Essay About Life

Essay About Life I think that there is hardly a more obvious assumption than the idea that every sane person’s goal in life, in short, is to achieve happiness. What is happiness, however, is an altogether different and much more complicated question. There are a number of notions that are somehow related to the concept of happiness in the consciousness of the majority of people, like love, wealth, achievement of self-expression, freedom and independence. All these and a great number of other ideas occupy very different positions in the personal lists of the most important things of every separate human being. In fact, misbalanced approach to one’s system of values is the thing that may ruin your life, make it unhappy. If you consider love to be the most important thing, and don’t take anything else into consideration, you may very soon find that a person, who thinks of nothing else but love, is not all that lovable; a person, who neglects everything else in pursuit of wealth, may find himself stranded and disillusioned, when – if – he finally achieves it; self-expression is nothing, when there is not a single person in the world, who wants to see what you have to express, and so on. So, what’s the way to happiness in our life? It’s hard to say and it is doubtful anybody will ever give a direct answer to it. After all, it was the question that tormented the philosophers ever since the philosophy itself appeared. I think that the best way to achieve happiness is simply to lead a decent life, in order to make its every moment a justification and reward for what you do. And a good life is the life you can at any moment look back to without wanting to change any single moment of it.

Tragic Hero - 1598 Words

Tragic Hero From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A tragic hero is a protagonist with a tragic flaw, also known as fatal flaw, which eventually leads to his demise. The concept of the tragic hero was created in ancient Greek tragedy and defined by Aristotle. Usually, the realization of fatal flaw results in catharsis or epiphany. The tragic flaw is sometimes referred to as an Achilles heel after the single fatal flaw of the Greek warrior Achilles. [citation needed] Aristotelian tragic hero In a complex Aristotelian tragedy, the hero is of noble birth and is more admirable than ordinary men. He cannot, however, be morally perfect because the best plots arise when his downfall is the inevitable consequence of some defect in†¦show more content†¦fpr, The Crucible, also by Arthur Miller. †¢ Arthur Dimmesdale from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne †¢ Edmond Dantà ¨s from Alexandre Dumas, pà ¨re s The Count of Monte Cristo †¢ Macbeth from Shakespeare s Macbeth †¢ Othello from Shakespeare s Othello †¢ Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop [1] †¢ John Hartigan from That Yellow Bastard †¢ Eddie Carbone from A View from the Bridge (by Arthur Miller) †¢ Beegs from Longmeadow High School †¢ Rocky Balboa from Rocky †¢ Big Boss from the Metal Gear Solid videogame series. †¢ Gregory House from the television series House Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragic_hero |Oedipus as the | |Ideal Tragic Hero | | | | In his famous Poetics, the philosopher Aristotle laid the foundations for literary criticism of Greek tragedy. 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Societys firewood A literary essay on Margaret Laurences The Half

Societys firewood A literary essay on Margaret Laurences The Half-Husky by Mark Rozema What is it that determines what a person is to become? Is it our genetic makeup or is it our environment à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" the sum of our experiences that brings our personalities upon us? In the short, loosely autobiographical story; The Half-husky the author; Margaret Laurence, gives her say on this. Harveys attitude and personality correspond with his environment; Vanessas attitude is in tandem with her environment, and Nanuk has both a loving and a savage side. Is this simply his nature or is it the sum of his experiences? Margaret Laurence is suggesting that it is our experiences à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" the environment we live in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" that determine what we are to become. There is almost a direct correlation between Harvey and the environment in which he spent most of his life, more importantly the early years of his life, the developing years. Harvey is described as lethargic and pallid. This is reflective of the area of town, the environment that he grew up in; the north end of town. The north end of town is filled with shacks and shanties. An unhealthy environment like this saps one of their health and vitality à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" making them like Harvey, pallid and lethargic. Harvey Nanuk on a regular basis, causing him deliberate and pointless pain. He has no desired end, the pain he causes Nanuk is both a means and an end. This is the same as his home life where his aunt causes him pain when she him across the face with an explosive quickness. Harveys neighborhood is the kind of neighborhood where there is a mentality of do now and think later, so this is what Harvey does. Harvey is symbolized in this story by the plebeian poplar, he, like the wood is considered of little value and so is put into an environment in which there is little chance of him gaining any value. He is placed into a sinkhole, created by society. Harveys personality is reflective of his life experiences; he is a plebeian poplar log that is being stored outside. Like Harvey, Vanessa reacts to situations in ways very similar to the ways her main influences would react to those same situations. When talking to her brother about what to name her new dog she notices that her voice carries a disturbing echo of her grandfathers voice. She is also similar to her mother as, after a fight, they would both go about perpetually worrying ways. Vanessa lives in the nice end of town; her Brick House is a rock of consistency and reliability in her life. She is insecure when she is away from her solid brick house and the comfort and consistency that go along with it. Vanessas neighborhood is very calm and consistent and this shows in Vanessa. She is predictable and loving, just like the environment she was raised in. Vanessa is symbolized by the birch logs  that are stored in the basement. From birth she is expected to be an attribute to society and so they store her in the metaphorical basement, where she is guaranteed to succeed. Vanessas personality i s very similar to the sum of her experiences; she is definitely a birch log in the basement. Nanuk is born with the savage nature of a husky. Based on his parentage alone Vanessas grandfather has a strong conviction of mistrust for Nanuk and wouldnt trust one of them things as far as could see it. He believes that a half-husky would be more then likely to tear Roddie to bits. Nanuk however has no such plan; he only reacts aggressively to his environment when his environment does the same to him. Such is the contrast between the tormented Nanuk and the normal Nanuk the mere moment after being abused by Harvey he welcomes Vanessa in his usual way. Nanuk reacts with hostility only to hostility and always returns kindness. Grandfathers convictions are the rambling of and old man and Harvey is responsible for anything wrong with Nanuks personality. Nanuk is a product of his environment; he is a log of plebeian poplar that has been stored in the basement by mistake. Because of his surroundings Nanuk took on many of the characteristics of a birch log. .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 , .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 .postImageUrl , .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 , .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98:hover , .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98:visited , .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98:active { border:0!important; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98:active , .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98 .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u7474f53a14e8fcf5aa259d86fdccfd98:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Langston Hughes EssayThe evidence is conclusive, Vanessa, Harvey, and Nanuk all have personalities that are in tandem with how they were brought up. They are reflections of their environment, whether it be a heated basement, cold outside or a combination of both. Margaret Laurence answers one of lifes big questions in The Half-Husky; nature vs. nurture. She suggests that environment determines a persons value to society, not blood or breed. You have some control over the environment that you live your life in, you choose your friends. Hang out with the birch logs and you might find that some of their bark rubs off onto you. Place yourself in healthy situations. So where ar e you stored, in the basement among the birch logs or outside in the pile of useless poplar?