The End of Innocence and the Darkness of Mans Heart Essay Example for Free

The End of Innocence and the Darkness of Mans Heart Essay In Lord of the Flies the author, William Golding, proves his theory on the origin of evil in many ways, a main one being the changes in the character Jack. William Goldings theory states that civilization prevents corruption. Human nature is evil but with the conformity of moral values, supervision, and consequences good behavior can be developed. In his book England is involved in a nuclear war and must evacuate the people. A group of private school boys who are presumably evacuees are dropped from a plane just before it crashes onto an uninhibited tropical island. The boys are called together by Ralph, who with Piggy had found a conch shell. As the other boys gather onto the platform another party of the boys, the choir, marches up. They are described as something dark or a creature, one of the first signs of evil. All of the boys decide to elect a leader and the candidates turn out to be Ralph and Jack, head of the choir. When the boys choose Ralph, Jack becomes enraged and Ralph offers that the choir be the hunters. Jack is then seen as the head hunter and a primary destructive force. Ralph, Jack, and another boy, Simon, head out to survey the land and assure that it is indeed an island. The boys have their first confrontation with a pig. Jack is unable to plunge his knife into living flesh and bear the sight of flowing blood because of the taboo of the old life. He is ashamed and vows next time he will kill it as he drives his knife into a tree trunk. This is one of the first major signs of troubleof the evil ahead. Jack is later described as an animal, symbolizing the loss of civilization. His transition into evil begins as the influence of his former life and the conditioning wears off. The hunters go out to hunt again and proudly return with meat. Jack remarks with pride about how they cut the pigs throat though he twitches as he speaks of this achievement. Jack has not yet reached the point of savage abandonment. His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing,  imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink. Another sign of the conditioning wearing off is when Jack hits another boy, Piggy, breaking his specs, because Piggy stood up for himself and his beliefs. On another hunt, Ralph joins the hunters. This hunt is unsuccessful because the boar gets away but Ralph is proud that he hit the pig in the snout with a spear. After this failure the boys start a reenactment with Robert, a smaller boy, acting as the pig. They begin the chant Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in! and an overwhelming dark desire possesses the boys. This is the final stage before Jacks transition into complete evil. When Jack is angered that the boys do not want him as leader he travels to the other part of the beach and forms his own tribe. He informs the tribe that they are going to forget about a so-called beast and hunt. This hunt is an electrifying success. The boys hunted a helpless sow and as the afternoon wore on, hazy and dreadful with damp heat; the sow staggered her way ahead of them, bleeding and mad, and the hunters followed, wedded to her in lust, excited by the long chase and the dropped blood. When they kill the pig there is no twitch of conscience as Jack has fully transitioned into an evil boy. While the boys are feasting on this pig and celebrating their victory Simon is searching for the so-called beast. He runs into the pigs head on a stick, an offering for the beast. The head transforms into the Lord of the Flies (literal translation for Beelzebub, the chief of the devils) and Simon has an imaginary conversation with it. The Lord of the Flies explains that it is part of Simon, part of the boys, part of all men. He is the reason things are what they are. He is the demonic essence that is taking over Jack and the other boys in their evilness. Simon discovers that the beast is harmless and he goes running to the boys to share the good news. The boys are starting their dance when Simon runs into the middle of the circle and is killed. Simon becomes the suffering victim of the boys and of Jacks madness. The final and climactic abhorrence is the hunt for Ralph. Jack does not like Ralph because Ralph does not like Jack so Jack convinces the other boys that Ralph is the beast in disguise. Jack had previously explained to the boys that Simon was not really Simon, but the beast in disguise and he had not really been killed. At this point Jack is completely evil, as there is no civilization. In Lord of the Flies Jacks changes into evil prove Goldings theory about the origin of evil. As civilization is destroyed, Jack becomes more and more evil. At the beginning of the book one can see such signs of trouble as his reaction the failure to kill the pig. Into the middle the conditioning wearing off is rather apparent, as he becomes prone to killing. Finally, by the end Jack is completely evil. It is the end of innocence and the darkness of mans heart.

