Saint Francis of Assisi in His Tomb

Author's Note:This is my response to how this art piece inspired me.  When Saint Francis of Assisi is looking down at the skull, questioning himself and his life, many things went through my mind while looking at it.  The thought of death and how we humans can’t escape the notion of it can be intimidating.

Staring down, pondering what will be decided of your fate.  The dark tomb walls stare you down fiercely while you trouble your seemingly worthless mind.  The struggle remains, which is superior between life and death.  There is no escape from death’s grasp pulling you toward the end.  You know it will soon be over.  Many people fear what mortality will bring to them, easily being the most feared concept during one’s life.  In the painting Saint Francis of Assisi in His Tomb by Francisco de Zurbarán, it is presenting a picture where Saint Francis of Assisi is contemplating his entire life, with many things flowing through his mind.  Was it worth it?  What is next?  What is in it for me?  One will never know the truth of what death will bring to a human, and becomes the ultimate fear in the world.

Death is such a dreaded topic for any human to think about.  No one knows where they’ll go, or whether or not there is life after death.  So many things are questioned by us humans in all these aspects, yet will never be discovered until it is experienced.  In Saint Francis of Assisi in His Tomb, Francisco de Zurbarán is endeavoring to express the difficulty in choice during the final decision, before you take your last breath.  Life becoming questionable, identifying the value of existence.  Time seems to slow down, waiting for you to reach a verdict.  What seems so incomprehensible eventually becomes completely understandable once death finally persuades you to join it.

The inspiration brought by this painting may be because of many reasons, but its symbolism is probably the most probable reason.  In Saint Francis of Assisi in His Tomb it is clear to see that Saint Francis of Assisi is in his tomb, hence the title and the background color.  A tomb in this case symbolizes not only death, but captivity after death, releasing the thought of being trapped eternally in such a small object as itself.  However, the part of the painting that I question the most is the skull in his hand.  There are several ideas that come to mind when pondering it, making it difficult to focus on one.  My main interpretation of this is that he is contemplating what he should do: live or die.  The hands symbolizing what you’ve done and the skull symbolizing death; many theoretical ideas can be created with these two objects combined.  Aside from specific details, the extreme darkness portrayed in the painting is not really explaining an individual story in itself, but plainly the thought of how demoralizing the situation taking place is.  The end of life as it is, no one sure of what is to become of themselves.

There is no idea feared more than death only because it is what decides our fate and ends our life.  The entire feeling of this is shown in the painting Saint Francis of Assisi in his Tomb by Francisco de Zurbarán.  Saint Francis of Assisi is knowledgeable of the fact that he will die in the near future, and seems to have no intention of escaping it.  The concept of mortality remains a horrifying thought, yet must be dealt with by all humans at some point in time.

Knowledge over Fear

Author's Note: This is a summative essay for a novel I read called Fahrenheit 451. It is about knowledge, a sub-theme, and how it can eliminate fear. People fear the unknown, and knowledge is the cure to it.

Knowledge is a tool that is necessary in order to avoid fear, for with knowledge comes wisdom, and with wisdom comes power. However, if one were to truly be ignorant of something, that person would additionally be fearful of that same thing. In the novel Fahrenheit 451, a character by the name of Guy Montag embarks on a quest to seek his knowledge. With knowledge, no fear is unconquerable and no potential is unreachable.

Dominant, powerful governments have high potential to control a whole population, including the amount of knowledge within each individual. In Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag experiences this deceit, and decides to evade the status quo, and self-advocate. He murders Captain Beatty, planting his seed of knowledge. Once a person has gained knowledge of something, they lose all fear of that aspect. Montag at this point realizes that there is a whole new dimension of life, and that humanity is not chained to the level of thinking that it was at before Beatty’s death. In the world today, it is very much the same. Many people in this generation are hindered from the notion of knowledge because of the censorship surrounding them. This obviously produces a large amount of fear among the community, causing tremendous lack of power. Governments like this are very analogous to the one in Fahrenheit 451 and are very misleading if their purpose was to govern a successful society.

