Aristotle or a post-modern anti-hero?

In On the Road Jack Kerouac produces what has become known as the archetypal Beat hero, Dean Moriaty. An analysis of whether he is closer to a traditional Aristotelian hero or to the postmodern anti-hero will reveal much about the often contradictory forces at work within the â€Å"rhythms of fifties underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns and drugs . . . â€Å" (Holmes, 1957). Before discussing which Moriaty is closer to it will be necessary to briefly define both the traditional and the postmodern hero, identifying what they hold in common and what divides them.The traditional Aristotelian hero is a high-born man, normally royal or at least from the aristocracy who appears to be on top of the world at the beginning of his story. He has many advantages, both natural and acquired. He is often successful, popular with others and apparently happy. The tragic hero normally has something that has been called â€Å"the fatal flaw† (Kaufmann, 1992). This flaw may b e something he has no blame for, such as the heel that makes Achilles physically vulnerable, the jealousy that makes Othello emotionally vulnerable or the introspection that makes Hamlet delay so long. This fatal flaw often leads, in one way or another, to the downfall of the tragic hero.So the traditional tragic hero falls from a high social position to disgrace and/or death through circumstance and through his supposed fatal flaw. Aristotle said that his fate should inspire â€Å"pity and fear† within the audience (Aristotle, 2001).   Pity for the fate of the individual tragic hero and fear that they might fall into a similar situation themselves.   By contrast, the anti-hero is, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, â€Å"a main character in a dramatic or narrative work who is characterized by a lack of traditional heroic qualities, such as idealism of courage† (America, 1992).Some clue to which definition of protagonist – hero or anti-hero †“ Dean Moriaty falls can be found within the fact that the very term â€Å"anti-hero† is in fact a Twentieth Century invention (Lawall, 1966).   The idea of the anti-hero is in many ways linked to early twentieth century philosophies such as Existentialism, which suggested that life has little meaning and that no absolute standards of morality are relevant. The anti-hero creates his own sense of values, often from moment to moment, according to the needs of the moment. The postmodern anti-hero takes on similar propensities, although he is even more extreme. The â€Å"Man-With-No-Name† character that Clint Eastwood played in the 1960’s spaghetti westerns is perhaps the classic postmodern anti-hero.The world of these westerns does not have â€Å"good† and â€Å"evil† as could be identified by the white/black horses, the white/black cowboy hats and the handsome/ugly actors of the traditional Western. There are merely shades of darkness in the spag hetti western, and the same can be said for most of the characters in On the Road, set as it is within a world of constant wandering throughout America that is in some ways very similar to a western.One of the most important facets of On the Road is the fact that there are two main characters. First, there is Sal Paradise, the titular narrator of the novel that has been more or less associated with Kerouac himself; and second, there is Dean Moriaty. The reader is rapidly and constantly drawn into views of Dean Moriaty. Sal describes him as â€Å"simply a youth tremendously excited with life† who possesses â€Å"a kind of holy lightning . .. flashing from his excitement and his visions† (Kerouac, 1957).   Later Dean is described as â€Å"the holy con-man with the shining mind† (Kerouac, 1957).So in the manner of both the hero and the anti-hero, Dean is a charismatic character who draws others to him through the sheer energy that he exudes and his apparent zest for everything life has to offer. But Dean is very low born. He is apparently the son of an alcoholic who was never really raised properly and who has had criminal propensities from a very young age. Dean has been in prison for stealing cars. While traditional tragic heroes may commit the most serious of crimes (often murder) they are not normally criminal in a conventional sense. There is something petty and hopeless about the kind of criminality that Dean Moriaty displays.But in the best tradition of the postmodern anti-hero, Dean has learned a lot about how to live from his incarceration. He states, with characteristic bluntness:Only a guy who’s spent five years in jail can go to such maniacal  helpless extremes . . . prison is where you promise yourself the  right to live.  (Kerouac, 1957)So the anti-hero discovers himself through falling from grace, even if he probably did not have far to fall in the first place. Rather than going to his death or languishing in the shame of his crimes he lives out the years of his imprisonment and then comes out to go â€Å"on the road†. In one sense the novel shows what might happen when the tragic hero has fallen, been transformed and emerged as a postmodern anti-hero.Dean does fall further however, especially as the novel continues and the novelty of being free to do as he wishes starts to wear thin. Thus his abandonment of his wife and child are brought to his attention, indeed he is confronted with it. Sal, ever the intelligent observer, states that â€Å"where once Dean would have talked his way out, now he fell silent . . . he was BEAT† (Kerouac, 1957).The protagonist of the novel goes through it performing decidedly un-heroic deeds such as this abandonment. He also expresses a constant and rather disturbing attraction for very young girls, often only 12 or 13, especially those who are prostitutes and thus totally vulnerable to his desires. Near the end of the novel he actually abandons S al as he lies sick in Mexico City. Ultimately Sal comes to see Dean in a very brutal light, oine that hardly meets any kind of definition other than a decidedly anti-hero:. . . when I got better I realized what a rat he was, but then I hadbto understand the impossible complexity of his life, how he had toleave me there, sick, to get on with his wives and woes.b(Kerouac, 1957) (emphasis added)Dean is thus essentially a coward, and a lack of courage is never part of the character of a tragic hero, whatever other faults he may possess. But Sal, in characteristically postmodern fashion, does not blame Dean for his cowardice and being a â€Å"rat†. The postmodern condition is one in which there are no absolute standards of ethics and thus everything is more or less forgiven.It is the â€Å"complexity† of his life that Sal feels makes Dean constantly abandon people. He is just another character who moves through an aimless world with little to concern him except an increasin gly futile search for a purely hedonistic lifestyle.The constant traveling in the book makes Dean an anti-hero rather than a hero. While many tragic heroes travel (Aeschylus, Odysseus) they nearly always have some kind of destination – whether it be ethical or geographical, in mind. The characters of On the Road travel constantly, but with, to quote a popular song of the period â€Å"no particular place to go†. They travel for the sake of traveling.   This aimless travel is a symbol for the lack of a higher ethical or religious structure within which to live. The characters of On the Road are sure of nothing, except that, as Sal says at the end of the book â€Å"nobody knows what’s going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old† (Kerouac, 1957).Dean moves from the West to the East to the West to the South . . .   and on with a sense of rather melancholy endlessness. At the end of the novel Dean returns to the West Coast on his own, and Sal ruminates upon the sad meaninglessness of life. While much has happened in the novel in some senses, in the classic, Aristotelian sense very little has occurred that will permanently change people. On the Road has no simple dramatic structure. There is no climax and denouement. Rather it is a formless kind of a quest story in which the search is an end in itself.This endless quest give On the Road   a post-modern structure. The characters are on an existential search for themselves that seems doomed to failure. Dean Moriaty is the archetypal post-modern anti-hero within this quest. He draws people to him, and they travel thousands of miles in order to be a part of his wandering life. But when he loses interest in them he drops them with what appears to be a callous disregard for the consequences. But there is something â€Å"heroic† in his actions as he is at least being honest. He is being true to himself. If that â€Å"self† much of the time is cowardly, c asually cruel, vaguely criminal and pedophilic in nature then he will still reveal it.To conclude, it seems clear that Dean Moriaty, the protagonist of On the Road is far nearer to a post-modern anti-hero than   to a traditional, classical hero. The world that he inhabits is one in which there is little meaning. It is an often dark, forbidding place in which the Cold War threatens nuclear missiles and in which a kind of despairing hedonism is the only course of action which seems relevant to most of the characters. They move around the country at an often dizzying rate, driving all night long for no apparent reason other than the fact they are moving. Romantic relationships are often little more than brief romantic liaisons and marriages are abandoned with the same disregard for consequences that the children that have come from them are thrown away. Dean Moriaty is a post-modern anti-hero, one that a myriad of similar figures have been more or less based upon in the fifty years s ince On the Road   was first publish.Works CitedAmerican Heritage Dictionary, Dell, New York: 1992.Aristotle, The Basic Works of Aristotle, Modern Library, New York: 2001.Holmes, Richard. â€Å"On the Road Review†. The Times, London: 1957.Kaufmann, Walter. Tragedy and Philosophy. Princeton UP, New York: 1992.Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. Penguin, New York: 1957.Lawall, Greg. â€Å"Apollonius Argonautica. Jason as Anti-Hero†. Yale Classical Studies. 19, 119-169.

