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Beowulf’s fight with Grendel proves his heroic credentials and strength. Grendel, the unstoppable demonic troll, all but surrenders at Beowulf’s squashing grip. The bone-crushing grab, however, raises a crux debated by Beowulf scholars: Does Beowulf make the first move and put the death clamp on the approaching Grendel? Or does the blood-smeared Grendel strike first? The confusion appears just as Grendel looms over Beowulf:

Forð near æstop,

nam þa mid handa, hige-þithigne

rinc on ræste, rhte ongean

feond mid folme; he onfeng hraþe

inwit-þancum ond wið earm gesæt.

[745-749]

(“He stepped further in and caught in his claws the strong-minded man where he lay on his bed—the evil assailant snatched at him, clutching; hand met claw, he sat straight up at once, thrust the arm back” [Chickering, p. 93].) In Chickering’s translation, Grendel represents he, and reaches for Beowulf first. The original manuscript reveals an unclear pronoun antecedent that can be taken as either Beowulf or Grendel.

At the start of line 745, Grendel acts as the subject, advancing toward Beowulf, reaching out its hand. Yet some translators have switched the main subject from Grendel to Beowulf at line 746b. C. L Wrenn, for example, takes “hige-þithigne,” (literally the ‘stout-hearted warrior’) while on the bed, reaches (‘rinc on ræste, / rhte ongean/ feond mid folme’) toward the enemy with an open hand (198). This would put Grendel hovering over Beowulf, preparing a strike with an outstretched hand. “Suddenly, Beowulf, perceiving Grendel’s hostile intent, springs up and literally arm wrestles with the monster” (Wrenn 198). Having Beowulf attack makes him appear aggressive instead of passive. Remaining in bed, waiting for the monster, seems unusual for a fearless hero such as Beowulf. He lies in the darkness while Grendel snacks on his comrade, Hondscioh, whose untimely death begs this question: why does Beowulf let his comrade meet such a horrible fate?

In light of Grendel storming Heorot for a Danish morsel, he snatches up Hondscioh, ripping him to pieces, and spilling his blood before swallowing him whole. This gory, revolting scene depicts Grendel as a threat; Hondscioh’s death reflects the philosophy “of expendability” (Pearce 170). The editors from a literary journal known as The Explicator offer this definition for the term: ‘ This behavior, we believe, may be explained as the earliest example of the scientific method: Beowulf watched attack upon the sleeping Thane in order to learn Grendel’s tactics well enough to defeat him later’” (as cited in Pearce 175). On the other hand, Arthur K. Moore believes Hondscioh’s sacrifice belongs to Germanic Code. Basically, “Beowulf letting Hondscioh die was an act of tribal security. The men have pledged their lives to protect him and serve his renown” (as qtd. in Pearce 175). In Moore’s view, Hondscioh’s death is a reflection of his duty and allegiance to Beowulf; however, the version of expendability from the editors of The Explicator seems more suitable to Beowulf as a heroic character. A superhero like Beowulf needs a horrifying monster to show off his physical prowess, and Grendel would not appear nearly as terrifying without a blood and guts sacrifice of at least one Geat or Dane. T.M Pearce mentions, that letting Hondscioh die gives Beowulf a tactical “advantage over his foe” (170). Basically, while lying down, Beowulf can watch the creature’s movements, waiting for just the right moment to strike. Another reason might have to do with proximity. The poet volunteers no layout information about the hall other than its vastness. Perhaps Hondscioh positioned himself too far away for rescue, and Beowulf could see no advantage of risking himself to save one of his men. Or maybe Grendel enters the hall too quickly for Beowulf to react. Poet and scholar Dick Ringler supports this idea and suggests Grendel’s swift movements resulted in Hondscioh’s death (xliii).

Still, some scholars and translators insist in keeping Grendel as the main subject. F. G. Cassidy notes that the subject changes after ræste, which makes the “reference of the understood subject of r?hte to rinc unclear and the he in the next line becomes superfluous” (88). Wrenn (despite accepting Beowulf as the main subject), notes that “taking wið earm as Beowulf’s own arm rather than Grendel’s is more difficult as is often done” (309). Howell D. Chickering concurs with Wrenn’s opinion, pointing out that the passage “requires some sentence twisting” (309). Nevertheless, Beowulf leading an arm offensive is suitable to his heroic character. Passivity may suit a calculating Hobbit like Bilbo Baggins, but not a brawny hero like Beowulf. Beowulf’s personality has the comic book appeal of a superhero. Even modern translations of the poem by Dick Ringler, and Seamus Heaney, despite compelling textual evidence that Grendel grabbed the Geatish hero first, all reconstruct the text so that Beowulf seizes the monster.

And so, if taking the popular assumption that Beowulf does grab first, then what does this say about his character as a monster-fighter? Unfortunately, the first fight with Grendel lacks visual details, leaving much of the contest to the reader’s imagination. Nor does the poet explore Beowulf’s inner-thoughts while the monster readies the attack. This scene is purely physical. Also Beowulf’s power grip and stance remain a mystery—just how does a person sitting up in a bed break off a troll’s arm? Donald K. Fry attacks the crux with an argument that has Beowulf perform a special type of arm lock on Grendel. In Fry’s interpretation, Beowulf’s own weight pushes Grendel’s “arm downward and forces it upward behind the monster’s back” (365). Using his freehand, Beowulf squeezes and pops Grendel’s fingers (Brown as quoted in Fry 365). So in order for Grendel to get out, the monster “must spin clockwise”; then, as the monster tries wrangling itself out from Beowulf’s grip, the hero simply moves “in the same direction of the pinned arm at a faster speed” (Fry 365), snapping Grendel’s arm off in the process. Fry uses Beowulf’s victory account to Hrothgar as evidence for his arm-lock claim:

Ic hi[ne] hrædlice heardan clammum

On wæ-bedde wriþan þohte,

þæt he for [mu]nd-gripe minum scolde

licgean lif-bysig, butan his lic swice.

[Lines 963-966]

“I thought to bind him in a hard grip, tie him to his own deathbed with my grip, so that it would make it impossible for him to escape, unless he disappeared”[Chickering p.103]).

This passage is somewhat problematic because Beowulf “thought” or “planned” to carry these actions out, but did not necessarily succeed. Another problem Fry does not mention appears during Beowulf account to Hygelac of the monster fight, in which the hero says “ac he mægnes rof/ min costode”, “he tested my might/ his claw seized me” (Chickering 171). However, this account might be interpreted as rhetorical flourish to please the king. Beowulf’s own account differs quite a bit from the original scene described by the poet. First, Beowulf does not mention the fact that he was lying in bed during Hondscioh’s death. He tells his king that he and his men were guarding the hall, when in fact his men were all “asleep” (Chickering 91). Consequently, Beowulf’s narrative is in question. In addition, Grendel seizing first would put the hero at an incredible disadvantage and he would have considerable difficulty pushing Grendel’s arm back initially. Standing above Beowulf allows Grendel the advantage of leverage. So, as Grendel captures Beowulf and prepares to pull him up, he becomes startled in the process because of Beowulf’s countermove and strong hold. In Chickering’s translation, “Grendel instantly knows that he has never encountered a grip like Beowulf’s and stands in the hall paralyzed by fear” (93).

The next part has Beowulf rising to his feet for combat. The move looks like this: Using his free hand as leverage, Beowulf pulls his legs in , bends his knees, and springs to his feet. Now this is an awkward move, even for a monster-slaying mega-hero like Beowulf “with the strength of thirty men in his hand grip” (Chickering 71). Strategically, Beowulf would lose a lot time propping himself up and Grendel could simply throw Beowulf off balance. Perhaps the difficulty the hero faces in performing this maneuver is why many translators like interpreting the passage as Beowulf reaching for Grendel first. Beowulf can pull himself up using Grendel’s arm; however, pushing the monster’s arm back, as Fry suggests is still difficult from this vantage point. Grendel does not remain stunned for very long, and in the action that follows, the monster tries fleeing—“the giant pulled away/the noble moved with him” (761). From this perspective, Grendel is dragging Beowulf behind him. Beowulf, however, does not lose any ground and Grendel’s arm snaps off as a result. Instead of a complex wrestling move, Beowulf is playing a game of tug-of-war with Grendel. With one hand free, Grendel could cause serious damage to Heorot, tossing mead benches and clawing at the hall’s walls, while Beowulf maintains a firm footing. Realistically, in order for Beowulf to gain an advantage over Grendel or use a new wrestling move, he would need seize Grendel’s arm first.

Although Fry’s wrestling argument sheds light on the mysterious fight, the idea of a new, complex hand move does not fit the textual descriptions of Beowulf’s physical actions as well as it should. The executed movements are awkward because the hall would be dark, and Grendel’s height might cause Beowulf difficulty. Moving an arm to a monster’s back from a supine position on the bed sounds almost impossible. And it does seem a bit hammy that Beowulf’s inspiration for a wrestling move on Grendel occurs just as Hondscioh loses his lower-half, when he could have executed the move with better effect earlier. A better strategy might have been this: Beowulf hides in an inconspicuous place in the hall, waiting for Grendel. The hall’s vastness allows Beowulf plenty of vantage points for attack. Not to mention the fact that there appears to be only one way in or out of Hrothgar’s great mead hall, which offers a considerable advantage for a surprise attack. Beowulf could have constructed a decoy to fool Grendel, which might have spared Hondscioh from death. In light of the various attack methods Beowulf could have chosen, his lying-in-wait strategy lacks effectiveness, because Grendel has the advantage. Also, the action-packed fight between Beowulf and Grendel does not offer much time for the Geatish hero’s wrestling plan. Instead, Beowulf, possessing an abundant amount of confidence and strength, reaches first and subdues Grendel.

So what does the surprise tug-of-war combat against Grendel say about the Geatish hero? Basically, Beowulf relies on brute strength rather than complex tactical maneuvers. Fred G. Robinson writes, “Against these superhuman and (some human) adversaries, he can pit only his man’s courage and his man’s strength” (79). Robinson’s quote reflects the true nature of Beowulf. He is not a clever Odysseus foiling a Cyclops through a combination of word play and trickery. He does not indulge in riddle-games before destroying a foe. Instead, he hyperbolizes his exploits and, like a superhero, takes the foe out through mortal combat.

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One noticeable quality about Beowulf’s attack pattern is that he does not thoroughly plan out his offenses. After the Grendel’s mother storms the hall, claiming another victim, Beowulf pledges to destroy her. But, instead of waiting for the monster, Beowulf must go to its lair. One would think that an undertaking like this would require a bit of strategy. Beowulf has never once seen the she-troll’s mire. He never contemplates the possible dangers awaiting him underwater. Rather than make any plan, Beowulf puts on his enchanted armor, gives another hyperbolic speech about life and death, receives a special sword and forges ahead to a cursed swamp where Grendel’s mother awaits. This fight has a similar attack pattern to Beowulf’s contest with Grendel. Beowulf’s gift sword from Unferth proves useless against the water-troll, so he must rely on his “strong grip” (Chickering) once again. Even the third and final fight with the dragon depicts Beowulf rushing into its lair with no plan; however, this time the monster destroys the hero and burns “his hand to a crisp” (Chickering 2698). The dragon has ruined Beowulf’s best weapon—the destruction of his hand symbolizes the loss of his strength. Each monster fight showcases Beowulf’s strength and his valor in exchange for a lack of strategy. Although he is successful in destroying monsters with his bare hands, after each fight the people he saves are “doomed to suffer some type of catastrophe” (Brodeur 1). So it seems as if Beowulf’s monster fights are nothing more than a band aid for the feuds plaguing the Danes and the Geats. His strength gives him fame keeps the peace until it is lost in the final fight with the dragon.

Works Cited

1. Beowulf. Trans. Howell D. Chickering, JR. New York: Anchor Books, 2006.
2. Trans. Seamus Heaney. New York: Norton, 2000.
3. Trans. Dick Ringler. Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2007.
4. Brodeur, Arthur Gilchrist. "An excerpt from The Art of Beowulf." The Art of Beowulf. Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism 1 (1959): 1-8.
5. Cassidy, F.G. “Suggested Repunctuation of a Passage in Beowulf.” Modern Language Notes 50 (1935): 87-88.
6. Fry, Donald K. “WI Ð Earm Gesæt And Beowulf’s Hammerlock.” Modern Philology 67 (1969): 364-366.
7. Pearce, T.M. “Beowulf’s Moment of Decision in Heorot.” Tennessee Studies in Literature 11 (1966): 169-176.
8. Robinson, Fred G. “Elements of the Marvelous in the Characterization of Beowulf: A Reconsideration of Textual Evidence.” The Beowulf Reader. Ed. Peter S. Baker. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000. 79.
9. Wrenn, C.L., ed. Beowulf with the Finnesburg Fragment. London: George G. Harrap & Co. LTD, 1958.

If I asked you what the most important organ was then maybe you would say itwas the heart or the lungs, but the vast majority of you would probably have said the brain and for good reason too. The brain controls everything about you.

The brain works by transmitting signals through something called neurons, the neurons transmit these signals through what are called axons. And then those axons are covered is a substance called myelin which acts as a sort of insulator that makes signals faster. Now with all of this it may surprise you that the brain is made of mostly fat! In fact it has the most fat out of any organ. But the brain still manages to work like a well oiled machine. After the neurons clump up they form something called grey matter and white matter. And those form to make up the entire brain. The vagus nerve is the main nerve that connect the brain to the rest of the body. It is sometimes called the “Highway of the brain” because of how much information passes through it. The arguably most important part of the brain is called the brainstem, it controls breathing, heartbeat, and other vital systems. Then after that the brain is split into hemispheres. There are also cortexes and lobes, but I won't go into detail with those. The left hemisphere controls logical thinking. It also controls speech. The right hemisphere controls the creative part of you. It is tied to artistic ability and also helps you recognize people. But both hemispheres control the opposite side of the body, the right controls left and left controls the right side.

With all these delicate parts that need to be protected the brain has evolved a way to combat any viruses or bacteria that are trying to attack it or any other part of the body. This system is called the immune system. The first cells that come are called phagocytes. The specific phagocyte I will talk about is called a Macrophage. It is the first defense against bacteria and viruses, but they can be infected by viruses, so the body has made cells called natural killer cells to kill any infected cells. While the Macrophages are very powerful in the case of a bacterial infection, the Macrophages will also cause inflammation and call Neutrophiles. The Neutrophils are so powerful that they accidentally harm the body too. Now if this isn't enough then the macrophages will call an immune cell called the Dendritic cell. The Dendritic cell will start collecting antigens of the virus/bacteria. Then they will travel to a lymphocyte through the lymphatic system. There they will activate T and B cells. The T cells then go to activate the B-cells and and the B-cells produce antibodies that will kill the virus/bacteria. After this there will be leftover T and B cells that will remember the bacteria/virus, and they are called memory T and B cells. This is how vaccines work!

Now with that out of the way we can start to talk about some diseases. The first one I will talk about is called M.S. (Multiple Sclerosis.) This disease is formed because of what is called an autoimmune attack. An autoimmune attack is what happens when the immune system accidentally attacks itself. The most prominent of the cells that attack the own body are the natural killer cells. Now usually in a normally functioning immune system there are cells to stop this, they are called suppressor cells. In patients with M.S. however there is both a lack of suppressor cells and too many natural killer cells. This overall leads to the destruction of the myelin and the symptoms associated with M.S. which there are to many to count, but a few examples are Depression, Headache, Sleep Deprivation, and other symptoms like those. Prions Another of these neurodegenerative diseases are called prions. Prions are malformed proteins that infect other proteins and turn them into other prions. Prions are mostly found in cerebrospinal fluid. There is currently no way to catch Prions from other people other than… Cannibalism and surgical equipment that was not sanitized. But, you can catch it from eating the meat off of animals that have it. One example of these diseases is Mad Cow disease. In humans it’s called vCJD, but the similarity between these two prions is that they both have a 100% death rate within one to two years.