Gregor Johann Mendel :: essays research papers fc

Gregor Mendel was born in Heinzendorff in 1822 and died in 1884. Ever since Mendel was a boy he was very interested in science. Whenever his friends would come back from school they would tell Mendel what they studied and he would be so excited. Mendel was so interested about what his friends told him that he begged his father to let him study. This meant a great sacrifice to his father he because owned a small farm. Needless to say, he sent his young son Gregor, who was only eleven to school. At school Mendel showed great intelligence so much that his parents decided to deny themselves the pleasures of life to keep their son in school. When Mendel was a young man, he became a science teacher, and a monk. He had a pea garden, there he conducted his experiments that are renowned by science teachers today. People told Mendel that he looked like his father. He would think to himself, why do some people resemble their father and some people their mother? Many men before Mendel thought that very same question, yet with all their efforts to figure out this mystery only made things more complex. How does heredity work? Mendel chose to answer this question with peas. Because peas are easily bred, and grow quickly made them a perfect candidate for hereditary experiments. Mendel tried experiments with crossing tall pea plants with short pea plants, the results were tall ones. Mendel thought that this tallness trait must have been the dominant trait. Of course he did not let this matter rest here, He left the tall children alone until they formed ripe seeds. Then he took the seeds and planted them. Then the "grandchildren" plants grew. What happened surprised Mendel not all of the plants were tall, 1 out of every four plants grown were short. Mendel thought that shortness must be a recessive trait. Mendel tilled and grew more pea plants in groups of four. Yet something even more surprising came to be - the short plant of the four offspring had nothing but short offspring, and one tall plant had nothing but tall offspring, but the other two plants gave a mixture, one short offspring for every three tall ones. Mendel thought to himself how about the shape of the seeds? because some peas were rounded and some were wrinkled. He wondered if these followed the same pattern as did the height. It was an amazing discovery, and people began by shrugging and saying "so what, what does it amount to," "Does it concern raising peas, or even all plants.

Hancock & film Essay

Hancock is a film starred by Will Smith as Hancock himself. This film separates itself from the rest of the films for it is an unconventional story of a super hero. The media has instilled in its audience that as a superhero, one must be a good role model. He should be, if not perfect at all, at least close to being one. And yet, this film is a story of the superhero who was a drunkard and undisciplined and selfish man. He seemed ordinary. It was hard to somehow believe that he can save lives. That was what was special about this film. It created a new image of a superhero. It showed a different angle on creating a good superhero. It showed that man is capable of becoming a hero, no matter how bad he can become at times. With these differences it had, it was rather right to question if the film was an effective superhero film. The location and the setting of the film were appropriate to its story. It had the view of an everyday and ordinary life of an ordinary man. Since Hancock was not to be considered as the typical superhero, it seemed that he was treated as an ordinary but strong character. His environment emphasized his strength and his goodness. His strength was presented when people around him tried to insult him. This was shown in scenes where he was called an asshole and then he made sure he was able to teach the person who called him with such name a lesson. Nonetheless, he was provided with the attitude of goodness. His environment was filled with criminals and law breakers. It showed that even if Hancock was drunkard, he wanted to make sure that he saved lives and put criminals in jails. The Mise-en-scene of the film was even so effective in aiding the story through out the duration of the film despite the weakness of the storyline. Hancock, as a superhero film, was expected to have low angle shots to show the authority of the protagonist or the superhero. However, there were a number of high angle shots in the film which suggests the authority of the audience. The shots of Hancock were always either close up shots or medium shots. This focuses the film to Hancock