Acceptance Speech - Martin Luther King Essay Example for Free

Acceptance Speech – Martin Luther King Essay ? Acceptance Speech Martin Luther King was an African American activist and leader who dedicated his life to fighting for equal rights for coloured people in America. Grown up in a Baptist family, Christianity held a huge fascination for Martin Luther King, which is often reflected in his speeches. In 1964, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his achievements in the struggle for equality and independence for coloured people. When receiving the award, Martin Luther King expresses his appreciation by a speech in Oslo. This speech is slightly different to his other speeches such as â€Å"I have a dream† or â€Å"Eulogy† as he uses less metaphors and alliterations and not only focuses on racial discrimination in the United States of America. He uses high vocabulary, as he speaks to a highly educated non-American audience in a humble tone. Martin Luther King begins his speech with the words: â€Å"The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery to Alabama to Oslo†¦ This can be classified as a metaphor, as â€Å"tortuous road† emphasizes that Negros had to suffer humiliation, exploitation and oppression for many years. But this â€Å"road† gave new hope to the people in the United States, as it is said in the speech: â€Å"This road has opened for all Americans a new era of progress and hope. † This is an extended metaphor that appears throughout the whole paragraph, as he goes on with:† a superhighway of injustice†. These words show that the civil rights movement can’t be stopped anymore and will finally bring justice for Negros. Throughout the speech many alliteration occur such as:†faith in the future† or â€Å"bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood†. These examples show that alliterations point attention to the sentence and help to fix the reader’s mind. It then goes on with the simile: â€Å"Man is more flotsam and jetsam in the river of life†. By these words Martin Luther King wants to emphasize that it is possible for everybody to change something in the world, despite the fact that people do not have the same opinion. Later he says:† I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to Starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality†. By metaphor â€Å"starless midnight of racism† Martin Luther King wants to indicate was considerate to something unsolvable or unchangeable. By the words â€Å"bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood†, he which is also a metaphor, he emphasizes thatpeace and brotherhood will finally be achieved. However, hese metaphor are very effective as they make the abstract or unknown concrete but it also enlivens the reader’s imagination. This sentence can also closely be classified as a balanced sentence, as Martin Luther King tells us what to do and what not to do. However, this helps to persuade the audience so stand up for their rights. Throughout the speech many anaphoras occur such as â€Å"I refuse to accept† or â€Å"I believe that†. This rhetor ical device emphasizes Martin Luther King’s aim for equal rights all over the world. Later on it says: â€Å"I refuse to accept the idea that the ‘is-ness’ of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal ‘ought-ness’ that forever confronts him. † Martin Luther King had a vision for how things ought to be. He shows us to refuse to accept things for how they are, and instead strive to find the solution for how they ought to be. Martin Luther King will always remain one of the most influential and greatest freedom fighters in the world. Though his commitment and persuasion, he achieved a lot for Afro American people in the USA. Acceptance Speech – Martin Luther King. (2018, Nov 13).

