Albert Camus :: Biography

Albert Camus   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Born on November 7, 1913 in Mandoui, Algeria, Albert Camus earned a worldwide reputation as a novelist and essayist and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957. Though his writings, and in some measure against his will, he became the leading moral voice of his generation during the 1950's. Camus died at the height of his fame, in an automobile accident near Sens, France on January 4, 1960.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Camus's deepest philosophical interests were in Western philosophy, among them Socrates, Pascal, Spinoza, and Nietsche. His interest in philosophy was almost exclusively moral in character. Camus came to the conclusion that none of the speculative systems of the past could provide and positive guidance for human life or any guarantee of the validity of human value. Camus also concluded that suicide is the only serious philosophical problem. He asks whether it makes any sense to go on living once the meaninglessness of human life is fully understood.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Camus referred to this meaninglessness as the â€Å"absurdity† of life. He believed that this â€Å"absurdity† is the â€Å"failure of the world to satisfy the human demand that it provide a basis for human values-for our personal ideals and for our judgments of right and wrong.† He maintained that suicide cannot be regarded as an adequate response to the â€Å"experience of absurdity.† He says that suicide is an admission of incapacity, and such an admission is inconsistent with that human pride to which Camus openly appeals. Camus states, â€Å"there is nothing equal to the spectacle of human pride.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Furthermore, Camus also dealt with the topic of revolution in his essay The Rebel. Camus rejected what he calls â€Å"metaphysical revolt,† which he sees as

Amin Maalouf’s Idea Essay

My understanding of Amin Maalouf’s concept on identity is that human identity is based on an individual’s environment. He defines identity into two categories. One that is inherited through our elders and cultural beliefs â€Å"vertical†, and another that exist according to our generational influence, â€Å"horizontal†. The two categories create our identity as a human and is the source of our behavior. My experience with the vertical heritage is my belief in Christianity. My ancestors and the community I was raised in have traditionally taught me to celebrate religious holidays like Christmas and Easter. I also grew up in a small neighborhood with Christian peers. They have influenced the way I behave and interact by helping to shape my morals. My experience with the â€Å"horizontal† is the communities I have been introduced to, such as, the public and private school environments. They have broadened my personality with their social aspects. One example of what Maalouf is saying is my switch from public to private school. My personality was much different in public school than it was in private. In my public school the social standard for academic progress was average. The fact that there was no assigned dress code distracted me because I would attempt to impress others with my appearance. This influenced my train of thought, behavior and ultimately my identity, until I was placed into a different setting. When I made the switch to private school the distraction of looking different was taken away, and expectations were higher. My surrounding influenced me again and I became more focused on things that mattered and more questionable of my beliefs. What I gained from both these settings was my horizontal inheritance. For example, the music that I listen to and the hobbies I enjoy. Maalouf’s point is that no matter your vertical, your horizontal has a bigger affect on your identity, and since the horizontal is based on contemporaries, you are based on the subjects around you. He points out that there is a gap between what we think we are and what we actually are in reality. We may know we are different but what we don’t realize is in reality we are only becoming identical through arguing are differences. I believe this is a magnificent insight on identity. Mankind changes the world around us and if we all do the same, we end up in each other’s world. We are becoming more and more identical to each other through compromise from arguing our differences because we learn to live with each other. When we accept differences they soon become norms, and once they are norms, they become a standard. I agree with Amin Maaloufs concept on identity.

Searching for His Identity in Novel, The Invisible Man by...

â€Å"Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives.† (B. R. Ambedkar). Ralph Waldo Ellison was born on March 1, 1914, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and named after journalist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. In his the novel, Invisible Man, the main character carries around a briefcase throughout the entire story. All of the possessions that he carries in that briefcase are reminders that he kept from experiences. If the Negro, or any other writer, is going to do what is expected of him, hes lost the battle before he takes the field. I suspect that all the agony that goes into writing is borne precisely because the writer longs for acceptance but it must be acceptance on his own terms. Ralph Ellison. The period of the novel takes place around The Great Depression the worst economic crisis in the country’s history, which left a permanent scar on American society and culture, causing milli ons of people to suffer and experience joblessness, and homelessness, for nearly a decade. With so many hardships facing people in this time they all wanted the same thing, which was to get a job and get back all they had lost. This led people to change whom they were and gain new identities to fit the new society. Throughout the novel, the Invisible Man is searching for his identity. At the start of Ralph Ellisons novel, we are introduced to a self-proclaimed invisible man.† The narrator is portrayed as aShow MoreRelatedInvisible Man By Ralph Waldo Ellison1383 Words   |  6 Pagesbuild back on the front burner. Ralph Waldo Ellison was an African-American writer and scholar recognized for his famous, award-winning novel Invisible Man. Ellison was born March 1, 1914, in Oklahoma city, Oklahoma. He studied at Tuskegee University. He and his younger brother were raised by their mother who would work various jobs after their father’s death. He relied on culture as well as intellectualism as his source of identity.Bildungsroman is a type of novel that illuminates the development