himself. It relayed the message to me that Hancock should be closely watched for the story centers around him and I, as an audience, am a part of his environment. With this, there seemed to be something different with the film. It is not just any typical superhero film. It is rather more emotionally attached in the part of the audience, given the high angle shots and the close up and medium shots of the character. This may be a good one, but also, it can be a bad one. Focusing on its bad effect, it lost its capacity to establish the authority and superiority of the lead character, who was supposed to be treated as an ordinary human yet a superhero. The shots were not moderately thorough which resulted to the was confusion in the shots whether he should be an ordinary lead character or the superhero. If the cinematography was good, it should have made it possible for the audience to identify the character’s role with its visual content, even without the dialogues of the film. The editing of the film was fairly clean. However, there were effects which were slightly disorienting or confusing. One example is when Hancock flew with the car of the pursued criminals. The car bumped on buildings but the buildings were broken instead of the car. One would ask the question, ‘How can that be possible? ’ Although it must aslo be considered that this film is a fiction and it should contain improbable scenes. As the audience, my reason for stating that the editing was fairly clean is because it was able to put to visual an ordinary setting. There were clean cuts of the frames. The transition from one scene to another was clear. On the other hand, there were only minimal special effects like the flying of Hancock, the breaking of the buildings, cars and roads. Other than that, there was nothing more to suggest in the editing that Hancock was a superhero film. Moving on to the musical scoring and sound effects, the film was able to have its audio presented well. The musical scoring was appropriate to the scenes where it was played. An example is when Hancock was flying and the song was Get out the Way by Ludacris. There were birds and other things that were blocking him in flying faster to where he was needed. Another example is the scene where Hancock was in jail and Ray and Mary were thinking about him. The background sound was dramatic and it showed the emotions of the character towards each other. The sound effects were in same manner as appropriate as the musical score. The crashing of the cars, the breaking of the buildings, the flying of Hancock, the cheering and booing of the crowd, the flashing of the camera of reporters, and many other sound effects were placed in the proper scenes. Even the small details were given the proper sound effects. Nothing was taken for granted when it came to the audio. The characters’ delivery of their lines was clear which suggests the usage of proper and reliable devices. The volume of the background sounds were also just enough for the audience to get the hold of both the emotion of the character and the setting of the scene. All in all, the sound of the film acted as its soul. And it is but fair that this made the film live justifiably well in its technical sense on music and sound. The most important contributor in this film was its Mise-en-scene. It was well provided and it was very effective in its purpose in identifying the film as a superhero yet, seemingly ordinary world of Hancock. It was a very good establishing point of the story. It was able to tell the story as clearly as possible. Although I must say that the story was not as strong as it should have been and the cinematography lacked a little organization. Still, the Mise-en-scene was able to provide the audience the factors and elements they it needed in order to be well-informed about the film. It provided the proper imagination for the audience to fully grasp what the scriptwriter and the director wanted to convey. The question whether Hancock was an effective superhero film or not, I must answer that it did not have the strongest justification for a yes. The visual of the scenes were good, however the shots and angles were not as good. There seemed to be something missing in the scenes. The sound in the film provided the audience well with aid to the visual but it was not quite enough. The film needed a tighter interconnection of the visual and the audio in the technical aspect so as to deliver the story well. And although the Mise-en-scene and the sounds of the film were independently provided well, it still lacked the spice to say that the film was indeed an effective superhero film.