Now you may be asking yourself “Doesn't the brain have ways to stop diseases like those from harming it?” Well if you were asking those questions then you would be right. It is called the Blood Brain Barrier and as the name implies, it is a barrier between the blood and the brain. Usually this barrier can keep most bacteria and viruses out using a sort of mesh...at a cost. The BBB also keeps immunes cells from entering the brain in the event of an infection. This is why brain infections are so severe if they occur.

Now back in the 19th century they didn't understand the delicate machinery of the brain. So they started tampering with it. They created a procedure where they split the cord connecting the two hemispheres in order to cure seizures. It worked for a time, but then the patients started reporting that one part of their body was acting sort of on its own. For example they would choose to eat something and then they would have the left part of their body do something else. This is of course because the two parts of their brain couldn't communicate with each other that well. And that’s why it worked so well to cure seizures which happen because of the brain sending random signals everywhere.

All of the diseases I listed are all incurable… For now. So think about the future and what will happen and how medicine will evolve to help cure these diseases. Take this advice and help the world become a better place with no disease!

Table of contents

1. Traditional Cuisine and Culture
2. Fast Food
3. Cigarettes and Alcohol Consumption
4. Emotional Stress

Quoted by Brillat-Savarin (1826), this states that the food we consume has a great impact on our well-being and health. Eating habits refer to what, how, when and in what quantities an individual eats. As for Mauritians, it is true that the eating pattern is influenced by a variety of factors. Obesity and other health problems can be attributed to this lifestyle. This essay will further analyse the eating habits of the inhabitants of Mauritius and the related dangers.

Traditional Cuisine and Culture

According to McGruther (2018), “Traditional foods are those foods which nourished our ancestors throughout history and prehistory prior to the advent of the industrialisation of food.”Mauritius being a multicultural country, its traditional food originates from various parts of the world such as India, China, Africa and Europe. Comparing the time of our ancestors and the foods we eat nowadays, the composition of traditional food in Mauritius has drastically changed. Long ago, it consisted mostly of greens, root vegetables, grains and fresh cow milk whereas now, it includes curry, ‘gateau piment’, ‘rougaille’, and fruit salad amongst others, which are generally very oily and salty. Particularly, Indo-Mauritians keep their culinary traditions emanating from India and these meals tend to be very high in calories. This eating behavior has proved to be harmful for the population in the long term leading to various chronic health problems such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity, as a result of lack of physical exercise. Thus, it can be said that the eating habits of Mauritians are influenced by traditional cuisine which in turn can lead to health troubles in the long run.

Fast Food

As described by National Institutes of Health (2017), “Fast foods are characterised as quick, easily accessible and cheap alternatives to home-cooked meals.” (Hellesvig-Gaskell, 2017) Following industrialisation, lifestyles of Mauritians have taken a more western aspect; we consume more fast food and we exercise less because of time constraints. The majority of fast foods are deep-fried and therefore very oily. For instance, a full dinner meal at Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) comes around 1,860 calories.

This new way of eating gives rise to health troubles like obesity and diabetes. In fact, the Mauritius Non Communicable Diseases survey (2015; pp 5-6) states that about 20.5% of the Mauritian population is diabetic and 19.1% is obese. This is the consequence of lack of physical activities due to the considerable improvement in the standard of living in Mauritius which led to a more sedentary lifestyle. More people can afford television sets, computers, video games and an internet connection which have substituted fitness activities in their free time. Thus, Mauritians who eat fast food often and do not exercise pose as a threat to their health.

Cigarettes and Alcohol Consumption

The regular consumption of alcohol and cigarettes have many ill-effects on the physical as well as the mental health of people. A recent study by the World Health Organisation showed that “Mauritians consume on average 3.6 litres of alcohol each year and the dependency rate of alcoholic drinks in Mauritius is 1.9% against 1.5% in African countries.”

This implies that the trade of alcohol is widespread and very lucrative in the country. Nevertheless, the regular consumption of alcoholic drinks, being highly caloric, is very damaging to the physical health of individuals. Similarly, tobacco can be considered as the most dangerous and addictive drug as it is easily available. It is also the most lethal substance as smoking causes millions of death around the world each year. In Mauritius alone, a survey by Tobacco Atlas (2016) found that 16.61% of male death and 6.98% of female death are caused by smoking each year, which is a quite worrying situation for a population of 1.3 million.

Still, the Government has been implementing several measures to discourage alcohol consumption and smoking. Hence, it is imperative for Mauritians to alter their eating habits so that they can live longer and in better health conditions.

Emotional Stress

Another factor influencing eating habits of Mauritians is that of emotional stress. As observed by psychologist Susan Albers, PsyD (2016), “There is a definite connection between stress and our appetite. But the connection is not the same for everyone.”

The modern Mauritian society is characterised by a very high degree of competition in education as well as in employment. Children of only eleven years old have to take part in a very determinant and competitive examination. At present, the unemployment rate in Mauritius is about 6.6%, which explains why many qualified people postulate for the very few highly paid jobs available in the country. As a result, due to the pressures and constraints associated with studies and professional life, people are becoming more and more stressed. However, high stress levels can result in loss of appetite and non-transmissible diseases like high blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases. In this sense, stress has altered the eating habits of Mauritians. The eating habits of Mauritians, as analysed above, are influenced in many ways. Unhealthy traditional food, the availability of fast food, the regular consumption of cigarettes and alcoholic drinks and the increasingly stressful lifestyle have all contributed to the rapid progression of non-transmissible diseases. Nevertheless, the main one is the attitude of Mauritians towards healthy eating and living. With proper awareness and some degree of moderation, these issues can be controlled.

Brand positioning refers to “target consumer’s” reason to buy the brand in preferences to others. It is a very grateful method in the marketing arena. It ensures that all brand activity has a common aim; is guided, directed and delivered by the brand’s benefits to buy; and focuses at all points of contact with the customer.

In order to create a distinctive place in the market, a niche market has to be carefully chosen and a unique advantage must be created in their mind. Brand positioning is a medium through which an organization can portray its customers what it wants to achieve for them and what it wants to mean to them. Brand positioning forms customer’s views and opinions.

Brand positioning can be defined as an act of creating a brand offer in such a manner that it occupies a distinctive place and value in the target customer’s mind. Brand positioning involves identifying and determining points of similarity and differences to ascertain the right brand identity and to create a proper brand image. Brand positioning is the key to marketing strategy.

A strong brand positioning directs marketing strategy by explaining the brand details, the uniqueness of the brand and it’s similarity with the competitive brands, as well as the reasons for buying and using that specific brand. Positioning is the base for developing and increasing the required knowledge and perceptions of the customers. It is the single feature that sets your service apart from your competitors.

Positioning is a concept in marketing which was first introduced by Jack Trout and then popularized by Al Ries and Jack Trout in their bestseller book "Positioning - The Battle for Your Mind."

This differs slightly from the context in which the term was first published in 1969 by Jack Trout in the paper "Positioning". In it positioning is a game people play in today’s me-too market place". In the publication Industrial Marketing, in which the case is made that the typical consumer is overwhelmed with unwanted advertising, and has a natural tendency to discard all information that does not immediately find a comfortable (and empty) slot in the consumer's mind. It was then expanded into their first book, "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind," in which they define Positioning as "an organized system for finding a window in the mind. It is based on the concept that communication can only take place at the right time and under the right circumstances".

Five Factors of Brand Positioning

• Brand Attributes

What the brand delivers through features and benefits to consumers.

• Consumer Expectations

What consumers expect to receive from the brand.

• Competitor Attributes

What the other brands in the market offer through features and benefits to consumers.

• Price

An easily quantifiable factor – Your prices vs. your competitors’ prices.

• Consumer Perceptions

The perceived quality and value of your brand in the consumer’s mind.

