreams elusive nature. Throughout both texts, hopes and dreams are presented as ripe opportunities for the characters to capitalise on. Kerouac employs a metaphor and grammatical repetition in the declarative new call and a new horizon, the abstract noun call and concrete noun horizon here present a hopeful new beginning for Sal and a fundamental change in how he will live his life. This is what Dean offers at the start of the book to Sal, an opportunity to leave his life as a newly-divorced and miserable man in the East behind and escape to what is hoped to be a better life in the West. Deans use of grammatical repetition in the utterance man, wow, theres so many things to do, so many things to write! presents the excitement brought on by the allure of the adventures that await once they get out on the road, and the promise of a better life thereafter. This is to show how to truly live you must break free from the shackles of conventionality and day-to-day life, and that the world is rife with opportuniti es for those who can achieve such freedom. An example of litotes from Dean is when he says so longs I can get that lil ole gal with that lil sumpin down there tween her legs highlighting that his one need is a woman with whom he can he can have sex. For Dean, being on the road is a way to achieve his ambitions of achieving as many sexual encounters as he can, with Moriarty growing increasingly sexually sybaritic throughout the book. Similarly but in a far less literal sense than Kerouac, Thompson uses personification in a sexual metaphor of his own when Duke is wandering through at 4:30 AM he notes that the gamblers are still humping the American Dream. This use of vulgar colloquialism indicates how with a luck America will provide the economic and social success that is wish for. These people hope that gambling will be a way to achieve the American Dream through winning big and getting rich, their chance of weakening their finances however are greater. In contrast with Sals attainable and clear spiritual search on his journe y, Raouls quest for the specific whereabouts of the American Dream concludes with a further metaphor used in Las Vegas when Raoul states that weve found the main nerve. The concrete noun nerve here likens the city to the bodys nervous system and Raoul hopes now that he has discovered the true physical American Dream at this location. At this point he will not let his attorney leave yet, because their expectations of the American Dream were that it would be remarkable but soon the realisation sets in that it is not as magnificent as once anticipated. How hopes and dreams are realised varies wildly between the different characters and books. Deans continued equivocation quickly begins to kill off Sals hope of real discovery. He wishes to find answers and meaning to what the American Dream and therefore Dean truly means by his use of the exclamative fragment it!, but Dean cannot provide anything more than an abstract and vague definition. From this point on, Sal begins to see Dean as his true and shallow self has a realisation that it and the American Dream can never be attained for neither truly are real. The use of pre-modifying adjectives in the phrase wonderful Technicolor visions likens the epiphanic moments of spiritual enlightenment that he is starting to feel to being in a movie filmed using the Technicolor colour process commonly used in Hollywood from the 1920s to 1940s, this indicates that Sal has used his travels of the road as a means of self-discovery. His perspectives change as a result and he becomes a changed man u pon realisation of his insignificance as a lone individual in the vast United States. Whilst writing the novel Kerouac increasingly was fascinated by Buddhism after losing the strong Catholic faith instilled in him as a child, this rebellion against religious norms is echoed here. Thompson uses of pre-modifying adjectives contrastingly when Raoul and his attorney are searching for a location called American Dream all they can find is a huge slab of cracked, scorched concrete in a vacant lot full of tall weeds, the burned down physical American Dream that they find is symbolically representative of Thompsons belief that the ideal now has been destroyed, and therefore is unattainable. A further use of the main nerve metaphor is Dukes utterance that were on the main nerve right now. He now reveals ere that he believes that he has found the American Dream here in Las Vegas at the casino Circus-Circus for its manager has his own circus, and a license to steal, too. Here Thompson mocks the concept of the American Dream in a large city like Las Vegas with the only circumstance of successfully achieving it is this small instance, as well as its unconventional nature as for most joining the circus and owning a casino are not the obvious embodiment of the American Dream . To conclude, hopes and dreams are shown to be a powerful force that empower those who have them to search for the truths of life. While Sals search is a more metaphorical and ultimately more attainable one of inner discovery, Raouls instead is a largely futile one. Both Kerouac and Thompson use how the characters hopes and dreams materialise as innate criticisms of American society and its value systems. Through Sal, Kerouac presents how the American Dream is corrupted and how true self-actualisation can come from a better understanding of ones self and the world around us. Similarly, Thompson is critical of the typical capitalist ambitions inherent in the American Dream of great wealth which so few are able to actually achieve. (x words) Bibliography Kerouac, J., On the Road (Penguin Classics, 2000) Thompson, H., Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Harper Perennial, 2005)