Effects of Advertising and Promotion on Purchasing Behavior of Essay

Effects of Advertising and Promotion on Purchasing Behavior of Chocolate Consumers in India - Essay Example During the contemporary period, companies operate in a highly competitive environment where they strive to gain competitive advantage over others in order to generate more profits. It is imperative for every organisation to carry out market research in order to gain knowledge about the customer needs with the aim of attracting new customers. However, the purchasing behavior of consumers is influenced by various factors and it is the company’s duty to portray its products in the best way that would appeal to many customers. Whilst there are various tools that are used to market different products to the consumers, advertising and promotion are often regarded as the most effective to organizations operating in a market that is characterized by high competition. It should also be noted that different people live in different regions of the world and they have diverse views about particular products and the company offering similar products to those offered by other organizations ought to be able to sustain competition through offering unique product information that would make it a preferred choice compared to others. It is against this background that the following study seeks to investigate how advertising and promotion strategies could change the purchasing behavior of the chocolate consumers in India. The study will particularly focus on two leading chocolate manufacturing companies namely Cadbury India and Nestle India whose several chocolate products are used by millions of consumers in India.

Gender in legal theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Gender in legal theory - Essay Example At a practical level, some jurists hope to improve society by studying what the law is, what it ought to be, and how it actually operates. They seek a deeper understanding behind laws seemingly unpredictable and uncertain nature. Feminist jurisprudence then is that part of jurisprudence pertaining to women. To understand the term more, Weiss and Young (2006) discussed about The Rise of Feminist Jurisprudence. They said: â€Å"The liberal feminism inherited by the womens liberation movement of the 1960s was based on emancipatory theory and sought to dismantle the positive legal barriers that had denied women equal opportunity with men. The theory behind those goals was that the rights of individuals as traditionally understood in a liberal society should transcend gender differences (McElroy, 1991). This brand of legal feminism was in many ways exemplified by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, now associate justice of the Supreme Court, who said in a 1988 speech, "Generalizations about the way women or men are . . . cannot guide me reliably in making decisions about particular individuals." (Rosen, 1993). As general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Unions Womens Rights Project in the 1970s, Ginsburg challenged laws that gave health benefits to wives of servicemen but not to husbands of servicewomen and prohibited women from engaging in certain types of business (such as running a bar) without a male co-owner. Feminists were also involved in efforts to overturn legal restrictions on contraception and abortion.† The authors also said: â€Å"The illiberal feminist legal theory (also known as "radical feminism"), which emerged during the 1980s, urges women to renounce traditional notions of rights and justice, now viewed as perpetuating male dominance. Some of the new feminists charge that the reforms achieved by "equality feminists" have dismantled protections beneficial to women

Differentiate between social obligation, social responsiveness and Essay

Differentiate between social obligation, social responsiveness and social responsibility and use case study material from the Maldives to illustrate these differences - Essay Example Moreover, the nation generates up to 60% of its tourists revenue from foreign exchange earnings (Gautam, 2008; WTTC, 2002). The World Bank of report (2014), clarifies that Maldives is mainly predominant of tourism products such as floating beds thereby, offering direct employment both directly and indirectly to the tourism industry in the world. By creating job opportunities to the youths who works in hotels and other tourism sectors, the nation improves its economic growth. In essence, in the past one decade, tourism related occupations sustainably helped Maldivian gross domestic product to shoot up to 265 percent. However, the availability of jobs to Maldivian citizens comes with a challenge. Because most of the employment opportunities are concentrated around resort regions, therefore, majority are forced to travel from upcountry to urban centers and such a migration pattern cause strain to urban settlements that already has an influx in population resulting into tension to the economy around town centers. Maldives is not only famous for its natural beauty of green ocean, and sandy beaches, the nation’s employment opportunities in hotels focuses extremely on tourism workforce who are represented by tourism workforce association (Ellis, 2008; Sharpley, 2002). The workforce recommends that the majority of employees earn very little amount of money while living in very poor conditions susceptible to much less production than what is required by nation per capita. In addition, employment opportunity within the tourism industry alone is not enough to sustain the national grid while the country also lacks other alternative mineral resources. Such a result has made poverty levels to remain quite high throughout the nation (Secretariat, 2010). Maldives fishing sector employs almost 25% of the total national workforce. Through the same industry, employees do get deployed into sectors such as packaging, preparation

