Preview

Christopher Lasch's After The Bomb

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1133 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Christopher Lasch's After The Bomb
In After the Bomb, composers not only critique personal and political values but also manipulate textual forms and features in response to their times.
Evaluate this statement with reference to a prescribed text OTHER texts for your own choosing (Hiroshima, Lasch)

The cold war brought with it a darkened fog over almost the entire human race. Physical, psychological and emotional walls developed instantaneously. The world’s cultural, social and political paradigms seemed to shift in both negative and positive directions. This exponential amount of change sent shock waves through all forms of emotional and creative outlets. Composers of texts were harshly affected. Their entire outlook on our society and world developed harsh critiques on
…show more content…
At a point in time where human extinction was not only conceivable but had been partially displayed- many took upon the role of the ultimate survivor. In desperate attempts to control their own personal lives: Many individuals developed strategies proposed by Christopher Lasch, an American cultural critic. The fact that Lasch’s commentary comes from an American perspective (removed from the physical fighting, threat or violence of the changing society) deems important in that he talks of the effect felt by those who were seemingly unaffected by the cold war. Lasch proposes that ‘under siege, the self contracts to a defensive core, armed against adversity’ which seems like a perfect summary of the personal and political values and events of this time. Politically, nations and governments developed espionage and security systems, which were defensive and ultimately damaging to both sides involved. Their expendable agents, money and morals were masked with the code name of ‘national security’ however was often a detailed, confusing plan that left many with wounds both physical and emotional. Lasch’s proposal and book The Minimal Self, develops a unique outlook on our human responses to control and attempts of control. On a personal level, Lasch suggests that in order to resist total external control from governments or higher authority figures, individuals shut down their interior introspective and personal responses to ensure a safe passage through uncertain times. This theory was heavily authenticated through personal accounts and experiences through living in the fear of another world war. Lasch’s theory, however sad and depersonalizing establishes the ultimate survivor: Much like our protagonist in Spy who came in from the Cold, Leamas we see social and emotional disengagement from others along with a refusal of past and present which

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Many composers use various techniques in which they communicate the distinctly visual. John Misto’s ‘The Shoe-Horn Sonata’ and Alexander Kimel’s ‘The Action in the Ghetto of Rohatyn, March 1942’ represent significant issues in our world by using various literary and dramatic techniques. Through using these techniques it is evident that the composers of these texts allow the audience to ‘see’ with our eyes as well as with our minds. The many literary and dramatic techniques have the ability to create a visual that links significant and impacting issues within our world.…

    • 1413 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gerald Posner’s Killing the Dream begins with a detailed description of Martin Luther King Jr.’s final days and the detailed movements of his killer. The author arranges his book into three pivotal sections: The Assassination, The Assassin, and the Search for the Truth. He begins the book with a detailed account of the events that caused King to even be in Memphis, the chaos surrounding the Memphis Sanitation Strike. The Memphis Sanitation strike began on February 12, 1968, because of poor treatment, dangerous working conditions, and the deaths of Echol Cole and Robert Walker, 1300 black sanitation workers walked off the job. At the time of Cole and Walker’s deaths, city rules forbade black employees from seeking shelter anywhere else but the…

    • 1963 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Composers use elements and characteristics of language to create voice in their texts to shape meaning and affect interpretation of the audience. This is demonstrated by the composers of the following texts; “The life and Crimes of Harry Lavender” composed by Marele Day, the 2010 film “never Let Me Go” directed by Richard Eyre and the novel “Wuthering Heights” composed by Emily Bronte…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A text embodies and reflects key issues and concerns of the composer’s context, whether it be social, cultural or historical. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) are two prime examples of how similar concerns may differ in representation due to varying times and contexts. Both Shelley and Scott strongly explore the essence of humanity alongside science and development, cautioning the audience about the concerns of these explorations as a possible path of severance with the natural order and the seemingly inexistent future of mankind due to their concerns and issues present in their time.…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both composers recognise substantial internal and external threats and the need for a powerful leader capable of controlling and engaging aristocracy while manipulating the masses…