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Stability
3. Traditional Religion
4. High Art
5. Death
6. Conclusion
7. References

Introduction

Introduction: Although written over eighty years ago in 1932, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World still maintains its relevance to society today. Huxley’s vision of a static dystopia which altered what it means to be human is as terrifying as when this novel was first published. The subversion of religion, trivialization of art, and the alteration of attitudes towards death to guarantee this demand for stability, fundamentally affects humanity. Through various techniques of biological and behavioural conditioning, there is a successful debasement of the human condition. Huxley himself described the novel’s theme as “the advancement of science as it affects human individuals”. This is hardly the hopeful Brave New World voiced by Miranda in The Tempest. Instead we have a world where scientific methods to ensure stability have the effect of dehumanization: a reflection of the changes that were transforming Huxley’s world such as growing consumerism, promiscuity, and changes in popular culture at the novel’s writing and a warning to his generation of what may ensue if this path continued. Thesis statement: Thus in my essay, I will explore to what extent in its determination to achieve a stable society does the World State subvert religion, trivialize art, and alter attitudes towards death thereby debasing the human condition?

Background: During my reading, I was struck by how the characters of the novel are so utterly different from myself and what we consider normal in society. They seemed mannequins, caricatures of what it means to be human, like programmed robots in our modern world. Hence in choosing a question, the focus was firstly why the characters were so lacking in humanity. The answer was the adulteration of ideas of family and love, art, religion, and even death. Secondly, the reason and justification for this deterioration of the human condition. Upon analysis, this was the determination for stability no matter the cost. It was only through the creation of a monstrous version of contemporary man would there be guarantee that the dystopia would not be endangered.

Stability

In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, stability is the central goal and the raison d'être. War, poverty, social and class conflicts have been eradicated. But to achieve stability, the leaders believe in a process of dehumanization because natural man is volatile, passionate, and inherently individual. Because of this, the World State’s maxim is, “Community, Identity, Stability”. Evidence & citing: One of these efforts at dehumanization is the Bokanovsky process. Through this, numerous clones are created to contribute to mass production. The World State wish all citizens to be the same so that there are no conflicts. The Director says, “Standard men and women; in uniform batches. The whole of a small factory staffed with the products of a single bokanovskified egg. Ninety-six identical twins working ninety-six identical machines”. No longer were babies born from mothers, no longer would there be babies. For that was in the past when “humans used to be viviparous, ” quotes the Director, “And when babies were decanted. Born”. The destruction of the family unit is one major step toward leading a stable society and so they despise the idea that there used to be parents, a father and a mother. “Mother ‘These, ’ he said gravely, ‘are unpleasant facts’” stated by the Director shows how they view it as being harmful to their society, describing it as “smutty”. Commentary: Huxley uses irony here to emphasize the difference in attitudes between the New World and our society. What our world views as normality is taboo in the dystopia. The World State has divided people into castes determined by biochemical technology, producing identical human beings contented with their status. “Hasn’t it occurred to you that an Epsilon embryo must have an Epsilon environment as well as an Epsilon heredity?” says the Director. Not only do the leaders create identical clones, but individuals who think and act alike. This is accomplished through hypnopaedia, a form of sleep teaching used to condition individuals. The indoctrination through hypnopaedia and the whole Bokanovsky process of designing people to suit particular roles in society means that people no longer suffer. As John points out, it is the fate of humanity to feel pain and suffer - it is central to the human condition. By conditioning their citizens they deny the natural man. Diversity has been replaced by conformity and free choice has been lost in favour of imposed and strictly monitored conformity. The government strongly believes that to maintain a stable society, individuality must be eradicated. Hence, they make everyone look, think, and act the same. For this reason, strong emotions such as love or an attachment are unnecessary. “We condition to thrive on heat, concluded Mr. Foster. ‘And that, ’ put in the Director sententiously, ‘that is the secret of happiness and virtue - liking what you’ve got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny’”.

Commentary: Hence stability is achieved. Individuals who accept their social position will not complain and cause problems: the end of class conflict. The consequence of this destiny is the aptly described image of swarming “maggots” that swarmed over the body of the savage’s mothers dead body which are also referred to as a “khaki mob”. Evidence & citing: At this point, the irony of John the Savage’s cry of “Brave New World” is more than just irony at the horror the world has become, but despair at the fate of mankind. The New Worlders are also conditioned to accept promiscuity, “everyone belongs to everyone else”. It is unusual for one to be loyal to another, monogamy is non-existent. When Fanny finds out that her friend, Lenina was only seeing Henry Foster, she says, “it’s not as though there were anything painful or disagreeable about having one or two men besides Henry. And seeing that, you ought to be a little more promiscuous…”. Commentary: It is ironically the opposite of the morality of our world and illustrates that it is the norm in the World State. Although this eliminates conflict that people may have because of love, it also ends passion, an emotion that humans feel naturally. At moments where they face discomfort or confusion they find escape with soma which makes people relaxed and happy, effectively negating their sadness. This can be seen clearly when Lenina treats herself to soma after her experience on the Reservation, “after this day of queerness and horror she swallowed six half-gramme tablets of soma and embarked for lunar eternity”. Soma and sexual promiscuity provide the escapism necessary to ensure happiness and social stability. The eradication of love and jealousy also ensure stability. Without passion for a specific someone, everyone can have everyone else and continue to be with new people, never learning concepts such as love and loyalty. These emotions lead to instability, but they are two of the most human of all experiences. As a consequence, the reader senses that many characters in this society “are simply automations- they are simply living and breathing, nothing more”. By sacrificing family, individuality, choice, passion, love and loyalty on the bonfire for the quest for a stable unchanging society, the New World has created a monstrous version of what it means to be human. John proves to be the antithesis of this new man and is antagonistic to these main beliefs of the New Worlders with his belief in family, idealization of romantic love and disgust at conformity.

Traditional Religion

Huxley paints a picture of a society devoid of religion and true spirituality. Evidence & citing: In doing so, he issues a warning of a society awaiting us with a “soulless utilitarian existence, incompatible with our nature and purpose”. In place of a deity, there is now Ford, in place of churches and prayer, there are the community singing and soma-induced orgies. The Christian cross has been replaced by the symbol T, representing Henry Ford’s Model T and his assembly line for mass production. Similarly, the Bokanovsky process that the New Worlders are built on is also an assembly line. The stability of the collective society demands the sacrifice of these practices and icons. The rationale for this subversion is that if different paths to spirituality are allowed, this activity will make individuals different, causing dissension, breaking the control of the social collective. Evidence & citing: World controller Mustafa Mond makes this clear when he says, “It would upset the whole social order if men started doing things on their own”. Commentary: That the path to spirituality is personal, and any individual activity will destabilize society. In this discussion with John, it is argued by Mond that the need for religion has disappeared, “God isn't compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness”. He argues religion is no longer necessary because they have ended suffering. In response, John argues, “But isn’t it natural to feel there’s a God?”, that it is part of our very humanness to have spirituality. For Mond, spirituality is conditioning, to which John responds, “it is natural to believe in God when you’re alone-quite alone, in the night”. John is actually discussing the human condition, our ability to rise above the every day, the mundane and consider the transcendent. But the New Worlders, as Professor Birnbaum states, "are never taught religion, and are conditioned so they'll never be alone and think about the possibility of God".

Evidence & citing: John’s eventual response to the lack of spirituality in the World State is an extreme measure to purge not only his own sin but the hollowness of the society. His cries of “Oh the flesh” and “Fry, lechery, fry” as he flagellates himself. In dying, he becomes a martyr to the soullessness of Huxley’s Brave New World. The argument is for the importance of human desire for the transcendent, something above the material. This is evidenced when Huxley depicts the moronic elevator operator euphoric at reaching his building’s roof and encountering “the warm glory of afternoon sunlight ‘Oh, roof!’ he repeated in a voice of rapture. He was as though suddenly and joyfully awakened from a dark annihilating stupor. ‘Roof!”’ Commentary: This symbolic ascending to heaven reveals a spirituality which survived the conditioning process and indicative of the desperate craving of mankind for something beyond the physical. A need for a spirituality which is part of the human condition: a remnant of our humanity which cannot be conditioned.

