Atwoods The Handmaids Tale A Study Of Rebellion Essays

Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale: A Study of Rebellion Rebels defy the rules of society, risking everything to retain their humanity. If the world Atwood depicts is chilling, if 'God is losing,' the only hope for optimism is a vision that includes the inevitability of human struggle against the prevailing order. -Joyce Johnson- Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale analyzes human nature by presenting an internal conflict in Offred: acceptance of current social trends (victim mentality) -vs- resistance for the sake of individual welfare and liberties (humanity). This conflict serves as a warning to society, about the dangers of the general acceptance of social evils and boldly illustrates the internal struggle that rebels face in choosing to rebel. Offred is a Handmaid in the republic of Gilead and while she seems unhappy about this, she is confused about her identity and even starts to accept the role that has been imposed upon her. It seems strange that one might accept such radical changes so easily. Offred has been manipulated into believing that this sinister system was designed for her own good. Peter S. Prescott says: Offred at first accepts assurance that the new order is for her protection. (151)She must lie on her back once a month and hope that commander makes her pregnant because her sole purpose is to act as a vessel. She even starts to measure her self-worth by the viability of her ovaries and this negatively affects her self-image. This is how Offred characterizes the deporing act : The commander is *censored*ing. What he is *censored*ing is the lower part of my body. I don't say making love because that's not what he is doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate because it would imply two people,when there is onl y one. Nor does rape cover it. Nothing was going on here that I haven't signed up for. There wasn't a lot of choice, but there was some and this is what I chose. (Atwood,121) This statement is very dangerous. It shows how Offred has convinced herself that this deploring act (rape) is not so bad. It also shows how she is beginning to embrace the system and justify the violations that are being commited against her. By calling it a choice she has shifted the blame from her oppressors to herself and labeled the blatant crime as a mere ritual. Offred shows signs of a developing victim mentality where she accepts defeat and associates the regime's will with her own. The danger lies in her complacency because if she accepts this role as being her choice she eliminates any need to rebel. This mentality provides her with a false sense of security which will impede her ability to fight back. We can try to argue tht Offred's unwillingness to resist was due to fear, but there's more to it than that. In the novel she is afraid that spies (eyes) are everywhere and that trust is a lost luxury. Maybe she was afraid to fight by herself. This seems understandable, but Offred's reluctance to fight back is more complicated than just fear. By coming to accept her role in the new society she clouds her perception of freedom and her need to rebel at all. Ehrenreich argues: Offred cries alot and lives in fear of finding her erstwhile husand hanging from a hook on the wall, but when she is finally contacted by the resistance she is curiously uninterested. (155) Ehrenreich also argues that Offred's unwillingness to embrace the resistance is due to her changed mentality; the system has been embedded in her. She states: Offred has sunk too far into the incestuous little house she serves. (155) So we can't say she's stuck in this alone others have revealed that they too want to fight. It's her altered character and acceptance of social evils that makes her weak. Gayle Greene calls her a Good German rather than a freedom fighter. Unlike Moira she doesn't have the rebel simmering in her from the beginning. Offred doesn't have Moira's strenghth, but she needs to believe in it.(159) Offred even says herself ,I don't want her to be like me. Give in, go along, save her skin...I want gallantry from her, swashbuckling heroism. Something I lack. (Atwood,327) At least Offred identifies

