Desperation By Stephen King :: essays research papers

Desperation, a recent Stephen King novel, is not just a book, but an experience that leaves the reader frightened, paranoid, and questioning his moral beliefs. Picture, if you will, a lone, crazed Nevada policeman who pulls over vehicles on a lonely desert highway and forcefully takes away their occupants. Whichever of them he doesn’t kill immediately, he locks up in the jail of the small desolate town of Desperation. Among those captured are the vacationing Carver family, whose RV is sabotaged on its way to Arizona. Already incarcerated is Tom Billingsley, a once well-known member of the now slaughtered community of Desperation. They are soon joined by formerly famous, currently old and overweight writer, Johnny Marinville, who is riding across the country on his Harley-Davidson gathering material for a book of short stories. How to escape Desperation isn’t the only unanswered question, though. How could and why would one man single-handedly murder the population of an entire town? How does he have such control over the minds of the animals? Why are they locked up when he could have killed them like every one else? Whatever it is that possesses the body of officer Collie Entraigan can’t last forever, though. After several days his body is falling apart at the seams, and he is bleeding from every orifice. Weirder yet, he is growing several inches a day and is bound to burst soon. Will he? Or are the occupants of the local Desperation jail just backup bodies that the possessor will use when it wears out its current one? If so then what is it? More importantly, who’s next?An intriguing aspect of this book is that there is no real protagonist. King leaves the reader in constant suspense. Frequently changing views, the story follows one character or group of characters for one chapter and then in the next chapter, follows another, often intertwining the time sequences. The overlapping action is interrupted only by flashbacks that allow the reader to sympathize with a particular character’s actions or feelings. These flashbacks are so intricate that it is difficult to believe they are fictional at all. They go into such detail of the life-altering experiences of everyone involved that the reader gets a sixth sense as to how the characters will react to certain situations. Telling the story in this manner allows the reader to see why every character acts the way that he does.

Negative Self-Image

Negative Self-Image: Orientation Reading in Frankincense by Mary Shelley Frankincense is one of popular science-fiction in the early 19th century. A novel written by Mary Shelley , she is started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley name appears on the second edition, published in France in 1823. A novel is about Victor Frankincense who try his an unusual scientific experiment.From his experiment, making a gigantic creature that shortly afterwards he fears and he hates. Because of the appearance of this being is scary so then Frankincense's monster become rejected by Frankincense his self and the people. When the monster travel to find a place and people that can accept him the way he is. I read this story especially on Frankincense's monster perspective, I saw there is subjective view on East on characters Sane and her father (Arabian). So I'll choose to an alyze it by Postcolonial approach: Orientation.According to Tyson, as a domain within literary studies, post-colonial criticism is both a subject matter as theoretical framework. Tyson, pig 418) So that main assumptions of postcolonial theory is offering an order to analyze and understand more deeply about the oppression of human beings the same with other theories such as feminism, Marxism. The studies was marked by appearance of the book Orientation by Edward Said in 1978. Orientation by Edward Said is a canonical text of cultural studies in which he has challenged the concept of orientation or the difference between east and west. Khalid's 2011, www. Renaissance. Com) Said argues that Orientation can be found in current Western depictions of â€Å"Arab† cultures as irrational, menacing, untrustworthy, dishonest, anti-Western and most importantly prototypical. Orientals discourse discuss and criticize that East is something more inferior than West. The West spread their ide ology about East widely through media, discipline, law, technology, and so on to show that they are superior that the East. European (colonizer) teach continuously their cultural value to the colonized people that they considers colonized people have no culture.In addition, there also in some literature is often concerned with colonization and imperialism. â€Å"Orientation rescaling texts which, while their form, content, aims, genre, and disciplining origins may be widely divergent, still work with negative, stereotyped or unexamined†. (Child's and Williams â€Å"post-colonial theory', pig 115) In Shelley Frankincense, although she offend the East in briefly period through character Sane and her father. I think it can be caused large influence for the reader when realize about Eastern culture is so primitive and cruel.Sane describe as a passive Arabian women, who clearly dependent on her religion and the culture of her nation. In the â€Å"third-world†, feminist ide ology is shown less to the woman because hat is subordinated by patriarchal system which is ingrained in their culture and power in their country. Can be seen the difference between sane and European community, when she was involved in much pressure from patriarchal system ( her father ) and system in her society ( Arab ). But Cane's action show that she does not like her family tradition and religion of her time.Political, cultural, and Arabian religion shaping her mind increasingly to pay attention to the domestic ideology of the European. When the monster tell the story about Cane's mother is a Christian Arab who were taken as a slave by the Turkish