Our sense of the spiritual void of the New World is heightened by the author juxtaposing the life and values of the savage reservation. Evidence & citing: Their religion is a combination of Christianity and Native American beliefs and has a concern for the soul and a spiritual unity with the natural world. It molds John into a different person from the citizens of the New World. Driven from the coming of age ceremony at the Antelope Kivawith, he experiences a vision and “discovered Time and Death and God”. John attains these revelations because he inhabits a world at one with nature and the spirit; one where he can achieve the solitude for such thought. Commentary: Such a world allows the freedom to question the reason for existence and for man to retain his humanity. In John’s words, “something about solitude, about night, about the mesa laying pale under the moon, about the precipice, the plunge into shadowy darkness, about death” is indicative of the freedom to question. Contrasting this land with the world of Bernard and Lenina heightens our sense of the debasement of humankind. Evidence & citing: John’s eventual suicide represents his rejection of the spiritual vacuum which exists in this new world. It is the manifestation of a superficial existence dedicated to the stability of society. He becomes a Christ figure and in seeking death he reveals his humanity, the description of his body “turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south” is a symbol of a society which has lost morality and a concern for what it means to be human. Commentary: Only in suffering and death can John maintain his humanity. Like Jesus upon the cross, he dies for the sins of the Brave New World: a world without moral compass or spirituality: a world without religion.

High Art

Topic sentence: Rather than cultivating a word of creativity and the imagination, the World State focuses upon the superficial and mundane. Evidence & citing: According to Professor Zhamurashvil, there has been an effective negation of high art, citing as evidence the scene in the cabaret where saxophones become “sexophones” and numbered couples dance to synthetic music devoid of art and culture. Similarly, they have invented “Feelies” and movies such as “Three Weeks in a Helicopter”, a juxtaposition to Othello, so that people can experience real sensations during the movies. In this film a black man kidnaps a white woman and she is rescued by Alpha males: a parody of Shakespeare’s tragedy of jealousy. Hence art is degraded and replaced by superficial incarnations. Instead of classical music, there is the cabaret, instead of Shakespeare, there is soft pornography. Such transformations of high art into crass commodities of consumerism can only debase the human condition. In Huxley’s nightmarish vision, music, literature, and art are considered to be very dangerous because they evoke emotions. When people have individuality, they tend to express themselves through art such as paintings and poetry. They communicate their feelings in words and pictures that enable people to experience emotion. Evidence & citing: Mond says, “You can’t make tragedies without social instability. The world’s stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can’t get”. Commentary: They have conditioned individuals to want what they can have. By not being cognizant of other emotions, they will never have desire which is unobtainable. Because art has the ability to enlighten people, enabling them to be cognizant of their oppression, individuals will feel dissatisfied. This sensation can lead to instability and a breakdown of the social order. Evidence & citing: Mond says, “Universal happiness keeps the wheels steadily turning; truth and beauty can’t”.

Instead of allowing people to have art and sensations that can make them unhappy, they have removed them. Instead of allowing people to have art and sensations that can make them unhappy, they have removed them. Evidence & citing: He further explains, “Our civilization has chosen machinery and medicine and happiness. That’s why I have to keep these books locked up in the safe. They’re smut. People will be shocked”. Commentary: Mustapha Mond believes that something will be sacrificed no matter what, hence they have chosen happiness, the remainder must be either altered or replaced. Evidence & citing: Although removing these experiences and feelings will make their society stable, Huxley contends that if man loses art and culture becoming something less than human. Commentary: John having lived on the Reservation serves as a contrast and believes that art can provide solace to those inevitable hardships of human experience. Before being taught how to read by Linda, John feels innate emotions such as sorrow and loneliness. Contrary to Mond’s arguement that art is dangerous and makes people feel dissatisfied, Huxley contends that Shakespeare lightens John’s suffering. Another example made by John that contradicts Mond is that he believes that suffering is worth the recognition of the truth and beauty that can be seen in the dramas of Shakespeare when he says, “something that’s new like Othello, and that they can understand”. Mond states that it is better to rid of the “inconveniences” of experiencing passionate emotions by reading the play Othello and that it is better to have a “Violent Passionate Surrogate” simulated. That it is better to imitate being human - a denial of the human condition. To read Othello is to feel passion, a destabilizing force to society. Contrary to this dehumanization, John argues these “inconveniences” are worth it and Helmholtz Watson agrees that words can have an impact on people and make them feel. He says, “you read and you’re pierced”. Watson begins writing his own poetry describing the process, “that extra latent power I’ve got inside me”. He feels more alive because of art. Although Helmholtz is conditioned there is a part of him that searches for the power to express his feelings and experiences. When the Controller asks what climate he would like to be sent to, Helmholtz rises “from his pneumatic chair” and says he would write better in a “bad climate” with lots of “wind and storms”. This "rising" is symbolic of his independence and rejection of the New World. In John’s opinion, the meaning in life is art being the alteration of suffering into meaning. Huxley tries to convey the idea that a society where people are existing in their own humanity although unstable, can exhibit meaning and beauty in life. Although John and Mond have different views about art in society, both believe that citizens require catharsis which is an emotional release to become happy. However, the two disagree on how that release can be provided: John who credits art; and Mond who thinks drugs, like soma, are the key. In the World State, Mond explains that people do continue to feel pain but in a different way as they, “prefer to do things comfortably”. John of course, chooses the less comfortable alternative at the conclusion of the novel. Huxley’s argument through his surrogate John, sums up the human condition of needing art as an outlet for our emotions and solace for our pain. In Brave New World, art and creativity are seen as essential to humanity, if we are to remain human, not only to express and satisfy our emotional needs, but as part of the human condition.

Death

Topic sentence: In Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, people no longer fear death, losing their bond with the natural world. Dr. Gaffney tells John, “Death conditioning begins at eighteen months. Every tot spends two mornings a week in a Hospital for the Dying. All the best toys are kept there, and they get chocolate cream on death days. They learn to take dying as a matter of course". Commentary: This conditioning continues through childhood until death loses its traditional impact and meaning. The end of life is portrayed as antiseptic, positive, and without meaning, emphasizing the belief in community, that the demise of one individual is a minor inconvenience. Eliminated are the painful emotions of grief and loss, and the spiritual significance of death. A central component of humanity vanishes. People are not afraid of dying and believe that it is simply a natural process when the human body begins to deteriorate. Upon death, they are transformed into phosphorous. Lenina asks Henry Foster about the smoke stacks around them and he replies with, “Phosphorus recovery, ” informing her the dead can contribute to making plants grow. The New Worlders find it reassuring that once they die they will be recycled and become chemicals that will benefit the collective society. When John’s mother, Linda, succumbs to the high doses of soma, she is sent to the hospital. The appearance of the hospital of the dying as “a sixty-storey tower of primrose tiles” with “gaily-coloured areial heares” represents conditioning towards death. When patients are dying, they lose their identity and the people in the hospital start referring them as numbers because of their conditioning to not fear death, “Number 3 ‘Might go off any minute now’”.

There is no way to remember these people because there is no family, no burial or cemeteries. After a death they are cremated. In the World State, instead of remembering the past, people forget it and look forward to what is in the future. On the other hand, John saw death as tragic because he comes from a world where women give birth to children, have families and feel love for each other. John wished to find ways to keep his mother alive and see her one last time. Unlike the people in Brave New World who forget, he held onto his mother’s hand and called her by her name reminiscing at what she has done and how she had looked after him. The nurse from seeing John’s nervous and anxious unconditioned reactions upon Linda’s impending death makes her ask him, “You’re not feeling ill are you?”.

Evidence & citing: Meanwhile, a group of children run in and casually look at the dying Linda while they snacked and John shouts at them. The nurse then responds with, “undoing all their wholesome death-conditioning with this disgusting outcry as though death were something terrible, as though anyone mattered as much as all that!”. Commentary: This shows once again how in Brave New World, people are conditioned to accept death and to not be afraid of it. Because of the children’s lack of humanity, John pushes the child that asks whether or not Linda was dead. The soma that Linda consumes makes her feel happy therefore not caring about her impending death, “Linda looked on, vaguely and uncomprehendingly smiling. Her pale, bloated face wore an expression of imbecile happiness”, one of incomprehension at her fate because of the soma. But even as she dies, when the realisation of her death is upon her, she is “charged with terror”, we see the human condition. John calls the children “disgraceful” while the nurse replies, “Disgraceful? But what do you mean? They are being death conditioned”. Evidence & citing: Since in their world, families did not exist, there would not be the feeling of “missing someone” and “remembering those who are important to one” because everyone lives their life following rules from their conditioning. Since people can be made quickly and easily, the effect of losing one person is negligible. It is the “community” which matters.