5 Verbose Sentences Made Shorter

5 Verbose Sentences Made Shorter 5 Verbose Sentences Made Shorter 5 Verbose Sentences Made Shorter By Mark Nichol When you write, think tight. The goal is not to reduce every sentence to its most concise form but to avoid distractingly extraneous wording and phrasing. Here are five sentences improved by a reduction in length. 1. â€Å"The teacher is speaking on a phone in his classroom between classes, and he breaks away for a moment to answer a student’s question.† To condense a sentence with two independent clauses separated by a conjunction, open a parenthetical where the sentence’s first verb appears, and close it where the second clause begins, deleting the verb and the conjunction respectively: â€Å"The teacher, speaking on a phone in his classroom between classes, breaks away for a moment to answer a student’s question.† 2. â€Å"The theme of this year’s summit is ‘From Essential Elements to Effective Practice,’ and the conference will include a variety of interactive sessions.† Here’s a revision of a sentence constructed like the one in the previous example, which is improved by the same technique deletion of the initial verb and parenthesis of what followed that verb: â€Å"This year’s summit, ‘From Essential Elements to Effective Practice,’ will include a variety of interactive sessions.† 3. â€Å"John Smith runs the DJ Project, an after-school program in San Francisco for students struggling in school. He uses hip-hop to connect with the students.† To combine two sentences into one, convert key information from either sentence into a parenthetical and tack the other statement onto the end: â€Å"John Smith, who runs the DJ Project, an after-school program in San Francisco for students struggling in school, uses hip-hop to connect with the students.† 4. â€Å"It’s rather annoying that you can’t turn off the various sounds that play when you use the zoom and other functions.† Strive to pare explanations and descriptions down to the fewest possible words. For example, there’s a standing phrase for the concept of â€Å"the various sounds that play†: â€Å"It’s annoying that you can’t turn off the sound effects for zoom and other functions.† 5. â€Å"Students worked collaboratively on unfamiliar and open-ended problems.† Look for opportunities to reduce sentence length by omitting a sentence’s verb and converting an adverb to a verb to take its place: â€Å"Students collaborated on unfamiliar and open-ended problems.† (The problem this revision solves is called smothering a verb.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Slang Terms for MoneyWork of Art TitlesThrew and Through

Barclays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Barclays - Essay Example According to Needham (1999), organization is the system that has a conventional structure and cognizant planning, in which people deal and work with one another in a supportive and synchronized manner for the achievement of common and recognized goal. Barclays is a major financial service provider in UK , engaged in retail banking, investment banking, credit cards, corporate banking and wealth management (Plunkett, 2005). They have marked their presence in other countries of the world like Europe, Asia, Africa and United States. The company is operating in more than 50 countries and has employed 147000 people (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee, 2011). Barclays looks towards investing and protecting the money of their clients and customers from all over the world. Organizational Structure Organizational structure is the hierarchy of the organization that shows how the elements within the organization works together to accomplish the common organizational goals. The organizational structure encompasses employees, departments, responsibilities of the employees, resources they require as well as the relation between the department and the employees working within the organization ... Barclays believes in an organizational structure that encourages continuity of the firm in investment processes. The organizational structure of Barclays is divided into several work groups and units according to their knowledge, expertise, resources and skill. Barclays is headed by the Chairman Sir David Walker. The Group Chief Executive Antony Jenkins is responsible for the strategic planning and direction of all the operations taking place in Barclays (Jenkins, 2013). He reports directly to the Chairman of the organization. The operations of Barclays are divided into two broad categories: Global Retail and Commercial Banking and Investment Banking and Management (Barclays Bank PLC, 2006). The Retail Banking business encompasses the retail banking, business banking, international retail and commercial banking (including and excluding Absa) and Barclays cards (Barclays, 2010). The Chief Executive who looks after all the operations of the Global retail and Commercial banking is also responsible for taking strategic decisions. The president of Barclays PLC and the Chief Executive is responsible for looking after the Investment Banking and Management section. Investment Banking and Management encompasses area like Barclays Capital, Barclays Global Investors and Barclays Wealth. All the decisions related to this branch are taken by the Chief Executive. All the Chief executives, Group finance Director, Group Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Barclays reports directly to the Group Chief Executive (Barclays Bank PLC, 2006). All the departments like finance, marketing, human resource, audit, risk, investment banking,

Sport marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sport marketing - Essay Example Notably, a sport marketing strategy is most in the offing to be effectual if there exists a vibrant frontrunner or set of frontrunners who can assume full accountability for its final execution. Moreover, it is pertinent for all players of the sport marketing team to possess a clear comprehension of the marketing idea and where probable; make a sufficient contribution in accordance with their knowledge, abilities and unique skills (Mullin et al. 2009). The process, therefore, demands for a team comprising a blend of volunteers and staff who possess the proper mix of attitudes, experience, know-how and skills in the foremost step (Shilbury et al. 2004). Whether the execution of the sport marketing initiative shall be affluent relies on the personal and group effort of the involved volunteers and professional staff. The eventual part of the implementation stage of the marketing plan is to revisit, analyze and evaluate the aftermaths on a regular basis. It is highly pertinent to monitor how successfully the strategy is doing and to give way for variations in the current state of affairs are not progressing as intended from the initiation of the strategies. An ideal control process offers the structure to the incoming feedback (Shilbury et al. 2004). The entire sport marketing control initiative comprises of five major steps. The foremost step includes initiating performance measures. Such measures ought to be already in practice according to the second phase of the sport marketing initiative. The subsequent part of the framework is putting the performance measures into practice, through evaluating performance prior to and after the marketing initiative is under complete implementation (Hoye 2009). Succeeding the second level is the third stage whereby, a top down comparison of the results to identify gaps, loopholes, drawbacks and performance success occurs. Control in the sport marketing strategy involves the process of setting various standards,

E-Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

E-Business Strategy - Essay Example Internet’s effects on planning are immensely significant to understand. This is because the world of Internet is very varied and takes into consideration a number of aspects including the one related with the change premise. This means that technological manifestations are moving ahead at a bottleneck speed and it is usually difficult to keep a track of what new changes are hitting the business domains within the World Wide Web. His is one of the reasons why Internet is being seen both as a hurdle and as an area where opportunities could be discerned at the very best. Internet motivates planning in the way that it creates room for understanding simple logic and how things are planned out in a sequential format or even randomly. It brings the entire focus back in the fray of the planning domains and this is something that planning does at the end of the day. Internet is such a giant that it is always seen as a platform which will instill change for all the right reasons, shapes and sizes. An example of this is in the form of the revolutionary changes that are taking place within the social media enterprises and networks that even the most adequately placed social networking guru finds it hard unless he has planned beforehand. He must make sure where he has to set his sails and then go about making the best use of the Internet in the long run through sound planning phases.

Language And Nonsense In Lewis Carrolls Alice Books English Literature Essay

Language And Nonsense In Lewis Carrolls Alice Books English Literature Essay Im very much afraid I didnt mean anything but nonsense. Still, you know, words mean more than we mean to express when we use them; so a whole book ought to mean a great deal more than the writer means. So, whatever good meanings are in the book, Im glad to accept as the meaning of the book.  [1]   Many people think Alices Adventures in Wonderland is an example of the limit-breaking book from the old tradition illuminating the new one. They also consider it being a tale. From the looks of it, the story about Alice falling through a rabbit-hole and finding herself in a silly and nonsense world is fairly guileless as a tale. The underlying story, the one about a girl maturing away from home in what seems to be a world ruled by chaos and nonsense, is quite a frightening one. Alice finds herself confronted in different situations involving various different and curious animals being all alone. She hasnt got any help at all from home or the world outside of Wonderland. The theme with Alice growing and shrinking into different sizes could reflect the ups and downs of adolescence with young people sometimes feeling adult and sometimes quite the opposite. One other example of maturing is Alice getting used to the new sizes she grows. She talks to her feet and learns some of the new ways her body works in. Her feelings are much shaken from her adventures and she cries quite often when its impossible to obey the rules of the Wonderland or is it adulthood? Everything is so out-of-the-way down here, as Alice often repeats to herself. Carroll is an expert at puns and irony. The part with the mad tea-party is one of the best examples of this. MAD TEA PARTY Theres a lot of humour in the first Alice book, but in the second the mood gets a bit darker and more melancholic. The quote Everyone in Wonderland is mad, otherwise they wouldnt be down here told by the Cheshire Cat can be given an existential meaning. Is it that everyone alive is mad being alive, or everyone dreaming him- or herself away is mad due to the escape from reality? Time is a very central theme in the story. The Hatters watch shows days because its always six o clock and tea-time. Time matters in growing up, I guess, but further interpretations are left unsaid. The first manuscript was called Alices Adventures Underground, and that some at least the Swedish translation of the title is a bit ambiguous, it becomes more apparent, that the world Alice enters isnt just any childrens playground, but a somewhat frightening and dangerous place for maturing. It becomes more interesting when Alice finally gets into the garden and finds a pack of cards ruling it, with a very evil queen at its head. It appears to be a way of saying that the garden isnt really what it appears to be. http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/explain/alice841.html Humpty Dumpty informs Alice that there are three hundred and sixty four days when you might get un-birthday presents. His statement is another augmentation to one of the oldest and rudimentary philosophical controversies: whether Non-Being, like Being, exists.  In the  Sophist  dialogue, Plato argues that what is not in some sense also is, refuting Parmenides concept of the impossibility of the Non-Being to exist. Non-Being is just a being characterised only by its difference from another being. Carroll was no stranger to Greek philosophy. Carroll is over and over again seen to be fascinated by the idea that Nothingness is more than what meets the eye: Take some more tea, the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.   Ive had nothing yet, Alice replied in an offended tone, so I cant take more. You mean you cant take LESS, said the Hatter: its very easy to take MORE than nothing.  [2]   The Hatter told Alice that he knew Time and that one cannot talk about wasting it because Time is him. Time, says the Hatter, is someone that if you only knew how to keep on good terms with him, hed do almost anything you liked with the clock, you could keep it to half-past one as long as you liked.  [3]   To Humpty Dumpty, as well as to the Hatter, Time is a real entity. Once we become aware of this reality, Platos concept presents no hindrance to the existence of either birthdays or un-birthdays. As with Time, Numbers too are portrayed by Carroll as real entities. Upon entering the garden Alice comes up to three card gardeners presented by Carroll as Two, Five and Seven. To Carroll, the Christ Church mathematician, Numbers, like Time, are more than just abstract figures they are real Beings. Carroll venerates here Pythagoras concept about Numbers. Aristotle records that the Pythagoreans held that Numbers were: the first things in the whole of nature and that the elements of numbers are the elements of all things   http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/school/alice1017.html Language plays many roles in Alices Adventures in the Wonderland. Carroll illustrates Alices powers of reason, gives her identity and explores rules of conversation. From the beginning of the book, Carroll portrays Alice as a remarkably intelligent little girl, demonstrating this through her verbal reasoning. After drinking the bottle and shrinking down to the proper size for entering the garden, she finds she has left the key to the garden on the table, now far above her head. Finding a cake that will likely produce another change in her size, she decides to eat it. If it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door: so both way Ill get into the garden, and I dont care which happens.  [4]  Alice wisely recognizes that any change in size, whether it be smaller or larger, can suit her purpose.   Alices power of reasoning seem to be inadequate to a little girls character. One could certainly argue that Alices fearless reasoning as to the advantages of eating the cake is uncharacteristic of a child.   However, even while Carroll uses Alices reasoning to draw attention to her, he skillfully weaves Alices childish nature into her words, as when she announces: and I dont care which happens!  [5]  . Despite her intuitive reasoning, her speech is still childish. Indeed, Alices reasoning is always stated plainly, as a child might conceivably speak. At the mad tea party, when the Dormouse is telling his story, Alice keeps interrupting. Noting discrepancies in the story that the others seem to overlook, she says: But I dont understand. Where did they draw the treacle from?  [6]  Alice has observed that it is difficult to draw something out of a well if you are already in the well, yet the rest of the characters treat Alices questions with impatience. Despite the sense of her questions, they are phrased as a child asking, why? repeatedly, which keeps her in character for a little girl even as she displays her intelligence. In this manner her reasoning stands out from the complexiti es of the nonsensical Wonderland.   Another function of language in Alice in Wonderland is to explore Alices identity. According to Martin Heidegger  [7]  , human identity is dependents on language. Alice shows evidence of this identity through language. Having found her size so abruptly altered with eating the cake, she questions if she is still herself:   Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if Im not the same, the next question is Who in the world am I? Ah, thats the great puzzle!  [8]   And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as her, to see if she could have been changed for any of them. Carroll also explores the rules or social conventions of language. Early in the story, Alice strikes up a conversation with a mouse. She only succeeds in offending it, however, by talking about cats:   Oh, I beg your pardon! cried Alice hastily, afraid that she had hurt the poor animals feelings. I quite forgot you didnt like cats. Not like cats! cried the Mouse in a shrill, passionate voice. Would you like cats, if you were me?  [9]  Ã‚   Throughout her time in Wonderland, Alice learns to adjust her conversation topics to her size, and not offend creatures with reminders of where they rank on the food chain. She demonstrates her new understanding of Wonderlands rules of etiquette during her visit with the Mock Turtle:   Oh, as to the whiting, said the Mock Turtle, they youve seen them, or course?   Yes, said Alice, Ive often seen them at dinn she checked herself hastily.  [10]  Ã‚   Alice has learned from her previous encounters with Wonderland creatures what is considered offensive by the rules of language, and stops herself just in time from mentioning that in her world, whiting are food, not friends.   If any one of them can explain it, said Alice, (she had grown so large in the last few minutes that she wasnt a bit afraid of interrupting him,) Ill give him sixpence. I dont believe theres an atom of meaning in it. If theres no meaning in it, said the King, that saves a world of trouble, you know, as we neednt try to find any. And yet I dont know, he went on, spreading out the verses on his knee, and looking at them with one eye; I seem to see some meaning in them, after all.  [11]   The King then proceeds to dissect the poem in order to find its meaning. He is, in fact, analyzing the poem with the interpretation already decided upon a fallacy that is all too easy for an overzealous scholar to commit. Alice, on the other hand, is willing to take the poem at face value as a poem and nothing more thereby displaying the innocence that Sontag so wistfully describes. Using the conflict between the King and Alice, Carroll makes a statement about the danger of trying to read too much into a work of art.   