An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge - Term Paper Example A striking aspect of the story is the non-linear plot structure employed by the author. The story is divided into four compact parts. Chronologically they are arranged in this fashion – 2,1,3,4 – which means the background information about Farquhars allegiance to the confederate cause is placed next to the event of his hanging by Union soldiers. The last two parts are chronologically in the right places, and it is in the crisp and concise fourth part that we learn that the whole of preceding narrative were the final hallucinatory thoughts of Peyton Farquhar. The material for the thesis is contained in the third part which was only a matter of few minutes but takes up a large chunk of the narrative. This is deliberate on part of the author, for he is trying to show to the reader that there is so much life contained in each passing second. The author is also hinting that we mostly dont enjoy our lives to the fullest, probably because our attention is being diverted from really important things in life like family and children and toward superficial things like status, wealth accumulation, etc. (Powers, 1982, p.280) By showing to the readers that so much drama could be contained in a brief period of time, Bierce is suggesting that there is a great scope for happiness and enjoyment during human lifetime which we dont realize in the normal course. The high-adrenaline condition created by the thought of approaching mortality had taken Peytons imagination to a surreal zone. In this state of mind, the small hopeful signs of his escape from death looks magnified and magnificent. His powers of perception and the intake of sensory stimuli were taken to new heights. For example, â€Å"He felt the ripples upon his face and heard their separate sounds as they struck. He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the

Rousseau's Social Contract and John Stuart Mill's On Liberty Research Paper

Rousseau's Social Contract and John Stuart Mill's On Liberty - Research Paper Example The two philosophers have also delved into the relationship that exists between the government and liberty, while also investigating the valid basis for limiting liberty. Mill’s position on the concept of liberty is based on the observation that the majority in the society has the opportunity to dominate the minority, and thus subject them under their own authority (Mill, 12). As a result of this observation, Mills advocates for individuality, where individuals possess their own rights that are not interfered by the society and thus can be able to shape their own destiny without depending on the influence of the society, which is highly driven by the tyranny of the majority. On his part, Jean–Jacques Rousseau observes that man was born in freedom, to be absolutely free, but he is always in chain whenever he is (Rousseau,). In an attempt to devise the right ways of developing a political community, he devised the fundamental concept of the liberty of people. Pitched on t he argument that only the people can develop the rules that should govern them, and anything short of that is unacceptable. Therefore, this discussion seeks to compare Rousseau's Social Contract and John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, with a view to assessing their points of congruence and departure, in regards to the concept of liberty and the freedom of man. ... Therefore, it is the institutions like that of private ownership of property that has made man bad (r). This is because, with the introduction of such institutions, man has been corrupted and made mean, so that he attempts to own as much as he can, without any due regard for the others. If there were no private ownership of property, a man could not be such corrupt or mean, because he could only use what is enough for him, and leave the rest for others, thus creating equality for all. Therefore, the existence of institutions has destroyed man’s pity and benevolence. Thus the fundamental basis for Rousseau’s belief in liberty is equality and security, where the man can obey himself, while still uniting himself with all, and retaining the ever unlimited freedom (Rousseau, 33). According to him, only institutions create inequality and insecurity. Mills, on the other hand, observes the fundamental basis for liberty as individuality and individual basic rights, which he obse rves are the basis for the good citizenship, which translates to a healthy society, and consequently to the freedom of mankind (Mill, 24). He observes that individuals should have the freedom from constraint by the government, but that is associated with self-rule. Therefore, Mills differs with Rousseau regarding the fundamental basis of freedom, by arguing that individual rights grant man freedom, and by extension makes the society free. On his part, Rousseau argues that individual rights make an individual a slave of oneself, by making him obey his self-desire (Rousseau, 56).