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Conclusion

Conclusion paragraph: In the final analysis, it is clear that Huxley’s novel is a warning to his generation and future generations of the dangers of technology, science and materialism. In desiring stability, the New World has pushed these pillars of modern society to a dystopia in which mankind has become an abomination. Einstein himself stated, “All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom”. Huxley’s Brave New World in trivializing art through the elevation of superficial cultural pursuits and subverting religion through science and technology leads to a civilization where the human condition is so debased that even death itself has lost meaning.

References

1. Congdon, B. (2011). " Community, Identity, Stability": The Scientific Society and the Future of Religion in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. ESC: English Studies in Canada, 37(3), 83-105. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/79/article/490647/summary)
2. Barr, B. (2010). Aldous Huxley's Brave New World—still a Chilling Vision After All These Years. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/40645848)
3. Firchow, P. E. (1984). The End of Utopia: A Study of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press. (https://www.worldcat.org/title/end-of-utopia-a-study-of-aldous-huxleys-brave-new-world/oclc/10484398)
4. Woiak, J. (2007). Designing a brave new world: eugenics, politics, and fiction. The Public Historian, 29(3), 105-129. (https://online.ucpress.edu/tph/article/29/3/105/89976/Designing-a-Brave-New-World-Eugenics-Politics-and)
5. Buchanan, B. (2002). Oedipus in Dystopia: Freud and Lawrence in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Journal of Modern Literature, 25(3), 75-89. (https://glocat.geneseo.edu/discovery/openurl?institution=01SUNY_GEN&rfr_id=info:sid%252Fprimo.exlibrisgroup.com-bX-Bx&rfr_id=info:sid%2Fprimo.exlibrisgroup.com-59018-Bx&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi%2Ffmt:kev:mtx:&rft.epage=89&rft.volume=25&rft_id=info:doi%2F&rft.jtitle=Journal%20of%20modern%20literature&rft.isbn=&rft.btitle=&rft.genre=article&rft.issue=3-4&rft.auinit1=B&rft.eisbn=&rft.aulast=Buchanan&rft.auinit=B&rft.spage=75&rft.au=Buchanan,%20Brad&rft.atitle=Oedipus%20in%20Dystopia:%20Freud%20and%20Lawrence%20in%20Aldous%20Huxley%27s%20Brave%20New%20World&rft_dat=&rft.issn=0022-281X&rft.eissn=1529-1464&svc_dat=CTO&u.ignore_date_coverage=true&vid=01SUNY_GEN:01SUNY_GEN)

Introduction

Should follow an “upside down” triangle format, meaning, the writer should start off broad and introduce the text and author or topic being discussed, and then get more specific to the thesis statement.

Background

Provides a foundational overview, outlining the historical context and introducing keyinformation that will be further explored in the essay, setting the stage for the argument to follow.

Thesis statement

Cornerstone of the essay, presenting the central argument that will be elaborated upon and supported with evidence and analysis throughout the rest of the paper.

Topic sentence

The topic sentence serves as the main point or focus of a paragraph in an essay, summarizing the key idea that will be discussed in that paragraph.

Evidence & citing

The body of each paragraph builds an argument in support of the topic sentence, citing information from sources as evidence.

Commentary

After each piece of evidence is provided, the author should explain HOW and WHY the evidence supports the claim.

Conclusion paragraph

Should follow a right side up triangle format, meaning, specifics should be mentioned first such as restating the thesis, and then get more broad aboutthe topic at hand. Lastly, leave the reader with something to think about and ponder once they are done reading.

“A true hero is someone who exhibits all or most of the following qualities – bravery, courage, determination, dedication, endurance, perseverance, valour, selflessness, sacrifice and humility. They go beyond the call of duty to help someone in need. Heroes are courageous because they act even when they are afraid, they are selfless and act without concern for themselves, and they are determined to do what is right.” (Heroes and Role Models Task Sheet, 2019). Jesus Christ is regarded as a hero by both catholic and non-Catholic peoples. This is due to many stories about Jesus published in the bible and parables that depict his actions throughout his short life. Through Jesus’s miracle work, teachings and sacrifices he exhibits the qualities of a hero as mentioned above.

Sacrifice and selflessness are at the center of the qualities a hero shows. Selflessness is the act of putting someone else’s needs before your own for the good of the other persons, even if you may be affected negatively. Sacrifice is the act of giving up one’s own property, life, belonging, intentions etc for the sake of helping someone or something else. Throughout the bible Jesus provides teachings about the importance of selflessness and encourages others to do so. In a scripture John says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). Jesus laid down his life in this fashion to save everyone on Earth from their sins. He died on the cross to save humanity from their sins (suffered under Pontius Piolet, [and] was crucified” (Matthew 27:1-2). His death lasted hours and was extremely brutal and painful. This is the ultimate sacrifice and selfless act. Despite knowing his fate Jesus still stayed for his conviction and didn’t yield in the face of death because he knew he must die to save others.

A hero exhibits bravery/valour, courage and dedication. They must be able to show courage in the face of fear and act on this courage making them brave. Jesus showed these qualities when God informed him that he must die on the cross to save humanity and open the gates of heaven. Jesus pleaded with God as he feared dying, especially through crucifixion. However, Jesus although desperately afraid went to prayer and accepted what his father asked, 'Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.'(Luke 22:34). Through this he showed the dedication he had to the people he served and showed great bravery and courage even in the face of death. For this reason, Jesus is regarded as a hero by all who hear the story.

Hero’s show perseverance in their determination to serve the good of others. Perseverance is the act of continuing with a task despite facing difficulty or delay. Jesus showed perseverance throughout his everyday life for his entire life. In the 23 years he was alive he continued to provide teachings despite often being rejected or attacked even with violence. Even when he faced death, he continued to stay true to his cause and didn’t not give up even until the end. This shows how Jesus had never ending determination and preservice.

Jesus is still to this day a hero to those who both catholic and non-catholic. He displayed every characteristic of a hero in his everyday life for the greater good of the people he served. Jesus acts as a role model to many people and inspires heroic acts around the world everyday through his action’s centuries ago.  

It is safe to say that happiness is probably one of the most goals people from all around the globe pursue to achieve. The concept of happiness, for each individual, is not the same. Even though happiness is a universal goal, each individual has their own view or understanding of happiness. Philosophers, in particular have their own perception on it. This paper will discuss the understanding of happiness according to Aristotle and Saint Thomas Aquinas.

Aristotle claims that Man can “only achieve happiness by using all his abilities and capabilities.” (67). Aristotle divided happiness into three forms. The first form of happiness is a “life of pleasure and enjoyment,” the second is life as a “free and responsible citizen.” And the third is a life as a “philosopher and thinker” (67). Aristotle’s point of view on happiness is that every single form of happiness must be present at the same time for Man to find true happiness and fulfillment. Additionally, Aristotle advocated that in order for Man to achieve eternal happiness and harmony, Man has to “exercise balance and temperance”. Sophie’s World provides examples on such exercise: For instance, Man must be neither cowardly nor rash, but courageous. Same thing with eating. It’s dangerous to eat too little as it is to shovel a lot.

Michael W. Austin claims that Aristotle believes that happiness is not something that can be given or received. But it is something Man should attain by himself. According to Michael, Aristotle also believes that “the life of virtue is crucial for human happiness. When we are just, kind, courageous, generous and wise, we experience deep satisfaction and fulfillment that s available in no other way.

Saint Thomas Aquinas’ perception and understanding of happiness is way different than Aristotle’s. St. Thomas Aquinas believes that “perfect happiness” is not possible to pursue and achieve in this lifetime. An organization named ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ claims that St. Aquinas strongly believed and was heavily affected by St. Paul’s “assurance” in 1 Corinthians 13:12. “for now we see as through a glass darkly but then we see face to face.” They also claim that St. Aquinas believes that “perfect” happiness can only be achieved in the afterlife for those who possess true knowledge about God. Furthermore, St. Aquinas suggests that true happiness can only be achieved and found in the knowledge and true acceptance of God. St. Aquinas stressed the difference between enjoyment and happiness. Enjoyment is short-lived and false, but happiness is eternal and pure.