Lewis Carrolls Alice in Wonderland is a great exploration of language. Carroll uses language to set Alice apart as intelligent, even while he uses simplicity of diction to show that she is still a little girl. Using a mixture of introspection and conversation, Carroll explores the issue of identity, successfully demonstrating that Alices identity through her reasoning abilities, even though she herself doubts who she is. Carroll also plays with the rules of language and how they are learned, by putting Alice in unheard of situations and demonstrating how she learns the new laws of conversation etiquette. Finally, by showing the absurdity of using a poem as criminal evidence, Carroll berates his readers for trying to read too much into his own story. The many roles of language in Alice in Wonderland show Carrolls skill at manipulating words to make his points. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/13706/the_roles_of_language_in_alice_in_wonderland.html?cat=38 Carroll makes a contrast between the absurdity of the plot and the rationality behind the characters comprehension of Alices language and their literal manipulation of words, phrases, and names. Carroll toys with linguistic conventions in the Through the Looking Glass, making use of puns and playing on multiple meanings of words throughout the text. The author creates words and expressions and even invents new meanings for words. But even after a sense of the pattern is established, the perceptive use continues to surprise. This method pushes readers to examine the use of language and articulation. Anything is possible in Wonderland, and Carrolls manipulation of language reflects this sense of unlimited possibility. Written in nonsense verse, Jabberwocky is almost a satirical heroic ballad that embodies Lewis Carrolls imaginative language play. The poem creates an altered sense of meaning through invented words. These invented words have English attributes and are simple to read and say, they just do not have meaning outside the context of the poem. he lyrical arrangement, sound of the syllables, and placement in the syntax give many clues as to each words meaning, but no precise definition can be determined. Jabberwocky shows how words void of any meaning in and of themselves can have power, tone, and feeling. After reading it Alice is only sure of one thing, somebody  killed  something (Carroll 97).Later in the story, Carroll revisits the topic of names and the poem Jabberwocky when Alice meets Humpty Dumpty. Humpty Dumpty, who seems to be substituting words at will, tells Alice he can control of his words as well as their meanings. Shortly before meeting Humpty Dumpty, in chapter four, Alice meets a pair of twins who seem to be mysteriously under the control of language. Tweedledee and Tweedledum are twins who converse in a manner suggesting a difference of opinion as Tweedledee often remarks Contrariwise! However that which follows this expletive doesnt ever seem to be contrary as exhibited when Tweedledum tells Alice I know what youre thinking aboutà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦but it isnt so, nohow, the other follows adding Contrariwiseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isnt, it aint. Thats logic (Carroll 114). The recitation of a nursery rhyme about the two has predictive powers in Looking-glass world. Words seem to initiate their battle preparations, as if Tweedledum and Tweedledee are predestined by the rhymes she recites, similar to the White Queen telling Alice she remembers things that happen week after next (Carroll 126). The foretold actions and emotions of Tweedledee and Tweedledum illustrate that language can have real power and influence, a message reiterated by the battle of the Lion and the Unicorn. Lewis Carrolls seemingly absurd destabilization of language has the ability to comment on language in society in a unique and simplistic manner. This is exhibited with great ease and admirable form while seeing Carrolls hilarious characters and situations run a constant discourse on the nature and possibilities of language. He creates a duality in his treatment of language in Alices Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. By splitting words from meanings and names from individuals, Carroll implies an emptiness of words and phrases. However, he also infuses language with the power to create real outcomes and words with power to have several meanings. Language, like life, can aggravate and confuse, but it also contains possibilities that goes unrecognized everyday. http://www.suite101.com/content/properties-of-language-alices-adventures-in-wonderland-a229304 In conclusion Carrolls wonderland charters (all adults) are complete mockeries of the adults that Victorian children had to obey.(Hayes, 2) They show the ignorance and absurdity of their time. Yet Carroll does show a note of hope. At the end of the first book Alice stands up and expresses her feelings that the whole trial is nonsense and that the soldiers were just a pack of cards. In the second book Alice, sick of the chaos and confusion, summons the courage to challenge the Red Queen. With these two achievements Alice breaks the spell of the domineering, repressive authority figures(Makinen, 2) and gives hope that in reality this could also be possible. http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=25907 Meaning, according to Humpty Dumpty: Weve had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you dont mean to stop here all the rest of your life.  [12]  