Biography of Kurt Schwitters, German Collage Artist

Kurt Schwitters (June 20, 1887 - January 8, 1948) was a German collage artist who anticipated many later movements in modernist art, including the use of found objects, Pop Art, and art installations. Initially influenced by Dadaism, he created his own style, which he called Merz. He used found objects and items others considered garbage to create aesthetically appealing works of art. Fast Facts: Kurt Schwitters Full Name: Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius SchwittersOccupation: Collage artist and painterBorn: June 20, 1887 in Hanover, GermanyDied: January 8, 1948 in Kendal, EnglandParents: Eduard Schwitters and Henriette BeckemeyerSpouse: Helma FischerChild: Ernst SchwittersSelected Works: Revolving (1919), Construction for Noble Ladies (1919), The Merzbau (1923-1937)Notable Quote: The picture is a self-sufficient work of art. It is not connected to anything outside. Early Life and Career Kurt Schwitters was born into a middle-class family in Hanover, Germany. At age 14, he suffered an epileptic seizure, a condition that recurred throughout much of his life and had a significant impact on the way he looked at the world. Schwitters began studying art at the Dresden Academy in 1909 seeking a traditional career as a painter. In 1915, when he returned to Hanover, his work reflected a post-impressionist style, showing no impact from modernist movements such as cubism. In October 1915, he married Helma Fischer. They had one son who died as an infant and a second son, Ernst, born in 1918. Initially, Kurt Schwitters epilepsy exempted him from military service in World War I, but as conscription expanded late in the war, he faced enlistment. Schwitters didnt serve in battle, but he spent the last 18 months of the war serving as a technical draftsman in a factory. Genja Jonas / Public Domain First Collages The economic and political collapse of the German government at the end of World War I had a profound impact on Karl Schwitters art. His painting turned toward Expressionist ideas, and he began picking up litter in the streets as found objects to incorporate into works of art. Schwitters gained the attention of other artists in postwar Berlin with his first one-person exhibition at Der Sturm Gallery. He created a non-sensical Dada-influenced poem, An Anna Blume, for the event and displayed his first collage works. Through the use of items that others would consider garbage, Schwitters illustrated his idea that art could emerge from destruction. Construction for Noble Ladies (1919). Kurt Schwitters / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain Kurt Schwitters was suddenly a respected member of the Berlin avant-garde. Two of his closest contemporaries were Austrian artist and writer Raoul Hausmann and German-French artist Hans Arp. Merz or Psychological Collage While he engaged directly with many artists in the Dada movement, Kurt Schwitters devoted himself to the development of his own style that he labeled Merz. He adopted the name when he found a piece of an advertisement from the local bank or kommerz that contained only the last four letters. The Merz magazine first appeared in 1923. It helped solidify Schwitters place in the European art world. He supported lectures and performances by a wide range of Dada artists, musicians, and dancers. He often created collages to help advertise the events. The Merz collage style is also often called psychological collage. Kurt Schwitters work avoids non-sensical construction by trying to make sense of the world with a harmonious juxtaposition of found objects. The materials included sometimes made witty references to current events, and other times were autobiographical including bus tickets and items given to the artist by friends. In 1923, Kurt Schwitters began the construction of the Merzbau, one of the most ambitious of his Merz projects. He ultimately transformed six rooms of his familys house in Hanover. The process was a gradual one and involved contributions of art and objects from Schwitters ever-expanding network of friends. He completed the first room in 1933 and expanded from there into other parts of the house until fleeing to Norway in 1937. A bombing raid destroyed the building in 1943. Merzbau. Sprengel Museum / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain In the 1930s, Kurt Schwitters reputation spread internationally. His work appeared in two landmark 1936 exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in 1936. One show was titled Cubism and Abstract Art and the other Fantastic Art, Dada, and Surrealism. Exile from Germany In 1937, the Nazi government in Germany labeled Kurt Schwitters work degenerate and confiscated it from museums. On January 2, 1937, after finding out that he was wanted for an interview with the Gestapo, Schwitters fled to Norway to join his son who left a week earlier. His wife, Helma, stayed behind in Germany to manage their property. She visited Norway regularly until the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. The last time Kurt and Helma saw each other was a family celebration in Oslo, Norway in June 1939. Helma died in 1944 of cancer before World War II ended. After Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Norway in 1940, Schwitters escaped to Scotland with his son and daughter-in-law. As a German national, he was subject to a series of interments by the U.K. authorities in Scotland and England until he eventually arrived at Hutchinson Square in Douglas on the Isle of Man on July 17, 1940. Dadaists in Germany including Kurt Schwitters. Apic / Getty Images A collection of terraced houses around Hutchinson Square served as an internment camp. Most of those in residence were German or Austrian. It soon became known as an artists camp since so many internees were artists, writers, and other intellectuals. Kurt Schwitters soon became one of the most prominent residents of the camp. He soon opened up studio space and took on art students, many of whom later became successful artists. Schwitters earned release from the camp in November 1941, and he moved to London. There he met Edith Thomas, the companion of his last years. Kurt Schwitters met a number of other artists in London including British abstract artist Ben Nicholson and Hungarian modernist pioneer Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Later Life In 1945, Kurt Schwitters moved to the Lake District of England with Edith Thomas for the last stage of his life. He moved into new territory in his painting creating what are considered precursors to the later Pop Art movement in a series titled For Kate after his friend, art historian Kate Steinitz. Schwitters spent many of his last days working on what he called the Merzbarn in Elterwater, England. It was a recreation of the spirit of the destroyed Merzbau. To maintain his income, he was forced to paint portraits and landscape pictures that could be sold easily to residents and tourists. These show a heavy influence from his Post-Impressionist past. Kurt Schwitters died on January 8, 1948, from chronic heart and lung disease. This is a cover of a book of 8 lithographs entitled Die Kathedrale, published in Hanover in 1920. This publication was created as response to the Dadaism included in the periodical Dada: Receuil litteraire et artistique by Tristan Tzara. Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images Legacy and Influence Whether intentional or not, Kurt Schwitters was a pioneer anticipating many later developments in modernist art. His use of found materials anticipated the later collage work of artists like Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. He believed that art couldnt be and shouldnt be restricted to a frame on a wall. That point of view impacted the later development of installation and performance art. The series For Kate is considered proto-pop art through its use of a comic book art style. Merzzeichnung 47 (1920). Kurt Schwitters / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain Arguably, the most complete representation of Schwitters artistic point of view was his beloved Merzbau. It allowed those in the building to immerse themselves in an aesthetic environment composed of found objects, autobiographical references, and the contributions of friends and acquaintances. Sources Schulz, Isabel. Kurt Schwitters: Color and Collage. The Merrill Collection, 2010.