Shakespeare And Anti-Semitism In The Merchant Of Venice Essay -- Merch

Anti-Semitism and the desecration of the Jewish population have been in existence for nearly five thousand years. In the Elizabethan era, a question of anti-Semitism invariably arises. In William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, we find that one of the characters is the embodiment and expression of anti-Semitic attitude that is pervasive in Elizabethan society. "Anti-Semitism was an intricate part in Shakespeare's years. Jews were considered vile and scorned upon. Shakespeare presents Judaism as an 'unchangeable trait'" (Bloom 37). Shakespeare's age based their anti-Semitism on religious grounds because the Elizabethans inherited the fiction, fabricated by the early Church, that the Jews murdered Christ and were therefore in league with the devil and were actively working to subvert spread of Christianity. The religious grounds of this anti-Semitism means that if a Jew converted to Christianity, as Shylock is forced to do in The Merchant of Venice, then all will be forgiven as the repentant Jew is embraced by the arms of the all merciful Christian God of love. In fact, some Christian believed--as do some fundamentalist sects today--that the coming of the Kingdom of God was aided by converting the Jews to Christianity. Anti-Semitism in Shakespeare's time is portrayed in his masterpiece The Merchant of Venice. "Shylock the Jew, one of William Shakespeare's profoundly ambivalent villains, is strangely isolated" (Bloom 24). He is portrayed as a usurer: A leader of money on interest rather than a receiver of stolen goods. This concept will prove to the audience that the Jews are in fact "cheap" and have a frugal sense for possessions. It is an intriguing idea to think that even in Shakespeare's time, stereotyping was a mundane part of their lives. Shakespeare's anti-Semitism seems harsh, but shows that not all Jews are vile like most people believed in his time. Shylock is shown to be hard working (Goddard 5). Believe it or not, there is some compassion for the desecration of the Jews in Shakespeare's play. Antonio recognizes the futility of opposing Shylock's passion with reason. "He seems the depository of the vengeance of his race" (Goddard 11). Antonio consequently appears as a charitable Christian who lends money freely, in contrast to the miserly an... ...an something like Marlowe's Barabas. But at the same time, it seems clear (to me, at least) that Shakespeare creates Shylock against an historical and cultural backdrop that was intensely hostile to Jews. Given this social context and historical tradition, it should come as no surprise if some of this hostility against Jews should infiltrate Shakespeare's work. Shakespeare was, after all, a commercial dramatist and many commercial dramatists make their livings by pandering to, rather than working against, conventional social mores. To make the claim that Shakespeare creates Shylock within an anti-Semitic culture, and therefore invests Shylock with biased anti-Semitic attributes, does not impugn the artistry of the drama. Nor does such a claim implicate Shakespeare himself as a monstrous anti-Semite. All this claim suggests is that Shakespeare, like most of the rest of his society, was hostile toward Jewry for religious and cultural reasons, and that hostility is revealed most clearly in Shylock. What these pages have tried to trace is the possible, or perhaps the probable, relationship between what was happening in Shakespeare's day and what is happening in Shakespeare's play.

Remember the Titans Film Essay

In the film remember The Titans directed by Boaz Yakin, an important character in the film is Coach  Herman Boone. He uses his determination and skill to make the titans successful. This is shown  through the use of visual and verbal features such as camera angles, costume, use of dialogue and  music. Boone’s acceptance and tolerance teaches the team to learn to work together to achieve their goals and success. Herman Boone is an important character as he had to accept coach Yoast. They learned to tolerate each other. At the beginning of the film they didn’t get along but in order to make the team a success Boone learned to. This is because when Boone arrives in Alexandria to take over from the old Coach, Bill Yoast neither of them were welcoming or friendly towards each other once. Once they got over each other’s differences, they began to develop a good football team to win the state championships. Herman Boone is a respected character in the film. He had to accept the new team and the old coach, Yoast which was now the assistant coach. Both coaches had to learn to work together. They finally accepted each other and the titans went on to win the state championships. Yoast started to accept Boone when he heard Boone talk about the fight at Gettysburg where black and whites had been fighting against each other. Through dialogue, Boone revealed to the players â€Å"If we don’t come together at this point â€Å" about how the futility of battle, how it had torn families apart, dividing friends, creating rifts. Yoast then realized why Boone was so harsh on the team. He realized that Boone wanted to overcome the continual racism. This was shown by the use of camera angles extreme close up and close up to show the emotion from Boones speech. It showed how he was tormented by the continual fighting, sad that the players were continuing the same fight years ago. Yoast realized that Boone was only trying to bring the individual players  together as one team, even if they had to tolerate each other. It was through the use of camera angles that Yakin showed the sadness Boone was feeling, realizing that prejudice was stopping the players from coming together as one team. Herman Boone had to learn to tolerate Bill Yoast and his football coaching ways just Yoast also had to tolerate Boone so they could make a successful team. At the training camp they both saw how each others coaching was benefitting the team. They all were starting to work together as a great successful team because of learning to work together .This was shown at their first game where they won, continuing throughout the season as they did not lose one game the whole season. This was through Boone’s determination to make the team successful. This was reinforced by use of upbeat music to show Boone’s and his team successes. Wide angle shots were used to show the whole team getting along and succeeding. I learnt from Boone’s tolerance that individuals and groups can succeed together no matter what race they are if they all make minor sacrifices. In the film Remember The Titans one of the main characters Herman Boone is determined for the titans to succeed. He is tough on them by, he does this by accepting his fellow coaches and the members of his team. And how he realizes he has to makes sacrifices in order for the team to come out on top. These messages and values are shown by camera angles such as close up extreme close up and music.