Although in many occasions people strive to gain the knowledge set for them, often there are those who never attempt to go beyond the restricted format. It becomes unfortunate to see this happening, but it is a true fact that sits firmly on the ground. Anyone in Fahrenheit 451 except for Montag and his scholars would be an example of this, a sad example indeed. Feeble, intimidated, and ignorant were the people in this book, and that helped the government do what it did best: burn all knowledge. To accomplish this, they burned books of every kind, even gaunt ones with very few words; anything possible to diminish the amount of knowledge in the vicinity. In present day China, a very similar story is taking place. Censorship has become a top priority for their government leaders and is moving the entire country in a downfall direction. However, it is not only this example that is heading or has headed this way, but is occurring widely throughout the world.

There are many possible ideas for themes in the novel Fahrenheit 451, and the same thing goes for its mode. Several readers could just zip through this book and pick out the simple fact that it is a true irony, which would be very unrefined. Alternatively, another approach at this novel’s mode is to state that it is a very ironic felt piece of literature up until the ending part where a minute romantic swing comes in, releasing a burst of hope or salvation. Throughout the story, Ray Bradbury uses a variety of ironic symbols, endeavoring to make the reader get into the ironic feel of the book. However, being the devoted Christian Bradbury is, he fits in a small point of salvation into the end, expressing how with hope anything is possible. Having the bombs descend onto the city was somewhat unexpected, yet it had an exact purpose. Bradbury wanted to stress to the reader that there is a romantic twist concluding the novel, and that a new life has been formed.

Ignorance is usually created by tremendous censorship, yet is sometimes caused by obstinacy. It is simple to abide by the status quo and take no risks in life. However, those who choose to veer away from this trail are the ones who acquire knowledge, and become individual. They fear less, for they know more about what will happen as opposed to wondering it. Once all knowledge has vanished from the earth, humanity will truly have a reason to remain in fear.

The Result of Rebelliousness

Author's Note: This is a response to one of Mr. Johnson's discussions. It is also my understanding of Beatty's death, and its connection to some of the sub-themes in the novel Fahrenheit 451.


Rebelliousness is an act that is often difficult to execute, usually because of intimidation directed from the one being rebelled against. However, in the novel Fahrenheit 451, new heights had been reached, for Montag had finally gained enough visceral to kill Captain Beatty. A great sense of pride arrived in Montag shortly after his decision, yet quickly vanished due to an alarm of guilt inside him. Although Montag may have felt guilty and scared because of what he did, he still kept his mentality of courage, rebelliousness, and hatred deep inside of him, for that was what was needed to prevent Guy Montag from becoming insane.
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It seemed very surprising when Beatty died, yet at the same time it appeared to be coming eventually. In part, Montag also seemed surprised, and began to congratulate himself. For example, he thought of Beatty in his mind, “You always said, don’t face a problem, burn it. Well, now I’ve done both. Good-bye, Captain.” At this point he is full of hatred, an important sub-theme of the novel. Nevertheless, Guy later begins to worry, and a flood of guilt enters his psyche. He quickly goes through all of these thoughts that could happen, and then realizes that he has no idea where he is running. Many times, rebellions lead people into feelings of guilt. It is a common trend, one that Guy Montag dealt with toward the end the novel.
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Although Montag may have felt a great deal of guilt, it could also be conveieved that he felt little to no guilt at all, or at least until he started running away from the world. The sixth paragraph on page one hundred nineteen of Fahrenheit 451 is describing Montag’s emotions while burning Beatty. He begins to describe his body as a “jumping, sprawling gibbering mannikin” and then again as a “charred wax doll”. This proves that Montag feels there is no life in Beatty anymore and that he feels no sympathy towards him whatsoever.
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The death of Captain Beatty was a very significant event in the novel, for many reasons indeed. Beatty is comparable to the entire government, one of corrupted power, allowing only limited knowledge to the community. When he dies, it is analogous to if the government were being annihilated. In essence, one could say it is, for the entire power of the government had diminished, clueless as to what to do afterward. In addition, Guy’s self-esteem greatly increased after his murder, and realized what power he actually acquired. There becomes no doubt at all that Beatty’s death is the climax of the story, and the beginning of Montag’s new life.
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Hatred is a concept often difficult to fully grasp in the mind, yet can sometimes be converted into action, maybe for the good, or maybe for the bad. Others would waver either way, for there are different eyes of opinion in the world today. However, Guy Montag’s murder was completely directed from his hatred towards another man, and caused many emotions to be formed after the action. Guilt, relief, fear; so many feelings whirling around in Montag’s mind, possibly confusing him all the while. However, Montag may not have felt as much guilt as he did pride, for the death of Beatty, the one decreasing his power by limiting knowledge, came across to him as a historic accomplishment. For in the eyes of Montag, Beatty deserved to die, and that murder was his form of rebellion.

The Significance of Patriotism

Author's Note: This is my response to the Patriot Pen's prompt: "Does Patriotism Still Matter?" I definitely believe it does, this essay explains why.

 
Dedication to one’s country is an imperative virtue that is essential to having a successful and prosperous nation. When one chooses not to show this loyalty towards their homeland, it restricts that nation’s ability of accomplishment. Knowing this, it is apparent that implying patriotism is something that every citizen should always believe.

One can assume that all veterans of the United States of America have patriotism. They are the ones willing to risk physical and mental brutality, and more importantly their own lives on behalf of the country. My great uncle, Bill Milliken, was a corporal in the Korean War, where he served a great time doing his honorable duty. At only nineteen years of age, he dedicated his life to being a part of the infantry in this brutal war, with approximately two million casualties. Anyone who knew this number would probably think twice before entering into combat. However, it is this patriotic loyalty that makes these people warriors both physically and mentally.

However, what if a citizen chooses not to go to the front lines in defense of their country? Does that mean that non soldiers cannot show patriotism? Of course not! Clearly veterans show a great deal of patriotism, yet everyday citizens engage in this loyalty when some may not even realize it. For instance, almost every student in America recites the pledge of allegiance daily, hopefully attempting to employ its true meaning. In addition, the adults of our country vote for various people and/or positions in society, particularly in government and law enforcement, as well as local educational matters. If one does not acquire love for their country, then they would not have a care as to what happens in this nation. Aside from voting, education becomes an utmost importance in patriotism, for those who obtain education tend to be the ones who strive to make our nation successful.

Patriotism is not just a personal concept, because when one person shows this loyalty towards their country, it becomes a chain reaction. Others will observe their dedication, and will demonstrate the same devotion as they see. Everyone has the opportunity to show patriotism, and is represented by many people in numerous ways. Without patriotism, the world would be flooded in chaos, and would result in entropy. Fortunately, none of that is occurring presently, because patriotism still matters.

The Fright of Power

a Thematic Response

by Matt Thurman

Power is a notion that every human conceives of having, yet is usually abused into corruption. Animal Farm by George Orwell is an example of this, which is a satire of the Russian Revolution. When one has absolute power, that power always happens to corrupt eventually. This is definitely the case of Napoleon, a pig in Animal Farm, who tried to make his farm a better place, but had it end back up in its original state. Obviously, one cannot attain full power without the community losing trust towards that being.

It's not easy governing an entire country to yourself. In fact, a lot of times complete power makes leaders unnerved or panicky, causing them to slip up, overall leading to a large dilemma. Pigs are omnivorous, meaning they will devour anything in their way. When humans have power, they are susceptible to being porcine. People with power want everything, and because they feel they have all the power they need, they believe that they can get everything that they want. Unfortunately, the fact that you can attain every necessity is never true, for that is the major flaw of any leader in a group.

As well as the fact that power does lead to corruption, it can also dictate someone's life. In Animal Farm, Napoleon got so caught up in his power, which forced him to overlook his genuine purpose. George Orwell is trying to explain to the reader that the Russian Revolution was actually positioning different people back in charge. It became a full circle from transformation back to dictatorship. However, at the time that Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky were planning the change, they had Communism tattooed on their minds. Of course, this is where the caution flag goes up, and things start to crawl out of hand. For example, the three pigs in Animal Farm created something called the Seven Commandments. Surprisingly enough, every pig except for Snowball, who was run out of the farm, violated every single commandment. This clearly shows that they were not trying to make their vicinity a better place after all. All they wanted was for them to be crowned the leader of everyone.