because of her beautiful Cane's father marry her. She teach Sane about kindness of being Christianity and forbid Sane to follow Muhammad thought. We can see in this sentence â€Å"She instructed her daughter in the tenets of her religion, and taught her to aspire to higher powers of intellect, and an independence of spirit, forbidden to the female to followers of Mohamed. Page 127) My opinion about this statement is clearly viewed that negative image or a stereotyped of Muhammad thought as primitive teaching and many oppression to the woman. Cane's love to Felix is also a symbol that Safe already has been in love to another culture and religion. We can see in Frankincense page 127 â€Å"The prospect of marrying Christian and remaining in a country where women are allowed to take a rank in society, was enchanting her†. This is the implication of cultural colonization which is the colonizer thought about colonized has not the high uncivilized like them.And also, Cane's father described as a cruel Arabian man through his action that are untrustworthy, dishonest, and anti-Western. Associated with the opinion of Said † One would find kind of procedure less objectionable as a lattice propaganda which is what it is, of course were it not accompanied by sermons on the objectivity, the fairness, the imparti ality of real historian, the implication always being that Muslims and Arabs cannot be objective but that Orientations†¦ â€Å".In Monster's perspective, Cane's father become the cause of the ruin of De Lackey's family life. There also subjective view about Turkish man that they are bad people. (chapter 14) Begin from Felix is falling in love with Sane, and her father was caged because of his fault to the France government. Then Felix come to save ether of Safe in order to marry Sane, because Cane's father already promise to Felix to married off Sane and Felix. But actually father of Sane does not allow that his daughter live together with Felix.So that when Felix save his life, he make a plan to take his daughter to come back to their native country. We can see in â€Å"The Turks allowed this intimacy to take place and encouraged the hopes of the youthful lovers he loathed the idea that his daughter should be united to a Christian; if he should choose to betray him to the It alian state which they inhabited. (Frankincense, g 128) The monster, it's self also a symbol of colonized people. Said explains â€Å"how the science of the orientation developed and how the Orientals started considering the Orientals as non-human beings. ( Khalid's,2011. Winnipesaukee. Com ) I think when the monster is rejected from Victor and other people (colonizer) because his scary body and face, different from other (colonized), it's implied colonizer refuse that non-western include into human beings. At first, the monster born with no education and culture, I also think that it is the gap that was created, which is the colonized ere barbarians who had no civilization, does not have system of government, religion, and customs.Thus the monster studying language from France family, and also reading book from white people, this is the implied meaning of colonizer had high civilization. A brief conclusion, Orientals were come in 19th by Edward Said, and he also argues that Orient ation is a critics to reject the long tradition about the Western is more superior than the Eastern. In Frankincense written by Mary Shelley, there some Orientals issues that appear in, the â€Å"concept of tethering† and negative elf-image of the Western way of thinking about Eastern which put Eastern as an object.

12 Angry Men Movie Review - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1354 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2019/04/12 Category Art Essay Level High school Tags: 12 Angry Men Essay Film Analysis Essay Did you like this example? Sixty-one years have passed since the debut of Twelve Angry Men and yet this black and white film still captures audiences attention to this day. The American court system has developed around the key belief that an individual is innocent until proven guilty. It is far worse to convict an innocent person than let a guilty one go. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "12 Angry Men Movie Review" essay for you Create order The trial of the young man isnt portrayed within the film; rather the details of the crime and trial are slowly revealed as the story unfolds. It is the responsibility of the jury to determine, based on the evidence provided in court, if an individual is guilty of the crime committed. The verdict of the jury must be unanimous. If the young man is found guilty, he will be charged with premeditated first-degree murder and will be sentenced to the electric chair. The intense debate within the jury about the guilt or innocence of this young man forces the audience to reflect on the psychological elements of stereotypes, belief bias, memory, belief perseverance, and groupthink, and how they play a role in the attitudes and interactions of the jurors. The film portrays a variety of prejudices and stereotypes, which play a significant role in the debate, and sense of justice within the jury. A stereotype is an over generalized assumption about a particular group or person. Some of the Jurors preconceived notions are so embedded into their own opinions that they make illogical conclusions to uphold them. They hold a powerful grip over the debate in the group because of their overconfidence. One man in particular, Juror 10, stands out throughout the film because of his apparent prejudice towards the accused, or kid as the group calls them. It is the background that sets the kid apart and juror ten exclaims, And lemme tell ya: they dont need any real big reason to kill someone, either!Were This kid on trial here his type, well, dont you know about them? Theres a, theres a danger here. These people are dangerous. Theyre wild. Listen to me. Listen!(__site pls!