Literature and Life in Of Human Bondage :: Of Human Bondage

Literature and Life in Of Human Bondage In the novel Of Human Bondage, the reader comes across a truly magnificent quote on page 627. This quote is: "He had lived always in the future, and the present always, always had slipped through his fingers." In and of itself, this is a very powerful quote. However, it can be given even more power and significance if a person can relate this quote to their own life and experiences. I myself, after reading this quote, was instantly able to identify with it. This quote describes the middle school years and my early high school years almost perfectly. Many nights I would find myself staying in, watching TV, doing one thing or another around my house. I would almost never leave the house and I had nothing that could even remotely be called a social life. My reason for doing this to myself was that I spent most of my time thinking about my future and wishing for it to come. I had almost no kind of happiness for where I was or what I was doing in the present. I cut myself off from the outside world. I was rather shy around other people (I still am, admittedly) and I had very few friends. It was not too long before I discovered the faults in my erroneous living. I finally realized, and truly not a moment too soon, that if I did not start living for the present, my future would soon become my neglected present. I would have wasted my life doing meaningless things and I would have no experience to share with anyone who may be interested in the uneventful life I had led. After I came to this startling revelation, I grew even more apathetic in my depression. I truly felt that there was nothing I could do to remedy this situation and was at a total loss for solutions. Soon enough, though, I concluded that there was no alternative to hard work to change the current state of affairs in my life. It was then that I truly embarked on the most difficult journey of my life thus far. This being the journey of self-alteration and successfully changing my own behavioral patterns. My changes that I've done to myself have been quite noticeable to those people who've known me for a great number of years.

Maids Taking over the Role of Parents

Maids are taking over the role of parents? AS a parent, I read with interest how many busy parents â€Å"outsource† their work in raising their kids to their maids at home. (â€Å"Maids are taking over parenting role† – NST, May 10). In many homes these days, both parents work to pay the bills. But a better income does not mean a better quality of life for the family at home. Children would rather spend more time with their parents than be given money or presents as substitutes for parental attention. I believe children's behavior is the product of their environment. If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn. If they live with tolerance, they learn to be patient. If children learn about sharing, they learn to be generous. If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate. Child minders are not good role models for our young kids to follow as their norms and values may not be suited to local conditions. I may not be a very good person, I have fights with my maid like, every single day, every single time. she’s so annoying sometimes. And when she screams, we couldn’t compare the difference between a pontianak and my maid. I mean, aren’t you afraid of indonesian maids? To me, they’re scary. Like, literally scary. So, never tie a string with a maid, tie a rope with your parents. Wow, that might be the best idiom ever. Or is it? Score gila siallll. Stay-in Maids have taken the role of parents (Government Team’s points. ) – Maids are always at home. – Maids know the children better (personality, behavior) – Maids are always available when the children need help. – Maids care for the children. – Parents are too dependent on maids. *For example: A parent sends his/her child to school, and the parent wants to know how his/her child behaves in school. So the parent asks the teacher about his/her child’s behavior. Just because the teacher spends more time with the child in school doesn’t mean the teacher is the parent of the child who knows the child more. Tell me, worthy opponents. Why is this so? High-achievers: -Some parents want their child to be high-achievers when they grow up. Therefore, they send their child to piano classes, tae kwon do classes, tuition, art classes and much, much more. The maid does not have time for the child because the child is very busy with the daily classes. Tell me, worthy opponents.

Unhappiness in Human Beings Essay - 1020 Words

In Thomas De Quinceys essay Confessions of an English Opium Eater, the speaker discusses the problems associated with drugs. He suggests that his dreams were accompanied by deep-seated anxiety and gloomy melancholy, such as are wholly incommunicable by words (971). However, sadness and gloom do not belong exclusively to addicts as Shelley points out in his poem To a Skylark. The everyday man also faces the same problem as De Quinceys opium eater as human beings have a tendency to focus on lifes sadness. In his poem, Shelley uses the joyous skylark as a contrast to man in order to express the idea that human beings live a seeming unfulfilled life as any pleasure found in life also comes with unhappiness.p The†¦show more content†¦/ Till the scent it gives / Makes faint with too much sweet these heavy-winged thieves (ll. 51-55). Unlike an ordinary rose, the flower to which the speaker associates the skylark with, has a scent extraordinarily sweet as it causes bees to feel faint. Thus, the skylark appears to also have an remarkable gift of happiness and joy which ordinary creatures do not have the capacity to feel. p Because of the skylarks unadulterated happiness, the speaker envies the birds freedom and immortality. The speaker opens the poem with the words, Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! / Bird thou never wert-- / That from heaven comes (ll. 1-3). Thus, it seems as though the skylark exists as a divine being or spirit worthy of worship, rather than a mere bird. It comes from heaven which reinforces its blessed nature. Also, the fact the speaker hail[s] to the bird suggests that he worships and praises the skylark. Furthermore, the speaker announces that I have never heard / Praise of love or wine / That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine (ll. 63-65). The larks song appears so astonishingly sweet that it amazes the speaker. In fact, its sweet melody brings forth a flood of rapture so divine, once again drawing attention to the notion that the lark lives a heavenly, immortal life as its extreme happiness causes divine joy. The word so emphasizes the fact that the larks happiness and celestial nature farShow MoreRelatedEssay about A Freudian Reading of Oedipus Rex and Antigone1413 Words   |  6 PagesA Freudian Reading of Oedipus Rex and Antigone   Ã‚  Ã‚   In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud postulates that the chief source of conflict within the human psyche is between the id, ego, and superego. The id contains all of the primal urges of a person, such as rage, sex, or violence, and these drives are projected onto the ego, which is the source of rational thought. Hence, many of our conscious thoughts are affected by these urges. 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