Blake Edwards' Breakfast At Tiffany's left a lasting impact on film and pop culture with its release in 1961, from the immediately recognizable ballad, “Moon River,” to the leading lady and now fashion icon, Holly Golightly, played by doe-eyed Audrey Hepburn. To many people who have never seen the film, the protagonist is pictured as a classy socialite living an ideal, romantic existence. However, upon viewing Breakfast At Tiffany's, one can see just how flawed and troubled Hepburn's character truly is.

The famous '60s film was adapted from Truman Capote's novel of the same name, but was met with mixed reviews due to its straying from the original storyline. Capote's novel – filled with everything from a homosexual leading male character to an unglamorous, not-so-happy ending – was a simple story of one character, our nameless male protagonist, sharing the tale of another, Holly Golightly. Hollywood, however, would much rather see a sweet romance with a satisfying happily-ever-after. The story centered even more around the glamorous Golightly, while the nameless homosexual protagonist and writer was transformed into the dashing love interest of Holly, Paul Varjak (George Peppard). Although the movie sacrifices elements from the novel, it gains the Hollywood appeal that can still be felt today.

The story of Holly Golightly is one of excitement and glamour on the surface, but as the story progresses, we see underneath the shiny exterior to the broken young woman who is only afraid of herself. No one character in Breakfast At Tiffany's is without flaws (except perhaps Cat, Holly's pet), which brings an aspect of believability to the wide variety of characters. Paul Varjak spends the first half of the film as a paramour to a married woman, Holly's former husband Doc Golightly lives in a constant delusional desperation, and José da Silva Pereira – Holly's Brazilian promise for a new life – is revealed to be a coward who cares more about his image than he does about Holly. All of these people bring a sense of humanity to this piece of fiction, creating likable and relatable characters.

The choice of Audrey Hepburn for Holly Golightly was met with dislike from everyone from Truman Capote to general audience members. Hepburn had only played innocent, girlish roles before Tiffany's. Therefore, many people could not see her as this character who uses men for their money and even assists in drug trafficking. Hepburn, however, does undeniably bring that sense of sophisticated glamour that the role of Holly calls for, making herself into the fashion icon that she is today.

Famous composer Henry Mancini provided original music for Breakfast At Tiffany's, most notably the hit, “Moon River,” which was written specifically for the film. Ironically, this signature song was almost removed from the film but remained by request of Hepburn. From the opening shots of an unusually quiet New York City morning, “Moon River” is heard, setting a sweet tone for the length of the entire film. Mancini's various compositions throughout the film act as a vessel, carrying the tale of Holly Golightly through the carefree and exciting atmosphere of '60s New York City.

Pope's "An Essay on Man" can be read as a self-conscious consideration of the idea of formal systems, both at the level of the poem and of the world. Pope moves philosophically from the lowest- to the highest-ranked levels of being and back, charting these hierarchies through a series of rhymed iambic pentameter couplets. While this structure is not in itself noteworthy, as it is a common phenomenon in Pope's work, it gains significance when one considers it in the context of the poem's subject matter. The concept of hierarchy, both as a cause of limitation and as praise of man's place in the world, is brought into focus as Pope considers the confines of these hierarchies, and the ways in which a lower and a higher level might merge.

For example, with the question "The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day,/ Had he thy Reason, would he skip and play?", Pope highlights the limited mental world of the lamb, and suggests that the limitation may, in this case, be purposeful. Because of man's brutality, Pope argues, the lamb is better off in a state of ignorance; in this way, he will not have to suffer the presentiment of death. Such passages, Nuttall suggests, argue that "Man, so limited [to a particular state,] would never know that he was limited" (Nuttall 54), and as such raise the issues of hierarchy and knowledge within the poem.

By questioning the boundaries between lamb and man, between man and God, and so on, Pope attempts to understand the essence of particular hierarchies, as well as the possible transformation of one thing into the next. Far from espousing a quietist viewpoint, Pope seeks to understand the very nature of the world's distinctions, to juxtapose elements of different levels against each other and see what equation will result. His use of the couplet, rather than a list or other form, allows chiasmus to occur throughout the poem, with room for comparison or contrast of elements in every set of rhymes. Through the placement and grammatical linking of each of the four parts of the couplet, Pope posits distinctions between concepts at the very level of the line. Through the use of poetic enactment, he is able to envision the transformation of one being into the next, to move a creature from the lowest to the highest level of society through words. It is this poetic enactment, Pope suggests, this particular structuring and breaking of the line, which allows for dramatic departures from the hierarchies the world traditionally holds. Through describing and enacting transformations in the hierarchy of things, Pope utilizes his own metaphor of concentric circles ("As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake;/The centre mov'd, a circle strait succeeds"), examining hierarchies at the smallest, most reduced level of the line in the hope that they will radiate out into the world of the poem.

Pope's consistent usage of the iambic pentameter couplet has beenoften discussed, with critics sometimes decrying the rigidity and formality this verse form imposes. Whether or not the couplet does represent a particular ideology (a question Hunter's "Form as Meaning" discusses), it is clear that its formal requirements must be carefully considered by the poet composing in such relatively strict verse. As Hunter notes in "Form as Meaning," "Absolute and unbending loyalties or essential values for the heroic couplet as a verse form may be impossible to establish, but expectations, patterns, leanings, tendencies, and appropriate formal associations can all be culturally described" (Hunter 259). Because of the tradition arising from such a recognizable form, it is inevitable that a "canon" of heroic-couplet poems have come into being, all with similar concerns as to the form's particular constraints. With little leeway metrically and even less in rhyme, the poet must choose those elements strategically, in order that he might both hold to the requirements of the heroic couplet and have the freedom for the expression he desires. While such strategy clearly exists in other forms, such as the sonnet, the heroic couplet is unusual, in that it has both open and closed elements. There is no set line length, fourteen or otherwise, which offers the poet a prescribed place to draw the poem to a close.

Because of this dichotomy - a strict limitation in rhyme and meter at the level of the pair, and the absence of any length limitation but that of the poet's capacities - the heroic-couplet poem requires that the poet have both the ability to work within tightly-prescribed limits and the consideration to build these limited pairs into a self-regulated, self-sized whole. The form offers neither the freedom of vers libre nor the comfortable rules of a set-length poem; thus, the poet must define the balance of regulation and freedom himself.

Because of this open-closed dichotomy, the form seems already suited to a self-conscious questioning of itself. As the form is, from the very beginning, obvious to the reader, it is perhaps tempting for a writer to foreground this formal obviousness when constructing a poem of this kind. Yet Pope, in writing "An Essay on Man," takes this questioning a step farther, in that he makes the concept of boundaries, the open and closed nature of hierarchies, into the very subject of his poem. Hunter calls Pope "a conscious worker in the couplet tradition" (Hunter 266); as such, it seems he has transferred his knowledge of that tradition's limitations into the questioning of the world's. The poem's form supports this questioning, in that it allows for two sets of pairs to be placed next to each other - if nothing else, to be displayed in the space of the poem as they would not normally be in the world. Hunter argues that Pope is not only able to display his terms through this poetic form, but is in fact able to suggest a sense of causality: "Each couplet involvesa structure of four fundamental unitsdivided rhetorically by a caesura and syntactically by some crucial grammatical relationship that implies cause/effect..." (Hunter 267). In this way, Hunter argues, the four "fundamental units" are both separated, in the sense that the caesura and the punctuation divide them, and are brought together, in that a "crucial grammatical relationship" links their terms. Through such a statement, Hunter seems to assert not only that the form itself is conducive to claims of causality and comparison, but also that Pope's particular use of the English grammar causes them to be further linked.

For example, in Epistle I, the lines "When the dull Ox, why now he breaks the clod,/ Is now a victim, and now Egypt's God" (I., 63-4) not only propose a strict progression of events, but actually move the image of the ox through a series of philosophical and mythological transformations. In part one (first half of the first line), the ox is simply "dull" and presumably motionless; though there is the time marker "when" given, there is no verb at all, and one is able to characterize the ox only through the adjective "dull". This initial characterization marks perhaps the least dramatic of a series of transformations, in which the reader's expectations will be radically shifted within the space of the two lines.