Decision-Making Models Math Problem Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Decision-Making Models - Math Problem Example The researcher states that the amount of inventory that Company A needs to order can be determined with the use of economic order quantity (EOQ) model. According to Williamson  EOQ models are used for identifying the optimal order quantity. In order to do this the model minimizes the sum of certain costs that vary with order size and the frequency of orders. Williamson (2012) describes three order size models – the basic economic order quantity (EOQ) model; the economic production quantity (EPQ) model; and the quantity discount model. The basic EOQ model is used to find the order size that would minimize company A’s total annual cost. The formula and the calculations follow. Q0 = √(2DS/H) Where, Q0 is the order quantity in units D is the annual demand in units S is the order cost for each order made H is the holding or carrying the cost for each unit of inventory per year Company A’s information is as follows: - Annual demand (D) is 18,000 units per annum - Ordering cost (S) is $38 per order - Holding cost (H) is 26% of the cost of the inventory which is $12 per unit Q0 =   Ã¢Ë†Å¡[(2 x 18,000 x $38)/(0.26 x $12)]   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = √(1,368,000/3.12)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = √438461.54 = 662 units   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = 662 units The results indicate that the economic order quantity that will minimize total annual cost is 662 units per order. Company A produces the goods that it sells and so the economic production lot size model is the most appropriate model for use in this scenario (Williamson 2012). The formula for performing the calculations that provide the results is as follows: Qp = √(2DS/H) √[p/(p-u)] Where, Qp is the economic run quantity p is the production or delivery rate u is the usage rate    Qp = √[(2 x 15,000 x $84)/(0.28 x $19)] √[60,000/(60,000-15,000)]   Qp = √(2,520,000/5.32) √1.33 Qp = 699.25 x 1.15 Qp = 791 The results indicate that the economic production lot size that will minimize total annual cost id 791 units per production run.

Critical thinking and application paper Ethics Case Study

Critical thinking and application paper Ethics - Case Study Example The rule which has the best overall consequences is regarded as the best rule. This article is very pertinent to Gary Briar's issue since it also covers the pervasive corruption in foregin governments. The citizens of Afghanistan are afraid to report instances of corruption because they are afraid that they will be killed by government forces. The continuing corruption done by government officials constitutes a serious malady affecting the government. This article is related to the situation of Danny Briar as it features the strong dilemma of a Turkish government official pertaining to corruption being committed by other government officials. This article refers to the Turkish Interior Minister Saadettin Tantan, the leader of Turkey's anti-corruption drive, who has accused elements of the party of trying to slow his investigations. The move of Tantan was to resign from government office. Hence, Turkey has lost a key government official who could have stemmed the tide of corruption. This article is pertinent to the situation of Danny Briar as it attempts to take a proactive stance in dealing with corrupt officials. The article emphasizes the importance of putting out incentives to make officials forego corruption activities. This article features the private efforts of a Sudanese cellphone billionaire, Mo Ibrahim, who will give an annual prize worth more than US $5 million dollars to an African head of state who was freely elected, turned over power to a freely elected successor and governed well while in office. This prize can help all African leaders to govern well and avoid the temptation of robbing their country of natural resources. d.) "Border Agents, Lured by the Other Side" Randal Archibold and Andrew Becker. New York Times online. Mqy 27, 2008. Available at URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/us/27border.html This article is pertinent to the case study since it als deals with how government agents, border patrol agents are lured by money officers. The article features two Villarreal brothers who were former Border Patrol agents, who were suspected of helping to smuggle an untold number of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Brazil across the border. The Villarreal investigation were among the corruption cases that have alarmed officials in the Homeland Security Department. e.) "China Confirms Poison Was on Toy Beads" New York Times Online. By KEITH BRADSHER. Published: November 11, 2007. This article is similar to that of Danny Briar as it also features the case of poison found in Chinese toy beads, Acqua Dots. The Chinese government had confirmed the presence of poison on toy beads exported around the world. The brightly colored toy