When one truly grasps the thought of power, they must then realize the struggles and complexities that are brought with it. On the other hand, populaces should be aware beforehand of what absolute power can do, therefore stopping individuals to conquer full supremacy.

An Ironic Foresight

Author's Note: This is just the main idea of what the book is about, and how people in the vicinity react to the surrounding and instructions they are given.

Far off in the future,
an irony arose.
A man of bad fortune,
a government ruled world.
Language evolving,
freedom is lost.
Commands from Big Brother,
And threats if not done.
Fear among all,
of what will become
when they have done wrong.
This is the year of 1984.

Far off in London,
hate becomes profuse.
The Party in control,
non-existent privacy.
Lies become true,
divorce unacceptable.
Love so untouched,
confusion in place.
The Party unfair,
yet some do agree,
that the choices are right.
This is the year of 1984.

Catcher In The Rye

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Catcher In The Rye

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Summative Essay

Tom Sawyer
by Matt Thurman

Life is a conveyor belt that never stops, and always flows with items for all maturity levels. This is exactly the case of Tom Sawyer, the main character in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The novel's point is not very distinguished, as it is very unperceivable. Though time expires in our vicinity, we still have moments of immaturity and frivolousness within our actions of all age.

Inside human nature comes many varieties of personalities and behavior. For example, Tom Sawyer has a very immature behavior compared to most children his age. By no law does it say to act in such a manner, it is simply your own choice of exactly who you desire to be. With this self-advocating comes the help of influencers; such as parents, friends, teachers, and even other family members. Even though one may truly be mature, he or she still possibly will have moments of frolicsomeness. Most children inside a church would resist all distractions while the priest is giving a sermon, or at least would leave the building to commit their intended action. Tom Sawyer would fall under the category of the minority of children. As an example, he let out an insect to meander around the chapel, which caused tremendous commotion within the environment. Immaturity sometimes becomes a great escape, yet it can cause numerous predicaments.

The point to the story is something that people often take in to consider, but the theme of the novel becomes just as essential. Romance, the mode of literature of The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, is vital to all humans, as it is what soothes our souls. The advantage to reading romantic literature is that it allows escapism to the reader. This is especially optimistic news to war veterans having a great deal of stress among themselves. As we all know, life is not Utopia, for it holds many obstacles in the way to experience. Tom, on the other hand, has no intention to being experienced, for he is innocent, and stays innocent throughout the entire novel. This is why romance takes over the mode of this book.

The novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is a reasonably simple book to read, with some sections of difficulty hither and thither. The author puts great detail into his writing, and contains an exceptional vocabulary. Mark Twain excels at impersonating characters' voices, and can even simulate entire conversations within characters inside each scene. Unfortunately, this seems to be one of the few strengths that Mark Twain contains in writing. However, his bizarre imagination helps raise his skill to be the excellent writer he is.

Life is like bird watching. You never know what's going to come, and you never know when it will happen. This falls under the category of behavior. Tom Sawyer is definitely a character of innocence and juvenile behavior. However, Tom's acting of this way allows him to be the person he really is, and unleash his inner characteristics. Acting puerile gives a romantic feel to life, therefore us humans should not scold others for doing so.

Response to Tom Sawyer

Revenge
by Matt Thurman

Revenge is a callous motive that all humans acquire at some point, yet are not usually proud of. This is caused by another person's action that infuriates your entire being, and affects your state of mind. Such rage may result in an atrocious action, simply just a grudge that expands nowhere, or maybe even a thought of resentment that quickly fades away into forgiveness. Revenge is an emotion that can remain in one’s heart, though it is something that needs to be overcome to enable friendship.