In part two, for example (the second half of the first line), the characterization has become dramatic and full of motion - not only through the interjection "why," which suggests surprise as well as conjunction, but also through the straightforward word order, the strong action verb "breaks" and the extremely present-tense adverb "now". Through this adverb, Pope moves the line from describing an instance, "when," to a particular, contemporaneous moment in time, "now." The "now" forces the reader to reconsider the ox, which was first only characterized as "dull," as a creature who makes strong movements in the present time. The presence and immediacy of the stresses also changes, from two in the first half-line to three in the second, and from a vague or secondary stress in the first (perhaps on "When" and "dull") to a very articulated and regular sense of stress in the second (strong stress on "now," "breaks," and "clod".) The meter has moved from uncertain and partially stressed in the first to completely regular in the second, reflecting not only the completion of an iambic pentameter line, but more significantly, the difference in metrical description of the first two parts. One might even perhaps consider the significance of "breaks" in the second half-line; though used to refer to the ox, it is possible that it references the poet as well, and the "breaking" occurs, not only of the clod, but of the line as well.

If this theory of enacted metaphor is continued, it might suggest that the poet himself is implicitly being compared to the ox - dull in the first half-line, and then, as the breakage and turning of the line occurs, transformed into an active, transformative being. Indeed, as the Latin versus derives from the turning of the plow, this self-reflexive metaphor has a basis in the language itself. The line breaks right after "now he breaks the clod," enacting what may have been first considered simply descriptive terms. Whether or not this metaphor is borne out by the reader's ear, it does at least seem that Pope transforms the figure of the ox from a state of "dull" stasis into a more exciting, consequential one, as he goes through the action of breaking. The placement of these two terms, "part one" and "part two," directly beside one another, and separated by a comma, allow them to be considered as equivalencies, not necessarily equal terms, but terms whose equality comes, through their placement, into question. Through reading the two terms, one after the other, one is struck by the dramatic movement from one to the other state.

Similarly, in terms three and four, an equally stark transformation takes place. Both terms include, through parallelism, the being verb "is"; both also contain the word "now" and the sense that the ox is being renamed. Because of the similarities in structure between the two parts, one might initially assume that the sharp distinction of parts one and two is not here taking place. The meter also does remain relatively regular and iambic, rather than moving from less to more regular as in parts one and two. However, the parallelism of parts three and four allows a different sort of transformation to take place: one based not on a difference of sentence structure, but rather on the violence of the animal renamed. The phrase is not structured around the difference between the "dull" ox and the ox breaking clod, but rather around the opposition between the ox's status as a "victim" and that of "Egypt's God". The opposition is as dramatic as can be imagined, and may be said to parallel, in more drastic terms, that of the first two parts.

The ox as victim is one who has been beaten, who is inactive because of a stronger force; the ox as Egypt's God is one who has triumphed, has won over the hearts and minds of the people and attained the status of a deity. Taken by themselves, these two phrases force the reader to consider a simple opposition between the two; taken together, though, they force the reader to make a philosophical and chronological link between the two. Pope's use of the word "now" twice in this line creates a sense not only of contemporaneousness and spontaneity - "now" this happens, and "now" this happens, as though the author could not get down the words fast enough - but also a sense that the author is all-powerful, capable of making the impossible real through the use of his pen. The use of the double "now" suggests that the author has the power to create the ox anew, perhaps not in physical reality, but at least in the minds of the perceived audience.

It seems either that the ox, perhaps through his breaking of the clod, has actually changed from a victim to a deity, or that the author, with his use of the adverb marking time, has the ability to create it so. The perception of the animal changes as Pope changes from part three to four; perhaps a change in perception is all that is necessary to re-envision the ox as a god. Through the use of "now," Pope allows the reader to follow along as he makes this change; indeed, through the proximity of parts three and four, Pope suggests that almost no time is needed for the change to occur. In addition, because this line involves only the verb "is," the reader is invited to contrast it with the previous line, in which an action verb occurs. There is, Pope suggests, an analogy-based relationship between the dull ox and the ox as Egypt's God, and alternately between the ox breaking clod and the victim. Though such relationship is not made explicit, it seems that, based on the use of enactment before, Pope implies that the action is itself transformative, that it is the breaking of clod which allows the ox to become more grand.

To follow the enactment metaphor, this suggests that it is the work of the poet itself which causes change, the writing of "now" and "now" again which forces the reader to consider concepts in a new way. The ox is not physically recreated in three different guises; it is rather the lines of the poet which, through juxtaposition, force such recreation to occur.

Indeed, as the ox moves from being "dull" to "breaking clod," to a "victim" to "Egypt's God," it seems it is undergoing a parallel transformation in both lines. The ox moves from a dull, passive object to an active force, and from a victim, one of the lowest states in society, to one of the highest, as Egypt's God. This quick, seemingly miraculous transformation becomes believable if created poetically by the author himself; if the reader's perception is made to shift with each clause the author makes after "now."

Without necessarily proposing hierarchies, then, Pope suggests them implicitly through the very pairing of the images he selects. An apparently simple couplet, when examined, expands to reveal the author's insistence on the transformative properties of his own hand. Though the terms themselves may not be of particular importance, they help to reveal the consideration of the juxtaposing process itself, and thus enter into importance as terms of a logical argument. For instance, Hunter argues that "the closed couplet tends to privilege the balancing itself - the preservation and acceptance of difference rather than a working out of modification or compromise" (Hunter 266) and Nuttall, in Pope's Essay on Man, suggests that "it is bestto speak of the elements of the line as positions, which may be variously occupied" (Nuttall 21). In considering the verse, then, it seems that explicit commentary on Pope's part may not be necessary for elements to be compared. The form itself seems a kind of argument, whose logic allows for pairs of premises and terms.

When these premises are read more closely, it seems evident that they suggest a kind of transformation that cannot occur in reality. The heroic couplet, it seems, acts as a kind of Gedankensexperiment in which wildly different terms may be worked out to their own conclusions. As Sissela Box says of Pope's metaphor of concentric circles, "It is a metaphor long used to urge us to stretch our concern outward from the narrowest personal confines toward the needs of outsiders, strangers, all of humanity" (Nussbam 39);

Pope's four-part juxtaposition seems to be doing much the same work, though considering humanity's essences more than its needs. Through comparison by the written word, the narrow concept of a "dull ox" may be quickly transformed into grandeur, and then back into dejection again.

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Through the writing of verse, the "breaking" of the line as well as the ox's clod, the poet may enact such hierarchical transformations, thus envisioning a broadening and a transforming of the (at least poetic) world.

People turn to vandalism because of the satisfying feeling of watching something physically fall apart. The disassembling of objects creates a feeling of accomplishment for the vandalizer, because it was his goal to break someone’s belongings. The vandalizer has motive to break the possessions of other or public property and he makes it his goal to destroy an extension of that person or create a disturbance by ruining public property.

More often times than not, vandalism is used to hurt someone. The vandal wants to deliver a message that tells someone that he wants to hurt someone for some reason. A younger sibling may take or ruin a belonging of an older sibling to let the old sibling know that he has hurt him. Vandalism is most often used as a way to hurt extension of someone, as an alternative to hurt someone physically. Destroying belongings replaces words; although it is quite negative, vandalizing becomes the voice of the vandalizer.

However, vandalism has been used positively. Banksy, a well-known graffiti artist, vandalized several public place in order to clarify facts of current social issues. In 2015, Banksy painted a mural depicting Steve Jobs carrying a duffel bag in Calais, France called “The Son of a Migrant from Syria”. His motive for painting it was to remind European citizens that Steve Jobs was the “son of a migrant from Syria”, and he because extremely successful as the CEO of Apple, which was a counter-argument to the popular belief that migration has a negative impact on a country’s resources. His point of view became known and changed the minds of many people, which helped to ease tension between migrants and natives.

Vandalism is used to get a message across from the vandalizer, be it negative or positive. The vandal only wants to be heard because somehow his words have failed him, and he needs release. Vandalism is not the best way to resolve an issue, but it is better to ruin something someone can replace than to hurt someone physically.