    • 1311 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I recently conducted interviews with three soldiers of the United States Army pertaining to their views of the Cold War between the United States and The Soviet Union. The information I collected from the soldiers helped me prepare a special in-depth view of event told directly from their opinion of the events.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    “After the bomb texts dramatize the necessity of embracing our humanity in a profoundly changed world”…

    • 1330 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Distinctively Visual

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Composers employ various techniques to create distinctively visual texts which enable responders to clearly imagine, form meaning and understand a composer’s unique perspective. Henry Lawson’s short stories ‘The Drover’s Wife’ and ‘In A Dry Season’ realistically brings to life images of isolation and hardship in the Australian bush, Armin Geder’s picture book ‘The Island’ illustrates the alienation of a foreigner on a xenophobic island; and Nick Baker and Tristian Klein’s film ‘Punctured’ use similar distinctively visual qualities to exhibit images of loneliness. The aforementioned composers enable readers to envisage realistic themes of life and and understand their purpose through distinctively visual techniques.…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ballad and Paterson

    • 1589 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Composers, guided by their contexts and personal opinions, create distinctive voices through the distinct use of literary techniques to convey unique perspectives on others and the world. Banjo Paterson’s poems, ‘In Defence of the Bush’ and ‘Mulga Bill’s Bicycle’ and Anthony Brown’s picture book, ‘Voices in the Park’, use voices to…

    • 1589 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Artifacts Essay

    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Cited: Felsenfeld, Daniel. “Rebel Music.” The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings. Richard Bullock and Maureen Daly Goggin. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006. 624-27. Print.…

    • 1468 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Friedman, Thomas L. The Untouchables. Research and Composition in the Disciplines. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York, Longman, 2011. Print. Pgs 182-185.…

    • 1766 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Many aspects of the Cold War are still debated today; less obvious topics of discussion such as the specific dates the war began but, one highly debated part of Cold War historiography is simply, who is to blame? Who started the Cold War and should take the blame for the events that took place. Historians have written hundreds of articles and books on this topic, many laying the claim that they are certain who caused the war but no definitive and unanimous answer has ever been proven. Many aspects of the work available debate different events that took place during the Cold War including the dropping of the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945, however in this essay I will be concentrating on the historiography that utilizes the foreign…

    • 152 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hiroshima Outline

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages

    B. Thesis: The United States was justified in dropping the atomic bombs on the Japanese mainland.…

    • 399 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    There are primary and secondary documents which support both sides of this very controversial issue. Throughout doing this research I have found it incredibly hard to take a one-sided approach to this essay and therefore have decided to remain neutral. I will present my conclusions of both perspectives on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hopefully by acknowledging the conflicting views, it will assist in further analyzing and understanding the motives responsible for the bombing.…

    • 295 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The fact that we are born without a choice, that we are expected to rise into being from a one celled organism to man without any external doubts is a perpetual theme to existence. Doubt is a threat, a precarious uncertainty that looms over every deed, making the daily reality of one persons life unreal. Sources of information, like the media, can make your head spin with fear, giving the viewer a new neurosis for the day. It happens to us all, when you find out a pedophile lives next door this whole time, or to realize your block offers under aged prostitutes, or in fact there NEVER was weapons of mass destruction. Paradigm shifts are frightening for they highlight the infinite discrepancies in our perceptions that have been there the whole time. We don't want to be ignorant, but we also desire to be safe and comfortable. Like a bad acid trip, if we know to much at once, or accept all the motives for our flawed behavior simultaneously we are prone to “freak out”. In these three pieces the characters undergo a shift of perception that may destroy or strengthen them. The three tales are “That in Aleppo once...” by Vladimir Nabokov, “Janus” by Ann Beatie and “The Killers” by Ernest Hemingway.…

    • 1501 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays