Human Maturity in The Human Comedy by William Saroyan :: Maturity Mature Literature Essays

Human Maturity in The Human Comedy by William Saroyan William Saroyan's The Human Comedy, deals with ravages of life. Due to these trials, Homer is forced to mature. How he matures is a result of facing the challenges. Two very import themes that help homer mature are family and death. Homer represents the men of the house because he works and earns money for the family. For example, he goes to school until three o'clock, then goes to work until midnight. Going to school and working is very hard but it needs to be done for the family to survive. In addition, Homer needs to be both a father and a big brother for Ulysses. Homer loves and cares for Ulysses, and he teaches Ulysses about life, and physical appearance. Finally, Homer said, 'Any work that has to be done around here, men can do. Girls belong in homes, taking care of men.'; (Pg. 157) Homer is rewarded for being the man of the house by getting love and shelter from his family. Love is needed from the family to keep Homer supporting the family. Homer becomes mature by working, but looses his one and only childhood. Death is a very important theme, because delivering death messages is what made Homer mature. For example, Homer told his mother 'All of a sudden I feel different—not like I ever felt before.'; (Pg. 33) Delivering telegram message changed everything for Homer because he was no longer a child. Furthermore, delivering death telegrams made Homer sick. At the age of fourteen, when Homer had to deliver death messages, this made him realize that one day he is going to die himself. At the end when Homer realizes his brother's death, Homer said, 'What's a man supposed to do? I don't know who to hate. I don't know what to do.'; (Pg. 186) This showed being a teenager moreover a man, did not solve the problem about death.

Perception and Learning Essay

Learning and Perception are intertwined. They are relatively connected with each other. When we say Learning, it is a term used referring to a relatively permanent change in behavior that is a result of past experience or practice. It includes classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and perceptual learning. While Perception on the other hand, is a general term referring to the awareness of objects, qualities, or events stimulating the sense organs; it also refers to a person’s experience of the world. So when one perceives something through his environment, he then learns it and somehow puts it into practice (Hulse, Deese, & Egeth, 1975). The brain has a strong tendency to organize various stimuli into objects which are seen as figures on grounds. Stability in our world is provided by our various perceptual constancies. Like in death, we perceive death because we make us of several monocular and binocular cues. These general principles help us to understand how perception works. The organisms or individual’s stage of development affects or influences the things he perceives through the things he learned. Just about everything we learn is partly a learning of new perceptions. And our previous learning affects our present perceptions, especially when the learning has been emotional or unusually meaningful (Hochberg, 1964, p. 287). . A gun maybe perceived quite differently by a woman whose husband has been killed in a hunting accident and by a child who is fascinated with cowboys. To the child the gun is a toy associated with pleasurable excitement, with fantasies of range wars and of galloping horses. To bereaved wife the gun is a deadly weapon associated with sadness and fear. For example, a young woman who fell in love and was broken hearted already has learned a lesson not to give everything the next time her heart beats again. Another example is, a baby who tries to learn to walk tries his very best to know how to balance, even though he experiences fall sometimes he still tries his best to do it and learn how to walk. So before it we can call it learning from their mistakes, the change must be relatively permanent; it must last a fairly long time. These rules out changes in behavior due to motivation, fatigue, adaptation, or sensitivity of the organism. Learning contributes much to perception, but it is only one ingredient. Many factors both learned and unlearned, affect what the person actually does. Even so, an individual’s performance is all that we can measure. We must infer, by appropriate control or knowledge of the conditions affecting perception, when perception has been changed through learning and when it has been changed by other factors (King, 1971, p. 79-80). Moreover, learned and unlearned factors interact in complex ways. For example, many kinds of behavior depend on perception. When a student has learned that he should study for him to succeed then he will likely do it because he believes; which is his perception, meaning he is aware of; that when finishes his studies that individual will succeed.

Malcolm Xs Speech The Rhetorical Analysis Of Malcom X

April 3, 1964 Malcolm X gave one of the most iconic speeches of all time. Malcolm gave this speech at the â€Å"Cory Methodist Church† where he spoke out about the politics of voting for African Americans. Malcolm X advised that African Americans should vote, however if prejudice continued and the government continued to prevent blacks from being completely equal that African Americans would have to use more violent tactics. This speech is great for a number of reasons and one of these reasons is Malcolm X’s use of rhetorical devices. The 1960’s were a rough, yet progressive stage in American history. African Americans were finally labeled as equal to white men and women after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. However, that bill was†¦show more content†¦Theyve become dissatisfied, and all of this has built up frustrations in the black community that makes the black community throughout America today more explosive than all of the atomic bombs the Russians can ever invent. He uses a metaphor as another example of Malcolm X believing black nationalism to be more powerful than any weapon known to this world. The reason he makes this comparison and specifically name drops Russia is because of the arms race between the two at the time. America and Russia alone had enough weaponry to destroy the Earth as we know it entirely. I believe this quote though exposes the obvious difference between Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. He alludes to the fact that he believes nothing will change unless African Americans get violent. He states that all this frustration has built up so much that it’s ready to be let out and explode at any time. Malcolm believes that the eventual â€Å"explosion† of frustrations will be more dangerous than all the weapons Russia, or America for that matter, could fire. This is part of whats wrong with you- you do too much singing. Today its time to stop singing and start swinging. You cant sing u p on freedom, but you can swing up on some freedom. While I stated prior that the â€Å"racial keg† quote is my all-time favorite from this all-time great speech, this is the quote I find the most interesting. TheShow MoreRelatedMalcolm X : The Rhetorical Analysis Of Malcom Xs Speech968 Words   |  4 Pages In New York City on March 22, 1964, Malcolm X delivered his speech, â€Å"The Ballot or the Bullet.† Malcolm X, a minister of the Nation of Islam, and a revolutionary advocate of nationalism in the black community, imparted this speech with the intent to reach the black population in a time of change. The adept use of ethos, pathos, and logos to build and maintain a compelling argument, brings about a call to action and firmly conveys his ideas within the black community. Within ethos, pathosRead MoreMalcom X And The Civil Rights Movement1105 Words   |  5 PagesFahad Algarni Ms. Kristi Brock ENG 101- College Writing (WC) 15 July 2015 Analysis of Ballot or Bullet On 3rd April 1964, Malcom X addressed the Negro community assembled in Cleveland over the controversial issue of the civil rights movement. â€Å"The Ballot or the Bullet† speech of Malcom X can be considered as a direct response to â€Å"I have a Dream† speech of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Malcom X and Dr. Martin were taking a stand for the true freedom of the same community but with a diagonally opposite