Hunger Exam :: essays research papers

The Disturbing Elements of Knut Hamsen’s Hunger   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"One of the most disturbing novels in existence† writes Time Out magazine on the 1890 novel Hunger. This criticism seems extreme considering the nature of more modern texts; people now consume books full of gore and lewd sex. Despite this recent trend in fiction, Knut Hamsen’s Hunger continues to strike a cord with its readers. As Time Out’s quote suggests, this continuity is due to the book’s disturbing theme. Hunger disturbs the way people often assume a man would behave while in the depths of poverty’s grasp. The text disturbs the common concept that, if a man is desperate he will ignore his pride and decency for the opportunity to escape his situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The protagonist is himself achingly hungry when a man begs him to spare a bit of money to buy a meal. One would likely presume that the famished protagonist would consider his own breakfast before another’s. This however, is not the case. â€Å"‘I haven’t eaten a thing since yesterday in Drammen, â€Å" the man said. â€Å"‘ I don’t have an ore and I still can’t find work.’† (8). After a bit of trivial dialogue, the protagonist responds to the beggar’s statement, â€Å"‘Wait here a few minuets, and I’ll see if I can’t find something for you, a little something at least.’† He says. (9). The protagonist goes on to pawn his own waistcoat in order to appease his comrade’s hunger. While it is true that a portion of the money brought in by the waistcoat the protagonist used to purchase his own meager food, the fact remains that the majority of the coins were given away. If taken at face value, the exchange was a simple gesture of kindness but, if one were to dig deeper the contribution if found to have been made out of pride. The protagonist was proud that a man had perceived him as a person who had the means to donate a meal. F or the character to have admitted that he was just hungry himself would have effectively dashed the pride that he so savored. Pride that to the protagonist was worth the value of a hungry man’s meal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The narrator’s stubborn pride is highlighted shortly after the previous passage. As he wanders about the early morning streets his shabby blanket in tow, the man’s mind wanders. â€Å"What would people think of me? So I walked along trying to think of someplace where it would be safe until later. Hunger Exam :: essays research papers The Disturbing Elements of Knut Hamsen’s Hunger   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"One of the most disturbing novels in existence† writes Time Out magazine on the 1890 novel Hunger. This criticism seems extreme considering the nature of more modern texts; people now consume books full of gore and lewd sex. Despite this recent trend in fiction, Knut Hamsen’s Hunger continues to strike a cord with its readers. As Time Out’s quote suggests, this continuity is due to the book’s disturbing theme. Hunger disturbs the way people often assume a man would behave while in the depths of poverty’s grasp. The text disturbs the common concept that, if a man is desperate he will ignore his pride and decency for the opportunity to escape his situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The protagonist is himself achingly hungry when a man begs him to spare a bit of money to buy a meal. One would likely presume that the famished protagonist would consider his own breakfast before another’s. This however, is not the case. â€Å"‘I haven’t eaten a thing since yesterday in Drammen, â€Å" the man said. â€Å"‘ I don’t have an ore and I still can’t find work.’† (8). After a bit of trivial dialogue, the protagonist responds to the beggar’s statement, â€Å"‘Wait here a few minuets, and I’ll see if I can’t find something for you, a little something at least.’† He says. (9). The protagonist goes on to pawn his own waistcoat in order to appease his comrade’s hunger. While it is true that a portion of the money brought in by the waistcoat the protagonist used to purchase his own meager food, the fact remains that the majority of the coins were given away. If taken at face value, the exchange was a simple gesture of kindness but, if one were to dig deeper the contribution if found to have been made out of pride. The protagonist was proud that a man had perceived him as a person who had the means to donate a meal. F or the character to have admitted that he was just hungry himself would have effectively dashed the pride that he so savored. Pride that to the protagonist was worth the value of a hungry man’s meal.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The narrator’s stubborn pride is highlighted shortly after the previous passage. As he wanders about the early morning streets his shabby blanket in tow, the man’s mind wanders. â€Å"What would people think of me? So I walked along trying to think of someplace where it would be safe until later.