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During life's treacherous yet also prodigious journey, many occurrences will happen, whether they are fortunate things, or maybe unfortunate things. The novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer has many moments of this case. Anyway, on this challenging journey many obstacles interfere with our actions, as this is what might cause us to resent against them. An example would be in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, when Tom and Becky were talking about becoming engaged to each other. Then Tom slipped out to talk about how he almost got engaged to another girl, which placed Becky in an outrage! Ever since that moment, Becky held a grudge towards Tom because of his "ignorance". Her form of revenge was to watch another of her friends spill ink onto Tom's journal, and keep mum about it. Although this may seem a weak type of revenge, the journal was an important belonging to Tom, and this destruction to it may be critical to him. Becky did continue her feelings in this same way for a while, however they abated until they finally became friends again. Revenge sometimes can be looked at in many views, and also can be a challenging concept to ponder. However, revenge doesn't need to be carried out if everyone can accept another's decisions and actions, therefore making the world a better place.

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Life can bring many varieties of people into the world. Whether these people are pleasant or repulsive, there still is a mature way to react to their actions. Unfortunately, there are few humans who choose not to react maturely to these differences among them, causing quandaries within the atmosphere. For example, in the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a man named Injun Joe decided not to react in such a mature manner. According to him, a man abused him horrifically, apparently horsewhipping him. Now he is dead, therefore Injun Joe is unable to get revenge on that man, so he decides to take it out on his wife, who is completely innocent. This is definitely an extremely cruel style of revenge, knowing that who he took the revenge on wasn't even the perpetrator. When one avenges another, then generally the victim of that revenge thrashes back. Overall, this creates a Dystopian vision that may never end.

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The key to subduing revenge is to forgive. When one can forgive, the other feels that they are now neutral with their emotions within each other, allowing them to forget about what troubles they have made for one another. Revenge can lead into many horrendous conclusions, though transforming this attribute into forgiveness is the key to an excellent rapport with others.

Response for "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Innocence is the juncture that every human begins at. As iniquity threatens to obliterate our optimism to ensue our complete experience, it would be wise to resist its power. This action would hopefully direct us to the stage of experience. Everyone encounters trouble and evil on the road of innocence to experience, therefore we need to deal with this malevolence forcefully.

Experience is the phase at which every human desires to ascend. Francie, a character in the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, was a normal teenager trying to make her way through life, while having many more obstacles than most teenagers today. For example, Francie came across many wicked people who tried to resist her from her full potential. She also ran into many co-workers who were quite rude to her, and all her bosses were unfair to her. Francie is the rose seed in the ground that is trying to grow up to become a full flower, yet struggling in a drought with many animals scavenging for left food. Not many teenagers find themselves in poverty with a father who drinks more than his share, then years later their father even dying of that addiction. Although Francie's circumstances are atypical nowadays, there are a minority of children who stumble on situations similar to hers. Deprival is one unfortunate concept that a fraction of the world faces always. For example, there are humans that don’t have a roof to put over their head, some people struggle to even see food weekly, and most of those people happen to fall under both categories. On the other hand, others have both of those vitalities, yet are abused daily, have drunk or dying parents, or have parents who just can't afford to get a job. Anyways, there many people in the world who live a lot less fortunate lives than others, yet we all have to attempt to proceed to the experience level.

The point to the story is a very important part to every reader, yet how the book was written is also a concept that is good to know. Betty Smith wrote this book differently than most other books read. Her style is like a NASCAR race, where the cars are going tremendously fast, then stopping for a pit stop, then repeating the cycle over and over until the end of the race. This unique style causes the reader to be trapped into the book, because when the slow sections arrive, they are soon whipped back in to the hurried segments, and feel sucked into the novel. Many readers enjoy this style because of this reason, yet occasional viewers believe this technique carries too many streaks of slow action, which causes their boredom to flare up. Many opinionated beliefs can emerge out of the reading of this interesting book, including mine. I believe that this book is a very unique and well written novel, and I enjoy the author’s style of writing. It is much different from others, which is a large reason of why I liked her writing so much.

Growing up is a term that many kids see as an eternity away. However, life can be deceivingly quicker than most expect. Therefore, evil needs to be rejected as soon as possible so we can focus on the good things on our way to maturity. All human beings need to defy all immortality on Earth, then as a result they can finally be successful on their journey to experience.