Death In Venice Essay -- Thomas Mann Death Venice Metaphor Essays

Death In Venice   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To have an understanding of the use of disease as a metaphor in Thomas Mann’s novella Death In Venice, it is useful to understand the concept of disease itself. According to Webster’s Dictionary, 1913 edition, disease is defined as the â€Å"lack of ease; uneasiness; trouble; vexation; disquiet.† These words do embody the struggles of the great author, and main character of the novella, Gustav Aschenbach, but it is the description of disease as â€Å"an alteration in the state of the body or of some of its organs, interrupting or disturbing the performance of the vital functions, and causing or threatening pain and weakness; malady; affection; illness; sickness; disorder; -- applied figuratively to the mind, to the moral character and habits, to institutions, the state, etc† that is the foundation of the metaphor used by Mann. The disease spreading through Venice, is presumed to be cholera, and to what Aschenbach surrenders to in Venic e. However, upon careful examination of the words written so eloquently, one can find that the death of Aschenbach was more than that of an artist afflicted with passion and lust for beauty than of any physical ailment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mann carefully combines philosophy and psychology in Death in Venice, and these two general areas of intellect are in conflict throughout the novella. Specifically, it is the philosophy of art, one’s quest for beauty, and the psychological theory of repression derived from Freud that present themselves as key concerns in the metaphor of disease. Aschenbach, in his question for beauty, and in his repressed upbringing as an outcast of sorts from his great forefathers lead to the internal conflict he personifies. â€Å"His forebears had been officers, judges, bureaucrats, men who had led their disciplined, respectable, and frugal lives in the services of king and state. Deeper intellectuality had embodied itself among them on one occasion, in the person of a preacher; more swiftly flowing and sensual blood had entered the family in the previous generation through the writer’s mother, daughter of a Bohemian orchestra conductor. It was from her that he derived the signs of foreign ancestry in his appearance. The marriage of a sober official conscientiousness with darker, more ardent impulses produced an artist, this particular artist.† These words allow us to see into the character of Aschen... ...oward evil, the forbidden and the morally impossible?†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Disease of the soul, and disease of the body are much the same. One is no more disturbing than the other, and as Mann writes about this theme in Death In Venice we see that when we find that which is our passion life stops. â€Å"†¦even on a personal basis, art is an enhancement of life. It makes you more deeply happy, it wears you out faster.† We are no longer responsible for our actions for we have found that which our life has been lived for, and there is no longer any reason to go on living when we know that we can never have that which our heart desires. Disease as a metaphor could also be examined through the characterization of Tadzio. Mann makes several references about the health of the boy himself. Is it that this artistic perfection of which he is the embodiment is something that is not natural? This question was not answered in this assessment of Death in Venice, although it is certainly another area for investigation. Bibliography 1. Mann, Thomas. Death in Venice. Dover Thrift Editions. 1995. NY. 2. Webster’s Dictionary, 1913 edition. http://machaut.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/WEBSTER.sh?WORD=Disease