____) His prejudice is based on the belief that poverty or status of an indivi dual also determines their moral compass. The perspective of the camera helps create an atmosphere of pressure so that the audience feels like they are within the room, part of the group, and can feel the impact of the outburst. This outburst has a direct consequence as most of the men leave the table and turn their backs to juror ten. This body language has a profound effect on the juror. He doesnt express remorse but stays silent and separate from that moment on. Its the conviction of the man in the white suit portrayed by Henry Fonda who reshapes the outcome of the entire film. Despite the pressure upon him he resists conformity and prevents social loafing by remaining firm in his belief, this man deserves a fair trial and I wont put a man to death without examining the facts. The group goes from majority believing that the accused is completely guilty to all twelve voting not guilty due to reasonable doubt. This initial perspective is due to each of the juror creating shallow ar guments rooted in prejudice or stereotypes to support their ideas. Memory is another element that plays a key role in the behaviors of the jurors throughout the film. Memory in this film grows in an organic way because the group added their memories of the trial together. This collective memory is stronger than the individuals because it changed the group perspective of the trial. An example of this was the evidence found at the crime scene; the lack of fingerprints on the knife indicated the mental state of the killer. The killer must have possessed a clarity and calm mind to have the foresight to wipe away damning evidence. Another example of how the collective memory proved stronger than the individual is the examination of witness testimonies. Both witnesses had gaps in the details of their descriptions of the crime that were not doubted by the any of the individual memories of the jurors (save Juror 8). Collectively however, the Jury was able to analyze the discrepancies between the witness accounts. For instance, Juror 8 suggests that the old man couldnt have heard the murder happen if the woman saw it through the window of a loud, passing train. Some of the other jurors support this detail with stories of their own experience with loud trains, and Juror 9 even proposes that the old man convinced himself he heard the murder take place simply because he wanted to feel important. Together, the group gained new perspectives about the witnesses and the details of the case, which led them to conclude that there was reasonable doubt due to lack of details. Memory changed the way the discussion flowed even when emotions ran high. Recalling specific evidence gave the men fresh insight. This changed the attitudes about the way the defense was presented based on specific recollections individuals provided. The audiences perspective on the conversations gains them insight in the deeper traits of each character including key beliefs, personal backgrounds and unconscious motives. Within this film the intensity of all the arguments, debates and the conclusion of the trial centers on finding truth. Some of the characters beliefs evolve and others remain unshakeable through the timeline of the film. Belief perseverance refers to our tendency to maintain a belief even after the evidence we used to form the belief is contradicted. The belief of innocence or guilt of the accused swayed back and forth during the film with nearly all the characters but, none so much as the third juror. His persistent belief that the young man was guilty despite the over whelming evidence contrasting what he holds to be true. The third juror couldnt shift his attitude or perspective until the very end in a climatic soliloquy in which he finally understands the full scope of his own belief. The implications and bac kground behind the implicit prejudice, was a projection of this mans own history. He had a subconscious prejudice against the accused boy due to the history of his own estranged son. At the end, the third juror understands that the motive behind his belief is his projection of his own son unto the young man accused of murder. At that moment, the truth weighs heavily upon him and he collapses unto a chair declaring, not guilty between sobs. The groupthink theory in psychology is the pressure to conform; unwavering beliefs, the desire for unification, and strength of leadership override individualism, free will, and even rational thought. Groupthink is clearly illustrated in the very first vote of the film, as some of the jurors hesitantly look around before raising their own hands for a guilty verdict. The confidence of the more vocal jurors with statements like its an open and shut case, dominate the initial group dynamic, and persuade the more timid jurors to fall in line. Discussion from the beginning only serves to uphold one belief. This action prevented the group of men to pass judgment without considering the ethics behind their actions. As Juror 2 puts it I cant really explain it, I just think hes guilty is all. The audience gets to see the change within the group as Juror 8 advocates for a new approach to the problem. The man in the white suit played by Henry Fonda prevents groupthink by challenging the dominan t belief in the room at that time. A practical and logical heuristic approach to problem solving gained Fonda allies within the group, which turned the debate and outcome of the film. Independent thinking; skepticism and dissatisfaction of the trial prevented the jury from immediately falling in conformity. Conclusion Knowledge about people, interactions of society and behavior something about how the knowledge of psychology is a valuable tool for the future no matter who you choose to be. This knowledge can guide through life and the movies also serves a warning to those who pay attention, conformity is a dangerous act being deviant from mob mentality prevents evil.