Psychology Paper †Acts of Kindness Essay

â€Å"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. † (Leo F. Buscaglia) A simple act of kindness can ease one’s fears, touch one’s heart, and rekindle one’s faith in humanity. Kind behavior is among one of the most significant features a human can possess, however, as our lives become cluttered with all the burdens of our society, it becomes easy to lose track of what we live for. When my teacher presented the three acts of kindness project to us, I started to question whether I have been selfish or selfless in my everyday motives. I came to realize that performing random acts of kindness is something that needs to be incorporated more in my life on a regular basis. Therefore, I was eager to get started with my 3 acts. I have fallen guilty to selfish acts more than I am proud to say. I have underestimated the simplicity of taking a couple seconds out of the day, to act on kindness, towards a complete stranger. With that being said, when I came across a homeless man, leaving Walmart, I had all intentions on doing my first act. As I rolled down the window, to give the man money, I dug through my wallet and realized all I had left was a twenty dollar bill. I looked up to hint I did not have any money, but I could not get myself to tell him no. Along with the sadness and pain you could see in his eyes, there was a sense of hope there as well. I took out the twenty and handed it to him. Never in my life have I been so proud. The warm sensation I got all over, knowing, not only did I shock the man, but I shocked myself, was worth it. No amount of money would compare to the feeling I had right then. We as humans have a way with losing sight of the little things, that should be the outmost important. For example, until this project was presented, I would overlook the simplest acts of kindness others would do, almost as if I expected them to do it. I started to turn into a person I could not recognize, and would not be proud of. Therefore, I decided to take matters in my own hands. I was on the internet researching and came across a disease called Progeria. Progeria is a rare genetic condition that produces rapid aging in children. There are less than a hundred kids in the whole world that currently suffer from this condition, making Progeria the rarest of rare diseases. After doing some research over it, I came to a website that allow others to become involved with Progeria fundraising. I decided I wanted to help advance their mission in finding a cure for children with this disease. I followed all the steps by printing out the papers to fill out, sending them back in, and waiting for a phone call. I received a phone call back and I will be holding a Progeria fundraiser, here in Tyler, Texas, at the beginning of the year. Sometimes people need support and encouragement, from those around them, to be reassured that people do care as do I. One day on my way to school I decided to send out a forward, through text, to everyone in my phonebook. I sent â€Å"People will let you down, God never will. † I had many responses saying I absolutely love that quote and saying how beautiful it was. However, I had one response from a friend saying, how he needed to see that and thank you for sending it. For a couple days afterwards I sent a different text, along the same lines, every morning to him. I stopped sending the text one morning and did not hear from him for a while. A couple weeks later I woke up one day and have never felt more depressed than I did right then. I had received some news about my health that was not as good as we had hoped. At that moment I just wanted to give up and I was at, what I thought was, the end of the road for me. My phone goes off and I look at it. My guy friend that had thanked me for sending the text before sent me a message saying, â€Å"No. Don’t give up hope just yet. It’s the last thing to go. When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope. † – Pittacus Lore. He told me that something told him to send me a text that morning randomly, like I had done so to him. At that moment I knew there was a reason I sent out those texts to my friends, weeks before. One act of kindness will lead to another act of kindness even if it takes a while. This reassured my faith in humanity by showing there is kindness out in the world. Though kindness should be unconditional and free from expectation, with only goodwill in mind, this is almost never the case. With these simple acts, we have the power to demolish our arrogant, hateful lifestyles that surrounds us, by potentially turning a life around one by one. These times of contentment could be multiplied if every one would live with a better conscientiousness of those around them. I have come to realize that if you live your life being grateful and are considerate of those around you, your life will be much more prosperous.

Horror During The Salem Witch Trials - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 1 Words: 387 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2019/05/21 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Salem Witch Trials Essay Did you like this example? During the Salem Witch Trials the area of Salem was swarmed with Hysteria. People made false accusations of witchcraft, false confessions, and signs of witchcraft. 200 people were convicted of the devilrs magic, and 20 people were executed with every single one of them being hung and another one being crushed to death. People of these times were all jealous of someone I mean jealousy still goes on today I mean look at our school everyone is jealous of someone in a way. Well today you dont get hung for someone being jealous of you or crushed but people were always being falsely accused of being a witch no matter if you were innocent known to the public or just someone who never caused any trouble you were vulnerable of being accused of being a witch and if you were called witch upon you sat in jail until you proved yourself innocent. Abigail Williams was one of the people jealous of someone her name was Elizabeth Proctor which was John Proctorrs wife Abigail was jealous cause she a psychopath that wanted John Proctor all to herself so here and a group of girls went and danced naked in the forest with Tituba and Abigail drank chicken blood and wished death upon Elizabeth Proctor then Reverend Parris walked up on them while they were dancing naked and Betty fainted and faked of being touched by the de vil then Abigail called witch upon Tituba and she plead guilty for it. The girls then started a chain of false accusations where every time someone went against the girls they all turned against them and called witch upon them. Giles Corey and John Proctor knew the girls were faking because Abigail told John the girls were faking and then he told them to stop the madness and she said no which then led to her calling witch upon his wife which sent him overboard and he went and confronted the court himself. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Horror During The Salem Witch Trials" essay for you Create order Then the false accusations took place people blaming people just to blame them and blaming that someoners spirit came to them in there sleep and force them to do witchcraft and everyone was blaming everyone there was no one you could trust in the village of salem it was chaotic the false accusations were the things that got most people killed.